Tag: corruption

“Settlement tsunami”: Chicago spends more than double city budget on police misconduct settlements

The City of Chicago is searching for financial solutions amidst hundreds of pending police misconduct cases, spending more than double the $82 million budget.

Eight years ago, police burst down the door of the Mendez family home unannounced, pointing guns at Hester and Gilbert Mendez, and their sons Peter and Jack (who were 9 and 5 at the time) – only to find they’d raided the wrong apartment.

After years stuck in the legal pipeline, between COVID delays and multiple changes in the judge presiding over the case, Mendez et al. v. City of Chicago finally began on Monday, April 21, 2025 in Courtroom 1941 at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse in Chicago. 

The Mendez family was seeking financial compensation for their rights being violated and the trauma their children endured. 

The city of Chicago has already spent more than $164 million in taxpayer money this year on police misconduct settlements and judgments – more than double its $82 million budget. With hundreds of cases pending, including from people alleging torture by notorious former officers, the Mendez case illustrates how these situations often play out: the city launches into a costly trial, putting families through trauma and stress, only to settle for a large sum at taxpayer expense. Officials say there’s a better way to do it – offering substantial settlements earlier – not the unfairly small settlements that the city often uses to avoid trial, as lawyers see it; or ideally avoiding police misconduct in the first place. 

During the Mendez family’s trial, a now 17-year-old Peter Mendez described on the stand how he was traumatized on the evening of November 7, 2017. “My life flashed before my eyes, my heart was pounding, and I thought maybe I could die.”

To this day, the event has left Jack, the youngest child, with the same recurring nightmare of police shooting his mother, cuffing and taking his father away to jail, and separating him and his brother as they get taken to different orphanages. 

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Jerome Powell Criminally Referred For Alleged Perjury About $2.5 Billion Building Renovation

On Thursday, Chairman of the Board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte, said Fed Chair Jerome Powell may be criminally referred to the Justice Department for alleged perjury about the $2.5 billion building renovation plan.

“I am told by very reliable Congressional sources that there may be a criminal referral coming from one or more Congress members to the DOJ for Jay Powell’s alleged perjury about the $2.5BN building,” Pulte said on X.

An hour later, GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna criminally referred Jerome Powell over the renovation insanity.

Powell is under fire for the cost of renovating the Fed’s DC headquarters. The cost ballooned from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion.

“Powell has asked the central bank’s inspector general to conduct an additional review of the ongoing renovation, CNN previously reported. Last month, some Senate lawmakers grilled Powell over what they depicted as lavish upgrades to its DC headquarters at Powell’s semiannual monetary policy hearing,’ CNN reported.

“The Fed’s renovation project was approved by its board in 2017 and originally cost $1.9 billion in 2019. Construction began in 2021, but the cost swelled to $2.5 billion because of “unforeseen conditions” requiring more spending to rectify, such as “more asbestos than anticipated, toxic contamination in soil, and a higher-than-expected water table,” according to the Fed’s website,” CNN reported.

President Trump earlier this week said Jerome Powell’s renovation scandal may be enough to fire him as the Fed Chair.

“I can’t imagine why the Fed would need a palace,” Trump said.

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Biden Admits He Didn’t Sign Pardons. Emails Show Staff Did It For Him

Former President Joe Biden has admitted that he didn’t manually sign all of the pardons he issued before leaving office in January. 

In a softball interview with The New York Times that ran on Sunday, Biden revealed that his staff used an autopen device to replicate his signature on clemency documents due to the large volume. 

“I made every decision,” Biden told the leftist outlet. Defending the use of the autopen, he added that “we’re talking about a whole lot of people.” 

The one-term president’s admission comes as the Trump-era White House, the DOJ and Congress launch separate investigations into the legitimacy of the pardons. Some experts argue are illegitimate because they were never physically signed by Biden. 

Biden downplayed Trump’s concerns about the potential abuse of the autopen in remarks to The Times: “I understand why Trump would think that, because obviously, I guess, he doesn’t focus much. Anyway, so — yes, I made every decision.” 

Emails turned over by the National Archives show then–Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, not Biden, authorizing the autopen. 

“I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons,” Zients wrote in one exchange, according to the outlet. 

Former White House staff secretary Stefanie Feldman managed the process. She reportedly ran the clemency documents through a device and receive “blurbs” claiming Biden had approved them. 

Responding to concerns that he was incapacitated and that aides exploited the autopen, Biden shot back:

“They’re liars. They know it. They know, for certain. I mean, this is — look, what they, they’ve had a pretty good thing going here. They’ve done so badly.” 

Biden defended the pre-emptive pardons for his family when asked, claiming without evidence that Trump would have launched vindictive criminal investigations against them. 

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Revealed: Child exploitation and bestiality material allegedly found on former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s work devices

Child exploitation and bestiality material were allegedly found on former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s work devices, it can now be revealed.

The revelation comes after a High Court judge dismissed an application to prevent media reporting the nature of the alleged objectionable material.

McSkimming resigned as the country’s second most powerful cop in May amid separate investigations by the Independent Police Conduct Authority and police.

His resignation came a week after RNZ approached him, via his lawyer, with allegations about material found on his work devices.

RNZ earlier revealed pornography found on McSkimming’s work devices was being investigated as alleged objectionable material.

His lawyer Linda Clark was then granted a rare “superinjunction” by Justice Karen Grau that prohibited reporting that disclosed the nature of the allegedly objectionable material, as well as the existence of the injunction itself.

Following a teleconference held by Justice Gwyn, the order prohibiting publication of the nature of the allegedly objectionable material was continued – but the order prohibiting the existence of the injunction was not continued, meaning RNZ could report the fact of McSkimming’s application and the interim result.

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Project Veritas Catches Secret Service Guard Compromising White House Security

A Secret Service agent unknowingly disclosed sensitive information about his White House assignment to an undercover Project Veritas journalist, all the while mocking President Donald Trump. 

The agent, identified by the media group on Monday as Marc Hendrickson, came across the undercover journalist on a dating app and appeared eager to impress her. First, he invited her to the White House and then sent a photo of his exact location while on the building’s lawn. 

Hendrickson described himself as a “liberal” since age 18 and criticized Trump in private messages, claiming the president was “doing a lot of whacky shit right now.” 

In another exchange, Hendrickson extended an invitation to the stranger to visit him at the White House, though it’s unclear if he meant inside the building or outside. 

“Well if you’re close to the White House you can come here and I say hi,” he reportedly wrote. 

In response, the undercover reporter said: “Haha that would be cool. I’m not working the next two three days. You’re at the White House?” 

“Yes,” Hendrickson responded.  

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Justice Dept. Fines Company for Favoring Foreign Visa Workers Over Americans

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has fined a Mississippi-based company for favoring foreign workers on H-2A visas over American job applicants.

This week, the DOJ announced a settlement agreement with H2A Complete II Inc., a Mississippi firm that specializes in funneling foreign H-2A visa workers to United States farms after the department’s prosecutors found that Americans were being discriminated against.

“American workers seeking jobs in their own country deserve priority,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “This Department of Justice will continue to protect our country’s workers from unlawful discrimination in favor of foreign nationals.”

The settlement requires the company to pay a $25,000 fine, revise its employment practices, and throw out its excessive job requirements in postings that are aimed at weeding American applicants out of the hiring process.

“DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is protecting American workers from unlawful discrimination by employers that prefer to hire foreign visa workers instead of U.S. workers,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “Protecting job opportunities for the American workforce is one of our top priorities.”

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Report: Microsoft’s Chinese Engineers Access Pentagon Systems with Minimal Oversight from ‘Digital Escorts’

Microsoft is using engineers in China to help maintain the Defense Department’s computer systems — with minimal supervision by U.S. personnel — leaving some of the nation’s most sensitive data vulnerable to hacking from its leading cyber adversary, a ProPublica investigation has found.

A ProPublica investigation has uncovered that Microsoft is relying on engineers based in China to help maintain sensitive computer systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, with only minimal oversight from U.S. personnel. This arrangement, which Microsoft deems critical to winning the Pentagon’s cloud computing business, could potentially expose some of the country’s most sensitive data to espionage and hacking by China.

The system relies on U.S. workers with security clearances, known as “digital escorts,” to supervise the Chinese engineers and serve as a firewall against malicious activities. However, ProPublica found that these escorts often lack the advanced technical skills needed to effectively monitor the foreign workers, who possess far greater coding expertise. Some escorts are ex-military with little software engineering experience, earning barely above minimum wage.

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Emails Reveal FBI Invented Trump Case Out Of Nothing

Newly released emails further expose the behind-the-scenes push within the Biden DOJ’s push to manufacture a criminal case against President Donald Trump. 

The emails – obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee and first reported by legal expert Margot Cleveland – show the FBI scrambling to go after Trump despite having no evidence. 

One email revealed former FBI Agent Tim Thibault plotting with colleagues how to zero in on the Willard Hotel.

Trump allies used the hotel as a command center to monitor the 2020 election results. 

According to the email, Thibault was actively hunting for a crime tied to the Willard Hotel.

He laid out two options: launch an assessment or open a preliminary investigation. 

He objected to the first option, noting it would limit the FBI’s authority. Under an assessment, interviews and “more probative” actions were barred. Subpoenas would be tightly restricted.

Thibault admitted the office was “hard at work attempting to predicate a Preliminary investigation.” This route, he said, would enable a broader and likely more aggressive investigation. 

In short, the FBI tried to launch a criminal probe without a shred of evidence. 

The email, dated March 2, 2022, came just six months before Special Counsel Jack Smith unsealed an indictment over Trump’s efforts to question the 2020 election. 

Federalist senior legal writer Margot Cleveland said the officials involved should be referred to the Inspector General for further investigation. 

One recipient on the email chain was Wayne Jacobs, a senior FBI agent whom Director Chris Wray later promoted to lead the Philadelphia field office. 

As Headline USA previously reported, Jacobs is married to former J6 committee investigator Soumya Dayananda. 

That connection has raised red flags, especially after Dayananda bragged that the charges against Trump closely mirrored her committee’s work. 

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ICE Arrests MS-13 Member and Fentanyl Dealer in Providence, RI – Local Officials Worried That Police May Have Assisted

This week, ICE arrested a man in Providence, Rhode Island who is a member of the MS-13 gang and a known dealer of fentanyl. Sounds like a pretty solid arrest, right?

In an absolutely bizarre turn of events, the Democrat leaders of the city are deeply concerned that local police may have assisted ICE. They’re even suggesting that this will be investigated.

This is absolute madness.

WPRI News in RI reported:

Mayor Brett Smiley characterized the incident as “complex,” but said that the incident remains under review.

“I’m interested in making sure that our community knows that Providence police are there to protect them, that they will not cooperate or sere as immigration agents, and that preliminarily, we believe that policy was followed in that instance, although it certainly was jarring video that I saw,” Smiley said at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday. “But upon closer review and understanding the full context of the circumstance, it feels like… it seems like at the initial outset, that Providence police acted in accordance with our existing policy.”

Miller said she appreciated that there is a review underway, but added that she wanted PERA to examine the incident because they are a third-party in the situation.

See below:

An MS-13 fentanyl trafficker was just arrested in Providence, Rhode Island.

The mayor and city council president are pledging to investigate…

Not the MS-13 problem, but to ensure police didn’t assist ICE in arresting him.

Totally insane. pic.twitter.com/rOT664NaRb

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) July 16, 2025

A Democrat lawmaker in the state also criticized ICE for the arrest, calling them the gestapo.

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New GOP-Backed Amnesty Bill Is A Gift To Dems And A Middle Finger To Voters

The release — or lack thereof — of the Epstein Files has consumed most of MAGA’s attention in recent days. But there’s something far more dangerous that deserves the full force of MAGA’s attention: a cadre of so-called Republicans is working to foist a mass amnesty program on the American people.

Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar reintroduced the DIGNITY Act on Tuesday, which, according to a press release from her office, “allows certain long-term undocumented immigrants to earn legal status, without amnesty or a path to citizenship” so that illegal aliens who broke the law can have an “opportunity.” The bill would create a “7-year earned legal status program allowing” illegal aliens “to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution.”

“The legislation acknowledges a key truth: most undocumented individuals are not seeking citizenship at all costs, but rather the dignity of living and working legally, contributing to society, paying taxes, being safe from deportation, and traveling to see family during the holidays,” Salazar’s press release declares.

But no one deserves to be rewarded for violating our sovereign borders simply because they want to “pay taxes” and “work.” When Republicans dress up mass amnesty as “dignity,” they’re falling into the left’s trap — the lie that empathy must override the rule of law. It’s the same emotional blackmail we see time and time again that demands the American people legalize the presence of illegal aliens because they’ve found the rules too inconvenient to follow.

And conservatives should remember this is not the first time Republicans have been seduced by the false promise of compassionate amnesty. Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was sold as a one-time fix — amnesty for nearly three million illegal aliens in exchange for real, long-lasting border security. The amnesty happened. The border security evidently did not. Reagan’s mistake was that he ceded an inch to people who have no intention of ever stopping there. His decision to grant mass amnesty signaled to Democrats that with enough grandstanding, they could get their way.

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