Navy sends second warship to US southern border to 'restore territorial integrity'



U.S. Northern Command deployed the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Gravely to the Gulf of America on March 15 to secure American territorial waters and to help prevent waterborne drug-runners from shipping their poison into the United States.

On Saturday, a second guided missile destroyer embarked on a mission to support U.S. Northern Command southern border operations — this time down the West Coast.

NORTHCOM announced Saturday that the USS Spruance — one of the American ships previously with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group that Houthi terrorists tried to damage in the Red Sea last year — departed Naval Base San Diego.

The warship is accompanied by an embedded U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, which specializes in maritime interdiction missions, including military combat operations, alien migration interdiction, and counterterrorism.

USS Spruance fires its MK45 5-inch gun during a live-fire exercise. Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan McLearnon

"USS Spruance's deployment as part of U.S. Northern Command's southern border mission brings additional capability and expands the geography of unique military capabilities working with the Department of Homeland Security," Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORTHCOM commander, said in a statement.

"With Spruance off the West Coast and USS Gravely in the Gulf of America, our maritime presence contributes to the all-domain, coordinated DOD response to the presidential executive order and demonstrates our resolve to achieve operational control of the border," added Guillot.

'It is essential that the Armed Forces staunchly continue to participate in the defense of our territorial integrity and sovereignty.'

The military noted in its statement that the Spruance's presence brings maritime capabilities "in response to presidential executive orders and a national emergency declaration and clarification of the military's role in protecting the territorial integrity of the United States."

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump directed his future Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to assign NORTHCOM the mission of sealing America's borders and maintaining its territorial integrity "by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities."

Trump noted that the American military has long worked to secure "our borders against threats of invasion, against unlawful forays by foreign nationals into the United States, and against other transnational criminal activities that violate our laws and threaten the peace, harmony, and tranquility of the Nation."

"Threats against our Nation's sovereignty continue today, and it is essential that the Armed Forces staunchly continue to participate in the defense of our territorial integrity and sovereignty," continued Trump. "A National Emergency currently exists along the southern border of the United States. Unchecked unlawful mass migration and the unimpeded flow of opiates across our borders continue to endanger the safety and security of the American people and encourage further lawlessness."

In recent weeks and months, the Coast Guard has encountered numerous migrant boats off the coast of southern California as well as drug-runners. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche alone interdicted 11 separate suspected drug-smuggling vessels from December through February, offloading 37,256 pounds of cocaine.

Narcos and potential invaders might now think twice about testing the waters off the West Coast with the USS Spruance patrolling the area.

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At CPAC, Vance doubles down on Munich message, tells men to celebrate masculinity



Vice President JD Vance kicked off the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, by highlighting some of the Trump administration's victories so far, issuing a compelling message to young men, and defending his controversial Munich speech, the mere mention of which prompted a standing ovation.

Vance broke thin skin with his Feb. 14 speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany where he suggested that Britain and various European nations were goose-stepping toward tyranny and abandoning along the way the values they once shared in common with the United States.

In addition to expressing disappointment over continental authorities' suppression of political movements and undesirable facts as well as their routine attacks on religious liberties, the vice president blasted the European political establishment for its ruinous mass migration policies.

Former Trump White House staffer Mercedes Schlapp revisited the Munich speech and pressed Vance at CPAC to comment further on what he regards as the greatest threats to Europe.

'No more of this BS.'

The vice president indicated that up until Trump's inauguration, the U.S. and Europe faced a similar problem: "You've had the leaders of the West decide that they should send millions and millions of unvetted foreign migrants into their countries."

"That is the biggest threat to Europe, and frankly, it remains, by the way, the biggest threat to the United States," continued Vance, "because yes, we've got four years of President Trump's leadership, but I guarantee you if the Democrats ever get power again, they're going to try to do it again."

Vance stressed that "we cannot rebuild Western civilization, we cannot rebuild the United States of America or Europe by letting millions and millions of unvetted illegal migrants come into our country. It has to stop. Thank God it stopped here, but it's got to stop there."

Doubling down on one of the key points in his Munich speech — one that bent Germany's socialist defense minister and various other European officials out of shape — the vice president suggested that in order to end such ruinous policies, citizens' freedom to say "no more of this B.S." must be protected.

This is certainly not the case in Germany, a nation adversely impacted by mass migration whose capital city is once again a dangerous place for Jews and homosexuals, this time on account of foreign-born populations. Just last year, a member of the Alternative for Germany Party was convicted of a "hate crime" for simply sharing statistics about the disproportionate number of gang rapes committed by immigrants, Afghan nationals in particular.

Vance indicated that rather that continue to follow the example of former President Joe Biden "into censorship and mass migration," Europeans should "follow the lead of Donald J. Trump — and that's free speech, borders, and sovereignty. That is the future of our shared civilization."

'We actually think God made male and female for a purpose.'

According to Vance, the strength of America's alliances with European nations will largely depend on what direction they wish to take, noting that "friendship is based on shared values."

After suggesting continentals should get their act together, delineating his core Christian beliefs as a Catholic, and articulating the Trump administration's pro-natalist vision for the future, Vance effectively told young American men — a cohort that majoritively voted for Trump in 2024 — to get off the sidelines and to play for keeps.

"I think that our culture sends a message to young men that you should suppress every masculine urge, you should try to cast aside your family, you should try to suppress what makes you a young man in the first place," said Vance. "Don't allow this broken culture to send you a message that you're a bad person because you're a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends, or because you're competitive."

Vance noted while there are forces at work keen to "turn everybody, whether male or female, into androgynous idiots who think the same, talk the same, and act the same, we actually think God made male and female for a purpose, and we want you guys to thrive as young men, and as young women, and we're going to help with our public policy to make it possible to do that."

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Thin-skinned German minister melts down over Vance's speech: 'Not acceptable'



Vice President JD Vance minced no words in his Friday address at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, putting various European nations on blast for their heavy-handed suppression of political movements and ideas unfavorable to their respective ruling classes; for their dismissal of citizens' concerns and common sense; for their routine attacks on religious liberties; and for their ruinous mass migration policies.

"The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any other external actor," said Vance. "What I worry about is the threat from within."

Vance's speech clearly struck a chord, prompting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, a member of the Social Democratic Party, to spend some of his time onstage refuting the suggestion that democracy and free speech are on the decline in his and other European nations.

"I had a speech I prepared today," said the German socialist. "It was supposed to be about security in Europe. But I cannot start in the way I originally intended."

"This democracy was called into question by the U.S. vice president," continued Pistorius. "He speaks of the annulment of democracy, and, if I understood him correctly, he compares the condition of Europe with the condition that prevails in some authoritarian regimes. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not acceptable."

Pistorius staked his claim on shaky ground.

Alternative for Germany is a right-leaning populist party founded in 2013 by free-market economists keen to strengthen German sovereignty and enraged by the European Union's bailout of Greece and other debtor nations. It has since also taken aim at mass migration, open borders, climate alarmism, Islamization, and gender ideology.

The AFD has enjoyed considerable success in recent elections, placing second in the European Parliament election in June and enjoying representation in 14 of the country's 16 state legislatures. Recent polls indicate that where the upcoming German election is concerned, AFD has a lock on second place.

'In our democracy, every opinion has a voice.'

While Pistorius suggested that democracy is strong in Germany and the country's political establishment protects the rights of those who disagree with it, German authorities have worked feverishly to ban, vilify, disarm, de-bank, and criminalize the party. In certain German states, such as Saxony and Thuringia, the AFD has been classified as a "right-wing extremist" group.

Not only has the German establishment taken aim at the AFD, it has also clamped down on members' factual assertions deemed hateful by the powers that be.

Blaze News previously reported that Marie-Thérèse Kaiser, a member of the popular Alternative for Germany party, was convicted of a "hate crime" in May for sharing statistics about the disproportionate number of gang rapes committed by immigrants.

Pistorius suggested that the Europe described by Vance — where establishmentarians dismiss citizens, shut down elections, and run in fear of their own voters — "is not the Europe, not the democracy where I live and where I conduct my election campaign right now, and this is not the democracy that I witness every day in our parliament. In our democracy, every opinion has a voice."

Germany's Bundestag was just weeks ago debating banning the AFD. Evidently panicked over the alliance of the AFD and the Christian Democratic Union party on immigration, 124 parliamentarians introduced a motion urging an investigation into whether the platforming of certain voices in the German democracy is unconstitutional.

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John Brennan tries slithering around true nature of Hunter Biden laptop letter after losing security clearance



John Brennan, former director of the CIA and chief counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, appeared bent out of shape in an interview following President Donald Trump's removal of his security clearance.

The 69-year-old deep-stater suggested that his continued access was a benefit to the government and that its withdrawal was not the result of his having misled the nation in 2020 but instead an act of "revenge" in response to his criticism of the president.

The letter

Brennan was among the 51 signatories of an Oct. 19, 2020, letter aimed at discrediting the New York Post's Oct. 14 report about the discovery and damning contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, which the FBI "verified" one year earlier.

The letter Brennan gladly put his name to claimed that the story was likely a thing of Slavic fantasy — that the story had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation" and that the damning emails on the laptop discussed by the Post were manufactured in an attempt to influence how Americans would vote in the election.

The liberal media dutifully picked up on the intel officials' framing. Politico, for instance, titled its write-up, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say."

'The faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled.'

Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quick to put the combined efforts of anti-Trump intelligence officials and the liberal media to work for his campaign, referring to the letter in his first debate with Trump on Oct. 22, 2020.

Although former Secretary of State Antony Blinken has denied doing so, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government indicated in 2023 that Blinken, at the time an adviser to the Biden campaign, got the ball rolling on the letter.

Just as Blinken was apparently rewarded for his commitment to Biden's success in the 2020 election, Brennan was later appointed to the Biden Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Intelligence Experts Group.

The executive order

In his Monday executive order titled, "Holding former government officials accountable for election interference and improper disclosure of sensitive governmental information," Trump noted that "federal policymakers must be able to rely on analysis conducted by the Intelligence Community and be confident that it is accurate, crafted with professionalism, and free from politically motivated engineering to affect political outcomes in the United States."

"The signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions," continued the president. "This fabrication of the imprimatur of the Intelligence Community to suppress information essential to the American people during a Presidential election is an egregious breach of trust reminiscent of a third world country. And now the faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled."

Brennan showed up fourth from the top on Trump's list of former spooks whose clearances would be revoked.

In addition to tearing up the former intel officials' security clearances, Trump tasked his incoming director of national intelligence — possibly Tulsi Gabbard, whose candidacy and capabilities Brennan has criticized — with reporting to him on whether there should be any disciplinary action "that should be taken against anyone who engaged in inappropriate conduct related to the letter signed by the 51 former intelligence officials."

The spy's spin

Brennan told MSNBC Tuesday that he has kept his clearance for as long as he has "for the benefit of the government — so that if the CIA or another government agency wanted to call me in to discuss a classified matter, they could do that."

Apparently failing to grasp that the people's government no longer wants his misleading input, Brennan called Trump's executive order "bizarre among the many bizarre executive orders that he had signed out."

Brennan claimed that Trump "misrepresented the facts in that executive order 'cause it said we had suggested that the Hunter Biden laptop story was disinformation. No, we said it bore the hallmarks of Russian information operations, including the dumping of accurate information."

Brennan neglected to mention that his letter concluded with a quote suggesting that the material in the Post story was "part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia" or that there was apparently no effort on his part or the part of other signatories to correct Politico's framing of their letter, which, again, stated, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo."

Unwilling to admit the letter's misleading and tactical nature, Brennan suggested that Trump's push for accountability is "just his effort to try to get back at those individuals who have criticized him openly and publicly in the past."

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China’s ‘Red Note’ App Is Already Replacing TikTok In Threatening American Minds And Security

China hawks in the Trump administration and Congress must reassess their strategies immediately and devise concrete actions to combat China’s data and national security threats.

Trump expands list of proposed American conquests: 'The Golden Age of America is upon us'



President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly joked about Canada beating out both Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia to become the 51st state. It's clear, however, he has a mind to taking territory besides that hugging the 49th parallel.

Adopting a more serious tone over the weekend, Trump suggested the possibility of taking over the Panama Canal and expressed a renewed interest in acquiring Greenland.

Trump's comments, particularly those about Panama — which he followed up with an image of an American flag hoisted above the canal — have caused quite a stir. While some supporters at home celebrated the apparent revival of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, foreign officials presently occupying the proposed conquests have denounced Trump's suggestions.

'United States Canal!'

Trump suggested in a lengthy Truth Social post on Saturday that the Panama Canal, over which communist China is increasingly exerting influence and where fees are high and capacity is limited, "is considered a VITAL National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America's Economy and National Security."

'Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way.'

"A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. commerce, and rapid deployment of the Navy, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and drastically cuts shopping times to U.S. ports," wrote Trump. "The United States is the Number One user of the Canal, with over 70 percent of all transits heading to, or from, U.S. ports. Considered one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the Panama Canal opened for business 110 years ago, and was built at HUGE cost to the United States in lives and treasure — 38,000 American men died from infected mosquitos in the jungles during construction."

A Dec. 17 Congressional Research Service report noted that American military leaders are concerned over the presence of Chinese military-linked companies along the canal and the security threats they pose.

Freight Waves noted that China controls ports at both ends of the canal through Hutchinson Ports PPC, a Hong Kong-based company closely linked to the regime in Beijing. In addition to China's management of the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, Chinese economic engagement in the region — particularly after Panama joined China's imperialistic Belt and Road Initiative — has put it in a position to potentially manipulate canal operations.

Severe regional drought conditions affecting Gatun Lake, which supplies much of the water necessary for the operation of the canal's locks, led to restrictions on daily ship transits late last year and into 2024. In the months that followed, the neutrality of the waterway became an especially contentious issue.

The U.S. secured the right to build and operate the canal and control five miles of land on either side of the passage in 1904 in exchange for annual payments. Democratic President Jimmy Carter agreed in 1977 to relinquish American control over the canal by the year 2000.

Trump emphasized in his remarks that Carter's agreement specified that the waterway must be "permanently neutral."

"It was likewise not given for Panama to charge the United States, its Navy, and corporations, doing business within our Country, exorbitant prices and rates of passage," continued Trump. "Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S."

'We'll see about that.'

After recycling the exact language from the treaty, Trump underscored that the U.S. "would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands! It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama."

"If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question," added Trump. "To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!"

Trump doubled down on his comments at the Turning Point Action Conference on Sunday, stating, "The United States has a big and vested interest in the secure, efficient and reliable operation of the Panama Canal."

Panamanian officials balked at Trump's suggestion.

Manuel Alberto Samaniego Rodriguez, a member of the country's National Assembly, stated, "The Panama Canal is located in Panamanian territory, therefore it is not an asset of any other country other than Panama. The statements made by @realDonaldTrump are regrettable. This young Panamanian independent deputy will defend his country with his life if necessary."

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded to Trump's statements, suggesting in a video, "Every square meter of the Panama Canal is Panama's and will continue to be. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable."

Mulino noted further that the canal "will continue to be in Panamanian hands as an inalienable heritage of our nation."

Trump responded to Mulino's comment, "We'll see about that," then shared an image of the American flag flying over the canal with the caption, "Welcome to the United States Canal!"

Red, white, and blue Greenland

During his first term, Trump raised the possibility of purchasing the self-ruling Danish territory of Greenland, an 836,330 square-mile island home to the northernmost installation of the U.S military, Pituffik Space Base — formerly Thule Air Base. According to a U.S. Geological Survey estimate, there could be 17.5 billion undiscovered barrels of oil and 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the island, which is home to a population of under 60,000.

Greenland government officials told the Wall Street Journal when Trump's potential interest in the acquisition was first raised, "We're open for business, not for sale."

When announcing former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Ken Howery as his pick for ambassador to Denmark on Sunday, Trump once again raised the possibility of an acquisition, stating, "For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

"Ken will do a wonderful job in representing the interest of the United States," added Trump.

Múte Egede, the socialist prime minister of Greenland, said in a statement obtained by Reuters, "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom."

Contrary to Egede's suggestion, Greenland belongs to Denmark. It has, however, the right to declare independence but has not done so, apparently keen on continued cash injections from the motherland. Greenland has also been more than willing to lean on a substantial amount of American aid over the years.

Trump is not the first president to raise the possibility of a red, white, and blue Greenland.

A year after U.S. Secretary of State William Seward suggested the annexation of the island was "worthy of serious consideration," the U.S. apparently came close to picking up Greenland and Iceland from Denmark for under $6 million in gold.

Citing previously classified documents, the Associated Press reported in 1991 that the Truman administration proposed in 1946 to buy Greenland from Denmark for $100 million in gold. At the time, the late Sen. Owen Brewster (R-Maine) called the move a "military necessity" and indicated U.S. military authorities favored the proposed acquisition.

In his Turning Point Action speech, Trump stated, "I can proudly proclaim that the golden age of America is upon us."

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Tulsi Gabbard has national security 'experts' worried: 'DNI has access to every single secret'



There is a pattern developing with regard to President-elect Donald Trump's recent nominations: He announces someone apparently well suited to executing the agenda he successfully campaigned on; those with vested interests in the status quo panic; and establishmentarians viciously attack the nominees, pleading with nominal Republicans in the U.S. Senate to prevent their confirmation.

This pattern has been repeated for multiple picks, including former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Although virtually all of Trump's nominations have ruffled feathers, his choice of Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the director of national intelligence appears to have inspired a special kind of unease among Democratic lawmakers, the liberal media, and elements of the intelligence community.

The media

The Atlantic's Tom Nichols rushed to characterize Gabbard's nomination as a "national security risk," complaining that she previously suggested NATO might have had something to do with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Syria did not pose a direct threat to the United States.

"Gabbard is a classic case of 'horseshoe' politics," Nichols warned. "Her views can seem both extremely left and extremely right, which is probably why people such as Tucker Carlson — a conservative who has turned into … whatever pro-Russia right-wingers are called now — have taken a liking to the former Democrat (who was previously a Republican and is now again a member of the GOP)."

The Washington Examiner's Tom Rogan suggested that by nominating Gabbard, Trump — who was kneecapped in his first term by a malignant counterintelligence investigation and whose 2020 political adversary was given narrative cover prior to the election by CIA contractors and intelligence community alumni — "is putting his distrust of the intelligence community before the critical interests of national security."

After trotting out the Syria and Russia-themed attacks against Gabbard, then insinuating that she is a sympathizer with the communist Chinese regime, Rogan warned that if confirmed, she would supervise "all U.S. intelligence agencies' collection, analysis, and mission efforts and the production and dissemination of the U.S. government's most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis. This includes knowledge of spies buried deep inside foreign governments and terrorist organizations."

'This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States.'

Bill Kristol quoted Jonathan Last, editor of the neocon blog the Bulwark, as writing, "Making Gabbard DNI simply makes no sense. ... Or rather, it makes no sense for America. For Russia, DNI Gabbard makes all the sense in the world."

Last appeared particularly upset over Gabbard's opposition to fruitless foreign entanglements and ineffectual U.S. sanctions.

Dems and spooks spooked

"This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States but also around the globe," John Brennan, former director of the CIA and chief counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, said in conversation with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.

Brennan, one of the signatories of the infamous Hunter Biden "intel" letter, likened the 18 intelligence agencies that Gabbard would oversee to an orchestra, suggesting that she likely doesn't even know what instruments are being played.

Former Bush adviser John Bolton, a key proponent of America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, suggested to NewsNation's "The Hill" that with Trump's "announcement of Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence, he's sending a signal that we have lost our mind when it comes to collecting intelligence."

One former senior intelligence official who spoke under the condition of anonymity told Politico that the choice was a "left turn and off the bridge."

Another intelligence official warned that America's allies, including Israel, might withhold information from Washington if Gabbard were the DNI, adding, "What some allies share may now be shaped by political goals rather than professional intelligence sharing."

An unnamed "Western security source" similarly suggested to Reuters that Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand may be less forthcoming about the intelligence they collect, stressing that foreign nations believe Trump's appointments all lean in the "wrong direction."

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.), a former CIA officer who now warms a chair on the House Intelligence Committee, suggested on X that Gabbard, who served in Iraq and Kuwait, would be an oath-breaker.

"The men and women of the U.S. Intelligence community honor their oaths by collecting the vital intelligence that keeps our fellow Americans safe. The global threats we face require a Director of National Intelligence who would do the same. Tulsi Gabbard is not that person," wrote Spanberger.

The former spook, echoing Nichols, appears to have unwittingly highlighted what has the establishment panicking, telling The Hill, "The DNI has access to every single secret that the United States has, every single bit of information that we know. … It's the keys to the intelligence community kingdom."

Larry Pfeiffer, former chief of staff at the CIA under the Bush administration, told The Hill, "Some of the statements she has made through the years that sound like they came right out of the Kremlin's talking points paper are a little bit alarming. Her cozying up to Bashar al-Assad and being an apologist for him as well just raise questions in my mind. Is that really the best person to put in charge of this very complicated, very sensitive operation that is the U.S. intel community?"

Jamil Jaffer, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer and national security prosecutor, told The Hill, "What is unusual here is you've got somebody who's had such a long and vociferous track record of saying things that are factually incorrect, that seem to give aid and comfort to U.S. adversaries and that undermine the very people they should be representing at the principals committee."

As with Hegseth and Gaetz's critics, those denouncing Gabbard appear to be exponents of the very worldview and policy conventions that Trump was effectively elected to obliterate.

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DHS refused to look into alleged would-be Trump assassin flagged on his way back from Ukraine: Report



The U.S. Secret Service admitted this week to failing to search the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, just before President Donald Trump hit the links on Sunday.

When pressed on why the Secret Service failed to spot a Democratic donor — known to the FBI — who apparently had camped out at the course for 12 hours with an SKS-style 7.62x39 caliber rifle, acting USSS Director Ronald Rowe blamed the intended target, telling reporters that Trump "wasn't supposed to have gone there in the first place."

While the USSS is facing criticism over its latest bungling of Trump's security, its parent agency also appears to have dropped the ball.

Just the News reported that Trump critic Alejandro Mayorkas' Department of Homeland Security was prompted to investigate suspected would-be assassin Ryan Routh upon his return home from Ukraine last year after U.S. border officials flagged him as suspect, but the agency didn't bother to act.

'Simply get all military gear and money.'

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly interviewed Routh at the Honolulu airport in June 2023. Officials knew of his travels to Poland, specifically to Warsaw near the Ukrainian border, as well as to Istanbul, Turkey. They were also aware of his efforts to recruit mercenaries from Taiwan, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and Moldova to fight in Ukraine against the Russians.

Blaze News previously noted that Routh ran a website called "Fight for Ukraine," which details various ways — including unlawful ways — people could supposedly go to fight as mercenaries in Ukraine.

"Simply get all military gear and money and fly to Krakow[, Poland]. Take an intercity train or bus to Przemyśl. Take a local train or bus to Medyka. Make your way to the border with Ukraine," wrote Routh.

While Routh was keen on having civilians from across the globe put their lives on the line in Ukraine, he never fought himself, reported the New York Times, whose reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff first heard of Routh through a former Afghan special operations soldier in Iran.

Routh hatched a grand scheme to get militants fleeing the Taliban to go fight for Kiev. His X feed was littered with failed pleas to Western defense officials and organizations to allow such Afghan mercenaries into Ukraine.

Extra to attempting to recruit mercenaries, while in Ukraine, Routh also demonstrated in support of the Azov Brigade, an outfit associated with neo-Nazis since its inception.

The brigade said in a statement this week it "has no connection" to Routh and that rumors to the contrary are "playing along with Russian propaganda."

According the records reviewed by Just the News, Routh gave the border officials interviewing him a card stating that he was the director of a group called the "International Volunteer Center."

USA Today indicated Monday it tried calling a number associated with Routh and was greeted by a voicemail message identifying the number's owner as "Ryan in Hawaii," working with the "National Volunteer Center, sending soldiers to Ukraine, as well as Taiwan."

The International Volunteer Center in Ukraine made clear it hasn't worked with Routh, telling the New York Post, "We have been officially registered as an organization in Ukraine since October 2023. Prior to the recent developments, none of us had any knowledge of Mr. Routh or any other entity named the International Volunteer Center, aside from our own registered organization."

'There's one person you guys need to keep an eye on, because he's a ticking time bomb.'

Ukraine's foreign legion — which Routh frequently contacted — has characterized the suspected would-be assassin as a charlatan and denied his involvement in the unit.

According to CBP's memo pertaining to Routh's interview, "Subject is a USC who had traveled to Kiev, Ukraine for 3 months to help recruit Soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova, and Taiwan, to fight in the Ukrainian war against Russia."

"Subject stated that he does not get paid for his recruiting efforts and all his work for the Ukrainian government is strictly volunteer work Subject provided his recruiting business card (cards have been uploaded into the event) which list his recruiting partners that he speaks with to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Romanian, Pakistan, Syria, and Israel," continues the memo reviewed by Just the News. "Subject stated that he obtains money from his wife to help fund his trips to Ukraine."

The memo further stated that Routh was referred to the DHS' Homeland Security Investigations but that HSI declined to look into the matter.

"HSI was contacted and refused the case," said the memo.

When pressed for comment, the DHS referred Just the News to the FBI, which is overseeing the investigation into the assassination attempt.

The DHS also apparently failed to take action in response to another concerning report submitted by Chelsea Walsh, a nurse from West Palm Beach who encountered Routh in Kiev in 2022.

Walsh was so worried about Routh's volatile nature and threats of violence that she reported him to a CBP officer at Washington's Dulles airport in June 2022 after returning from Ukraine.

Walsh told WPTV-TV, "As a nurse, we are trained to detect when people are a threat to themselves or others, and I was beginning to realize more and more that Ryan was a threat to others."

At the airport, “[the agent] said that he represented Homeland Security and he was only interested in homeland security threats," said Walsh.

"I told him, 'Then there's one person you guys need to keep an eye on, because he's a ticking time bomb. His name is Ryan Routh, and he lives in Hawaii. He's coming back from Ukraine eventually, and someone needs to follow up with him.'"

Walsh said the DHS never followed up with her.

The FBI — whose agent in charge of the Miami field office, Jeffrey Veltri, was reportedly compelled to scrub his social media history because of his anti-Trump rhetoric — also appears to have let Routh slip off its radar.

Blaze News previously reported that the FBI received a complaint in 2019 that Routh had a firearm. Owing to Routh's felonious record, including a 2002 conviction on a possession of a weapon of mass destruction charge, the complaint would ostensibly have been grounds for an interview at the very least.

Veltri said at a press conference Monday, "When following up on the tip, the alleged complainant was interviewed and did not verify, I repeat, did not verify providing the initial information. The FBI passed that information on to local law enforcement in Honolulu."

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Erik Prince identifies for 'Blaze News Tonight' the first casualty of the second assassination attempt



Erik Prince spoke to "Blaze News Tonight" on Monday about the latest attempt on President Donald Trump's life, the ostensible incompetence of certain federal agencies, possible security considerations moving forward, and what the former president ultimately lost on Sunday.

Paradise lost

Prince, a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer and founder of the private military company Blackwater, highlighted something otherwise glossed over in other analyses of the second failed assassination attempt: namely that Trump, vilified by the media and political establishment, has effectively lost his last refuge.

"The thing that really disgusted me on top of everything else is golfing was a happy place for Donald Trump," said Prince. "He loved to do it, he's good at it, and they took that away from him."

Prince noted that now, "every time he's on a golf course and he looks at a beautiful tree line, [Trump] thinks: 'Yeah, that's a beautiful tree line, but that's also where somebody can be hiding, waiting to shoot me.' I feel bad for the guy."

Federal failures and solutions

According to Prince, Trump not only lost his happy place but came close to losing his life once again "because nothing has changed."

While Kimberly Cheatle resigned as director of the U.S. Secret Service and a handful of agents supposedly were placed on leave, the private security expert suggested that the institutional rot remains.

"Nobody's been fired from the Secret Service," continued Prince. "There hasn't been a housecleaning of the head shed or of the ranks."

'You want hunters of men — people that think offensively.'

"You know the definition of insanity is to do the same thing again and again and expect a different result," added Prince.

Blaze News investigative reporter Steve Baker pressed Prince on whether Trump needs to "either supplement or replace" his Secret Service protection before the election.

Prince indicated that it would be prudent to reinforce Trump's security detail with some of the Pentagon's more reliable operators.

The Blackwater founder indicated there is "a lot of private-sector capability that's available" but that meshing those capabilities with a federal organization such as the USSS would prove very difficult.

"The problem with the Secret Service is there's 10 or 15 percent are fantastic. Olympic-level performance. Great. Another 20 or 30 percent are just bureaucrats showing up. There's another 50 percent that are just really useless and malign," continued Prince. "It wouldn't be hard to top-grade a lot. I just don't know how deep their bench is."

While Prince indicated Trump could supplement his security detail with elements from the private sector, it would be better to source operators from "Joint Special Operations Command, which houses SEAL Team Six and Delta."

"Take some operators from there because you want people that are predators. You want hunters of men — people that think offensively; who think, 'How am I going to kill Donald J. Trump?' And you say, 'This is the 20 ways we're going to do it.' And you plug every one of those 20 ways to make sure he is safe," said Prince.

By having offensive rather than reactive thinkers on the job, Prince indicated that Trump would be more secure against the likes of suspects like Routh and also better positioned to withstand attacks by more competent killers such as ISIS terrorists, Hezbollah militants, or Latin American gangs.

Localizing the investigation

Prince emphasized that the successful capture of alleged would-be assailant Ryan Routh was entirely the doing of local law enforcement and that FBI cannot be relied upon to conduct a proper investigation into what happened.

"The real heroes of yesterday are the sheriffs because they actually coordinated with each other across county lines," said Prince. "The feds had nothing to do with capturing that guy."

Officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and Martin County Sheriff's Office tracked the suspect down and arrested him on I-95, roughly 40 miles away from the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he apparently evaded the USSS.

"I don't have any confidence in the FBI Miami field office to do this investigation," said Prince, noting that Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge "had to scrub, had deleted his social media history because he was so wildly anti-Trump."

A whistleblower told the House Judiciary Committee last year that the FBI compelled Veltri to delete his anti-Trump posts before he took over the Miami field office, reported the Washington Times.

According to the whistleblower's disclosure obtained by the Times, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Director Paul Abbate, and Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Moore "wanted to ensure that Veltri appeared non-political, Veltri was ordered to remove all of his Facebook and social media posts that were anti-Trump."

The bureau downplayed allegations of political bias, particularly with regard to Veltri's selection for a position that oversees Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

'That opens the intellectual can of worms for every left-wing screwball.'

"This is the same FBI office that did the bogus raid on Mar-a-Lago on this documents case," Prince told "Blaze News Tonight." "So if you think he's going to do an honest job at digging into leftist conspiracy to kill President Trump, no way."

Prince underscored the need for Florida to conduct its own investigation — which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) confirmed Sunday is happening.

The left's culpability

Compounding the problem of security issues for Trump is the president's continued demonization by the left.

"When the left makes, creates the intellectual space and the apocryphal claims that Donald Trump is Hitler and that he must be eliminated, he must be stopped at all costs, that he's a threat to democracy — that opens the intellectual can of worms for every left-wing screwball saying 'I'm going to be the savior of the left. I'm going to kill Donald Trump.' And that's exactly what this guy was doing," said Prince.

Ryan Routh, the suspected would-be assassin, is a convicted felon, an ActBlue donor, and a Ukraine war obsessive.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) provided a succinct biography of the suspected would-be assassin in a Tuesday Blaze News op-ed:

Here is what we know so far: Kamala Harris has said that "democracy is on the line" in her race against President Trump. The gunman agreed and used the exact same phrase. He had a Biden-Harris bumper sticker on his truck. He was obsessed with Ukraine’s "fight for democracy" and absorbed many unhinged views about the Russia-Ukraine war. His name is Ryan Routh, and he donated 19 times to Democratic Party causes and zero to Republican ones.

Blaze News previously reported that Routh has repeatedly echoed Democratic talking points, including "DEMOCRACY is on the ballot" and that the Jan. 6 riot was a "catastrophe ... perpetrated by Donald Trump and his undemocratic posse."

In his self-published 2023 book "Ukraine's Unwinnable War," Routh invited Iranians to assassinate Trump, stating, "No one here in the US seems to have the balls to put natural selection to work or even unnatural selection."

Prince said Routh "was supercharged by the left's wild rhetoric" and "trophy hunting."

"He was there to be the one — the killer of Donald Trump," added Prince.

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Video Shows Police Take Down Man Allegedly Attempting To Breach Trump Rally’s Media Area

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