Tag: fbi

FBI Raids $2,000-a-Month Washington Apartment of Afghan Immigrant Who Ambushed Two National Guard Soldiers Near White House

FBI agents raided the $2,000-a-month apartment in Bellingham, Washington, on Thursday, executing search warrants as part of a rapidly expanding terrorism probe tied to Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the gunman who ambushed and shot two National Guard members just steps from the White House.

Lakanwal is facing at least three counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, along with criminal possession of a weapon.

Authorities have hinted that additional federal charges, possibly terrorism-related, could be forthcoming.

The raid, led by FBI counterterrorism agents, seized multiple electronic devices, cellphones, laptops, iPads, from a residence that stunned neighbors described as “sparse,” with no beds, just couch cushions they would sleep on, and “barely any furniture,” IBT reported.

According to locals, Lakanwal spoke little English, barely mingled with neighbors, and was ‘often seen playing Call of Duty’ inside his apartment.

The operation also included searches of properties in both Washington state and San Diego, where agents reportedly collected additional digital materials.

The FBI confirmed that this is no longer just a shooting investigation, it is now a full-scale counterterrorism operation, possibly with international angles.

Officials confirmed special interviews have been conducted with Lakanwal’s relatives, including his brother, who is also living in the United States.

Before securing his own residence, Lakanwal and his family, his wife, Khamila, and five young sons, were housed by a Washington State couple who launched a now-deleted GoFundMe campaign.

Keep reading

Kash Patel Talks In Depth About Attempted Trump Assassin And His Motives

FBI Director Kash Patel told investigative journalist Catherine Herridge that hatred for the U.S. government and the two-party system played a role in Thomas Matthew Crooks’ attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pa.

Herridge asked Patel what motivated Crooks, 20, to try to kill Trump, then the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Patel’s answer appeared to depart from previous FBI statements when bureau officials said they were unable to find a motive or ideology behind the assassination attempt. The FBI director — appearing on Herridge’s show “Straight to the Point” by the Los Angeles Times Media Group — told her that Trump was “satisfied” with his agency’s investigation into that fateful day. Patel stopped short of saying the case was closed.

“He [Crooks], as has been publicized, had a basically hateful relationship with the United States government, talked disparagingly about both political parties, to include President Trump, and talked about the need to take matters into his own hands. And, unfortunately, that’s what he did,” Patel said when Herridge asked about Crooks’ motive.

Keep reading

Judge throws out Comey and James cases as Trump’s beauty queen prosecutor is humiliated

Donald Trump‘s cases against his political foes James Comey and Letitia James have been thrown out.

Judge Cameron Currie accused the President’s hand-picked attorney, Lindsey Halligan, of ‘prosecutorial misconduct’ after she secured indictments against the former FBI director and the New York Attorney General.

She added that Halligan is ‘a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience’ who was never eligible to serve.

A 120-day deadline on interim appointments expired during the previous prosecutor’s tenure, meaning Pam Bondi did not have the authority to appoint Halligan – this was up to the district’s federal judges.

‘I conclude that all actions flowing from Ms Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr Comey’s indictment, constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside,’ wrote Currie, a Bill Clinton-appointed judge.

Both Comey and James asked that their cases be dismissed and that the prosecutor be disqualified because of the manner of her appointment. 

The defendants in the two separate cases asked for the indictments to be dismissed with prejudice, which means the Justice Department would not be able to bring the same charges against them. But the judge dismissed with prejudice. 

Comey was charged with making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding relating to his 2020 Senate testimony, where he denied authorizing FBI officials to leak information to the press. 

James was indicted on charges including bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution concerning information on mortgage applications that prosecutors alleged was falsified.

Halligan, a former beauty queen, was named to the job of interim US Attorney for Virginia in September.

Before her appointment, Erik Siebert, a different interim attorney, was forced out amid pressure from Trump to file charges against his political enemies. 

Comey’s lawyers argued that after Siebert was forced out, the judges should have had exclusive say over who would fill the vacancy.

But it was ultimately Trump who moved forward and nominated Halligan as he publicly pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and James.

‘JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!’ the President wrote on Truth Social at the time.

Comey was indicted days later on charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress, and James was charged soon after that in a mortgage fraud investigation.

Keep reading

FBI Admits Its Custody of Crooks’ Body on AGR Building Roof All Night

Kash Patel and Danny Bongino, the number one and two at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have, for the second time, gone public with the agency’s conclusion that the alleged Butler, PA shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was the lone shooter. Okay. But they refuse to release the FBI investigation of the attempted assassination and that’s a problem for a number of reasons.

First, despite numerous investigations, including a Congressional Task Force, a Secret Service investigation, a Senate Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police and others, none have provided any information about how the alleged shooter, who “acted alone,” was identified on the AGR Building.

Recall that the alleged shooter’s body lay on the AGR Building roof all night until 6:30a.m. the following morning. Then, when the Butler County Coroner, William Young III, finally was allowed to go on the roof and conduct his death investigation and identification of the body, it’s anyone’s guess which law enforcement agency had custody of the body all night…until now.

Coroner Young has never made public his investigative notes about how he identified the body – the method – and why he was turned away at midnight when he first tried to make identification of the body and told to return the following day. Who gave Young those orders?  More importantly it’s odd that the body would lie on the roof all night.

Does the public trust that there wasn’t any funny business going on? Would Patel and Bongino believe that there wasn’t any funny business? It must be said that even Patel and Bongino in their former lives, who questioned every single FBI investigation, would have been having conniptions about this odd turn of events. Afterall, it isn’t every day that the dead body of a would-be presidential assassin is left at the crime scene all night.

Then, of course, there is the fact that Patel and Bongino provided this “exclusive update” to an unknown Fox News podcaster? Yep, Brooke Singman got the scoop, despite many others who could have actually asked legitimate questions about the FBI investigation. People like Miranda Devine of the New York Post who just last week outed the FBI for failing to report on the alleged shooter Crooks’s online presence. Of course, if you don’t want to have any serious questions asked Singman is the way to go.

Keep reading

US FBI chief Patel under scrutiny for use of SWAT teams to protect his girlfriend

When Ms Alexis Wilkins, an aspiring country singer dating US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel, sang The Star-Spangled Banner at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual convention in Atlanta in the spring, she arrived with a formidable protective posse – a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team from the bureau’s local field office.

The two agents, members of a specialised unit trained to storm barricaded buildings and rescue hostages, had been sent there on Mr Patel’s orders. But seeing that the event at the Georgia World Congress Center had been secured, and that Ms Wilkins was in no apparent danger, they left before the event was over, according to six people with knowledge of the incident.

She noticed. So did her boyfriend.

Soon after, Mr Patel ripped into the team’s commander, saying that his girlfriend had been left without taxpayer-funded defenders, and slamming what he saw as failure to communicate their movements up the chain of command during her time on the convention floor – where she sang and chatted with attendees, the people said.

He was concerned that Ms Wilkins, a high-profile conservative, might be attacked by people who had threatened her online.

Mr Patel’s heavy use of US taxpayer-funded resources during his first nine months on the job has contributed to growing questions inside the administration about whether it exceeds the bounds of standard practice. This includes an intense use of security to protect himself and his girlfriend.

Keep reading

FBI Concludes Would-Be Trump Assassin Thomas Crooks Acted Alone

The FBI has concluded that would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks acted alone.

Thomas Crooks was able to climb on top of a roof next to Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania rally and put Trump in his scope.

A bullet grazed President Trump’s ear on July 13, 2024 during his Pennsylvania rally. One rallygoer was fatally struck in the head. Two other rally attendees were wounded, one critically.

A Secret Service sniper fatally shot Thomas Matthew Crooks after he took several shots at Trump and rallygoers.

The so-called ‘security lapses’ and circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt against Trump raise questions about how Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to pull everything off by himself.

Thomas Crooks flew a drone over the Butler fairgrounds at least twice on the day of the Trump rally.

He flew his drone at approximately 3:50 – 4:05 pm that day – during the time the Secret Service was having connectivity issues.

According to WaPo, Secret Service agents never directed local police to secure the roof that Thomas Crooks used to take 8 shots at Trump and rallygoers.

It was previously reported that the Secret Service never picked up radios that were set aside for them by local law enforcement in Butler County at Trump’s rally on July 13.

A photo of Thomas Crooks was taken shortly before he somehow managed to get up onto the roof of the building.

At 5:14 pm, just one hour before the assassination attempt of Trump, a member of the Beaver County sniper team took a photo of Crooks checking his cell phone.

Keep reading

FBI Targets ‘764’ Network That Preys on Victims as Young as 9

FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on Nov. 20 that taking down the “764” network—which grooms and coerces minors on gaming and social media platforms—has become one of the bureau’s highest priorities, with hundreds of active investigations into the criminal acts of the “heinous” group.

Patel said in a Nov. 20 statement that the FBI is fully committed to cracking down on the criminal network. He urged parents to monitor their children’s internet activity more closely to limit opportunities for online predators to harm kids.

“This FBI is fully engaged in taking down the heinous ‘764’ network that targets America’s children online,” Patel said.

He also said that more than 300 investigations are ongoing across the United States, and the FBI is “not stopping.”

The network, which investigators say began in 2021 with a Texas teenager, is linked to a broader extremist online ecosystem that pushes children toward self-harm, animal abuse, sexual exploitation, and even suicide.

Bongino said in a Nov. 20 statement that agents in the FBI’s Baltimore field office recently arrested an individual accused of targeting at least five minors as young as 13. The suspect is in federal custody, and more details are expected soon.

“This @FBI will keep working day and night to destroy this network. It is a top priority,” Bongino said. “We are making progress, but the work isn’t done.”

In Arizona, authorities recently announced charges against another alleged “764” affiliate who prosecutors say targeted at least nine victims, including some between the ages of 11 and 15. The indictment alleges crimes including child sexual abuse material production and distribution, cyberstalking, animal-crushing content, and even conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

“This man’s alleged crimes are unthinkably depraved and reflect the horrific danger of 764—if convicted, he will face severe consequences as we work to dismantle this evil network,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “I urge parents to remain vigilant about the threats their children face online.”

Keep reading

Whistleblower: FBI top brass shielded from scrutiny of the bureau’s internal counterespionage unit

An FBI employee blew the whistle on the unit that investigates counterespionage inside the bureau, accusing it of “gross misconduct, fraud and potentially criminal activities.”

Members of the FBI Senior Executive Service have conspired at various times to ensure they are shielded from internal espionage or counterintelligence investigations, according to the whistleblower disclosure provided to the House Judiciary Committee.

The FBI employee said the “executive exemption” from internal investigations was an unwritten policy and practice of the Internal Counterespionage Cell within the Global Operations Section, which is based at FBI headquarters in Washington.

Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican and committee member, reviewed the disclosure.

“It appears the bureau has intentionally and unwisely created its own blind spot, which has compromised our national security. I’m hopeful this administration will take steps to remedy the situation,” he told The Washington Times.

The whistleblower reported the failure of Internal Counterespionage Cell investigators to the FBI’s Internal Affairs Section of the Inspection Division, but then experienced retaliation, said the whistleblower’s attorney, Kurt Siuzdak, who prepared the disclosure.

“After this FBI employee reported the misconduct of ICEC to the Inspection Division, the Inspection Division allowed the Counterintelligence executives to retaliate against the reporting employee by transferring him/her to another office. Retaliatory transfers are prohibited by law and regulation,” he said. “Another employee in ICEC was also threatened after he complained about the issues in ICEC. The Inspection Division took no action to stop the reprisal against this FBI employee.”

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Siuzdak, who has represented other FBI whistleblowers, said a recently retired FBI supervisor who conducted security revocation reviews also provided a protected disclosure to Congress about misconduct within the Security Division.

Under the FBI’s protocol for internal investigation, one of the first steps when a bureau executive is the subject of a counterintelligence investigation is a review of the executive’s security clearance.

“The retired supervisor advised that he does not remember ever receiving any SES security review request from ICEC. He also did not remember any SES having their security clearance revoked by the Security Division,” Mr. Siuzdak said.

The retired supervisor said he would be willing to be reinterviewed by Congress regarding the lack of requests from the Internal Counterespionage Cell.

The “executive exception” is not a recent practice for FBI brass, the disclosure said. It has been in effect for a long time, spanning several FBI directors, and “protects the families and friends of SES executives.”

According to the disclosure, the FBI has the authority to investigate the family and cohabitants of FBI employees, but “does not open these investigations against the families or cohabitants of FBI SES executives.”

“In effect, FBI SES executives are exempt from the type of counterintelligence investigations that have been conducted against other public officials, including President Donald Trump,” it said. “For instance, the FBI received information that a retired FBI assistant director had classified information at his home.”

The disclosure said a senior counterintelligence official decided not to initiate an operation against the retired FBI executive, and no action was taken.

Several employees in the Internal Counterespionage Cell attempted to persuade a second senior counterintelligence official of the Global Operation Section “to open the investigation against the retired SES executive who illegally stole and possessed the classified information,” the disclosure said. The second senior counterintelligence official refused to proceed with the investigation.

Keep reading

South Florida Congresswoman Charged with Stealing $5 Million in FEMA Funds and Making Illegal Campaign Contributions

A federal grand jury in Miami has returned an indictment charging Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants with stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign.

According to the indictment, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds.

The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege that a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants.

The indictment further alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick and Nadege Leblanc, 46, of Miramar, arranged additional contributions using straw donors, funneling other monies from the FEMA-funded Covid-19 contract to friends and relatives who then donated to the campaign as if using their own money.

The indictment also charges Cherfilus-McCormick and her 2021 tax preparer David K. Spencer, 41, of Davie, with conspiring to file a false federal tax return. According to the indictment, they falsely claimed political spending and other personal expenses as business deductions and inflated charitable contributions in order to reduce her tax obligations.

“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida stated, “Today’s indictment shows no one is above the law. This indictment reflects our Office’s commitment to follow the facts, apply the law, and protect the American taxpayer. Public money belongs to the American people. When FEMA funds are diverted for personal or political gain, it erodes trust and harms us all. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are used as intended and that the public’s trust is safeguarded.”

If convicted, Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years in prison. Edwin Cherfilus faces up to 35 years, Leblanc up to 10 years, and Spencer up to 33 years.
U.S. Attorney Reding Quiñones; Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Ronald A. Loecker of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Florida Field Office, made the announcement.

FBI Miami and the IRS-CI Florida Field Office are investigating the case.

Keep reading

Attorney Clevenger Calls Out FBI – Demands Jim Comey and Andrew McCabe Turn Over “Any and All Efforts to Hide Records on Seth Rich”

Attorney Ty Clevenger fired off a blistering letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel back in April, accusing the FBI of flagrantly concealing critical records about the late DNC staffer Seth Rich and the now-discredited Russia collusion narrative.

Seth Rich was murdered in the summer of 2016 before the release of the Hillary Clinton emails. His death has never been explained. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange suggested it was Rich who provided the Hillary-DNC emails to his organization and NOT Russia.

In February 2024, Clevenger demanded that the FBI hand over the Seth Rich documents that they continue to conceal from the public.

The FBI’s refusal follows a pattern of obfuscation. For years, the agency denied even possessing Seth Rich’s laptop—until Clevenger’s legal efforts forced the FBI to admit they had it all along. Yet, the agency still refuses to disclose any metadata from Seth Rich’s electronic devices.

Even more damning, Clevenger has already uncovered proof that the FBI improperly withheld pages from the CrowdStrike report related to the alleged 2016 DNC hack—an event that conveniently became a political weapon against President Donald Trump.

In April, Attorney Ty Clevenger filed a motion in federal court to hold the FBI in contempt for what he calls a “deliberate and willful defiance” of a court order mandating the release of key information related to murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich.

The letter obtained by The Gateway Pundit implicated former DOJ and intelligence officials in what Clevenger describes as a systemic cover-up designed to protect the Obama-era deep state operatives and their media allies.

Clevenger, representing plaintiff Brian Huddleston in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the FBI (Huddleston v. Federal Bureau of Investigation), claims the agency is withholding documents that could unravel the official narrative surrounding Rich’s 2016 murder and the so-called ‘Russian hacking’ of DNC emails.

The attorney argues that the FBI’s refusal to release records, including those from Rich’s work laptop, is not only a violation of FOIA but also an attempt to shield evidence that could exonerate Russia and point to an inside job at the DNC.

Earlier this week, Attorney Ty Clevenger sent a scathing letter to James Gillingham, the attorney representing the FBI in the Seth Rich FOIA case.

Clevenger added information on how former FBI Director James Comey would deliberately misspell names (e.g., for Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, and Anthony Weiner) so that his emails would not be discovered during keyword searches.

James Comey was using a private email account under a fake name in order to hide his communications, and the recipient of Comey’s emails was using a non-FBI account even though he was an FBI special employee.

Keep reading