DOJ Cuts a Second Deal With Trump Ally Michael Flynn

The Department of Justice has reached a second agreement to fork over taxpayer dollars to President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

A brief document filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims Friday stated that the parties had agreed to a settlement “in principle,” but needed more time to finalize the details.

It’s not yet clear how much money Trump intends to hand off to his ally, in addition to the $1.25 million settlement the DOJ agreed to last month.

Friday’s settlement relates to a civil suit Flynn brought against the government, alleging that the U.S. Army had illegally garnished his retirement pay after it found he had accepted compensation from a foreign government source without first seeking approval from the Department of Defense, Lawfare’s Anna Bower wrote on Substack.

Flynn previously alleged he was wrongfully prosecuted for making false statements to federal agents as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—even though he pleaded guilty to lying, twice.

The Trump administration is coming after Jimmy Kimmel—again.

Both President Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday joined the train of hate kicked off by first lady Melania Trump in response to Kimmel’s jokes at a parody White House Correspondent’s Dinner last week.

“Wow, Jimmy Kimmel, who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings … showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren’t, and never would be. He then stated, ‘Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,’” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. “A day later a lunatic tried entering the ballroom of the White House Correspondents Dinner, loaded up with a shotgun, handgun, and many knives. He was there for a very obvious and sinister reason.

“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale. Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC,” Trump concluded.

Trump, like Melania, is asserting that a joke a comedian told two full days before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner led directly to Cole Allen’s alleged shooting attempt. That assertion is facetious at best—Allen’s supposed manifesto specially referenced Trump’s lack of respect for Christianity, his decision to cut off funding for Ukraine, and the country being led by “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor” as primary grievances for his actions, not some poorly-aged joke from Kimmel of all people.

Leavitt joined in on the pearl-clutching earlier on Monday.

“Who in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?” she said. “And having experienced what I did with the first lady on Saturday night, I can tell you that she was anything but that. This kind of rhetoric about the president, the first lady, and his supporters is completely deranged, and it’s unbelievable that the American people are consuming it night after night after night.”

The Trump administration is showing all of this concern and disgust over a bad joke that was ultimately nothing more than a joke, not a call to murder. Their boss has made comments much worse—and much more serious—than Kimmel.

This story has been updated.

Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president of the United States.

Allen appeared at a brief preliminary hearing Monday, where Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh announced that he’d been charged with attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition across state lines, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

The charge for the firearm offense carries a minimum sentence of 10 years, and the transportation charge carries a maximum of 10 years, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney on X.

Meanwhile, attempting to assassinate the president carries a potential life sentence. In February, Ryan Routh received life in prison after he was convicted of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at the president’s eponymous golf club in Palm Beach.

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine argued that Allen should be recommended for pretrial detention.

“He attempted to assassinate the president of the United States. We are asking the court to preventatively detain Mr. Allen. He’s charged with a federal crime of terrorism, which mandates detention,” she said, according to Scott MacFarlane on X.

It’s not clear, however, that Allen is facing a terrorism charge. Federal prosecutors may choose to charge Allen with terrorism if they believe his attempted act of violence was an effort to affect policy.

Allen has accepted the services of two veteran public defenders, Tezira Abe and Eugene Ohm, Politico reported.

This story has been updated.

The U.S. Mint claims to be a symbol of the founding principles of America, its gold coins a product of the country’s personal success. But that’s not exactly true.

Instead, the U.S. Mint’s gold program is the amalgamation of several illicit sources, effectively serving as the final laundering point for foreign powers and cartels before the precious metal is clean and ready for sale on the international market.

An investigation by The New York Times, published Sunday, followed the money from its origins in dangerous and unlawful mines to American-based refineries as far north as West Point.

The Mint is the biggest name in the global gold coin market. Its profits are a boon to the U.S. Treasury that help to cover various government expenses.

In 1985, Congress banned the agency from making bullion out of foreign gold, an explicit attempt to distance the moneymaking institution from human rights abuses abroad. As a result, purchasing gold from the Mint is supposed to come with a vote of confidence, a promise that the bad actors of the world are not profiting from or exploiting the process.

But the Mint has blatantly and repeatedly violated that law since its implementation, regardless of which party is in charge of Washington. In doing so, it has allowed even some of the country’s most ardent adversaries to pocket cash from American operations.

Gold has become one of the most valuable commodities in the market. An ounce of gold in 1985 was worth, on average, $317, according to a gold tracker hosted by SD Bullion. Today, that same ounce is worth $4,688, nearly five times the value when adjusted for inflation.

The Times tracked hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold from the far corners of the globe, including a mine in Colombia run by Clan del Golfo, a violent cartel blacklisted by the Treasury Department that traffics in gold alongside cocaine, as well as a Congolese mine that is partly owned by the Chinese government. Even terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda have gotten into the American gold trade.

With the money they make, the various entities affiliated with the trade are able to wage war, sustain autocracies, and commit murder. Gold mining has funded Sudan’s civil war, which has so far displaced more than 14 million people, and bankrolled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The trade has bolstered Venezuela and Iran, helping the countries overstep economic sanctions.

Locally, the mining has produced toxic results. Many of the mines are just as bad for the environment as they are for the people running them: Portions of the Amazon rainforest have been indiscriminately deforested and polluted in order to make way for the mines. Where gold is found in mud, workers mix in mercury by hand, hoping to bind the metals together. In doing so, they poison themselves and the local ecosystems.

When first approached by the Times, a spokesperson for the Mint said that the agency’s gold came entirely from the U.S. But when confronted by the paper’s findings, the spokesperson changed their tune, claiming instead that the U.S. was the Mint’s “primary” source for gold and that it was taking steps to better track the trade.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose department oversees the Mint, told the Times that he would open an investigation into the matter.

“This review is focused on ensuring that the U.S. Mint’s gold suppliers comply with the law and strictly satisfy their obligations, and that the Mint takes every step possible to continue to vigorously safeguard our national security and uphold market integrity,” Bessent said in a written statement.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released his new proposed congressional map Monday that aims to grab four more Republican seats in the House of Representatives.

DeSantis told Fox News that “Florida got shortchanged in the 2020 census, and we’ve been fighting for fair representation ever since.

“Our population has since grown dramatically, and we have moved from a Democrat majority to a 1.5 million Republican advantage. Drawing maps based on race, which is reflected in our current congressional districts, is unconstitutional and should be prohibited,” DeSantis added, without mentioning that his office also drew the state’s congressional maps in 2022 after the census.

The state House and Senate now have to approve the new map, which would then go to DeSantis’s desk to be signed into law and take effect for November’s midterm elections. If it is passed, the hope is that Republicans would increase their 20–8 congressional seat advantage to 24–4.

The Democrats most at risk by this proposal are Representatives Kathy Castor, Jared Moskowitz, Darren Soto, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But as Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman pointed out, redrawing Castor’s district will risk neighboring Republicans in Tampa Bay, who will suddenly have new Democratic constituents.

DeSantis, just as in 2022, is attempting to get around Florida’s Constitution, which bans legislators from drawing districts with “the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.” He’s trying to claim executive privilege, make the process as opaque as possible to frustrate legal challenges, and then run out the clock on those challenges.

If successful, Republicans hope that their nationwide redistricting will beat out efforts in Democratic-run states like California and Virginia and ultimately stem a backlash against Trump and the GOP this November. But eliminating four safe Democratic seats to create unsafe Republican seats could easily backfire and make the whole effort moot.

President Donald Trump enthusiastically endorsed the idea of changing “ICE” agents into “NICE” agents, in another lame effort to own the libs as his presidency continues to implode.

Last month, Alyssa Marie, a former “journalist” with Project Veritas, the far-right organization known for its hidden-camera stings, pitched a dystopian rebrand for the federal agents charged with carrying out the president’s mass deportation scheme.

“I want Trump to change ICE to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement) so the media has to say NICE agents all day everyday,” she wrote on X.

More than a month later, the president responded enthusiastically to the idea. “GREAT IDEA!!! DO IT,” he wrote on Truth Social Sunday.

MAGA accounts on social media were instantly whipped into a frenzy as they discussed how satisfying it would be to watch the president’s critics melt down because they had to refer to “NICE” agents. While Trump may know how to fire up his own base, it seems that Americans aren’t really interested in an administration whose singular goal is to own the libs.

As of last week, Trump’s approval rating has sunk to less than 40 percent. Some polls have seen him shrink to a second-term low, while others have seen him at the lowest depths of either term in office. While Trump’s latest dive bomb is a direct result of his reckless military campaign in Iran, ICE’s lawless actions are playing no small part in the president’s slow fall from grace.

American voters have borne witness to ICE agents’ use of threats and intimidation, excessive force, warrantless searches or arrests, racial profiling, and wrongful detentions. ICE has detained hundreds of children, and families of mixed legal status are being regularly torn apart by the administration’s relentless immigration crackdown. Federal immigration agents were also responsible for the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

But sure. Call them “NICE.” It won’t get you reelected.

The White House is already using Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to try and get a lawsuit against President Trump’s ballroom dropped.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted a letter on X Sunday night to lawyers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is suing to stop the ballroom’s construction. The letter demands the organization dismiss its “frivolous lawsuit,” claiming the shooting proved the necessity of the ballroom as a “safe space.”

“Yesterday’s assassination attempt on President Trump proves, yet again, that the White House ballroom is essential for the safety and security of the President, his family, his cabinet, and his staff,” the letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, states.

“Put simply, your lawsuit helps put the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at grave risk. I hope yesterday’s narrow miss will help you finally realize the folly of a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose except to stop President Trump no matter the cost,” the letter added.

Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday morning about how “what happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE.”

It’s almost astonishing at how quickly the administration came up with this excuse for the ballroom, trivializing an actual assassination attempt on the president and top Cabinet officials. Just hours after the shooting, some of the president’s most fervent MAGA supporters were posting about the need for a ballroom for the safety of the president and the first family, giving fodder to conspiracy theorists.

Their argument is hollow: This wasn’t a White House event, and thus, wouldn’t have been held at the White House—so no ballroom would have helped him. Moreover, the president is going to have to leave the White House grounds for events, and shouldn’t be hiding from interacting with the American people in a gilded ballroom. The idea that this bloated, ethically compromised monstrosity on the White House grounds is somehow necessary for safety reasons is a joke.

First lady Melania Trump is calling on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel for a joke he made well before any shots were fired at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, calling the late night talk show host a “coward” whose jokes deepen “the political sickness within America.“

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy—his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America,” she wrote Monday morning on X. “People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

The first lady framed her comments as if Kimmel’s joke directly contributed to the shooting Saturday. That was not the case.

“Our first lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow,” Kimmel said at a parodied version of the dinner Thursday.

Two days later, suspected gunman Cole Allen attempted a shooting at the Correspondents’ Dinner, resulting in chaos. And while Kimmel’s joke aged poorly (just like White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comment about “shots” being fired at the dinner), his joke wasn’t what led to Trump being in danger.

If the first lady is so upset by Kimmel’s comments, she should spend some time scrolling Truth Social—her husband was just making genocidal threats to Iran last month.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner devolved into a chaotic scene Saturday after a gunman rushed past security. Afterward, multiple current and former law enforcement agents told MS NOW that there were three glaring security issues that may have made this possible.  

First was the reliance on a single security checkpoint. Fox News’s Bill Melugin recounted how he entered the Washington Hilton by simply flashing his ticket. To enter a pre-party at the venue, guests did not have to present identification or submit to security screenings. 

“Only once it was time to get into the main ballroom for the dinner did we pass through magnetometers, empty our pockets, and get a pat down. And even that checkpoint was just outside of the dinner room,” Melugin wrote on X Sunday. 

The security checkpoint was set up only a staircase away from the ballroom entrance to avoid interfering with the hotel’s other guests. Staffers at the security checkpoint weren’t paying as close attention after the dinner began, because they were not expecting additional arrivals, a current Secret Service agent told MS NOW.

Second, many of the security officials who spoke with MS NOW also voiced concerns over the apparently chaotic evacuation efforts. Why was Vice President JD Vance escorted off the stage before President Donald Trump? A Secret Service official told MS NOW that Trump’s security team believed the ballroom was safe, and took a moment to ensure an underground walkway was secure before escorting the president there. Trump admitted later that he’d intentionally slowed down his own departure. He was also seen tripping on the way out. 

WTOP News documented a staggered departure for other administration officials. Minutes after Trump fled, a security team swarmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s table. Shortly after, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche were escorted out of the room. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel waited for several minutes before being evacuated. 

And finally, it seems that in general, security officials questioned whether the Washington Hilton was a suitable venue for an event hosting the president of the United States and multiple Cabinet members. “Hotel guests could still come and go, no checking credentials nor physical screening outside of area, just the [magnetometers] near the ballroom,” one former Secret Service official told MS NOW. “Considering the VP and Cabinet members were there, there should have been more security.”

One former presidential detail leader told MS NOW: “I hate that venue. Too much working against you.”

The Trump administration is attempting to clear its immigration backlog by cramming the court system with MAGA-aligned “deportation judges.”

Across the country, there are 700 immigration judges tasked with handling more than three million immigration cases. The Justice Department has fired more than 100 immigration judges since Donald Trump returned to office, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. A similar number have retired.

To replace them all, the agency has opened a massive recruitment drive, offering up the specialized bench to some 140 individuals who, for the most part, have no experience practicing immigration law. Instead, some of the newly hired judges include a divorce lawyer who swore to “fight exclusively for the rights of men,” a Minnesota attorney who backed the ICE raids in Minneapolis that resulted in two U.S. citizens being killed by federal agents, and a judge who denied humanitarian protection to a Serbian immigrant because he didn’t look “overtly gay.”

These people are being installed following “completely inadequate and highly biased” training, Christopher Day, a former immigration judge, told Congress in March.

Former judges said that the hiring process, historically, could take months or even years. Their training involved five weeks observing court hearings, participating in mock trials, and practicing cases alongside their mentors before judging cases on their own. The National Association of Immigration Judges told the Post that the DOJ has since cut training down to three weeks.

Ex-judges who were forced out claim that the administration is attempting to excise dissent from the judiciary, singling out those who have ruled against the government, reported the Post.

“They’re trying to create a malleable workforce that will do what they want without question,” Kerry Doyle, an ICE official turned immigration judge, told the paper. She was hired under Joe Biden and fired last year before her tenure even began. “That’s what I think the goal is.”

The Trump administration has made mass deportation a cornerstone of its immigration agenda, repeatedly pledging to deport as many as one million people per year while Trump is in office. Under ex–Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Justice Department massively reallocated its resources toward arresting and prosecuting noncriminal immigrants, dropping tens of thousands of criminal probes in the process.

Much to the chagrin of Trump’s supporters, the actual exit numbers have been lagging. In a December memo, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that it had deported some 605,000 individuals since Trump’s return, a figure that it artificially fluffed by claiming that DHS law enforcement had also encouraged 1.9 million people to “voluntarily self-deport.”

Immigration court is one of the final, legally required steps before the Trump administration can throw the people out of the country, though the administration seems content to ignore the limitations of the law. Instead, the DOJ has attempted to ram cases through the system in an attempt to meet the White House’s demands, placing an enormous and unusual burden on America’s judges.

Six federal judges were fired just this month for prioritizing the law over the White House agenda. At least two had ruled against high-profile deportation cases in the last year.

The Justice Department’s rightward shift into the MAGA agenda has sparked concern among those in the legal community, who have argued that the agency’s recent politicization has undermined public confidence in immigration courts altogether. Some attorneys have expressed concern that even individuals who are likely to be granted asylum might avoid participating in the system, ironically avoiding the process of becoming documented for fear of being deported at the courthouse.

“It sends a message that: Don’t trust these courts,” Muzaffar A. Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, told the Post. “That is not good for the immigrants, it’s not good for the rule of law, and it’s not good for the ultimate integrity and reputation of our court system.”