NewzIntel.com

Category: Federal Bureau of Investigation

  • MIL-OSI Security: Hilton Head Lawyer Sentenced for Knowingly Transferring $3M to Prevent the Lawful Seizure of the Funds

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — Peter J. Strauss, 46, of Hilton Head, South Carolina, has been sentenced to nine months in federal prison for knowingly transferring, and aiding and abetting the transfer of, $3 million to prevent the lawful seizure of the funds.

    Evidence obtained in the investigation revealed that Strauss directed and aided and abetted the transfer of $3 million for Jeff and Paulette Carpoff following the execution of federal search and seizure warrants in California. Strauss directed the transfer of $3 million from an account in the Bahamas to his trust account, thereafter, combining the funds for his personal use.

    Jeff and Paulette Carpoff owned and operated DC Solar Solutions, Inc. and DC Solar Distribution, Inc. (DC Solar), California corporations that designed, manufactured, and leased renewable energy products, specializing predominantly in the production of mobile solar generators.

    On Dec. 18, 2018, the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies executed numerous search warrants on the businesses associated with DC Solar, as well as the personal residences of Jeff and Paulette Carpoff. Several seizure warrants were also executed on bank accounts and assets associated with DC Solar and its principals. The search warrants were conducted in conjunction with a large-scale investigation regarding an investment fraud and money laundering scheme being operated by the principals of DC Solar.

    Following the execution of search and seizure warrants related to an investigation into the Carpoffs’ company, Strauss received $11 million from the Carpoffs. On Dec. 19, 2018, the first $5 million was transferred into Strauss’ trust account and thereafter distributed to various criminal defense attorneys and bankruptcy counsel and to Carpoffs’ captive insurance funds, managed by Strauss’ captive insurance management company. Thereafter, on Dec. 28, 2018, Strauss received an additional $3 million, largely used to pay for the Carpoffs’ captive insurance fund premiums. Finally, on Jan. 15, 2019, the Carpoffs wired Strauss $3 million into Strauss’ trust account. The combined funds in Strauss’ trust account were completely spent over the next few months.

    Jeff Carpoff pleaded guilty in California to money laundering and wire fraud in January 2020 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In November 2021, Paulette Carpoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and money laundering. Paulette was sentenced to 11 years and three months.

    Strauss pleaded guilty in November 2023 to removal of property to prevent seizure, admitting that by the time of the $3 million transfer in January 2019, he knowingly transferred and aided and abetted the transfer of funds from Carpoff to prevent and impair the government’s lawful authority to take the property into its custody and control.

    United States District Richard M. Gergel sentenced Strauss to nine months imprisonment, to be followed by a two-year term of court-ordered supervision.  There is no parole in the federal system. Strauss was ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution, which Strauss previously paid in compliance with the terms of his plea agreement.

    This case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Limehouse prosecuted the case.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: “La Empresa” Member Sentenced in El Paso to Nearly 20 Years in Federal Prison

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    EL PASO, Texas – An El Paso transnational criminal organization (TCO) member was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 235 months in prison for his role in a hostage taking conspiracy.

    According to court documents, a man was forcefully kidnapped at gunpoint from his motel room in Juarez, Mexico, on Aug. 24, 2023, and was held hostage until Sept. 5, 2023. During that time, the victim’s family received threatening phone calls from multiple unknown subjects demanding payment. Ultimately, the family paid approximated $9,000 to the TCO for safe travel and release of the victim.

    Luis Edward Castro, 28, worked for the TCO, “La Empresa.” Armed with a handgun, he recorded and sent proof-of-life videos to the victim’s family. In the videos, the victim appeared visibly scared and stated he was in El Paso. An investigation led law enforcement to Castro’s address, where they searched the residence and found six undocumented noncitizens and multiple firearms.

    Castro was arrested Sept. 5, 2023 and charged with six counts pertaining to harboring and transporting undocumented noncitizens for financial gain, hostage taking, and the possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He pleaded guilty to the hostage taking charge on Sept. 26, 2024.

    “This case highlights some of the many dangers posed by TCOs on both sides of our southern border, and Castro’s sentencing of two decades in federal prison is a significant penalty,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas. “I am thankful for our partners at the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol, whose investigative skill and expertise led to the recovery of these kidnapping victims and the outcome of this case.”

    The FBI and USBP investigated the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mathew Engelbaum and Kyle Myers prosecuted the case.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: We study mass surveillance for social control, and we see Trump laying the groundwork to ‘contain’ people of color and immigrants

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Brittany Friedman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California

    Black and Latino communities are disproportionately affected by mass surveillance, studies show. Vicente Méndez/Getty Images

    President Donald Trump has vowed to target his political enemies, and experts have warned that he could weaponize U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct mass surveillance on his targets.

    Mass surveillance is the widespread monitoring of civilians. Governments typically target specific groups – such as religious minorities, certain races or ethnicities, or migrants – for surveillance and use the information gathered to “contain” these populations, for example by arresting and imprisoning people.

    We are experts in social control, or how governments coerce compliance, and we specialize in surveillance. Based on our expertise and years of research, we expect Trump’s second White House term may usher in a wave of spying against people of color and immigrants.

    A man apprehended in an immigration raid on Jan. 28, 2025, sits in a holding cell in New York City.
    Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

    Spreading moral panic

    Trump is already actively deploying a key tactic in expanding mass surveillance: causing moral panics. Moral panics are created when politicians exaggerate a public concern to manipulate real fears people may have.

    Take Trump on crime, for example. Despite FBI data showing that crime has been dropping across the U.S. for decades, Trump has repeatedly claimed that “crime is out of control.” Stoking fear makes people more likely to back harsh measures purportedly targeting crime.

    Trump has also worked to create a moral panic about immigration.

    He has said, for example, that “illegal” migrants are taking American jobs. In truth, only 5% of the 30 million immigrants in the workforce as of 2022 were unauthorized to work. And in his Jan. 25, 2025, presidential proclamation on immigration, Trump likened immigration at the southern border to an “invasion,” evoking the language of war to describe a population that includes many asylum-seeking women and children.

    The second step in causing moral panics is to label racial, ethnic and religious minorities as villains to justify expanding mass surveillance.

    Building on his rhetoric about crime and immigration, Trump frequently connects the two issues. He has said that migrants murder because they have “bad genes,” echoing beliefs expressed by white supremacists. During the 2016 campaign, Trump’s coinage “bad hombre” invoked stereotypes of dangerous migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to steal jobs and sell drugs.

    The president has similarly connected Black communities with crime. At an August 2024 rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Trump called the majority-Black city “a killing field.” The month prior, he said the same thing about Washington, D.C.

    Primary targets

    History shows that in the U.S. moral panics are most likely to target Latino, Indigenous and Black communities as a precursor to surveillance and subjugation.

    In the 18th century, Colonial politicians passed legislation likening the Indigenous people of the American colonies to “savages” and passed laws identifying Indigenous tribes as political enemies to be assimilated. If “killing the Indian” out of people didn’t work, they were to be tracked down and removed from the population through imprisonment or death.

    Another early form of moral panics escalating to spying and mass surveillance were southern slave patrols, which emerged in the early 1700s after pro-slavery politicians proclaimed that Black escapees would terrorize white communities. Slave patrols tracked down and captured not only Black escapees but also free Black people, whom they sold into bondage. They also imprisoned any person, enslaved or not, suspected of sheltering escapees.

    Once a group of people becomes the subject of moral panics and targeted for government surveillance, our research shows, the effects are felt for generations.

    Black and Indigenous communities are still arrested and incarcerated at disproportionately high rates compared with their percentage in the U.S. population. This even affects children, with Indigenous girls imprisoned at four times the rate of white girls, and Black girls at more than twice the rate of white girls.

    Low-tech methods

    These 21st-century numbers reflect decades of targeted surveillance.

    In the 1950s, the FBI under Director J. Edgar Hoover created the counter-intelligence programs COINTELPRO, allegedly for investigating communists and radical political groups, and the Ghetto Informant Program. In practice, both programs broadly targeted people of color. From Martin Luther King Jr. to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Black activists were identified as a threat, spied on, investigated and sometimes jailed.

    A 1964 letter from J. Edgar Hoover expressing his dislike for Martin Luther King Jr.
    Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images

    President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on crime,” a sweeping set of federal changes that militarized local police in urban communities, continued this mass surveillance in the 1960s. Later came the “war on drugs,” which an aide to President Richard Nixon later said was designed explicitly to target Black people.

    In subsequent decades, politicians would stir up new moral panics about Black communities – remember the “crack babies” who never really existed? – and use fear to justify police surveillance, arrests and mass incarceration.

    These early examples of mass surveillance lacked the technology that enables spying today, such as CCTV and hacked laptop cameras. Nonetheless, past U.S. administrations have been remarkably effective at achieving social control by creating moral panics then deploying mass surveillance to contain the “threat.” They enlisted droves of police officers, recruited informants to infiltrate groups and locked people away.

    These textbook surveillance methods are still routinely used now.

    Police fusion centers

    For many Americans, the term “mass surveillance” evokes the Department of Homeland Security, which was founded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This national agency, which forms part of a federal intelligence apparatus of more than 20 agencies focused on surveillance, has played a key role in mass surveillance since 2001, especially of Muslim Americans.

    But it has local help in the form of police units known as fusion centers. These units feed identification information and physical evidence such as video footage to federal agencies such as the FBI and CIA, according to a 2023 whistleblower report from Rutgers Law School.

    The New Jersey Regional Operations Intelligence Center, for example, is a police fusion center overseeing New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It employs advanced military technology to gather massive amounts of personal data on people perceived as potential security threats. According to the Rutgers report, these “threats” are highly concentrated in Black, Latino and Arab communities, as well as areas with a high concentration of political organizing, such as Black Lives Matter groups and immigrant aid organizations.

    The New Jersey police fusion approach leads to increased arrest rates, according to the report, but there’s no real evidence that it prevents crime or terrorism.

    Guantanamo and black sites

    Given Trump’s pledges to further militarize border enforcement and expand U.S. jails and prisons, we anticipate a rise in spending on fusion centers and other tools of mass surveillance under Trump. The moral panics he’s been stirring up since 2015 suggest that the targets of government surveillance will include immigrants and Black people.

    Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on April 2, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich.
    Spencer Platt/Getty Images

    Sometimes, victims of mass surveillance go missing.

    The Guardian reported in 2015 that Chicago police had been temporarily “disappearing” people at local and federal police “black sites” since at least 2009. At these clandestine jails, under the guise of national security, officers questioned detainees without attorneys and held them for up to 24 hours without any outside contact. Many of the victims were Black.

    Another infamous black site was housed at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba, where the CIA detained and secretly interrogated suspected terrorists following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

    Trump seems to be reviving the Guantanamo black site, flying about 150 Venezuelan migrants to the base since January 2025. It’s unclear whether the U.S. government can lawfully detain migrants there abroad, yet deportation flights continue.

    The administration has not shared the identities of many of the people imprisoned there.

    The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. We study mass surveillance for social control, and we see Trump laying the groundwork to ‘contain’ people of color and immigrants – https://theconversation.com/we-study-mass-surveillance-for-social-control-and-we-see-trump-laying-the-groundwork-to-contain-people-of-color-and-immigrants-221073

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: King to Senate Colleagues: “We’ve Got to Wake Up [and] Protect this Institution”

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Maine Angus King
    To watch the floor speech click here
    WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) today spoke on the Senate floor to share his growing concerns over the Trump Administration’s largely unconstitutional and unprecedented overreach – sharing the usurpation of Congressional Authority that has now reached the constitutionally-directed ‘power of the purse.’  In the speech, King also shared the detrimental impacts of reckless, indiscriminate government cuts on critical federal functions like management of the national parks and care for our veterans:
    The news is coming so hard and fast these days, that it’s hard to sort it all out. Every day seems to be something new that captures our attention, our concern, our interest. And what I’d like to do today is try to put some of it in perspective and what’s going on in our governing of this country. I don’t believe what I’m going to be talking about today is partisan. It should not be partisan because what I’m really talking about is competent government and constitutional government.  Really two categories — competent government and constitutional government. That should not be a controversial issue. Neither of those are something that we should be arguing about. It’s what we have a responsibility to carry through in terms of our jobs here in the U.S. Senate. So the two categories I want to talk about — my headings are thoughtless and dangerous. 
    First I want to talk about thoughtless. The hiring freeze. A hiring freeze can be an effective tool if it’s used thoughtfully and systematically. But to do it across the board without a process for exceptions that’s built into it, you end up with all kinds of unintended and negative consequences. Firefighters, parks, losses elsewhere by attrition. There should be a systematic exemption process. Now it’s haphazard and random. Park seasonal employees first were under the hiring freeze, now they’re not. It’s sort of like, oh, oh, or, we’re going to be okay without park seasonal employees. VA frontline health workers were at first subject to the hiring freeze then people said, oh, no, we didn’t mean doctors and nurses, so that’s okay. You can hire them. My point is it’s not a rational process. It’s ready, fire, aim. Literally, ready, fire, aim is what we’re talking about and people aren’t doing this in a thoughtful and systematic way. And, by the way, the difference between frontline deliverers of care at the V.A. and the people who answer the phone who are categorized as bureaucrats, I don’t think there’s a stark difference there. If you’re a veteran and are seeking care and an appointment at a V.A. health facility and nobody answers the phone, that’s a denial of benefits. That’s a denial of benefits, just as if they close the door in your face. That’s what we’re talking about, is weakening the systems that are serving our public. 
    The hiring freeze, it’s possible to do a hiring freeze. When I was governor of Maine, I instituted a hiring freeze, but we did it in a systematic and thoughtful way. We had a process for dealing with exemptions and without destroying the morale and throwing the entire operation of government into chaos. And, by the way, why do we have the government? To serve the people. To serve the people. 
    So let’s talk about the next step: the firings. The famous fork in the road letter is a perfect example of a thoughtless way to approach a problem. The letter went to everybody. The letter wasn’t selective. It went to everybody — all civilians in the CIA, in the National Security Agency, in the Defense Department. Also, of course, all the other civilian agencies. But it wasn’t targeted in a way. If you want to leave federal service, we’ll pay you through September, but it hit everybody. Again, it’s not a rational or thoughtful way to trim the federal workforce. You should be talking about where are we do we have too many people, do we have overstock in terms of public servants and where do we need more, for example. But instead it went to everybody. By definition, that’s not a rational process. Firing — let me just put this in perspective, by the way. On the fork in the road letter, the estimate is as of today 75,000 people have taken that option and left. And I suppose the people who are behind this think that’s a great victory. The dollars saved from those 75,000 people represent one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. So people out who are seeing, we’re cutting the budget, we’re cutting, we’re saving, we’re saving the taxpayers money. One tenth of one percent. Given the chaos and the uncertainty and the deletion of services to our American people, I would argue that’s not worth it. One tenth of one percent. Everyone got these letters. People are being fired now in the CIA, FBI, the V.A., and on this letter, what if only the best people take the option to leave? Then you’ve really shot yourself in the foot. You’ve encouraged people who were going to retire anyway or who could get a better job in the private sector. So it’s an anti-intelligent way to handle this. 
    And then you got situations like at the Department of Energy, the first weekend they fired 350 people in the National Nuclear Security Administration, the people who handle nuclear materials and are responsible for our nuclear stockpile. They fired I think it was something like 20% of the personnel. Three or four days later, they realized, uh oh that was a mistake. A good, solid, thoughtful process wouldn’t have made a mistake like that. They would have realized from the outset that these are jobs that we aren’t going to be firing, we aren’t going to be eliminating. It seemed to be based on some kind of quota. I don’t know what it is. And then — okay, now we’re seeing everybody being fired who’s on probation. Probationary people, people who work for the government for less than a year or two. Okay, again that’s arbitrary — that’s arbitrary. Being on probation doesn’t mean you’re an effective or not an effective employee. You could be one of the best employees in the whole federal government and you just came on and yet you’re going to be fired. It has nothing to do with the productivity or skill of the worker. It has nothing to do with the importance of the position. It has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the agency in question, serving the people of Maine. If you’re probationary, you’re gone. Here’s another thing about probation. It turns out in the federal government, if you’re promoted, you’re on probation in the new position. You may have worked in the department for five or ten years. You’re on probation. You’re fired. Even though you have five or ten years of experience. And people did get these ridiculous letters saying your performance has not been adequate. There was no basis for those letters. It was arbitrary. And that’s remember I said my categories are thoughtless and dangerous. This is thoughtless — probation. 
    Oh, by the way, about 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. Now, we don’t know the exact figures. That’s one of the problems. We have no transparency about what’s going on here and who’s actually being let go and who isn’t, but a reasonable extrapolation is, 30% of the people being fired are veterans. People who put their lives on the line for this country. And then they went into public service and they’re being fired. That’s outrageous. Again, was no one thinking about this? A thousand people were fired at the V.A. Just a couple of days ago. We learned that people supporting the V.A. crisis line were fired. What genius thought that was a good idea? Last Friday, immigration judges were fired. We’re talking about immigration and border and control of immigration, and we’re firing immigration judges? What possible sense does that make? Here’s one. We’ve had — I think three curious aircraft incidents in the last month, and they just fired I think 300 people at the FAA. Great, including people who are in the business of maintaining the systems that keep our airplanes safe. In the wake of three serious airplane crashes, including one here in Washington that killed 67 people, we’re firing people at the FAA? Give me a break! What kind of sense does that make? What kind of service is that to the people of the United States? Here’s one that’s not life or death, but the National Park Service. 1,000 people were fired last weekend at the National Park Service. I suspect they were probationary, that means okay they’d only been there a year or to. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t in jobs that were important. The headline in this morning’s paper, chaos at the national parks. The lines are twice as long. If there’s chaos at the national parks in February, lord knows what it’s going to be in June or July. In Yosemite, in Acadia in my state of Maine. And here’s a beauty, some of these people that are be fired are people who collect fees at the park. So to save a buck, we’re going to lose $5 from fees not being collected. Genius. Come on. Five percent of the workforce at the national park service are being fired, and I can tell you, I’m the co-chair of the National Park Subcommittee, the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, we need more people at the national parks, not less. We’ve had a staffing shortage going back half a dozen or ten years where visitation is way up and staff is flat or declining. Now it’s really declining. And this is a direct hands-on experience for the American people. Gettysburg — they’ve been laying off people at the battlefield. Last night apparently something called the Presidential Management Fellowship Program, a training program that’s decades’ old that brings talented people into the federal government, eliminated. No explanation, no rational. Eliminated. 
    Okay, that’s the thoughtless part. Let me give you a little personal experience. When I was elected governor of Maine, we had a serious deficit. We were in the middle of a recession. We went through a process very similar to the impetus for what’s going on now. We looked at the entire workforce of the state of Maine. But we did it in a thoughtful and transparent way. We developed a task force that included private citizens, legislators, and members of the administration, and we took eight months, Mr. President, eight months, not eight weeks, and we looked at the entire structure of the state of Maine government and reduced our workforce by about 10%, a significant reduction. But we did it in a thoughtful way and in a way that made sense in terms of the ongoing service to the people of Maine. 
    So it can be done, and I’m not unsympathetic with the idea of making things more efficient. And even possibly downsizing the government where it’s called for and where additional people aren’t necessary. So, I’m not here to say we shouldn’t be looking for efficiency and saying everything in the federal government is perfect. I don’t believe that for a minute. But I think if we’re going to take on this exercise, it ought to be done in a sensible way by people who know what they’re doing. 
    And that brings me to DOGE. I don’t know what they’re doing. Nobody does. I don’t know who these 25-year-olds in the IRS, rummaging around in the IRS I.T. System. We learned the last couple days Social Security. What are they doing? Who are they? What are their qualifications? Do they have security clearances? Do they have conflicts of interest? All of the rules designed to protect us from people making arbitrary decisions that aren’t accountable, you talk about bureaucrats being unaccountable, these are the ultimate unaccountable people. We don’t know what their relationship is to the federal government, what authority they have, up what law they’re operating. It’s clear from mistakes like firing 350 people at the Nuclear Security Agency, they don’t know what they’re doing. They’re firing people who we need. Okay, that’s the thoughtless part. It’s inexcusable. That’s just pure efficiency of government of doing the right thing, and it can be done, but these people aren’t doing it. 
    The second part of what’s going on is the dangerous part, and this is where I call on my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are standing by and watching our government be attacked with no response. Elimination of entire congressionally created agencies. USAID was established by statute and over a weekend these people fired everybody, closed the agency, took the name off the door, and threw the rest of the world into chaos, where these people were working on important projects all over the world, that were part of our outreach to the world. You know what? As soon as we went out of business at A.I.D., China is right in the market. It’s like walking away from engagement with the world. It couldn’t be a more self-defeating piece of work. By the way, it’s a tiny part of the federal budget. And James Mattis famously said, when he was a general, if you cut the foreign aid budget, you’re going to have to buy me more bullets. Foreign aid is part of the national security of this country, and to demolish this agency without any input from congress, without any relationship to the Foreign Affairs Committee or anybody else up here in the congress, is grossly unconstitutional. It’s grossly unconstitutional. 
    Here’s the problem, Mr. President, this isn’t just a battle between the Senate and the House and the President and they’re fighting about powers. No, the reason the framers designed our Constitution the way they did was that they were afraid of concentrated power. They had just fought a brutal eight-year war with a king. They didn’t want a king. They wanted a constitutional republic, where power was divided between the Congress and the President and the courts, and we are collapsing that structure. And the structure wasn’t there for fun. It wasn’t, hey, we’ll design this complicated system. It was there to protect our freedom. Because the people that wrote our Constitution understood human nature, and they understood a very important thousand-year-old principle — power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
    The whole idea was to divide power, and to the extent we allow this assault on our Constitution, this collapsing and excessive power being granted to the executive to ignore the laws passed by congress, and by the way, appropriations bills are laws passed by congress, which the administration is also ignoring by freezing funding for programs authorized and funded by congress, to the extent we do that, we’re not only making a mistake now, but we’re altering the essential structure of our Constitution that’s there for a reason, that’s there to protect our freedom. And the people cheering this on I fear, in a reasonably short period of time, are going to say where did this go? How did this happen? How did we make our president into a monarch? How did this happen? How it happened is we gave it up! James Madison thought we would fight for our power, but no. Right now, we’re just sitting back and watching it happen. Article 2 of the Constitution, the President said, oh, article 2 gives me a lot of power. No, it doesn’t. It makes the president commander in chief. That’s true. Here’s the key sentence in Article 2 of the constitution, which defines the president’s power, the key sentence is not the power of the president, the responsibility of the president is to take care that the laws being faithfully executed. Not write the laws. Not deny the laws. Not ignore the laws. Not pick which laws he or she To take care that the laws are faithfully executed. That’s the responsibility of the President. 
    Right now, those laws are being ignored. Impoundment. Impoundment. The President trying to say Congress appropriated this money through appropriation bill signed by president, but I’m not going to spend it because I don’t like it, I don’t like that purpose, whatever it is. I’m sorry. It’s absolutely straight up unconstitutional, and it’s illegal. President Nixon tried to do that in 1973, and the Congress, virtually unanimously, passed the impoundment control act which said no, presidents can’t do that. They can’t ignore the will of congress because Article 1 of the Constitution gives the congress the power of the purse. We’re giving it away this week. We’re standing by and watching it, watching the essential power of this body evaporate. Not evaporate, migrate down the street to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 
    The power was divided for a reason. There’s criticism in the press saying people are talking about a constitutional crisis, they’re crying wolf. This is a constitutional crisis. It’s the most serious assault on our Constitution in the history of this country. It’s the most serious assault on the very structure of our Constitution, which is designed to protect our freedoms and liberty, in the history of this country. It is a constitutional crisis, and I’ll tell you what makes it worse, the President and the Vice President are already hinting that they’re not going to obey decisions of the courts. Many of my friends in this body say it will be hard, we don’t want to buck the President, we’ll let the courts take care of it. Number one, that’s a copout. It’s our responsibility to protect the Constitution. That’s what we swear to when we enter this body. To stand back and say we’re going to watch all this happen, and the courts will take care of it, that’s an abdication of our responsibility. 
    If you look at history, yes, it’s true, presidents have gained power. In my reading of history usually it wasn’t because presidents usurped power, but the congress abdicated it. We haven’t declared war, for example, since 1942, yet that’s a clear responsibility of congress and we sure have been in some scrapes since 1942. We’ve abdicated that power, and we’re now in the process of abdicating the power to control the appropriations process. I mention about DOGE, no authority, no accountability, no transparency, we literally don’t know what they’re doing, we can’t find out what they’re doing. Just this week, the destruction of the independent agencies, created by congress. They were created as independent agencies for a reason, because they didn’t want them to be dominated by the vicissitudes of politics. The president gets to appoint members of the board, and they’re very carefully balanced, not firing someone at the National Labor Relations Board so there’s no quorum so they can’t act. That’s a direct violation of congressionally established policy. These independent agencies were created for a reason. Again, oh, I forgot to mention, illegal firing of inspector generals. The Senator from Iowa is a champion of inspector generals. In the first few days, something like 18 inspector generals were fired, completely contrary to the law. The law is the congress must be given 30 days’ notice of the firing of an inspector general, and reasons therefore. Not done! Not a peep. 
    What’s it going to take for us to wake up, when I say us, I mean this entire body, to wake up to what’s going on here? Is it going to be too late? Is it going to be when the President has secreted all this power and the congress is an afterthought? What’s it going to take? The offenses keep piling up. As I said, leaving it to the courts, number one, is a copout, and number two, when the Vice President said something, I can’t remember exactly what he said, but ‘the courts should not have the power to do this.’ Of course, the President over the weekend famously quoted Napoleon, ‘when you’re saving your country, you don’t have to obey any law.’ Wow, a President of the United States quoting Napoleon about not having to obey the law. 
    So, I intended to talk about Ukraine, but Senator Tillis and Senator Shaheen did it so articulately, I think I’ll let that pass, except to say it’s shameful we’ve suddenly pivoted from the support of a democracy that was grossly and illegally invaded, from the support of that country to the support of a murderous dictator. I heard something about Zelenskyy is a dictator. The only dictator in this game, Mr. President, is Vladimir Putin. He’s the dictator. To argue that somehow Ukraine started the war? What universe is that — is somebody in that would say something like that? Again, I won’t pursue, but I can tell you Putin’s happy, XI Jinping is happy, Iran is happy, North Korea is happy. They love what’s going on, to see us retreating from the world, whether it’s A.I.D. or Ukraine. They love to see us retreating from the world, looking weak and looking unreliable. 
    Finally, on this point, we seem to be systematically alienating our allies. I’ve been on Armed Services for 12 years and have learned that the key asymmetric advantage this country has in the world is allies. China has customers. We have allies. Well, we’re giving that away. If I wasn’t on the floor of the U.S. Senate, I’d use a slightly different term, but we’re giving away our asymmetric advantage in the world by what looks like systematically alienating allies, whether it’s threats of tariffs or speeches in Europe telling them what their problems are, basically saying we’re going to abandon Europe. What a great idea, abandon Europe at a time there’s a murderous dictator with his eyes on the Baltics, Poland, and said he would like to reestablish the Soviet Empire. The worst possible geopolitical thing we could do would be to abandon Ukraine.
    So, Mr. President, this is a constitutional crisis, and we’ve got to respond to it. I’m just waiting for this whole body to stand up and say no, no, we don’t do it this way. We don’t do it this way. We do things constitutionally. Yes, it’s more cumbersome, it’s slower, that’s what the framers intended. They didn’t intend to have an efficient dictatorship, and that’s what we’re headed for. Mr. President, this is a very dangerous moment. We’ve got to wake up, protect this institution, but much more importantly protect the people of the United States of America. Thank you, Mr. President. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Law Enforcement Seizes Range Rover and Over $4 Million in Health Care Fraud Proceeds from Miami Couple Charged with Health Care Fraud and Money Laundering Conspiracies

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    MIAMI – Magaly Travieso, 53, of Miami, Fla., was charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and Yudorki Ramirez, 52, of Miami, Fla., was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

    According to the allegations, Travieso was an advanced practitioner registered nurse and the owner of ProMed Healthcare, L.L.C., a medical clinic that purportedly provided back and shoulder braces, physical therapy, psychosocial rehabilitation, and other mental health therapy services to beneficiaries with commercial insurance, Medicare, and Medicare Advantage Plans, and to Medicaid recipients. From approximately March 2019 through at least January 2023, Travieso allegedly conspired with others to submit over $20 million in fraudulent claims for reimbursement, of which ProMed received over $10 million. 

    Once those health care fraud proceeds were deposited into ProMed’s bank accounts, Travieso and her former spouse, Ramirez, allegedly used the fraud proceeds for their personal use and benefit.  For example, allegedly, Travieso spent approximately $75,000 in proceeds on the purchase of a 2021 Land Rover Range Rover in the name of ProMed and approximately $750,000 in proceeds on the purchase of her residence in Miami, Florida.  Similarly, Ramirez allegedly spent approximately $141,923.02 of proceeds on the purchase of his residence in Miami.  Ramirez also allegedly transferred approximately $2,068,904.55 of health care fraud proceeds to his investment accounts.  In June 2024, pursuant to seizure warrants, law enforcement seized Travieso’s Range Rover and over $4 million in health care fraud proceeds from bank accounts belonging to Travieso and Ramirez.

    Hayden P. O’Byrne, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge Justin E. Fleck from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Miami Field Office, Acting Special Agent in Charge Isaac Bledsoe of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody for the Florida Office of the Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) made the announcement.

    This case is being investigated by the FBI Miami Field Office, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Egozi is prosecuting the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Paster is handling asset forfeiture.

    Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

    ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Trump is ruling like a ‘king’, following the Putin model. How can he be stopped?

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By William Partlett, Associate Professor of Public Law, The University of Melbourne

    A month in, and it is clear even to conservatives that US President Donald Trump is attempting to fundamentally reshape the role of the American president.

    Trump and his supporters sees the natural authority of the American president in broad terms, similar to those of the Russian president, or a king. Trump, in fact, has already likened himself to a king.

    This desire to “Russify” the presidency is not an accident: Trump and many of his supporters admire the king-like power that Vladimir Putin exercises as Russian president.

    Understanding how Trump is attempting to transform presidential power is key to mobilising in the most effective way to stop it.

    Decrees by a ‘king’

    Russia’s system of government is what I call a “crown-presidential” system, which makes the president a kind of elected king.

    Two powers are central to this role.

    First, like a king, the Russian “crown-president” does not rely on an elected legislature to make policy. Instead, Putin exercises policy-making authority unilaterally via decree.

    Putin has used decrees to wage wars, privatise the economy and even to amend the constitution to lay claim to the parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia since 2014.

    He has also used these decrees in a performative way, for example, by declaring pay raises for all Russian state employees without any ability to enforce it.

    Over the last month, Trump has made similar use of decrees (what the White House now terms “presidential actions”).

    He has issued scores of presidential decrees to unilaterally reshape vast swathes of American policy – far more than past presidents. Trump sees these orders as a way of both exercising and demonstrating his vast presidential power.

    Control over the bureaucracy

    Second, like a king, Putin does not allow the Russian legislature to use the law to organise the executive branch and create agencies independent of presidential control. Instead, he has unquestioned dominance over both the organisation and staffing of the executive branch. This has given him vast power to dominate politics by controlling information gathering and legal prosecutions.

    A similar push is underway in the United States. Trump has appointed key loyalists to head the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    Moreover, he is seeking to restructure the executive branch by abolishing some agencies altogether and vastly reducing the size of the workforce in others.

    Can the courts stop Trump?

    Trump’s attempt to Russify the American presidency undermines the American constitutional order.

    Courts are the natural “first responders” in this kind of crisis. And many courts have blocked some of Trump’s early decrees.

    This legal response is important. But it is not enough on it own.

    First, the US Supreme Court might be more willing to accept this expansion of presidential power than lower courts. In a ruling last year, for example, the court granted the president immunity from criminal prosecution, showing itself to be sympathetic to broad understandings of executive power.

    Second, presidential decrees can be easily withdrawn and modified. This can allow Trump and his legal team to recalibrate as his decrees are challenged and find the best test cases to take to the Supreme Court.

    Third, parts of the conservative right have long argued for a far more powerful president. For instance, the idea of a “unitary executive” has been discussed in conservative circles for years. This essentially claims that the president should be able to direct and control the entire executive branch, from the bureaucracy to prosecutors to the FBI.

    These arguments are already being made to justify Trump’s actions. As Elon Musk has said, “you could not ask for a stronger mandate from the public” to reform the executive branch. These arguments will be made to courts to justify Trump’s expansion of power.

    Fourth, even if the Supreme Court does block some decrees, it is possible the White House will simply ignore these actions. We had an early glimpse of this when Trump posted that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law”.

    Vice President JD Vance has also said judges “aren’t allowed” to block the president’s “legitimate power”.

    The importance of political mobilisation and messaging

    Trump’s aggressive use of presidential power is not just a constitutional crisis, it is a political one. For those seeking to resist, this is too important to just be left to the courts; it must also involve America’s key political institutions.

    The most obvious place to start is in Congress. Lawmakers must act decisively to assert the legal power granted to them in the constitution to check the power of the presidency. This would include active Congressional use of its budgeting power, as well as its oversight powers on the presidency.

    This could happen now if a few Republicans were to take a principled position on important constitutional issues, though nearly all have so far preferred to fall in line. Democrats could retake both branches of Congress in the midterm elections in 2026, though, and assert this power.

    The states can and should also act to resist this expansion of presidential power. This action could take many forms, including refusing to deploy their traditional police powers to enforce decrees they view to be unconstitutional or unlawful.

    In mobilising to defend the constitution, these institutions could appeal to the American people with more than the narrow legal argument that Trump’s acts are unconstitutional. They could also make the broader political argument that turning the American president into a Russian-style, elected king will foster a form of inefficient, unresponsive and corrupt politics.

    Or, in the words of The New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, “it’s the corruption, stupid”.

    Time is of the essence. Russia shows the more time a “crown-president” is able to operate, the more entrenched this system becomes. For those hoping to preserve American democracy, the time is now for not just legal, but political resistance.

    William Partlett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump is ruling like a ‘king’, following the Putin model. How can he be stopped? – https://theconversation.com/trump-is-ruling-like-a-king-following-the-putin-model-how-can-he-be-stopped-249721

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Padilla Warns Against Kash Patel’s Nomination to Lead the FBI

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

    WATCH: Padilla calls on Republicans to stand up against unfit FBI Director nomineeWASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Committee Democrats in sounding the alarm on Kash Patel’s reckless nomination to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Padilla delivered remarks ahead of Patel’s confirmation vote at a press conference outside FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. and in a speech on the Senate floor. Patel was confirmed as FBI Director this afternoon by a final vote of 51-49.
    During the press conference this morning, Padilla raised serious concerns about Patel’s lack of judgement, independence, and preparedness to protect Americans and uphold the Constitution. He also condemned President Trump’s pattern of selecting unfit and unqualified candidates like Patel for senior positions in his administration.
    “Only in the year 2025 — when President Trump has the Republican Party basically in a headlock — can an extreme nominee like Kash Patel be put forward with the support of the President and seemingly the support of Republicans in the Senate.”
    “This isn’t just politics. There is a real threat to the safety of Americans in every community across the country. If he is confirmed, the purging of law enforcement will continue. If he is confirmed, this department will be weaponized, as he has threatened to do. If he is confirmed, Americans will be less safe.”
    On the Senate floor, Padilla called out Patel’s extreme loyalty to President Trump over his duty to oversee the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.
    “Here we are, pretending as if a man who promised to shut down the FBI headquarters on day one and turn it into a museum for the ‘Deep State’ is now fit to lead the FBI. You see, time and again, Kash Patel has shown that his loyalty lies not with the rule of law, but with Donald Trump.”
    “When it comes to protecting the security of our nation, there is no room between patriotism and patronage. The American people need and deserve a public servant who is 100 percent committed to the around-the-clock safety of the American people. Unfortunately, through his actions over the course of the last several years, [and] his conduct this past month before the Judiciary Committee, Kash Patel has demonstrated a dangerous lack of judgment, lack of preparation, and lack of independence.”
    Padilla blasted Patel for possibly lying under oath during his confirmation hearing. Despite swearing that he had no role in the firing of career FBI employees, whistleblowers have exposed Patel’s direct involvement in the mass purge of law enforcement professionals. Earlier this month, Padilla demanded answers from Patel on the removal or reassignment of career law enforcement officials across the Department of Justice and the FBI.
    Padilla also warned that Patel has openly advocated for unprecedented and reckless actions, including weaponizing the Justice Department to target political opponents and journalists, profiting from conspiracy theories about a “Deep State,” promoting an “enemies list” of public servants, and even selling picture books to children to spread disinformation about the 2016 election. He also called out Patel’s alarming refusal during his confirmation hearing to commit to enforcing existing gun laws that save lives.
    “Colleagues, stretching the truth — or potentially outright lying — may score him points with President Trump, but as Director of the FBI, it will only put American lives at risk. Think about it. To all the Americans who might be watching from home: you wouldn’t put an arsonist in charge of the fire department, would you? But with Kash Patel at the top of the FBI, that’s exactly what we’d get.”
    Padilla cautioned that confirming Patel would set a “dangerous precedent,” further eroding public safety and trust in law enforcement. He urged Senate Republicans to oppose his confirmation.
    “When a loyalist FBI Director abuses the position and fails to protect the American people, it won’t just be Kash Patel that will be held accountable. It won’t just be President Trump we will try to hold accountable. It will be every member of this body who supported his nomination that will also be held accountable.”
    Earlier this month, Senator Padilla and his Democratic colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee spoke out against Kash Patel’s nomination and urged their Republican colleagues to oppose him. During Patel’s confirmation hearing, Padilla raised serious concerns about his fitness to lead the FBI.
    Video of Padilla’s full remarks at today’s press conference is available here and can be downloaded here. Video of Padilla’s full floor remarks is available here and can be downloaded here.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Trump is ruling like a ‘king’, following the Putin model. How can he be stopped?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Partlett, Associate Professor of Public Law, The University of Melbourne

    A month in, and it is clear even to conservatives that US President Donald Trump is attempting to fundamentally reshape the role of the American president.

    Trump and his supporters sees the natural authority of the American president in broad terms, similar to those of the Russian president, or a king. Trump, in fact, has already likened himself to a king.

    This desire to “Russify” the presidency is not an accident: Trump and many of his supporters admire the king-like power that Vladimir Putin exercises as Russian president.

    Understanding how Trump is attempting to transform presidential power is key to mobilising in the most effective way to stop it.

    Decrees by a ‘king’

    Russia’s system of government is what I call a “crown-presidential” system, which makes the president a kind of elected king.

    Two powers are central to this role.

    First, like a king, the Russian “crown-president” does not rely on an elected legislature to make policy. Instead, Putin exercises policy-making authority unilaterally via decree.

    Putin has used decrees to wage wars, privatise the economy and even to amend the constitution to lay claim to the parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia since 2014.

    He has also used these decrees in a performative way, for example, by declaring pay raises for all Russian state employees without any ability to enforce it.

    Over the last month, Trump has made similar use of decrees (what the White House now terms “presidential actions”).

    He has issued scores of presidential decrees to unilaterally reshape vast swathes of American policy – far more than past presidents. Trump sees these orders as a way of both exercising and demonstrating his vast presidential power.

    Control over the bureaucracy

    Second, like a king, Putin does not allow the Russian legislature to use the law to organise the executive branch and create agencies independent of presidential control. Instead, he has unquestioned dominance over both the organisation and staffing of the executive branch. This has given him vast power to dominate politics by controlling information gathering and legal prosecutions.

    A similar push is underway in the United States. Trump has appointed key loyalists to head the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    Moreover, he is seeking to restructure the executive branch by abolishing some agencies altogether and vastly reducing the size of the workforce in others.

    Can the courts stop Trump?

    Trump’s attempt to Russify the American presidency undermines the American constitutional order.

    Courts are the natural “first responders” in this kind of crisis. And many courts have blocked some of Trump’s early decrees.

    This legal response is important. But it is not enough on it own.

    First, the US Supreme Court might be more willing to accept this expansion of presidential power than lower courts. In a ruling last year, for example, the court granted the president immunity from criminal prosecution, showing itself to be sympathetic to broad understandings of executive power.

    Second, presidential decrees can be easily withdrawn and modified. This can allow Trump and his legal team to recalibrate as his decrees are challenged and find the best test cases to take to the Supreme Court.

    Third, parts of the conservative right have long argued for a far more powerful president. For instance, the idea of a “unitary executive” has been discussed in conservative circles for years. This essentially claims that the president should be able to direct and control the entire executive branch, from the bureaucracy to prosecutors to the FBI.

    These arguments are already being made to justify Trump’s actions. As Elon Musk has said, “you could not ask for a stronger mandate from the public” to reform the executive branch. These arguments will be made to courts to justify Trump’s expansion of power.

    Fourth, even if the Supreme Court does block some decrees, it is possible the White House will simply ignore these actions. We had an early glimpse of this when Trump posted that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law”.

    Vice President JD Vance has also said judges “aren’t allowed” to block the president’s “legitimate power”.

    The importance of political mobilisation and messaging

    Trump’s aggressive use of presidential power is not just a constitutional crisis, it is a political one. For those seeking to resist, this is too important to just be left to the courts; it must also involve America’s key political institutions.

    The most obvious place to start is in Congress. Lawmakers must act decisively to assert the legal power granted to them in the constitution to check the power of the presidency. This would include active Congressional use of its budgeting power, as well as its oversight powers on the presidency.

    This could happen now if a few Republicans were to take a principled position on important constitutional issues, though nearly all have so far preferred to fall in line. Democrats could retake both branches of Congress in the midterm elections in 2026, though, and assert this power.

    The states can and should also act to resist this expansion of presidential power. This action could take many forms, including refusing to deploy their traditional police powers to enforce decrees they view to be unconstitutional or unlawful.

    In mobilising to defend the constitution, these institutions could appeal to the American people with more than the narrow legal argument that Trump’s acts are unconstitutional. They could also make the broader political argument that turning the American president into a Russian-style, elected king will foster a form of inefficient, unresponsive and corrupt politics.

    Or, in the words of The New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, “it’s the corruption, stupid”.

    Time is of the essence. Russia shows the more time a “crown-president” is able to operate, the more entrenched this system becomes. For those hoping to preserve American democracy, the time is now for not just legal, but political resistance.

    William Partlett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Trump is ruling like a ‘king’, following the Putin model. How can he be stopped? – https://theconversation.com/trump-is-ruling-like-a-king-following-the-putin-model-how-can-he-be-stopped-249721

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cornyn Votes to Confirm Kash Patel for FBI Director

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Texas John Cornyn

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released the following statement after Kash Patel was confirmed as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):

    “Kash Patel is a patriot who exemplifies the American dream. He understands that the rule of law is what makes America an exceptional nation, which is a stark contrast from what we saw over the last four years under Joe Biden. I’m confident he will reestablish trust in the bureau as FBI Director, and I was proud to support his nomination.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz

    Source: The White House

    class=”has-text-align-left”>
    1:05 P.M. EST
     
         MS. LEAVITT:  Hello.  Good afternoon, everybody.  I brought some heavy hitters in here with me today. 
     
    Today marks one month of President Trump’s return to the Oval Office, and there is no denying this administration is off to a historic start.  The President has already signed 73 executive orders.  That is more than double the number signed by Joe Biden and more than quadruple the number signed by Barack Obama over the same period.
     
    These executive orders have ended burdensome regulations; sealed the border; unleashed our domestic energy sector; eliminated divisive DEI from our federal government; stopped the weaponization of government; cut waste, fraud, and abuse; reinstituted “America First” trade and foreign policies; and ultimately restored common sense. 
     
    The President also signed the Laken Riley Act into law, which ensures ICE will detain illegal aliens arrested or charged with theft or violence. 
     
    As of today, the Senate has already confirmed 18 Cabinet-level nominees, which is more than at this point under the Obama administration in 2009 and more than double the pace of the Biden administration in 2021. 
     
    And today, we expect Kash Patel to be confirmed as the next director of the FBI. 
     
    We are proud to announce that the president will host his first official Cabinet meeting here at the White House next Wednesday, February 26th. 
     
    In just four weeks, President Trump has already hosted the leaders of Israel, Japan, Jordan, and India.  And next Monday, the President will host France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, and on Thursday, the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, will visit the White House as well. 
     
    As you all know, over the past month, the President has taken questions from the press — all of you — nearly every single day, sometimes on multiple different occasions in the same day, on any topic any of you wish to talk about. 
     
    President Trump set the tone on this approach immediately when he took more than 12 times the questions in his first few hours in office as Joe Biden did in his entire first week. 
     
    Yesterday, we hosted a local media row here at the White House with television and radio stations from across the country that reached up to 60 million viewers and listeners. 
     
    In our ongoing pursuit of transparency, on this one-month celebration, I am thrilled to bring three of my colleagues and our policy experts here at the White House to further recap this incredible first month of accomplishments in greater detail.
     
    We have Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller; the Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett; and our National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz. 
     
    I will hand it over to them.  They will deliver brief remarks on the accomplishments of this administration in the first month, and then we will open it up to Q and A.  When we open up the Q and A portion, I do ask, for the sake of efficiency in this room, that you direct your question to the principal you seek an answer from.  And I will call on you in this room.
     
    But first I will let them roll through their remarks.  And first up, I’ll turn it over to Stephen Miller.
     
    MR. MILLER:  Thank you.  It’s great to be back.
     
    And I want to just thank you all for joining today our one-month celebration of the most historic opening to a presidency in American history.  No president comes close to what Donald Trump has achieved over just the last 30 days.
     
    He has packed eight years of transformative action restoring this nation, restoring our laws, restoring fairness, restoring economic opportunity, restoring national security in just one month.  No one in this country has ever seen anything like it. 
     
    And when you look at the consequentiality and the significance and the transformative nature of the actions he’s taking, it truly defies description.  For example, in just one area, this nation has been plagued and crippled by illegal discrimination: diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.  It strangled our economy.  It has undermined public safety.  It has made every aspect of life more difficult, more painful, and less safe. 
     
    He has ended all DEI across the federal government.  He has terminated all federal workers involved in promulgating these unlawful policies.  He has ended diversity, equity, and inclusion in all federal contracting.  He has restored merit as the cornerstone of all federal policy; restored the full, fair, impartial enforcement of our federal civil rights laws for the first time in generations; and he has cracked down on individuals across this government and nonprofits who have engaged in illegal racial discrimination against the American people. 
     
    This includes making clear to every educational institution in this country that ending diversity, equity, and inclusion, ending unlawful race discrimination is a precondition of receiving federal funds. 
     
    He has also saved women’s sports by ending the participation of men in women’s sports.  He has ended radical gender ideology across the entire federal government, and he’s pressured the private sector to also end and combat radical gender ideology.  He’s reestablished the scientific and biological truth that there are only two sexes in this country — male and female — that those are biologically based determinations.  They are not based and can never be based on gender identity. 
     
    That includes rooting out of the Department of Defense all DEI policies, all critical race theory, all gender madness, and once again having a military that is focused solely and exclusively on readiness, preparedness, and lethality.
     
    As I’m sure Kevin will talk about more, of course, he has undertaken a historic cost-cutting effort across the federal government, launching the first-ever Department of Government Efficiency, uncovering corruption on a scale that we never thought imaginable, terminating every single federal worker that we — that we have found to be engaged in the corruption and theft and the waste of taxpayer dollars, and already saving $50 billion in a single year, which over a 10-year period would be $500 billion.  Just think about how vast and enormous that sum is. 
     
    Of course, as you all know, he has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to its correct and proper name: the Gulf of America.  He has renamed Mount Denali into Mount McKinley, part of a historic effort to restore patriotism and national pride all across this land. 
     
    He has ended the weaponization of the federal government, restored the Department of Justice to its true mission of combating threats to this nation and keeping the American people safe. 
     
    He has ended all federal censorship of free speech.  This has been one of the greatest crises that has plagued this nation.  Years and years and years, the federal government violating the First Amendment to take away Americans’ right of free speech — President Trump has ended that.  And he has demanded that all federal workers, all law enforcement cease any effort to intimidate the rights of Americans or to police their speech. 
     
    He has also restored the death penalty at the Department of Justice, including for illegal aliens who commit murder, including for those who murder cops, and including for all of those who threaten Americans with heinous acts of violence.  The death penalty is back.  Law and order is back.  The streets are being made safe once again. 
     
    On the public health front, he has launched the nation’s first-ever commission — the MAHA Commission — Make America Healthy Again, following the historic confirmation of RFK Jr., to finally uncover the true root causes of the public health crisis in this country, the childhood disease epidemic in this country, the spiraling rates of pediatric cancer and devastating childhood sickness. 
     
    He has finally created a situation where the federal heal- — health agencies in this country will be focused on preventing disease, on keeping children from getting sick in the first place, not sentencing them to a lifetime in and out of hospitals, suffering needlessly, when we can find ways to prevent this epidemic of illness. 
     
    Then, of course, on homeland security.  Today, it is officially the law of the land at the conclusion of the congressional notification process that six Mexican cartels and two transnational gangs — Tren de Aragua, or TDA, and MS-13 — so eight organizations in total — are now formally designated as foreign terrorist organizations, which means that every single member of those organizations who operates on U.S. soil is now, as a legal matter, a terrorist, and they will be treated as terrorists. 
     
    This is a sea change in U.S. policy.  And this means the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, along with the rest of U.S. law enforcement and the Department of Defense, are now operating in a legal reality where these cartels are recognized as terrorists, and there will be a whole-of-government effort to remove these terrorists from our soil and to degrade their ability to threaten or undermine any American security or sovereignty interests.
     
    Border crossings since the day he took office are down 95 percent.  I think it’s almost impossible to even describe the scale and scope of that achievement.  President Trump, within days of taking office, cut border crossings 95 percent. 
     
    And those few who have dared to cross are being either prosecuted or deported.  They’re either facing significant jail time for trafficking, smuggling, harboring, aiding, impeding, or they’re being immediately removed from our soil.  Either way, at the end of the process, they are going home. 
     
    He has reimplemented Remain in Mexico, and he has obtained historic cooperation from foreign countries all around the world in accepting their deportees back. 
     
    And he has used the United States military to fully seal the southern border with a historic deployment of both active duty and National Guard troops, resumed the building of infrastructure.  He has opened up Guantanamo Bay, and he’s using military aircraft to carry out deportations all across this country. 
     
    And ICE is joining with ATF, DEA, and FBI to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.  The criminals are going home.  The border is sealed shut.  America is safe, sovereign, proud, and free.  We are a nation that everyone in the world understands all across this planet: You do not come here illegally.  You will not get in.  You will go to jail.  You will go home.  You will not succeed. 
     
    This is the biggest and most successful change in any area of law enforcement that this nation has ever seen, and he did it in under one month. 
     
    Thank you.
     
    MR. HASSETT:  Should I go?
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Yes, yes.
     
    MR. HASSETT:  Well, thank you, Karoline.  Thank you, Stephen. 
     
    You know, one of the things that President Trump cares most about is job creation.  And it was about seven years ago I had the honor of joining you in this room for the first time, and it looks like we’ve created a lot more jobs in the last month.  Look at how many people are here.  I — my estimate is about 180 but — but I didn’t count. 
     
    So, thank you.  It’s really an honor to be back here.  I think that I just want to go over a few things and then hand it off to Mike. 
     
    The first thing is that the President has told us to prioritize fighting inflation, and he had to do that because, as you know, President Biden let inflation get completely out of control.  And he did it with policies that made no sense.  They made no sense. 
     
    You know, a lot of times, you people say to us — our friends, the journalists — you know, “Why are you doing that?”  But — but, you know, I like to think, “Why did they do that?  Why did they spend so much money and then — why did the Fed print so much money so that we had inflation as high as we’ve ever seen since Jimmy Carter?  So, why did they do that?”
     
    So, we’re addressing inflation.  We didn’t have to address it in the first term, because it was always in the 1s, almost always.  But we’re going to get it back there. 
     
    And how are we doing it?  Well, we’re doing it with a plan that President Trump and I and others have talked about in the Oval that involves, like, every level of fighting inflation. 
     
    First, the macroeconomic level.  We’re cutting spending.  We’re cutting spending in negotiations with people on the Hill.  We’re cutting spending with the advice of our IT consultant, Elon Musk.  And then we’re also looking into supply-side things, like restoring Trump’s tax cuts, maybe even expensing new factories so that there is an explosion of supply.  If you have an explosion of supply and a reduction in government demand, then inflation goes way down. 
     
    And then, one of the things that you want to say is “Well, when are you going to see it?”  Well, the first thing that you’ll see when the markets believe that we’re going to get inflation under control is that the 10-year Treasury rate goes down, because that’s how they think about future expected inflation. 
     
    And so, we’re still going to see some memory of Biden’s inflation.  It’s not going to go away in a month.  But the 10-year Treasury before the last Consumer Price Index had dropped about 40 basis points.  Forty basis points because markets were optimistic about our ability to fight inflation. 
     
    Forty basis points is kind of not a fun thing to say.  I — economists talk that way.  I apologize.  But the way to think about it is, for a typical mortgage, if that affects the mortgage rate, then it’s going to save a typical family buying a house about a thousand bucks a year, and that’s just in our first month. 
     
    Okay.  The second thing we’ve done is we’ve had a lot of trade talks.  In fact, I was just meeting a minister from Mexico with Howard Lutnick just a couple of hours ago.  And we’re talking about reciprocal trade, and we’re also talking about the fentanyl crisis. 
     
    And so, reciprocal trade is about our government treating other governments the way they treat us.  We want trade to be fair.  It turns out that Americans have been disadvantaged by foreign governments over and over, and President Trump wants it to stop.  And the fact that struck me as most noticeable, when I started to look at what President Trump was asking us to do, is that last year — last year — we have data — U.S. companies paid $370 billion in taxes to foreign governments — $370 billion.  Last year, foreign multinationals paid us $57 billion in taxes. 
     
    We have one quarter of world GDP.  They have three quarters of world GDP.  And we’re paying $370.  They’re paying $57.  This is not reciprocal.  We’re going to try — or we’re going to fix it. 
     
    The other thing that we’ve done is we’ve had an all-of-the-above energy approach that’s led by Doug Burgum and Chris and a really large team — EPA — and we’ve already made so many actions that are going to affect the price of energy and lower inflation. 
     
    We’ve opened up 625 million acres to energy exploration.  We’ve cut 50 years of red tape that makes it so you can’t have permits.  And we’ve even made it so that when you go home, if you get a new one, then you can take a shower or flush a toilet or read under a light bulb.  We’re doing that too. 
     
    So — so, finally, let’s just think about, like, the facts that we can see right now that we think are awesome.  So, guess what?  Small-business optimism is — has go- — gone up by the most ever since President Trump came in.  ISM, which is the measure of what’s going on in manufacturing, it’s expanding again for the first time in years.  CEO confidence is the highest it’s been in years.  And the reason — the reason people are thinking this is that our policies give people cause for optimism. 
     
    And then I want to reiterate what Stephen Miller said, because it’s so important — and it’s so important for financial markets to start to digest this — that if, say, the Treasury secretary or the — any Cabinet secretary, with Elon Musk, is able to find some savings — say, $100 billion — well, in CBO land, that’s actually, like, about 10 times that or maybe 12 times that over a 10-year window. 
     
    And so, when you’re thinking about the negotiations right now over reconciliation and thinking about, well, $4 trillion, $5 trillion, well, those numbers, in terms of the savings, are going to end up being small because of all the waste that we’re finding. 
     
    And so, we’re incredibly optimistic about the future of inflation and the future of our economy.  And we’re optimistic because we’re making so much progress so far, and we already see it in market prices. 
     
    And, with that, I’ll hand it off to Mike. 
     
    MR. WALTZ:  All right.  Thanks, Kevin. 
     
    Well, good afternoon.  What a month and what a sea change in our — in our foreign policy.  In addition to what we’re doing on the border and restoring American sovereignty, in addition to what we’re doing in our economy and the job creation and the inflation reduction, we are bringing the world back to where it was at the end of President Trump’s first term, which is a world of peace, prosperity, and — and looking forward and getting us out of the chaos that we’ve just seen over the last four years. 
     
    So, over the last month, just to name a few, I had the honor of sitting in the Oval Office as President Trump spoke with President Putin and then immediately spoke with President Zelenskyy, and both of them said only President Trump could bring both sides to the table, and only President Trump could stop the horrific fighting that has been going on now for the better part of four years and that only President Trump could drive the world back to peace.  Both of those leaders said that in back-to-back calls.
     
    And, of course, we just had our historic talks mediated by our — our good friends and partners, Saudi Arabia — we give great thanks to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for hosting — and sat down for the first time in years with the Russians and talked about a path forward with peace.
     
    On top of that and one of the things that led to that was a tremendous co- — confidence-building measure that we had with the release of Marc Fogel.  I’ll remind everyone, the last time that we had an American released from the Russians, either we gave up a deadly spy; pressured our allies to give up a lethal killer; or we released, under the Biden administration, the world’s most notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout, who, by the way, had one of his main clients for arms the cartels in — in Mexico and Central America. 
     
    We gave up none of that.  This was released as a confidence-building measure, working with our great Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, and our secretary of State as a first step towards opening these talks and then moving forward towards peace. 
     
    On top of that, we’ve secured, just in a month, the return of a dozen — 12 — American hostages from Russia, from Bulgaria, from Venezuela, the Taliban, and Hamas.  Excuse me, that’s from Belarus, not Bulgaria. 
     
    We also had — for the first time in quite some time, we took out a senior leader of ISIS, an international financier and recruiter that the military had been trying to take out for quite some time and — and wasn’t able to do so, frankly, because of a bureaucratic approval process.  President Trump said, “Take him out.”  And that ISIS financier and leader is no longer on this Earth. 
     
    We’ve also taken action to eliminate other terrorist organizations in the Middle East.  We drove — before the President was even in office, he started talking consequences for people that would hold Americans. 
     
    Heretofore, there’s been nothing but upside.  You take an American, you get some better deal.  You take another one, maybe you get a better deal.  No more.  There is now nothing but downside for taking Americans illegally, either as hostages or illegal detainees. 
     
    And when President Trump sent a very clear message across the Middle East, but particularly to Hamas, that there would be all hell to pay, we suddenly saw a breakthrough.  And now we just saw the release of yet another group of hostages.  There have been dozens now, including two Americans that we’ve seen once again reunited with their families. 
     
    As part of the talks with King Abdullah, he offered — and — and I think the entire world has graciously accepted — to take 2,000 sick children, cancer patients, and others out of Gaza.  As a humanitarian — as a humanitarian gesture, 2,000 Gazans will come out of that hellhole that it is, that wasteland that Gaza is right now, with unexploded ordnance, with debris everywhere, with no sewage, with no water.  And — and President Trump has — has put forward a plan to deal with the practical reality that is 1.8 million Gazans now — now truly suffering.
     
    And then, you know, just to bring it back to our own hemisphere, we’ve seen literally, in the last month — after years of national security experts, the generals in charge, and others testifying and ringing the alarm bells about — about the Chinese Communist Party’s presence in our own hemisphere, particularly in the Panama Canal, we’re seeing the leadership of Panama step away from the Belt and Road program, move away from China and back towards the United States, and even enter into talks and — and other negotiations about addressing the ports on either side of the canal. 
     
    And then, finally, last but not least, we’ve had four world leaders in the White House, in the Oval Office.  We’ve had the prime minister of Japan, the prime minister of India, the king of — of Jordan, and, of course, the prime minister of Israel just in the last four weeks.  And next week, we’ll have the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and we’ll have the president of France, Macron. 
     
    So, President Trump is on what we call Trump warp speed.  We are all — we are all honored to be really serving under — under his leadership and his vision.  And truly, you know, when we all say — and the President himself say — says, he is a president of peace.  He is a president focused on restoring stability.  I think the entire world saw what the world would look like without strong American leadership in the last four years.
     
    And it’s truly been an honor to get us back to where we were and back on track under President Trump’s leadership. 
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Thank you, Mike. 
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Mm-hmm.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  I’m sure you’re very eager to ask questions of these very smart people working very hard on behalf of the president. 
     
    We do have somebody in our new media seat today.  We have John Stoll, who is the head of news at X.  As you all know — you’re all on X — it’s home to hundreds of millions of users, a large contingent of independent journalists and news organizations across geographies and political spectrums.  And at the same time, X remains the go-to platform for many legacy news outlets.  And I know, as I mentioned, many of the reporters in this room use X to attract eyeballs to your work. 
     
    Prior to joining X, John spent two decades in journalism, including several years as an editor at The Wall Street Journal.  We are excited to have him in the briefing room today.
     
    John, we’ll let you kick it off.  And as I said at the top, please direct your question to the individual up here who you’d like an answer from. 
     
    John, why don’t you begin.
     
    Q    All right.  Thank you very much.  I am sitting in for a thriving ecosystem of journalists, independent and — and emerging news organizations who do depend on X for publicity, for a business model.  And so, I look forward to seeing many of them in this seat in months and years to come. 
     
    I also thank you, Karoline, for opening this seat up to new media.  It — it really is a testament not only to your open-mindedness but also to innovation that you’d actually think about, you know, folks that are not traditionally credentialed to be in this room to be in this room and to not only have a question but also to witness — you know, this is at a very important intersection of power and the free press.
     
    And so, just the ability to witness this and — and be part of it, it brings everybody’s game up.  So, thank you for that. 
     
    I think this is for Mike Waltz.  My question is about Ukraine.
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Sure.
     
    Q    For about more than 10 years, I’ve been fascinated, like all — like many, with what’s going on.  I was in Northern Europe working out of the Baltics when Crimea was annexed and was — a lot — a lot of this came on Twitter.  The platform used to be known as Twitter.  Was — a lot of European leaders would — would talk about their disappointment and — and solidarity with Ukraine, but when it came to actually doing something, it felt like they were passing a hot potato and sent it over the Atlantic. 
     
    I wonder how much of what we’re seeing right now out of the administration and President Trump is a call to Europe and the European leaders and allies that we’ve traditionally had to pick up that hot potato and — and start doing something a little bit more concrete to win and preserve the peace in Ukraine. 
     
    The second question I have is — it — it’s related — is there’s been some — a lot of speculation that President Trump and the administration might be manipulated by Pre- — by Vladimir Putin.  I wonder if you can just talk a little bit about the administration’s posture —
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Yeah.
     
    Q    — and your confidence in the competence of this administration to d- — go toe to toe with Vladimir Putin. 
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Well, if there’s an- — I’ll take the l- — second question first.  If there’s anybody in this world that can go toe to toe with Putin, that could go toe to toe with Xi, that could go toe to toe with Kim Jong Un — and we could keep going down the list — it’s Donald J. Trump.  He is the dealmaker in chief.  There is no question that he is the commander in chief. 
     
    And I, for one — and I think all Americans and around the world should have no doubt about his ability to not only handle Putin but to handle the complexity of driving this war to an end. 
     
    And then on your first piece on Europe, I’ll take you back to 2014.  You’re right.  There was a lot of hand-wringing in Europe and not a lot of action.  There was also a lot of hand-wringing here in Washington under the Obama administration and not a lot of action.  They literally threw blankets at the problem. 
     
    And so, I’ll remind everyone that Putin had, you know, some type of conflict, invasion, or issue with their neighbor under President Bush, with Georgia; under President Obama, with Ukraine in 2014; not under President Trump, 45; and again with President Biden in 2022.  The war should have been deterred.  The war should have never happened, and I have no doubt it would not have happened under President Trump and will stop under President — President Trump again. 
     
    But I just want to push back on this notion of our European allies not being consulted as we’ve entered into this process.  I already mentioned the immediate phone call President Trump made to President Zelenskyy.  He has talked to President Macron of France repeatedly last week.  President Macron convened European leaders and then is coming here on Monday.  Prime Minister Starmer is coming next Thursday. 
     
    We’ve also — I’ve talked to every one of my national security — national security advisor counterparts across — across the spectrum in Europe.  I’ve talked to Secretary-General Rutte, the — the leader of NATO, the secretary-general of NATO.  We have repeatedly — oh, by the way, we had half our Cabinet — seven Cabinet officials, including the vice president, at the Munich Security Conference, all engaging, all listening, and all making sure our allies were heard. 
     
    However, we’ve also made it clear for years — decades, even — that it is unacceptable that the United States and the United States taxpayer continues to bear the burden not only of the cost of the war in Ukraine but of the defense of — of Europe.  We fully support our NATO Allies.  We fully support the Article 5 commitment.  But it’s time for our European allies to step up. 
     
    And one of the things that Secretary-General Rutte said on our call was this last couple of weeks have been a real wake-up call.  And I asked him, “What have you been missing the last couple of years?” 
     
    The fact that we are going to enter into a NATO summit this June with a third of our NATO Allies still not meeting the 2 percent minimum, a commitment they made a decade ago — literally a decade ago — with a war on their doorstep — the largest war that they’re all extremely concerned about — but yet it’s “Well, somebody else needs to pay.  We’ve got other domestic priorities.”  It’s unacceptable.  President Trump has made that clear. 
     
    And the minimum needs to be met.  We need to be at 100 percent in — this June at the NATO summit.  And then let’s talk about exceeding it, which what — is what President Trump has been talking about, with 5 percent of GDP. 
     
    Europe needs to step up for their own defense as a partner.  And we can be friends and allies and have those tough conversations. 
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Great.  Peter.
     
    Q    Thank you, Karoline.  I have a Ukraine one and a DOGE one.  Who can talk DOGE?
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Stephen, go ahead.
     
    Q    Well, so — so, Stephen, we’re hearing about these DOGE dividend checks that would be 20 percent back to taxpayers, 20 percent to pay down the debt.  Sixty percent is left.  Who gets that?
     
    MR. MILLER:  Well, the way that it works is when you achieve savings, you can either return it to taxpayers, you can return it to our debtors, or it can be cycled into next year’s budget, and then it just lowers the overall baseline for next year.  So, in other words, you can just transfer it into the next fiscal window and then lower the overall spending level.  And that means that you can achieve a permanent savings that way, and that reduces the deficit. 
     
    Q    And when is it that people might see those checks?
     
    MR. MILLER:  Well, this is all going to be worked on through the reconciliation process with Congress that’s going underway right now, as you’ve seen.  The Senate is moving a bill.  The House is moving a bill.  The president has great confidence in both chambers to deliver on his priorities. 
     
    I would just take this opportunity to note that President Trump has made a historic commitment to the working class of this country to fight for a major tax relief and major price relief.  And cutting spending, as DOGE is doing, and cutting taxes is the key to delivering on both of those promises.  And President Trump is resolutely committed to doing both. 
     
    Q    Thank you.  And on Ukraine.  I guess, this is for Mike.
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Sure. 
     
    Q    After the president’s post on Truth Social yesterday, need to know: Who does he think is more responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin or Zelenskyy?
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Well, look, his — his goal, Peter, is to bring this war to an end, period.  And there has been ongoing fighting on both sides.  It is World War I-style trench warfare. 
     
    His frustration with President Zelenskyy is — that you’ve heard — is multifold.  One, there needs to be a deep appreciation for what the American people, what the American taxpayer, what President Trump did in — in his first term, and what we’ve done since.  So, some of the rhetoric coming out of Kyiv, frankly, and — and insults to President Trump were unacceptable.  Number one. 
     
    Number two, our own secretary of Treasury personally made the trip to offer the Ukrainians what is — can only be described as a historic opportunity — that is for America to coinvest with Ukraine in their minerals, in their resources, to truly grow the pie. 
     
    So, case in point, there’s a foundry that processes aluminum in Ukraine.  It’s — it’s been damaged.  It’s not at its current capacity.  If that is restored, it would account for America’s entire imports of aluminum for an entire year — that one foundry.
     
    There are tremendous resources there.  Not only is that long-term security for Ukraine, not only do we help them grow the pie with investments, but, you know, we do have an obligation to the American taxpayer in helping them recoup the hundreds of billions that ha- — that have occurred. 
     
    So, you know, rather than enter — enter into some constructive conversations about what that deal should be going forward, we got a lot of rhetoric in the media that was — that was incredibly unfortunate. 
     
    And I could just tell you, Peter, you know, as a veteran, as somebody who’s been in combat, this war is horrific.  And I think we’ve lost sight of that, of the literally thousands of people that are dying a day, families that are going without the next generation. 
     
    And I find it kind of, you know, frankly, ridiculous.  So many people in Washington that were just demanding, pounding the table for a ceasefire in Gaza are suddenly aghast that the president would demand one and both sides come to the table when it talks to — when it comes to Ukraine, a war that has been arguably far greater in — in scope and scale and far more dangerous in terms of global escalation to U.S. security.
     
    Q    And I do have one for Karoline.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Sure.
     
    Q    Does President Trump have a bet with Trudeau about this USA-Canada hockey game tonight?  (Laughter.)  And when there is a big hockey game on, is the president watching for the goals or for the fights?
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  (Laughs.)  Probably both.  I think he’s watching for the United States to win tonight.  I know he talked to the USA hockey team this morning.  He talked to the players after their morning practice, around 10 o’clock.  And I also spoke to some folks from that team after.  They were jubilant over President Trump’s comments to the team.  I believe they’re going to put out a video of that call. 
     
    So, he looks forward to watching the game tonight, and we look forward to the United States beating our soon-to-be 51st state, Canada.  (Laughter.)
     
    Bloomberg, go ahead. 
     
    Q    My question is for Mike Waltz.  Can you give us a readout of Kellogg’s meeting with Zelenskyy that just wrapped up?  And, in particular, Zelenskyy publicly rejected this deal about the rare earth minerals.  Where — where does that stand?
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Well, we’re going to continue to have — he needs to come back to the table, and we’re going to continue to have discussions about where that deal is going. 
     
    Again, we have an obligation to the taxpayer.  I think this is an opportunity.  The president thinks this is an opportunity for Ukraine going forward.  There can be, in my view, nothing better for Ukraine’s future and for their security than — than to have the United States invested in their prosperity long-term.  And then a key piece of this has also been security guarantees. 
     
    Look, the — the reality that we’re talking about here is: Is it in Ukraine’s interest?  Is it in Europe’s interest?  It certainly isn’t in Russia’s interest or in the American people’s interest for this war to grind on forever and ever and ever. 
     
    So, a key part of his conversation was helping President Zelenskyy understand this war needs to come to an end.  This kind of open-ended mantra that we’ve had under the Biden administration, that’s over.  And I think a lot of people are having a hard time accepting that.
     
    And then the other piece is there’s been discussions from Prime Minister Starmer and also President Macron about European-led security guarantees.  We welcome that.  We’ve been asking Europe to step up and secure its own prosperity, safety, and security.  So, we certainly welcome that. 
     
    And we certainly welcome more European assistance.  As I told my counterparts, “Come to the table with more, if — if you want a bigger seat at the table.”  And we’ve been asking for that for quite some time. 
     
    Q    And has Russia pushed for sanctions in your talks with them?  And have you consulted with international partners and allies about potentially rolling back sanctions in these negotiations to end the war?
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Those — the talks with — with our Russian counterparts — both with my counterpart, the national security advisor; Secretary Rubio’s counterpart, the Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Lavrov — you know, it — it really were — was quite broad, focused on what is the goals for our broader relationship, but very clear that the fighting has to stop to get to any of those brighter goals. 
     
    And as a first step, we’re just going to do some commonsense things, like restore the — the ability of both of our embassies to function. 
     
    And, again, you know, this is — this was common sense.  In — in foreign policy world, they call it “shuttle diplomacy.”  We have to talk to both sides in order to get to both sides to the table, and both sides have said only President Trump could do that. 
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Diana.
     
    Q    Thank you.  And my question is for Mike Waltz.  (Laughter.)
     
    MR. WALTZ:  All right.
     
    Q    The president has called Zelenskyy a dictator.  Does he view Putin as a dictator? 
     
    And does he want Zelenskyy out of power?  I know he’s called for elections. 
     
    And then, thirdly, the head of the Defense Committee in Ukraine’s parliament just has claimed that the U.S. has stopped selling weapons to Ukraine.  Is that true?
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Well, most of our weapons that have gone to Ukraine have been part of a drawdown authority, where we’ve literally taken them out of our stocks and then, eventually, through appropriations, started buying them again to refill our stocks. 
     
    I’ll, you know, just state that there has been a lag in a lot of that process.  So, many of our stocks, as we look at our operations around the world, are becoming more depleted.  That’s one of the reasons many people have had a lot of concern about: When does this end?  How much is it going to take?  How many lives will be lost?  How much will we be — how much will we spend? 
     
    As a member of Congress, we repeatedly asked the Biden administration those questions, and we never got a satisfactory answer. 
     
    Look, President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelenskyy — the fact that — that he hasn’t come to the table, that he hasn’t been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered.  I think he eventually will get to that point, and I hope so very quickly.
     
    But President Trump is — as we made clear to our Russian counterparts, and I want to make clear today — he’s focused on stopping the fighting and moving forward.  And we could argue all day long about what’s happened in the past. 
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Reagan.
     
    Q    Thanks.  I have a question for Stephen —
     
    (Cross-talk.)
     
    Q    — and a question for Mike.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Excuse me, I just called on Reagan.  Reagan, go ahead. 
     
    Q    I have a question for Stephen and a question for Mike. 
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Sure.
     
    Q    Stephen, I can start with you.  There have been reports —
     
    MR. MILLER:  Thank you.
     
    Q    — that Trump is unhappy with the rate of deportations and he wants them to be higher.  Is the president happy with the rate of deportations, and are there any plans to speed up the process?
     
    MR. MILLER:  Well, first of all, we all appreciate the encouragement from the media to deport as many illegal aliens as humanly possible.  So, thank you. 
     
    And I will promise you that the full might of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and every element and instrument of national power will be used to remove, with speed, all criminal illegals from the soil of the United States of America, to enforce final removal orders, and to ensure that this country is for American citizens and those who legally belong in this country.
     
    We inherited an ICE that was completely shuttered.  We inherited a Department of Homeland Security whose sole mission was to resettle illegal aliens within the United States of America. 
     
    In 30 days, the president sealed the border shut, declared the cartels to be terrorist organizations, has increased ICE deportations to levels not seen in decades, and we are shortly on the verge of achieving a pace and speed of deportations this country has never before seen. 
     
    Thank you. 
     
    Q    And Mike.
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Mm-hmm.
     
    Q    There have been reports that there’s some underground opposition to Trump’s pick for Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge Colby.  Have you or anyone from the administration been personally lobbying senators to support Elbridge Colby? 
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Look, I’ve worked with Bridge Co- — Colby in the past.  He has the president’s full support to be the Undersecretary of policy, which will be a critical policy arm for Secretary Hegseth going forward that will implement a lot of these policies. 
     
    And — and really, that’s — that’s been the extent of it.  I think there’s been a lot of kind of, you know, breathless — I don’t know — back-and-forth in the — in the press, but we’re full speed ahead to get the president’s team in place so we can implement his America First policy. 
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Thank you.  Mike has spoken pretty extensively.  Does anybody have questions for Stephen or for Mr. Hassett?
     
    Q    I do.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Nobody wants to talk about the economy?  (Laughter.)
     
    (Cross-talk.)
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Sure. 
     
    Q    IRS.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  IRS.  Okay.  Go ahead.
     
    Q    And this would be for either one of you.  So, we have reported, several other outlets have reported that about 3,500 people are due to be — lose their jobs at the IRS by the end of the week.  If the goal of these spending cuts across the federal government has been to reduce the debt, why impose some of the deepest cuts we’ve seen so far at the agency responsible for raising revenue for the federal government?
     
    MR. HASSETT:  Well, I think our objective is to make sure that the employees that we pay are being productive and effective.  And there are many, many — more than 100,000 people working to collect taxes, and not all of them are fully occupied.  And the Treasury secretary is studying the matter and feels like 3,500 is a small number and probably can get bigger, especially as we improve the IT at the IRS.
     
    And so — so, I think that it’s absolutely something that is on the table for good reasons.  And the point is that — don’t just talk about the IRS.  Talk about all of government, that there are so many places — I live in D.C.; you maybe live in D.C. — where you never — there — nobody — nobody is going into the buildings.  People aren’t commuting because nobody is doing their job.  We look back and we see that there are all these people doing two jobs while they’re getting a government payroll — on the payroll. 
     
    So, the point is, we’re fixing that, and the IRS is a small part of that picture. 
     
    Q    So, you’re saying that everybody who’s being let go was doing a bad job?
    MR. HASSETT:  I’m saying that we’re studying every agency and deciding who to let go and why, and we’re doing so very rationally with a lot of support from analysis. 
     
    Q    Because we’re being told by a lot of people who have been let go at other agencies that they were told they were being dismissed because of poor performance, when, in some cases, they haven’t even had a performance review yet because they’ve only been on the job a couple of months. 
     
    MR. HASSETT:  Yeah, I’ve never seen a person who was laid off for poor performance say that they were performing poorly.  (Laughter.)  Okay?
    Q    Karoline.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Good point.  Sure, Kaitlan.
     
    Q    I have a question.  I’ll start with you, Kevin Hassett.  Thank you for being here.  And then I’ve got a question for Mr. Waltz.
     
    On these potential checks that you might send out from DOGE, is there a concern, as you’re thinking through this, that they could be inflationary?
     
    MR. HASSETT:  Oh, absolutely not, because imagine if we don’t spend government money and we give it back to people, then the — you know, if they spend it all, then you’re even.  But they’re probably going to save a lot of it, in which case, you’re reducing inflation. 
     
    Q    Okay.  So, you’re not —
     
    MR. HASSETT:  And also, when the government spends a lot, that’s what creates inflation.  We learned that from Joe Biden.  And so, if we reduce government spending, then that’s — you know, reduces inflation.  And if you give people money, then they’re going to save a bunch of it.  And — and when they save it, then that also reduces demand and reduces inflation. 
     
    Q    Okay.  So, you’re not worried about it. 
     
    MR. HASSETT:  No, I’m not.
     
    Q    And, Mr. Waltz, to follow up on Peter’s question, you wrote in an op-ed in the fall of 2023 that, quote, “Putin is to blame, certainly, like al Qaeda was to blame for 9/11.”
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Mm-hmm.
     
    Q    Do you still feel that way now, or do you share the president’s assessment, as he says Ukraine is to blame for the start of this war?
     
    MR. WALTZ:  Well, it shouldn’t surprise you that I share the president’s assessment on all kinds of issues.  What I wrote as a Member of Congress is — was as a former Member of Congress. 
     
    Look, what I share the president’s assessment on is that the war has to end.  And what comes with that?  What comes with that should be, at some point, elections.  What comes with that should be peace.  What comes with that is prosperity that we’ve just offered in this natural resources and economic partnership arrangement: an end to the killing and European security and security for the world.  The President is not only determined to do that in Europe, he’s determined to do it in the Middle East. 
     
    And just a few months ago, we had an administration that had tried for 15 months, week after week, sitting with you here, and couldn’t get us to a ceasefire, couldn’t get our hostages out.  Now we’re at that point.  We’re back to the maximum pressure on Iran.
     
    And we will — we have just begun, and we will drive towards a ceasefire and all of those other steps.  I’m not going to pre-negotiate or get ahead of the sequencing of all of that.  It’s a very delicate situation. 
     
    But this is a president of peace.  And who here would argue against peace?
     
    Q    Okay.  So, you do share that assessment. 
     
    And can I follow up.  In 2017 —
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  No.  Go ahead, Jordan.
     
    Q    — then-President Trump —
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Go ahead, Jordan. 
     
    Q    Can I just follow up really quickly?
     
    Q    Thank you.  So —
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  You just had two questions, Kaitlan.
     
    Q    May I — can I just —
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Jordan, go ahead. 
     
    Q    Mr. — Mr. Hassett —
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Thank you.
     
    Q    I have an important follow-up for Mike Waltz.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Jordan, go ahead.  Go ahead.
     
    Q    So, Mr. Hassett, you were speaking about tariff revenue, and you also addressed a question about the R- — IRS.  President Trump has spoken about replacing income tax with tariff revenue, especially with all this waste, fraud, and abuse that we’re seeing cut.  Is that a possibility?
     
    MR. HASSETT:  Absolutely.  And, in fact, if you think about the China tariff revenue that we’re estimating is coming in from the 10 percent that we just added, plus the de minimis thing, that it’s between $500 billion and a trillion dollars over 10 years, is our estimate.  And that’s something that is outside of the reductions that markets are seeing through the negotiations up on the Hill.
     
    And so, we expect that the tariff revenue is actually going to make it much easier for Republicans to pass a bill, and that was the President’s plan all along. 
     
    Thank you.
     
    Q    And I — I have a question for Stephen Miller about DOGE.  So, you — you spoke about DOGE.  You said roughly $50 billion is set to be cut in a year of waste, fraud, and abuse by unelected bureaucrats.  We’re hearing this ironic narrative from the President’s critics and the left-wing media that Elon Musk is an unelected bureaucrat, and he’s doing all this terrible stuff.  Isn’t one of DOGE’s objectives to get — get rid of the federal bureaucracy, the — the deep state?  And also, who was running the White House when Joe Biden was in office —
     
    MR. MILLER:  (Laughs.)
     
    Q    — because I don’t know a single person who believes it was Joe Biden? 
     
    MR. MILLER:  Yes.  You’re — you’re tempting me to say — (laughs) — some very harsh things about some of our media friends.  The — yes, it is true that many of the people in this room, for four years, failed to cover the fact that Joe Biden was mentally incompetent and was not running the country. 
     
    It is also true that many people in this room who have used this talking point that Elon is not elected fail to understand how government works.  So, I’m glad for the opportunity for a brief civics lesson. 
     
    A president is elected by the whole American people.  He’s the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation.  Right?  Judges are appointed.  Members of Congress are elected at the district or state level.  Just one man. 
     
    And the Constitution, Article Two, has a clause, known as the vesting clause, and it says, “The executive power shall be vested in a president,” singular.  The whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president.  That president then appoints staff to then impose that democratic will onto the government. 
     
    The threat to democracy — indeed, the existential threat to democracy — is the unelected bureaucracy of lifetime, tenured civil servants who believe they answer to no one, who believe they can do whatever they want without consequence, who believe they can set their own agenda no matter what Americans vote for. 
     
    So, Americans vote for radical FBI reform, and FBI agents say they don’t want to change.  Or Americans vote for radical reform in our energy policies, but EPA bureaucrats say they don’t want to change.  Or Americans vote to end DEI — racist DEI policies, and lawyers in the Department of Justice say they don’t want to change. 
     
    What President Trump is doing is he is removing federal bureaucrats who are defying democracy by failing to implement his lawful orders, which are the will of the whole American people. 
     
    Thank you. 
     
    Q    Thanks, Stephen.  Can I follow up?
     
    Q    Karoline.
     
    MS. LEAVITT:  Thank you very much, everybody.  I’m looking at the clock.  We’ve almost had an hour of time. 
     
    (Cross-talk.)

    LEAVITT:  I know a couple of these individuals have a meeting to get to at 2:00 p.m.  So, you’re welcome to follow up with my team for further questions.  We’re going to let these guys get back to running the United States government.
     
    And we will see you all later.  President Trump will be speaking at 3 o’clock at the Black History Month reception.
     
    So, thank you.  It’s good to see you.  We’ll see you in a bit.  Thanks.
     
    Q    Are you going to the Black History Month reception, Mr. Miller?
     
    Q    Stephen, on the fraud.  Should we expect indictments?
     
    Q    What is your reaction to Mitch McConnell’s retirement?
     
    Q    Are there indictments coming for all the fraud we’ve found?
     
         MR. MILLER:  I’d love to follow up with you.  Just set up a time with Karoline.
     
         Q    Okay.  Thank you. 
     
    END                   1:56 P.M. EST

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Grassley Welcomes Senate Confirmation of Kash Patel as FBI Director

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Iowa Chuck Grassley

    WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released a statement following the Senate’s confirmation of Kash Patel to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

    “Change is coming to the seventh floor of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, and that is a good thing. Over the past several years, political infection has diminished the FBI’s credibility and distracted the Bureau from its core law enforcement responsibilities. As FBI Director, Kash Patel promises to restore the FBI’s primary focus on law and order, as well as national security, and do right by the brave FBI agents who work day in and day out to keep Americans safe. From a congressional oversight standpoint, you can bet I’ll be keeping a close watch to ensure Congress gets answers to our questions and transparency assured.”

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Durbin Files Amendments To Republicans’ Budget Bill

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

    February 20, 2025

    WASHINGTON – Ahead of tonight’s vote-a-rama, where Senate Democrats will expose the truth about Republicans’ reconciliation budget bill, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, filed amendments that reflect his priorities as Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee.

    “Overnight, Senate Republicans will attempt to advance a budget resolution that clears the way to cut taxes for President Trump and Elon Musk’s billionaire friends. And who will be left holding the bag? American families. Democrats are going to hold the floor into the night to expose how Donald Trump and Republicans have eviscerated so many of our institutions for their billionaire buddies,” Durbin said. “While Donald Trump may preach about corruption, fraud, crime, and grocery prices, here’s the reality: he has rid the government of its independent watchdogs, threatened critical funding for survivors of violent crime, endangered America’s food supply chain with his threats of mass deportations, and continues to purge and reassign senior law enforcement officials at DOJ and FBI—making America less safe.”

    Durbin’s amendments include:

    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to protecting from arrest, detention, or removal noncitizen food and farm laborers who do not present a threat to public safety or national security, and whose removal would create an immediate labor shortage and increase prices of household groceries, such as milk, cheese, eggs, meat, and produce. U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) is a cosponsor of this amendment.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to protecting from mass deportations noncitizens brought to the United States as children who are eligible for DACA. U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Angus King (I-ME) are cosponsors of this amendment.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to protecting Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel who worked on January 6 investigations and prosecutions from being terminated or facing other forms of retribution for their work on these cases.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to protecting DOJ and FBI probationary personnel (staff with one to two years of experience or less) from mass layoffs.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to preventing DOJ and FBI personnel from being forced to participate in mass deportation efforts to the detriment of their work on child sexual abuse material (CSAM) investigations and prosecutions, responding to the fentanyl crisis, preventing violent crime, protecting national security, and responding to terrorism threats.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to ensuring that federal funds for victims of crime, support services for survivors, and victim compensation programs are not subject to further attempted funding freezes.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to protecting certain Violence Against Women Act programs that are tailored to communities, such as Native American and indigenous populations, from being cut due to DOJ’s broad anti-DEI efforts.
    • Establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund related to preventing Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing classified systems, personnel records, investigative records, and prosecutorial records at DOJ and its component agencies.

    -30-

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Lackawanna man pleads guilty to defrauding Medicaid

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    BUFFALO, N.Y. – Acting U.S. Attorney Joel L. Violanti announced today that Munef Fadhel, 37, of Lackawanna, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. to health care fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years, and a $250,000 fine.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Franz M. Wright, who is handling the case, stated that between June 2017, and December 2020, Fadhel defrauded the Medicaid program. Fadhel was an owner of Great Lake Transportation, Inc., a transportation company that provided rides to Medicaid beneficiaries. While working at Great Lake Transportation, he knowingly submitted multiple false and fraudulent records seeking transportation reimbursement for trips. Fadhel submitted claims for shared rides which he certified as individual rides in order to claim a higher reimbursement amount. This resulted in a loss to Medicaid in excess of $95,000.

    The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Miraglia, and the New York State Department of Financial Services, under the direction of Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris.

    Sentencing is scheduled for August 19, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Sinatra.

    # # # #

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senator Murkowski Releases Statement on Patel Nomination

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski
    02.20.25
    Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) released the following statement on her decision to vote against confirming Kash Patel as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):
    “I will oppose Kash Patel’s confirmation to serve as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI’s mission is “to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.” Mr. Patel and I agree the bureau has crept past that mission, become an increasingly political agency, and eroded the public’s trust. We have had multiple frank and open discussions about how best to restore that trust. I agree with Mr. Patel that it begins by getting agents out in the field, doing what they signed up to do, rather than sitting behind an administrative desk.
    “My reservations with Mr. Patel stem from his own prior political activities and how they may influence his leadership. The FBI must be trusted as the federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores. I have been disappointed that when he had the opportunity to push back on the administration’s decision to force the FBI to provide a list of agents involved in the January 6 investigations and prosecutions, he failed to do so. 
    “If confirmed, I wish him a successful tenure at the helm of this agency, and will endeavor to work with him to help address issues in Alaska, improve Tribal law enforcement across the country, and make needed changes within the FBI. I truly hope that he proves me wrong about the reservations I have of him today.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville, Katie Britt Congratulate Director Patel, Urge FBI to Immediately Fill Open Slots at Redstone Arsenal

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Katie Britt (R-AL) today sent a letter to Kash Patel following his Senate confirmation as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In the letter, they urge Director Patel to immediately fill 1,000 of the open slots at FBI’s campus in Huntsville on Redstone Arsenal.
    The Senators wrote,“We are proud to represent the great state of Alabama, home to Redstone Arsenal which is the epicenter of the FBI’s technological capabilities and advanced training.  As threats to our nation become more sophisticated, FBI-Redstone Arsenal’s operations will need to continue growing.”
    “The North Campus is well prepared to support this mission by delivering state-of-the-art training to address cyber threats, emerging technologies, and the Field Offices’ investigative efforts.  The South Campus is currently under construction and will host even more capacity to address current and future threats,” they continued.
    “Given the strategic investments at Redstone Arsenal and how its synergies align with your mission of restoring the FBI’s focus to the safety and security of the American people, we urge you to assign an additional 1,000 employees to FBI-Redstone as a first step to ultimately filling the approximately 4,000 open slots the campus can accommodate.  This will send a message to our adversaries that the FBI’s leadership is back to prioritizing the pressing threats to our homeland. We look forward to working closely with you to Make America Safe Again,” the Senators added.
    The full text of the letter is available here.
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Law Enforcement Cooperation Between United States and Mexico Results in Mexican Takedown of Cartel-Linked Alien Smugglers

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    Last night, extensive bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico resulted in the Mexico Attorney General’s Office “Fiscalía General de la República” (FGR) conducting a significant enforcement operation to dismantle a prolific transnational alien smuggling organization operating in Juarez, Chihuahua, along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    The targeted alien smuggling organization, a group based in Juarez, Mexico, utilizes smuggling corridors centered in the Anapra, Chihuahua / Santa Teresa, New Mexico area, employs Mexican nationals, many of whom are current and former members of various Mexico-based cartels, and is alleged to be responsible for illegally smuggling large numbers of individuals, including children, from Central America into El Paso, Texas. The criminal organization is also alleged to have kidnapped aliens seeking to enter the United States illegally and extorted their families for money before completing their smuggling journey. The enforcement operation included the execution of two arrest warrants in Mexico for alleged alien smugglers Brian Alan Torres Gonzalez and Soledad Morales Nava. Torres and Morales are Mexican citizens and will be prosecuted in Mexico in part with evidence provided by the United States.

    “On her first day in office, the Attorney General directed the Department of Justice to prioritize efforts to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and empowered Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) to increase their contributions to this fight,” said Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s action by Mexican authorities is the latest example of how JTFA provides critical contributions to marshal the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department, and its law enforcement partners, to target human smugglers and enhance coordination in transnational law enforcement efforts to better combat these criminal organizations.”

    U.S. authorities provided assistance to the Mexico Attorney General’s Office through coordination under JTFA, which, since its creation in 2021, has marshalled the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to enhance U.S. enforcement efforts against the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has elevated JTFA to the Office of the Attorney General, to be jointly supervised by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. The task force focuses on disrupting and dismantling smuggling and trafficking networks that abuse, exploit, and endanger migrants, pose national security threats, or are involved in organized crime. JTFA comprises detailees from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices along the border, along with dedicated prosecutor support by numerous components of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, led by the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and supported by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section; the Office of Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training; the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section; the Office of Enforcement Operations; the Office of International Affairs; and the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section. JTFA also relies on substantial law enforcement investment from DHS, FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other partners. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 350 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of human smuggling; more than 300 U.S. convictions; more than 245 defendants sentenced, including significant jail sentences imposed; and substantial seizures and forfeitures of assets and contraband including millions of dollars in cash, real property, vehicles, firearms and ammunition, and drugs.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) El Paso assisted foreign investigative efforts in the United States, working in concert with the U.S. Border Patrol. Support from ICE HSI-Mexico City was critical in providing coordination between American and Mexican law enforcement agencies. The Justice Department — including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in El Paso, HRSP, and the Office of the Judicial Attache in Mexico City — provided significant assistance in this matter.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Florida Businessman Sentenced in Connection with Migrant Labor Employment Scheme, Payroll Tax Evasion, and Worker Death

    Source: US State of California

    A Florida man was sentenced yesterday to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $5.5 million to the United States as well as forfeit numerous real properties and cash, and to pay over $55 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and willful violation of a workplace standard that resulted in the death of his employee. Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, previously pleaded guilty to those charges on July 9, 2024.

    According to court documents, Pita owned and operated Domingos 54 Construction, a subcontracting business for the wood framing of new construction homes. Domingos 54 was a shell construction company that Pita used to provide workers, including undocumented aliens, with construction jobs. However, Pita failed to secure the required workers compensation insurance coverage for these employees by falsifying in worker’s compensation insurance applications the number of workers for which he sought coverage. In addition, Pita failed to pay any federal employment taxes on the wages that these workers earned during the course of the scheme between 2018 and 2022. As a result, Pita caused several worker’s compensation insurance companies to sustain a loss of over $22.7 million in premiums that they could have charged had they been aware of the number of workers which they had been manipulated into covering with their policies. In addition, Pita failed to pay to the IRS over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes on those workers’ wages.

    Between February and July 2019, investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued six citations to Domingos 54 for failure to provide fall protection to workers. Even after being cited for these violations, Pita continued to ignore OSHA requirements. In March 2020, Pita assigned a worker and three other carpenters to install sheeting on the roof of a residential home in windy conditions without providing the required fall-protection gear or ensuring its use. As a result, one of the workers was blown off the roof and died from his injuries.

    “Pita’s history of OSHA violations and deception tragically led to a worker’s death,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to upholding the rule of law by prosecuting fraud and enforcing worker safety standards.”

    “The defendant in this case engaged in a deliberate scheme to defraud insurance companies, the government and evade taxes, resulting in huge losses to the U.S. Treasury, and to personally enrich himself,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Sara C. Sweeney. “In addition, flagrant violations of OSHA safety standards put workers at unacceptable risk, ultimately resulting in the death of an employee. My office is committed to federally prosecuting and holding accountable anyone who violates these laws and regulations.”

    “Mr. Pita repeatedly violated the longstanding policies designed to protect the workforce which resulted in a tragic death,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office. “The FBI and its partners will aggressively pursue those who selfishly ignore the laws and policies in place to protect America’s workforce.”

    “Not only does this type of scheme give an illegal advantage over honest competitors, it intends to allow the use of illegal, undocumented labor to achieve that advantage,” said Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Tampa Field Office. “It’s a blatant form of cheating that undercuts fair competition, costs the government millions of dollars in tax revenue, and skirts our nation’s immigration laws. This case reaffirms our unwavering commitment to prosecuting those who engage in fraud at the expense of workers, taxpayers, and law-abiding businesses.”

    The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud-Criminal Investigations and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay L. Hoffer for the Middle District of Florida and Senior Trial Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Law Enforcement Cooperation Between United States and Mexico Results in Mexican Takedown of Cartel-Linked Alien Smugglers

    Source: United States Attorneys General

    Last night, extensive bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico resulted in the Mexico Attorney General’s Office “Fiscalía General de la República” (FGR) conducting a significant enforcement operation to dismantle a prolific transnational alien smuggling organization operating in Juarez, Chihuahua, along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    The targeted alien smuggling organization, a group based in Juarez, Mexico, utilizes smuggling corridors centered in the Anapra, Chihuahua / Santa Teresa, New Mexico area, employs Mexican nationals, many of whom are current and former members of various Mexico-based cartels, and is alleged to be responsible for illegally smuggling large numbers of individuals, including children, from Central America into El Paso, Texas. The criminal organization is also alleged to have kidnapped aliens seeking to enter the United States illegally and extorted their families for money before completing their smuggling journey. The enforcement operation included the execution of two arrest warrants in Mexico for alleged alien smugglers Brian Alan Torres Gonzalez and Soledad Morales Nava. Torres and Morales are Mexican citizens and will be prosecuted in Mexico in part with evidence provided by the United States.

    “On her first day in office, the Attorney General directed the Department of Justice to prioritize efforts to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and empowered Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) to increase their contributions to this fight,” said Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s action by Mexican authorities is the latest example of how JTFA provides critical contributions to marshal the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department, and its law enforcement partners, to target human smugglers and enhance coordination in transnational law enforcement efforts to better combat these criminal organizations.”

    U.S. authorities provided assistance to the Mexico Attorney General’s Office through coordination under JTFA, which, since its creation in 2021, has marshalled the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to enhance U.S. enforcement efforts against the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has elevated JTFA to the Office of the Attorney General, to be jointly supervised by the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. The task force focuses on disrupting and dismantling smuggling and trafficking networks that abuse, exploit, and endanger migrants, pose national security threats, or are involved in organized crime. JTFA comprises detailees from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices along the border, along with dedicated prosecutor support by numerous components of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, led by the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) and supported by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section; the Office of Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training; the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section; the Office of Enforcement Operations; the Office of International Affairs; and the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section. JTFA also relies on substantial law enforcement investment from DHS, FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other partners. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 350 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of human smuggling; more than 300 U.S. convictions; more than 245 defendants sentenced, including significant jail sentences imposed; and substantial seizures and forfeitures of assets and contraband including millions of dollars in cash, real property, vehicles, firearms and ammunition, and drugs.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) El Paso assisted foreign investigative efforts in the United States, working in concert with the U.S. Border Patrol. Support from ICE HSI-Mexico City was critical in providing coordination between American and Mexican law enforcement agencies. The Justice Department — including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in El Paso, HRSP, and the Office of the Judicial Attache in Mexico City — provided significant assistance in this matter.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Owner of Durable Medical Equipment Companies Charged in Nearly $30 Million Fraud Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Defendant allegedly used proceeds to purchase two Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz Model S, at least three Rolex watches

    BOSTON – The owner of Pharmagears, LLC (Pharmagears) and RR Medco, LLC (RR Medco) has been charged in connection with a nearly $30 million fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME), including orthotics such as back and knee braces.

    Raju Sharma, 61, of Sharon, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Sharma was arrested this morning and later released on conditions following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston.

    “As alleged, Mr. Sharma exploited vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries and defrauded the system of millions of dollars meant for legitimate medical care. His actions caused millions of dollars of waste on DME products beneficiaries did not need and did not want. He did this to enrich himself – and allow him to purchase luxury cars and high-end watches – all at the expense of the American people,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley. “This office will continue to hold accountable those who undermine the integrity of our healthcare system for personal gain. Fraudsters who think they can manipulate the system without consequence should take heed: we will investigate you, we will prosecute you, and we will hold you accountable to ensure that justice is served.”

    “Today’s arrest underscores HHS-OIG’s commitment to protecting patients and taxpayers from fraudulent schemes that exploit our health care system and are motivated by pure greed,” stated Special Agent in Charge Roberto Coviello with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations that individuals and entities are profiting from deceiving and abusing federal health care programs.” “Today’s arrest underscores HHS-OIG’s commitment to protecting patients and taxpayers from fraudulent schemes that exploit our health care system and are motivated by pure greed,” stated Special Agent in Charge Roberto Coviello with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We will continue to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations that individuals and entities are profiting from deceiving and abusing federal health care programs.”

    “Raju Sharma apparently thought he had hit upon a surefire moneymaker when he allegedly conspired with others to fraudulently bill Medicare for almost $30 million worth of durable medical equipment that was unwanted, unnecessary and useless to patients so he could purchase luxury vehicles and expensive watches for himself,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division. “Health care fraud isn’t some quick and easy way to bulk up your bank account. It’s a costly, consequential federal crime that strains the system and cheats the taxpayers who fund it. Anyone involved in, or entertaining, similar activity should know that the FBI will pursue anyone trying to steal from this country’s vital health care system.”

    According to the charging documents, between February 2021 and February 2025, Sharma, on behalf of Pharmagears and RR Medco, entered into contracts with telemarketing companies that generated DME orders by targeting Medicare beneficiaries. Sharma then allegedly billed Medicare for this medically unnecessary DME, which Medicare beneficiaries often did not want or could not use and/or a medical practitioner ordered without having met or examined the beneficiary or were ordered by the fraudulent use of practitioners’ national provider identifiers without their knowledge or assent. It is alleged that these DME orders were also obtained in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, because although Sharma agreed in the contracts to pay the marketing companies a flat fee for their services, Sharma in fact paid the marketing companies on a per-lead, or per-order, basis.  

    It is further alleged that Sharma worked with multiple other co-conspirators, including family and acquaintances, to open and operate additional DME companies in the same fraudulent manner. In total, the companies owned, operated, or connected with Sharma allegedly billed Medicare approximately $29.6 million for these fraudulent DME orders and were paid approximately $15.8 million. According to the charging documents, Sharma made substantial profits from this alleged fraud, which he used to purchase luxury goods, including two Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz Model S and at least three Rolex watches. The Court issued seizure warrants for these luxury goods in connection with today’s charges.

    The charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, supervised release for up to three years, and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

    U.S. Attorney Foley, HHS-OIG SAC Coviello and FBI SAC Cohen made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the United States Marshals and the Sharon Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Graber and Sarah Hoefle of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

    The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Illinois Police Officer Admits Assaulting Handcuffed Man

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ST. LOUIS – A former police officer in Venice, Ill. on Thursday admitted striking a handcuffed man in the face after a police chase.

    Justin Gaither, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, namely the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force. He admitted that on Nov. 20, 2022, while working in full uniform and on duty with the Venice Police Department, he began pursuing a car that was displaying stolen license plates. The car drove over spike strips that Gaither deployed, then over the McKinley Bridge and into St. Louis. A Brooklyn (Illinois) Police Department officer was also pursuing the car. The pursuit ended in the 3800 block of Parnell Avenue in St. Louis and all of the vehicle’s occupants ran away from the car. Gaither and the Brooklyn officer, accompanied by that officer’s K9, chased the driver. The driver was bitten while climbing over a fence, fell and was then handcuffed by the Brooklyn officer. As Gaither lifted the driver from the ground to escort him to a police vehicle, he struck the driver twice in the face without justification and without a legitimate purpose, the plea agreement says. The driver suffered a broken nose.

    Gaither is scheduled to be sentenced on May 2. The charge carries penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both prison and fine.

    The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug is prosecuting the case.

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  • MIL-OSI USA: Capito Votes to Confirm Kash Patel as FBI Director

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) issued the following statement after voting to confirm Kash Patel to serve as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):

    “From being a public defender in the state of Florida, to a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice, to Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the United States National Security Council, to Chief of Staff to the Secretary in the Department of Defense, Kash Patel’s extensive background in law enforcement gives him the experience needed to lead the FBI. I have confidence that Director Patel will lead the FBI with a focus on protecting and serving the American people, and will work to restore safety to our streets,” Senator Capito said.

    Senator Capito previously met with Patel in December of 2024 to discuss his nomination and learn more about his vision to lead the department.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Florida Businessman Sentenced in Connection with Migrant Labor Employment Scheme, Payroll Tax Evasion, and Worker Death

    Source: United States Attorneys General 10

    A Florida man was sentenced yesterday to 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $5.5 million to the United States as well as forfeit numerous real properties and cash, and to pay over $55 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and willful violation of a workplace standard that resulted in the death of his employee. Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, previously pleaded guilty to those charges on July 9, 2024.

    According to court documents, Pita owned and operated Domingos 54 Construction, a subcontracting business for the wood framing of new construction homes. Domingos 54 was a shell construction company that Pita used to provide workers, including undocumented aliens, with construction jobs. However, Pita failed to secure the required workers compensation insurance coverage for these employees by falsifying in worker’s compensation insurance applications the number of workers for which he sought coverage. In addition, Pita failed to pay any federal employment taxes on the wages that these workers earned during the course of the scheme between 2018 and 2022. As a result, Pita caused several worker’s compensation insurance companies to sustain a loss of over $22.7 million in premiums that they could have charged had they been aware of the number of workers which they had been manipulated into covering with their policies. In addition, Pita failed to pay to the IRS over $33.7 million in federal employment taxes on those workers’ wages.

    Between February and July 2019, investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued six citations to Domingos 54 for failure to provide fall protection to workers. Even after being cited for these violations, Pita continued to ignore OSHA requirements. In March 2020, Pita assigned a worker and three other carpenters to install sheeting on the roof of a residential home in windy conditions without providing the required fall-protection gear or ensuring its use. As a result, one of the workers was blown off the roof and died from his injuries.

    “Pita’s history of OSHA violations and deception tragically led to a worker’s death,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to upholding the rule of law by prosecuting fraud and enforcing worker safety standards.”

    “The defendant in this case engaged in a deliberate scheme to defraud insurance companies, the government and evade taxes, resulting in huge losses to the U.S. Treasury, and to personally enrich himself,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Sara C. Sweeney. “In addition, flagrant violations of OSHA safety standards put workers at unacceptable risk, ultimately resulting in the death of an employee. My office is committed to federally prosecuting and holding accountable anyone who violates these laws and regulations.”

    “Mr. Pita repeatedly violated the longstanding policies designed to protect the workforce which resulted in a tragic death,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office. “The FBI and its partners will aggressively pursue those who selfishly ignore the laws and policies in place to protect America’s workforce.”

    “Not only does this type of scheme give an illegal advantage over honest competitors, it intends to allow the use of illegal, undocumented labor to achieve that advantage,” said Special Agent in Charge Ron Loecker of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Tampa Field Office. “It’s a blatant form of cheating that undercuts fair competition, costs the government millions of dollars in tax revenue, and skirts our nation’s immigration laws. This case reaffirms our unwavering commitment to prosecuting those who engage in fraud at the expense of workers, taxpayers, and law-abiding businesses.”

    The FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida Department of Financial Services’ Bureau of Insurance Fraud-Criminal Investigations and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General investigated the case.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay L. Hoffer for the Middle District of Florida and Senior Trial Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section prosecuted the case.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: A Secret in South Philly

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    Asking a community to come forward

    Investigators are confident that the same tightknit South Philly community that raised Richard—and served as a partial backdrop to his love story with Danielle—is keeping the secret of what happened to the couple.

    “The city of Philadelphia is more like a town than a city,” Blessington explained. “Everybody knows everybody. Everybody kind of looks out for everybody.”

    While some area residents have shared information with the FBI, Blessington said, others may be worried about being seen as traitors to their community. But as the what-ifs of the case continue to haunt the victims’ families into a third decade, investigators ask that potential tipsters come out of hiding.

    “…What I can tell those people—and there are people who know things—[is]: If we only do one thing very, very well, we protect the people that are brave enough and try and help us out,” Blessington said. 

    You can learn more about Danielle and Rich, as well as view their pictures, at fbi.gov/missing.

    Investigators encourage anyone with information about the whereabouts of Danielle, Richard, and/or his truck—a black 2001 Dodge Dakota with Pennsylvania license plates YFH 2319—to call the FBI Philadelphia Field Office directly at 215-418-4000. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in the disappearance of Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone.

    And the case team can help potential tipsters work through any concerns, navigate difficult emotions, and work through different legalities related to coming forward.

    “After 20 years, we really need to bring Rich and Danielle home,” Blessington said.

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  • MIL-OSI Security: Former Baltimore Department Of Finance Employee Sentenced To Four Years In Connection With Bribery And Covid-19 Cares Act Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Baltimore Department of Finance employee took more than $250,000 in bribes and obtained more than $143,000 in fraudulent COVID-19 relief benefits

    Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, today, sentenced Joseph Gillespie, age 35, of Baltimore City, Maryland, to four years in federal prison and three years of supervised release in connection with a bribery scheme and conspiracy to commit wire fraud scheme involving COVID-19 CARES Act relief benefits.

    Phil Selden, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Baltimore Field Office.

    “Defendant Gillespie abused the public trust through a bribery scheme and took advantage of money meant to help during the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Acting United States Attorney Selden. “When government employees take bribes and public funds, it harms the very communities they are meant to serve. The District of Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office will relentlessly pursue those who try to compromise the public trust.”

    “Gillespie’s extensive schemes and lies ultimately cost hardworking taxpayers. Instead of performing his job with honesty, he looked for illicit ways to line his own pockets. This sentence proves that corruption never pays,” said FBI Baltimore SAC William J. DelBagno. “The FBI and our partners remain committed to holding accountable those who try to cheat the system for their own benefit and profit.”

    According to Gillespie’s plea agreement, beginning in 2016, and continuing to 2023, the Defendant engaged in a bribery scheme in which he abused his position of trust as a public official within the Baltimore City Department of Finance for his own personal gain.

    As an employee of the Baltimore City Department of Finance, Revenue Collections Department, Gillespie routinely accepted bribes from various property owners in Baltimore City (“the City”) whose property was subject to certain financial obligations, and if the obligations remained unpaid, to a tax sale.  He accepted these bribes — typically 10-15 percent of the amount owed to the City — in exchange for removing or extinguishing these financial obligations, including for citations, tax obligations, and water obligations – thereby causing losses to the City.  Gillespie also accepted bribes in exchange for delaying or postponing — without approval or permission from other City officials — due dates for the payment of outstanding financial obligations, fines, and payments owed to the City, thus forestalling the placement of a lien on the property by the City.

    Once Gillespie received the bribe payment, he would extinguish the financial obligation owed to the City by marking the obligations as paid in the City’s online records.  After removing the obligation, the Defendant would, at times, send a photograph of a cashier slip from his office reflecting that a payment was made towards a financial obligation owed to the City when, in fact, no such payment was made.

    Gillespie engaged in multiple covertly recorded telephone and video conversations with an FBI undercover agent (UC), in which the Defendant and the UC discussed the specifics of the bribery scheme outlined above.

    For example, in a recorded phone conversation with the UC, the UC confirmed the size of the bribe payment with the Defendant: “[S]o you want 100 for each property?” Defendant said, “yeah that’s basically how I do.”  Gillespie then informed the UC that he (Gillespie) had a “girl” in “water”— i.e., the Baltimore City Department of Public Works — that could “wipe some s*** out,” referring to financial obligations owed to the City.

    During a covert video recording of the conversation with the UC, Gillespie told the UC that he had the ability to “wipe a bill off” the City’s record of outstanding obligations tied to a particular property or to “put paid next to ‘em,” even though the financial obligation had not in fact been paid.  The Defendant further stated that he removed certain financial obligations linked to the properties that the UC told the Defendant were his, stating “[t]here was a couple, extra miscellaneous bills that y’all had that I wiped off . . . . That s*** gone now.”

    Gillespie also extended the deadline for payment of financial obligations owed to the City on eight properties by three months.  Gillespie asked for $800 in bribes in return — $100 for each of the eight properties, and, during the recorded meeting, the UC provided Gillespie $800 cash.  Gillespie also stated that he had the ability to wipe out overdue water bills owed to the City, “Once I let you know [about a big water bill], I’ll give it to my girl, and I’ll tell you what you need to give me for her to knock it off.”  Gillespie then stated:

    “Going forward, I’m just your inside man . . . That’s what I do for a lot of different people around the City.  You know what I mean – manage their s*** for them a little bit. . . .  I’m gonna go look at your s***.  Anyone with a high water bill I’m gonna text you the address, and I’m gonna tell you what I need, and we can knock them out going forward with that . . . . Any water bill that’s too high, I’ll get my girl to take care of that.”

    Gillespie’s bribery scheme continued for years thereafter, and he admitted that he enlisted the help of multiple co-conspirators in connection with his scheme.  According to the plea agreement, Gillespie received more than $250,000 in connection with the bribery scheme and caused losses to the City in excess of $1,250,000.

    Further, Gillespie also engaged in a scheme to fraudulent COVID-19 CARES relief funds.  Financial assistance offered through the CARES Act included forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and certain other expenses, through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), administered through the United States Small Business Administration (SBA).

    For example, in 2021, Gillespie and co-defendant Ahmed (“Adam”) Sary submitted a fraudulent PPP loan application to Cross River Bank to obtain a PPP loan for JAG Investments (“JAG”), a company the Defendant owned.  The PPP loan application contained numerous material misrepresentations, including that JAG, in 2019, had 19 employees and an average monthly payroll of more than $55,000. In support of the loan application, a fabricated 2019 Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Form 940 – Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return – was submitted, which falsely stated that JAG’s total payments to employees, in 2019, was more than $275,000.

    Based on the false representations and fraudulent submissions made on behalf of Gillespie as the owner of JAG, the PPP loan was funded on March 6, 2021, and approximately $138,000 was distributed to a bank account controlled by Gillespie. Gillespie agreed to pay Sary kickbacks totaling $38,000 for his work in submitting the false application and obtaining the fraudulent PPP loan.  In addition, after receipt of the PPP loan, Gillespie established payroll services for JAG to facilitate documentation that would later be used to substantiate a request for the PPP loan to be forgiven.

    The District of Maryland COVID-19 Strike Force is one of five strike forces established throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute COVID-19 fraud, including fraud relating to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.  The CARES Act was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The strike forces focus on large-scale, multi-state pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors.  The strike forces are interagency law enforcement efforts, using prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams designed to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

    For more information about the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.  Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

    Acting United States Attorney Phil Selden commended the FBI for their work in the investigation, the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General and the Baltimore City Inspector General for assistance as well.  Mr. Selden thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul A. Riley and Evelyn L. Cusson who are prosecuting the federal case.

    For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

    # # #

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  • MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Attorney’s Office Announces Sentencing for Fatal DUI Crash on Navajo Nation

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBUQUERQUE – An Arizona man was sentenced to 75 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, stemming from a fatal drunk driving crash on the Navajo Nation in November 2022.

    There is no parole in the federal system.

    According to court documents, on the evening of November 25, 2022, Jane Doe and John Doe were driving from Colorado to visit family in Tse Bonito, NM when their sedan broke down. Jane Doe’s family members came to assist, and her nephew began towing the sedan with his SUV.

    As the group traveled on Navajo Route 12, Olan Jumbo, 31, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, who had been drinking alcohol while driving, crashed his speeding truck into the back of the sedan. The collision caused severe damage to the sedan, resulting in Jane Doe’s death at the scene and serious injuries to John Doe. Jumbo fled the scene but was apprehended two days later.

    Investigation revealed Jumbo was driving between 74-82 mph in a 45-mph zone at the time of impact and had multiple prior drunk-driving related convictions. Open containers of alcohol were found in Jumbo‘s vehicle after the crash.

    Upon his release from prison, Jumbo will be subject to three years of supervised release.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Holland S. Kastrin and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.

    The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Police Department and Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meg Tomlinson is prosecuting the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Norman Gray, Founder and CEO Of Biomedical Company, Sentenced For Defrauding Investors Of More Than $13 Million

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that NORMAN GRAY, the founder and CEO of a biomedical company (the “Biomedical Company”), who defrauded investors of over $13 million, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer to 10 years in prison.  GRAY was convicted of wire fraud at trial on May 29, 2024.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “Norman Gray preyed upon people who wanted to invest in developing life-saving medicine for children with a rare and generally fatal disease.  Gray gained his victims’ trust by lying about everything from his educational background and to his supposed access to off-shore trusts he could use to fund his company alongside the investors.  He even submitted false patent applications, invented a fake mortgage company, and forged FBI background check records.  Thanks to the work of the career prosecutors of this Office and our law enforcement partners, Gray has now received just punishment.”

    According to the Superseding Indictment, public filings, public court proceedings, the evidence presented at trial and in connection with sentencing:

    At all relevant times, GRAY was the founder and CEO of the Biomedical Company, which is headquartered in Hamden, Connecticut.  GRAY presented himself to investors (including “Victim-1” and “Victim-2”) and others as a billionaire scientist and successful entrepreneur with a Ph.D. from MIT at the helm of a company he was personally funding that was potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  GRAY claimed to have previously created a successful medical equipment company (“Prior Company”) with over 1,000 employees, which was earning approximately $900 million in revenues before GRAY sold it to a foreign pharmaceutical company.  GRAY claimed that he put the profits from the sale of the Prior Company into his offshore trust (“Offshore Trust”), which he claimed held more than $300 million, and which he was using to self-fund the Biomedical Company.  In reality, GRAY did not have a Ph.D., had not created or sold a nearly billion-dollar company, did not have access to hundreds of millions of dollars to fund Biomedical Company, and, as of 2020, both he and the Biomedical Company were in significant debt. 

    Beginning in 2016, GRAY also claimed to employees and investors in Biomedical Company, including Victim-1 and Victim-2, and in written investment materials, that a flagship medication being developed by Biomedical Company was approved for compassionate treatment in Saudi Arabia, where it was saving the lives of two specific children who were suffering from a rare and generally fatal disease known as MVID.  Victim-2 sent $200,000 to GRAY to continue funding this supposed program.  GRAY submitted treatment data from the supposed program in patent applications for the flagship drug.  But the program did not exist.

    Based on GRAY’s misrepresentations, between 2018 and 2020, Victim-2 invested approximately $7.6 million in the Biomedical Company through wire transfers into accounts controlled by GRAY.  In May 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, GRAY fraudulently induced Victim-2 to invest into a joint venture with GRAY to purchase personal protective equipment (“PPE”) and resell it to hospitals and universities in the United States and Spain. GRAY provided Victim-2 with fabricated purchase orders from two New York-area hospitals purporting to show that he had close to $8 million of committed sales. Victim-2 sent three wire transfers totaling $1,751,342 to GRAY’s account.  Ultimately, the PPE that GRAY purchased  could not be sold, because it was defective or otherwise not fit for market, and Victim-2 lost the $1.75 million supposedly invested by GRAY into the PPE project.

    In or about August 2020, GRAY induced Victim-1 to send him $250,000 as a purported investment in the Biomedical Company.  Rather than purchase equity for Victim-1, GRAY used nearly all of Victim-1’s $250,000 payment to repay a loan that GRAY had taken out from a tenant in the same building where the Biomedical Company is headquartered in order to make payroll. In the ensuing weeks, GRAY extracted an additional $1,217,000 from Victim-1, representing that Victim-1’s funds would be invested in deals involving the procurement of PPE for two major universities in the tristate area who committed to close to $8 million in sales in essentially the same amounts as GRAY’s prior fabricated purchase orders sent to Victim-2.  Notwithstanding the losses Victim-2 had already experienced through GRAY’s venture, GRAY falsely represented to Victim-1 that his prior PPE deals had turned a 40% profit within 90 days, that he already had purchase orders in hand for PPE worth nearly $8 million, and that, therefore, the risk was “virtually zero.” In reality, over the preceding months, GRAY had accumulated a vast inventory of unsellable PPE, the purported purchase orders were recycled fakes, and GRAY did not invest Victim-1’s funds in PPE. Instead, GRAY misappropriated Victim-1’s funds, in part, to purchase himself a nearly $1 million home, a $50,000 luxury SUV, and to pay down $200,000 of his and his family’s credit card debt.

    As part of his scheme to defraud Victim-1, and as a means of dispelling Victim-1’s concern that an investment with GRAY might require Victim-1 to forego the purchase of a home, GRAY offered Victim-1 a mortgage from a purported boutique mortgage company of which he was the sole investor.  GRAY directed Victim-1 to a purported mortgage broker that worked for this boutique mortgage company.  In reality, both the mortgage company and the mortgage broker were completely fabricated by GRAY and did not exist.  To further this aspect of the fraud on Victim-1, GRAY registered an internet domain in the name of the purported mortgage company and created an email address in the name of the invented mortgage broker contemporaneously with making his false representations to Victim-1.   As GRAY’s fraud began to unravel in or about early November 2020, GRAY promised to return all of Victim-1’s money.  Ultimately, GRAY never returned any money to Victim-1 and, after Victim-1 asked GRAY to provide her with the purported PPE purchase orders from the two universities, she never heard from GRAY again.

    Victim-2 was a board member of the Biomedical Company at the time that GRAY defrauded Victim-1.  Following Victim-1’s report of GRAY’s fraud to the board in November 2020, accompanied by publicly available evidence of GRAY’s prior criminal history, GRAY reassured Victim-2 that he had no criminal history beyond driving infractions.  GRAY also produced to the board a fraudulent record purportedly from the FBI disclaiming any criminal history and falsely asserting that GRAY had a “top secret” clearance status renewed on November 14, 2016.  After being reassured by GRAY that Victim-1’s allegations were meritless, Victim-2 provided approximately over $2.3 million in loans separate from his over $7.5 million of Vanessa investments and $1.75 million of PPE investments.

    At trial, GRAY obstructed justice by attempting to introduce into evidence a false document supposedly drafted after GRAY’s fraud on Victim-1 was complete and purporting to memorialize an agreement by Victim-1 to “convert” her PPE investment into shares of Biomedical Company.

    *                *                *

    In addition to the prison term, GRAY, 69, of Hamden, Connecticut, was sentenced to 3 years of supervised release.  GRAY also was ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of $1,467,000 and to forfeit his interest in the home and luxury vehicle discussed above.  The Court also ordered restitution of $1,533,675 to Victim-1.

    Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of Homeland Security Investigations.  Mr. Podolsky also thanked the New Haven Police Department, as well as law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom and Spain and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, for their assistance.

    This case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin A. Gianforti, Vladislav Vainberg, and Jessica Greenwood are in charge of the prosecution.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Dallas Man Sentenced to 13+ Years in Multi-Million Dollar Insurance Fraud

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    The architect of a nearly $5 million insurance fraud was sentenced today to more than 13 years in federal prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham. 

    Jordan Ford, 32, was charged via criminal complaint in June 2024 and pleaded guilty in September 2024 to a criminal information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was sentenced Thursday to 157 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who also ordered him to pay $4,471,338.92 in restitution to the defrauded insurance companies. 

    According to court documents, Mr. Ford and his coconspirators recruited insurance company employees to pull clients’ personal information from legitimate insurance claims. The employees handed those details over to Mr Ford. 

    Using the stolen information, Mr. Ford – posing as the client – called the insurance companies and requested they update the payment information to accounts he and his coconspirators controlled. 

    Other times, Mr. Ford paid insurance employees to lend him their company-issued laptops, logged onto the companies’ systems, and authorized and issued payments, which were sent to accounts he and his coconspirators controlled. 

    In total, the coconspirators misdirected funds from at least three insurance companies, netting more than $4.4 million. 

    All nine defendants charged in the scheme have pleaded guilty, including Mr. Ford’s lieutenant, Humberto Corona; Jaquan Hall and Elexis McLain, who recruited insurance employees and received and distributed fraudulent proceeds; and insurance employees Timothy Starling, Desiree Thomas, Daja Webb, and Sesedrick Wedlow, who were compensated for handing over stolen client information and allowing Mr. Ford to access company systems.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office and the Texas Department of Insurance conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Weybrecht is prosecuting the case. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Sacramento Man Charged With Multimillion-Dollar Bank Fraud and Pandemic Loan Fraud Scheme

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment last week against Akash Kumar Singh, 48, of Sacramento, charging him with four counts of bank fraud and three counts of money laundering, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced. The indictment was unsealed following Singh’s arrest today.

    According to court documents, Singh fraudulently obtained more than $3 million in Paycheck Protection Program loan funds intended to help small businesses maintain payroll and operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Singh obtained at least two PPP loans for a Sacramento software development company he purported to lead called Kryptoblocks. Singh falsely claimed that Kryptoblocks generated millions of dollars in revenue and paid millions of dollars in employee wages in 2019 and 2020. In reality, Kryptoblocks generated little to no revenues and employed no individuals in the United States during this time.

    This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Stefanki is prosecuting the case.

    If convicted, Singh faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million or of twice the amount of criminally derived property involved in each money laundering count. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

    This effort is part of a California COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Strike Force operation, one of five interagency COVID-19 fraud strike force teams established by the U.S. Department of Justice. The California Strike Force combines law enforcement and prosecutorial resources in the Eastern and Central Districts of California and focuses on large-scale, multistate pandemic relief fraud perpetrated by criminal organizations and transnational actors. The strike forces use prosecutor-led and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Warner Files Amendments to Republican Budget Plan

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner
    WASHINGTON –  As the Senate prepares for an all-night vote-a-rama on the Republican reconciliation budget bill agenda that will cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of Virginia families, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, filed 21 amendments to the GOP budget proposal to address the needs of working Americans and taking aim at the Trump administration’s lawlessness.
    “As President Trump and Senate Republicans try to move a budget resolution clearing the way to cut taxes for the richest Americans at the expense of the programs working families depend on, it’s important to understand what we’re talking about here: the GOP plans to provide tax breaks for billionaires while slashing health care, education and public safety and doing nothing about the really big problems most Americans are facing, like the rising costs of housing and child care,” said Sen. Warner. “I hope some of my Republican friends will think twice about supporting a budget plan that cuts taxes for the richest and doubles down on the chaos of the Trump-Musk administration.”
    Specifically, Warner’s amendments would:
    Put senators on the record for raising costs, gutting programs American families rely on
    Create a point of order against any reconciliation bill that would not decrease the cost of housing for American families. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to providing benefits to survivors of miners who died due to pneumoconiosis. Text
    Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would increase monthly student loan costs for borrowers of Federal student loans. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to preserving funding and current staffing levels at the Department of Education. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to providing affordable health care for American families, which may include making permanent the extended and expanded advance premium tax credits. Text
    Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would increase the cost of child care for United State families. Text
    Create a point of order against any reconciliation legislation that would increase health care costs for children receiving Medicaid. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to prohibiting cuts to critical health programs, which may include preventing the institution of a Medicaid per capita cap policy. Text
    Put senators on the record on combating Trump-Musk lawlessness and corruption
    Establish a deficit-neutral fund relating to protecting the American people from the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, transnational organized crime, and terrorism by prohibiting the mass termination of critical employees in the intelligence community. Text
    Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation if certain Federal civil service laws are being violated. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to ensuring that employees of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and elements of the intelligence community are not subject to retaliation and firing due to political preferences of any Presidential administration. Text
    Create a point of order against consideration of reconciliation legislation until the Congressional Budget Office certifies that health, education, research, law enforcement, and foreign aid funding authorized by Congress is not subject to programmatic funding delays, deferrals, or rescissions. Text
    Create a point of order against considering funding legislation for the Office of the President while there is pending litigation alleging a violation of the Take Care Clause. Text
    Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation that would rescind obligated or awarded amount made available under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Text
    Create a point of order against considering reconciliation legislation during a period during which there is an ongoing violation of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, as determined by the Comptroller General of the United States. Text
    Create a point of order against consideration of spending or revenue legislation during any period during which there is an ongoing violation of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as determined by the Comptroller General of the United States. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to protecting duly-enacted appropriations from unconstitutional cancellation by the President. Text
    Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation during any year in which an employee has been placed in administrative leave for more than a total of 10 work days. Text
    Create a point of order against reconciliation legislation during any period in which there is litigation pending against the President or another Federal officer alleging a violation of certain provisions of title 5, United States Code. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to protecting classified and sensitive information on programs and individuals of the United States from being accessed by DOGE employees. Text
    Establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to prohibiting the closure or relocation of Federal agencies without congressional authorization. Text

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Reed Opposes Kash Patel as FBI Director

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed

    WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) issued the following statement on his vote opposing the confirmation of Kash Patel to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):

    “The person in charge of running America’s most elite and powerful law enforcement agency should be someone with unquestioned character and integrity, a person with vast experience and clear independence who will put the Constitution and public safety first.

    “When a Republican like William Webster, who served as President Reagan’s FBI and CIA Director, says Mr. Patel should not be FBI Director, people, especially Republicans, ought to listen.  Sadly, once again, my colleagues are going along to get along.

    “Kash Patel is by far the most partisan, ideological, and extremist pick for this critical position.  Mr. Patel has no experience as a senior law enforcement officer.  Rather, he was chosen for his submissive fealty to Donald Trump and rabid willingness to serve Trump’s personal interest instead of the public interest. 

    “Mr. Patel’s past actions and statements make clear his focus will be turning the FBI from an apolitical agency into Trump’s politically-motivated police force.  I am deeply concerned that Mr. Patel will abuse the FBI’s resources and direct them against anyone who disagrees with President Trump or declines to carry out Trump’s wishes, including members of the media exercising their First Amendment rights through accurate reporting and ordinary Americans exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and assembly.

    “Even Trump’s own Attorney General from his first term said that Patel would become FBI director over his dead body.  And Trump’s own Vice President and White House counsel from his first term intervened to prevent Patel from being appointed as CIA deputy director.  Having seen his work up close, they had grave concerns about giving Mr. Patel responsibility and authority to enforce the law.

    “And in a stunning move, Mr. Patel has refused to sell his shares of a Chinese company and stands to receive millions of dollars in compensation while he will be responsible for protecting the American people from the threats of Chinese espionage and cybercrime.

    “Mr. Patel routinely spreads misinformation and debunked conspiracies and cannot be trusted to be forthright and truthful to Congress or the American people.  For these reasons and more, he is not fit to lead the FBI.”

    In practice, FBI Directors serve a ten-year term that spans multiple administrations unless they resign, die, or are removed.  Over the last thirty years, there have been just four Senate-confirmed FBI Directors: Louis Freeh; Robert Mueller; James Comey; and Christopher Wray, who President Donald Trump nominated during his first term and who President Joe Biden kept on.

    This marks the first time in his Senate career that Senator Reed voted to oppose a nominee to lead the FBI.  Mr. Patel’s nomination was narrowly approved on a vote of 51-49.

    MIL OSI USA News –