Tag Archive for: Washington DC

Stephen Miller Praises National Guard Deployed To D.C., Says America Depends On ‘Builders,’ Not ‘Destroyers’

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Top White House official Stephen Miller told National Guardsmen that America depends on “builders,” not “destroyers,” just days before the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Miller joined Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force Ceremony on Thursday, where the Daily Caller was present.

Approximately 250 National Guard members stood in formation at the newly restored Meridian Hill Park ahead of America’s 250th anniversary weekend as Miller praised their service and described them as the “builders” who sustain civilization.

Speaking after Blanche, Miller briefly outlined what he described as the two groups that fundamentally define civilization, characterizing the National Guard as “builders.”

“All of civilization can be fundamentally divided into two groups of people: builders and destroyers.”

“The people who do the work to build, sustain, and nurture civilization. The people who serve, who sacrifice, who give, who care for others, who protect others, who defend others, and those who only destroy. Who litter, who rob, who are feeding, who deface, who degrade.”

Addressing the Guardsmen directly, Miller said civilization exists because of people willing to serve others and dedicate themselves to a cause greater than themselves.

“Civilization only exists because of people like you. People who choose to serve, who choose to sacrifice, who choose to build, who choose to dedicate themselves to some cause greater than their own vanity.” 

Miller concluded by praising the service members for their commitment to the country, “Each and every one of you is the reason why America’s future is brighter than it’s ever been before.”

Miller thanked the National Guard members on behalf of President Donald Trump, the White House, the U.S. government, and the American people, expressing “everlasting gratitude” for their service and wishing them a happy Independence Day.

President Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard members to Washington, D.C., in August 2025 to assist with combating violent crime in the nation’s capital. The deployment has been subsequently extended several times since, with the National Guard also aiding in homeless encampment cleanup and beautification efforts throughout the city.

AUTHOR

Ashley Brasfield

Senior Politics Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

How Extensive Has Trump’s DC Beautification Been? We Have The Numbers

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President Donald Trump’s administration set out to clean up Washington, D.C., 14 months ago, and since has repaired 22 fountains, 28 statues, and made various other improvements to the nation’s capital, the Daily Caller learned.

The “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force” launched on March 28, 2025. Under the leadership of the task force, the administration has removed more than 500 instances of graffiti around the city, installed 134 rat-resistant trash cans and repaired more than 150 potholes, according to internal stats shared with the Caller.

The task force has also removed 250 truckloads of debris from ponds around the city, fixed and installed more than 1,143 benches, repaired 1,695 lights, and cleaned 45 iconic monuments and memorials around the city.

Six new statues have been installed, including the Caesar Rodney statue that was taken down during the 2020 riots.

“No president in history has done more to prioritize the safety, restoration and beautification of Washington, D.C. Decline is a choice, and the Trump administration will continue this important work to ensure D.C. remains the greatest, safest and most beautiful capital in the world,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the Caller in a statement.

The full list of repaired fountains and cleaned-up statues includes:

Fountains:

  • American Veterans Disabled for Life
  • Bolivar Memorial Park Fountain
  • Columbus Circle Fountain
  • Dupont Circle Fountain
  • FDR Memorial Fountains
  • Freedom Plaza
  • General Phillip Sheridan Fountain
  • George Mason Memorial Fountain
  • National Japanese American Memorial Fountain
  • John Marshall Park Fountain
  • John Paul Jones Fountain
  • Kahil Gibran Memorial Fountains
  • Korean War Veterans Memorial Fountain
  • Lafayette Park Fountains
  • Meridian Hill Fountains
  • MLK Jr. Memorial Fountains
  • National Law Enforcement Memorial
  • Rawlins Park
  • Taras Shevshenko Memorial Park Fountain
  • Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Moats and Fountains
  • US Navy Memorial Fountain
  • World War II Memorial Fountain

Statues:

  • Captain John Paul Jones Statue
  • Dante in Meridian Hill
  • Edmund Burke Statue
  • James Bucannan in Meridian Hill
  • George Mason Statue
  • Nathaniel Green Statue
  • John Ericsson Monument
  • John Marshall Statue in John Marshall Park
  • Casimir Pulaski in Freedom Plaza
  • Two chess players in John Marshall Park
  • John Witherspoon Statue
  • Theodore Roosevelt Statue and Monuments
  • Rawlins in Rawlins Park
  • United Spanish War Veterans Memorial (The “Hiker”)
  • Thomas Jefferson at Memorial
  • The Seabees Statues
  • Bolívar Equestrian in Bolívar Park
  • Sheridan Statue
  • Joan of Arc in Meridian Hill
  • General John Logan Statue
  • Caesar Rodney
  • Commodore John Barry Statue
  • Hamilton (Commerce)
  • Bernardo de Galvez Statue
  • George Washington at Washington Circle
  • Lincoln Statue in Lincoln Memorial
  • George Washington (Rose Garden)
  • Taras Shevchenko Statue

On Thursday, the Trump administration reopened Columbus Circle, the fountain outside of Union Station. It was the first time the fountain has been turned on since 2007.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent

RELATED ARTICLE: EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s DC Crackdown Wipes Out Homeless Encampments

RELATED VIDEO: Washington, D.C. before vs after Trump’s restorations

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

SCOOP: How Trump Admin Is Taking Leftist Terrorism Crackdown Worldwide

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President Donald Trump’s administration is ramping up global efforts to track and prevent leftist terrorism following the April attempt on his life in Washington, State Department officials told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The U.S. government now treats left-wing political violence as a global problem requiring a transnational response rather than isolated incidents, according to State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott and two other department officials. The gunman arrested at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in an alleged attempt to kill Trump reflects rising insurrectionist trends from the left that the West must take seriously, the administration believes.

“From the United States to Germany to Spain, left-wing terrorists have targeted democratically elected political leaders in an attempt to undermine the will of the people, destabilize societies, and intimidate members of the public,” Pigott told the DCNF. “The State Department is actively tracking the rise in far-left political violence and is committed to identifying and disrupting terrorist networks that wage terror campaigns in service of a revolutionary political project.”

A State Department official familiar with the operations pointed to several recent incidents to establish the problem: masked attackers beating a German right-wing politician in 2019, an Italian anarchist group mailing a bomb to a defense contractor in 2022, a leftist anarchist caught preparing bombs to kill 50 people in the United Kingdom in 2023 and other cases. Most recently in Europe, French authorities charged alleged adherents of a leftist group with beating a right-wing activist to death in a February brawl.

The European Union found 21 attacks linked to leftist ideology in 2024, rivaling 24 attacks from jihadists, the State Department official noted. The fact that leftist extermists increasingly make common cause with “pro-Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, and Iranian-aligned groups” makes matters worse for the West, the official said.

Trump’s State Department has pursued greater collaboration with other countries to counter the threat, the official told the DCNF. State Department leaders convened with foreign partners to improve data-sharing with the U.S. and prompted them to use tools similar to the department’s “Rewards for Justice” program to seek information from the public, the official said.

The State Department will also strategize with allies to counter terror networks such as Antifa at a May workshop in the Netherlands and host an international Washington summit on “The Resurgence of Political Terrorism” in July, according to the employee.

Trump’s administration previously globalized its efforts by hitting four European Antifa-aligned groups with terrorism sanctions and offering cash rewards for information on their funding. At home, the Department of Justice won 16 convictions in America’s first Antifa terrorism trial over a July 2025 attack on a Texas immigration detention center.

“This kind of targeted political violence is not unique to the United States but is a global phenomenon and a preferred tactic of radical far-left and anarchist networks,” a State Department counterterrorism expert said, referring to the D.C. shooting.

“These networks inspire and recruit violent actors to not only intimidate, maim, or kill high-profile individuals but to interrupt supply chains, sabotage critical infrastructure, and otherwise exhaust law enforcement capacity through criminal and terrorist acts,” the analyst said. “Such actions all serve the same purpose: to break down law and order, undermine the foundations of Western societies, and incite insurrection against elected governments.”

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

DCNF Crime and Extremism Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett Once Rented Car With Convicted Robber — It Didn’t End Well

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Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett co-rented a car in 2006 with a previously convicted robber whose car crash caused her to be sued for damages at the start of her law career, records obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

Crockett and Texas resident Soweto Hoilett rented the vehicle from Budget Rent A Car System after Hoilett was convicted of two robberies and possession of a controlled substance, according to court documents obtained via public databases and records requests. Hoilett’s relationship with Crockett, who declared a run for Senate on Dec. 8, is unclear based on the documents, and the two simply noted their use for the car was “personal.” Hoilett’s car wreck then prompted Crockett to defend herself in court, marking one of her earliest cases as a licensed attorney.

Budget Rent A Car sued Crockett in 2007 for refusing to cough up money over an accident involving Hoilett, citing her rental agreement that she claimed was “invalid.” Crockett settled with the company for roughly $10,400 the following year.

The court records show how a repeat offender receiving light punishment sowed chaos in the future congresswoman’s life. In Congress, she later advocated for reducing incarceration and declining to prosecute low-level theft and other offenses people commit “to survive.” She also frames the justice system as prejudiced against black people and the poor, citing her work in the Bowie County Public Defender’s Office from 2007 to 2010. 

Crockett’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and an attorney who assisted her is no longer licensed in Texas.

The DCNF also reached out to an email address listed for Hoilett in public records and the attorney who represented Budget Rent A Car and did not receive responses. Hoilett could not otherwise be reached.

Hoilett pleaded guilty to robbing two people in February and September 1998, with the county dropping a third robbery case against him that year. Hoilett received probation sentences that were later revoked in favor of five years behind bars, the lowest possible sentence for his first-degree felony robbery and slightly above the two-year minimum for the other robbery offense. He was credited with time served.

Oklahoma police later charged Hoilett in June 2005 with drug possession and obstructing an officer after catching him speeding at 91 miles per hour without a valid driver’s license, according to court records. Prosecutors dropped the obstructing charge for a guilty plea on the drug charge, leading to a probation sentence, which a court later accused him of violating.

Hoilett’s attorney in the Oklahoma case told the DCNF he could not recall details.

Eight months later, Crockett rented a Hyundai Sonata with Hoilett as an additional driver in Harris County, a rental agreement shows — setting the stage for her to get wrapped up in his legal troubles.

Crockett called Budget on Nov. 6, 2006, to let them know Hoilett had taken the car to Louisiana and a friend of his ended up finding the vehicle, according to the company’s accident report. Documents from the lawsuit give conflicting dates and scant details for the accident, but Budget said the car was totaled from the damage.

Hoilett was also charged in Harris County with resisting and evading arrest in August 2006, according to police reports. Prosecutors dropped one of the cases over a plea deal, giving him 120 days in jail for a crime that could have brought up to a year.

Budget and Crockett, who became a licensed attorney in November 2006, argued in court filings over whether Crockett should have allowed Hoilett to drive and how much she owed in damages. Crockett accused Budget in court filings of trying to “obtain money by false pretenses and fraudulent representations.”

The company also blasted Crockett for missing multiple filing deadlines in the case, including by not checking her mail.

“Defendant did not intentionally miss the deadline, but instead made a miscalculation of the deadline due to a mistake regarding the Good Friday Holiday,” Crockett’s response to one motion reads.

A judge approved a $10,407.12 settlement in October 2008, forcing Crockett to pay around $4,000 more than what she initially offered, records show.

Hoilett, meanwhile, was arrested in Harris County again in April and November 2007, according to police affidavits. Authorities said he first trespassed into someone’s vehicle and then refused to return a van from Dollar Rent A Car.

The district attorney’s office scrapped the first case after claiming a lack of probable cause to detain Hoilett, while the theft case gave Hoilett seven months behind bars instead of what could have been up to two years.

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

DCNF Crime and Extremism Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Trump Announces Female National Guardsmen Shot In D.C. Has Died

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President Donald Trump announced that one of the two West Virginia National Guardsmen who was shot Wednesday in Washington, D.C., succumbed to her wounds Thursday.

West Virginia National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and West Virginia Air National Guard Andrew Wolfe were allegedly attacked at the Farragut West Metro Station in Washington, D.C., roughly a mile from the White House by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 after the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. Beckstrom’s wounds were described as fatal on Thursday, according to The New York Times, as confirmed by her father before her passing.

WATCH: President Trump: ‘National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom has sadly passed away’

“Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about, highly respected, young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023 outstanding in every way. She’s just passed away,” Trump said as he was about to call servicemembers for Thanksgiving.

Both National Guardsmen were in critical condition since the Wednesday shooting. Beckstrom’s father told the Times he was at the hospital with her.

“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”

“All we need right now are prayers for my son,” a man at Wolfe’s Martinsburg, West Virginia, family home said when contacted by the Times Thursday.

Beckstrom’s death means that Lakanwal, currently facing three counts of assault with intent to kill, will now face “murder in the first degree,” something U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia vowed would be the case if either Bergstrom or Wolfe died from their wounds during a Thanksgiving Day press conference.

“As we stand here today, the charges that are appropriate right now are three accounts of assault with intent to kill. He will be charged with possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces 15 years under the assault with the intent to kill,” Pirro told reporters. “We intend to continue monitoring what the charges will be depending upon the well-being of the guardsmen. We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge: Murder in the first degree.”

Journalist Julio Rojas allegedly reported Lakanwal shouted “Allahu akbar!” before opening fire on the National Guardsmen with a Smith and Wesson revolver. Upon coming under attack, one National Guardsman who didn’t have a firearm stabbed Lakanwal with a pocketknife, while an armed National Guardsman shot the suspected gunman multiple times, according to Rojas.

AUTHOR

Harold Hutchison

Media Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Open To Bringing Back Insane Asylums To Clean Up Streets

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THE OVAL OFFICE — President Donald Trump told the Daily Caller that he is open to bringing back insane asylums to institutionalize mentally ill individuals on America’s streets.

Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese sat down with Trump in the Oval Office on Friday for an hour-long interview. The president spoke at length about his work cleaning up the streets of D.C.,  and also added that he was open to having the government reopen insane asylums, telling the Caller about how they used to run in New York.

The following is an unedited excerpt from the interview. A full transcript will be made available Monday evening.

REESE: It’s horrible. I want to get to Russia. I want to ask you another question about D.C. crackdown. Would you be open to the government reopening insane asylums for people with serious mental illness?

TRUMP: Yeah I would.

REESE: You would?

TRUMP: Well, they used to have them, and you never saw people like we had, you know, they used to have them. And what happened is states like New York and California that had them, New York had a lot of them. They released them all into society because they couldn’t afford it. You know, it’s massively expensive. But we had, they were all over New York. I remember when I was growing up, Creedmoor. They had a place, Creedmoor, they had a lot of them, Bellevue, and they were closed by a certain governor. And I remember when they did, it was a long time ago, and I said they didn’t release these people? And they did. They released them into society, and that’s what you have. It’s a rough, it’s a rough situation.

REESE: How soon –

TRUMP: Why is that a big thing? People are thinking about that?

REESE: Well –

TRUMP: Because, you can’t have these people walking around.

REESE: I mean, what do you do with them? You know?

TRUMP: So dangerous, so dangerous. And they can live to be 85 years old.

REESE: I moved from Washington, D.C., to Virginia because I felt unsafe. We had an attempted break-in, me and my roommates from my place on Capitol Hill, and I just moved to Virginia, thinking it’s so much safer. And I had to call 911, the other day because I watched a homeless guy beat up a pedestrian. And the 911 –

TRUMP: When was that?

REESE: A week ago.

TRUMP: During my time?

REESE: This was in Virginia, though. This was not in Washington, D.C.

TRUMP: Oh in Virginia. We don’t take [inaudible.]

REESE: No I know. Now I’m saying, now I’m like, why did I move from Washington, D.C. to Virginia right after you cleaned it up?

TRUMP: So safe.

TRUMP: Yeah, I call it a crime free zone because we don’t play games. You know, I said they spit, we hit. You know, when these people – women – they’re standing up to these guys, good looking guys, and they want to do something, but they’re not allowed to. If they do, they’ll be arrested. They’ll arrest the soldiers. They had an arrest warrant out on every single soldier, if they hit back, there was an automatic arrest. So you have these people, they scream, they’re this far away, screaming. Some women, screaming, like crazy, they’re crazy. And then they start spitting in the face of the guy. And these guys are just, they wouldn’t, but they can’t do it. Now they can do it. So I said, we spit– they spit, we hit. Right?

Trump sent federal law enforcement and the National Guard into D.C. on Aug. 7, with his creation of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The president then moved to federalize the D.C. police and deploy the National Guard a few days later.

As of Aug. 29, there have been 1,369 total arrests since the beginning of the operation, a White House official shared with the Caller. Many illegal aliens have been arrested, including 12 known gang members who are a part of MS-13 and TDA, the official told the Caller. The operation has also found five missing children and cleared 50 homeless encampments.

The president previously told reporters he wants to clean up other cities such as Chicago and New York.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent

RELATED ARTICLE: Numbers Don’t Lie: Trump’s DC Crackdown Is Working

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE: IRS Quietly Puts On New Face, Ousts Anti-Trump Spokeswoman With Drunk Driving Record

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The IRS replaced its left-leaning top spokeswoman who worked at the agency for 27 years but did not announce or explain her removal.

Jodie Reynolds, formerly the chief of communications for the agency who was often quoted in news stories, was previously arrested for driving while intoxicated, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The IRS quietly removed Reynolds’ name from an organizational chart after the DCNF reached out on Thursday about her history. The updated chart shows there is a new “acting” chief.

A conservative group that investigated Reynolds’ background said her case showed hypocrisy in the taxation agency tasked with enforcing the law on Americans.

“Jodie Reynolds is a perfect case study of the rot inside the IRS,” American Accountability Foundation (AAF) president Tom Jones told the DCNF. “This is an agency that will hammer working Americans over a paperwork mistake, yet it kept a top official on payroll after she was arrested for drunk driving.”

Reynolds, 50, led an office handling the IRS’ relations with Congress, other government agencies, the news media and other groups, according to the IRS website. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the DCNF, and the IRS’ media office did not answer questions about her employment status.

After the DCNF reached out, Reynolds deleted her X and LinkedIn accounts.

Reynolds had posted on LinkedIn in April that she was looking for another job. The IRS told the DCNF on Tuesday that Reynolds still held her chief position — before the DCNF inquired about her criminal record. The agency did not specify when she was removed.

While working under both Republican and Democratic presidents, Reynolds displayed disapproval of both Trump administrations’ policy moves in her social media postings.

She posted “#familiesbelongtogether” on Twitter in 2018, referencing a social media campaign against so-called family separation that critics say resulted from President Donald Trump’s border policies. She also liked an April LinkedIn post by a lawyer who announced that she had sued to stop Trump from firing her from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the DCNF found.

Reynolds was pulled over and arrested by Knightstown, Indiana police in October 2015 for speeding, nearly veering off the road and “failing to signal lane changes,” the local police department’s affidavit says. The arrest occurred while she was employed as a media relations specialist at the IRS, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Reynolds, who was living in Indiana at the time, told police officers that she had consumed five beers that evening, adding “that she has a government job and that she will lose it if she gets into trouble,” according to the affidavit.

Reynolds remained at the IRS under the Obama administration after having worked there since 1998 — and went on to become a branch chief, acting director and finally, in 2023, rose to become the head of its communications office, a highly visible and influential position.

The affidavit said Reynolds acted in an “abusive” manner toward police during the 2015 encounter and refused to take a chemical test to determine her blood-alcohol content. “She was very argumentative and showed mood swings,” an Indiana state trooper wrote.

In Indiana, refusing a breath test upon request of a law enforcement officer is in itself a crime. One officer said Reynolds refused despite him explaining the law to her.

“I read Indiana Implied Consent to Miss Reynolds,” the officer wrote. “Miss Reynolds said that she will not take anymore tests without a lawyer present. I asked Miss Reynolds if she is refusing to take a chemical test and she said ‘yes I am.’”

Police later obtained a warrant to have Reynolds’ blood drawn at a hospital, revealing she was unlawfully drunk while driving.

The document also said that Reynolds had five other traffic violations going back to the 1990s, four of which were for speeding. She failed to pay the fine for one of the offenses and had her license suspended in 1995.

Reynolds pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and served one year of probation, though a judge found that she could have also been charged with public intoxication, records show. She initially requested a jury trial to fight her charges, but due to her probation, Reynolds walked away from the 2015 incident with no conviction on her record.

Reynolds asked a court to grant her limited driving privileges less than two months after her arrest, and a judge agreed in December, finding that she did not refuse a chemical test “knowing and willfully.”

“Defendant’s employment with the IRS requires that Defendant sometimes travel to Washington D.C.,” Reynolds’ lawyer wrote in one motion.

“Reynolds could’ve killed someone, and instead of firing her, the IRS handed her a promotion,” the AAF’s Jones told the DCNF. “If that doesn’t tell you everything about the culture of that agency, nothing will.”

The IRS began laying off workers by the dozens in February amid scrutiny from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Trump’s agency working to shrink government bureaucracy. The IRS reportedly fired almost a third of its tax auditors and about 50 IT executives by March, with DOGE planning to cut its total staff by up to two-thirds.

Reynolds made her left-leaning views public in 2017, by approvingly reposting a video on Twitter by a Black Lives Matter activist. The post declared: “If you’re tired of going to work and making money for other people, then you’re probably tired of capitalism.”

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Most Dem-Voting Federal Bureaucrats Say They Would Disobey ‘Legal’ Orders From Trump, Poll Shows

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Trump’s First Federal Judicial Nominees Fought Against Sex Changes For Kids, Limitless Abortion

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President Donald Trump began making his first few federal judicial appointments in recent days, naming several individuals who have been prosecuting violent crime, arguing in front of the Supreme Court and defending various culture-war issues.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Caller in March she did not have an update on when the nominations or vetting would begin, but said she would provide a list of names to the outlet.

Nearly two months later, Trump began those appointments, naming a handful of Missourians to district courts as well as one individual to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Joshua M. Divine of Missouri was appointed Tuesday by Trump to serve as judge on both the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and Western District of Missouri. Divine is the solicitor general of Missouri and director of special litigation in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. He was previously chief counsel to Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and deputy solicitor general in the Missouri Attorney General’s (AG) Office.

Divine was also a law clerk to both Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge William H. Pryor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He attended Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Law & Policy Review, according a White House press release.

During his time with the Missouri Attorney General’s office, Divine represented the state against a lawsuit attempting to overturn Missouri’s restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone treatment for minors. Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter ultimately sided with Divine and the state.

Divine also argued in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in favor of a block of President Joe Biden’s proposed income-driven repayment plan for borrowers. The court later granted the state its motion to block the student loan forgiveness plan.

While working under Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Divine argued on behalf of the state for a $24 billion judgment against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic. A federal judge later granted the judgement after finding the CCP liable for damages concerning the hoarding of personal protective equipment during the 2020 pandemic.

Whitney Hermandorfer, Trump’s pick for the Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit, is the director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General. Hermandorfer was previously a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Samuel A. Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, as well as Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Hermandorfer played Division I basketball at Princeton University, attended George Washington University Law School and was editor-in-chief of the George Washington University Law Review.

Recently, Hermandorfer argued on behalf of the state of Tennessee in front of the Supreme Court for the case United States v. Skrmetti. During Biden’s term, his administration challenged the state of Tennessee’s law banning child sex-change procedures.

Hermandorfer has also argued against broadening sex discrimination laws to protect individuals from being discriminated based on their gender identity, which often extends to bathroom and locker room use. Additionally, she challenged a government rule that required states to help employees who elected to obtain an abortion.

Maria A. Lanahan, Trump’s pick to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, is the principal deputy solicitor general in the Missouri AG’s Office. She clerked for Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Brian K. Zahra. Lanahan played Division I basketball at Gonzaga University and attended the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as an Articles Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review.

While working under Bailey, Lanahan has focused on statutory interpretation, tax litigation, writs, and constitutional issues, according to the AG’s press release. Lanahan argued in 2023 on behalf of the state in defense of Missouri’s decision to outlaw abortion.

Trump also nominated Zachary M. Bluestone, of Missouri, to serve as judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Bluestone is the appellate chief and violent crimes prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. He previously served in the Missouri AG’s Office as deputy solicitor general and was a law clerk to Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Bluestone attended Harvard Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. As an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri, he focused on the prosecution of violent crimes and criminal appeals.

In one case Bluestone was a prosecutor for, a judge sentenced a former St. Louis middle school principal to two consecutive life terms in prison after he was found guilty of hiring a friend to kill his pregnant schoolteacher girlfriend.

Edward Aloysius O’Connell was nominated Tuesday by Trump to serve as associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was previously chief of staff and deputy general counsel of the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. O’Connell was also a prosecutor in the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for nearly two decades where he prosecuted homicides, felony major crimes, domestic violence, organized crime, and narcotics offenses, according to the White House press release.

O’Connell clerked for Judge Rufus King III of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia after he graduated from Quinnipiac University School of Law.

“Our Court System is not letting me do the job I was Elected to do. Activist judges must let the Trump Administration deport murderers, and other criminals who have come into our Country illegally, WITHOUT DELAY!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his appointments.

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House Correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

RELATED ARTICLE: Deadly Sabotage Could Destroy Trump’s Legacy, And America Too

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

In Ironic Twist, Man Who Allegedly Stole Kristi Noem’s Bag Is Illegal Migrant, DHS Sec Says

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The suspect who allegedly stole U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s bag while she dined with family at a hamburger restaurant late Easter Sunday is a criminal illegal migrant, authorities said Sunday.

Matt McCool, Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service Washington Field Office, announced Sunday that Secret Service agents, working closely with the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., had arrested a suspect believed to have robbed Noem of her bag. “The defendant was taken into custody without incident in the District of Columbia,” McCool said.

The suspect was a “serial offender” but he appeared not to have targeted Noem because of her person or position as DHS Secretary, McCool added. The suspect will face charges in a federal court, according to McCool.

“This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,” Noem said in a post on X, while thanking the Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and other law enforcement agencies investigating the theft that occurred April 20 at The Capital Burger. The restaurant is located a mile from the White House.

Neither Noem nor McCool named the suspect, but the New York Post — citing law enforcement sources — identified the suspect as Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, of Santiago, Chile.

“A law enforcement source in D.C. has confirmed to me the man accused of stealing DHS Sec. Noem’s purse is Mario Bustamante Leiva [sic],” Julio Rosas, national correspondent at The Blaze posted.

Ed Martin, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told NBC News over the phone that Bustamante-Leiva was in the country illegally.

Bustamante-Leiva is suspected of being the masked man who walked into the restaurant, past two plainclothes Secret Service officers and upstairs to a spot next to Noem’s table. There, he dragged Noem‘s purse toward himself — while Noem and her family dined — and left the restaurant with the purse tucked away under his jacket, according to NBC News. He passed by the Secret Service agents on his way out, according to the outlet.

“This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out,” Martin told the outlet.

The stolen item was a $4,400 Gucci bag lying on the ground next to Noem and containing a $600 Louis Vuitton Clemence Purse and $3,000 in cash, according to the Post.

It also contained Noem‘s DHS access badge, her passport, various credit cards, blank checks, a set of keys and her driver’s license, NBC News reported.

Noem told podcaster, and Daily Caller Editorial Director, Vince Coglianese Wednesday that she felt the purse being moved from her feet, according to the Post.

“I thought it was my grandkids kicking me in the legs, but it was very professionally done,” Noem reportedly added on the “Vince” podcast.

Law enforcement agents were still seeking a second suspect in the theft of Noem’s possessions, Martin told NBC News.

Bustamante-Leiva was one of the most prolific thieves in London, U.K. — until he was jailed there in 2015 for conducting a five-month theft spree that included stealing phones, wallets, and computers collectively worth £21,000 (nearly $28,000), the Daily Mail reported.

Once, he stole a bag containing a whole family’s passports and airplane boarding passes, and in another instance, he brazenly stole a woman’s handbag as she chatted with a friend, the central London court reportedly learned during Bustamante-Leiva’s trial.

“You are dishonest to your fingertips,” the judge said to Bustamante-Leiva at his sentencing in London.

“Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that’s why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets,” Noem said.

“What I can tell you is he won’t be back on the streets in America,” Martin told NBC News regarding the suspect.

AUTHOR

John Oyewale

Contributor

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is repubished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Most Dem-Voting Federal Bureaucrats Say They Would Disobey ‘Legal’ Orders From Trump, Poll Shows

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A new poll found that a majority of federal employees who previously voted Democrat are geared up to act against the interest of their elected boss, President Donald Trump.

The data, released Thursday by the Napolitan Institute, shows that 76% of voters for former Vice President Kamala Harris working under Trump say they will “resist” his plans, while 75% say they would hypothetically disobey, or “do what [they] thought was best,” when given a legal order that they disagreed with. The Napolitan Institute said the numbers show a “deep partisan divide in the Administrative State” as Trump moves to bring the numerous halls of government in alignment with his agenda.

“Our research confirms that the Administrative State is not composed of thoughtful, nonpartisan experts who are making neutral decisions for voters,” Napolitan Institute founder Scott Rasmussen said in a press release. “The deep partisan divide within the federal bureaucracy and the shifting public opinion present significant challenges for the current administration.”

The survey asked respondents to “imagine that you were the head of a federal government agency” and “President Trump gave you an order that was legal but you believed was bad policy.”

“Would you follow the president’s order or do what you thought was best?” The questionnaire asked.

The results showed that 75% of bureaucrats who voted for Harris for president would “do what [they] thought was best,” in regards to Trump’s orders, while 9% were unsure and the rest would obey him. This contrasted with 80% of Trump-voting officials who said they would follow the president despite their disagreements, with 2% saying they were unsure and 18% saying they would not.

Harris supporters in the government also said their own “political efforts” will be to either “strongly resist” or “somewhat resist” Trump’s agenda by 56% and 16% said they would “neither support nor resist,” the Napolitan Institute found.

The group surveyed 500 officials “living in the National Capitol Region and earning at least $75,000 annually,” noting a margin of error of 4 percent.

Trump’s efforts to bring the bureaucracy to heel included a day-one hiring freeze “throughout the executive branch,” payouts for federal workers, funding cuts for left-wing priorities like transgender ideology as well as the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has cleaned house at several agencies.

“The silver lining is that with such high levels of chaos in this bureaucratic ‘civil war’, there may be an opening for the common sense voice of the American people to rise above the political noise and once again become the shaping force of the nation’s dialogue,” Rasmussen.

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Inside Trump’s Meeting With House Republicans

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Former President Donald Trump gathered Thursday morning with House Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club to talk politics and strategy just five months out from the election, according to lawmakers in the room who spoke with the Caller.

Trump was greeted by House Republicans singing him Happy Birthday one day before he turns 78 years old, and was gifted the game ball from the Republicans’ 31-11 victory in Wednesday’s Congressional Baseball Game before he spoke.

Trump joked that the performance of the Democrats’ outfield in the game was a bigger help to Republicans than anything they could have done themselves.

During Trump’s remarks, he mentioned The Washington Post’s readership being down 50 percent, and was met by cheers.

Trump then mentioned that he plans on doing 100 tele town halls for House candidates, and called the tele town halls a “secret weapon,” according to a source familiar in the room.

At one point during the discussion, Trump took a shot at political operative Jeff Roe, saying Roe does surgery on candidate’s wallets. Roe backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ primary bid against Trump and was widely criticized for racking up big dollars without delivering positive results.

The former president also made an interesting remark about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump claimed that Pelosi’s daughter told him the two would’ve made a good pair had they not been involved in politics, but Trump joked that he thinks Pelosi is much older than he is. The California Democrat is 84.

Trump then took a jab at those who voted to impeach him, saying all but one had been removed from office. The source told the Caller that Trump was forgetting about Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse.

The 2024 frontrunner also told House Republicans that tariffs will be a top priority.

Trump weighed in on the changes to the Republican National Committee (RNC), saying Michael Whatley and Lara Trump have totally transformed the RNC, and noted that he chose Whatley because of his performance as NCGOP Chair.

Since the changes, the RNC and the Trump campaign have seen their best fundraising success of the cycle so far, shattering their own donation website following Trump’s conviction in Manhattan.

After his remarks, Trump took questions from the lawmakers, many of whom just thanked and praised him.Trump will now meet with Senate Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

(This is a developing story. More information will be added as it becomes available.)

AUTHOR

HENRY RODGERS

Chief national correspondent.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Congresswoman demands answers over D.C. children’s hospital Youth Pride Clinic’s ‘life-altering gender procedures’

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It’s about time. There’s much work to do to start protecting children from a dangerous element of the trans community that has mutated into a cult, and is now inflicting grooming and mutilation upon children, allegedly without parental consent.

Such potentially criminal actions need to be subjected to immediate investigations everywhere, for the protection of children. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx’s (R-NC) investigation is a significant step in the right direction. Children’s National Hospital has already responded. Its tweet, whether true or not, parrots the same tired talking points of the woke, using words such as “welcoming” and “inclusive.”

Four months ago, Virginia Foxx (along with other Congressional Republicans) reiterated her commitment to “oversight” and “lawsuits” amid Biden’s reckless policies and orders. Further investigations, prosecutions and jail time for these egregious assaults upon and mutilation of children would be appropriate for medical practitioners if they are found guilty after due process.

Virginia Foxx demands answers from DC children’s hospital over gender procedures

by Jeremiah Poff, Washington Examiner, March 21, 2023:

EXCLUSIVE — House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) is demanding a Washington children’s hospital detail its protocols and policies related to the administering of cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children.

In a letter to Children’s National Hospital President and CEO Kurt Newman that was shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner, Foxx expressed concern that the hospital’s “Youth Pride Clinic” did not once mention the role of parental consent in the prescription of “life-altering surgeries and other medical interventions” for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

“The website for the Clinic states that your primary and specialty care teams provide, among other things, ‘[h]ormone replacement therapy,’” Foxx wrote. “There is no mention of any parental consent requirement for such therapy or for other medical services provided to youth who have not reached the age of majority.”

In August, the hospital drew scrutiny after the popular Twitter account Libs of TikTok released a recording of a call with a hospital staff member who admitted the hospital had performed hysterectomies on children younger than 16. The hospital later denied that it provided gender transition surgeries to minors and scrubbed its website of language that said such procedures were available to patients aged 0-21.

The letter from Foxx seeks answers from the hospital on whether or not it has provided “medical interventions for a minor diagnosed with gender dysphoria” without the consent of both parents, including such procedures as facial reconstruction, chest reconstruction, or genital modifications such as vaginoplasty or phalloplasty.

The letter also seeks records of “reports or inquiries” that hospital staff members have made to child protective services if a parent objected to “medical interventions that would hormonally or surgically transition his or her child” and asks the hospital to reveal the number of children who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria by the clinic, as well as those who have received hormonal or surgical treatment.

“I am concerned about the use of life-altering, irreversible medical interventions on children with healthy bodies,” Foxx wrote. “Parents are a key part of any medical decisions for their children: parents have the right and responsibility to make medical decisions for their children, and they should be free to do so without undue pressure or interference from medical establishments.”

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Children’s National Hospital said it is “committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for all and to serving our LGBTQ+ patients and families in the full spectrum of their care.”….

AUTHOR

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.