The president on Tuesday repeated his claim — contradicted by a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment — that Tren de Aragua is operating under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s control.
The White House did not immediately explain how the military determined that those aboard the vessel were Tren de Aragua members.
Trump says US strike on vessel in Caribbean targeted Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, killed 11 (Associated Press)
In a scathing opinion delivered today, [federal judge] Breyer said that the administration had acted illegally. Deploying these service members “for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law,” Breyer wrote, “is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.”
The Trump Administration Gets a Serious Scolding (The Atlantic)
Following his National Guard takeover of Washington, D.C., Donald Trump has declared the capital “crime free.” In a new post on Truth Social, Trump praised Mayor Muriel Bowser for working with him to “eliminate” violent crime.
“Her statements and actions were positive, instead of others like Pritzker, Wes Moore, Newscum, and the 5% approval rated Mayor of Chicago, who spend all of their time trying to justify violent Crime, instead of working with us to completely ELIMINATE it, which we have done in Washington, D.C., NOW A CRIME FREE ZONE,” Trump wrote on Monday. “Wouldn’t it be nice to say that about Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and even the Crime Drenched City of Baltimore???” He added, “D.C. is a GIANT VICTORY that never has to end!!!”
According to available crime statistics from D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, there were 442 crimes reported in the district in the past seven days. These include 50 reports of violent crime: one homicide, 23 instances of assault with a dangerous weapon, 24 robberies, and two cases of sex abuse. There were also nearly 250 thefts reported over the past week.
Trump Declares D.C. a ‘Crime Free Zone’ Despite 442 Crimes Reported in Past Week (Rolling Stone)
“We’ll have a majority very shortly,” Mr. Trump said ate his latest marathon cabinet meeting about the Fed’s powerful seven-person Board of Governors. “So that’ll be great.”
[…]
“It sends a message that is more akin to a chaotic, dysfunctional system than what the markets in the U.S. and globally have always assumed of the Fed, which is that it is the gold standard for governance, for independence, for prudence and for policymaking.”
Trump’s Plan to Pack the Fed With Loyalists (New York Times)
“L.A. wouldn’t be standing today if President Trump hadn’t taken action then. That city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state,” Noem told CBS’ Ed O’Keefe on “Face the Nation.”
“So, the citizens who live there, the small business owners in downtown L.A., they’re thankful that President Trump came in with federal law enforcement officers and helped support keeping those streets open, keep their homes and businesses from burning down, and made sure the law and order was restored.”
Noem says LA ‘would have burned down’ without Trump’s National Guard deployment (Politico)
“I asked them if his (family) can say goodbye to him because they’re family, and they’re just ripping them away,” the firefighter told the Times. “And this is what he said: ‘You need to get the (expletive) out of here. I’m gonna make you leave.’”
Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire (Seattle Times, via @aselrod.bsky.social)
Crime in D.C. was the worst ever in history,” Mr. Trump said. “And now, over the last 13 days, we’ve worked so hard, we’ve taken so many. There are many left, but we’ve taken so many criminals – over 1,000.”
For comparison, CBS News’ review of district police arrest records for the same days in previous years show a similar pace of arrests this year: the district police data show 1,071 arrests for the same period of days in 2024. The data document 856 arrests during that period in 2023, 800 in 2022, 755 in 2021 and 734 in 2020.
CBS News analyzed D.C. crime data amid National Guard deployments. Here’s what the numbers show. (CBS)
The Constitution grants Congress the power to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” and to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.” Tariffs are a tax, and the Framers of the Constitution expressly contemplated the exclusive grant of taxing power to the legislative branch; when Patrick Henry expressed concern that the President “may easily become king,” James Madison replied that this would not occur because “[t]he purse is in the hands of the representatives of the people.”
Federal appeals court strikes down major chunk of Trump’s tariffs (Politico)
My wife has Stage 4 lung cancer. She is one of the people the COVID vaccine actually helps. Thanks to the current mess at HHS, CVS is unable to get her the vaccine.
Erick Erickson (Twitter)
