By Steve Neavling

The Secret Service has removed an agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance while officials investigate allegations that the agent compromised sensitive security information, NBC News reports.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agent is the subject of “an administrative investigation, and potential criminal inquiry, involving allegations of compromising operational and information security.” He added that “any conduct that potentially threatens the safety of a protectee will not be tolerated.”

CNN first reported that investigators suspect the agent leaked information used in an MS NOW story about complaints within the Secret Service over Vance’s travel. The report said agents were frustrated by plans to accompany Vance and his son aboard Marine Two for a golf lesson at Joint Base Andrews, though the flight was canceled because of severe weather.

Agents also reportedly raised concerns about other trips and assignments they believed were an inappropriate use of government resources.

An administration official defended Vance’s travel, saying his schedule can change unexpectedly and noting that he has young children and tries to spend time with them. The official also said traveling by helicopter to Joint Base Andrews requires fewer local law enforcement resources than a motorcade.

By Steve Neavling

The Justice Department backed away from an effort to force New York Times reporters to testify about their coverage of security concerns involving President Donald Trump’s new Air Force One jet after a federal judge raised serious constitutional questions about the subpoenas, The Washington Post reports.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said during a hearing Thursday that the case presented “profound First Amendment and free press issues,” according to the Times.

He gave prosecutors a blunt choice: “Seems like you’ve got two options — either we can quash the subpoenas or you can withdraw the subpoenas.”

The subpoenas were issued after the Times reported that U.S. officials had concerns about a luxury Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar and retrofitted for presidential use at taxpayers’ expense. The newspaper reported that Trump used an older Air Force One aircraft for part of a recent overseas trip after the Secret Service raised concerns that the Qatari jet lacked certain security features, including advanced antimissile protections.

Federal agents later served subpoenas at the homes of several Times journalists involved in the coverage, ordering them to appear before a Manhattan grand jury investigating an “alleged violation of federal law.” Prosecutors also sought phone and text records connected to some of the reporters, demands the Justice Department also agreed to withdraw.

Times attorneys argued that the subpoenas violated legal protections limiting when prosecutors may compel journalists to reveal information about their reporting. They accused the administration of using the investigation to intimidate the press, writing that the subpoenas were “an instrument to chill criticism of the Administration” and conflicted with the law and the First Amendment.

By Steve Neavling

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is asking the Justice Department to investigate former special counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of misleading Congress about evidence gathered during his investigations of President Trump, NBC News reports.

In a letter sent Wednesday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Ohio Republican alleged that Smith made “willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact” during a committee deposition in December. Jordan said recently obtained documents contradict Smith’s testimony and amount to “strong evidence” of possible criminal conduct.

The dispute centers on whether Smith’s team obtained text messages involving members of Congress. Asked during the deposition whether he sought a warrant for the contents of lawmakers’ messages, Smith replied, “No, I don’t recall that.” He later agreed that investigators had sought only phone toll records showing information such as when calls were placed and received.

Smith’s attorneys denied he lied, saying he “provided truthful, responsive answers and candidly discussed his work as Special Counsel.”

They said Jordan’s referral is based on information Smith was never asked to disclose and “reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, also accused Jordan of misrepresenting the deposition.

“Jack Smith could not have lied because Republican Members never even asked the question their theory is based on,” Raskin said. The Justice Department confirmed it received the referral and said it “will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct.”

By Steve Neavling

The Secret Service has investigated more than 10,000 threats against the people it protects so far this year, a sharp rise that agency leaders say reflects an increasingly volatile political climate, NBC News reports.

The number of investigations is up 40% compared with the same period last year, Secret Service Director Sean Curran told reporters Wednesday. Curran, a 24-year veteran of the agency, described the threat levels as “off the charts.”

The agency is preparing for Friday’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where President Trump is expected to attend and speak. The event was moved to a smaller Washington hotel after a gunman opened fire at a security checkpoint outside the original dinner in April.

Curran said an advance team is already developing a security plan for the new venue.

“We will always evaluate every site,” he said. “And right now, we have an advance team there, and they will take back and they will set up a plan to set that site up for success.”

Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said the Secret Service is approaching the dinner like any other event involving the president and other protected officials.

“We’re not looking at this as a redo of a dinner,” Quinn said. “We’re looking at this as a presidential site with Cabinet members and other protectees there, just like every site we do everywhere we go.”

By Steve Neavling

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida as the congressman faces a separate House Ethics Committee inquiry into a lengthy list of alleged misconduct, MS NOW reports.

Two people familiar with the matter confirmed the federal investigation but did not disclose what prosecutors are examining. Another source said the FBI contacted at least one person last year with questions about Mills’ finances, alleged misconduct and people associated with him. The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

Mills said Tuesday that he was unaware of the investigation.

“I know nothing about it,” he said in a text message.

During a subsequent phone call, Mills added, “This is the first I’m hearing about it,” and suggested the inquiry could be connected to allegations under review by the Ethics Committee.

That congressional investigation includes allegations involving campaign finance and financial disclosure violations, improper gifts and favors, misuse of congressional resources and sexual misconduct or dating violence. The committee said in May that investigators had authorized more than 20 subpoenas, collected thousands of documents and contacted dozens of witnesses.

Mills, who was first elected in 2022, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and is seeking reelection in Florida’s 7th Congressional District. The Federal Election Commission previously dismissed several campaign finance allegations against Mills and his campaign, including claims involving personal use of campaign funds and improperly reported expenditures.

By Steve Neavling

A court-appointed U.S. attorney in Washington state is suing the Trump administration after the White House fired him less than an hour after federal judges selected him for the job, The Washington Post reports.

Roger Rogoff, a former federal prosecutor and King County Superior Court judge, was unanimously appointed July 15 to lead the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington. The White House notified him of his dismissal shortly afterward, even though President Trump has not nominated anyone to permanently fill the position.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Seattle, Rogoff argued that the president cannot remove a prosecutor appointed by the courts without first nominating a replacement and securing Senate confirmation. His case appears to be the first legal challenge brought by one of several court-appointed U.S. attorneys recently dismissed by the administration.

“The President’s actions violate the law, and they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States,” Rogoff said in a statement. “His removal of me, like his removal of other court-appointed U.S. Attorneys across the country, is illegal and cannot stand.”

The Justice Department disputed Rogoff’s claim and said judges did not coordinate with the agency before appointing him.

“Consistent with other firings of this type, this is wholly within the President’s authority,” a department spokesperson said.

Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer on Tuesday blamed two GOP U.S. senators for getting inundated with hate mail and death threats after testifying last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee against the confirmation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“I started getting death threats after I testified against Todd Blanche last week,” she said in a video posted on her Substack page. “Why? Because two Republican senators with a political agenda rage-baited their followers into believing nasty and dangerous lies at the hearing.”

“Senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt attacked me over President Biden’s decision to commute most federal death sentences at the end of his presidency,” she said. “Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of the 40 federal death row prisoners to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

“Hawley and Schmitt made it sound like these people were pardoned, which they were not. They made it sound like they were allowed to walk free from prison, which they were not. They’re not going to be released from prison ever.”

“Perhaps the most shocking part was that Hawley tried to suggest that I sympathize with the three murderers whose sentences were not commuted, including Dylan Roof, who committed one of the most heinous crimes in our history. That is dangerous misinformation and Josh Hawley knows it.

“They intentionally picked a topic that’s divisive and emotional, and they exploited it for political gain,” she said. “They deliberately created a false and dangerous narrative aimed at attacking me for the sole purpose of distracting from the topic at hand, which was Todd Blanche’s failed leadership of the Justice Department.”

Blanche’s nomination is still pending before the Judiciary Committee.

Oyer has been a vocal critic of the Trump Justice Department since she was fired last year.

She suggested she was fired for refusing to back the restoration of gun ownership rights for Trump supporter and actor Mel Gibson, who pleaded guilty in 2011 to a misdemeanor domestic-violence charge involving his former romantic partner, who reported that he punched her in the mouth and broke her teeth while she held their 1-year-old daughter.

Press spokespersons for both senators did not immediately respond via email to ticklethewire.com Tuesday night for comment.

By Steve Neavling

FBI Director Kash Patel is preparing to travel to Russia this fall for an unusual visit that could place him face to face with officials from one of the U.S.’ chief adversaries, Politico reports.

Patel is tentatively scheduled to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg on Oct. 14 and 15, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the plans. Russia’s FSB security service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is expected to host him, though his agenda and potential meetings haven’t been disclosed. The trip could still be changed or canceled.

The visit would come as tensions remain high over Russia’s war in Ukraine, cyberattacks and attempts to interfere in U.S. elections. It would also draw attention to Patel’s role in Republican efforts to discredit the investigation into connections between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, which Patel has called the “Russiagate hoax.”

No FBI director is known to have visited Russia since Robert Mueller traveled there in 2013. Other senior intelligence officials have maintained contact with Moscow, however. Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo defended those meetings in 2018, saying, “We vigorously defend America in these encounters and pull no punches.”

Patel’s travel has already drawn scrutiny from Congress over questions about whether he has mixed government business with recreation. Since becoming FBI director, he has attended the men’s hockey gold-medal game at the Winter Olympics, gone snorkeling near a sunken battleship at Pearl Harbor and faced accusations that he used a government jet to attend performances by his girlfriend, a country music singer.

By Steve Neavling

A former U.S. Army soldier carrying an anti-ICE sign set a fire, launched fireworks and fired an airsoft rifle outside a federal building in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning before security officers subdued him, authorities said, The Washington Post reports.

Andrew Arrabaca, 43, arrived at 26 Federal Plaza with two axes, a hammer, a machete, three knives and pellet guns, according to James Barnacle, head of the FBI’s New York field office. Authorities said Arrabaca poured gasoline near an employee entrance, ignited it with a lighter and a large firework, and fired five to seven pellets at the building.

Two Federal Protective Service officers and a private security contractor detained Arrabaca. Two government employees and a civilian who was attending an immigration hearing suffered minor injuries during the attack and arrest.

“The building was attacked,” Barnacle said. “Mr. Arrabaca was looking to injure people and harm people.”

The building houses ICE, the FBI and other federal agencies and has become a frequent site of protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Arrabaca pushed a cart bearing a sign that read “ICE Off Our Streets” and made anti-ICE and anti-government statements while being arrested, officials said.

Arrabaca served in the Army from 2001 to 2005, repairing Patriot missile systems. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating, though authorities had not classified the attack as terrorism or announced charges as of Monday evening.