House Kills Resolution to Release Lawmaker Sexual Misconduct Reports

Jose Nino
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House Kills Resolution to Release Lawmaker Sexual Misconduct Reports

(José Niño, Headline USA) The House voted Wednesday to scuttle an effort by Representative Nancy Mace to make public all reports on sexual misconduct allegations against members of Congress and their aides, NBC News reports.

Mace, a conservative Republican running to be governor of South Carolina, forced a floor vote on her resolution directing the House Ethics Committee to release all reports on allegations of lawmakers and aides engaging in sexual misconduct or harassment.

In a 357 to 65 vote, the House referred the Mace resolution to committee, a move that effectively killed it.

The Ethics Committee had encouraged members to vote for referral. In a joint statement, the Republican and Democratic leaders argued the resolution “could chill victim cooperation and witness participation in ongoing and future investigations” and would make it harder for the committee “to investigate and eliminate sexual misconduct in the House.”

“Here and elsewhere, perpetrators of sexual misconduct should never be shielded from responsibility for their misdeeds,” Chairman Michael Guest and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier said. But they added that “victims may be retraumatized by public disclosures of interim work product, excerpts of interview transcripts, and certain exhibits. And witnesses, who often only speak to the Committee confidentially or on condition of future anonymity, could fear retaliation if their cooperation is made public.”

Mace has spoken openly about her own experiences as a sexual assault survivor and was one of just four House Republicans who teamed with Democrats on a discharge petition last fall that circumvented her own GOP leadership and eventually led to the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files.

She said her resolution came after NBC News and other outlets reported that Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas had sent sexual text messages to a female aide, Regina Santos Aviles, with whom he allegedly had an affair before she died by suicide last year. Gonzales previously denied having an affair but has not addressed the substance of allegations since the text messages surfaced.

“I would like members of Congress to tell their female colleagues where they stand on sexual harassment within the U.S. House of Representatives,” Mace told reporters. “Do you support women up here, that work up here, and who are your colleagues, or do you not?”

Earlier Wednesday, the House Ethics panel said it will open an investigation into the allegations against Gonzales. In a brief statement, Gonzales said “I welcome the opportunity to present all the facts to the committee.”

In Tuesday night’s Texas primary, Gonzales was forced into a May runoff election against GOP challenger Brandon Herrera.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Tucker Carlson’s Nicotine Pouch Company Victim of Multimillion Dollar Hijacking

Jose Nino
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Tucker Carlson’s Nicotine Pouch Company Victim of Multimillion Dollar Hijacking

(José Niño, Headline USA) Tucker Carlson’s ALP nicotine pouch company is offering a $100,000 reward after thieves hijacked a truck carrying millions of dollars worth of product using what appeared to be authentic credentials at a California logistics facility, the New York Post reports.

In a post on X, an ALP spokesperson confirmed the news. “Unfortunately, this is true. A truck carrying ALP Drifters was stolen. $100,000 reward announced. Details coming shortly.”

The former Fox News host took a major hit last week when the multimillion dollar load of his ALP nicotine pouches vanished in a hijacking in Los Angeles. The truck was packed with millions of ALP nicotine pouches bound for a Kentucky warehouse from California.

Carlson’s ALP Pouches was set to unveil its limited edition ALP Drifters before thieves swooped in and took off with 378,000 tins according to the company.

Tracking showed the truck heading east until all contact was lost. Investigators are now probing whether the truck’s location system was faked during the theft operation.

The driver flashed what appeared to be authentic credentials at a logistics facility in Southern California, but those documents have since been determined to be bogus.

ALP has kicked off a nationwide manhunt, offering a $100,000 reward for any tip that leads to the stolen stash or the capture of those behind the heist.

The driver’s true identity remains a mystery and the missing shipment is still nowhere to be found.

Social media commentators suggested that a company with legitimate documentation committed the theft and claimed the FBI is not investigating the incident.

The company playfully assured customers that the product launch would proceed despite the setback. “And don’t worry – Drifters is still coming. Delayed? Yes. Stopped? Not even close.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino

Hegseth and Rubio Feuding Over Whether to Deploy Troops to Iran

Jose Nino
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Hegseth and Rubio Feuding Over Whether to Deploy Troops to Iran

(José Niño, Headline USA) Tensions are rising between U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio over whether the United States should deploy troops to Iran at Israel’s request, three former U.S. officials and a senior regional official told Middle East Eye.

Rubio and Hegseth were described as “at each other’s throats” over the troop deployment question, per the report by MEE. Hegseth supports the position while Rubio is deeply wary of entangling the U.S. in a long war, sources told MEE.

The United States has mainly confined its operations to air strikes and standoff strikes using cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, but CNN reported this week that the CIA has begun training and arming Kurdish fighters to operate in Iran.

One Gulf official told MEE that US officials have discussed sending special operations teams into Iran to target senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officials and people familiar with Iran’s nuclear programme.

Both secretaries have defended the U.S. war on Iran, but Hegseth has been especially combative when confronted by journalists with questions about the administration’s timeline and potential troop deployment.

“No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do,” Hegseth said this week when asked about US troops on the ground. “Why in the world would we tell you, the enemy, anybody, what we will or will not do in pursuit of an objective.”

At a press conference Wednesday, Hegseth said military gains were being overshadowed by casualties. “We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. We control their fate. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news.”

A day after the story was published, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on X that the report was “complete and total 100% FAKE NEWS.”

One former US official, a high ranking military officer, said Rubio was more attuned to potential domestic opposition to putting US soldiers on the ground. He has also been irked with Hegseth’s public posture during press briefings.

Trump himself has been evasive on whether the US should put boots on the ground. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground – like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” he told The New York Post Monday. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary’.”

At least six US service members have been killed in the war.

Rubio said this week the US attacked Iran because it feared Israel was going to attack first. He then backtracked from that statement. The administration says it wants to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile, naval and nuclear programme but has also said its goal is toppling the Islamic Republic.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Pentagon Prepares for Possibility That Iran War Will Last Through September

Headline USA Editor
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Pentagon Prepares for Possibility That Iran War Will Last Through September

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The US military is preparing for the possibility that the US-Israeli war against Iran lasts until September of this year, according to a report from POLITICO, far beyond President Donald Trump’s initial four-week timeline.

The report said that US Central Command is asking the Pentagon to send more intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days, but likely through September.

The news of the Pentagon preparing for a long war comes as US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that the US is sending more forces to the Middle East and will be escalating its bombing campaign.

“More bombers, fighters are arriving just today. And now with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1000-pound, and 2000-pound GPS-and-laser-guided precision gravity bombs, which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” Hegseth said on Wednesday.

Hegseth has also declined to set a timeline on the war. “You can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three,” he said. “Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is off balance, and we’re going to keep them off balance.”

So far, more than 1,000 Iranian civilians have been killed by US-Israeli strikes, and at least six US soldiers have been killed by Iranian drone attacks. The Pentagon is working to get more missiles and air-defense munitions into the region, as its stockpiles have quickly dwindled after the first five days of war.

The POLITICO report also detailed how the State Department was scrambling to get stranded Americans out of the Middle East as the administration had no evacuation plan despite a months-long military buildup in the region and Trump’s constant threats to bomb Iran.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

 

Trump Says He Must Have a Say in Picking Iran’s New Leader

Headline USA Editor
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Trump Says He Must Have a Say in Picking Iran’s New Leader

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios on Thursday that he must have a say on who is chosen as Iran’s next leader following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, contradicting other administration officials who say the US’s goal is not regime change.

Trump made clear to Axios reporter Brak Ravid that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has reportedly emerged as a frontrunner to replace his father, wouldn’t be acceptable to the US.

“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,” the president said, referring to Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez.

The US didn’t choose Rodriguez as Nicolas Maduro’s replacement, but she was the next in line as the vice president and has been willing to work with the US to stave off another attack. A much different dynamic is unfolding in Iran as the killing of Khamenei has not slowed Iran’s military response, and the country’s leadership shows no sign of backing down despite the massive US-Israeli bombing campaign, which has killed over 1,000 civilians.

Trump said that he wouldn’t accept any leader who continues Khamenei’s policies because it would result in the US launching another war within five years. “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” he said.

Earlier this week, Trump said that all of the people he had in mind to replace Khamenei have been killed and acknowledged that in the end, Iran’s next leader could be “as bad” as Khamenei.

“The worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person,” he said. “That could happen. We don’t want that to happen. It would probably be the worst — you go through this and then in five years, you realize you put somebody in who was no better.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

 

Woman Detained in Investigation of 2 Girls’ Bodies Buried in Suitcases

Headline USA Editor
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Woman Detained in Investigation of 2 Girls’ Bodies Buried in Suitcases

(Headline USA) Cleveland police expect to charge a 28-year-old woman in the investigation into the remains of two girls found buried in suitcases earlier this week, a department spokesperson said Thursday.

Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz said police detained the woman Wednesday evening after detectives completed initial interviews and examined evidence.

The woman, whose name was not released, is considered a person of interest, Diaz said. “We are aiming to have her charged later today. However, that’s subject to change,” he said.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office has concluded the girls, estimated to be between 8 and 14 years old, are half-siblings.

The children’s remains were recovered Monday from a field near Ginn Academy in the South Collinwood neighborhood after a tip from a dog walker, according to police.

Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said Tuesday she did not know how the girls died. Their bodies had been there for some time.

“We are hoping to find answers,” Todd told reporters. “This is a terrible, tragic situation.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Teenager Who Killed Parents to Fund Trump Assassination Plot Was ‘Manipulated,’ Court Hears

Ken Silva
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Teenager Who Killed Parents to Fund Trump Assassination Plot Was ‘Manipulated,’ Court Hears

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The teenager who killed his parents as part of a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump was sentenced on Thursday to two life prison sentences without the possibility of parole.

Nikita Casap, now 18, told the court that he’s accepted Jesus as his Lord shortly before the sentencing. He cried when expressing remorse for killing his mother, Tatiana Casap, and stepfather, Donald Mayer.

“I thought I was part of a revolution, part of a war. And I told myself that bad things had to happen,” he said. “I miss my mom.”

Casap’s crimes were particularly heinous. Not only did he kill his mother and stepfather on Feb. 11, 2025; he continued to live at their house for another two weeks, lighting candles to cover up the smell of their decaying flesh. Casap, who was 17 at the time, left his home in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Feb. 24, and was tracked down four days later in Kansas.

As has been widely reported, Casap killed his parents to fund an assassination plot against Trump. On Thursday, the court heard more details about this plot.

According to Casap’s attorney, he first set his mind on killing a politician after witnessing the Dec. 20, 2024, vehicle-ramming attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, which killed five people, including a 9-year-old child. The driver was a Saudi migrant.

Soon thereafter, Casap joined a Telegram chat inhabited by neo-Nazi extremists. Two of them—their screennames were referred to as “Asell” and “Angel”—goaded Casap along, according to his attorney, who said that Casap “was under the influence and psychological control of a highly manipulative individual.”

“[Asell] targeted Nikita and misled him into thinking he was on a mission,” the defense attorney said.

The defense attorney further said that Casap told the FBI about these two men after he was arrested, but agents haven’t tracked them down.

The prosecution, however, downplayed the role of the two others. One prosecutor said the two other men, Asell and Angel, essentially scammed Casap. They had him send over $8,000 in Bitcoin in exchange for the promise of a drone, explosives, fake license plates, and a safe house in Eureka, California. Casap thought he’d assassinate Trump, hide in the safehouse, and then escape to Ukraine.

Casap left his Wisconsin home when he received the coordinates for the safehouse.

However, FBI agents investigated the coordinates for the so-called Eureka safehouse, and found that it was actually a National Guard base. The prosecution said there were never any license plates, drones, or explosives for him to retrieve.

Judge Ralph Ramirez had the option to let Casap be considered for parole after 20 years, but declined on the grounds of the seriousness of the crimes, as well as the fact that he couldn’t guarantee Casap would be reformed.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Man on Trial in Assassination Plot Says Possible Targets Included Trump, Biden, Haley

Headline USA Editor
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Man on Trial in Assassination Plot Says Possible Targets Included Trump, Biden, Haley

(Headline USA) The allegation sounded like the stuff of spy movies: A Pakistani businessman trying to hire hit men, even handing them $5,000 in cash, to kill a U.S. politician on behalf of Iran ‘s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

It was true, and potential targets of the 2024 scheme included now-President Donald Trump, then-President Joe Biden  and former presidential candidate and ex-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the man told jurors at his attempted terrorism trial in New York on Wednesday. But he insisted his actions were driven by fear for loved ones in Iran, and he figured he’d be apprehended before anything came of the scheme.

“My family was under threat, and I had to do this,” the defendant, Asif Merchant, testified through an Urdu interpreter. “I was not wanting to do this so willingly.”

Merchant said he had anticipated getting arrested before anyone was killed, intended to cooperate with the U.S. government and had hoped that would help him get a green card.

U.S. authorities were, indeed, on to him — the supposed hit men he paid were actually undercover FBI agents — and he was arrested on July 12, 2024, a day before an unrelated attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania. Merchant did sit for voluntary FBI interviews, but he ultimately ended up with a trial, not a cooperation deal.

“You traveled to the United States for the purpose of hiring Mafia members to kill a politician, correct?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nina Gupta asked during her turn questioning Merchant Wednesday in a Brooklyn federal court.

“That’s right,” Merchant replied, his demeanor as matter-of-fact as his testimony was unusual.

The trial is unfolding amid the less than week-old Iran war, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a strike that Trump summed up as “I got him before he got me.” Jurors are instructed to ignore news pertaining to the case.

The Iranian government has denied plotting to kill Trump or other U.S. officials.

Merchant, 47, had a roughly 20-year banking career in Pakistan before getting involved in an array of businesses: clothing, car sales, banana exports, insulation imports. He openly has two families, one in Pakistan and the other in Iran — where, he said, he was introduced around the end of 2022 to a Revolutionary Guard intelligence operative. They initially spoke about getting involved in a hawala, an informal money transfer system, Merchant said.

Merchant testified that his periodic visits to the U.S. for his garment business piqued the interest of his Revolutionary Guard contact, who trained him on countersurveillance techniques.

The U.S. deems the Revolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization.” Formally called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the force has been prominent in Iran under Khamenei.

Merchant said the handler told him to seek U.S. residents interested in working for Iran. Then came another assignment: Look for a criminal to arrange protests, steal things, do some money laundering, “and maybe have somebody murdered,” Merchant recalled.

“He did not tell me exactly who it is, but he told me — he named three people: Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Nikki Haley,” he added.

After U.S. immigration agents pulled Merchant aside at the Houston airport in April 2024, searched his possessions and asked about his travels to Iran, he concluded that he was under surveillance. But still he researched Trump rally locations, sketched out a plot for a shooting at a political rally, lined up the supposed hit men and scrambled together $5,000 from a cousin to pay them a “token of appreciation.”

He even reported back to his Revolutionary Guard contact, sending observations — fake, Merchant said — tucked into a book that he shipped to Iran through a series of intermediaries.

Merchant said he “had no other option” than to play along because the handler had indicated that he knew who Merchant’s Iranian relatives were and where they lived.

In a court filing this week, prosecutors noted that Merchant didn’t seek out law enforcement to help with his purported predicament before he was arrested. He testified that he couldn’t turn to authorities because his handler had people watching him.

Prosecutors also said that in his FBI interviews, Merchant “neglected to mention any facts that could have supported” an argument that he acted under duress.

Merchant told jurors Wednesday that he didn’t think agents would believe his story, because their questions suggested “they think that I’m some type of super-spy.”

“And are you a super-spy?” defense lawyer Avraham Moskowitz asked.

“No,” Merchant said. “Absolutely not.”

 

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Britney Spears Arrested and Released, California Sheriff’s Records Show, Though Charge is Not Clear

Headline USA Editor
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Britney Spears Arrested and Released, California Sheriff’s Records Show, Though Charge is Not Clear

(Headline USA) Britney Spears was arrested Wednesday night in Southern California and booked early Thursday, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s office, which didn’t say what charge she faces.

Messages seeking comment were left with the sheriff’s office; the California Highway Patrol, which was identified as the arresting agency; and Spears’ representative.

Spears was arrested around 9:30 p.m. in Ventura County and released on Thursday, sheriff’s office records show. She has a May 4 court date scheduled.

Spears, 44, born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, was a teen pop phenomenon who became a defining superstar of the ’90s and 2000s. She rose to fame from Disney Channel’s “The Mickey Mouse Club” to MTV and beyond, with such era-defining hits like “… Baby One More Time,” “Oops! … I Did It Again” and “Toxic.”

Most of her albums have been certified platinum, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, with two diamond titles: 1999’s “ … Baby One More Time” and 2000’s “Oops! … I Did It Again.” Her last full-length album, “Glory,” was released in 2016.

Spears became a focus of tabloids in the early 2000s, and a source of public scrutiny, as she battled mental illness and paparazzi documented the details of her private life.

Later, as cultural opinion evolved to recognize the misogynistic media coverage of the time, Spears’ fight to control her life became the focus of the #FreeBritney movement. 

In 2008, Spears was placed under a court-ordered conservatorship, run primarily by her father and his lawyers, that would control her personal and financial decisions for well over a decade. It was dissolved in 2021. Two years later, she released a bestselling, tell-all memoir, “The Woman in Me.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Noem Ousted as Secretary of Homeland Security; Mullin to Succeed

Headline USA Editor
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Noem Ousted as Secretary of Homeland Security; Mullin to Succeed

(Sarah Roderick-Fitch, The Center Square) President Donald Trump is nominating Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma as the next Homeland Security Secretary.

On Thursday, the second-term Republican decided to reassign Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as the special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. 

Multiple reports circulated prior to the president’s social media post confirming her removal. Her testimony on Capitol Hill a day earlier is believed to have been the trigger.

In a Truth Social post, the president said Noem’s new position will be a part of his administration’s new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere, to be formally announced over the weekend at the Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the U.S Southern Command.

In his post, the president thanked Noem for her “service at ‘Homeland,’” saying she has “served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!).”

Mullin is expected to assume the new post “effective” March 31. Mullin has spent three years in the Senate after 10 in the House of Representatives. The president describes Mullin as a “MAGA Warrior.”

Trump wrote in part, “As the only Native American in the Senate, Markwayne is a fantastic advocate for our incredible tribal communities. Markwayne will work tirelessly to keep our border secure, stop migrant crime, murderers, and other criminals from illegally entering our country, end the scourge of illegal drugs and, make America safe again.”

Before being sworn in to the new position, Mullin will need to be confirmed in the Republican-majority Senate.

The remainder of his term through Jan. 3 will be filled by the choice of Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. Mullin won his six-year term in the 2022 midterms and had been scheduled for the June 16 Republican primary. 

Other Republican candidates are Nick Hankins, Ron Meinhardt, Tammy Swearengin and Wayne Washington. The Democratic primary includes Troy Green, Rebeka LaVann, Jim Priest and N’Kiyla Thomas.

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