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National News
Dem congressional candidate hit with federal charges after anti-ICE protest
The Department of Justice has charged U.S. House Democratic candidate Kat Abughazaleh for allegedly impeding law enforcement following a September protest at the Broadview ICE facility in Chicago.
In addition to Abughazaleh, the DOJ also charged Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin, Catherine Sharp, Brian Straw, and Joselyn Walsh. Authorities alleged that the group surrounded an ICE agent's vehicle and damaged it.
Abughazaleh, a former journalist, was accused of bracing her body against the vehicle. The indictment also claimed that someone scratched the word "PIG" on the car.
In a video posted to X, Abughazaleh said she was exercising her First Amendment rights.
"This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent, a right protected under the First Amendment," she explained. "This case is a major push by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish anyone who speaks out against them."
A video shared by DHS in September showed Abughazaleh being thrown to the ground by an officer outside the Broadview facility.
"Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals," the post claimed. "You will not stop @ICEgov and DHS law enforcement from enforcing our immigration laws."
"I love watching communists get body slammed by ICE," Trump insider Laura Loomer responded, according to MSNBC.
"Good work," Fox News host Laura Ingraham agreed.
National News
MAGA prosecutor won’t explain scrubbed sentencing memo for rioter who threatened Obama
President Donald Trump's federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., refused to answer questions from reporters on why the Justice Department whitewashed a sentencing memo for a violent Jan. 6 rioter who was charged for an incident in which he livestreamed himself near former President Barack Obama's house with a stash of illegal guns and ammunition.
Tyler Taranto, during his heavily armed stream in 2023, also made a fake bomb threat against a government building. He separately received a pardon for his involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"US Atty Jeanine Pirro was just asked about the scrubbing of sentencing memo (of Jan 6 references) in Taylor Taranto case. Why did it happen? She wouldn't answer directly... and said the 'papers speak for themselves,'" stated CBS News' Scott MacFarlane on Thursday.
Additionally, Pirro, a former far-right Fox News personality who has pushed election conspiracy theories, would not comment on why a pair of prosecutors who worked on the memo were placed on leave.
The redoing of the sentencing memo, which argued Taranto receive 27 months in prison, raised alarm bells among legal experts, as not only did the new version remove all references to him being a January 6 rioter, it also removed references to the fact that Trump posted the location of Obama's home on Truth Social shortly before Taranto's threatening stunt.
On Thursday, a judge sentenced Taranto to 21 months, which works out to "time served," as well as three years' supervised release.
