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‘Pedophile protector!’ Ex-cop gets in Dan Bongino’s face over Epstein probe failures
Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was confronted in public Saturday over his handling of the criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein and potential co-conspirators, with one heckler issuing Bongino an especially brutal nickname, as seen in a clip of the confrontation that went viral on Sunday.
Details of the event Bongino was confronted are sparse, though the conservative news website The Gateway Pundit reported Sunday that it took place Saturday evening. Far-right lawyer and Army veteran Ivan Raiklin also confirmed details of the incident after refuting claims that he had been the one to confront the former FBI deputy director. Bongino has also shared at least 10 posts on social media Sunday morning mocking the group that apparently confronted him.
In the video, an unidentified individual recording the encounter approached Bongino and immediately began insulting the ex-FBI official.
“You’re a pedophile protector!” the individual can be heard shouting. “A pedophile protector, pedophile protector!”
A visibly angry Bongino fired back and could be heard shouting “go volunteer to do something!"
“I was a cop for nine years, you’re a pedophile protector, f-----!” the individual said, using a homophobic slur. “You’re a pedophile protector, f--- you, dude, f--- you!”
Raiklin was initially attributed as having been the one to confront Bongino by several prominent X users, an attribution he refuted several times.
“I wasn't the one who said that nor caused the scene,” Raiklin wrote in a social media post Sunday. “It was some former cop.”
Another clip of the encounter filmed from a different angle – shared by the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers – shows Bongino lashing out at the group, shouting “you didn’t do s—!”
Bongino has faced MAGA outrage in the wake of his resignation from the FBI over his agency’s handling of its probe into Epstein and potential co-conspirators. Despite having hyped up theories around Epstein prior to his role at the agency, he later signed off on a memo that concluded Epstein had died by suicide and that no evidence existed to prosecute potential co-conspirators of Epstein.Tom Homan scrambles to explain ICE airport duties after Trump puts him under the gun
Donald Trump’s impulsive weekend decision to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to the nation’s airports to do the jobs of TSA agents not being paid by the administration, put his border czar on the spot on CNN.
Early Sunday morning, the frustrated president said ICE would pulled from their jobs grabbing immigrants off the street to help out at airports plagued by TSA sick-outs and that Homan would be responsible for getting it done.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tom Homan, who inherited former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s duties after she was fired, was pressed by host Dana Bash over training for agents who have no airport security experience .
According to Homan, it is a “work in progress” and details are still be worked out before the Monday deadline.
“Are ICE agents even remotely trained to handle security at airports?” the CNN host asked.
“Ice agents receive high-level training,” Homan insisted. “And, you know, ICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already. They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigation on smuggling reports. But, you know, there's, I mean, there's a lot TSA agents covering exits, you know, people that enter through the exits. You know, certainly a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit that makes people don't go through those exits entering the airport, through the exits. That stuff like that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to, to reduce those lines. “
“I don't see an ICE agent looking at an x-ray machine because they're not trained in that,” he admitted.
After the Trump official elaborated, “So hopefully we'll have all those answers here by this afternoon, but we're working on it. And when we deploy tomorrow, we'll have a well-thought-out plan to execute,” the skeptical CNN host asked, “With respect, if you're doing this in 24 hours, how well thought out could it possibly be?”
“Again, ICE has been at airports across the country for a long time. It's just expanding those things,” Homan pushed back. “Look, it does it –– how much of a plan does it mean to guard an exit, to make sure no one comes through that exit? And we're talking about security options. And these officers are well-trained in security and they're well-trained in identification. And we're going to do what we can to help TSA move those people through the line.”
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‘The biggest middle finger’: The View blasts Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons
The co-hosts of "The View" were furious with new President Donald Trump handing pardons and clemency to some of the most violent Jan. 6 attackers.
In his speech issuing pardons to approximately 1500 people, co-host Sara Haines was offended that Trump used the word "hostages" to refer to those imprisoned since there are actual hostages still in the Middle East.
"They were terrorized by Hamas and have not all come back, so that's a hostage. You can't use that term loosely," she said. "These people committed crimes."
ALSO READ: The terrifying implications of pardoning insurrectionists who killed and maimed
"When we talk about guardrails — you said no one is there to check him," she continued. "His own vice president said if you committed violence on that day, January 6th, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned. His attorney general last week said I condemn any violence on a law enforcement officer in this country. Sixty percent of Americans don't agree with pardoning them. This was the biggest middle finger he could give the entire country. Out of all of his options."
The panel debated President Joe Biden issuing preemptive pardons to people like Dr. Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and his own family. The pardons came after years of Trump threatening retribution against them.
Alyssa Farah Griffin said that Biden should operate on a moral high ground and shouldn't have issued pardons for his family without also stepping in to save those who spoke out against Trump, who will likely be targeted in the coming years.
Alexander Vindman's wife, Rachel, complained on Threads that her husband wasn't offered a pardon. Vindman came forward about Trump attempting to bribe the president of Ukraine to announce an investigation into Biden before he'd send the military aide given by Congress.
Others like Griffin herself and aides like Cassidy Hutchinson came forward to testify before the Jan. 6 committee. There is a fear that they will also become targets but weren't protected the way the officials and their staff were.
"I think Biden holds himself on this certain moral high ground and sets a very dangerous precedent," said Griffin.
Sunny Hostin disagreed, saying that Trump is a "very dangerous man," and she understands Biden's fear for his family.
"Yes," Griffin agreed, saying that Trump is dangerous. However, "that's going to allow that man to basically give blanket pardons to anyone he chooses."
Hostin argued that Trump would do that regardless of Biden's actions and had campaigned on it.
See the discussion below or at the link here.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Trump fires first woman to head a U.S. military service
President Donald Trump's administration has removed Admiral Linda Fagan -- the first woman to lead a U.S. military service -- as the head of the Coast Guard.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Coast Guard, did not immediately respond to a request on Tuesday for comment on Fagan's dismissal.
Fox News cited a senior official saying reasons included her failure to address border security threats, excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and an "erosion of trust" over the Coast Guard's investigation into sexual assault cases.
Trump and other Republicans have long railed against government programs aimed at fostering diversity, and border security is a key priority for the president, who declared a national emergency at the US frontier with Mexico on Monday, the first day of his new term.
"She served a long and illustrious career, and I thank her for her service to our nation," acting DHS secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a message to the Coast Guard, which is one of the five US military branches.
Fagan had led the Coast Guard since 2022, and previously held posts including vice commandant of the service.
She "served on all seven continents, from the snows of Ross Island, Antarctica to the heart of Africa, from Tokyo to Geneva, and in many ports along the way," according to an archived version of her biography, which is no longer available on the Coast Guard website.
© Agence France-Presse
‘Something we have to do’: Border czar Tom Homan on snatching immigrants from schools
"Border czar" Tom Homan vowed to snatch undocumented immigrants from schools if he deemed them a threat to national security.
During a Tuesday interview on Fox Business, host Stuart Varney noted that the Department of Homeland Security "issued a memo to repeal limits on ICE agents."
"Am I right in saying that this frees up ICE agents to go into schools, hospitals, and other institutions to arrest illegals?" Varney asked Homan.
"Well, again, the officers have a great deal of discretion depending on the location," Homan confirmed. "There's not a blanket, you know, saying we can't go in these locations at all, but there's going to be a process put in place where there is discretion used."
"If and when ICE went into a school to arrest someone, that would be highly contentious, wouldn't it?" Varney pressed.
ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration
"Well, absolutely," Homan agreed. "But then again, you know, what's our national security worth?"
"I mean, if we have a national security vulnerability that we know is a national security risk, and we've got to walk on a college campus to get them, that's something we have to do."
TX GOP rep. calls for ‘naming everything American’ after Trump changes Gulf of Mexico
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) called for "naming everything American" after President Donald Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed to the "Gulf of America."
In an executive order this week, Trump gave the secretary of the Interior 30 days to "take all appropriate actions to rename as the 'Gulf of America' the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico."
He also said Danali would be named "Mount McKinley" and called for "taking back" the Panama Canal.
"I don't know what happened in the past, but President Trump is right for that, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America," Hunt told Fox News on Tuesday. "You know, I'm a patriot. I'm a combat veteran."
ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration
"I love the idea of naming everything American, if you ask me," he added. "But these are the kind of issues, the culture issues that people want to see, putting our country first. That's exactly what he is signaling by some of these decisions."
Fox News host Steve Doocy joked: "He owns a bunch of golf courses. Maybe he was saying Golf of America, not Gulf."
‘Is God partisan?’ Priest takes issue with Trump’s claim he was ‘saved by God’
A Catholic priest told CNN that he takes issue with President Donald Trump's claim that God saved him from an assassin's bullet so he could help "make America great again."
Father Edward Beck, chaplain at Manhattan University and CNN contributor on religious and spiritual matters, told host Kate Bolduan on Tuesday that Trump's inaugural comments on a day that happened to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, amounted to "hubris."
Bolduan played a clip of Trump saying Monday, "Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again."
ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration
Beck began, "Well, I think the theology is problematic. So, did God not save MLK Jr.? I mean, a prophet, who is speaking about a vision for the country that we still revere to this day? Why was he killed and why was this president saved? So, does God have favorites? Is God partisan? What makes you think that that was God's intervention, other than hubris, which is condemned in the scripture and it lacks humility, and so it's not my theology. It's not the theology of the Judeo-Christian tradition that we have a kind of God who picks and chooses who he will save."
Evangelical Christians have long supported Trump's presidential aspirations, with many believing he is, in fact, "anointed by God" to save America. They justify Trump's past as an adulterer and convicted felon by claiming that God has used "imperfect individuals" for great things throughout history, such as King David and King Solomon.
Trump received widespread criticism for failing to place his left hand on the Bible while taking the oath of office Monday, as first lady Melania Trump stood by holding two Bibles for the purpose.
The president is expected to spend Tuesday morning at Washington National Cathedral for the national prayer service.
Trump’s energy plan will ‘mortally harm’ GOP districts and help Elon Musk: analyst
President Donald Trump kicked off his first day back in the White House with executive orders directed to address what he calls an "energy emergency" — ostensibly to increase American production of oil and gas. This came after he campaigned on blaming inflation on the Biden administration's climate policies and vowing to save consumers money on their energy bills with increased production, even though U.S. oil and gas production under the Biden administration was stronger than in Trump's first term
But if you look at his energy policies closely, wrote Robinson Meyer for the Heatmap energy newsletter, you'll see that his goal isn't actually to lower energy bills for Americans, but to force them to buy and use more oil and gas.
The problem, Meyer wrote, is that while some of Trump's policies are about opening up new areas for drilling and fuel production, a lot more of them are about repealing various mandates and incentives to make homes, appliances, and cars use less energy — meaning people would actually be paying more in the long run because they have to consume more. And then there are his threatened tariffs on Canadian energy, which would make oil and gas more expensive but also shift the supply to more domestic sources.
ALSO READ: 'Daddy’s home:' Conspiracies abound as MAGA storms DC bars for Trump's inauguration
"When you look closer, what stands out about Trump’s policies is how few of them are designed to lower energy prices," said Meyer. "Instead, they aim to do virtually the opposite: shore up oil and gas demand. According to The Wall Street Journal, ensuring demand for oil and gas products — and not deregulating drilling further — is what the industry has asked Trump to do. That makes sense. The United States is, at the moment, producing more oil and gas than any country in world history. The fossil fuel industry’s problem isn’t getting gas out of the ground, but finding people to sell it to. By suspending fuel economy and energy efficiency rules, Trump can force Americans to use more energy — and spend more on oil and gas — to do the same amount of useful work."
The irony, Meyer noted, is that in particular, Trump's efforts to roll back incentives for electric vehicles — which his close ally Elon Musk has endorsed out of a belief it would stifle his competition — could be a blow to districts that voted for him last year.
"By kneecapping demand for electric vehicles, Trump will hurt the critical minerals industry more than any anti-growth hippie could fathom," wrote Meyer. "For the past few years, corporate America and Wall Street have invested billions of dollars in lithium and rare-earths mining and processing facilities across the country. These projects, which are largely in Republican districts, only make financial sense in a world where the United States produces a large and growing number of electric vehicles ... If Trump kills the non-Tesla part of the EV industry, then he will also mortally harm those projects’ economics."
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‘Pedophile protector!’ Ex-cop gets in Dan Bongino’s face over Epstein probe failures
Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was confronted in public Saturday over his handling of the criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein and potential co-conspirators, with one heckler issuing Bongino an especially brutal nickname, as seen in a clip of the confrontation that went viral on Sunday.
Details of the event Bongino was confronted are sparse, though the conservative news website The Gateway Pundit reported Sunday that it took place Saturday evening. Far-right lawyer and Army veteran Ivan Raiklin also confirmed details of the incident after refuting claims that he had been the one to confront the former FBI deputy director. Bongino has also shared at least 10 posts on social media Sunday morning mocking the group that apparently confronted him.
In the video, an unidentified individual recording the encounter approached Bongino and immediately began insulting the ex-FBI official.
“You’re a pedophile protector!” the individual can be heard shouting. “A pedophile protector, pedophile protector!”
A visibly angry Bongino fired back and could be heard shouting “go volunteer to do something!"
“I was a cop for nine years, you’re a pedophile protector, f-----!” the individual said, using a homophobic slur. “You’re a pedophile protector, f--- you, dude, f--- you!”
Raiklin was initially attributed as having been the one to confront Bongino by several prominent X users, an attribution he refuted several times.
“I wasn't the one who said that nor caused the scene,” Raiklin wrote in a social media post Sunday. “It was some former cop.”
Another clip of the encounter filmed from a different angle – shared by the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers – shows Bongino lashing out at the group, shouting “you didn’t do s—!”
Bongino has faced MAGA outrage in the wake of his resignation from the FBI over his agency’s handling of its probe into Epstein and potential co-conspirators. Despite having hyped up theories around Epstein prior to his role at the agency, he later signed off on a memo that concluded Epstein had died by suicide and that no evidence existed to prosecute potential co-conspirators of Epstein.Tom Homan scrambles to explain ICE airport duties after Trump puts him under the gun
Donald Trump’s impulsive weekend decision to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to the nation’s airports to do the jobs of TSA agents not being paid by the administration, put his border czar on the spot on CNN.
Early Sunday morning, the frustrated president said ICE would pulled from their jobs grabbing immigrants off the street to help out at airports plagued by TSA sick-outs and that Homan would be responsible for getting it done.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tom Homan, who inherited former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s duties after she was fired, was pressed by host Dana Bash over training for agents who have no airport security experience .
According to Homan, it is a “work in progress” and details are still be worked out before the Monday deadline.
“Are ICE agents even remotely trained to handle security at airports?” the CNN host asked.
“Ice agents receive high-level training,” Homan insisted. “And, you know, ICE agents are assigned at many airports across the country already. They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigation on smuggling reports. But, you know, there's, I mean, there's a lot TSA agents covering exits, you know, people that enter through the exits. You know, certainly a highly trained ICE law enforcement officer can cover an exit that makes people don't go through those exits entering the airport, through the exits. That stuff like that relieves that TSA officer to go to screening and to, to reduce those lines. “
“I don't see an ICE agent looking at an x-ray machine because they're not trained in that,” he admitted.
After the Trump official elaborated, “So hopefully we'll have all those answers here by this afternoon, but we're working on it. And when we deploy tomorrow, we'll have a well-thought-out plan to execute,” the skeptical CNN host asked, “With respect, if you're doing this in 24 hours, how well thought out could it possibly be?”
“Again, ICE has been at airports across the country for a long time. It's just expanding those things,” Homan pushed back. “Look, it does it –– how much of a plan does it mean to guard an exit, to make sure no one comes through that exit? And we're talking about security options. And these officers are well-trained in security and they're well-trained in identification. And we're going to do what we can to help TSA move those people through the line.”
- YouTube youtu.be
