Tag: washington dc

House passes bills giving president power to choose D.C. judges, loosen police pursuit rules

The Republican-led House approved legislation on Wednesday that would give the president greater authority in choosing D.C. Superior Court judges and would relax pursuit restrictions for the Metropolitan Police Department, further overriding the District’s control over its criminal justice system.

The bills’ passage followed the House’s approval on Tuesday of legislation that seeks to lower the age at which juveniles can be charged as adults in the District and revoke the sentencing leniency that young adult convicts can receive in court.

The four proposals are part of a package of more than a dozen bills aiming to curtail public safety laws enacted in the District. House Democrats accused their Republican colleagues of being too eager to trample on the District’s autonomy, but the GOP members were unfazed.

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DC Grand Jury Declines to Indict DC Lawyer and West Point Grad Charged with Assaulting and Threatening to Kill National Guardsmen

A DC grand jury has once again declined to indict an individual charged with a serious crime against federal agents.

On Tuesday it was reported that a DC grand jury declined to indict a DC attorney and West Point grad charged with assaulting and threatening to kill National Guardsmen last month.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro charged Paul Bryant for physically assaulting a National Guardsman patrolling the streets of DC on Trump’s orders.

Bryant threatened the guardsmen and said, “I’ll kill you.”

“The charges against Bryant are the most serious yet to be rejected by a grand jury. One count against him under a D.C. Code statute for threats to injure another person carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Another count for threatening a federal official carries a maximum of 10 years,” WUSA9 reported.

WUSA9 reported:

A federal grand jury has declined to indict a D.C. lawyer accused of assaulting and threatening members of the National Guard, WUSA9 has learned.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office informed a magistrate judge Tuesday that grand jurors had returned a no true bill for Paul Anthony Bryant, according to two people familiar with the matter. The rejection is at least the eighth time in the last month a grand jury has declined to charge felonies sought by Pirro’s office.

Bryant was arrested roughly an hour-and-a-half after an alleged Aug. 24 incident involving members of the National Guard who were patrolling on 14th Street Northwest as part of President Donald Trump’s federal surge in D.C. In an affidavit filed in federal court, investigators accused Bryant of approaching the Guardsmen while yelling things, including “These are our streets!” and, allegedly, “I’ll kill you.” Before leaving the area, according to the affidavit, Bryant “threw his left shoulder” into one of the Guardsmen’s shoulders.

Bryant, a graduate of West Point and Columbia Law School, told a judge the charges were “baseless” and derided prosecutors for filing a case predicated on hearsay. Because members of the National Guard patrolling D.C. do not wear body cameras, Bryant’s attorney said there is no video of the alleged incident.

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Two Juveniles Arrested For Murder of 21-Year-Old Capitol Hill Intern

As previously reported, a 21-year-old intern for Republican Representative Ron Estes of Kansas was killed in late June in Washington, D.C..

Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, who was a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was shot and killed in Northwest Washington, D.C.

Police reported that the shooting occurred around 10:28 pm when a group of unidentified suspects fired shots at Tarpinian-Jachym and two others, which included a 16-year-old male and an adult female.

ABC News reported that investigators have stated the shooting was targeted, but Tarpinian-Jachym was not the intended target.

Two 17-year-olds were arrested for the murder of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym.

Per US Attorney General Pam Bondi:

On June 30th, Congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was senselessly murdered in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to outstanding investigative work from FBI, two of his suspected killers were just arrested. If convicted, they will face severe justice.

We hope that this provides some measure of solace to his family.

On June 30th, Congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym was senselessly murdered in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to outstanding investigative work from @FBI, two of his suspected killers were just arrested. If convicted, they will face severe justice.

We hope that this provides…

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) September 5, 2025

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the juveniles will be charged as adults.

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House Republicans create new panel to reinvestigate Jan. 6

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on party lines on Aug. 3 to create a special panel to reinvestigate the events of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

Steered by Republicans, the new subcommittee’s creation is an escalation of the party’s rewriting of the history of the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol. The historic attacks by some of President Donald Trump‘s supporters disrupted the peaceful transfer of power after former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

In 2022, after 18 months of investigating the events leading up to the insurrection, the original House Jan. 6 committee found that Trump was the “central cause” of the riots. The panel of lawmakers decided unanimously to issue four criminal referrals against Trump to the Justice Department, accusing him of conspiracy to defraud the United States and inciting an insurrection.

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DC Grand Jury Declines to Indict Woman Who Threatened to Disembowel and Murder President Trump

A DC jury has once again declined to indict a defendant charged by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Nathalie Jones was recently arrested for threatening to disembowel and murder President Trump.

According to the DOJ, 50-year-old Nathalie Rose Jones was charged with threatening to take the life of, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, and transmitting in interstate commerce communications containing threats to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.

“She was working to have [Trump] eliminated. She’s now in custody, she will be prosecuted to the fullest extent to the law,” Pirro said.

“Threatening the life of the President is one of the most serious crimes and one that will be met with swift and unwavering prosecution. Make no mistake—justice will be served. We extend our deepest gratitude to our dedicated law enforcement partners, especially the Secret Service Special Agents from New York and Washington, D.C., for their tireless commitment to protecting our leaders and our nation,” Pirro said in a statement.

However, a DC grand jury didn’t agree with Pirro and declined to indict Nathalie Jones.

“A grand jury has now found no probable cause to indict Ms. Jones on the charged offenses”, Nathalie Jones’ defense attorneys said.

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Potential DC school shooter arrested with guns after social media threat: ATF, MTPD report

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) say that they stopped a school shooting in D.C. just one day after a mass shooter opened fire on a mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school.

The investigation began with an “alarming” social media post referencing a potential threat to a DC public school, according to MTPD’s Criminal Investigation Division. They have not yet revealed which school was targeted.

On August 27, MTPD and ATF conducted a search warrant at a District residence where multiple firearms were recovered, and a teen was placed under arrest.

“As part of our participation in a longstanding ATF task force, we’re proud of our officers who disrupted this significant public safety threat,” a MTPD spokesperson said. “We are focused on keeping our Metro system and community safe across the region.”

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President Trump to Sign Executive Order to End Cashless Bail by Defunding Soft-on-Crime Liberal Jurisdictions

President Trump will sign an executive order on Monday to pressure liberal jurisdictions across the country into ending policies like cashless bail.

The order will threaten to federally defund cities and towns that enforce these policies that are an “obvious threat to public safety,” the order states.

Earlier this month, President Trump declared a “public safety emergency” in the nation’s capital and federalized the DC Metropolitan Police, citing high crime and unsafe streets. He further authorized the use of National Guard troops and deployed federal agents across the city to tackle the rampant crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration crises.

Following the federal takeover two weeks ago, there have been almost no murders in the District. There have been zero homicides in the last eleven days.

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Pirro: Those carrying rifles or shotguns in D.C. will no longer face felony charges

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro has announced that federal prosecutors will no longer pursue felony charges for mere possession of rifles or shotguns in Washington, D.C.

This change means that, except in certain cases, felony charges will no longer be implemented under a D.C. law that made it illegal to carry rifles or shotguns within its boundaries.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office will, however, continue to seek charges whenever a person is accused of committing a violent crime with a shotgun or rifle, or if the individual has a criminal record that prohibits them from possessing a firearm. The new policy also includes large-capacity magazines, but excludes handguns. Officials are also able to prosecute individuals in possession of unregistered rifles and shotguns in the district.

Pirro made a statement explaining that the policy change is in alignment with Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rulings protecting gun rights, and was enacted under the guidance of the Justice Department and the Office of Solicitor General.

The first SCOTUS ruling the former Fox News host referenced overturned a New York gun law in 2022 and held that Americans have a right to carry firearms I public for self-defense. She asserted that a blanket ban on the possession of shotguns and rifles violates this opinion. The second ruling cited was from 2008, where the court blocked D.C.’s ban on handguns within the home.

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Washington D.C. Has The Highest Unemployment Rate In The Nation

The U.S. labor market remains resilient in 2025, but unemployment figures vary widely by state.

While the national unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in June, some regions are experiencing far higher (or far lower) joblessness.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, highlights the unemployment rate by state using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for June 2025.

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Biden judge sticks it to Trump by releasing teens who assaulted Big Balls as president celebrates DC crackdown: ‘Everybody’s safe now’

A Biden-appointed judge has defied President Donald Trump by releasing two teenagers accused of assaulting a DOGE employee on the streets of Washington D.C.

The revelation comes shortly after Trump celebrated his success in cracking down on crime in the capital, telling Americans ‘everybody is safe now’ in a Thursday press conference.

Trump had dedicated mass resources to Washington in the weeks after 19-year-old former DOGE staffer Edward ‘Big Balls’ Coristine was attacked on the streets.

Coristine was left bloody, badly beaten and fearing he was concussed on August 5 when he tried to stop a carjacking. 

Judge Kendra Briggs, who was appointed by Joe Biden during his presidency, on Thursday ordered the release of the two teenagers believed to be responsible for the crime.

The two suspects, a boy and girl both aged 15, are accused of an attempted carjacking and assaulting Coristine on August 3. Police later shared photos of a third suspect.

The duo, who cannot be named due to their ages, are from Hyattsville, Maryland, and have been placed under strict rules in order to be released from juvenile detention. 

The girl will move into a youth shelter house, while the boy is permitted to live at his mother’s home.

Both will be required to attend school and will have a strict curfew, as well as electric monitoring.

‘School and home, that’s it,’ Briggs told the duo, according to The Washington Post.

‘The fact that this court is stepping you down from Youth Services Center is a serious step,’ the judge added.

The pair are forbidden from contacting one another, and Briggs assured them that if she heard of any breaches, there would be an emergency hearing scheduled to deal with the consequences.

Each teenager had one parent virtually present at the hearing.

The girl has another pending matter in Maryland, and prosecutors objected to her release, describing her as a danger to the community and a flight risk.

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