By Steve Neavling

Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are suing to stop the Trump administration from creating a nearly $1.8 billion fund for people who claim they were targeted by a “weaponized” legal system, The Washington Post reports.

Harry Dunn, a retired Capitol Police officer, and Daniel Hodges, a D.C. police officer, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Washington, D.C. They argue the fund could reward far-right extremists who helped lead the attack on the Capitol and encourage more violence carried out in President Donald Trump’s name.

Their attorneys called the use of taxpayer money for the payments “the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century.” The lawsuit is the first known challenge to the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced this week. No money has been paid out yet.

The fund was created as part of a settlement in which Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the 2019 leak of his tax records. In exchange, the administration agreed to establish a $1.776 billion fund for people who can show they were wrongly investigated or prosecuted. Trump and his family are barred from receiving payments.

Dunn and Hodges argue the fund is unconstitutional and could amount to reparations for hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters. The lawsuit cites the 14th Amendment, which says “neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”

More than 1,500 people were charged in connection with the Capitol attack, and Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of them.

By Steve Neavling

The Justice Department has charged former Cuban President Raúl Castro with murder and conspiracy in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based Cuban exile group that searched for people fleeing the island, The New York Times reports.

The indictment, announced Wednesday in Miami, accuses Castro and five Cuban fighter pilots of killing four people when Cuban military jets shot down the planes over waters off Cuba on Feb. 24, 1996. Castro, 94, faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.

The charges mark a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Cuba’s communist government. Prosecutors said Castro and his brother, Fidel Castro, were “the final decision makers” in Cuba’s military chain of command when the planes were destroyed.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the indictment a step toward accountability.

“My message today is clear,” Blanche said. “The United States and President Trump does not — and will not — forget its citizens.”

Asked whether the charges could lead to U.S. military action to seize Castro, President Trump told reporters, “I don’t want to say that.”

Cuba denounced the indictment, accusing the United States of hypocrisy.

“It is highly cynical for this accusation to be made by the very same government that has murdered nearly 200 people and destroyed 57 vessels in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, far from United States territory, through the disproportionate use of military force,” the Cuban government said.

By Steve Neavling

Two teenagers who killed three people at San Diego’s largest mosque before fatally shooting themselves appear to have been radicalized online, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators said the teens met virtually before realizing they both lived in the San Diego area. Police declined to release their names, and officials said they are still investigating how the radicalization unfolded, San Diego Union-Tribune reports. A manifesto was recovered, and authorities are treating the attack as a hate crime.

“They didn’t discriminate on who they hated,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily said at a news conference.

He said the manifesto “covered a wide aspect of races and religions,” and was not limited to Muslims.

The teens arrived at the Islamic Center of San Diego around 11:40 a.m. Monday and were confronted by a security guard in the parking lot, police Chief Scott Wahl said. The guard reached for his radio to call for a lockdown, warning people inside and giving them time to hide.

“His actions without a doubt delayed, distracted and ultimately deterred these two individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet,” Wahl said.

The guard was killed in the gunfire. Police said the teens entered the mosque and moved room to room but found no one before going back outside, where they fatally shot two other mosque members.

Authorities said they later fired at a landscaper a few blocks away, then drove farther and killed themselves. Investigators recovered 30 guns and a crossbow belonging to the parents of one of the teens, and a gas container found near their SUV bore the Nazi SS symbol.

By Steve Neavling

Federal prosecutors in Miami have opened a new criminal investigation into detained former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, amid concerns inside the Justice Department that the existing case against him may be weak, CBS News reports.

The investigation was ordered by senior Justice Department officials after Maduro was already in custody in New York, where he and his wife, Cilia Flores, have pleaded not guilty to narco-trafficking and firearms charges. Maduro was first charged in a superseding indictment in 2020, when Bill Barr was attorney general.

The new Miami probe comes as Alex Saab, a close Maduro associate and Venezuela’s former minister of industry and national production, was deported to the U.S. and charged in a money-laundering conspiracy tied to a Venezuelan food program for vulnerable residents.

The Justice Department declined to comment, and Maduro’s lawyer also declined to comment.

The Miami investigation was formally opened around March, according to CBS, and is being led by Michael Berger, a prosecutor who specializes in international criminal cases. Agents from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation also are involved.

Saab previously served two years in a U.S. prison on money-laundering charges after being extradited from Cape Verde. President Joe Biden pardoned him in 2023, and Saab returned to Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap with Maduro’s government.

The Justice Department on Monday reached a settlement over the leaking of President Donald Trump’s tax filings that called for the creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to potentially give payouts to people, including Jan. 6 rioters, who believe their prosecutions were politically motivated.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department, headed by Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche, broadened the settlement to include a provision that says the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing audits or investigations of Trump, his family, or businesses regarding conduct up until the date of the settlement.

Acting Attorney General Blanche came under fire for the creation of the fund while testifying Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee in support of the DOJ’s $41.2 billion 2027 budget request.

“That is pure theft of public funds, and rewarding individuals who committed crimes is obscene,” Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said at the hearing. “Every American can see through this illegal, corrupt, self-dealing scheme.”

Ex-FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday said at first he thought the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” was a joke. The fund is supposed to compensate anyone who feels they’ve been a victim of a politically-motivated federal prosecution.

“I first thought it was a piece from The Onion because it can’t be serious,” Comey told CNN’s Jake Tapper, referring to the satirical news website that makes up fictitious stories based on current events.

Comey currently faces criminal charges in federal court in North Carolina for threatening the president’s life by posting a photo of sea shells that spell out “86 47.” Prosecutors allege that it was a message for someone to 86, or eliminate, Trump, the 47th president of the U.S.

Comey, who insists the prosecution is politically motivated, has said he knew the sea shell arrangement spelled out something political, but said he didn’t realize anyone would interpret it as him advocating violence. People in the restaurant industry use the term “86” when talking about discarding food or eliminating an item from the menu.

On the new DOJ fund, Comey said:

“It’s to compensate people who’ve been targeted by the Justice Department for, they say, personal, political or ideological reasons. So, I’m guessing I’ll be in line. I hope I’ll be ahead of those who savagely beat police officers and sacked the Capitol.”

“I’ve talked to my lawyers, but it certainly sounds intended for someone like me.”

The fund is not exclusively for any particular period, but it was created with the thought of compensating those who feel they were wronged during the Biden administration.

During a tense exchange Tuesday on Capitol Hill, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assured Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen that the Department of Justice won’t recommend that Jeffrey Epstein’s pal Ghislaine Maxwell be pardoned by President Trump.

“Yes, I can commit to that, of course,” Blanche said, minutes after Van Hollen criticized him for spending two days interviewing Maxwell, who was then transferred to a cushier prison. She is serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse minors.

Under law, even if the attorney general is against a pardon, the president can grant one.

Blanche appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee in support of the DOJ’s $41.2 billion 2027 budget request.

Van Hollen, who also criticized Blanche for “gross political interference” and acting as Trump’s personal attorney, pressed him on whether Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted police would be eligible to get benefits from a new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” the administration created Monday for those who believe they’ve been victims of a politically biased justice system, particularly during the Biden administration.

“Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were victims of weaponization,” Blanche said.

Vice President J.D. Vance, during a White House briefing, echoed similar sentiments.

“I don’t rule things out categorically when I know nothing about a person’s individual circumstances,” Vance said, according to The New York Times.

By Steve Neavling

An ICE agent was charged Monday in the January shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis, a case that drew protests during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Christian J. Castro, 52, was charged with four felony counts of second-degree assault and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime, The New York Times reports. Prosecutors accused Castro of shooting Julio C. Sosa-Celis in the leg after a chase on Jan. 14.

“His federal badge does not make him immune from state charges for his criminal conduct in Minnesota,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said.

ICE officials called the prosecution “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” but did not defend the agents’ actions that night. The agency said federal prosecutors are investigating whether officers lied under oath.

“Upon conclusion of the investigation, the officers may face disciplinary action, including termination of employment, as well as potential criminal prosecution,” ICE said.

State investigators said their probe was slowed because federal agencies refused to provide key information, including the names of the agents involved in the chase. Sosa-Celis was one of three people shot by federal agents during the winter crackdown in Minnesota. Agents also shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

By Steve Neavling

The Trump administration on Monday announced a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted for political reasons, a move Democrats and government watchdogs blasted as corrupt and unconstitutional, the Associated Press reports.

The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is part of a settlement resolving President Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The fund would allow people who say they were targeted by the Biden administration or other federal officials to seek payouts.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called it “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.” In a statement, Blanche said, “The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again.”

Democrats are urging a judge to block the fund, arguing it would steer taxpayer money to Trump allies and invite baseless claims of political persecution. Nearly 100 House Democrats signed onto a legal brief opposing the settlement.

“This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement.

The fund marks another effort by the administration to reward Trump supporters and allies who have claimed they were mistreated by law enforcement. Since returning to office, Trump has pardoned or commuted sentences for supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while his Justice Department has approved payouts tied to the Trump-Russia investigation and pursued some of the president’s perceived opponents.

By Steve Neavling

A former prison guard who was on duty the night Jeffrey Epstein died is expected to be questioned Monday by the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers continue to examine the circumstances surrounding his 2019 death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, ABC News reports.

Tova Noel is believed to be the last person to see Epstein before his death, which the New York medical examiner ruled a suicide. But failures at the jail, including missed checks on Epstein, have long fueled questions and conspiracy theories.

Prosecutors accused Noel and another guard of browsing the internet instead of conducting required inmate counts, then falsifying records to make it appear they had done the checks. Both later reached agreements with prosecutors that led to the charges being dropped.

The Justice Department’s recent release of Epstein-related files has renewed attention on Noel. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said lawmakers called her to testify because some members “aren’t confident 100% that Epstein’s death was by suicide.”

He told Fox News in March, “No one’s accusing her of any wrongdoing, but we have a lot of questions about Epstein.”

The records show Noel received $12,000 in cash deposits between April 2018 and July 2019, though investigators reviewed her bank records and found no evidence of a bribe. DOJ documents also show Noel searched the internet for Epstein the night he died, including “latest on Epstein in jail,” though she later told the inspector general she did not remember searching for him and may have read an article about him. A 2021 sworn interview also shows Noel denied giving Epstein extra linen that could have been used to make a noose.