Jim Acosta Interviews AI Version of a Dead Kid

Luis Cornelio
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Jim Acosta Interviews AI Version of a Dead Kid

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta was once touted as a liberal truth-teller who’d stand toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump. Now, he’s interviewing computer software.

Acosta is facing backlash after making the bizarre decision to interview an AI-generated version of Joaquin Oliver, one of the students killed in the Parkland school shooting. 

Acosta posted the interview on his blog and YouTube channel, apparently to promote gun control.

The AI version of Oliver, who died when he was 17, had been created and released by his parents. 

In the video, Acosta asked: “Joaquin, I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence.” 

“Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control laws, mental health support, and community engagement. We need to create safe spaces for conversations and connections, making sure everyone feels seen and heard,” the AI responded. “It’s about building a culture of kindness and understanding. What do you think of that?” 

Critics on X blasted Acosta for the stunt, calling it exploitative and grotesque. Acosta was also widely criticized on the liberal social media app BlueSky.

Unhinged Dems Revive Rhetoric that Nearly Got Trump Killed 

Luis Cornelio
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Unhinged Dems Revive Rhetoric that Nearly Got Trump Killed 

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Democrats are recycling the same inflammatory rhetoric that Republicans say led to both assassination attempts against President Donald Trump. 

Reps. Al Green, D-Texas, and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., made the unhinged remarks just over a year after Trump narrowly survived a shooting at a July 2024 rally. 

“There are no circumstances that will prevent me from continuing to challenge the bigotry emanating from the presidency and policy,” Green ranted. 

 “I will not stop … This president is going to be brought down. He has to be brought down. He will be impeached again!” He added. 

Not to be outdone, Slotkin branded Trump an “existential threat,” mirroring the same apocalyptic language Democrats tried to disown after the failed assassination. 

Not to be outdone, Slotkin described Trump as an “existential threat,” recycling the same charged language Democrats tried to walk back after the shooting. 

“Is Donald Trump an existential threat to democracy in his second term, or is Donald Trump’s second term bad, but, like his first term, survivable if we just wait it out? And I just want you to know, from your senator, as someone who sits in that room on your behalf, I am in camp number one, he is an existential threat to democracy,” she said. 

Slotkin’s outburst comes as her CIA ties continue sparking controversy on X. 

Dem. Congresswoman Pledges Loyalty to Guatemala

Luis Cornelio
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Dem. Congresswoman Pledges Loyalty to Guatemala

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., is doubling down on controversial comments embracing her Guatemalan heritage—while appearing to dismiss her American citizenship. 

“I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American,” she said in Spanish, according to a Headline USA translation. 

She delivered the remarks before the Pan-American Congress in Mexico City.  

Facing widespread criticism, Ramirez issued a press statement doubling down: 

“Let’s call it what it is: today’s attacks are a weak attempt to silence my dissent and invalidate my patriotic criticism of the nativist, white supremacist, authoritarians in government. It is the definition of hypocrisy that members of Congress —who betray their oath each day they enable Trump— are attacking me for celebrating my Guatemalan-American roots,” she said. 

She claimed other lawmakers have embraced their heritages—though she offered no evidence of any prioritizing foreign identity over American citizenship. 

“No one questions when my white colleagues identify as Irish-American, Italian-American, or Ukrainian-American to honor their ancestry. I’ve consistently expressed pride in my heritage and history – a pride also often reflected in the origin stories of my colleagues,” she added. “Only those who believe America should not include the children of immigrants or be diverse would attack me – and Americans like me – for honoring my roots.” 

Ramirez insisted that honoring her Guatemalan ancestry reinforces her commitment to America. 

Ghislaine Maxwell Doesn’t Want Grand Jury Transcripts Released

Headline USA Editor
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Ghislaine Maxwell Doesn’t Want Grand Jury Transcripts Released

Jeffrey Epstein‘s former accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, wants to keep grand jury records secret in the sex trafficking case that sent her to prison, her lawyers said Tuesday as prosecutors continued urging a court to release some of those records in the criminal case-turned-political fireball.

Maxwell hasn’t seen the material herself, her attorneys said — the grand jury process is conducted behind closed doors. But she opposes unsealing what her lawyers described as potentially “hearsay-laden” transcripts of grand jury testimony, which was given in secret and without her lawyers there to challenge it.

“Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable and her due process rights remain,” attorneys David O. Markus and Melissa Madrigal wrote.

Prosecutors declined to comment.

Government attorneys have been trying to quell a clamor for transparency by seeking the transcripts’ release — though the government also says the public already knows much of what’s in the documents.

Most of the information “was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses,” prosecutors wrote in court papers Monday. They noted that the disclosures excluded some victims’ and witnesses’ names.

Prosecutors had also said last week that some of what the grand jurors heard eventually came out at Maxwell’s 2021 trial and in various victims’ lawsuits. There were only two grand jury witnesses, both of them law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors made clear Monday that they’re seeking to unseal only the transcripts of grand jury witnesses’ testimony, not the exhibits that accompanied it. But they are also working to parse how much of the exhibits also became public record over the years.

While prosecutors have sought to temper expectations about any new revelations from the grand jury proceedings, they aren’t proposing to release a cache of other information the government collected while looking into Epstein.

The transcript faceoff comes six years after authorities said Epstein was found dead while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges and four years after Maxwell was convicted of grooming underage girls to participate in sex acts with him. The British socialite denied the allegations and has appealed her conviction, so far unsuccessfully.

Some of President Donald Trump’s allies spent years suggesting there was more to the Epstein saga than met the eye and calling for more disclosures. 

A few got powerful positions in Trump’s Justice Department — and then faced backlash after it abruptly announced that nothing more would be released and that a long-rumored Epstein “client list” doesn’t exist.

After trying unsuccessfully to change the subject and denigrating his own supporters for not moving on, the Republican president told Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask courts to unseal the grand jury transcripts in the case.

A top Justice Department official interviewed Maxwell late last month, at the government’s request. Last week, she was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas to continue serving her 20-year sentence. Officials didn’t explain why.

The Epstein uproar also has reached Congress, where the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department on Tuesday for files in the case. The committee also issued subpoenas to conduct sworn questioning of former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and eight former top law enforcement officials.

Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was among a number of Epstein’s famous former friends; so was Trump, a Republican. Both men have said they knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes until he was charged, and Epstein’s accusers have not alleged any wrongdoing by Trump or Clinton.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

 

Violent Crime in the US Dropped 4.5% Last Year, FBI Data Shows

Headline USA Editor
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Violent Crime in the US Dropped 4.5% Last Year, FBI Data Shows

Violent crime in the United States fell 4.5% last year, according to a new FBI report, which also shows an 8% drop in property crime from the year before.

The FBI statistics released Tuesday show murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the U.S. in 2024 fell nearly 15% from a year earlier, continuing a decline that’s been seen since a coronavirus pandemic-era crime spike. Reported hate crimes decreased 1.5%, according to the report.

Despite that slight decrease, last year’s hate crime totals were the second highest reported by the FBI in the more than 30 years it has been collecting data, according to Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and professor emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino.

Crime surged during the coronavirus pandemic, with homicides increasing nearly 30% in 2020 over the previous year, the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records. Violent crime across the U.S. dipped to near pre-pandemic levels around 2022.

The FBI collects data through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program, and not all law enforcement agencies in the U.S. participate. The 2024 report is based on data from more than 16,000 agencies, or more than 86% of those agencies in the FBI’s program. The agencies included in the report protect more than 325 million people across the U.S.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press.

It’s Official: Jack Smith under Federal Investigation

Luis Cornelio
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It’s Official: Jack Smith under Federal Investigation

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is under investigation by an independent federal agency tasked with uncovering government misconduct.

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has launched a probe into allegations of illegal political activity tied to the office Smith once led.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., announced the investigation Monday in a post on X.

“I can confirm that the Office of Special Counsel has opened an investigation into Jack Smith’s conduct during the election,” he wrote.

“No one is above the law,” Cotton added. “I encourage OSC to release as much information as possible to the public, and do it as quickly as possible.”

The agency is reportedly investigating potential violations of the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits government officials from using taxpayer-funded resources for political purposes.

Smith served as the special counsel appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute President Donald Trump.

Smith ultimately indicted Trump over his objections to the certification of the 2020 election and a document dispute with the National Archives.

This is a developing story.

ICE Arrests Up in Michigan but Fall Short of Trump’s Goals

Headline USA Editor
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ICE Arrests Up in Michigan but Fall Short of Trump’s Goals

(Elyse S. Apel, The Center Square) As Michigan lawmakers propose dueling legislation on immigration, recent reports found that fewer than 1,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Great Lakes State this year.

While Democrats continue to express fear of mass deportations throughout the nation, in reality, deportations are still far from the Trump administration’s goal of 1 million per year.

In fact, data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California-Berkeley School of Law found that, from Inauguration Day through the end of June, 940 people were detained by ICE in Michigan.

While nearly more than the 951 people detained in all of last year, it is still far from President Donald Trump’s call for “the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Still, under Trump, the daily average of ICE arrests in Michigan are up 154% over last year, with the surge largely driven by arrests of illegal immigrants with no criminal record.

State Legislation

This year, the Michigan Legislature has introduced at least 10 separate immigration-related measures.

Those include a number of state Senate and House bills, as well as a couple different House Resolutions, like House Resolution 19 which The Center Square previously reported on.

With a Republican-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate, it is unlikely much of the legislation will make it far, though some has received slim bipartisan support.

One of the proposed bills would mandate different entities like the Michigan Department of Corrections track citizenship status, while another would bar illegal immigrants from receiving social welfare services.

Republicans argue the legislation is necessary to protect taxpayer money and ensure cooperation with federal officials.

“All should be welcome to come to the U.S. if they use lawfully available immigration pathways,” said state Senator Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, of legislation he proposed earlier this year. “Unfortunately, much of the immigration in recent years has been illegal, and there is a right and duty to secure our nation’s borders to improve public safety.”

Cooperation with ICE

While Michigan is not considered a sanctuary state and no city officially claims sanctuary status in 2025, federal officials have labeled several Michigan cities as “sanctuary jurisdictions.”

In May, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a list of 500-plus so-called sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide that could face funding cuts. In Michigan, six counties and two cities were included on that list.

Many of the proposed bills would, in various ways, require cities and counties to comply with ICE or verify citizenship status for all criminal offenders.

On the national stage, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan, proposed legislation requiring immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible identification and prohibit face coverings.

State Rep. Matt Hall, speaker of the House, responded to similar legislation proposed in July by Michigan House Democrats.

“The Michigan House will never pass this attack on law enforcement. The people want these dangerous criminal aliens off our street, and we are doing everything we can to partner with the Trump administration and put an end to illegal immigration,” Hall said. “Democrats will do everything they can to get in the way of local police and ICE, because they’ve always cared more about criminals than victims.”

Illegal Immigrants in Michigan

In Michigan, international migration has driven population growth in the past few years.

Michigan has more than 110,700 “undocumented immigrants,” according to the American Immigration Council. They make up 15% of the total immigrant population in the state, which totals 740,000.

While the council states that 110,700 of the immigrant population are undocumented, it also reports that only 55.9%, or 413,800, of the total immigrant population in the state are naturalized U.S. citizens.

Immigration advocates argue mass deportations could have a negative impact on the economy.

“Immigrants help increase wealth and prosperity for all Americans,” said Nan Wu, director of research at the American Immigration Council. “Immigrants have paid up the hard-earned tax dollars that are now going to be used to punish all Americans through a wasteful and cruel mass deportation plan.”

Yet, a 2024 report from the House Committee on the Budget found that illegal immigrants are a “net fiscal drain, meaning they receive more in government services than they pay in taxes.”

New York Put on Federal ‘Sanctuary Jurisdiction’ List

Headline USA Editor
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New York Put on Federal ‘Sanctuary Jurisdiction’ List

(Christen Smith, The Center Square) New York’s liberal immigration policy landed it on the federal government’s updated list of sanctuary jurisdictions on Tuesday.

The designation means the state “impedes enforcement of federal immigration laws.” New York City and Rochester were singled out as local-level offenders.

The release says the executive order of second-term Republican President Donald Trump – Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens – requires the publishing of the list of state and local jurisdictions that obstruct enforcement of federal immigration law.

“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”

Last month, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other local officials, citing its 35-year history of intensifying “efforts to thwart immigration enforcement.

A City Hall spokeswoman said the mayor supports the “essence” of sanctuary laws put in place by the City Council, but said they “go too far when it comes to dealing with those violent criminals on our streets.”

“The job of a mayor is to protect the safety of every single person in their city – and that’s exactly what Mayor Adams has worked to do every day for nearly four years,” Kayla Mamelak, Adams’ press secretary, said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Adam’s invited ICE to reopen its offices at the notorious Rikers Island jail, but the move was blocked by a court challenge from the Democratic majority City Council and immigrant groups.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit specifically cited a botched robbery and shooting of an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer by a “criminal alien” with a lengthy criminal record, whose apprehension the Trump administration said had been prevented by the city’s sanctuary provisions.

“These provisions intentionally obstruct the sharing of information envisioned and affirmatively protected by Congress, including sharing basic information such as release dates, court appearance dates, and custodial status,” the lawsuit states. “The challenged provisions also impair federal detention of removable aliens, including dangerous criminals, contrary to federal law.”

New York City has been a flashpoint in the national immigration debate with more than 230,000 migrants arriving in the city since early 2022 following a surge of immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border. The city has spent about $8 billion on housing, food and other costs for migrants, according to the Adams administration. ICE operations in the city have arrested nearly 29,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the agency’s website.

 

ADL Chief Jonathan Greenblatt Praises Trump for Fighting Antisemitism

Jose Nino
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ADL Chief Jonathan Greenblatt Praises Trump for Fighting Antisemitism

(José Niño, Headline USA) In a candid conversation with media personality Andy Ostroy, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt praised certain aspects of Donald Trump’s policies toward the Jewish community. 

During their conversation that took place last Monday, Greenblatt admitted that Trump’s 2016 campaign rhetoric “emboldened extremists”, something that worried the ADL at the time. 

However, Greenblatt argued that Trump’s performance in office was more complex, with significant policy initiatives deserving acknowledgment throughout. Greenblatt highlighted that Trump “came to office with a Jewish son-in-law [Jared Kushner] and a Jewish daughter [Ivanka Trump].  That had never happened before. He had Jewish grandchildren inside the residence. That had never happened before.”

 

The ADL chief then praised Trump’s 2019 executive order against anti-Semitism, describing it as “precedent making” for extending protections to Jewish students by expanding the legal interpretation of anti-Semitism on college campuses. 

He urged listeners not to oversimplify Trump’s relationship to the Jewish community, noting, “It’s just not as simple and cut and dry as some people might like to say.” 

Greenblatt has previously praised the Trump administration’s punitive policies against Harvard University and other universities, for their alleged role in harboring antisemitism. 

On CNBC’s Squawk Box in April, Greenblatt stated,  “The reality is there are deep, systemic problems, not just at Harvard, but at all of these institutions, and it’s rampant at the faculty lounge, it’s apparent like in the Harvard yard, you can read it in The Crimson. All of it.”

Greenblatt subsequently praised the effectiveness of Trump’s funding threats:

In eighteen months we could not get these university presidents to move effectively enough. That’s why we released our report card. Suddenly, when the Trump administration threatened to pull the funds, they all move.

In previous coverage, Headline USA reported on Greenblatt’s call for online censorship against so-called “Anti-Zionists” after an Egyptian national attacked several pro-Israel activists in Colorado.

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

EXCLUSIVE: Files of a Would-be Assassin—Thomas Crooks’ Internet Search History Revealed

Ken Silva
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EXCLUSIVE: Files of a Would-be Assassin—Thomas Crooks’ Internet Search History Revealed

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Headline USA has obtained a partial internet search history of alleged would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks. Read it here for the first time.

The search history comes from a trove of data from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), where Crooks attended from 2022 to 2024—graduating in the spring of last year with an associate degree in engineering science. The search history is only for the times Crooks was using CCAC wifi, which was about three days per week when school was in session. The vast majority of his internet footprint, including the countless hours he spent online at his house, is still a mystery.

CBS News and The New York Times also obtained the CCAC search history, and both outlets published stories about it last month. However, they didn’t publish the raw data.

When this author saw the CBS article, he asked the CCAC for the same search history information. In response, a CCAC official provided four files of “Graylog” data, which appeared in files as jumbled-up code. The CCAC official said that CBS and New York Times both “reversed engineered” the Graylog code to make it readable.

Eventually, this reporter was able to find a computer whiz to do the same. Apparently, deciphering the data was simple—just a matter of renaming the files and running the script again.

While CBS reported many of the pertinent facts about Crooks’s search history, the raw data  does reveal previously unreported information.

For instance, Crooks visited mainstream news sites such as The Hill, Aljazeera, CNBS, The Wall Street Journal and CNN, along with more niche sites such as compositesworld.com and foodsafetynews.com. He also visited the State Department’s website, www.state.gov, once on Oct. 10 at 12:50 p.m.—a visit that wasn’t reported by CBS or the Times. That visit occurred right after Crooks was browsing winteriscoming.net, which is a Game of Thrones fan site.

Even at the college campus, Crooks seemed most interested in gaming sites. He visited PlaySimple, Discord, and Xbox Game Pass frequently. Meanwhile, when he wasn’t on YouTube, his social media activity included Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.

Crooks was apparently a sports fan, too, visiting sites such as ESPN and a Pittsburgh Steelers fan site. One seemingly bizarre site is the South African-based sports betting service appclap.org. Crooks visited that site on Jan. 24, 2024, which was one of his busiest days on the CCAC network. As CBS News noted, Crooks conducted at least 1,364 searches that day. After that, he consistently used a VPN and other privacy tools that hid his footprint.

“After Jan. 24, 2024, there are 25 days with activity, but nearly all of them have just a few requests, all of them to Mullvad. Whatever he was viewing on those days is not in the logs,” CBS noted last month, also reporting on the use of his encrypted email service: Mailfence.com.

While Headline USA has yet to uncover any new trends that could shed light on Crooks’s mindset and actions leading up to his death, this publication is releasing the data in full so readers can conduct their own research. Note the files are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 5. A CCAC official said File 4 didn’t have any data, while File 6 only reflected his use of a VPN.

tc_graylog_sites_visited01

tc_graylog_600_649_results02

tc_graylog_650_699_results03

tc_graylog_700_769_results05

Headline USA is also the outlet that published Crooks’s CCAC emails—which can be downloaded here—his toxicology and autopsy reports, and the 911 call his father made to police on the day of the Trump shooting.

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

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