Sunday, August 17, 2025

Ahead of Alaska Summit, Putin Says Trump Making ‘Sincere’ Effort Toward Ending Ukraine War

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comRussian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Trump administration was making “sincere” efforts toward ending the war in Ukraine, comments that came a day before the two leaders hold a highly anticipated summit in the US state of Alaska.

“The current American administration… is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict,” Putin said.

The Russian leader also suggested that the US and Russia could make progress on arms control if the talks go well, saying that in the next stages of “discussions” with the US, “we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons.”

Arms control between the US and Russia has crumbled in recent years, and Moscow recently announced that it was no longer bound by a moratorium on the deployment of missiles previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which the US withdrew from in 2019. Russia said it took the step in response to US deployments of missile systems once banned by the INF.

The last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the US and Russia is the New START, which limits the number of nuclear warheads and launchers that either side can have deployed. Russia technically suspended its participation in the treaty in 2023, but both the US and Russia continue to abide by the limits set by the treaty. So far, there’s been no work to negotiate a replacement for the New START, which expires in February 2026.

A de-escalation in Ukraine is likely required for any progress on arms control, and it remains unclear if a deal can be reached. President Trump said on Thursday that there’s about a 75% chance that the meeting will be successful.

The White House has described the summit as a “feel-out meeting,” and Trump has said the plan is to get Russia’s terms for a peace deal and convey them to Ukraine and its European backers. Russia has reportedly offered to end the war if Ukraine withdraws from the territory it controls in the eastern Donetsk Oblast, and the frontlines are frozen, a climbdown from Russia’s previous demand for a full Ukrainian withdrawal from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

According to a report from POLITICO, Ukraine’s conditions include keeping the territory it controls, Russia paying for damages in Ukraine, and a security guarantee similar to NATO membership, which are all non-starters for Moscow.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

DEA Boss Takes over DC Police Force

(Headline USAAttorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner” as she carries out President Donald Trump’s decision to take over the Washington police department.

Bondi said she’s giving Cole the powers of police chief and the Metropolitan Police Department must receive Cole’s approval before issuing any orders.

The move comes less than a month after the U.S. Senate conformed Cole to be the DEA’s leader and he was sworn in as head of the agency.

Here’s what to know about Cole:

Three decades in law enforcement

Cole was most recently Virginia’s secretary of public safety and homeland security under Gov. Glenn Youngkin, according to his biography on the DEA’s website.

He’s spent more than 31 years as a law enforcement officer, including 22 at the DEA. At the agency, he worked in Oklahoma, New York and Washington. He spent time overseas in Colombia, Afghanistan and the Middle East. The agency said he fought drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

He was the DEA’s acting regional director of Mexico, Canada and Central America when he retired from the federal government in 2020.

Prior to joining the DEA, he was a police officer in New York State.

Bachelor’s in criminal justice

Cole graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He has certificates in leadership from the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business.

Late-night announcement of a new job

Bondi announced Cole’s new role in a directive Thursday evening. It said Cole would assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” It wasn’t immediately clear how this affected Pamela Smith, the city’s current police chief, who works for the mayor.

Hours earlier, Smith had directed Washington police to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody — such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint.

But the Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief’s directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of “sanctuary policies.”

Bondi said she was rescinding that order as well as other department policies limiting inquires into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. All new directives must now receive approval from Cole, the attorney general said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Mike Huckabee Justifies Israeli Military Killing of Aid Seekers in Gaza

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comIn an interview published by The Times of Israel on Wednesday, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee justified the Israeli military’s shooting of unarmed Palestinians attempting to get aid in the Gaza Strip.

Defending the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), Huckabee downplayed the reports of people being killed by the IDF near GHF sites but admitted that it does happen. “Have there been instances where maybe people were shot by IDF soldiers? Best I can tell, that has happened,” the ambassador said.

Huckabee claimed that IDF soldiers only fire at civilians when they’re being rushed by a large crowd. “You have a group of, let’s say, 10 or 15 IDF soldiers. They’re manning a perimeter. You have 2,000 or 3,000 people who suddenly are rushing toward a position. They’re first given a verbal warning. Please stop. Second thing they get, shots fired in the air. Third thing, shots fired at the ground. And if they’re still rushing toward them, it’s probable that some people are shot in the midst of that because [the soldiers] don’t know why they’re coming. Are they coming to overrun the position?” he said.

But eyewitness accounts from Palestinians contradict Huckabee’s claims, and videos have shown groups of unarmed Palestinians coming under fire while taking cover. Tony Aguilar, a retired US Army Green Beret who worked at GHF sites, has said the IDF regularly fires live ammunition at unarmed people as a form of “crowd control,” including when their backs are turned and they are walking away from GHF sites.

Israel’s use of live ammunition on aid seekers has included tank and artillery shells. Huckabee appeared to mock the idea of using “non-lethal” means of crowd control during the interview. The interviewer said that he wished there were “non-lethal crowd control methods” being used in Gaza, and Huckabee replied, “Don’t we all.”

The interviewer then noted that there are non-lethal means to control a crowd, to which Huckabee replied, “What are you going to do? Get Girl Scouts to take them in?”

Since the GHF began operating at the end of May, the Health Ministry in Gaza has recorded the killing of 1,881 aid seekers and the wounding of 13,863. The majority of the casualties occurred near GHF sites, while many others were killed or hurt while attempting to reach UN aid trucks. According to UN numbers from August 1, 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of the GHF sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Report: US Deploys Air and Naval Forces to Southern Caribbean To ‘Address Threats from Cartels’

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.comThe Trump administration has ordered the deployment of US air and naval forces to the Southern Caribbean Sea to “address threats from Latin American drug cartels,” Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two sources briefed on the decision.

The report didn’t specify what sort of action the US forces may take in the Southern Caribbean, but the news comes about a week after The New York Times reported that President Trump secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against Latin American cartels, including operations on foreign soil.

The Trump administration has also listed several Latin American cartels and gangs as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, including MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Cártel de Sinaloa, and Cartel de los Soles.

The US also claims that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is a leader of Cartel de los Soles, meaning the Trump administration may use the action against cartels as a pretext for another regime change effort in Caracas. Placing US military assets in the Southern Caribbean puts them in a position for potential military action against Venezuela.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a staunch supporter of the previous failed regime change attempt in Venezuela, announced last week that the US was raising the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million over claims that he is “violating US narcotics laws” The administration has provided no evidence to back up its claims about Maduro’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

The Trump administration has also said that Maduro was linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denied the claim and said that the statements from the US were the first time she heard the allegation. “On Mexico’s part, there is no investigation that has to do with that,” she told reporters last week. “As we always say, if they have some evidence, show it. We do not have any proof.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

‘That’s OUR Story’: Clapper Force-Fed Russiagate Narrative to Intelligence Community

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A newly declassified email exposed former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper dismissing serious warnings from a top intelligence official about compromising standard procedures in the 2017 assessment on alleged Russian interference.

The email shows Clapper brushing aside concerns from former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, who cautioned against the intelligence community fast-tracking its dubious assessment that Russia meddled in the election to help President Donald Trump.

On Dec. 22, 2016, Rogers emailed Clapper, then–FBI Director James Comey and then–CIA Director John Brennan to warn the NSA lacked “sufficient access.”

Rogers also noted his staffers “aren’t fully comfortable saying that they have had enough time to review all of the intelligence to be absolutely confident in their assessments.”

Clapper’s response implied that the priority was following the Obama White House’s directive, not ensuring accuracy.

“Understand your concern. It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page. and are all supportive of the report — in the highest tradition of ‘that’s OUR story, and we’re stickin’ to it,’” Clapper replied.

“We will facilitate as much mutual transparency as possible as we complete the report. but, more time is not negotiable. We may hate to compromise on our ‘normal’ modalities. since we must do this on such a compressed schedule,” Clapper added.

The exchange came just days after then-President Barack Obama summoned his intelligence chiefs on Dec. 9, 2016, demanding a report detailing the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

The directive was part of a broader effort to delitimize Trump’s victory by claiming Russian interference handing him the win. Newly released files show the intelligence community had no evidence to support that claim.

This is a developing story.

DC Police Will Now Work w/ Feds on Immigration after Pressure from Trump

(Headline USAThe Washington, D.C., police chief stepped up cooperation between her officers and federal immigration officials as President Donald Trump’s law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital took root Thursday. National Guard troops watched over some of the world’s most renowned landmarks and Humvees took up position in front of the busy main train station.

The police chief’s order establishes that Metropolitan Police Department officers may now share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody — such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. MPD officers may also provide “transportation for federal immigration employees and detained subject,” the order states.

The changes, which raise collaboration between the two forces in notable ways, is a marked change to the district’s long-standing policy against cooperating with civil immigration enforcement. They are effective immediately.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, walking a tightrope between the Republican White House and the constituency of her largely Democratic city, was out of town Thursday for a family commitment in Martha’s Vineyard but would be back Friday, her office said.

In a city tense from days of ramp-up toward federal law enforcement intervention, volunteers helped homeless people leave long-standing encampments — to where, exactly, was often unclear. Trump told reporters that he was pleased at how the operation — and, now, its direct link with his immigration-control efforts — was unfolding.

“That’s a very positive thing, I have heard that just happened,” Trump said of Police Chief Pamela Smith’s order. “That’s a great step. That’s a great step if they’re doing that.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Man Who Threw Sandwich at the Feds Was a DOJ Specialist

(Headline USAA man charged with a felony for hurling a sandwich at a federal law-enforcement official in the nation’s capital has been fired from his job at the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media post Thursday.

A video of Sean Charles Dunn berating a group of federal agents late Sunday went viral online. Dunn was arrested on an assault charge after he threw a “sub-style” sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent, a court filing said.

Dunn, 37, of Washington, was an international affairs specialist in the Justice Department’s criminal division, according to a department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

“This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,” Bondi wrote. “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”

A multiagency flood of uniformed federal law enforcement officers had fanned out across the city over the weekend after the White House had announced stepped-up measures to combat crime. That was before President Donald Trump’s announcement Monday that he was taking over Washington’s police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard.

Around 11 p.m. on Sunday, Dunn approached a group of CBP agents, pointed a finger in an agent’s face and swore at him, calling him a “fascist,” a police affidavit says. An observer’s video captured Dunn throwing a sandwich at the agent’s chest, the affidavit says.

“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” Dunn shouted, according to police.

Dunn tried to run away but was apprehended, police said.

An attorney for Dunn didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Dunn’s charge.

The incident coincided with Trump’s push to flood the city with National Guard troops and federal officers. Trump claims crime in the city has reached emergency levels, but city leaders point to statistics showing violent crime at a 30-year low.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

After PBS Defunding, PragerU Moves to Fill the Gap

(José Niño, Headline USA) ​​ Congressional defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 2025 delivered a historic blow to public media in the United States, which has now allowed conservative non-profit organization PragerU to fill in the void. 

Signed into law by President Donald Trump, the rescission package cut $1.1 billion in federal support to CPB, which functions as the funding pipeline for PBS, NPR, and over 1,500 stations. 

The rescission marks a culmination of long-standing conservative criticism of PBS and NPR for alleged liberal bias and ushers in what many see as the end of non-commercial educational broadcasting as a national project.

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, acknowledged, “Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who wrote, called, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal support, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations.” She added, “Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational content, emergency information, civil discourse, and cultural touchstones to every corner of the country.” 

This legislative move spells an uncertain future for local stations, especially those in rural and tribal areas. NPR CEO Katherine Maher described the action as an “irreversible loss,” arguing that it constitutes “an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will.”

Into this vacuum, PragerU has emerged as the White House’s favored supplier of educational materials. 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration partnered with PragerU for a “Founders Museum” exhibit, unveiling AI-generated videos of historical figures pitching modern conservative themes. One controversial clip featured John Adams citing Ben Shapiro’s phrase: “Facts do not care about our feelings.”

In late June, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the Trump administration-Prager collaboration, followed by remarks from PragerU CEO Marissa Streit.

Founded in 2009 by conservative commentator Dennis Prager, PragerU has grown into a dominant force in conservative educational media. 

This is not PragerU’s first government collaboration. In recent years, it has partnered with multiple states and school officials nationwide to make its content available to public school students and teachers.

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

 

DC Caught Cooking the Books on Crime Stats

(Luis CornelioHeadline USA) The local government of the District of Columbia has settled a lawsuit filed by a police sergeant who accused her superiors of misclassifying offense records to deflate crime statistics, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday.

Charlotte Djossou, a former sergeant at the Metropolitan Police Department, sued the department in 2020 over alleged retaliation after she condemned the reported scheme.

According to the Free Beacon, Djossou accused MPD brass of trying to “distort crime statistics” by “downgrading a number of felonies to misdemeanors, so that there will be ‘fewer’ felonies in the statistics.”

The outlet noted that her attorneys filed records exposing police officials “explicitly instructed their subordinates to underclassify certain instances of theft to keep them out of the crime stats the city reports to the public.”

The settlement comes as President Donald Trump continues expanding federal law enforcement’s presence in the DC area, including deploying the National Guard, in response to what Republicans have called out as rampant lawlessness.

Leftist media outlets—including The Washington Post and Politico—have repeatedly dismissed Trump’s claims that crime is soaring in the district, citing the same internal MPD data now under scrutiny.

It is unclear how far this crime-deflating scheme spread through various precincts, but the settlement and deposition records had remained private until Thursday.

In a 2022 deposition, MPD commander Randy Griffin admitted that in 2018, he ordered police captain Franklin Porter to find “a solution for the theft problem, which was driving up the district’s statistics.”

It gets worse. Porter allegedly worked with former MPD lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky to classify felonies such as “shoplifting” and “theft” under the vague “Taking Property Without Right” (TPWOR) category.

The case records showed that Zabavsky “acknowledged this was done because TPWOR reports are not tracked in the D.C. Crime Report.“

Announcing the 2025 Sound Money Legislators of the Year

(Sound Money Defense League, Money Metals News Service) One of America’s largest national precious metals dealers and the nation’s leading sound money public policy group today recognized two outstanding state lawmakers for their leadership in advancing sound money policies in 2025.

Money Metals ExchangeSound Money Defense League, and Sound Money Foundation are excited to announce Kentucky Rep. TJ Roberts (R) and Wyoming Sen. Bob Ide (R) as “2025 Sound Money Legislators of the Year.”

Last year, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear illegitimately line-item vetoed a sales tax exemption on purchases of gold and silver, despite the state Constitution not permitting him this power. Still, Gov. Beshear directed his offices to continue collecting this tax, with fines and penalties for non-compliance.

In response, freshman legislator TJ Roberts introduced House Bill 2 and spearheaded an effort in 2025 to not only eliminate the sales tax on gold and silver purchases retroactive to Gov. Beshear’s unconstitutional veto in August 2024, but also to enable taxpayers to sue the governor and his departments for wrongful taxation.

“We’ve been working in Kentucky since 2020 and thought we’d successfully eliminated the sales tax on gold and silver before Gov. Beshear’s unconstitutional veto. A freshman legislator, Rep. Roberts was instrumental in establishing the sound money issue as a priority for lawmakers in the state,” said Sound Money Defense League executive director Jp Cortez.

“I am honored to be named a Sound Money Defense League’s 2025 Legislator of the Year. Inflation is a silent thief and a sinister, regressive tax that no one voted for; it is a plague inflicted by reckless spending and senseless money printing of the unaccountable Federal Reserve that erode the hard-earned savings of Kentuckians and undermine our economic freedom,” said sponsor Rep. Roberts.

“As State Representative, I am actively working in Frankfort to advance sound money reforms, collaborating with fellow legislators to protect our state’s financial stability.  I pledge to continue this fight, protecting the rights and prosperity of every Kentuckian against the dangers of fiat currency and government overreach.

“America needs sound money, and I will always fight for the Constitution’s true money: gold and silver,” he concluded.

Kentucky became the 44th state in the U.S. to have partially or fully removed sales taxes on constitutional sound money (i.e., gold and silver) and the passage of this measure will move the Bluegrass State up the rankings on the Sound Money Index, from its embarrassing place at the bottom of the Index tied for 46th place out of 50.

In Wyoming, the Sound Money Defense League worked closely with lawmakers in 2018 to ensure enactment of the Wyoming Legal Tender Act into law. This bill eliminated all tax liability on precious metals, reaffirmed their status as specie legal tender, and created a foundation for more pro-sound money legislation to come.

Building on this 2018 law, Sen. Bob Ide carried S.F. 96 to enactment in 2025, ensuring the Cowboy state will establish a minimum $10 million physical gold reserve for the state. The fledgling gold reserve begins the process of securing the state’s investments, helping it to insure against inflation, debt defaults, and other risks. The measure also gives the state treasurer the authority to contract for services with established precious metals firms and other industry experts to assist with these duties.

Upon receiving the award, Sen. Bob Ide said, “I am truly grateful for your recognition of my efforts to champion sound money principles in the Wyoming legislature, and I will continue advocating for economic integrity and financial freedom with unwavering commitment.

“With Sound Money Defense League’s support and testimony, I’m thrilled to celebrate the Wyoming Gold Act’s passage, a game changer for our citizens, securing our financial future with a $10 million physical gold reserve/constitutional money to shield against inflation and economic uncertainty, ensuring stability and prosperity for every Wyomingite.”

In 2025, legislators in more than 30 states across the U.S. introduced dozens of bills seeking to eliminate taxation on buying, selling, and using precious metals, bolstering state taxpayer funds with physical gold and silver, reaffirming precious metals as Constitutional money, and more.

Only 6 states still impose a sales tax on all purchases of precious metals – Maryland, Washington, Hawaii, New Mexico, Maine, and Vermont. Sound money forces expect exemption bills to be introduced in the majority of these states in the upcoming legislative session, including Washington and Maryland, after they controversially repealed sales tax exemptions on gold and silver purchases this year.

Other states have reimposed sales tax on precious metals in the past – only to swiftly reverse course after businesses, conventions, and tax revenue left the state for jurisdictions with more favorable laws pertaining to sound money.

Several other lawmakers also made key contributions to the national movement to advance sound money policies, thereby earning honorable mention as part of this year’s award.

Alabama state Sen. Tim Melson (R), a two-time Sound Money Legislator of the Year award recipient, sponsored yet another sound money bill that was signed into law by the governor, this time to reaffirm gold and silver as legal tender.

Connecticut state Sen. John Fonfara (D) championed a measure to end the $500 sales tax threshold required to qualify for the sales tax exemption on purchases of precious metals.

Fonfara’s bill also creates a working group to monitor economic conditions, inflation expectations, precious metals prices and activities, including the market activities of leading commodities exchanges and bullion market associations, and precious metals legislation proposed in or enacted by other states.

And finally, Florida House Speaker pro tempore Rep. Wyman Duggan (R) worked to address the state’s $500 sales tax threshold as part of a comprehensive tax package, while Idaho House Speaker Mike Moyle (R) secured passage of a capital gains tax exemption on all sales of gold and silver.


Sound Money Defense League is a non-partisan public policy group working nationally since 2014 to restore gold and silver as sound money – America’s constitutional money. The League, in partnership with Money Metals, also publishes the annual Sound Money Index.