This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
WASHINGTON – For the first time in months, having recently been released from another nightmarish stint in solitary confinement, Jan. 6 political prisoner Zachary Rehl reached out to WorldNetDaily … with good news.
With President-elect Donald Trump slated to take office on Jan. 20, Rehl says he no longer fears the prospect of a decade or more behind bars for what was essentially a "thought crime."
In an email from FCI Petersburg, the medium-security correctional facility in Virginia where Rehl is serving a 15-year sentence, he details how the other inmates incarcerated there cheered and congratulated him on the night of Nov. 5, amid the prospects of his release and exoneration by presidential pardon.
Many of the other prisoners he is housed with are doing time for murder, rape, robberies and other felony offenses that warrant incarceration in a medium-security facility. Nearly all the inmates in the prison resoundingly agree that Rehl is no criminal and is being held captive as a political prisoner, the Marine veteran explained.
"Even ones who wanted [Trump] to lose, they still shook my hand and congratulated me on my pending release," Rehl wrote in an email exclusively to WND.
"At the end of the day," he said, "no one likes to see another person suffer behind these walls that don't deserve it, and I think it's a nod to my character that all people I encountered felt that I shouldn't be here and were happy for me that I get to go home."
Trump's survival of the two assassination attempts was due to divine intervention, Rehl contends, a sign from God that the torturous incarceration he is enduring will soon come to an end.
"I had some worries of fraud, but after I saw God was on our side and saved him from that shooting, all doubt in my mind left and I was 100% sure he would win," he wrote.
Holidays, especially Christmas, have been dreadful for the past four years since the government confiscated Rehl's freedom and upturned his life. But this Christmas, the weight of the world is no longer on his shoulders as it had been.
"With Trump on his way back to the White House, I surprisingly enjoy the Christmas music being played again. Even though I'm not home with my wife and daughters, I'm going to be soon and it's a priceless feeling," he wrote. "I'm mentally home with them right now. This prison only has my physical self, and they only have it for about another month and some change."
Rehl says his "message to President Trump is simple": "I look forward to meeting him and shaking his hand. He's clearly the best president in our history as a nation; I can't think of a bigger honor than to meet him. I hope I can somehow contribute to the success of the next four years and beyond as well. There is nothing I have ever been so passionate about and that is fighting for America and everyone in it. I just hope there is a role for me to help out one way or the other! I will continue to listen to God and keep walking the path set out for me though, which I'm sure I will be successful with no matter what that is."
The government has done a number on Jan. 6 prisoner Zachary Rehl that would understandably leave most without faith and in a state of near-insanity.
The father of two, a Marine vet and former leader of the Pennsylvania Proud Boys chapter, was convicted or multiple felonies for trespassing in the U.S. Capitol building.
As WND has reported, at the Jan. 6, 2021 "Save America" rally, Rehl was shot multiple times with rubber bullets as the police indiscriminately gassed and threw flashbang grenades into the moderately peaceful crowd. He then walked through the building for approximately 12 minutes and took a few selfies.
Rehl's wife was six months pregnant when the FBI barged into their home and dragged him away at gunpoint in a predawn raid. He and his co-defendants Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Dominic Pezzola and Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman, and were locked in solitary confinement, or the "hole," for nearly 18 months in six-by-eight-foot cells at the Alexandria Detention Facility in northern Virginia.
In Alexandria, they reported that they were practically starved to death, usually served small portions of rotten food and permitted out of their windowless cage for just 15 minutes a day to use the shower, use the microwave and use the surveilled phone.
While Rehl, Nordean, Biggs, Pezzola and Tarrio were segregated in torturous isolation alongside serial pedophiles and murderers, the Lockerbie Bomber was being detained in the same facility in general population.
The bomber, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, was a Libyan intelligence official who bombed a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259 people in the air and 11 on the ground.
'Seditious conspiracy'
On May 4, 2023, Rehl and his co-defendants were convicted by a jury of "Seditious Conspiracy, Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting, Destruction of Government Property and Aiding and Abetting, Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds, Disorderly Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds."
Immediately being found guilty of seditious conspiracy, the Marine vet was stripped of his military service benefits and forced to pay back every dollar of benefits he received after the Capitol riot.
In January 2023, jury selection of the Proud Boys leadership trial was what defense attorneys claim was a complete mockery which obliterated the rule of law.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump-appointed judge, gave jurors a litmus test asking them each if they were employed or had a relationship with the government, whether they attended a Black Lives Matter rally and/or a women's march and their view of the Proud Boys.
Each D.C. resident that qualified to sit on the jury resoundingly affirmed that were ardent Democrats and leftwing activists. Also, each juror echoed propaganda disseminated by the mainstream media claiming the Proud Boys were a group of "white supremacists," "insurrectionists" and "seditionists."
The defense counsel for the five defendants repeatedly objected to admitting these clearly far-left activists on to the jury and insisted endlessly that the trial should be relocated to a jurisdiction that did not have a 92-percent voting rate for Joe Biden.
For the duration of the nearly 7-month-long trial, only the jurors wore masks in adherence with government recommended COVID protocols throughout the entire day. Prosecutors complied with the mask mandate, until the second the jurors left the room, when they would take them off practically gasping for air, a charade emblematic of the entire kangaroo trial.
Despite GOP members of Congress sitting across the street from the courthouse where every Jan. 6 defendant, including President-elect Donald Trump, has been tried, there was no one to turn to for remedy. The conclusion was known from the start, and throughout the trial the only hope for justice was an appeal or a pardon, if Trump would somehow overcome all the obstacles against him and win in November 2024.
On Aug. 31, 2021, Judge Kelly viscerally took glee in sentencing Rehl to 15 years in prison. Weeks after he was sentenced, the U.S. Department of Justice appealed the sentences of Rehl and his co-defendants … demanding even more prison time.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough filed a motion on Sept. 15, 2023, asking for Rehl to be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
As WND has previously reported, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Treasury Department then gave Rehl and his family notice that he would be forced to pay back every dollar of military benefits he had received after the Capitol riot, amounting to approximately $100,000.
Rehl's wife continues to struggle to make ends meet while raising their now 3-year-old daughter. Association with individuals who are deemed "domestic terrorists" by the federal government has made it tough for a now-single mother to secure employment, while the expense of legal representation for nearly 4 years easily costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But Rehl has remained steadfast, with faith in God throughout this whole tragic ordeal, assured miracles would materialize, and that Trump would secure a victory that would eventually turn the horror he and his loved ones have endured into just a bad memory.
Rehl doubled down on his support of Trump over the summer, permanently etching the words "Hold the line" on his right arm alongside a jail-tattooed sketch of Donald Trump, and rested assured that the good guys would soon take back power and restore the rule of law.
And he was right.
READ J6 PRISONER ZACHARY REHL'S FULL LETTER:
I'm doing great. I was good before the election. I was certain Trump would win.
I had some worries of fraud, but after I saw God was on our side and saved him from that shooting, all doubt in my mind left and I was 100% sure he would win.
We get such bad news in here. I don't know how many people asked me if I was worried about him losing because he was down in all the polls. I would reply every time, "Don't worry about that trash, it's all a scam, the polls, he's going to win in a landslide! No way that idiot [Kamala Harris], who can barely string two sentences together, has any shot to beat him!"
Then I would tell them to "Have some faith, it's going to be alright!"
I gave a lot of people hope and it paid off when he won. It's a good feeling being right, especially when you are so certain of something, when so many others think you are delusional for thinking it.
What I mean is, like all actions, there is an equal and opposite reaction, so for every person hoping Trump would win that talked to me, there was another who would laugh at mentioning the mere prospect of him winning. Who is the "delusional" one now?
Seems I was the only one in the whole prison complex that actually "knew."
Everyone turned out to be a good sport over him winning though, the haters anyway.
Even ones who wanted him to lose, they still shook my hand and congratulated me on my pending release.
At the end of the day, no one likes to see another person suffer behind these walls that don't deserve it, and I think it's a nod to my character that all people I encountered felt that I shouldn't be here and were happy for me that I get to go home.
I obviously sat up all night and waited for the election results, but CNN, which was all that was on here, sort of slipped up and gave away who won at around 11 pm when they "checked in" with the Harris camp and reported that it was eerily quiet.
CNN then checked into the Trump camp where the venue just started blasting "YMCA" by the Village People.
At that moment the election was confirmed for me, so as the states started rolling in with results as the night went on, it was only more and more exciting.
The icing on the cake was obviously when Pennsylvania was called – my home state, which ended all speculation for the night over who won.
Thank you, Pennsylvania, and job well done for showing up to vote in such convincing numbers!
It's an amazing feeling though, after everything I have been through, that it's finally over.
I couldn't stomach the holidays the last three years.
It was gut wrenching listening to happy music this time of year, so I avoided TV and the radio so I didn't have to hear it.
With Trump on his way back to the White House, I surprisingly enjoy the Christmas music being played again.
Even though I'm not home with my wife and daughters, I'm going to be soon and it's a priceless feeling.
I'm mentally home with them right now. This prison only has my physical self and they only have it for about another month and some change.
I'm extremely excited to see where this next chapter of life takes me, and I'm thrilled I get to walk back into a world with President Trump back in charge. The world is going to be much better off, and I have high hopes for his second term – not just for myself and my family and friends, but for everyone.
Elon Musk is my other favorite billionaire, other than President Trump. I wrote so many papers on his companies in college and read two biographies on him, so seeing these two men team up to save America is the most amazing thing for me.
I love it.
I don't have any doubt in my mind that he will do a great job cleaning up the budgets with the DOGE! I just hope they can overcome the biggest obstacle with his proposed cuts, Congress. If I had anything to say to him, though, it would be to give him a heads-up about X, which still has issues with bad actors within the company that are shadow banning, or flat-out suspending conservative accounts, like the account made for and operated by my wife, for raising awareness to my plight. Other than that, good luck with the DOGE and keep kicking ass in the world! Next up, MARS!
My message to President Trump is simple, I look forward to meeting him and shaking his hand, he's clearly the best President in our history as a nation, I can't think of a bigger honor than to meet him. I hope I can somehow contribute to the success of the next 4 years and beyond as well. There has nothing I have ever been so passionate about and that is fighting for America and everyone in it, I just hope there is a role for me to help one way or the other! I will continue to listen to God and keep walking the path set out for me though, which I'm sure I will be successful with no matter what that is.
The tattoo aging like fine wine, I hope Trump has seen it or will get to see it. A couple months ago I was around a few people who were talking about the tat before the election, and someone asked me if I would regret it if he lost. Some people were like, oh damn, and laughed. So, I thought about it for a second and said, "He won't lose, I'm not worried about it." No regrets!
Next month we are out of here!
Merry Christmas!
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Americans were witnesses during Joe Biden's tenure as president to his verbal and mental stumbles, his memory lapses and awkward gaps that moved far beyond his legacy of gaffes and verbal bumbles, even his physical trips and falls.
None of which is out of the ordinary for an octogenarian who now has been described by a federal prosecutor as an "elderly man with a poor memory," who apparently even forgot when he was vice president to Barack Obama.
But the Wall Street Journal has released a report charging that there was an unprecedented conspiracy to hide Biden's failings from the public, even as his shortcomings were evidence at the outset of his presidency.
Republican pundit Scott Jennings has described the situation, of presidential aides withholding press access to Biden, of withholding information from the president, and more, a "scandal of epic proportions."
Reportedly a vocal coach had been hired to try to make Biden's voice better, and aides "scrapped meetings on Biden's 'bad days' and even kept him away from his own Cabinet appointees and congressional Democratic allies," according to a multiple reports.
"It's the biggest scandal in America," Jennings said during an interview this week.
"And the level and volume of people who dedicated themselves to lying to everyone at home about this man's condition for four straight years – up through this summer – is breathtaking."
Fair would be the question, he said, "Who is running this country?"
"And his staff and the White House lied about it and kept it from the American people. It's an absolute scandal what's going on."
The White House has rejected the charge there was a large scale coverup of Biden's failings.
But a report from the Daily Caller News Foundation explained Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky is warning Democrats could face their own "tea party" movement after the revelations about administration appointees concealing the truth about Biden's condition.
The report said the Wall Street Journal reporting charged White House aides "insulated" Biden, even from Cabinet members, from the first year of his presidency. Roginsky said that the "lying" about Biden's health would have consequences for Democrats, the report warned.
"There is a bigger problem here, and that is that I think Democrats are at the point where Republicans might have been right after the Bush election or after the Bush term was up, which is that I think Democrats are starting to mistrust their institutions. And this goes back to a bipartisan effort to lie us into the Iraq war, not just by George Bush, but also by a lot of Democrats."
Roginsky said, "I think you have a lot of Democrats now, me included, who are pretty sick of the institution and trusting people in the institution and this is just one example, the most recent example, I think of people institutionally lying to the American people and what you're ultimately going to see. And I don't have a problem saying this as a Democrat, is that you're going to see a tea party version rise up in the Democratic Party based on the fact that this is yet another marker of people just not trusting our leaders anymore. And I'm sorry to say that, but I think we brought this on ourselves."
Biden's blunders long have been documented in media reports and there's even been a book written about them. But during his presidency he several times claimed to have spoken with people who were dead at the time.
The report said that includes when he claimed "to have spoken with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017, and former French President Francois Mitterrand, who passed away in 1996. In September 2022, Biden asked for Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana at a conference on hunger that took place several weeks after Walorski and two staffers were killed in a car crash."
The real world ramifications now are appearing, too. The Daily Mail said Kamala Harris "abruptly" canceled a scheduled Christmas vacation after the revelations of Biden's decline.
Social media did not miss the connection, as "Her announcement came hours after a bombshell Wall Street Journal investigation exposed how frail the president has been throughout the last four years."
The public saw evidence of Biden's decline when he appeared in a presidential debate with now President-elect Donald Trump last summer. Only days later, Biden dropped out of the race, and endorsed stand-in Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in a landslide in November.
Evidence showed up multiple times over Biden's presidency, including when he was given written instructions by his staff on where and when to sit during a meeting with press, and when to leave. He also was seen wandering around on stages at various times, seemingly unable to find stairs to get down.
The New York Post said the campaign to hide Biden's "apparent mental decline" began on Day 1 of his presidency.
"The lack of access to the nation's oldest-ever president has been well known in Washington — with Biden hosting the fewest large press conferences in modern history and frequently descending into gaffes at the podium when he appeared — but how much the White House made up for the haziness had until now been hidden, according to aides, Democratic lawmakers and donors who spoke with the Wall Street Journal," the report said.
Further, staff members "removed negative reports from Biden's stack of news for the day, misleading him about the public's opinion of his job performance — which reached a 70-year low in 2024," the report said.
He frequently "relied on notecards," was seen carrying "large directions printed for him," and often "missed up the names of foreign dignitaries."
Mediaite listed the "five biggest bombshells" from the report on Biden, including that there were concerns even during the first part of his tenure, that Democrats noticed a leadership vacuum, that meetings were strictly scripted, that Biden struggled to prepare his thoughts when interviewed by special counsel Robert Hur and campaign donors were "shocked" by his performance on calls.
But the Daily Mail post a list of dozens of events that should, to an observer, cause alarm about a sitting president.
For example. Biden repeatedly stumbled while walking up steps to Air Force One. And fell off bicycles.
He also mislabeled the Royal Air Force the "RFA." And he fell asleep while listening to speakers at a climate conference.
Several times he mispronounced the names of other nations' officials.
And, the report said, he "tripped as he walked down the stairs of the Itsukushima Shrine in May 2023 in his rush to greet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida."
And he fell while making an appearance at the Air Force Academy.
And he repeated an inaccurate story about a "white supremacist rally" – twice at the same event.
At a meeting with Brazil's president, he walked off the stage and into a flag. And he called the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the "black caucus."
He claimed to have ridden a train over a collapse bridge that never had train tracks, and called Ukraine's president by the name of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.
When Biden forgot the name of his own Defense secretary he simply labeled him a "black man."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In this thought-provoking episode of WND Live, Dr. Robert Malone, renowned virologist and expert in global affairs, takes us deep into the world of media manipulation and the ongoing psychological warfare, or psywar, shaping modern society.
Malone explores how powerful narratives are crafted and pushed through mainstream media to control public perception, influence political outcomes, and steer global agendas. He will break down the techniques being used to manipulate the masses, from propaganda to fear-based messaging, and how these tactics are being deployed on a global scale.
With an insider's perspective on both science and global geopolitics, Dr. Malone will uncover the hidden forces behind the headlines and help viewers understand the real impact of this psychological warfare. What are the stakes? Who benefits from these manipulations? And how can we protect ourselves from becoming pawns in this ever-evolving game?
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
WASHINGTON – With Donald Trump promising to pardon some, if not all, of those convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, logic would suggest that the Justice Department might slow down or halt its ongoing prosecution of J6 defendants, and that the FBI would terminate its ongoing orders to surveil, raid and apprehend new suspects who demonstrated in Washington, D.C. that fateful day.
In just a few weeks, on Jan. 20, 2025, President-elect Donald Trump will make his return to the Oval Office, something long awaited by the men and women who have been politically prosecuted by the Biden DOJ for protesting the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results at the "Save America" rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump has vowed repeatedly over the years to pardon the Jan. 6 prisoners. And in his first interview after his historic Nov. 5 victory, the president-elect, who himself faced an unprecedented 92 politically motivated felony counts while on the campaign trail, doubled down on his promise to free the political prisoners.
Speaking with "Meet the Press," Trump vowed to grant pardons on "day one" upon returning to the White House.
Yet the DOJ and federal prosecutors are ramping up the charges against Jan. 6 defendants, even circumventing the Supreme Court's ruling on its misuse of federal statutes, to send protesters who trespassed in the "People's House" to prison for years or decades, all in a scurry as the new Republican administration prepares to assume power.
The FBI continues to steadily arrest protesters who sought to "Stop the Steal," apprehending at least two new Jan. 6 suspects every day, often in predawn SWAT team raids, four years after the event.
Criminal defense attorney Roger Roots, who has represented nearly four dozen Jan. 6 defendants over the past three-and-a-half years, is sounding the alarm on the government's incessant attempts to destroy the lives of everyday Americans who supported Trump by exercising their First Amendment rights to speech and assembly.
As Roots awaits a verdict on the fourteenth Jan. 6 case he's taken to trial, he maintains the unconstitutional assault on these defendants' rights warrants a blanket pardon for all Jan. 6 defendants and suspects in "one fell swoop" immediately after Trump takes office … "on day one."
The government insistence on doling out to J6ers prison sentences fit for murderers, child predators and perpetrators of mass casualty events is "a black stain on the history of America," the crusading attorney explained in an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily.
"I've been on the front lines, and I've seen that this is the darkest chapter in the history of criminal justice in the United States. A lot of lawyers don't even know this – many Republicans and conservatives don't even know – how evil it has become.
"The American people clearly and resoundingly have spoken – they are tired of these cases. The government is not slowing down, even though they clearly lost the election," he said. "The Jan. 6 overzealous prosecutions were a factor in the Trump re-election. Nonetheless the Biden DOJ continues arresting people for Jan. 6-related events."
Roots and his law partner John Pierce are inundated with phone calls from recently charged Jan. 6 suspects "almost every day."
"We had a phone call from a Jan. 6 suspect yesterday – indicating that the FBI contacted him and told him that he's got to be arrested and that he needs legal help. Even though Trump has promised to pardon all these guys – hopefully all of them – the government is not slowing down," he reiterated.
As the DOJ maintains a 100% conviction rate on jury trials, the government typically provides defendants several months to turn themselves in after the jury reaches the verdict. But for at least two of Root's clients, J6 defendants Jared Kastner and Patrick Montgomery, a judge has granted the prosecutors' request that they report to prison for Christmas.
"It just boggles my mind," Roots exclaimed. "I have two Jan. 6 clients who were sentenced recently. They have been ordered to report to prison very quickly – on Dec. 23, the day before Christmas Eve.
"Kastner has two new babies, brand new babies, and he's a newlywed, new father. He's been sentenced to five months in jail. He went to trial and was given five months, which I feel was an extremely harsh sentence. He really did nothing but walk through a small part of the Capitol and then walk out – five months in [prison] is his sentence."
Kastner, 24, was a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base employee until he was charged with, according to federal court records, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
The FBI retrieved records from Google while investigating the riot and identified a Gmail account and phone number of a device that was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and associated with Kastner. Records from Google placed the device associated with the account inside the Capitol from 2:14 to 2:52 p.m., according to court records. Kastner was released after his Dec. 8, 2021 arrest in a predawn raid of his residence.
Another one of Roots' client, Patrick Montgomery, 51, was recently sentenced to 37 months in prison and is also ordered to serve three years of supervised release once his sentence is completed.
Montgomery flew to Washington, D.C., for former President Donald Trump's "Save America" rally, walked into the Capitol building and briefly scuffled with a police officer. Federal court documents said Montgomery was inside the Capitol for roughly 20 minutes. He was arrested on Jan. 17, 2021.
In a dramatic departure from the norm, federal judges are green-lighting the prosecution's requests to expedite the "classification" process. Ordinarily judges provide prosecutors and probation officers three to five months for classification, in which the government establishes the type of facility in which defendants will serve their sentence. Based on the government's assessment, they could serve their sentences in camps or low, medium, high or maximum-security facilities within the Federal Bureau of Prisons system.
Yet suddenly, before Trump returns to the White House, the DOJ in tandem with federal judges are expediting the classification process in what Roots contends is an effort to put as many January 6ers behind bars as possible before Inauguration Day.
"Frequently, when these guys get sentenced, they get an order to report to a Bureau of Prisons facility, but the judge does not know which facility. There has to be a period of 'classification' as to whether they're going to 'maximum security,' 'medium security' or whatever.
"We've even seen five-and-a-half months, where a January 6er was sentenced to prison, but had five-and-a-half months to wait before he was ordered to report," he said. But now, says Root, "Just in the last few weeks, they have sped up this process. They've been trying to convict and imprison as many as they can before Trump takes office on Jan. 20."
Also, for Christmas, prosecutors are charging Stephanie Baez, another one of Roots' clients, with violating 18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2), one of the most serious criminal charges leveled against former President Donald Trump himself and an ever-growing number of January 6 defendants, despite the Supreme Court's ruling that the statute has been misused to prosecute demonstrators.
Traditionally, the obstruction charge, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, was used to prosecute crimes of document tampering, witness tampering and evidence tampering. The Justice Department had never used this statute to prosecute demonstrators, even when protests had descended into skirmishes, violence, riots, arson, assault and death.
In June, SCOTUS overturned the obstruction charge used to incarcerate hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants.
"But guess what?," Roots told WND. "We have three cases where the government has refused to drop the 1512 charge! We just had a trial this week, the trial of Stephanie Baez, in which the government refuses to drop her 1512 prosecution."
"Baez went on trial this week based on nothing but some Instagram tweets or comments on social media that she had published, where she was talking about certificates. She mentioned certificates and she mentioned that January 6 is where the vice president – Mike Pence, at that time – plays a role and it was at least within his power to choose to not accept certain ballots from states where there was obvious election improprieties," he continued. "She posted about this on social media, and now they are using those posts to justify continuing to prosecute her for a 1512 charge.
"We are hoping that this case will get dismissed, but here we are, with Baez being prosecuted for this ridiculous felony charge, once again, even though the Supreme Court has struck it down."
Roots drew a distinction between the "insurrection" narrative pushed endlessly by the Biden administration, Democrat politicians and legacy media, versus the reality that the federal government is unprecedentedly applying statutes that carry 20-year prison sentences for what normally and legally qualify as misdemeanor offenses.
"The U.S. Department of Justice had been prosecuting all these J6ers with this 20-year felony essentially for, honestly, misdemeanor disorderly conduct," he said. "Engaging in a demonstration that becomes a riot is disorderly conduct. It's a misdemeanor and that's historically how we've always treated these [violations] in riot situations everywhere – it's a misdemeanor.
"Trump should absolutely and simply, with one fell swoop, pardon every single Jan. 6 defendant – with one fell swoop. Honestly, they were all mistreated. None of them had … an opportunity for a fair defense, and so Trump should just pardon them all with one signature of the pen."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The inspector general for the Department of Justice has confirmed that there were at least 26 undercover federal agents on duty at the Jan. 6, 2021, protest-turned-riot at the U.S. Capitol.
There long has been speculation about such agents, and accusations back and forth about who they were and what they did.
Such "confidential human sources" are used by the DOJ to obtain information that can be used in criminal charges against others, and those CHS individuals sometimes are given permission by the government to violate certain laws in order to maintain their undercover identity, and more. IG Michael Horowitz suggested that was not the case in this situation.
The Washington Examiner said it was Horowitz who confirmed the undercover agents were in use during the riot, and explained it was a "revelation that lends clarity to an aspect of the event that has long been a source of speculation."
The report said Horowitz said in an 84-page report that the sources, mostly unpaid, were in the riot.
"Some of them were embedded among rioters in restricted areas, and four FBI sources also entered the Capitol with them," the report confirmed.
Horowitz did claim the FBI did not authorize any of those undercover agents to enter the Capitol or otherwise break the law.
But he said those who did enter restricted areas have not faced any charges.
The report pointed out that the DOJ, through the activist agenda of Matthew Graves in Washington, has charged some 1,500 people with violations in connection to the riot.
Most faced offenses like trespassing, for which prosecutors sought jail time. There were some other more serious cases that included vandalism or assaulting police officers.
The only person killed that day was an unarmed protester, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed without warning by a Capitol Police officer who then was protected by the government.
Because of the years it took for that confirmation to be revealed, speculation suggested that law enforcement agents were part of the riot, or even organized and abetted it.
"While the FBI undertook significant efforts to identify domestic terrorism subjects who planned to travel to the Capital region on January 6 and to prepare to support its law enforcement partners on January 6 if needed, we also determined that the FBI did not take a step that could have helped the FBI and its law enforcement partners with their preparations in advance of January 6," he found.
In fact, President Donald Trump repeatedly had offered to authorize National Guard troops to be at the Capitol that day to make sure there wasn't any significant violence, but his offer was rejected by Democrats in Washington, including both at the city and federal levels.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A lawsuit over anti-Semitism by officials in the New York village of Atlantic Beach is being revived because they refused to abide by a settlement reached earlier that would have allowed a Jewish organization to operate a center in town, according to a report from First Liberty Institute.
The fight is over scheming by officials there to exclude Chabad of the Beaches, a Hasidic Jewish group, from opening a religious center.
In private messages Mayor George Pappas said, "Very true," when a fellow town official said, "Most people don't want the Chabad and just don't want to say it. Any secular Jew doesn't want them."
The private messaging deteriorated further, with comments like that Jews "procreate" too much, "don't tip" and "are "buying the world."
The town had claimed that it wanted to condemn the property, an old bank, and take it for municipal use, as soon as the Jewish group bought it.
But the lawsuit earlier noted that the property had been for sale for years, and the town never made any effort to acquire it until after the Chabad purchased it.
The legal team explained the newly filed complaint seeking to reopen the case pointed out, "In private communications produced in this case, Village officials freely and frequently engaged in open anti-Chabad and anti-Orthodox sentiment and trafficked in vile antisemitic tropes, including that Jews are 'buying the world,' 'procreate' too much, and 'don't tip.'"
It continued, "These messages reveal that the Village's proffered reason for seizing Chabad's property is and always has been pretextual."
The case came up in 2022, but in 2023 a settlement was reached.
That plan was "subject to several conditions, including the approval of basic building permits. Because the Village refused virtually all of those permits—including the use of the building for religious purposes—the agreement has been terminated and the lawsuit re-opened with an amended complaint," the legal team said.
A federal court already has issued an injunction preventing the village from taking the property, and now the new complaint seeks punitive damages.
"What we once suspected is now confirmed: Village leadership has been driven by blatant, openly expressed religious animus against their Jewish neighbors," said Jeremy Dys, First Liberty Institute lawyer.
"Rather than a neutral act by an unbiased city council, what we now know is that the decision to try to take Chabad's property by eminent domain was driven by a religious hostility to Hasidic and Orthodox Jews that has no place in our country."
When the Jewish group bought the bank, the town demanded to take it for a community center.
"In the two years since Chabad first challenged the attempted taking of its property, the Village has not had a single meeting, presented a single plan, or lifted a single shovel to build the community center it claimed was central to the future of the village. Those claims appear to have been pretext shielding the Village's religious animus," the lawyers explained.
WND reported earlier when U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert imposed a preliminary injunction against any action against the property until the case is fully resolved.
The judge expressed concern over the town's actions: "It is not the taking of the property, but rather the alleged resulting interference with Chabad's constitutional Free Exercise rights, that warrants finding irreparable harm upon the present record."
The judge had noted the town's decision "to acquire the property by eminent domain will burden Chabad's religious exercise by curtailing its outreach mission to the Jewish community and by eliminating its highly visible presence in the Village. Based upon the record evidence, and considering 'the historical background of the decision under challenge, the specific series of events leading to [it], and the . . . administrative history,' as well as statements made by community members, the Village's acquisition decision was made in a manner intolerant of Chabad's members' religious beliefs and which would restrict Chabad's practices because of its religious nature. Thus, the Village's acquisition decision was targeted and not done neutrally, thereby requiring the Court to apply strict scrutiny in deciding whether that decision is constitutionally permissible."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
Pope Francis unveils Nativity scene, with Jesus swaddled in an Arab keffiyeh
On Saturday, Pope Francis attended a nativity scene titled "Nativity of Bethlehem 2024," crafted in the Judean city of the same name, by Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi and presented by Palestinian officials in Pope Paul VI Hall in Vatican City. The display depicting the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem featured baby Jesus swaddled in a keffiyeh.
Speaking at the event, a wheelchair-bound Francis called on Catholics to "remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war," adding, "enough war, enough violence!" and lamenting the existence of the commercial arms trade.
Benjamin Netanyahu gives court testimony at his corruption trial
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared at the Tel Aviv District Court Tuesday to defend himself against a number of charges relating to bribery, accepting illegal gifts, and corruption.
Some five years have passed since the unprecedented indictment of a sitting prime minister, and now Netanyahu will present his version of events in these cases over the course of weeks, possibly months.
U.S. assesses journalist Austin Tice is alive in Syria, thought to be held along with others as bargaining chip for former regime official
The Media Line confirms U.S. journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria in 2012, and several other detained journalists are alive, but in urgent need of food and water. Tice, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer, and the other journalists are being hidden in a secure location by a member of the ousted Syrian regime who is attempting to ensure their safe escape from the country.
Efforts to ensure the safety of the detained journalists are ongoing. A source in Damascus told The Media Line that Tice and the others have been without food or water since the regime fell. Deliveries are impossible as the person protecting them is in a separate location, and any movement risks compromising their safety.
U.K. considers removing HTS from terrorism list
Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden announced Monday that the British government will review its terrorist designation of the Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), signaling a possible modification of the U.K.'s official stance toward the organization. McFadden clarified that no decision has been reached regarding the current ban on HTS, the jihadi organization which has spearheaded the opposition campaign against the now-fallen Assad regime.
IDF strikes some 300 targets in Syria, dozens of aircraft, almost entire Syrian navy reported destroyed
The Israeli Navy carried out a significant strategic operation against the Syrian Navy overnight Tuesday, destroying a large number of vessels and preventing weapons from falling into the hands of jihadist terrorists.
In effect, Israel's action destroyed the Syrian Navy's ships. This joins a large-scale operation by the Air Force in the past two days in which Syrian Air Force aircraft were destroyed: MiG-29 and Sukhoi fighter jets, and helicopters at bases throughout Syria.
Dutch leader Geert Wilders meets with Netanyahu in Jerusalem
Dutch political leader Geert Wilders has met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the latter's office in Jerusalem, the prime minister's office says.
Wilders posted to X that he told Netanyahu "in 1 year — by crushing Hamas, pulverizing Hezbollah and significantly weakening Iran — he has done more to fight (international) terrorism than the EU has done in the last 70 years!"
Israel denies Qatari report about Hamas sharing names ahead of proposed hostage-prisoner swap
Israel denied a Dec. 9 report that the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas had provided a list of Israeli hostages seized during its Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities.
In a statement sent to hostage families on Dec. 9, Israel said a report published in the London-based Qatari newspaper al-Araby al-Jadeed stating Hamas was willing to release the listed hostages to Egyptian negotiators as part of ongoing ceasefire negotiations was "not correct."
Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a televised address that the overthrow of the Iran-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria meant that Hamas's isolation "opens another opening to making progress on a deal that will bring our hostages back."
World Central Kitchen forced to fire 12% of Gaza staff after failing security background checks
Fadi Hamad, who started working with the group four months ago, said he was suspended on the basis of "a security check that recommended that I no longer continue working."
Shocking revelation … NOT. Captured records show Hamas controlled UNRWA schools in Gaza
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, managed schools throughout Gaza until they were closed following Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent war. Employing approximately 13,000 staff members, including many in its schools, the agency is responsible for ensuring the neutrality of its facilities in conflict areas by preventing terrorists from accessing its premises or being on its payroll.
However, interviews and an analysis of records shared with the New York Times by the Israeli military and foreign ministry suggest UNRWA employed at least 24 people across 24 different schools, who were members of Hamas or the Islamic Jihad. Before the war, UNRWA oversaw a total of 288 schools housed within 200 building complexes in Gaza.
WATCH: Syrians in Damascus pull down statue of former Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad
Israel denies its tanks reached Qatana, within 15 miles of Damascus
The Israeli military on Tuesday denied reports that its tanks were advancing towards Damascus, insisting that Israeli forces were stationed in a buffer zone near the Israeli-Syrian border.
"The reports circulated by some media outlets claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces (military) are advancing towards or nearing Damascus are completely false," military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X. "The IDF forces are stationed within the buffer zone and at defensive points near the border in order to protect Israel's borders."
IDF eliminates 10-man Hamas terrorist cell responsible for deaths of 3 Israeli troops in Jabalia
An IDF aircraft killed 10 of the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the deaths of three soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the military announced in a statement on Tuesday morning.
"In a joint operation of the 401st Brigade and the air force, an aircraft attacked and eliminated ten of the terrorists who took part in yesterday's terror act, in which Staff Sgt. Ido Zano, Staff Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern and Sgt. Omri Cohen, of blessed memory, fell," the army stated.
The three soldiers, all members of the Givati Brigade's "Shaked" Battalion, were reportedly killed by a Hamas anti-tank missile during counterterror operations in the Jabalia area of the northern Strip.
U.N. kept quiet when Turkey ethnically cleansed 200,00 Kurds; criticizes IDF presence in Syria buffer zone as 'violation of 1974 agreement'
The United Nations accused Israel of having violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria, after Jerusalem informed the U.N. Security Council that it had taken "limited and temporary measures" in a demilitarized strip on the border in Syrian territory to counter any threats to the Israeli Golan Heights.
Gallant speech at Washington, D.C. synagogue canceled over 'security concerns'
Adas Israel, the largest Conservative synagogue in Washington, D.C., canceled a planned event on Monday with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing a security threat.
The synagogue shared with JNS a follow-up statement from its executive committee that was sent to congregants on Monday.
"Due to specific security concerns that arose in connection with this event, Adas Israel Congregation canceled the scheduled speaking engagement with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant," the committee stated. "Contrary to speculation, this decision was not based on the event's subject matter, but rather on our commitment to the safety of our community."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
After a surprising insurgent offensive by rebels last week, Syria's northern city of Aleppo was captured. The offensive marked the first attack on the city by opposition forces since 2016.
Having overtaken the central city of Hama Dec. 5, rebel forces are approximately 115 miles from Damascus, which is a serious concern to President Bashar al-Assad. Reversing an earlier claim denying that rebels had entered the city, the Syrian army says it is redeploying its forces "to preserve civilian lives and prevent urban combat." Assad may soon be forced to confront a serious threat to Syria's capitol of Damascus.
WorldNetDaily spoke to Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst at the Capital Research Center who has focused on Syria and the Middle East for over 20 years. Describing the Middle Eastern country as "a mosh pit of jihadi groups," he says distinguishing between the ruling regime and the rebels is a near-impossibility.
"There are so many different factions on each side that are fighting an external enemy, while at the same time, they are fighting with each other," he explained.
For this reason, Mauro considers it hard to speak in generalizations, but does say flatly that "the rebels that are taking territory in Syria are jihadists." At the same time, he pointed out that the Assad regime is essentially part of an Islamist Iranian regime. Considering this, he said, "you're basically trading one jihadi for the next."
From the perspective of the West and Israel, Mauro questions whether it is better to have "a stable and arguably less fanatical enemy" to the north – that is, if Assad were to prevail and reclaim land – or rebels and other terrorist organizations who will be consumed with fighting each other.
"There are pluses and minuses to each scenario," he concedes.
"If Assad wins, it would be like having Iran on your border. But if the rebels win, it would be like having Somalia on your border," he offered. With that in mind, Mauro speculates that it may actually be better for Assad to fall.
Interestingly, he speculated as to how the powers-that-be in the region could have prepared.
For stability in the region, Mauro said, "What should have been happening for a very, very long time is [their] backing the Kurdish elements to the hilt, while also backing the more secular oriented Syrian rebel elements that have been somewhat allied with the Kurds," he said. Most importantly, the process would have involved working with as many secular, democratic political forces as possible, avoiding those that are theocratic or genocidal.
The battle for control of Syria is a situation the United States has largely avoided, Mauro pointed out. "At critical junctures, the U.S. has chosen [to support] Turkey at the expense of the Syrian Democratic Forces – the Kurds, Arabs and Christian coalition – that has been our most important partner on the ground and is the only non-Islamist option in Syria right now."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Local governments can call themselves sanctuaries and say they won't allow a federal program to deport illegal aliens within their boundaries.
But it's likely nothing more than talk.
Denver's mayor recently claimed not only his police but 50,000 residents would line up to prevent the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump from deporting illegal aliens found in the city.
He rashly said he'd go to jail over the issue, and Trump's new border czar, Tom Homan, said that's where the mayor would be sent if he persisted.
Now there's another precedent that affirms the incoming administration's authority to run such a program.
A report at the Center Square describes how a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an attempt in Seattle by local officials to rein in deportation programs.
There, officials had ordered companies not to service airplanes being used for deportation during Trump's first administration.
The result is a ruling that the federal government can deport foreign nationals inside the U.S. illegally even over the objection of local authorities.
The report cited the ruling from Judge Daniel Bress, with judges Michael Hawkins and Richard Clinton concurring.
It was a 2019 executive order from King County Executive Dow Constantine that told county officials to ban fixed base operators on a county airfield near Seattle from servicing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flights used to deport illegal foreign nationals, the report said.
The Trump administration at that time sued, citing the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and other law.
The district judge ruled against Seattle, as has the appeals court now.
The ruling said the federal government had Article III standing to bring the action, and the injuries from the ban were traceable to the local officials' political agenda.
The local order, in fact, violated the intergovernmental immunity doctrine because it "improperly regulated the way in which the federal government transported noncitizen detainees by preventing ICE from using private FBO contractors at Boeing Field, and on its face discriminated against the United States by singling out the federal government and its contractors for unfavorable treatment," the report said the court found.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – In the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 7, 2023, Yahya Sinwar and his family moved among the tunnels underneath Gaza, which the terrorist organization he led – Hamas – had dug over the preceding 16 years or so.
The ideologue and religious fanatic was doing so in advance of Hamas commandos cross-border raid into Israel, which he anticipated would redraw the Middle Eastern map and tilt the balance of power in the region. He was right … just not in the way he envisaged.
Sinwar made a number of assumptions – about his implacable foe, Israel, (despite its doctors saving his life with expert medical care), the strength of his own forces, the hoped-for international abandonment of Israel (which did happen, although not quite to the extent he anticipated), and the level of support he could call upon from his ideological fellow-travelers, particularly Iran. As it turns out, he was wrong about pretty much all of them; and his hubristic miscalculation has generated the kind of energy in the region, which could topple long-standing regimes – particularly in Syria and potentially even in Iran.
It is one of the modern day's most elusive counterfactual arguments; if Sinwar had been a rational actor might he have played an even longer game (as both Hezbollah and Iran wished), and have been able to create the conditions – not through barbarism and violence – where his aims could have been achieved through other means? We will never know. At around 6:30 on that fateful Black Sabbath, we wouldn't know it yet, but the Middle East would be changed forever.
There are significant markers, which need to be pointed out to help plot out the evolution of the situation in the Middle East.
Oct. 7, 2023 – Hamas terrorists, eventually followed by ordinary Gazans carry out the worst massacre of Jews – some 1,200 in one day – since the Second World War. Some 250 hostages are taken back into Gaza, including a nine-month-old baby. Several soldiers killed in the initial action are also kidnapped.
Oct. 8, 2023 – While there are still Hamas, Gazan terrorists roaming around parts of Israel, Hezbollah, the farthest forward unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Lebanon begins to fire rockets over the border in northern Israel. The Israeli government decides to create tens of thousands of internally displaced refugees, fearing an Oct. 7-style attack across the Lebanese border.
Oct. 18, 2023 – In a strong show of support, U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in Israel in a solidarity mission, as well as to warn Jerusalem against military adventurism in other parts of the Middle East.
Oct. 21, 2023 – Israel sends in aid trucks, filled with fuel, food, and medicines to Gaza.
Oct. 27, 2023 – Having fully mobilized and called up some 300,000 reserve soldiers, the IDF rolls its tanks into Gaza. This part at least was definitely part of Sinwar's plan.
Nov. 15, 2023 – IDF troops enter Al-Shifa hospital finding Hamas command center, an enormous tunnel, as well as significant weapons caches.
Nov. 21, 2023 – Israel and Hamas agree to four-day humanitarian ceasefire; 50 Israeli women and children were supposed to be released in return for 150 criminal Palestinian women and children detainees in Israel.
Dec. 1, 2023 – War resumes after Hamas releases some 104 hostages and Israel releases 240 detainees.
Dec. 14, 2023 – Biden accuses Israel of "indiscriminate bombing."
Jan. 11, 2024 – International Court of Justice in the Hague hears opening statements in a case in which South Africa accuses Israel of "war crimes and genocide."
April 13, 2024 – Iran fires some 300 ballistic missiles, drones and cruise missiles at Israel, purportedly in retaliation for the elimination of several senior IRGC leaders in a building adjacent to Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria.
July 13, 2024 – At the eighth attempt, IDF successfully eliminates Hamas military mastermind Mohammed Deif – although confirmation would not come for a few weeks.
July 20, 2024 – Israeli jets pound Hodeidah port in Yemen, after Houthi terrorists fired a at least three ballistic missiles at the Jewish state.
July 27, 2024 – 12 Druze children are killed in Majdal Shams in northern Israel after Hezbollah fired a missile into the soccer field they were playing on.
July 30, 2024 – IAF eliminates reclusive senior Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut, one of the terrorist group's strongholds.
July 31, 2024 – An explosive charge is planted in the room of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an IRGC compound in Tehran, killing him and his bodyguard. Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran's new President Masoud Pazeshkian, after former president Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a May helicopter crash in Iran.
Aug. 28, 2024 – IDF launches widespread incursion into Judea and Samaria to tackle the issue of Palestinian terrorists, increasingly armed by Iran. This largest operation since the 2002 Defensive Shield, it came in response to an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Aug. 31, 2024 – IDF recovers bodies of 6 hostages – including dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin – who were murdered shortly before.
Sept. 17, 2024 – Israel's Mossad pulls off the remarkable beeper operation, in which thousands of personal pagers, almost exclusively only given to Hezbollah operatives, simultaneously explode across large swaths of Lebanon and Syria.
Sept. 27, 2024 – IAF attacks Hezbollah headquarters with 80 tons of missiles, killing long-serving general secretary Hassan Nasrallah, the face of the organization.
Oct. 1, 2024 – Iran fires another salvo of 180 ballistic and cruise missiles at Israel.
Oct. 17, 2024 – IDF confirms the killing of Yahya Sinwar, who was eliminated after a routine patrol stumbled upon his whereabouts.
Oct. 27, 2024 – Between a third and a half of Israel's entire air force – fighter jets and refueling planes – fly some 1,200 miles to strike targets in Iran, including around the capital, Tehran, It is the first time since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s that Iran has been directly targeted. The IAF struck a secret nuclear development site, as well as destroying all the country's anti-aircraft missile batteries, without losing a single plane.
Nov. 27, 2024 – Israel and Lebanon agree to a ceasefire to bring at least a temporary halt to the fighting.
Nov. 29 – Dec. 2, 2024 – Sunni Islamists with the likely backing of Qatar and Turkey rout Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and take over large swaths of the country.
This timeline shows the level of devastation Sinwar's decision brought to the region and the unintended consequence that far from ending the Jewish state, and there is an argument to be made that it is in a stronger position than it was, certainly on Oct. 7 and for a few weeks afterward.
Israel's determination to take on its enemies – for what else could it do in an existential war – has provided succor to others in the region. Iran and Hezbollah are still powerful enemies, but their respective rhetoric has been shown up by Israel's relentlessness. In the nineteenth century, German field marshal Helmuth von Moltke said, "No military plan survives contact with the enemy," which seems an eerily accurate appraisal of this situation. Sinwar thought he knew Israel and Israelis from his time in its prison and his command of the language. However, his gamble looks like it might end up reorienting the balance of power in the entire Middle East, taking down some of his erstwhile friends with it.