‘A nation in distress’: How the FBI’s war on ‘domestic extremism’ threatens liberty



Determined to employ the unrestrained force of the federal government against Donald Trump supporters who were at the Capitol during the unrest on January 6, 2021, FBI Director Christopher Wray wanted to assure Americans that his agency “had deployed every single tool at its disposal and its full arsenal of investigative resources” to target their families, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens who exercised their right to free speech and free assembly.

“This ideologically motivated violence,” Wray told a Senate committee, “underscores the symbolic nature of the National Capital Region and the willingness of domestic violent extremists to travel to events in this area and violently engage law enforcement and their perceived adversaries.”

What Wray called 'domestic violent extremism' is a fiction contrived to frame the political right as terrorists and increase FBI budgets.

The FBI’s post-January 6 operations were intended to terrorize the opposition into silence. Dissidents would continue to be prosecuted, and anyone foolish enough to organize in the “National Capital Region” — that is, Barack Obama’s center of operations — would have their lives ruined, just like January 6 defendants. Here, the political effort to shatter the opposition intersected with the professional ambitions of Washington’s permanent bureaucracy.

As the U.S. had begun to downsize its presence in the Middle East, national security bureaucrats and their parasitical private sector partners saw that the industry that had made them rich was now at risk. Counterterrorism is a multibillion-dollar Beltway business, filling a trough that feeds Republican and Democratic constituencies including the State Department, the FBI, and other spy services, as well as defense contractors, NGOs, and think tanks.

The “insurrection” reinvigorated the industry, which easily adapted to the new model with counterterror experts plugging in the same keywords — radicalization, self-radicalization, lone wolves, etc. — for what is essentially the same enterprise, except that instead of fighting dangerous terrorists abroad, they are targeting Trump supporters. What Wray called “domestic violent extremism” is a fiction contrived to frame the political right as terrorists and increase FBI budgets.

“In our office in Daytona, for instance, there were no legitimate domestic terror threats,” says former FBI agent Stephen Friend. “There were no active cases that were any good. My first day in Daytona they gave me this case with these guys that just lived in the backwoods. They hadn’t done anything. A tip came that these guys might be domestic terrorists, but there was nothing to it. And I wanted to close it, and then supervisors were insisting, ‘No, we should get an undercover or an informant to go bump these guys and see if they’ll sell us a weapon and then we could charge them with a gun crime.’ And I said, ‘That’s entrapment, and I’m not interested in doing that.’”

‘You do what you’re told’

For the FBI, January 6 was a bonanza. It let Wray and FBI leadership boost the nearly nonexistent numbers of domestic terrorists to thousands in order to please their political masters and strengthen their hand in bureaucratic battles. With a live-action example of domestic violent extremism in the nation’s capital playing out on broadcast media around the world, FBI leadership had what it needed to press Congress to cough up more money.

“January 6 happens in Washington D.C., so the Washington field office would have responsibility for that case,” Friend said. “And then typically that office would open one case. And you investigate the subjects you want to investigate, and if they don’t live in Washington D.C., as most of the Jan. 6 people didn’t, it wouldn’t make sense to hop on a plane to go interview them. You would cut a lead, and an agent in the office where the subject is located would go do the interview.”

But that is not what happened with the January 6 cases, Friend explained. “They stood up a task force in Washington, D.C., which was doing the investigative actions. So these tips would come in by the hundreds and the thousands with the directive to field offices to open a case on these people. And we did it for every single person.”

By making the field offices open separate cases, the FBI turned January 6 into thousands of cases, one opened for every investigative subject. Spreading those cases around the country is how the FBI cooked its books so it could pronounce right-wing extremism as the No. 1 threat to U.S. national security. The fact is that most of the January 6 cases were not even domestic terrorism cases.

“All the January 6 cases are either one of two things,” Friend said. “They’re either 266, which means domestic terrorism, but the lion’s share of them are 176, which is a criminal charge, parading and rioting. But those riot charges are being investigated by joint terrorism task forces, and they’re being called domestic terrorist cases for statistical reasons. They’re juking the numbers. But people don’t know that. They think, ‘January 6, oh, that’s domestic terrorism.’ They’re not, not even by the way the FBI treated it.”

When Friend pointed out to his supervisors that they were violating FBI procedures, they turned on him.

What had once been the world’s premier law enforcement agency had become a homegrown version of a Soviet-style internal security service, an American Stasi.

“They said that I was a simp for January 6,” Friend recalled, “but I said, ‘You have righteous cases here if somebody was engaging in violence, but as a matter of disclosure, you have to turn over Brady material [information favorable to the defendant] that you departed from your own rules. If the defense finds out about that, that’s a bad black eye for us. What if the guy is a really bad dude and now you lost because you were so hell-bent on hitting your numbers that you violated your own protocols and now he walks?' And they said to me, ‘Well, Steve, we’re not losing any of the cases.’”

And indeed, that was true. The Justice Department has won convictions against nearly every January 6 defendant who has come before a Washington, D.C. jury. And that is another reason why federal law enforcement made all its cases out of a jurisdiction that votes overwhelmingly Democratic. It is still unclear, however, when citizens on the left first resolved to punish fellow Americans for voting differently.

Friend’s misgivings started to grow. When he was assigned to transport a January 6 suspect, he spoke out. “They were going to send a SWAT team, arrest him, and then my job was to take him from where we arrested him to court and drop him off. I said, ‘This isn’t fair, and this is dangerous. We’re sending SWAT teams to guys’ houses that said they’d cooperate. The guy said 18 months ago that he would cooperate, and you have no contact with him for a year and a half, and now you send a SWAT team to his house? He has no expectation that you’re coming. There’s lots of different ways you can bring him into custody. You guys are a hammer looking for a nail.’”

Friend’s superiors couldn’t understand why it mattered to him. “I said, ‘You gave me training on identifying if I think that we’re doing things the wrong way, and I’m throwing the flag,’ and they said, ‘Yeah, you have an oath of office, you have training, but your real duty is to the FBI, and you follow orders and do what you’re told. What’s your problem with it?' And I just said we’re supposed to be part of something bigger than that.”

That was it for Friend. In 2022, he became an FBI whistleblower after making protected disclosures to Congress about the FBI’s manipulative investigations of January 6 protesters.

What had once been the world’s premier law enforcement agency had become an arm of the ruling party, a homegrown version of a Soviet-style internal security service, an American Stasi serving not the people it was sworn to protect but the regime that funded and armed it. Thousands of Americans were swept up in the nationwide January 6 dragnet, detained for months, then years, their charges being bulked out with years-long sentencing enhancements.

Caught in a nightmare

Many were broken by it, like Matthew Perna, a 37-year-old from Sharpsville, Pennsylvania.

“Matt decided to go to the Stop the Steal rally because he wanted to be part of what he thought was going to be a historic celebration,” said his aunt, Geri Perna. “He did not believe that the election results were going to be certified. And he felt that by joining this huge crowd, they would be heard, and something unprecedented would take place. And actually, something unprecedented did take place, and Matt got caught up in it.”

Videotape shows that Perna walked into the Capitol through open doors past five Capitol Police officers. He held his cell phone aloft to record the events. He walked around for less than 15 minutes, then left through a different door.

“He went back to his hotel room and did a live Facebook feed where he talked about the day,” his aunt said. “He was upset that Pence certified the vote and Biden was named president. He said it’s not over yet. He meant that there will be investigations and that the truth will eventually come out.”

Geri Perna told me she was at home in Florida a week or so after and saw a Facebook post saying the FBI was looking for people who had attended the rally. “I clicked on the link, and I was shocked to see my nephew’s picture as one of the people that was wanted,” she says. “And I let my family know. My brother visited Matt at 6:00 that morning and Matt already knew about it. He honestly didn’t think he did anything wrong. He didn’t hurt anybody, didn’t steal anything, he didn’t break anything.”

Perna told his attorney that he wanted it to end as quickly as possible. The attorney told him that the quickest way to make it end would be to plead guilty.

He called the local FBI field office and explained who he was. The FBI made an appointment to visit him the following day. “Two officers showed up to question him about what happened,” Geri Perna told me. “He told them everything. Matt did not have an attorney because he thought this was just a mistake. And the FBI left that day giving Matt the impression that they had everything they needed.”

When she heard about the meeting with the FBI, she got on a plane to Pennsylvania to see Matt. “We got an attorney,” she says. “The FBI called, and they said they had a few more questions, and they showed up with five more officers and that’s when they arrested Matt. They searched his home, confiscated his laptop and all his phones. They took him to the local office in New Castle, and they booked him, then released him three hours later. They took the sweatshirt that he was wearing that day that said ‘Make America Great Again’ as evidence, and that was when the nightmare began.”

Perna’s attorney told him that he had nothing to worry about. He had no record, and all they would do was give him a slap on the wrist. “About 10 days later,” Geri Perna told me, “they added the obstruction charge to over 200 of the defendants at the time, and Matt was one of them. And that’s when everything got ugly. And this just began a series of postponements and delays.”

“And Matt was constantly worried, what were they going to find?” Perna said. “And every time there was a hearing, it got canceled and then postponed indefinitely. Matt’s mental state began to deteriorate. He saw how many more people were being arrested and charged with very serious crimes and taken to the D.C. jail. Matt had guilty feelings because he was not in jail and other people were. Time was wearing on, the cases kept mounting, Christmas was approaching, and Matt had become a recluse in his home. He was always a healthy eater. He was now eating destructively. He just didn’t care any more.”

Perna told his attorney that he wanted it to end as quickly as possible. The attorney told him that the quickest way to make it end would be to plead guilty.

“They weren’t offering to drop any of the charges,” Geri Perna explained. “The lawyer told them that he was looking at a six- to 12-month federal prison camp, with minimum security. Matt agreed to this. His late father suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and they were going to use the fact that Matt was his caregiver to maybe get the sentence reduced to house arrest. That’s what they were hoping.”

Driven to despair

On December 17, 2021, Perna pleaded guilty to obstruction of Congress, a felony, and three related misdemeanor charges.

“His sentencing hearing was scheduled for March 3 and a week before he called his attorney, and he said, ‘I have a very bad feeling about my sentencing hearing being on March 3,’” she said. “That is the day his mother died. And honestly, I don’t believe any of these dates are coincidental. They are playing with these people’s minds. They are torturing them mentally, and Matt just did not want to have the hearing on that date.”

His attorney told him that his hearing was postponed, but the prosecution was planning to ask the judge to add a sentencing enhancement, which could increase the sentence by many years.

“We later learned that Matt told his friend that he was looking at nine years. That just broke, Matt,” his aunt said. “He called me sobbing on the phone. I could barely understand him. He could barely put a sentence together. He was stuttering. He was sobbing and he was apologizing over and over to me about how this impacted my friendships and how much guilt this poor kid felt for bringing our name into the newspapers. I kept telling him, ‘Don’t worry, Matt. We’re going to tackle this. And you have to have faith.’ I think they had at this point convinced him that he deserved whatever they gave him. That Friday afternoon, early evening, my brother called me and told me to book a plane ticket because Matt had just hanged himself in his garage.”

Matthew Perna’s funeral was held March 2, 2022 in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. “We had an honor guard that requested to be there for the viewing the night before and then for the funeral,” his aunt said. “They did a flag-folding ceremony, and they handed my brother a flag, and my brother was confused and he said, ‘I don’t understand. Matt wasn’t in the military. Aren’t these funerals normally reserved for veterans?’ And they told him, ‘In our eyes, Matt was a bigger patriot than most of the veterans we’ve ever stood guard over.’”

The partisans in the FBI had driven a patriot, a good man, to despair. “We found out after he died about all of these amazing random acts of kindness that he did for people,” she says. “People showed up at the funeral and told us about all the things he did. There was a family with a bunch of kids who’d been in a restaurant one day and Matt picked up the bill for them.

“I made a phone call when I was going through Matt’s paperwork from his case. There was a phone number and a name in there for the prosecutor on Matt’s case, the one that was going to try to push this sentencing enhancement. I called the number and got the prosecutor, and I said, ‘I want to know why the sentencing enhancement.’ And he says, ‘Let me start off by saying that if Matthew just could have waited another month, I don’t think the sentencing enhancement would have stuck with the judge anyway.’ And I said, ‘Do you realize the threat of that enhancement and the jail time that went with it is the reason my nephew took his life?’ And he says, ‘Well, there are many people in our department who felt very bad that Matt took his life.’ And I said, ‘You and the many people in your department are responsible for Matt taking his life.’”

Geri Perna advocates on behalf of January 6 defendants and speaks with the families constantly. “I don’t know how many people have committed suicide over J6,” she told me. “You’re never going to know. I’ve had three people reach out to me to tell me about friends or neighbors who killed themselves after they saw their picture on there. And you’ve never heard about them because they never got that far. But what it did to our family has changed us all. The direction this country has taken is unbelievable. And it doesn’t seem to have a light at the end of the tunnel. We are a nation in distress.”

Editor’s note: This article is adapted from “Disappearing the President: Trump, Truth Social, and the Fight for the Republic,” by Lee Smith (Encounter Books).

Blaze News original: 5 infuriating times authorities punished victims of physical attacks — as well as a Good Samaritan



If there's one thing that's guaranteed to get blood boiling in most people, it's catching wind of authorities punishing and penalizing and targeting victims of physical attacks — and even Good Samaritans who step up to help victims.

Blaze News on Friday reported about that very topic: A pro-Israel demonstrator was arrested after allegedly shooting an unhinged male who sprinted across a street and tackled him during a pro-Israel rally in Newton, Massachusetts, the evening before.

'The school can preach all it wants that they're anti-bullying and place it on their website, but they are sending a message to this kid and the rest of the student body that this behavior is acceptable.'

Cellphone video shows an angry bearded male — who reportedly was wearing a Palestinian pin — sprinting across the street, leaping at, and tackling the pro-Israel demonstrator. Three seconds after their bodies hit the sidewalk, a pop is heard — presumably the gunshot. A separate video appears to show that same pro-Israel demonstrator saying to "call 911," telling someone who's yelling at the attacker, "Stop! Go away!" — and then rendering aid to the wounded male.

Despite what was seen on video, 47-year-old Scott Hayes of Framingham — identified as the pro-Israel demonstrator — was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury, WCVB-TV reported. What's more, authorities believe Hayes legally possessed the firearm, WCVB reported, and he reportedly is an Iraq War veteran who is not Jewish but often attends protests carrying American and Israeli flags.

One X user commented, "Ironically this is a perfect metaphor for Israel vs Palestine" before adding a typical sequence of events: "Palestine attacks; Israel shoots in self defense; everyone blames Israel." Hayes was granted bail Friday.

So take a deep breath and calm that blood pressure before you read on about five other infuriating times authorities punished victims of physical attacks as well as Good Samaritans.

Canadian cops charge victim of bat attack with aggravated assault after he took bat from attacker and hit him with it


Police in Peterborough — which is in Ontario and just shy of two hours northeast of Toronto — said they were called to a convenience store in the King Street and Bethune Street area around 2:30 a.m. Jan. 5 and found that the male clerk was helping a customer when a second male holding a baseball bat entered the store demanding money.

Police said a struggle ensued, and the clerk was struck with the bat before grabbing the bat from the suspect, who fled the store. The clerk followed the suspect out of the store and hit him with the bat several times, police said.

The suspect suffered head injuries and was in a Toronto hospital receiving treatment, police said, adding that emergency medical services treated the 22-year-old clerk at the scene.

Police said they issued an arrest warrant for the 37-year-old male suspect for robbery, assault with a weapon, and possession of weapon. However, cops also said they arrested the clerk and charged him with aggravated assault and that the clerk was held in custody and appeared in court the following day.

It appears members of the public expressed outrage once word got out about cops arresting and charging the clerk — so much so that Police Chief Stu Betts issued a rare public statement defending the decision and calling criticism "unfair."

"Yes, this case is unusual, but in a world where security cameras are everywhere, do you really think we would not have seized & reviewed the footage as part of the investigation and prior to laying charges?" Betts asked detractors. "If you follow anything in the media, you will know that I cannot speak to the particulars of this case because it is before the Court, but if you have a desire to know what has led to the charges, follow the case in Court. Allow the facts of the case to guide your commentary and opinion, not your reaction to a headline."

Betts added, "This is not about politics — politics have nothing to do with the facts. This is not about race — as some have suggested. This is not about the perception that criminals go free while victims of crime are penalized — this is about the law. I encourage you to stop and think about things before determining what you think has happened, or that an injustice has taken place, because I’m quite confident that not one person who has made a comment about this case has seen the video or has access to the actual facts."

The Toronto Sun reported in April that the crook who hit the clerk with the baseball bat was sentenced to 18 months in jail while the clerk who hit him back with the bat — international student Tejeshwar Kalia — faces up to 14 years in jail. You can view a video report here, which includes an interview with Kalia and surveillance video of the incident.

The Sun said the video shows Kalia didn’t gain control of the bat until he and the assailant were outside, and at that point Kalia lunged at the assailant who was reaching for his pocket and said he would "stab me," Kalia added.

The paper added in a follow-up story that while GoFundMe cancelled Kalia's crowdfunding campaign after it had raised $16,000 to help him pay for legal help as well as rent, food, and school expenses, GiveSendGo and its co-founder reached out to Kalia to try to help him. The Sun added that Kalia is out on bail but under house arrest, which means he can't work and has no money.

Liquor store owner shoots shoplifting suspect who kicked, punched him — but DA presses charges against liquor store owner


A New York City liquor store owner faced serious charges earlier this year after he shot a male caught on video stealing from his store.

Surveillance video showed two men — later identified as Edwin Poaquiza and Kevin Pullatasi — walk into Francisco Valerio's business, Franja Wine and Liquors, on Wyckoff Avenue in Queens around 7:40 p.m. on May 20. WABC-TV published portions of the security video.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz stated that Valerio's brother Luis — who's also a store employee — confronted Pullatasi after seeing him take a liquor bottle from a shelf and conceal it under his jacket. Francisco Valerio likewise saw Poaquiza take a liquor bottle from a shelf and place it inside his jacket. The Valerios had Poaquiza and Pullatasi return the liquor bottles, after which Poaquiza and Pullatasi said they wanted to buy them. The Valerios asked them to leave, and a verbal argument started. The Valerios then pushed the pair out of the store, and the argument continued. Pullatasi ran toward the liquor store doorway, after which one of the Valerios kicked Pullatasi — and Pullatasi kicked both men, punched them, and tried to slam the door on their hands.

Francisco Valerio — who has a concealed-carry permit — took out his gun and shot Pullatasi when attempting to strike him with the firearm. Pullatasi was shot once in the abdomen and taken to a hospital where he was treated for internal bleeding. Responding officers recovered a 9mm semi-automatic pistol from Valerio.

Katz said that while Poaquiza and Pullatasi were charged with petit larceny, Valerio was charged with assault in the second and third degrees, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. If convicted of the top count, Valerio faces up to seven years in prison.

Valerio told a detective that the shooting was accidental, and his defenders say it was in self-defense.

"It's all based through the eyes of the person who was involved. Only Frank knows the circumstances that he was facing," said Johnny Nunez, a friend of the family. "We have one crime, one crime. They were stealing. Frank did not commit a crime."

Jael — Valerio's wife of 30 years — said they would lose the store if her husband is convicted.

"These few days have been very, very hard. You would think somebody that is always doing the right thing, by others, by his peers, by everybody, and then this small incident happen[s], and he can lose his freedom over that? I don't know what to say," she said, adding that "if he has to go to jail, I don't know what the kids are going to do."

Valerio's family said he has a permit to carry concealed.

Fernando Mateo of the United Bodegas of America held a press conference to defend Valerio and demand that Katz drop the charges against him: "Francisco did not know what [the suspect] had in his hand. Could've been a gun, could've been a knife."

They also pointed out that Valerio, 53, has no previous criminal record: "New York is our witness. We're not asking the district attorney for anything that's not fair."

"Do the right thing by him," Jael Valerio added. "He's one of the good ones."

Store customer charged with murder after fatally shooting shoplifting thug who was beating 2 female store employees 


Just before 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29, 2022, Dallas police received a report about a shooting at a Family Dollar store in the city's Oak Cliff neighborhood. When police arrived, they discovered 26-year-old Phillip Betts shot dead — along with the man who allegedly shot him, 47-year-old Kevin Jackson Sr.

Earlier that evening, a female assistant manager recognized Betts lurking in the store, and she claimed he'd robbed the store several other times, so she demanded he return all the items in his possession and leave the store.

When Betts didn't initially comply, the woman grabbed his backpack. Betts then briefly stepped outside but returned a short time later and attacked the manager who had kicked him out, "striking her multiple times with his fists," reports say.

Another female employee witnessed Betts assault the manager and sprayed him with Mace in an attempt to force him off the property. The struggle between Betts and the two women continued, and at some point, Betts fought at least one of the females behind the store register.

Jackson reportedly entered the store at about that time, saw the altercation between Betts and the two women, and yelled, "Move!" Once the women complied with the directive, Jackson supposedly took out a gun and fired a single shot at Betts. Though firefighters attempted to provide lifesaving assistance, Betts died from his injuries at the scene.

Jackson told police he believed the women were in danger, and police acknowledged that Betts had been committing a robbery when he was shot — and that was with a "legal" gun. Still, police arrested Jackson and charged him with murder, saying that Betts "did not have any weapons at the time of the incident." Police also pointed to surveillance video that they said showed Betts had moved away from the women and toward the exit and therefore no longer posed a threat.

Jackson, who has no known criminal history, was booked into Lew Sterrett Jail and was held on $100,000 bond.

Fast forward to August 2023 — nearly nine months after the incident — and a grand jury declined to indict Jackson for the fatal shooting due to lack of evidence to support a murder charge, KDFW-TV reported. Jackson told the station he had been working as a truck driver and was looking forward to putting the incident behind him. It isn't clear how long Jackson spent in jail or how much money he ended up spending on attorneys.

You can view a news video here on the culmination of the case.

Chicago cops arrest woman for not having concealed-carry license after she shot teen who physically attacked her, tried to steal her property


Araceli Diaz, 21, met up with a 14-year-old girl on a Chicago street to conduct a sale on the afternoon of Nov. 29, 2019, police said in a news release — and then things quickly went downhill.

Diaz was selling a dog to the girl, WGN-TV reported. But the transaction was cut short when the girl pulled a pellet gun, struck Diaz in the head with it, and tried to take Diaz's property without paying for it, police said. With that Diaz pulled a real gun and shot the teen twice in the chest, WGN said.

The teen was taken to a hospital in critical condition, WGN reported. She was arrested the next morning at Stroger Hospital, WFLD said. Police said the teen was charged with attempted robbery with a firearm — a felony — and was scheduled to appear in juvenile court Dec. 9.

A witness told WGN the shooter got in a car and left the scene. Police said Diaz was arrested an hour later and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a felony. While Diaz had a valid Firearm Owners Identification card, she didn't have a concealed-carry license, police said.

Commenters on Fox News' report about the shooting had the following to say:

  • "What kind of crap is this? She needs a permit to defend herself? This is why liberals shouldn't be allowed out of the sand box, they make dumb rules."
  • "Now that the robber survived the gun shot she can sue Diaz for pain and suffering."
  • "Classic libby move arrest the victim to protect the criminal."
  • "If I were a communist dictator that was trying to give the appearance of a legitimate leader, I would also give meaningless 'Firearm Identification Cards' to people and then charge them with a crime when they tried to defend themselves, too."
  • "The city needs to change their laws. If a person can get an FOID, then they can defend themselves."
  • "Chicago is a war zone but an honest citizen cannot carry a gun. More progressive democrat baloney."

Middle schooler placed in choke hold, gets neck wrenched; school allegedly faults victim while attacker — said to be a wrestler — is less severely disciplined


In the wake of a viral video showing a boy seated at a Texas school lunch table being placed in a choke hold, dragged from his chair, and then getting his neck wrenched in the spring of 2022, parents of the attacked student said Coppell Middle School North determined their son was at fault and that he received harsher discipline than his attacker.

The mother of Shaan Pritmani said in a Change.org petition — signed by more than 360,000 people as of Thursday morning — her son was "physically attacked and choked by another student at his middle school" during lunch May 11. The mother, Sonika Kukreja, added that the school said her attacked son "was at fault and received a 3-day" in-school suspension while "the aggressor only received a 1-day" suspension.

The petition adds that the victim's friends shared video of the assault and said Shaan "wasn't at fault" — but school officials weren't changing their ruling. In addition, the petition claims the school resource officer "refused to file a citation because [the] school administration asked it not be written, as there have been too many bullying complaints lately."

In addition, the petition states the boy who placed the choke hold on Shaan "is on the wrestling team and can be seen carrying out a very dangerous carotid restraint on Shaan's neck. This technique restricts blood flow to a person's brain by compressing the sides of the neck where the carotid arteries are located. Shaan appears to briefly lose consciousness at the end of the neck choke maneuver."

A WFAA-TV reporter posted a tweet containing a blurred video of the attack.

“It was horrible. I couldn't sleep for three nights straight. It felt like I was being choked. I cried many times watching it,” Kukreja told KXAS-TV.

"His neck could’ve snapped," she added to WFAA-TV. "I wouldn’t have my son."

She added to the station that she's "deeply concerned about the safety of our children and the message our school board, our police department, is sending out by not acting on this."

Superintendent Brad Hunt said in an email to parents that “Coppell ISD is aware of a video circulating on social media showing an incident at Coppell Middle School North involving a physical altercation between two students. Bullying, both verbal and physical, as well as physical acts of aggression are never acceptable and do not align with who we are at CISD and our core values."

The email added that "because of student privacy laws and this being an ongoing investigation, we cannot share any further specifics on this situation or student discipline matters."

Mark Lassiter, attorney for the family of the other student, told KXAS his client was responding to vulgar and violent threats against his family: “We are confident that after all the facts are revealed, the case will be closed and no further action will be taken other than what the school has already decided was appropriate."

In a statement to WFAA, Lassiter said, "We welcome a chance for the truth to come out that the young man who was pulled from the table made threats."

Marwa Elbially, attorney for Shaan's family, told KXAS she denies the accusations and said the attack shouldn't have happened: “The school can preach all it wants that they're anti-bullying and place it on their website, but they are sending a message to this kid and the rest of the student body that this behavior is acceptable."

Elbially added to WFAA that the student who put the choke hold on Shaan "could’ve potentially paralyzed or have killed him. No real action is taken against that kid."

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Josh Gibson dethrones Ty Cobb as baseball's lifetime batting average champ after Negro League stats added to MLB stats



Baseball legend Ty Cobb's .367 lifetime batting average stood as the Major League Baseball record for nearly a century. But now there's a new leader in that category: Josh Gibson, who holds a .372 lifetime batting average.

The sudden dethroning is one of several notable changes now that records for more than 2,300 Negro League players were incorporated into Major League Baseball records Tuesday following a three-year research project, the Associated Press reported.

The move represents a 'show of respect for great players who performed in the Negro Leagues due to circumstances beyond their control.'

Gibson's .466 season batting average for the 1943 Homestead Grays is now the all-time best mark, and Charlie "Chino" Smith's .451 season batting average for the 1929 New York Lincoln Giants is second on the list, the AP said. Hugh Duffy of the National League's Boston team was the previous record holder for his .440 season batting average in 1894, the outlet added.

Gibson tops the record books again as the career leader in slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177), now besting Babe Ruth (.690 and 1.164), the AP said. OPS, according to Major League Baseball, is the sum of on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which shows how effectively a player can reach base along with how well a player hits for average and power.

What's more, Gibson's .974 season slugging percentage in 1937 is now the record, and Barry Bonds' .863 season mark in 2001 drops to fifth, the AP said. Mules Suttles' .877 in 1926, Gibson's .871 in 1943, and Smith's .870 in 1929 are now the second- through fourth-place marks, the outlet added.

Gibson yet again stands above the rest with a 1.474 season OPS in 1937 and a 1.435 season OPS in 1943 — nudging Bonds' 1.421 OPS in 2004 from first to third place, the AP said.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the AP on Wednesday the move represents a "show of respect for great players who performed in the Negro Leagues due to circumstances beyond their control, and — once those circumstances changed — demonstrated that they were truly major leaguers. Maybe the single biggest factor was the success of players who played in the Negro Leagues and then came to the big leagues."

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock of the "Fearless" podcast offered the following opinion about the Negro League stats being added to MLB stats — particularly as it relates to the dethroning of Cobb's aforementioned record: "Knocking Ty Cobb down as the all-time batting champion is likely a big part of the motivation to rewrite baseball history. Ty Cobb was a despicable bigot, which still makes him 100 times better than the pro-abortion folks. Let’s hope no one who paid for an abortion ever played Major League Baseball."

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Story of Iowa mom vs. Department of Health and Human Services might be the craziest thing you’ve ever heard



Emily Donlin is an Iowa mother who is under investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services because her infant’s umbilical cord tested positive for cocaine.

The only thing is Emily has never done cocaine in her entire life. In fact, she’s so holistic she doesn’t even take over-the-counter painkillers or vaccinate her children.

How on Earth did this happen?

Allie Beth Stuckey invites Emily on the show to share her most disturbing story.

Although Emily had a home birth, she took her son Paul into the hospital shortly after his arrival to ensure he was healthy, and fortunately, everything checked out perfectly — initially.

However, two weeks later, Emily’s family received a knock on their door from DHHS saying Paul had tested positive for cocaine.

Naturally, Emily was shocked and confused. She explained that she had never taken drugs and that this must be a mistake.

Their home was proven to have “no safety concerns.” The DHHS agent examined the children and confirmed they “[didn’t] have any behavioral indicators,” and she assured Emily “she didn't see any signs of drug use” in the home.

Yet despite their favorable evaluations, Emily’s family was forced to “undergo a 20-day investigation” that would include a “plan” that required her mother and husband to trade off supervising her when she was with her children.

“Looking back ... I would have done so many things differently,” Emily laments, but at the time, she “felt [she] didn't have any other choice” and “just accepted.”

Despite the upsetting situation, Emily and her family “had faith that the truth [would] come out” since they “had nothing to hide.”

Unfortunately, that’s not what happened at all.

Emily was forced to undergo a three-month hair test that tested for five different drugs, one of which was cocaine, and the test “came back negative” for all five drugs.

“We were like, ‘Okay we're good, right?’” Emily tells Allie.

Unfortunately, the answer was still no.

“We were then told that, well, actually the three-month hair test had nothing to do with the positive test and proving my innocence; it had everything to do with a second allegation, which we weren't told about ... that there were drugs in our home,” she explains.

Thus Emily’s negative hair test proved that there were no drugs in their home. But it did not disprove her son’s initial positive test at the hospital.

“About a week later, we received in the mail the report saying I am founded for a case of child abuse, and I am now on the child abuse registry,” Emily explains.

As a result, she was told she must fulfill certain “voluntary services” to avoid a court order, but the social worker refused to tell her what those services would be unless Emily agreed to them.

When Emily continued to press for information about what voluntary services she was agreeing to, the social worker said, “It sounds like you're declining services, [and] when you decline services, then you go to a China [case],” which stands for “Child in need of assistance” and moves the case into “the judicial system.”

Once the case escalated to a China case, “We received court appointed lawyers — both my husband and I” and “our children received a guardian ad litem,” which “is a lawyer that represents our children's best interest in the court,” says Emily.

Somehow, they still didn’t lose hope.

Before their court date, Emily submitted “25 pieces of evidence” proving her innocence, including “a 12-month hair test” she paid for herself that covered “the entirety of [her] pregnancy.”

But this negative test was still not enough to prove her innocence.

In the hearing, the court ordered “a retest on the original sample (the umbilical cord) and a DNA test on it” to ensure the sample actually belonged to Paul.

They also determined that Emily would undergo “voluntary services,” which they finally explained would involve “two monthly visits with DHHS,” “a random drug test,” as well as “a “substance abuse evaluation” and “treatment plan” should she test positive on the randomized drug test.

However, during their first mandatory DHHS visit, the social worker told Emily that their department was recommending she undergo the evaluation and treatment plan before the drug test was even conducted, denying the court’s original order.

They tried to “get the manuscript from the trial” to prove the judge’s original orders but were denied.

Having lost faith in the entire system, Emily decided to reject the evaluation and treatment plan, knowing she was innocent and in no need of intervention.

She completed the drug test, which was another three-month hair test, and like all her other tests, “it was negative,” and she fulfilled her obligation to meet with DHHS twice, thus checking all the required boxes laid out in the first court hearing.

A few days before the second hearing, Emily and her husband received DHHS’ filing, which included “eight recommendations,” one of which was to have “the custody of [their] children moved under the Department” (meaning foster care), even though at this point, Emily had taken “seven negative tests” and fulfilled all of the requirements outlined in the first hearing.

When she followed up with the hospital about the retesting of Paul’s umbilical cord, she was told she needed to contact that lab that conducted the test, but when she called the lab, they refused to work with her and told her she needed to go through the hospital.

She also found out that the “25 pieces of evidence” she submitted to the court hadn’t even been reviewed. In fact, the court claimed it “didn’t even know [she] did this 12-month hair test.”

At this point, Emily and her husband were left with literally nothing except prayers.

And clearly, it worked.

“They dismissed our case” in the second hearing, Emily says, and thankfully, the DHHS (probably because they had no real evidence) did not pursue a contested hearing.

While Emily getting to keep her children is excellent news, she is still currently on the list of registered child abusers.

To hear the full story and learn where Emily is at now, watch the video below.


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Court releases corpulent Italian who butchered his girlfriend over breadcrumbs in bed, citing his dietary concerns



A 440-pound Italian man butchered his girlfriend in 2017 over an argument about his slobbish eating habits. Despite receiving a 30-year sentence, Dimitri Fricano, 35, recently waddled out of prison because a court in Turin, Italy, ruled his dietary needs were not being met on the inside. Instead, he will serve out the remainder of his sentence lounging around his parents' house.

Fricano stabbed 25-year-old Erika Preti 57 times while on vacation in Sardinia in June 2017. The victim apparently drew the corpulent killer's ire by complaining about all of the breadcrumbs he had left in their shared hotel bed.

The Italian outlet La Stampa reported that Fricano initially claimed he and his beloved had fallen victim to a raid by hooded robbers. "They wanted the money," said Fricano. "First they beat me, they knocked me down, then they attacked Erika."

As the evidence began stacking up against him, Fricano later admitted to the murder.

The Nuoro magistrate presiding over Fricano's case accepted prosecutor Riccardo Belfiori's request for the maximum sentence of 30 years in 2019. However, owing to delays caused by COVID-19, the murderer was not imprisoned at Le Vallette in Turin until April 2022.

The murderer's delayed prison sentence has now been cut short.

A supervisory court recently decided to let Fricano hang out at home with his parents "because he is obese and a heavy smoker" and needs both a low-calorie diet and assistance the prison cannot provide. It appears having prison staff curtail the murderer's intake of food and consumption of over 100 cigarettes a day was not an option.

L'Unione Sarda, a Sardinian newspaper, reported Fricano complained of being wheelchair bound, restricted in his movements, and unwashed. In addition to these grievances, the Turin Surveillance Court heard that the murderer suffers frequent episodes of "binge eating."

In his first year in prison, Fricano's weight ballooned from 264 pounds to nearly 441 pounds,reported the Telegraph.

Evidently moved by the murderer's self-inflicted misery and convinced of his "great sense of guilt towards the victim ... and towards her family," the surveillance court agreed to send him home, according to the Italian paper Corriere della Sera.

The victim's father, Fabrizio Preti, told Corriere della Sera, "It's a shameful decision. I knew he wouldn't serve 30 years in prison, but six is really too few. You don't wish death on anyone, but this story would only end like this."

"When some friends let me know, after reading it online, that Dimitri had been sent under house arrest, a wound was reopened," said Fabrizio Preti. "It was like being stabbed in the heart."

The victim's father said that his lawyer suggested that "they can no longer treat him in prison and for this reason they decided to send him home to his parents. I had learned that in January he had been transferred to hospital for a few days but then returned to prison. ... [H]e assured me that if he were to recover, he would return to his cell. I don't believe it very much."

The killer will serve his sentence in the Biella area, just over a mile away from the childhood home of his victim.

Fabrizio Preti underscored that while Fricano has admitted to ruining everything, "he never asked for forgiveness and we will never be willing to give it to him."

Omicidio di San Teodoro, la ricostruzione di Quarto Grado del 23/06/2017youtu.be

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Banana Republic: Corrupt Left-Wing Judges Now Decide What Republicans Can Say While Campaigning

The approval of the DOJ's Trump gag order highlights the issue of judges deciding what speech is OK for candidates to use while campaigning.
The J6 Sentences Are an INJUSTICE That Should P*SS YOU OFF! | Guest: Sara Gonzales | Ep 859

The J6 Sentences Are an INJUSTICE That Should P*SS YOU OFF! | Guest: Sara Gonzales | Ep 859

Clinton judge refused to hear pro-life rescuers' First Amendment defenses, then locked them up immediately after DC jury found them guilty of protesting at infamous late-term abortion clinic



A Clinton-appointed judge could throw five peaceful opponents of America's abortion regime in prison for up to 11 years and slap each of them with a $350,000 fine after a D.C. jury found them guilty Tuesday of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act and of felony conspiracy against rights. Until their sentencing, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will have the pro-life rescuers sit in jail.

The newly convicted pro-life advocates are members of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, a leftist group that manages some rare consistency in its discussion of victimhood, acknowledging that there may be no group today more oppressed than the unborn.

According to its website, PAAU is "committed to the progressive feminist values of equality, non-violence, and nondiscrimination through an anti-capitalist lens. ... We're committed to unparalleled bravery and to always challenging the oppressive status quo. We're committed to ending elective abortion to matter how long it takes."

Lauren Handy, 29, the group's director of activism and mutual aid, and four others — John Hinshaw, 68; Heather Idoni, 58; William Goodman, 52; and Herb Geraghty, 27 — were convicted on all counts Tuesday for supposedly blocking access in 2020 to the Washington Surgi-Clinic, operated by the infamous late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo, reported the Washington Post.

The FACE Act prohibits anyone from obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic or intimidating or interfering with a woman attempting to have her unborn baby exterminated.

The Heritage Foundation noted that "Congress specified that the FACE Act doesn't 'prohibit any expressive conduct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration) protected from legal prohibitions by the First Amendment to the Constitution,' including the 'free speech or free exercise clauses,' occurring 'outside a facility.'"

Nevertheless, Kollar-Kotelly prevented the defendants from arguing that their protest was protected by the First Amendment or was committed in defense of a third person, stressing that "a defendant may not don a vigilante's hood."

Biden's admittedly pro-abortion Department of Justice noted that the defendants "conspired to and did forcefully enter the clinic and block access to the clinic using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes. ... Evidence also showed that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic's employees and patients."

The Thomas More Society, which defended Handy in the case, alternatively characterized the incident as a "rescue and protest," noting that "some simply kneeled and prayed at Santangelo's facility, some passed out pro-life literature and counseled abortion-minded women, and others roped and chained themselves together inside the facility."

The term "rescue" was key to Handy's defense, since she was under the distinct impression, in part due to an undercover video published by Live Action, that Santangelo was not just executing live-birth abortions but leaving born-alive infants to die.

Handy and other members of PAAU would later obtain the remains of 115 slaughtered babies that had been discarded by Santangelo's clinic from a driver for Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services. At least five of the babies appeared to have been viable, ostensibly confirming Handy's earlier suspicions, reported the National Catholic Register.

Handy noted in court on Aug. 22, "My belief that was formed after watching the video was … if the fetus survived the abortion attempt, they were left to die" at the clinic.

The Clinton judge, who castigated a nun in the public gallery for daring to make the sign of the cross, prevented the defense from showing the undercover 2012 footage in court, claiming that it was a "propaganda" video that would prejudice the jury, reported WUSA9.

The Thomas More Society maintains that "contrary to what the federal government’s prosecution attempted to argue, Lauren was there to prevent the horror of live-birth abortions — which is not a violation of the FACE Act."

At most, the pro-life advocates' defense attorneys indicated their clients were guilty of trespassing.

Handy's attorney, Martin Cannon, told the jury, "There was never an attempt to obstruct. At one point, you saw Ms. Handy holding the door open for the patients," adding she "never pushed or threatened anyone. ... Planning an event is not a conspiracy."

Prosecutors focused much of their ire on Handy, stressing that she had masterminded the blockade, used a fake name to book an appointment and get inside, and worked to bar patients' entry, reported the Post.

"They planned their crime carefully, to take over that clinic, block access to reproductive services and interfere with others’ rights," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb alleged in his closing arguments. "The idea of deliberately breaking the law, to them, was sexy."

The Clinton judge had the five defendants locked up immediately after their conviction in light of the jurors' suggestion that they were somehow violent criminals. Handy and the other pro-life advocates will remain in custody as they await sentencing.

Steve Crampton, senior counsel with the Thomas More Society, told LifeSiteNews that the immediate incarceration of the pro-life advocates due to the supposed "violence" of their crime was an "outrage," adding that "the real violence is what happens during the abortion procedure."

Cannon, Handy's attorney, underscored that the outcome was disappointing, stating, "Ms. Handy has been condemned for her efforts to protect the lives of innocent preborn human beings, something she should never have been arrested for. We are preparing an appeal and will continue to defend those who fight for life against a Biden Department of Justice that seems intent on prosecuting those who decry abortion and present it as it is — the intentional killing of children in utero."

Goodman, among the defendants, called for his supporters to "forgive the jury, the judge, and all those who witnessed against us, and to pray that they would see how God loves the gift of every human life."

The pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America noted in a statement obtained by TheBlaze, "This is a shameful day for a nation founded on unalienable rights, first and foremost including life. Pro-life advocates like Lauren Handy have put their freedom on the line – peacefully and bravely – to protect babies and women from the brutality of abortion. They have done a vital public service in exposing the horrors of late-term abortion taking place in D.C., where there are no limits on abortion up to birth, and across the country."

"Instead of being recognized for their heroism, the most pro-abortion administration in history has weaponized the full power of the federal government against them – treating them like terrorists and threatening them with as many as 11 years in prison, all while the authorities turn a blind eye to Santangelo's atrocities," continued SBA. "The extreme pro-abortion bias on display throughout this trial – for instance, donors to abortion giant Planned Parenthood permitted to serve on the jury – shows that they were never going to get a fair hearing in Judge Kollar-Kotelly's court. Wherever one stands on abortion, we should all be able to agree this is wrong and un-American."

Caroline Taylor Smith, the executive director of PAAU, indicated the convictions won't stop the group's pro-life advocacy, stating on X, "Rescue lives on. The unborn have a right to be Rescued. Abortion is murder, and we are going to act like it, no matter the consequences, with solidarity and courage."

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Biden's DOJ drops campaign finance charge against Democratic megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried



The Department of Justice has dropped its campaign finance violation charge against disgraced FTX founder and Biden donor Sam Bankman-Fried.

What's the background?

Following the November 2022 collapse of his former cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Democratic megadonor Bankman-Fried was hit with eight charges of fraud and conspiracy, including a campaign finance charge.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York wrote in a December 2022 letter to District Judge Ronnie Abrams, "The Government expects the evidence will show that the defendant violated campaign finance laws by causing political contributions to candidates and committees ... to be made in the names of co-conspirators, when in fact those contributions ere funded by Alameda Research with misappropriated customer funds."

Williams indicated this alleged scheme enabled the Democratic megadonor to evade "contribution dollar limits, corporate donation limits, and donation reporting requirements."

TheBlaze previously detailed how an indictment, unsealed in February in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, suggested that Bankman-Fried and "co-conspirators made over 300 political contributions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, that were unlawful because they were made in the name of a straw donor or paid for with corporate funds" (i.e., unsuspecting clients' money).

The indictment further accused the Democratic megadonor of seeking to acquire influence by way of these allegedly "unlawful political contributions" as well as to "improve his personal standing in Washington, D.C., increase FTX's profile, and curry favor with candidates that could help pass legislation favorable to FTX or BANKMAN-FRIED's personal agenda."

These efforts appears to have been extra to his ostensibly above-board donations.

Bankman-Fried reportedly donated $10 million to then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020.

The crypto hustler reportedly also hired a network of "political operatives" and spent at least $39,826,856 in an effort to help Democrats win their House races in the November 2022 midterm elections.

Among his beneficiaries were Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Bankman-Fried told Jacob Goldstein of "What's Your Problem?" that he planned to possibly donate "north of $100 million" and up to $1 billion to Democrats in the 2024 presidential elections.

Bankman was extradited from the Bahamas back to the United States on December 21, 2022.

Biden DOJ drops charges

Forbes reported that the Biden DOJ will not pursue a campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried as a means of placating the Bahamas, which has claimed this charge was not part of its initial extradition agreement with America.

In a Wednesday letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Williams indicated that Bankman-Fried had moved to dismiss the conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions count on "rule of specialty grounds," but that this had been rejected.

While this motion had been rejected, Williams noted the DOJ subsequently "informed the Court that the United States had sought clarification from The Bahamas regarding whether this count was included in the defendant's extradition."

The Bahamas purportedly came back suggesting it had not intended to extradite the disgraced Democratic megadonor "on the campaign contributions count."

Williams wrote, "In keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count."

Prosecutors removed five other charges against Bankman-Fried last month, punting them to 2024 after a Bahamas court ruling suggested the DOJ may have fouled up the procedure for charging the former billionaire, reported CNBC.

According to the New York Times, Bankman-Fried is now left only facing seven charges at his trial in October, although he will likely face the five punted charges at a subsequent trial.

John P. Fishwick Jr., a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, told the Times prosecutors still had "overwhelming evidence against Sam Bankman-Fried" and that he still could face dozens of years behind bars.

Reuters reported that Judge Kaplan tightened Bankman-Fried's bail conditions Wednesday, hitting him with a gag order after he had shared his former lover Caroline Ellison's personal writings with the press, which prosecutors said amounted to more witness tampering.

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House committee releases IRS whistleblowers' testimonies detailing alleged efforts by Biden admin to spike Hunter Biden criminal investigation



The House Ways and Means Committee has released "credible whistleblower testimony alleging misconduct and government abuse that is resulting in preferential treatment for the president's son, Hunter Biden."

Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) indicated in a press conference Thursday that two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers, one of whom is 14-year IRS veteran Gary Shapley Jr., have provided evidence demonstrating an unfair and unequal enforcement of tax laws by the federal government as well as proof that the "Biden Department of Justice is intervening and overstepping when it comes to the investigation of the president's son."

Smith blended summary and insights gleaned from the IRS whistleblowers' testimonies, stating during the June 22 press conference that as the result of an apolitical, "ordinary course of work" investigation initially launched in 2018, the IRS recommended "charges against Hunter Biden that included attempt to evade or defeat tax, a felony; fraud or false statements, a felony; and willful failure to file returns, supply information or pay tax."

"These tax crimes cover an estimated $2.2 million in unreported tax on global income streams to Mr. Biden and his associates from Ukraine, Romania and China, totaling $17.3 million from 2014 to 2019," continued Smith. "Mr. Biden personally received $8.3 million dollars. Whistleblowers detail foreign payments to Mr. Biden including: $664,000 from the Chinese company State Energy HK; a large diamond worth $80,000; and a Porsche worth $142,000 dollars."

"These payments are just a fraction of the total, but they provide insight into a world of wealth and influence that no ordinary American would recognize," added Smith.

This might be especially true of the child Hunter Biden sired out of wedlock, for whom he desperately tried to pay less in child support, citing a "substantial material change" in his "financial circumstances."

In light of Biden's alleged tax crimes, Smith suggested the plea deal the first son just received amounted to a "slap on the wrists for charges that have put other Americans behind bars."

Hunter Biden's attorneys struck a sweetheart deal with U.S. Attorney David Weiss Tuesday, whereby the first son will "plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failure to pay in 2017 and 2018."

Instead of having to go to jail, prosecutors agreed to recommend that the younger Biden receive only probation and pay the amount of taxes he originally owed.

— (@)

According to the whistleblowers, Hunter Biden is not just the beneficiary of preferential treatment as it pertains to his criminal investigation, but of interventions and supportive overreach by the Biden Department of Justice.

Smith said the testimonies detail "a lack of of U.S. attorney independence; recurring unjustified delays; unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation; a lack of transparency across the investigation and prosecution teams; and bullying and threats from the defense council. This was a campaign of delay, divulge and deny."

One of the IRS whistleblowers reportedly stated, "After former Vice President Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for President in early April 2020, career DOJ officials dragged their feet on the IRS taking these investigative steps."

For instance, the investigation was delayed by a drawn-out effort to authenticate a WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden demanded payment from Chinese officials.

In the message shown by Ways and Means Republicans, Hunter Biden appears to have written, "I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. ... I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."

Concerning the authentication of this message, IRS whistleblowers suggested investigators were told by U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf that "because the evidence would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden, 'there is no way' a search warrant for evidence would ever get approved."

According to the committee, the ostensible purpose of such delays was to reach the statue of limitations, thereby killing the investigation.

While possibly critical evidence was put out of reach, actionable information about investigators' progress was made easily accessible to Hunter Biden's attorneys, according to the whistleblowers.

Smith noted that in one instance, investigators had probable cause to search a storage unit in Northern Virginia in which Biden had stored documents. However, "attorneys for Biden were made aware prior to any search, providing them valuable time to remove any materials that could be useful evidence."

The Ways and Means committee further indicated that U.S. Attorney of Delaware David Weiss had multiple attempts to bring charges denied, despite Attorney General Merrick Garland telling Congress that Weiss had all the authority necessary to pursue the charges.

For having brought their concerns to the attention of the American people, the committee chairman indicated, "the IRS employees who blew the whistle on this abuse were retaliated against, despite a commitment IRS Commissioner Werfel made before the Ways and Means Committee to uphold their legal protections. They were removed from this investigation after they responsibly worked through the chain of command to raise these concerns."

The committee has so far concluded that the Biden administration is keen to provide "preferential treatment to the wealthy and well-connected, including the son of the President of the United States."

— (@)

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