Man Who Rammed Car into 30 People over Weekend Was Out on Parole

Headline USA Editor
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Man Who Rammed Car into 30 People over Weekend Was Out on Parole

(Headline USA) A man suspected of driving his car into a crowd on a sidewalk in Los Angeles, injuring 36 people, has a criminal history that includes a conviction for felony battery, officials said Sunday.

The driver, identified by police as 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez, was attacked by bystanders after the crash early Saturday in east Hollywood and paramedics later found that he had been shot. Police were still searching for the suspected shooter, described as a man with a goatee in a blue Dodgers jacket.

Ramirez, of San Clemente, California, was recovering and was expected to face a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. He could not be reached for comment and it wasn’t known if he had an attorney.

Los Angeles police Capt. Ben Fernandes told KNBC-TV on Sunday that Ramirez was sentenced in 2020 for attacking a man outside of a Whole Foods grocery store in June 2019. He was on parole at the time of Saturday’s crash, but it’s unclear whether it was in connection with the 2019 attack or another case.

Ramirez has had at least 11 criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to felonies, KNBC reported. In January 2022, he was charged with felony domestic battery and entered a not guilty plea. That case remains open.

A line of people — mostly women — were waiting to enter the Vermont Hollywood event venue around 2 a.m. when they were struck by a Nissan Versa that also hit a food vending cart and valet stand, Fire Capt. Adam VanGerpen said Saturday.

At least 36 people were treated for injuries including fractures and lacerations, police said Sunday without providing updates on their conditions.

It was not immediately clear if Ramirez was shot before or after the crash or why he drove into the crowd.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Thomas Crooks Had High-Ranking Military Officials in His Family, Including an Obama Nominee

Ken Silva
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Thomas Crooks Had High-Ranking Military Officials in His Family, Including an Obama Nominee

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The public still doesn’t know much about Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old man who’s said to have nearly assassinated Donald Trump at his July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

However, a new podcast, The Panic in Bethel Park, delves deep into the history of Crooks’s family, revealing that the gunman had family members who were high-ranking military officials.

It’s already been widely reported that Crooks’s maternal grandfather was John Frizzi, who was an engineer for the state of Pennsylvania after serving for the U.S. Army in Vietnam. What The Panic in Bethel Park revealed is that Crooks’s uncle on his mother’s side, James Frizzi, is a neurosurgeon and an active Lieutenant Colonel in the Army.

“During the war in Iraq in the 2000s, Crooks’ uncle, Dr. James Frizzi, served in Baghdad’s busiest military hospital, Ibn Sina. One of his specialties was treating soldiers and evacuees who suffered head trauma—performing neurosurgical operations on them. Some of the evacuees included Iraqi children,” according to The Panic in Bethel Park, which includes a bibliography of sources in its show notes.

“In 2010, Dr. Frizzi was successfully nominated by then-President Barack Obama to be made a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Medical Corps. He became the chief of surgery at Fort Gordon, formerly named Fort Eisenhower. This is the headquarters of the U.S. Army Signals Corps. It’s also the home to the NSA’s Georgia Cryptologic Center (GCC), and the Army Cyber Command—three massively important centers of military cyber operations.”

The Panic in Bethel Park host Matthew Tannam-Elgie noted that Frizzi’s work had nothing to do with the base’s intelligence operations—but his nephew, Thomas Crooks, would have been fascinated by it all, given his interest in computers and cryptocurrency. Tannam-Elgie also noted that one of Crooks’ high school classmates recalled that he discussed joining the military.

Another military veteran in Crooks’ family is his uncle, Larry Macko Sr., who’s described in grandpa Frizzi’s 2010 obituary as a U.S. Army Specialist.

“Larry Macko Sr. is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, and he graduated from the Air Force’s Air War College after decades of operational activity in 2013,” Tannam-Elgie said.

Macko Sr.’s apparent LinkedIn account says that he has also worked with federal law enforcement—”implementing US National Strategy at the tactical and strategic levels.”

In 2000, Macko Sr. became a member of the Special Operations Association, whose slogan is, “Unconventional warriors: The Legacy Endures.” He was also a member of the Special Forces Association, which is based in Ft. Bragg in North Carolina.

Additionally, Macko Sr.’s current wife was nominated to a State Department roll, according to The Panic in Bethel Park. He currently runs a consulting business called Navigator Strategic Leadership Solutions.

Tannam-Elgie said he highlighted Crooks’ family connections to underscore the tragedy of what happened last July.

“He appeared to be from a family with some extremely impressive figures in the military and other government entities, and yet his attack that summer left a grave, sad and everlasting image on modern American history,” he concluded.

Macko didn’t respond to an email seeking comment, while Dr. Frizzi couldn’t be reached for comment.

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

Democrats Seek Federal Ban on Price Gouging amid Tariff Rollout

Headline USA Editor
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Democrats Seek Federal Ban on Price Gouging amid Tariff Rollout

(, The Center Square) Democrats are pushing a bill prohibiting price gouging at the federal level and giving the Federal Trade Commission another $1 billion and new tools to go after companies charging “grossly excessive” prices.

Democrats say such protections are needed as President Donald Trump rolls out higher tariffs on foreign nations as part of an effort to overhaul global trade. A tariff is a tax on imported goods that the importer pays to the federal government. That importer can then absorb the loss, or try to pass the added costs on to consumers through higher prices.

Critics say the measure could actually make shortages of key products worse.

A group of Democrats reintroduced the Price Gouging Prevention Act “to fight back against the corporate greed enabled by the Trump administration’s chaotic tariff policies,” they said. The bill would give the FTC and state attorneys general new tools to enforce a federal ban against “grossly excessive price increases.”

“Donald Trump’s reckless tariff policies are giving companies cover to squeeze families and raise prices more than necessary,” said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “My bill is an opportunity for Congress to stand up for families by cracking down on price gouging and fighting back against corporate abuse.”

Ryan Bourne, of the Cato Institute, said the measure was just as bad as it was the first time it was introduced.

“This ‘anti-price gouging’ bill is a reheated version of Elizabeth Warren’s earlier misguided proposal. Back then, Democrats found it politically convenient to blame greedy corporations for an inflation overwhelmingly caused by excessive government spending and loose monetary policy,” he told The Center Square. “Now, the same politicians are using the price-inflating effects of Donald Trump’s tariffs to revive their anti-corporate legislation.”

Bourne said the measure could exacerbate shortages at critical times, such as after a natural disaster.

“The results of such a federal law would be disastrous. Capping prices below what people are willing to pay for goods would produce shortages and empty shelves during volatile periods,” he said.

“Firms today face ever-shifting trade barriers, unpredictable demand conditions, and evolving supply chains – all factors that increase price volatility. This legislation would compound those problems by turning pricing decisions into legal liabilities. Firms fearing prosecution would hesitate to raise prices even when those higher prices accurately reflect genuine scarcity or increased risks. The price controls would thus risk making goods’ shortages far more severe and prolonged.”

Democrats first introduced the measure in 2024, but it failed to advance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats proposed similar measures to prevent price gouging.

The bill would clarify that price gouging is an unfair and deceptive practice under the FTC Act. Themeasure would allow the FTC and state attorneys general to stop sellers from charging a grossly excessive price, regardless of where the price gouging occurs in a supply chain or distribution network, according to a news release.

“Greedy corporations are using the economic turmoil the Trump Administration has created to gouge the American people on everything from groceries to consumer goods,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. “While these large corporations rake in record profits, families in my community and across the country are struggling to put food on the table.” 

The bill would give the FTC an additional $1 billion in funding to do the work. It would establish when price gouging occurs during a significant shift in trade policy. It lists a set of market shocks – including an “abrupt or significant shift in trade policy” – and outlines a standard for a presumptive violation of the price gouging prohibition during such a shock, such as when companies brag about increasing prices, according to Democrats.

The measure would also create an affirmative defense for small businesses acting in good faith. Sponsors noted that “small and local businesses sometimes must raise prices in response to crisis-driven increases in their costs because they have little negotiating power with their price-gouging suppliers.” That affirmative defense protects small businesses earning less than $100 million from frivolous litigation if they show “legitimate cost increases.”

The bill would further require public companies to disclose costs and pricing strategies.

“During periods of exceptional market shock, the bill requires public companies to transparently disclose and explain changes in their cost of goods sold, gross margins, and pricing strategies in their quarterly SEC filings,” according to the sponsors.

Warren and Schakowsky face an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House and Senate. Republicans have been moving in the opposite direction. The Trump administration has worked to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency created after the 2007-08 financial crisis to establish a single agency responsible for enforcing consumer protection laws. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris promised to introduce a federal anti-price-gouging law during the 2024 presidential campaign.

WATCH: Illegal Immigrant Shoots Border Protection Officer at Point-Blank Range

Headline USA Editor
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WATCH: Illegal Immigrant Shoots Border Protection Officer at Point-Blank Range

(Headline USA) An off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was shot in a Manhattan park on Saturday following an apparent robbery gone wrong, New York City police and federal officials said.

The 42-year-old officer was in stable condition Sunday and expected to survive.

The officer, who was not in uniform, had been sitting with a woman in a park beneath the George Washington Bridge when two men approached on a moped just before midnight. The passenger got off and approached the officer, who realized he was being robbed and drew his service weapon, Tisch said.

The two exchanged gunfire and the off-duty officer was shot in the face and arm. The perpetrator was injured before he and the moped driver rode off, police said.

A person of interest, identified as Miguel Mora, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant with an extensive criminal past, was taken into custody after arriving at a Bronx hospital with gunshot wounds to the groin and leg, Tisch said.

The police commissioner said Mora’s injuries were consistent with what was seen on surveillance video of the shooting shared by the Department of Homeland Security.

The search for his alleged accomplice continued Sunday.

Mora entered the country illegally through Arizona in 2023 and had two prior arrests for domestic violence in New York. He was wanted in New York to face accusations of robbery and felony assault, and in Massachusetts over a stolen weapons case, Tisch said.

However, authorities said the shooting had nothing to do with politics. According to New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, there was no indication that he was targeted because of his employment.

In a social media post Sunday afternoon, President Donald Trump cited the shooting as evidence of Democrats’ failures to secure the border.

“The CBP Officer bravely fought off his attacker, despite his wounds, demonstrating enormous Skill and Courage,” Trump added.

The shooting comes as federal officials warn of a surge of attacks on agents carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

As enforcement efforts have ramped up in recent months, many officers have chosen to cover their faces with the goal of avoiding harassment in public and online.

On Sunday, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, said he would allow agents to continue covering their faces as a safety measure.

“If that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE that keeps themselves and their families safe, then I will allow it,” Lyons said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

3D Gun Pioneer Taken Down in Landmark RICO Case

Jose Nino
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3D Gun Pioneer Taken Down in Landmark RICO Case

(José Niño, Headline USA) Peter Celentano, a key figure in the underground world of 3D-printed guns, just suffered a major legal blow, while already sitting behind bars.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Florida issued a default judgment against Celentano, meaning he effectively admitted to serious racketeering charges after failing to respond in court. 

The allegations, brought by 3D printable gun organization Defense Distributed and its subsidiary DEFCAD, accuse him of helping run an online network that trafficks in illegal firearms blueprints and violates U.S. firearm export laws. These alleged violations involve distributing files for restricted items like machine guns, silencers, and semi-automatic firearm receivers.

This case—Larosiere v. Wilson—marks the first time such racketeering charges have been applied in the 3D-printed gun space. 

As Headline USA previously reported, Matthew Larosiere leads The Gatalog, while co-defendant John Elik serves as its director. That said, Defense Distributed maintains that Celentano played a key, central role in the group’s day-to-day operations.

According to Defense Distributed’s filings, Celentano was one of the “Gatalog Principals” and is accused of substantially furthering the collective’s objectives.  In this role, Celentano served as an administrator for The Gatalog’s Rocketchat server and other platforms, including chat.deterrencedispensed.com and even the “Fuddbusters” Discord server.

Celentano, who went by the online handle “Freeman1337,” allegedly managed private chatrooms known as “beta rooms,” where developers, including foreigners, collaborated to refine firearm designs.  He had access to chat logs and direct messages used to coordinate activities within The Gatalog network, and was ultimately responsible for approving 3D files for publication.

This authority allowed Celentano to allegedly facilitate the unrestricted exchange of technical data—some originating from foreign developers—in violation of federal export laws.

While Defense Distributed offers similar files through a regulated system with paywalls and government compliance checks, The Gatalog gives away its blueprints for free and without safeguards—something Defense Distributed claims violates federal export control laws.

Defense Distributed also claims that Celentano was paid by a Florida corporation named MAF Corp. for his work with The Gatalog,  who openly promoted Celentano’s role in the group on its online platforms.

Defense Distributed alleges that when confronted with these civil claims and instructed to preserve all proof of his involvement, Celentano attempted to destroy all the evidence by deleting messages, files and his administrative accounts on The Gatalog’s platforms.

Furthermore, Defense Distributed is accusing The Gatalog and its leaders, including Celentano, of running a criminal operation under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) laws. They claim The Gatalog has repeatedly broken the law through illegal weapons exports, wire fraud, harassment and cyberattacks on Defense Distributed’s DEFCAD platform.

Celentano is accused of being a central figure in The Gatalog enterprise, which collectively engaged in trade libel against Defense Distributed.

The Gatalog is accused of defaming Defense Distributed and DEFCAD through false advertising and public smears, including a meme labeled “FEDCAD” that advertises DEFCAD is an insecure file-sharing platform that has had its user data “hacked and dumped multiple times.”

The complaint additionally alleges that The Gatalog engaged in harassment and extortion by threatening economic harm and orchestrating chargebacks in an effort to disrupt the company’s finances.

According to Defense Distributed, one member of The Gatalog even sent a direct threat to founder Cody Wilson, referencing a “bounty” on his head and imminent physical harm. 

The group is accused of targeting Defense Distributed’s DEFCAD platform with cyberattacks, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) operations, to interfere with the company’s online presence and operations.

Celentano’s legal troubles with the federal government have come to a head in recent months. 

Celentano’s legal troubles with the federal government have come to a head in recent months. 

In late May, facing the weight of evidence and the prospect of decades in prison, Celentano pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegal possession of machine guns. The plea carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

Celentano is currently in custody at the Niagara County Jail following his previous arrest on federal charges for possessing machine guns.

Meanwhile, Defense Distributed is pursuing civil damages through the RICO statute. With Celentano’s default, he can no longer contest the charges, and they are deemed to be completely admitted ahead of a judgment. Defense Distributed has won against at least one member of The Gatalog by default.

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

Hours after Trump Shooting, FBI Used ‘Special Authority’ to Interview a Suspect w/o Lawyer

Ken Silva
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Hours after Trump Shooting, FBI Used ‘Special Authority’ to Interview a Suspect w/o Lawyer

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On July 12, 2024, the FBI arrested a Pakistani national named Asif Merchant for allegedly trying to hire two undercover agents as “hitmen” to kill Donald Trump.

When the Justice Department announced the case a month later, observers were quick to note the date of Merchant’s arrest—July 12, the day before the Butler assassination attempt—which sparked speculation on social media as to whether he was involved with the Trump shooting.

According to a recent report in the Washington Post, the FBI had similar questions about Merchant immediately after the July 13 shooting—in which gunman Thomas Crooks allegedly fired eight times towards Trump, grazing his ear, killing a firefighter and seriously wounding at least two others in the process.

As Headline USA has detailed, the Merchant case appears to have been a highly controlled FBI sting operation that never posed a danger to Trump. Informants and undercover agents had been monitoring Merchant for months before his arrest, and he was allowed into the country on a “special parole” program that’s used to recruit informants.

Nevertheless, the FBI took the “extraordinary step” of interviewing Merchant without any defense lawyers present in the early hours of July 14, to determine whether he knew Crooks.

“Citing a potential threat to public safety, they invoked special authority under Justice Department policy to question him while he was in custody and without some standard legal rights,” the Washington Post reported, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the interview.

Hours after the unconstitutional interview of Merchant, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray briefed President Joe Biden on the matter.

“They were indeed concerned Iran might have recruited the man who fired at Trump during his rally in Butler,” the Post reported. “Wray, appearing by video feed, said they had found no clear link between the shooter and the Iran plot, but they continued to run down every possibility.”

Over a month later, the DOJ reportedly received another tip from an informant overseas that Crooks was linked to Iran. “But after sifting through mountains of classified intelligence obtained through the National Security Agency and foreign allies, national security officials concluded the tip could not be corroborated and was deemed not to be credible,” the Post reported.

Nearly a year later, both Biden and Trump’s FBI maintain that Crooks acted alone. Helen Comperatore, the wife of murdered firefighter Corey Comperatore, recently said that the FBI is set to release more evidence about Butler soon.

Meanwhile, Merchant continues to maintain his innocence. He’s been sitting in solitary confinement for over a year now, and hasn’t been able to access crucial evidence, including the recordings of the undercover FBI agents who targeted him.

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

Request to Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Transcripts Likely to Disappoint, Ex-Prosecutors Say

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Request to Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Transcripts Likely to Disappoint, Ex-Prosecutors Say

(Headline USA) A Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public’s appetite for new revelations about the financier’s crimes, former federal prosecutors say.

Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Maxwell “a distraction.”

“ The president is trying to present himself as if he’s doing something here and it really is nothing,” Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying “transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.”

The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would.

Epstein is dead while Maxwell serves a 20-year prison sentence

Epstein was found dead at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief.

Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but “it’s not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.”

“People want the entire file from however long. That’s just not what this is,” he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages.

“It’s not going to be much,” Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages “because the Southern District of New York’s practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.”

“They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That’s what we’re going to see,” she said. “I just think it’s not going to be that interesting. … I don’t think it’s going to be anything new.”

Ex-prosecutors say grand jury transcript unlikely to be long

Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witness interviews.

That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool.

In Manhattan, federal prosecutors “are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,” Krissoff said.

Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government’s request.

With Maxwell, a petition is before the U.S. Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected.

“This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,” Krissoff noted. “There’s still someone in custody.”

Appeals court’s 1997 ruling might matter

She said citing “public intrigue, interest and excitement” about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.

Krissoff called it “mind-blowingly strange” that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor’s office has long been labeled the “Sovereign District of New York” for its independence from outside influence.

“To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,” she said.

Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule.

“Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,” she said.

Tradition of grand jury secrecy might block release of transcripts

Bader said she didn’t see the government’s quest aimed at satisfying the public’s desire to explore conspiracy theories “trumping — pardon the pun — the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.”

“I’m sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,” she added.

Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump’s comments and influence in the Epstein matter “unprecedented” and “extraordinarily unusual” because he is a sitting president.

He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases.

“If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I’ve understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,” he said.

Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice.

“The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren’t working the way we’re used to them working,” she said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Gabbard: Obama Conspired to ‘Usurp’ Trump’s 2016 Election Mandate

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Gabbard: Obama Conspired to ‘Usurp’ Trump’s 2016 Election Mandate

(, The Center Square) Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard wants the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what she says is a “treasonous conspiracy” by former President Barack Obama and his senior advisors to concoct evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Gabbard on Friday declassified documents that she said provides “overwhelming evidence” that Obama and his national security advisers conspired to create “a politicized piece of intelligence” to launch a years-long investigation into the now debunked Trump-Russia collusion claims.

“These documents detail a treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate,” Gabbard wrote on X.

Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

In a news release, Gabbard said the intelligence community had concluded prior to the 2016 election that Russia was “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.”

After the election in early December, “talking points were prepared for DNI James Clapper stating, ‘Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome,’” the news release said, but after a top meeting of key Obama advisers, a new intelligence assessment was prepared, “per the President’s request,” that “directly contradicted the IC assessments that were made throughout the previous six months.”

Gabbard said she is referring the matter to DOJ for further investigation.

“After months of investigation into this matter, the facts reveal this new assessment was based on information that was known by those involved to be manufactured i.e. the Steele Dossier or deemed as not credible,” the news release said. “This was politicized intelligence that was used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize President Trump’s victory, the years-long Mueller investigation, two Congressional impeachments, high level officials being investigated, arrested, and thrown in jail, heightened US-Russia tensions, and more.”

The long-debunked Steele dossier alleged that Trump worked with Russie to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

House Committee Could Grant Biden Witnesses Immunity to Get Them to Talk

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House Committee Could Grant Biden Witnesses Immunity to Get Them to Talk

(, The Center Square) As key witnesses in the investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental decline continue to evade House questioning by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, lawmakers could grant them immunity to encourage them to talk, according to a legal expert.

Three witnesses close to the former president pleaded the fifth during depositions before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in less than two weeks, with more likely to come.

Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said the witnesses, Annie Tomasini, who served as an assistant to the former president and deputy director of Oval Office Operations, former First Lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff, Anthony Bernal, and Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, have pleaded the Fifth in “a pattern…seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability.”

Attorney and legal scholar John Shu notes that the committee could grant certain congressional witnesses immunity, a common tactic that would require them to testify because they no longer could self-incriminate and be subject to prosecution.

“Both the DOJ and Congress have been known to grant immunity. It would prevent witnesses from asserting the Fifth Amendment, because once you have immunity you can’t be prosecuted,” Shu said.

None of the witnesses, including those who have yet to appear, have been charged with any crime. However, echoing Comer’s assertion that the witnesses may be shielding themselves from criminal liability, Shu argues they could be pleading the fifth to avoid self-incrimination.

“Those witnesses will still want to avoid any kind of self-incrimination, even if they themselves didn’t commit a crime, because they may have been part of a conspiracy to commit a crime or they may have lied in some other setting. While we don’t know whether there was a criminal conspiracy, certainly a witness wouldn’t want to talk about his or her participation in it,” said Shu.

Biden opened the door for Congress to subpoena White House officials and aides. The former president waived executive privilege for Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, who served during Trump’s first administration.

A House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots subpoenaed Navarro and Bannon. The pair refused to comply with the subpoenas and were subsequently imprisoned for Congressional contempt.

Shu noted, “What goes around, comes around…Executive privilege goes with the office, not the president” – meaning when Trump took office in January, he inherited the right to waive the same privilege for Biden officials, leading to the former president’s aides being subpoenaed.

“Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal know that, and that’s partially why they didn’t assert executive privilege and instead pled the fifth, because Trump waived their privilege,” said Shu.

Questions regarding Biden’s mental fitness were raised well before the 2020 presidential election. Republicans and many in the conservative media continued to raise questions regarding the former president’s health throughout his presidency.

However, the White House claimed Biden received regular medical exams, showing a healthy, competent president.

The House committee announced in early June that it was expanding its investigation into the “cover-up” of Biden’s “mental decline.”

Comer sent letters to five former senior Biden White House aides, “demanding they appear for transcribed interviews.” Comer’s committee is investigating “potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive action.”

The investigations have been fueled in part by a book written by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, “Original Sin,” which the congressman quoted as claiming, “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”

Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as Biden’s press secretary; Ian Sams, former assistant to the president and senior advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office; Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary; and Jeff Zients, Biden’s former chief of staff, have also been called to testify in front of the committee.

Pope Leo XIV Condemns Israeli Attack on Gaza Church, Calls for End to ‘Barbarity’

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Pope Leo XIV Condemns Israeli Attack on Gaza Church, Calls for End to ‘Barbarity’

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Pope Leo XIV on Sunday again condemned the Israeli tank shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, which killed three Christians, and made another appeal for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling for an end to the “barbarity” and for a peaceful resolution.

“I express my deep sorrow over the attack by the Israeli army on the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City. As you know, last Thursday, it resulted in the deaths of three Christians and the serious wounding of others,” the pontiff said after his weekly Angelus prayer.

“I pray for the victims: Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, and Najwa Ibrahim Latif Abu Daoud. I express, in particular, my closeness to their families and all the parishioners. This act tragically adds to the ongoing military assaults on civilians and places of worship in Gaza. I call, once again, for an immediate end to the barbarity of war,” the pope added.

Leo’s strong statement suggests the Vatican is not accepting Israel’s claim that the attack on the church was an accident, something Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, had cast doubt on since the strike was a direct hit.

Leo spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, and, according to a Vatican statement, he “repeated his appeal for a renewed push for negotiations, a ceasefire and an end to the war” and “again expressed his concern about the tragic humanitarian situation of the population in Gaza, whose children, elderly and sick are paying an agonizing price.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa entered Gaza on Friday along with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III to show support for the small Christian community in Gaza City following the strike on the church. The visit marked the third time Pizzaballa entered Gaza since October 7, 2023. Pizzaballa was still in Gaza on Sunday and celebrated Mass at the Holy Family Church.

When Pizzaballa entered Gaza on Friday, he received a call from Pope Leo, who expressed his support. “Pope Leo repeatedly stated that it is time to stop this slaughter, that what has happened is unjustifiable, and that we must ensure there are no more victims,” Pizzaballa told Vatican News following the call.

The bombing of the Holy Family Church came as Israel has been ramping up its genocidal war, killing close to or more than 100 Palestinians each day. Many Palestinians are also suffering from malnutrition due to Israeli restrictions, and aid seekers continue to be gunned down by Israeli forces in large numbers.

In its initial statement on the church bombing, the Latin Patriarchate said this “tragedy is not greater or more terrible than the many others that have befallen Gaza. Many other innocent civilians have also been harmed, displaced and killed. Death, suffering and destruction are everywhere.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

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