Maduro proclaims his innocence in first court appearance on American soil



Nicolas Maduro pled "not guilty" during his first appearance in a United States court on Monday.

Just days after being captured from his home in Caracas, Venezuela, Maduro appeared in a New York City court for the first time alongside his wife, Cilia Flores. During the hearing, Maduro maintained that he is a "decent man" who is innocent of the charges levied against him by the United States.

'They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.'

"I am innocent," Maduro said. "I am not guilty.”

Flores' attorney also claimed that she sustained "significant injuries during her abduction" over the weekend, with journalists present in the courthouse reporting that she was seen wearing bandages on her head during the hearing.

RELATED: Maduro captured following 'large scale strike' in Venezuela, Trump says

Photo by Donald Trump's Truth Social Account/Anadolu via Getty Images

Following his capture, the United States indicted Maduro in the Southern District of New York on charges of "Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States."

"They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," Attorney General Pam Bondi said of Maduro and his wife. "On behalf of the entire U.S. DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers."

The operation that captured both Maduro and Flores took place in the dead of night on Saturday, and they were both then transported to New York by American officials. The operation left Americans and Venezuelans with questions as to who would govern Venezuela while Maduro — whose presidency is not recognized by many countries, including the U.S. — faces legal battles in the United States.

RELATED: 'We're going to run it': Trump reveals Venezuela's fate following Maduro's capture

Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images

Just hours after the capture, President Donald Trump told reporters that "we're going to run" Venezuela.

"We can't take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn't have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind," Trump said Saturday. "We've had decades of that. We're not going to let that happen."

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'Whites ... need not apply': Trump DOJ sues Minneapolis Public Schools for alleged racial discrimination



Scrutiny over Minnesota's leadership, including failed Democratic vice presidential candidate and current Gov. Tim Walz, has been mounting after massive Somali fraud schemes have been exposed in recent weeks. To add to those investigations, the Department of Justice is suing Minneapolis Public Schools for alleged racial discrimination.

The lawsuit, filed on December 9 and spearheaded by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, accuses Minneapolis Public Schools of discrimination on the basis of race and sex.

'A committed focus on reducing inequitable practices and behaviors in our learning places and spaces as well as supporting educators, specifically educators of color, in navigating and disrupting our District as a predominantly white institution.'

According to the lawsuit, the active collective bargaining agreement apparently provides for discriminatory treatment in favor of "underrepresented" teachers, resulting in allegedly discriminatory hirings, firings, and benefits, despite claims to the contrary by the defendants in the case.

Regarding Black Men Teach, the third-party organization included in the CBA, the DOJ says that the discriminatory practices are made "even more manifest" since "women, whites, Asians, and others need not apply."

RELATED: 'Beachhead of criminality': Trump admin urges Walz to resign in light of 'ghost students' fraud scheme

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

The collective bargaining agreement had other highly questionable sections as well. Notably, it promoted the creation of an Anti-Bias Anti-Racist Educator Development and Advisory Council, which explicitly states that it has "a committed focus on reducing inequitable practices and behaviors in our learning places and spaces as well as supporting educators, specifically educators of color, in navigating and disrupting our District as a predominantly white institution."

"Employers may not provide more favorable terms and conditions of employment based on an employee’s race and sex," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a press release. "The Department of Justice will vigorously pursue employers who deny their employees equal opportunities and benefits by classifying and limiting them based on their race, color, national origin, or sex."

"Discrimination is unacceptable in all forms, especially when it comes to hiring decisions,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. "Our public education system in Minnesota and across the country must be a bastion of merit and equal opportunity — not DEI."

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Trump DOJ slams door on welfare for illegal aliens, ends Clinton-era loophole draining taxpayer dollars



As the Trump administration continues to clean up the administrative state, the Department of Justice just landed a potentially significant victory. In a major reversal, the Department of Justice has discarded a decades-old interpretation of a law that essentially allowed illegal aliens to collect welfare benefits.

In a 20-page slip opinion bearing Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser's signature, the Department of Justice reversed its reading of "federal means-tested public benefit" in light of last year's overturn of Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc.

'The existence of such reliance on federal welfare contradicts the textually expressed congressional policy that aliens must not rely on taxpayer support or burden the public benefits system.'

The previous interpretation, stemming from the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 under Democratic President Bill Clinton, extended welfare to illegal aliens by splitting hairs between mandatory and discretionary spending. The DOJ previously directed the Departments of Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development to interpret this phrase to allow the extension of benefits to illegal aliens under discretionary benefit programs.

RELATED: US Virgin Islands' gun restrictions violate the Second Amendment, DOJ claims

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The new opinion rules that the PRWORA includes benefits under both mandatory and discretionary spending programs and withdraws the preceding 1997 opinion, effectively closing this loophole that allowed illegal aliens to collect welfare benefits.

The opinion notes that the PRWORA had many other parts that would seem to resist the old interpretation, particularly since the relevant section of the law was enacted "to address abuse of the welfare system by aliens in the United States."

The opinion says that despite this clearly stated purpose, the old interpretation led to unrestricted discretionary funds flowing to illegal aliens over the ensuing decades from "many federal agencies."

"Today, by some estimates, 59% of illegal alien-headed households receive government welfare," the opinion reads, citing the director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.

"While some aliens may have come to rely on means-tested public benefits funded through discretionary spending programs, the existence of such reliance on federal welfare contradicts the textually expressed congressional policy that aliens must not rely on taxpayer support or burden the public benefits system," the opinion continued.

"American taxpayers have interests, too, in ensuring that their tax contributions do not encourage illegal entry into the United States. Americans are entitled to rely on duly enacted legislation crafted by their elected representatives and designed to protect the public fisc from abuse."

The Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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Judge Who Helped Illegal Escape From ICE Convicted Of Felony Obstruction

'Hannah Dugan betrayed her oath'

US Virgin Islands' gun restrictions violate the Second Amendment, DOJ claims



A Second Amendment standoff has ignited between the federal government and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On Tuesday, the federal government sued the U.S. territory, its police department, and Police Commissioner Mario Brooks over what it argues are violations of the Second Amendment.

'This lawsuit seeks to uphold the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms in the US Virgin Islands.'

For example, applicants for a firearm license must demonstrate to the commissioner of the Virgin Islands Police Department that they have "good reason to fear death or great injury to his person or property" and must be vouched for by "two credible persons."

The law also requires that applicants have "good moral character" but does not define those requirements clearly or at all.

RELATED: Gun-rights 'grifter'? Activist accused of exploiting 2A supporters for profit

Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. government also alleges that Virgin Islands law requires warrantless searches and "unconstitutionally conditioning the grant of a license to possess or carry a firearm on expenditures of money to purchase and install safes," which are purportedly required to be bolted to the floor of the applicant's home.

"This Civil Rights Division will protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "The newly established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to bring the Virgin Islands Police Department back into legal compliance by ensuring that applicants receive timely decisions without unconstitutional obstruction."

"The territory's firearms licensing laws and practices are inconsistent with the Second Amendment," said U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper for the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands. "This lawsuit seeks to uphold the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms in the U.S. Virgin Islands."

The complaint comes after numerous applicants complained that Virgin Islands authorities were "unreasonably delaying their gun permit application decisions and added unreasonable conditions," according to the Justice Department's press release.

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Trans-identifying radicals among those arrested in alleged planned New Year’s Eve terror plot



Federal authorities arrested five individuals in connection with an alleged planned New Year’s Eve terror plot. A criminal complaint revealed that two of the suspects claim to identify as transgender.

The Department of Justice held a press conference about the alleged thwarted terror attack on Monday.

'This case is another reminder about the dangers that radicalized Antifa-like groups pose to public safety and the rule of law.'

Bill Essayli, the first assistant for the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, explained that, on Friday, his office and the FBI arrested several members of a “far-left, anti-government domestic terror cell who self-identify as the Turtle Island Liberation Front.”

The suspects were also members of a more radical offshoot of the group called the Order of the Black Lotus, according to Essayli. He highlighted the arrests of the four individuals from the Los Angeles area, stating that they have been charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. He noted that his office plans to file additional charges.

The arrested individuals were accused of attempting to construct and detonate improvised explosive devices in the Mojave Desert in preparation for alleged planned attacks on New Year’s Eve at five locations across Los Angeles, California.

Essayli claimed that the arrested individuals were planning to bomb multiple U.S. companies. They also allegedly planned follow-up attacks against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

RELATED: FBI stops radical pro-Palestinian New Year’s Eve terror plot: Report

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Authorities uncovered posters associated with the TILF that included threatening language, including “Death to America” and “Death to ICE.”

“This case is another reminder about the dangers that radicalized Antifa-like groups pose to public safety and the rule of law,” Essayli said.

One of the four, 32-year-old Zachary Page, reportedly identifies as transgender and requested that authorities send him to a women’s jail, the New York Post reported.

Agents with the FBI’s New Orleans field office arrested a fifth individual tied to the TILF who was allegedly planning a separate attack in Louisiana.

An unsealed criminal complaint revealed that the suspect, 29-year-old Micah James Legnon, is a Marine veteran who claims to identify as transgender, the Post reported.

RELATED: The Zizians’ violent spiral: A trans group tied to killings across America

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Legnon, a man who uses “she/her” pronouns, went by “Kateri TheWitch” and “DarkWitch She/Her” in online chat groups and allegedly posted threats against ICE on social media.

“S**t time to recreate Waco tx with these f**kers. F**k ice,” Legnon allegedly wrote, referring to the 1993 Waco massacre that resulted in the deaths of four federal agents and over 70 civilians.

Legnon is currently in custody and facing charges of making threats over interstate commerce.

Journalist Andy Ngo, who was the first to identify Legnon, stated that the suspect’s “social media is filled with posts calling for the m—rder of people he labels as ‘fascists.’”

An attorney for Page declined a request for comment from the Intercept. Court documents did not list an attorney for Legnon.

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Docs: FBI Believed It Lacked Probable Cause To Raid Mar-A-Lago But Did So Anyway

The FBI did not believe it had probable cause to raid President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022, but did it anyway after pressure from then-President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, according to newly uncovered emails. Emails released by Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office show that officials at the FBI and DOJ communicated about FBI concerns […]

'Conflicts of interest': Democrat-led federal agencies allegedly blocked efforts to investigate Clinton Foundation



Federal agencies under Democratic leadership blocked investigation activities into the Clinton Foundation, according to new records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

In 2015, Governmental Accountability Institute president Peter Schweizer published his book “Clinton Cash,” in which he accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of a pay-to-play and bribery scheme involving their foundation’s donors. The accusations prompted the Department of Justice and the FBI to open investigations into the Clinton Foundation; however, those efforts were ultimately shut down.

‘That’s a night-and-day departure from how the Biden Justice Department handled the Arctic Frost investigation against President Trump.’

On Monday, Grassley announced that new “behind-the-scenes” records revealed “how top leadership during the Obama-Biden administration repeatedly interfered to prevent DOJ prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents from investigating the Clinton Foundation’s financial dealings.”

Grassley stated that records revealed that FBI leadership “obstructed investigative activities.”

“According to emails obtained by my office, on July 20, 2016 — 111 days before the 2016 election — an agent with the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) stated that, ‘based on the sensitivities surrounding the Clinton Foundation,’ agents were prohibited from ‘subpoena[ing] additional records related to the Foundation, the Clintons’; ‘conduct[ing] any interviews related to the Foundation or the Clintons’; and ‘shar[ing] any of the Foundation bank account info with any other office.’ Emails also show that the FBI ‘[did] not want to create any impression we were investigating the Clinton Foundation or the Clintons,’” Grassley wrote.

He claimed that the records indicated that in November 2016, the FBI blocked “the Clinton Foundation investigative team from accessing potentially incriminating evidence” on Anthony Weiner’s laptop.

RELATED: 'Shut it down': Newly released FBI doc reveals who apparently killed probes into Clinton Foundation

Photo by SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

When President Donald Trump’s first administration reopened the investigation in 2017, DOJ holdovers from the prior administration allegedly provided the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas with documents that omitted key information about the prior alleged interference from DOJ and FBI officials. When the attorney’s office requested additional information, it did not receive a response.

The court reportedly concluded that “there appear[ed] to be conflicts of interest” within the DOJ’s leadership that undermined the investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

RELATED: Declassified report: Obama’s FBI failed to search key evidence in Clinton email probe

Charles Grassley. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“The mainstream media smeared any investigation into Hillary Clinton as unfounded nonsense, but in reality, line agents and federal prosecutors seeking to follow up on legitimate leads were sidelined by partisan leadership looking to save Clinton’s reputation. That’s a night-and-day departure from how the Biden Justice Department handled the Arctic Frost investigation against President Trump,” Grassley said.

“For too long, our Justice Department has chosen winners and losers instead of enforcing the law without regard to power, party, or privilege. That must never happen again. I thank Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel for turning over these records, so the American people finally know how their Justice Department failed in the Clinton investigations,” he added, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

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Justice Department Sues Minneapolis Schools For Giving Preferential Treatment To Non-White Teachers

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) over a collective bargaining agreement giving preferential treatment to non-white teachers and shelling out other benefits based on race. After settling a three-week strike of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers in 2022, MPS included a provision in new teacher contracts that let […]

A DOJ That Still Chases ‘Russian Hackers’ Will Never Reckon With Russiagate

The DOJ is prosecuting the fruits of a hoax on one hand and claiming to expose the architects of that hoax on the other.