Tucker Carlson Reportedly Detained in Israel

Ken Silva
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Tucker Carlson Reportedly Detained in Israel

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Conservative news commentator Tucker Carlson told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that he and his staff were “detained” in Israel after they interviewed America’s ambassador to that country, Mike Huckabee.

“Men who identified themselves as airport security took our passports, hauled our executive producer into a side room and then demanded to know what we spoke to Ambassador Huckabee about,” Carlson, an outspoken critic of Israel, told the Daily Mail. “It was bizarre. We’re now out of the country.”

The Daily Mail cited two sources who said that the Israeli government didn’t want to allow Carlson into the country in the first place. A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Israel denied that he was detained, stating that Carlson “received the same passport control questions that countless visitors to Israel including Ambassador Huckabee and other diplomats receive as part of normal entrance and exit from Israel.”

“It is not accurate that Israel only was going to let Tucker into the country for the interview,” the spokesperson reportedly added. “The only engagement the Embassy had with Israel about his visit was to coordinate his private plane landing as part of facilitating a seamless visit. It was Tucker who chose to only come into the country for a few hours and depart. And Tucker received the same positive treatment of any visitors to Israel.”

Carlson’s interview with Huckabee has yet to be released.

Israel’s government, including Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli, has accused Tucker Carlson of receiving payment from Qatar to promote anti-Israel content. However, Chikli has admitted they don’t have proof of this.

Carlson has also come under fire from pro-Israel conservatives at home. For instance, there were widespread calls for Carlson to be “canceled” after he interviewed right-wing streamer Nick Fuentes.

Trump has defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.”

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

Rep. Gonzales Reportedly Shared ‘Dick Pick’ w/ Staffer Who Lit Herself on Fire

Ken Silva
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Rep. Gonzales Reportedly Shared ‘Dick Pick’ w/ Staffer Who Lit Herself on Fire

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Daily Mail has published text messages that corroborate allegations that Rep. Tony Gonzales had an affair with a staffer who lit herself on fire and died in September.

The staffer in question, Regina Aviles, 35, reportedly poured gasoline over herself before becoming engulfed in flames at her home on September 13 in Uvalde, Texas. Before that, Aviles had texted a co-worker: “I had an affair with our boss and I’m fine. You will be fine,” according to the Daily Mail, which posted a screenshot of the text.

The Daily Mail’s source also said that “the Congressman also shared sexually explicit photos, including dick pics.” Aviles reportedly talked about them but never showed them to her co-worker.

Aviles’s husband reportedly discovered the affair last July.

The Daily Mail added that a spokesman for Rep. Gonzales “refused to deny the affair when repeatedly offered the opportunity.”

Despite the ongoing scandal, Gonzales has received an endorsement from President Donald Trump for reelection.

Initial reports didn’t specify how exactly Aviles died, other than by fire.

According to local Uvalde outlet KSAT, the 35-year-old staffer died after a “Saturday night incident at her home.”

“Paramedics, firefighters and police responded to Santos-Aviles’ home around 9:30 p.m. Saturday for a disturbance,” KSAT said, citing a police report.

“A close family member told KSAT Investigates Wednesday a relative called emergency services after finding Santos Aviles on fire outside of her home. The family member said Santos-Aviles was airlifted to SAMMC in San Antonio to be treated for extensive burns.”

A family member reportedly said the staffer’s death was an accident.

Santos-Aviles’s apparent LinkedIn profile says she was executive director of the Uvalde Area Chamber of Commerce until November 2021, when she left to work as the regional director for Rep. Gonzales’ office in Uvalde.

Tragically, her last words were, “I don’t want to die,” her mother reportedly said.

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

Eric Trump Invests in Israeli Drone Company Seeking Pentagon Contracts

Jose Nino
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Eric Trump Invests in Israeli Drone Company Seeking Pentagon Contracts

(José Niño, Headline USA) Eric Trump is investing in an Israeli drone manufacturer competing for Pentagon contracts while his father controls the executive branch overseeing defense procurement, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The president’s son serves as a strategic investor in Xtend as part of a $1.5 billion deal taking the company public through merger with a small Florida construction firm. Battle tested during Israeli military operations in Gaza over recent years, Xtend markets certain products as “low cost per kill” munitions aligned with US defense directives for modern warfare.

The WSJ reported that the company opened a Florida facility and has already obtained a multimillion dollar Pentagon contract while participating in an ongoing Defense Department competition for new suppliers.

“We are acquiring the resources we need to scale our manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and gaining access to the U.S. public markets,” Xtend Chief Executive Aviv Shapira stated.

The WSJ reported that Trump invested through a private placement in the deal. Donald Trump Jr also maintains an investor and adviser role in Unusual Machines, a separate drone company involved in the transaction.

The merger represents the latest expansion of the first family’s business operations since President Trump returned to the White House, extending into numerous sectors the Trump administration regulates. 

The Xtend transaction culminated months of dealmaking. Dominari Holdings, a Trump Tower based financial firm, organized a $44 million private placement last year into JFB, a Florida contractor whose recently publicized projects include hotel redevelopment plans and public high school expansion, as the WSJ reported. Publicly traded JFB shares soared following the investment announcement before dropping 43 percent Tuesday.

Xtend intends to access public markets through JFB’s Nasdaq listing. Stifel advised the Israeli company. JFB announced Tuesday in a securities filing it appointed Stefan Passantino, a former White House lawyer who previously worked with the Trump Organization, to its board.

Xtend ranks among companies capitalizing on American and allied efforts to maintain competitive advantages. After the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Shapira told the WSJ his firm’s products helped the Israel Defense Forces map terrain, explore buildings and eliminate booby traps around Hamas underground tunnel networks.

A November press release announcing Pentagon contracts stated Xtend’s “one-way” drone kits would be specially manufactured for small tactical teams carrying out “irregular warfare operations.”

That business could expand substantially. The Defense Department this month named Xtend among 25 companies invited to participate in the first phase of its Drone Dominance Program, a procurement initiative ultimately slated to reach $1.1 billion in total value.

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

Billionaire Les Wexner to be Deposed on Relationship w/ Jeffrey Epstein

Headline USA Editor
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Billionaire Les Wexner to be Deposed on Relationship w/ Jeffrey Epstein

(Headline USA) Les Wexner’s long-time friendship with Jeffrey Epstein will be the subject of a closed-door congressional deposition in Ohio on Wednesday, where the billionaire retail magnate is expected to face questions about new revelations contained in the latest release of Justice Department documents related to the late sexual predator.

Wexner, 88, the retired founder of L Brands, has said he plans to cooperate with a subpoena from Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

As one of Epstein’s most prominent former friends, Wexner has already spent years answering for their decades-long association. In court documents, prominent Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre claimed that Wexner was one of the men Epstein trafficked her to.

Wexner has consistently denied any knowledge of or involvement in the millionaire financier’s crimes and says he never met Giuffre. He told L Brands investors in 2019 that he was embarrassed that he ever got close to someone “so sick, so cunning, so depraved.”

He has never been accused of wrongdoing and the overall picture provided by the DOJ documents is that Epstein did not run a sex trafficking ring.

Wexner’s name appears more than 1,000 times in the Epstein files, which his spokesperson said is not unexpected given their longstanding relationship. The documents shed new light on his relationship to Epstein — which ended bitterly after Wexner and his wife Abigail learned he’d been stealing from them — while raising many new questions.

‘A most loyal friend’

Epstein first met Wexner through a business associate around 1986.

It was an opportune time for Wexner’s finances. The successful Ohio businessman had grown a single Limited store in Columbus into a powerhouse suite of ’80s mall-culture staples: The Limited, Limited Express, Lane Bryant and Victoria’s Secret. Abercrombie & Fitch, Lerner, White Barn Candle Co. and others would follow.

Within a couple years, Wexner had turned over management of his vast fortune to Epstein. He gave his now-trusted associate his power of attorney in 1991, allowing Epstein to make investments and do business deals and to purchase property and help develop what would become the vast Wexner estate in then-rural New Albany, Ohio, documents show. Wednesday’s deposition will take place either there or nearby, according to participating lawmakers.

Epstein had “excellent judgment and unusually high standards,” Wexner told Vanity Fair in a 2003 interview, and he was “always a most loyal friend.”

Epstein recalls ‘gang stuff’

In one of the newly released documents, Epstein sent rough notes to himself about Wexner saying: “never ever, did anything without informing les” and “I would never give him up.” Another document, an apparent draft letter to Wexner, said the two “had ‘gang stuff’ for over 15 years” and were mutually indebted to each other — as Wexner helped make Epstein rich and Epstein helped make Wexner richer.

A spokesperson for Wexner said he never received the letter.

“It appears Epstein was furious that Mr. Wexner refused to meet with him years after Mr. Wexner terminated Epstein and cut off all ties with him following Mr. Wexner’s discovery of Epstein’s theft and criminal conduct,” the spokesperson, Tom Davies, said. “The draft appears to fit a pattern of untrue, outlandish, and delusional statements made by Epstein in desperate attempts to perpetuate his lies and justify his misconduct.”

A relationship unravels

Wexner did not publicly reveal until after Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 that he had severed their relationship. In a Wexner Foundation letter that August, he said that happened in 2007. However, the Justice Department’s newly released records show the two were in touch after that.

Wexner emailed Epstein on June 26, 2008, after a plea deal was announced that would require him to serve 18 months in a Florida jail on a state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor in order to avoid federal prosecution. He wound up serving 13 months.

“Abigail told me the result… all I can say is I feel sorry. You violated your own number 1 rule…always be careful,” Wexner wrote. Epstein replied: “no excuse.”

Davies said the 2007 date Wexner cited in 2019 applied to firing Epstein as financial adviser, revoking his power of attorney and removing his name from Wexner’s bank accounts.

Wexner also said in the 2019 letter that Epstein had misappropriated “vast sums” of his and his family’s fortune while overseeing his finances. An investigative memo from the latest document release says that Wexner’s attorneys told investigators in 2008 that Epstein had repaid him $100 million, thought to be just a portion of what he stole.

Continuing fallout for Wexner

Newly released documents emboldened sexual assault survivors in ways that have increased pressure on Wexner.

Epstein survivor Maria Farmer has said she was vindicated by a redacted FBI report contained in the documents, which confirms that she filed one of the earliest complaints against Epstein.

Though the complaint reported his possession of nude photos of underage girls, the records have drawn new attention to the harrowing account of an alleged sexual encounter forced on her by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the summer of 1996 at Epstein’s home in New Albany. The home was located about a half mile from the Wexners’ home. The Wexners have said they had never heard anything about Farmer’s account of the crime until it appeared in news accounts years later.

Meanwhile, survivors of another sexual predator — the late Dr. Richard Strauss, a team doctor at the Ohio State University who was found to have sexually abused at least 177 male students over years — are citing Wexner’s association with Epstein to try to get his name removed from a campus football complex built with his contributions. Their request is pending before a university committee. Davies declined comment.

The alumni group scored a legal victory last week, though, when a district court judge said they can compel Wexner to testify in their lawsuit against the university. He sat on Ohio State’s board of trustees during the period when Strauss, who died before his deeds came to light, committed his crimes.

Separately, a spokesperson for Ohio State said the head of its Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Mark Landon, is cooperating with the school’s investigation into his mention in the Epstein files. Newly released documents indicated that Epstein had Landon on retainer in 2006 for $25,000 a quarter.

“I did not provide any clinical care for Jeffrey Epstein or any of his victims,” Landon said in a statement. “I was a paid consultant for the New York Strategy Group regarding potential biotech investments from 2001 to 2005.” A statement from Davies said the advice Epstein was soliciting was on the Wexners’ behalf.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

Huckabee Says US and Israel ‘Absolutely Aligned’ on Iran

Headline USA Editor
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Huckabee Says US and Israel ‘Absolutely Aligned’ on Iran

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Monday that the US and Israel are “absolutely aligned” on the need to “deal” with Iran as Washington continues building up its forces in the Middle East to prepare for a potential attack on the Islamic Republic.

Huckabee made the comments when addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, where he cast doubt on the idea that the US and Iran could reach a diplomatic deal and said that another US attack on the country is likely.

“At some point, the United States has to say, enough is enough,” Huckabee said, according to Haaretz. “Either Iran makes a radical change in direction, or it experiences what we call in the South the second kick of a mule. There is no education in the second kick. If you didn’t learn the first time, you won’t learn the second.”

The US and Iran are set to hold a second round of talks in Geneva on Tuesday. Israel wants any deal to involve restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missiles, a demand designed to collapse diplomacy since Tehran’s missiles are its only form of deterrence.

According to Iranian officials, the US has dropped the demand for an agreement that includes missiles, but President Trump and other Trump administration officials continue to push the issue. Huckabee said that the US and Israel have agreed that Iran cannot “continue building vast surpluses of ballistic missiles.”

President Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran if a deal isn’t reached, echoing threats he made in the lead-up to the 12-day US-Israeli war against Iran that was launched in June 2025, just days before another round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran were scheduled to be held.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

 

Report: New Subpoenas Issued in Inquiry on Response to 2016 Russian Election Interference

Headline USA Editor
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Report: New Subpoenas Issued in Inquiry on Response to 2016 Russian Election Interference

(Headline USA)  The Justice Department has issued new subpoenas in a Florida-based investigation into perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump and the U.S. government’s response to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

An initial wave of subpoenas in November asked recipients for documents related to the preparation of a U.S. intelligence community assessment that detailed a sweeping, multiprong effort by Moscow to help Trump defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Though the first subpoenas requested documents from the months surrounding the January 2017 publication of the Obama administration intelligence assessment, the latest subpoenas seek any records from the years since then, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a nonpublic demand from investigators.

The Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday.

The subpoenas represent continued investigative activity in one of several criminal inquiries the Justice Department has undertaken into Trump’s political opponents. An array of former intelligence and law enforcement officials have received subpoenas and lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan, who helped oversee the drafting of the assessment, have said they have been informed he is a target but have not been told of any “legally justifiable basis for undertaking this investigation.”

The intelligence community assessment, published in the final days of the Obama administration, found that Russia had developed a “clear preference” for Trump in the 2016 election and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an influence campaign with goals of undermining confidence in American democracy and harming Clinton’s chance for victory.

That conclusion — and a related investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election — have long been among the Republican president’s chief grievances, and he has vowed retribution against the government officials involved in the inquiries. Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by the Trump administration Justice Department last year on false statement and obstruction charges, but the case was later dismissed.

Multiple government reports, including bipartisan congressional reviews and a criminal investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller, have found that Russia interfered in Trump’s favor through a hack-and-leak operation of Democratic emails as well as a covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord and swaying American public opinion. Mueller’s report found that the Trump campaign actively welcomed the Russian help, but it did not establish that Russian operatives and Trump or his associates conspired to tip the election in his favor.

The Trump administration has freshly scrutinized the intelligence community assessment in part because a classified version of it incorporated in its annex a summary of the “Steele dossier,” a compilation of Democratic-funded opposition research that was assembled by former British spy Christopher Steele and was provided to the FBI. That research into Trump’s potential links to Russia included uncorroborated rumors and salacious gossip, and Trump has long held up its weaknesses in an effort to discredit the entire Russia investigation.

The investigation in Florida appears to be part of a broader administration effort to revisit years-old findings and decisions from the Russia investigation.

A declassified CIA tradecraft review released last July by current Director John Ratcliffe did not refute the conclusion of Russian election interference but found “multiple procedural anomalies” in the intelligence community assessment and chided Brennan for the fact that the classified version referenced the Steele dossier.

Brennan testified to Congress, and also wrote in his memoir, that he was opposed to including information from the dossier in the intelligence assessment since neither its substance nor sources had been validated, and he has said the dossier did not inform the judgments of the assessment. He maintains the FBI pushed for its inclusion.

The new CIA review sought to cast Brennan’s views in a different light, asserting that he “showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness” and brushed aside concerns over the dossier because he believed it conformed “with existing theories.” It quotes him, without context, as having stated in writing that “my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.”

It is unclear whether the investigation in Florida will result in any criminal charges.

In a letter last December addressed to the chief judge of the Southern District of Florida, Brennan’s lawyers challenged the underpinnings of the investigation, questioning what basis prosecutors had for opening the inquiry in the state and saying they had received no clarity from prosecutors about what potential crimes were even being investigated.

“While it is mystifying how the prosecutors could possibly believe there is any legally justifiable basis for undertaking this investigation, they have done nothing to explain that mystery,” the lawyers wrote, describing the investigation as “manufactured.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Illegal Alien Fleeing ICE Officers Crashes, Kills Teacher, Authorities Say

Headline USA Editor
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Illegal Alien Fleeing ICE Officers Crashes, Kills Teacher, Authorities Say

(Headline USA)  An illegal alien from Guatemala fleeing a Georgia traffic stop by federal immigration officers crashed into another vehicle, killing a teacher who was headed to work, authorities and school officials said.

Oscar Vasquez Lopez, the illegal alien accused of causing the Monday crash just outside of Savannah, remained jailed Tuesday on charges including vehicular homicide, reckless driving and driving without a valid license. Lopez, 38, is in the U.S. illegally, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration officers were looking for Lopez to enforce an immigration judge’s 2024 deportation order, ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams said Tuesday, noting that Lopez has no other criminal history.

Lopez pulled over when ICE officers used sirens and blue lights to initiate a traffic stop, but then drove away when they approached his vehicle, Williams said. Lopez made a U-turn and ran a stop light before he crashed, ICE said in a news release.

Asked if the ICE officers chased Lopez, Williams said: “Chased? I wouldn’t say that. They followed him until he crashed.”

Williams said he didn’t know how far Lopez fled before he crashed.

“According to preliminary findings, we believe the pursuit was relatively short in duration and distance,” said Chatham County police spokesperson Betsy Nolen, who noted the investigation is ongoing.

Security camera video obtained by WTOC-TV showed a red pickup truck moving at high speed past Herman W. Hesse K-8 School on Monday morning. The footage showed a vehicle with flashing lights follow about five seconds later at a similar speed, and another vehicle with lights flashing pass several seconds after that.

News video from the crash scene showed one of the vehicles involved in the wreck was a red pickup.

Savannah-Chatham County school officials identified the woman killed as Linda Davis, a special education teacher at the school.

Davis was beloved by the school community, Principal Alonna McMullen said.

“She dedicated her career to ensuring that every child felt supported, valued, and capable of success,” McMullen said in a news release. “Her kindness, patience, and enthusiasm created a nurturing environment for her students and inspired those around her.”

The crash happened less than a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the school. Though students were off Monday for Presidents Day, teachers reported to work. Davis was driving to school when she was killed, school system spokesperson Sheila Blanco said.

Lopez remained jailed Tuesday. He is being representing by a public defender in Chatham County, said Don Plummer, a spokesman for the Georgia Public Defender Council.

“We recognize the community’s concern and extend condolences to those harmed,” Plummer said by email. “Mr. Lopez is presumed innocent. We will review the evidence and address it where it belongs — in court, not in the press.”

Chatham County police said in a statement that they were unaware of the ICE operation and traffic stop before the deadly crash.

Chester Ellis, chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, noted that county police are constrained by a policy that allows vehicle pursuits only when officers believe a suspect has committed or is attempting to commit a violent felony. But he said county officers, had ICE requested their assistance, could have helped cut off the suspect’s escape without a pursuit that endangered other drivers.

“If that had been the case yesterday, then Dr. Davis would still be alive,” Ellis said. “My personal feeling is that one life lost is too many, especially when you’re taking about a precious teacher.”

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson also questioned whether Davis’ death might have been prevented.

“I’ve always been and remain very concerned about the activities of ICE in cities, particularly where they’re not coordinating or communicating,” Johnson, a former police officer, told reporters Tuesday.

He added: “What this individual was wanted for, did it necessitate the end result?”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Police Arrest Man Who Ran Toward the US Capitol Building Holding a Shotgun

Headline USA Editor
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Police Arrest Man Who Ran Toward the US Capitol Building Holding a Shotgun

(Headline USA)  U.S. Capitol Police in Washington, D.C., arrested an 18-year-old man Tuesday after he ran from his vehicle toward the west side of the Capitol Building armed with a shotgun.

Capital Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the unidentified man parked a Mercedes SUV near the Capitol, got out and ran “several hundred yards” toward the building before officers intercepted him and ordered him to the ground.

Speaking at a press conference following the arrest, Sullivan said the gunman was wearing a tactical vest and gloves and had a Kevlar helmet and gas mask in the vehicle. The shotgun was loaded and he had additional rounds on him, the chief said.

Sullivan said the motive was under investigation, including whether members of Congress were the target. Congress is not in session.

Sullivan said the department has video footage, but he asked the public for any footage they might have of the incident.

“Who knows what would have happened if we wouldn’t have officers standing here?” the chief said, adding that the department had run active shooter drills in almost the identical spot in recent months.

Sullivan said the young man was not known to authorities and described him as not being from the area. The chief said the vehicle was not registered to the suspect, who has multiple addresses.

There have been incidents at the Capitol in recent years, including a Capitol Police arrest in 2023 where an Atlanta man armed with a rifle was spotted in a park near the Senate.

Tuesday’s arrest comes one week before President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address before Congress. Sullivan said the incident does not change the agency’s plans. “We take the State of the Union very, very seriously,” he said.

Crime in Washington is down considerably so far in 2026 from 2025, a year when there was a huge drop-off from the previous year. Trump declared an emergency in the city last August to battle crime, leading to the deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard members as well as thousands of federal law enforcement officers and agents.

The officers and agents are still throughout the city. Last week, a Washington man was killed in an encounter with U.S. Marshals Service members. Authorities said the marshals were responding to a call about a person threatening to kidnap and hurt someone while holding a gun. Washington activists have asked for more transparency in that incident, which is under investigation by the city’s Metropolitan Police.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

Congress Asks FBI for Briefing on ‘764’ Pedophile Network

Ken Silva
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Congress Asks FBI for Briefing on ‘764’ Pedophile Network

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Director Kashyap Patel and former deputy director Dan Bongino have both touted the bureau’s efforts to tackle the group known as “764”—an online network of chatrooms that promote Satanism, pedophilia, self-harm, animal abuse and other heinous acts. The House Oversight Committee now wants a briefing on the FBI’s work.

“The Committee is requesting a staff-level briefing to understand the FBI’s investigations and apprehensions of those in the 764 network,” House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., said in a letter to Patel on Tuesday.

“The disturbing tactics attributed to this network—grooming, manipulating, and blackmailing of minors—underscore a serious and continuously evolving threat to children and families across the United States. These harms demand rigorous oversight and an evaluation of whether existing federal countermeasures are effective and adequately resourced to combat these elusive online perpetrators.”

764 History

Headline USA has been covering the 764 network ever since the DOJ announced its first case in 2023.

The government’s crackdown on the Satanic pedophile network started two years before that in November 2021, when the FBI arrested 764 member Angel Almeida. Details of Almeida’s 764 activities weren’t made public until records about his case were unsealed late 2023. Court records showed that the FBI had an undercover embedded in Almeida’s network since 2021, raising questions about the bureau’s silence and lack of cases over a two-year span.

In February 2024, 764 received more national attention when U.S. Marshals arrested 764 member Kyle Spitze on child porn charges. Spitze had previously made national news when his stepfather shot him in the ear while Spitze was recording him. That bizarre and disturbing story can be read here.

Several other arrests followed Spitze. More recently, 764 has been linked to two school shootings and two more alleged near-shootings.

The first shooting occurred in January 2025, when a 17-year-old black student named Solomon Henderson allegedly opened fire—killing a female student and wounding one other before killing himself.

Henderson apparently operated the Twitter/X account @GroidCell, which is linked to the Satanic 764 pedophile network. His manifesto also claimed that he had connections with other school shooters, including 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who opened fire during a study hall in December 2024.

Additionally, when investigators searched Rupnow’s phone, they found that she was part of a network of extremist and sadistic chatrooms, and that she was communicating with many other people.

One of those people was 20-year-old Alexander Paffendorf, who was also allegedly talking to Rupnow online about committing a mass shooting. Last May, a court reportedly granted a three-year gun violence restraining order against Paffendorf, which bars him from owning firearms for three years, according to Fox 5 in San Diego. Paffendorf has not been criminally charged over the matter.

Along with Paffendorf, Rupnow was also found to have been communicating with 22-year-old Damien Blade Allen. According to a detective’s affidavit released last May, the two were in a “conspiracy” to commit mass shootings.

Allen was arrested on April 27, just before he was about to carry out his intended shooting, according to law enforcement.

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

​​Michigan Man Sentenced in $2.5M Pandemic Aid Scheme

Headline USA Editor
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​​Michigan Man Sentenced in $2.5M Pandemic Aid Scheme

(Elyse S. Apel, The Center Square) A Shelby Township man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in a multi-million-dollar pandemic relief fraud scheme, federal officials announced.

Samer Kammo, 46, was sentenced in Detroit by U.S. District Judge Jonathan J. C. Grey after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in connection with the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

Kammo and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications for multiple businesses, falsifying payroll figures and certifying the funds would be used for legitimate business purposes.

Federal investigators said the group also submitted fictitious payroll, health insurance, banking and tax records to support the applications.

Kammo and members of his family received nearly $2.5 million in fraudulent PPP funds. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

“This defendant and his co-conspirators tried to cheat the system by exploiting a federal relief program meant to help Americans in need,” said Jennifer Runyan, the FBI special agent in charge of the case. “If you abuse government programs for personal gain, you will be found, and you will face serious consequences under the law.”

Jared Murphey, the HSI acting special agent in charge, said investigators remain committed to pursuing pandemic-era fraud.

“Although the pandemic is years behind us, HSI and our partners are committed to holding fraudsters accountable,” Murphey said. “By now the writing on the wall should be crystal clear, if you fraudulently obtained government funds during the pandemic, you will be held accountable.”

Court records show the conspirators used the personal identifying information of several of Kammo’s relatives, including his mother, to carry out the scheme.

As part of his sentence, Kammo was ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution. Co-defendant Rita Shaba previously received a 27-month prison sentence, while Kammo’s wife, Christina Anasi, awaits sentencing.

This is just one of many such cases of PPP and other COVID-19 era fraud that uncovered throughout the U.S. The fraud has largely been centered around several emergency relief programs in 2020 established by Congress to stabilize the economy in the midst of the pandemic.

Just in the PPP program, Congress authorized more than $800 billion through multiple rounds of funding – making it one of the largest small-business aid efforts in U.S. history.

Just in Michigan, there have been numerous cases uncovered, including:

  • The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency paid about $11 billion in fraudulent claims from the start of COVID through 2022
  • Macomb woman sentenced in January for her role in $3 million COVID PPP fraud scheme
  • Michigan man sentenced in 2022 for approximately $230,000 in fraudulent COVID unemployment payments
  • Ten people from Michigan sentenced in 2024 in a $4.9 million COVID unemployment scheme
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