The U.S. Navy said on Thursday that a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was involved in a collision with a large cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea this week.

“The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea,” the U.S. Sixth Fleet said in a statement.

“The collision did not endanger the Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) as there are no reports of flooding or injuries,” the statement continued. “The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition.”

Navy officials said they have launched an investigation into the incident and will release more information as it becomes available.

The USS Harry S. Truman, named after America’s 33rd president, was the eighth aircraft carrier built in the Nimitz class.

The aircraft carrier was built in the 1990s under President Bill Clinton and cost $4.5 billion — well over $10 billion today.

The U.S. Naval Institute noted that the ship deployed in September from Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia to the U.S. Central Command.

The report said in part:

Port Said, Egypt, is at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, where it meets with the Mediterranean Sea. The indications from the position of Truman was the carrier was returning to the Red Sea after a port visit to Souda Bay, Greece.

Based on AIS data, Besiktas-M had just transited the Suez Canal and was bound for the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. Besiktas-M, a bulk carrier, is more than 550 feet long with a deadweight of 53,000 tons. The ship’s owner and manager was not immediately clear.

The last time that a U.S. aircraft carrier collided with a merchant vessel was in 2004, when the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) collided with a small ship in the Persian Gulf, the report said.

A migrant with a known criminal record injured dozens of people on Thursday after he rammed a car into a group of protesters in Munich, Germany.

“The suspect is a 24-year-old man of Afghan nationality,” Munich Police said in a statement. “He drove a car into a gathering in the Seidlstrasse area from behind. According to current information, 28 people were injured, some seriously.”

Police say that they detained the driver, who was driving a Mini Cooper.

Young children were among those who were injured.

Bei dem Tatverdächtigen handelt es sich um einen 24-jährigen Mann mit afghanischer Staatsangehörigkeit. Dieser fuhr mit einem Pkw von hinten in eine Versammlung im Bereich der Seidlstraße. Hierbei wurden nach aktuellem Stand 28 Personen zum Teil schwer verletzt.

— Polizei München (@PolizeiMuenchen) February 13, 2025

The German publication Bild said that the suspect was “known to the police for drug and theft offenses.” Reuters described the suspect as an “Afghan asylum seeker.”

Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder said the incident was being treated as “an attack.”

“The attack shows that something has to change in Germany – and quickly!” he said.

Just ahead of JD Vance arriving in Munich to negotiate with Zelenski, an Afghan migrant suspect rammed a car through a crowd of people, injuring dozens, including children. This is the fifth mass attack in less than a year in Germany involving a migrant. Leftists there reject the… pic.twitter.com/1TM5efNJkE

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 13, 2025

The incident came less than two months after a Saudi national injured more than 200 people and killed at least six after ramming a car into a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg in December.

Saudi Arabia had warned Germany at least three times about the man’s extremist views. Saudi Arabia first warned Germany about the man in 2007, just one year after he entered the country, and requested in 2007 and 2008 that he be extradited to Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah II of Jordan released a statement after meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday saying that he opposes “the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.”

The message, released in Arabic after the meeting, came after Abdullah offered to take 2,000 sick children from Gaza into his country for immediate medical care.

“I reaffirmed Jordan’s firm stance against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria),” Abdullah said in his statement.

“This is the unified Arab position,” he said. “Everyone’s priority should be the reconstruction of Gaza without displacing its people and addressing the difficult humanitarian situation in the Strip.”

Abdullah said that a “just peace” had to be based on “a two-state solution” and nothing else, warning that it was the “only way to achieve stability in the region, and this requires the leading role of the United States.”

“President Trump is a man of peace and played a pivotal role in reaching the ceasefire in Gaza,” he said. “We look forward to the continued efforts of the United States and all parties to solidify the ceasefire.”

NEWS

In a statement released in Arabic just after he left the White House, King Abdullah of Jordan said this, in-part, about his meeting and lunch with President Trump:

“….I reaffirmed Jordan’s firm stance against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.…

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 11, 2025

The meeting comes after Trump pressured Jordan and Egypt to take in refugees despite both countries declining.

Trump and Abdullah met to discuss issues, including Trump’s Gaza proposal, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ISIS and al-Qaeda, and economic cooperation.

The king and crown prince of Jordan arrived at the White House around noon Tuesday afternoon, where they attended a bilateral meeting and lunch with the president. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also attended the meeting, which was the first official encounter between the King of Jordan and the President of the United States since Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.

Trump greeted Abdullah outside the White House. After the king was met by the White House honor guard, Trump said of Abdullah, “He’s a great man.”

As he greeted Abdullah, the president took one brief question from the assembled press: a reporter asked whether Saturday was still Trump’s deadline for Hamas, and Trump responded, “Yes.”

During the meeting, Abdullah expressed delight at meeting with Trump so soon after the president’s inauguration.

“Mr. President, I truly believe with all of the challenges that we have in the Middle East, I finally see somebody that can take us across the finish line that can bring stability and peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” Abdullah said. “I think it is our collective responsibility in the Middle East to continue to work with you and to support you.”

Mary Margaret Olohan and Kassy Akiva contributed to this report.

The U.S. Department of Justice ordered federal prosecutors this week to dismiss the criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D).

The DOJ sent a memo to the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York directing them to “dismiss the pending charges in United States v. Adams, No. 24 Cr. 556 (SDNY) as soon as is practicable.”

The order, which was authorized by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, indicated that there conditions that must be met for the charges to be dropped, including a review of the case “by the confirmed U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, following the November 2025 mayoral election.”

“There shall be no further targeting of Mayor Adams or additional investigative steps prior to that review, and you are further directed to take all steps within your power to cause Mayor Adams’ security clearances to be restored,” the memo stated.

The DOJ said that it has not assessed “the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based” which is why it is deferring the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The memo states that the order “in no way calls into question the integrity and efforts of the line prosecutors responsible for the case, or your efforts in leading those prosecutors in connection with a matter you inherited.”

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said that there were two reasons why it reached the decision that it did.

“First, the timing of the charges and more recent public actions by the former U.S. Attorney responsible for initiating the case have threatened the integrity of the proceedings, including by increasing prejudicial pretrial publicity that risks impacting potential witnesses and the jury pool,” the memo said.

The memo claimed that Adams’ criticisms of the Biden administration’s immigration policies could have played a factor in the decision to charge Adams.

“Second, the pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration,” the memo said. “We are particularly concerned about the impact of the prosecution on Mayor Adams’ ability to support critical, ongoing federal efforts ‘to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement,’ as described in Executive Order 14165.”

“Accomplishing the immigration objectives established by President Trump and the Attorney General is every bit as important— if not more so as the objectives that the prior Administration pursued by releasing violent criminals such as Viktor Bout, the ‘Merchant of Death,'” the memo concluded. “Accordingly, based on these additional concerns that are distinct from the weaponization problems, dismissal without prejudice is also necessary at this time.”

The FBI has discovered thousands of records that were never submitted to a review board overseeing the release of documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Axios reported that 2,400 records tied to the assassination were discovered by officials after President Donald Trump ordered that all records be released.

The records were supposed to have been transferred to the JFK Assassination Records Review Board and the National Archives in compliance with the 1992 JFK Records Act.

The still classified records are among 14,000 pages of documents that were uncovered during the review that was ordered by Trump.

“This is huge. It shows the FBI is taking this seriously,” said Jefferson Morley, an expert on the assassination. “The FBI is finally saying, ‘Let’s respond to the president’s order,’ instead of keeping the secrecy going.”

Various U.S. intelligence agencies were requesting that some redactions be made to the records to protect sources and methods.

White House staffers that spoke with the publication said that Trump would “hit the roof” if there were any attempts to prevent the disclosure of the records.

When more JFK files were made public in 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration said 97% of the roughly 5 million pages were public, but around 3,000 documents remained classified and another 30,000 had redactions, CBS News reported last month. Trump has promised since his first term in office to make all of the files public. Questions have swirled for decades around President Kennedy’s assassination, which occurred in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

“A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump said as he signed an executive order forcing the release of the JFK files. “And everything will be revealed.”

BREAKING: President Trump signs an Executive Order to declassify the JFK, RFK, and MLK Jr. filespic.twitter.com/X0GwLocBnS

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 23, 2025

Zach Jewell contributed to this report. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Monday that Republicans in the nation’s capital support the efforts being led by Elon Musk to make the U.S. government more efficient.

Johnson was asked by a reporter if the Trump administration should comply with court orders that have instructed the Department of Government Efficiency to halt some of their activities and whether they should destroy some sensitive records that they have downloaded.

The speaker said that as the legal process unfolds Republicans remain “fully supportive of what the DOGE effort is doing and what the President is doing.”

“It’s a very aggressive agenda that was promised to the voters. Remember, he’s delivering on campaign promises right now,” Johnson said. “We are going to be codifying a lot of these changes, and what they’ve uncovered is, frankly, shocking. There are a lot of expenditures of the federal government that Congress has not been aware of, in spite of our best efforts to do oversight, some of this has been hidden.”

Johnson said that DOGE is effectively an outside audit that is ripping open the books and finding expenses that have remained hidden for years.

“We are applauding that, this is what we have been wanting and trying to do for a long time,” he added. “So this is a good development. I wish the courts would allow the executive and the legislative branches to work, but we’ll see how all that develops.”

President Donald Trump re-instituted his maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran this week following the country’s repeated attempts to assassinate him and its continued funding of terrorist groups around the world.

Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Tuesday restoring the “maximum pressure” campaign, which saw Iran brought to its knees during his first term in office.

The renewed campaign establishes that:

• Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles;
• Iran’s terrorist network should be neutralized; and
• Iran’s aggressive development of missiles, as well as other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, should be countered.

The executive order directed the U.S. Treasury to impose “maximum economic pressure” by imposing new and enforcing existing sanctions against the regime.

The administration will issue guidance for all relevant business sectors on what will happen if they violate sanctions placed on Iran.

“The Secretary of State will also modify or rescind existing sanctions waivers and cooperate with the Secretary of Treasury to implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero,” the White House said. “The United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations will work with key allies to complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi will “pursue all available legal steps to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute financial and logistical networks, operatives, or front groups inside the United States that are sponsored by Iran or an Iranian terror proxy,” the statement said. “The Attorney General will prosecute leaders and members of Iranian-funded terrorist groups that have captured, harmed, or killed American citizens and seek their arrest and extradition to the United States.”

The administration stated that Trump “will not tolerate Iran possessing a nuclear weapons capability, nor will he stand for their sustained sponsorship of terrorism, especially against U.S. interests.”

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reportedly offered buyouts to its entire workforce on Tuesday in an effort to restructure the agency and confront the top threats facing the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported that employees were offered eight months of pay and benefits if they quit their jobs, but overall interest among those who work at the CIA appeared to be low.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s officer said that the agency was also temporarily freezing the hiring of applicants who had been given conditional offers.

The report added that President Donald Trump’s top goals for the agency revolved around trade wars, undermining communist China, and destroying the Mexican drug cartels.

The offers were essentially a signal to those working in the U.S. government that if they oppose Trump, they should leave the agency and work elsewhere.

Ratcliffe reportedly urged the White House to make the offers to the CIA because he believes it is a necessary first step for creating “a more aggressive spy agency.”

In his confirmation hearing last month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Ratcliffe said that the U.S.’s current threat environment was “the most challenging” in history.

“The Chinese Communist Party remains committed to dominating the world economically, technologically, and militarily,” Ratcliffe said. “Transnational criminal organizations are flooding American communities with violence and deadly narcotics.”

“The Russia-Ukraine War wages on, spreading devastation and increasing the risk of the United States being pulled into conflict with a nuclear power,” he continued. “The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies continue to export mayhem across the Middle East, and Iran is closer to nuclear breakout than ever before.”

“North Korea remains a destabilizing force,” he added. “Increasing coordination among America’s rivals and adversaries threatens to compound the threats they each pose individually. And numerous terrorist groups and other non-state actors – some of which have even crossed our southern border – still pose a persistent threat to our people and our homeland.”

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said on Sunday afternoon that his country will be withdrawing from communist China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio’s trip comes as President Donald Trump has signaled that he is willing to use military power to retake control of the Panama Canal if the country does not regain complete control over the operations of the canal from China.

“One important thing, which is a decision I made and communicated to him, is that the 2017 memorandum of understanding on the Silk Road, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, will not be renewed by my government,” Mulino said. “That is a fact.”

“We are going to study the possibility of whether it can be ended earlier or not,” he continued. “I think it is up for renewal in one or two years, because it’s every three.”

“So that initiative which was signed will not be renewed by my government,” he added.

🇵🇦🇺🇸 | Luego de la reunión con el secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, el presidente de Panamá, José Raúl Molino, informó que su gobierno no renovará el memorando de entendimiento sobre la “Ruta de la Seda” firmado con China.

👉 “Vamos a estudiar la posibilidad… pic.twitter.com/mxGjyHzjpl

— PanAm Post Español (@PanAmPost_es) February 2, 2025

Rubio thanked Mulino for his support of the program to repatriate illegal immigrants, which has reduced illegal migration through the Darien Gap.

The two leaders also spoke about improving the playing field for fair competition by U.S. businesses, and Mulino’s support for a democratic, free Venezuela.

“Secretary Rubio expressed his gratitude for the productive discussion and underscored the United States’ dedication to making both nations safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” the statement added. “He noted this meeting marks an important step in reinvigorating the strategic relationship between the United States and Panama, in line with President Trump’s vision.”

Kassy Akiva contributed to this report.

Related: Ted Cruz Gives Legal Argument For Why U.S. Should Retake Panama Canal

Democrat strategist James Carville slammed former Vice President Kamala Harris during an interview that aired on Friday following her loss in November to President Donald Trump.

Carville made the remarks during an interview on PBS News’ “Firing Line” with Margaret Hoover while discussing the fallout of the election.

“If we were planning a Super Bowl, we started our seventh-string quarterback. That’s what happened,” Carville said of the Democrats’ picking Harris to replace former President Joe Biden at the last moment.

“You can’t address a problem unless you are honest about a problem, and none of this was inevitable,” he continued.

“Never should have happened. It was not inevitable – Joe Biden stands over this disaster like a colossus. And he just does, you can’t – he’s a great guy. ‘James you shouldn’t say that.’ He’s a wonderful man. Who cares! If you don’t win a g*****n election, you’ve done nothing. Zip, de nada. You don’t count.”

“I don’t care how good a man you are,” he added. “And till Democrats learn that and quit keeping their head in the cloud and talking goofy language that no one else talks. We got to be nice to people. Screw that! Run over ‘em.”

WATCH:

James Carville takes Kamala Harris to the woodshed by calling her a ‘7th string quarterback’ that couldn’t put together a sentence:
James Carville: “We ran a presidential election, if we were playing a superbowl, we started our 7th string quarterback. You can’t address a problem… pic.twitter.com/RBUXKNJSMa

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) February 1, 2025

Liberal comedian Bill Maher slammed the political Left’s protection of communist China during the Friday night broadcast of his HBO show “Real Time.”

Maher made the remarks while discussing the growing list of problems that the communist nation is causing the world and the threats that they pose, ranging from hacks to dangerous apps like DeepSeek and TikTok.

“It is kind of an evil empire,” Maher said. “And this kind of gets back to the DEI thing because when you make everything about race, not good!”

“I mean, we couldn’t look into the origins of COVID being from the lab, which now the CIA, this week, has joined the FBI and many other organizations saying it probably did come from a lab,” he continued. “I said it from the beginning. It’s being studied in this lab where it breaks out. Really? We’re gonna even wonder about this?”

He said curiosity about where the pandemic originated from was stifled because organizations like The New York Times “said to even look into that is racist.”

“China’s like the new Islam,” he said. “We can’t be honest about them because they’re not white. And China, okay, I’m sorry, kids, they do some bad things, China. And we should just recognize that.”

Bill Maher laments liberals making everything about race, because they cannot criticize ‘Evil Empires’ who are ‘not white’:
Bill Maher: “It is kind of an evil Empire. When you make everything about race, not good. We couldn’t look into the origins of Covid being from a lab.
CIA… pic.twitter.com/TSYxpbHyKx

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) February 1, 2025

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he ordered a strike on Islamic terrorists in Africa that resulted in the deaths of “many” terrorists.

“This morning I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia,” Trump said in a statement. “These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies.”

“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians,” Trump continued. “Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!”

“The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!'” Trump concluded.

This morning I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia. These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies. The strikes destroyed the caves they live in,…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2025

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a statement that the strike was carried out in the Golis mountains in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.

“Our initial assessment is that multiple operatives were killed in the airstrikes and no civilians were harmed,” the statement said. “This action further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians and sends a clear signal that the United States always stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies, even as we conduct robust border-protection and many other operations under President Trump’s leadership.”

President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions Richard Grenell secured the release of six Americans from socialist Venezuela on Friday after being sent there to force them to take back illegal aliens from their country.

“We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens,” Grenell wrote in a post on X late on Friday. “They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him.”

We are wheels up and headed home with these 6 American citizens.

They just spoke to @realDonaldTrump and they couldn’t stop thanking him. pic.twitter.com/sCvCO4HQQv

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 1, 2025

Trump said Saturday morning that it was “so good to have the Venezuela Hostages back home and, very important to note, that Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua.”

The identities of the six Americans who were released were not immediately known.

“Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back,” Trump continued. “We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back.”

“Furthermore, record numbers of criminals are being removed from our Country, and the Border numbers are the strongest they have been since the First Term of the Trump Administration!” he added.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during an interview this week that President Donald Trump is serious about the U.S. retaking the Panama Canal and acquiring Greenland for national security purposes.

Rubio made the remarks during an interview with Megyn Kelly after being confirmed and sworn in to the role last week.

“The Arctic Circle and the Arctic region is going to become critical for shipping lanes for how you get some of this energy that’s going to be produced under President Trump,” Rubio said. “These energies rely on shipping lanes. The Arctic is some of the most valuable shipping lanes in the world. As some of the ice is melting, [it’s] become more and more navigable. We need to be able to defend that.”

Rubio said that communist China was trying to stage operations in Greenland to take control of shipping lanes the same way that it was in the Panama Canal.

Rubio said that they are installing facilities that give them access to the Arctic under the cover of a Chinese company, but that in reality “serve a dual purpose, that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there.”

“And that is completely unacceptable to the security of the world and the national security of the United States,” he said.

“So the question becomes, if the Chinese begin to threaten Greenland, do we really trust that that is not a place where those deals are going to be made? Do we really trust that that is not a place where they would not intervene, maybe by force?”

Rubio noted that Denmark is unable to stop China because they are too weak and they already rely on the U.S. to do so.

“If the United States is on the hook to provide, as we are now, we have a defense agreement with them to protect Greenland if it becomes under assault,” he said. “If we’re already on the hook for having to do that, then what we might as well have more control over what happens there. And so I know it’s a delicate topic for Denmark, but it’s, again, a national interest item for the United States.”

A California man pleaded guilty to federal charges this week in connection with a drone that crashed into a firefighting aircraft in California earlier this month.

Peter Tripp Akemann, 56, pled guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft for “recklessly operating a drone that crashed into and damaged a Super Scooper firefighting aircraft fighting the Palisades Fire earlier this month,” the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday.

“As a result of the drone collision, the firefighting aircraft was taken out of service for a period of time and was not able to continue its firefighting mission,” prosecutors said in a statement. “As part of the plea agreement, Akemann agreed to pay full restitution to the Government of Quebec, which supplied the plane, and an aircraft repair company that repaired the plane. Akemann also agreed to complete 150 hours of community service in support of the 2025 Southern California wildfire relief effort.”

The incident happened on January 9 when Akemann flew his drone over the Palisades fire – which burned tens of thousands of acres and caused billions of dollars in damage — after he drove to the area to gather footage.

The statement continued:

Akemann flew the drone at least 2,500 meters (more than 1.5 miles) toward the fire and lost sight of the drone. As Akemann was flying the drone, it collided with a Government of Quebec Super Scooper carrying two crewmembers attempting to fight the blaze. The impact caused an approximately 3-inch-by-6-inch hole in the left wing. After landing, maintenance personnel identified the damage and took the aircraft out of service for repairs.

At the time of the collision, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued temporary flight restrictions that prohibited drone operations near the Los Angeles County wildfires that erupted earlier this month.

As a result of the collision, the Government of Quebec and an aircraft repair company incurred costs of at least $65,169 to repair the plane.

Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally said, “This defendant recklessly flew an aircraft into airspace where first responders were risking their lives in an attempt to protect lives and property.”

“This damage caused to the Super Scooper is a stark reminder that flying drones during times of emergency poses an extreme threat to personnel trying to help people and compromises the overall ability of police and fire to conduct operations,” he continued. “As this case demonstrates, we will track down drone operators who violate the law and interfere with the critical work of our first responders.”

FBI Los Angeles has finally identified the Drone Operator, who was flying a DJI Drone in “Restricted Airspace” over the Pacific Palisades on January 9th, when it was struck by a Canadair CL-415 “Super Scooper” Aerial-Firefighting Aircraft, as 56-Year-Old Peter Tripp Akemann from… pic.twitter.com/iRv36zW0um

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 31, 2025

A former senior adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB) was arrested on Friday for allegedly conspiring to steal trade secrets for communist China.

Federal prosecutors charged 63-year-old John Harold Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. in economics, with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.

Rogers worked in the Division of International Finance of the FRB from 2010 until 2021, “where he was entrusted with confidential FRB information,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. “The confidential information that Rogers allegedly shared with his Chinese co-conspirators, who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and who posed as graduate students at a PRC university, is economically valuable when secret.”

Prosecutors explained that the data Rogers allegedly shared with his co-conspirators could allow China to manipulate the U.S. market in a manner that they described as “similar to insider trading.”

“Gaining advance knowledge of U.S. economic policy, including advance knowledge of changes to the federal funds rate, could provide China with an advantage when selling or buying U.S. bonds or securities,” the statement said.

Prosecutors said that under the guise of teaching classes in China, Rogers began stealing trade secrets and bringing them to the communist nation starting in at least 2018 in exchange for a $450,000 salary as “a part-time professor at a Chinese university.”

When he was questioned in 2020 by federal investigators, he allegedly lied to them, which they said “had a material impact” on the investigation.

“President Trump tasks us with protecting our fellow Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As alleged in the indictment, this defendant leveraged his position within the Federal Reserve to pass sensitive financial information to the Chinese government, a designated adversary,” said U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia. “Let this indictment serve as a warning to all who seek to betray or exploit the United States: law enforcement will find you and hold you accountable.”

Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office said, “As alleged in the indictment, Rogers betrayed his country while employed at the Federal Reserve by providing restricted U.S. financial and economic information to Chinese government intelligence officers.”

“This information could allow adversaries to illegally gain a strategic economic advantage at the expense of the U.S.,” he said. “This indictment sends a clear message that the FBI and our partners will hold accountable those who threaten our national security.”

A plane crashed into a neighborhood in Philadelphia on Friday night, leaving multiple homes on fire.

ABC 6 Action News reported that the plane was a “small plane,” although no specifics were given about the number of people on board or the type of aircraft.

The crash happened in an area in the north-eastern part of the city just shortly after 6 p.m.

The report said that the plane appeared to hit “several buildings and cars in the area” and that multiple casualties have been reported.

BULLETIN: AIRPLANE CRASH IN PHILADELPHIA COTTMAN AVENUE OFF ROOSEVELT BOULEVARD. @PhillyPolice & @PhillyFireDept on scene pic.twitter.com/VR83HyColt

— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) January 31, 2025

Video shows wrecked vehicles, fiery debris littered everywhere pic.twitter.com/rsz2wALQgq

— Intel Point Alert (@IntelPointAlert) January 31, 2025

The Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X shortly after news of the crash broke, providing details: “A Learjet 55 crashed around 6:30 p.m. after departing from Northeast Philadelphia Airport. There were reportedly 6 people on board. The plane was en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri.”

Those killed included two doctors, one patient, one family member, and two pilots.

Shortly after the crash, videos came in from social media showing the moment of impact, and the aftermath:

SHOCK VIDEO: Moment of deadly plane crash in Philadelphia 🙏 pic.twitter.com/tfnagV4Hmk

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 1, 2025

Vantage point from the ground near the Raising Canes on Cottman and Bradford of the moment a plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia. 📱: octob3rd pic.twitter.com/m6SuKMMgWd

— Christie Ileto (@Christie_Ileto) February 1, 2025

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) appeared to try to appeal to President Donald Trump for a potential pardon on Wednesday outside of a federal courthouse in Manhattan after he was sentenced to more than a decade behind bars after being convicted in a corruption case.

“This whole process has been nothing but a political witch hunt by the Justice Department, NSD, and prosecutors, who are more interested in political scalps, and preparing to run for public office, like Damian Williams,” he alleged. “Welcome to the Southern District of New York, the wild west of political prosecutions.”

“President Trump is right,” he continued. “This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up this cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”

Some stunning remarks from Menendez outside court: “President Trump was right. This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.” pic.twitter.com/woFgHgFGqM

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) January 29, 2025

Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison and was forced to forfeit more than $920,000 after he was convicted over the summer on 16 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, two counts of bribery, three counts of honest services wire fraud, three counts of extortion under color of official right, conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent, public official acting as foreign agent, and obstruction of justice.

Menendez accepted bribes from three businessmen in exchange for actions that he took as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. According to the Department of Justice, the alleged bribes were intended to protect the businessmen and to benefit Egypt.

Prosecutors later said in a revised indictment that Menendez also allegedly used his clout to help a friend secure a multi-million dollar investment deal from the Qatari government, in part by taking actions that benefited Qatar.

Two of the co-conspirators in the case who made the bribes, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were sentenced to more than eight years and seven years in prison, respectively.

Menendez’s wife Nadine was also charged in the case, but her trial has been repeatedly delayed as she battles breast cancer.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is a former Marxist terrorist, reversed course on Sunday after he blocked two U.S. flights from landing in the country that were carrying criminal illegal aliens from the country.

“The Government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has arranged the presidential plane to facilitate the dignified return of the compatriots who were going to arrive in the country today in the morning, coming from deportation flights,” Petro’s office said in a statement. “This measure responds to the Government’s commitment to guarantee decent conditions. In no way have Colombians, as patriots and subjects of rights, have not been and will be banished from Colombian territory.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the U.S. “will no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of.”

“It is the responsibility of each nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner,” he said. “Colombian President Petro had authorized flights and provided all needed authorizations and then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air. As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to end illegal immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

President Trump has made it clear that under his administration, America will no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of. It is the responsibility of each nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner.…

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@secrubio) January 26, 2025

The reversal by Petro came just several minutes after Trump announced a series of tough measures against the country for refusing the flights, including:

• Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
• A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
• Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
• Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
  IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.

Trump said that the measures were only “the beginning” and that the U.S. “will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”

The announcement from the president came about an hour after an official with knowledge of the situation told The Daily Wire that Trump would be taking immediate action against Colombia.

There are approximately 200,000 illegal aliens from Colombia living in the U.S., according to the most recent data from the Pew Research Center from 2022.

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday retaliatory measures against Colombia after the Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is a former Marxist terrorist, rejected allowing deportation flights from the U.S. to land in his country.

“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia,” Trump posted on social media. “This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people.”

Trump said that Petro’s denial of the flights has “jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States” and as result he has decided to take the following immediate actions against Colombia:

• Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
• A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
• Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
• Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
• IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.

Trump said that the measures were only “the beginning” and that the U.S. “will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”

The announcement from the president came about an hour after an official with knowledge of the situation told The Daily Wire that Trump would be taking immediate action against Colombia.

There are approximately 200,000 illegal aliens from Colombia living in the U.S., according to the most recent data from the Pew Research Center from 2022.

The New York Times reported that it’s not clear whether Colombia is legally allowed to turn away its own citizens.