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Kash Patel can’t stop living the good life.The FBI director reportedly went on a VIP snorkeling trip while on a visit to Hawaii last summer that the bureau stressed was not a vacation. Patel was officially in the state to tour the FBI’s Honolulu branch and meet with local law enforcement, or at least that’s what the bureau’s news releases said.But the Associated Press obtained government emails showing that Patel took part in the snorkeling excursion, coordinated by the military, near the USS Arizona, which was sunk in the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor. That wasn’t mentioned in the bureau’s public releases, nor was Patel’s return to Hawaii for two days after initially visiting the state.Snorkeling and diving are usually prohibited around the sunken battleship, with rare exceptions. It’s essentially a military cemetery, as over 900 sailors and Marines died in the 1941 attack by Japan. Most dives either are done by Marine archaeologists or crews from the National Park Service to examine the wreck’s condition, or to inter the remains of survivors of the attack who wish to be laid to rest near their fellow shipmates.Only a few dignitaries have been allowed to swim at the site since at least the Obama administration, but none of them were FBI chiefs, even though they have visited Pearl Harbor. Patel, yet again, appears to be using his job and access to a private FBI jet to get away with vacationing on the taxpayer’s dime.Patel has used FBI resources to fly to see his girlfriend sing at a wrestling event and have agents protect her, as well as buy a new fleet of BMWs to ride around in. He went to Italy to party during the Olympics, and drinks so much on the job that he once passed out behind a locked door, requiring “breaching equipment” to get him out. And how many other FBI directors had their own personalized bourbon, and lashed out when it went missing?Patel appears to think that he gets to party and carry out President Trump’s bidding, such as going after the president’s political enemies and purging agents who don’t toe the administration’s line, even when they are experts on Iran. The list of Patel’s transgressions is long, but he still has a job until his misdeeds outweigh his pro-Trump sycophancy.

Bad-faith attacks, like those currently being lobbed against Harriman, cheapen the real challenges of confronting antisemitism and ultimately make Jewish communities less safe, writes Daniel Levy.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the board would determine “non-sensitive areas where it would be possible for the Chinese to invest.”

This story is from Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action, in partnership with High Country News. Sign up for Floodlight’s newsletter here. At the end of a dirt road along the northeastern edge of Montana’s Crazy Mountains, a simple sign warns visitors they are now entering private property.  For fifth-generation […]

The Trump administration is targeting another federal judge who has ruled against the government, even telling its lawyers to withhold information.The New York Times, citing an internal email, reports that a lawyer for ICE told Kevin M. Bolan, a Justice Department lawyer preparing to appear before U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose in April, not to disclose an arrest warrant for murder in the Dominican Republic for Bryan Rafael Gomez, an immigrant she planned to release from federal custody.“Please do not confirm or deny the existence” of the warrant, ICE lawyer Adam E. Mattei wrote to Bolan. “There has yet to be any use authorization for this information.”After DuBose ordered Gomez’s release, though, the Department of Homeland Security attacked her in a news release as an “activist Biden Judge” for releasing a “violent criminal illegal alien.” DuBose didn’t take kindly to this, issuing an order earlier this month questioning why she was not told about “facts relevant” to the case and saying that the omission “threatens public safety and erodes trust in the rule of law.”Bolan then apologized in a court filing, saying that ICE had told him to withhold the information for what he thought was a legitimate law enforcement reason. He added that his DOJ colleagues had asked the DHS to take their news release down to no avail. DuBose still referred Bolan for possible discipline, citing a “lack of candor.”The general counsel for DHS, James Percival, then attacked DuBose in a column for the conservative website The Federalist Tuesday, calling DuBose an “activist” and saying she lacked “any plausible basis to review Mr. Gomez’s custody status.”The whole thing is part of a pattern, led by President Trump, of government officials denigrating judges who go against the administration’s mass deportation agenda. DuBose, appointed by President Biden, is the first Black and LGBTQ judge to serve on Rhode Island’s federal bench, making her a big target for MAGA. On top of that, the government knowingly withheld information from her, further destroying whatever credibility this administration has left.

The Trump administration’s immigration operation is experiencing another major shakeup.U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks suddenly resigned from his position Thursday following accusations of sexual impropriety. Banks oversaw Donald Trump’s second-term immigration crackdown. The longtime law enforcement professional told Fox News that his resignation was effective immediately.“It’s just time, man,” Banks told Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin. “I feel like I got this shit back on course, from the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen. Time to pass the reins.”“It’s time to enjoy the family and life,” Banks added.Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott thanked Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security.”But Banks’s sudden departure comes at a curious time, as reports circulate about his penchant for sex workers. Border Patrol employees told the Washington Examiner last month that Banks was “known among colleagues for taking regular trips abroad to engage in sex with prostitutes.” Banks even “bragged” about his deviant habits with colleagues while in his previous role in Border Patrol, and allegedly paid for sex with prostitutes while travelling across Colombia and Thailand over the course of a decade. CBP reportedly investigated his behavior twice, including last year, but the probe was squashed by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.Despite Trump having made immigration a key priority for his second term, federal immigration agencies have seen a tremendous leadership shakeup since he returned to office, rattling every component of the country’s immigration system.So far, the restructuring has ousted Noem and former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who was sidelined by the administration after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis early this year.And more resignations are on the way: acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons is expected to step down from his position in the coming weeks. He will be replaced by David Venturella, a private prison executive.

Joshua Scheer Donald Trump didn’t arrive in Beijing as the leader of a confident superpower. He arrived like a salesman carrying a collapsing empire on his back — flanked not by diplomats or peace negotiators, but by Silicon Valley monopolists, Wall Street vultures, and billionaire oligarchs desperate to keep their fortunes alive. Elon Musk. Jensen […]