The Reign of Trump

[bilateralrope]

Workers taken to hospital after FBI uses furnace to burn seized meth

2 days ago

Sakshi Venkatraman
BBC News

Fourteen staff members at a US animal shelter have been taken to hospital after the FBI used an incinerator at the facility to burn two pounds of seized methamphetamine.

Staff and some 75 cats and dogs were evacuated from the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter in Billings, Montana, when the building filled with smoke on Wednesday.

The incinerator is usually used by animal control officers to dispose of euthanised animals, but local authorities said it can also be used by law enforcement to burn seized narcotics.

The cats and dogs have been relocated, and the animals which experienced the most smoke exposure are now under supervision.

The incident was caused when smoke was pushed in the wrong direction because of negative pressure, according to Assistant City Administrator Kevin Iffland.

Shelter executive director Triniti Halverson said she was unaware that a drug burn was happening.

"I can firmly and confidently say that, as the Executive Director, I did not know that they were disposing of extremely dangerous narcotics onsite," she wrote in a statement.

"My team and my animals had been confirmed to have been exposed to meth," she said.

Before evacuating themselves, many employees put on masks and helped get the animals out.

Some staff were exposed to the smoke for more than an hour, and several began to feel sick. All 14 went to the emergency room, where they spent about three hours in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to combat the effects of smoke inhalation.

FBI spokesperson Sandra Barker told CBS News that the agency routinely uses outside facilities for controlled drug evidence burns.

The impacted animals were given veterinary care and placed in temporary housing, including four litters of kittens who are being closely monitored because they were closed in a room with the smoke, Ms Halverson told the BBC's US partner, CBS News.

A restoration team has also begun decontaminating the building, she said, but the process will take at least two weeks to a month.

Calling the incident "heartbreaking", Halverson is asking the public for donations to source supplies like dog and cat food, blankets and bottles.

"We are displaced, lost, and homeless. For many of us — staff, volunteers, and fosters — YVAS is our safe space," she said.

Under Trump, the FBI have forgotten how to safely dispose of meth.

[bilateralrope]

‘We can’t delay any longer’: Trump urges Bondi to prosecute his rivals

In a Truth Social post Saturday, the president specifically called out Sen. Adam Schiff, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James for prosecution.

By Kyle Cheney
09/20/2025 07:44 PM EDT
Updated: 09/20/2025 09:18 PM EDT

President Donald Trump publicly vented at Attorney General Pam Bondi on Saturday, saying the lack of criminal charges against top adversaries was “killing our reputation and credibility.”

“We can’t delay any longer,” Trump posted on Truth Social in a message directed to “Pam.” “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” He specifically lamented the lack of criminal charges against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, three of his most prominent political antagonists.

Trump spent much of the post venting about Erik Siebert, the former U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of Virginia, who he forced out Friday amid reports that Siebert did not believe there was enough evidence to charge James with mortgage fraud.

Trump appeared to confirm those reports, accusing Siebert of saying “that we had no case.”

“There is a GREAT CASE,” Trump said.

Trump also appeared to float his onetime personal attorney Lindsey Halligan — now a White House aide who has been reviewing materials in the Smithsonian museums to ensure they align with Trump’s agenda — to take on a role in the probes of his adversaries.

“Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” Trump wrote. He later posted that he intended to nominate Halligan to the post, though it’s still unclear if he wants Bondi to immediately install her in the job on an interim basis.

It was a remarkable public message to the nation’s top law enforcement officer, linking his personal grievances over his own criminal prosecutions and congressional impeachments to a potential decision by federal prosecutors to level criminal charges against his adversaries. Trump’s frustration stemmed in part, he said, from “30 statements and posts” from allies that complained “nothing is being done” to punish his longtime rivals.

Trump amplified his post in a brief gaggle with reporters on Saturday night, saying the post was not meant as a criticism of Bondi but that “we have to act fast.”

“One way or the other. They’re guilty, they’re not guilty. We have to act fast,” Trump said. “If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty, or if they should be judged, they should be judged. And we have to do it now.”

Trump has long accused Comey, Schiff and James, without evidence, of criminal conduct. Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017 amid frustrations over the investigation of his campaign’s contacts with Russia. Schiff led Trump’s first impeachment trial over his decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine over a demand that the Ukrainian government investigate his political rivals. And Trump has railed against James for her sprawling lawsuit against his business empire that led to a massive civil judgment against him.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The message came after POLITICO reported that Bondi had elevated little-known prosecutor Mary “Maggie” Cleary to succeed Siebert, taking on the job as acting U.S. attorney amid questions about the investigation into James.

Trump capped his message to Bondi by accusing Democrats of impeaching him twice and indicting him five times “over nothing.” In 2023, Trump was charged in criminal cases that accused him of seeking to subvert the 2020 presidential election, corrupt Georgia’s election process, hoard classified information at Mar-a-Lago after his first term and cover up a hush money payment scheme.

Only the hush money case, brought by Manhattan prosecutors, reached a jury, which found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts. Two of the cases, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election. And the Georgia case remains mired in pretrial dysfunction, with lead prosecutor Fani Willis recently disqualified over a conflict of interest.

I wonder how long it will take before Trump's people manage to blow up a high profile case that they should have been able to win.

Like the Charlie Kirk shooter.

[Solauren]

I wonder if anyone has explained to them that "those people have actually commited nothing they that could be charged or go to jail over, and taking them to court is what would ruin our credibility." and it would be better to say "we investigated them, and shockingly, they didn't break any crimes. They're scumbags, but they're at least not lawbreakers."

Probably haven't, for fear of Trumps reaction.

[bilateralrope]

I wonder if anyone has explained to them that "those people have actually commited nothing they that could be charged or go to jail over, and taking them to court is what would ruin our credibility." and it would be better to say "we investigated them, and shockingly, they didn't break any crimes. They're scumbags, but they're at least not lawbreakers."

Probably haven't, for fear of Trumps reaction.

That credibility is already gone with judges. Except for SCOTUS. Also the DOJ keeps failing to get indictments from grand juries.

In Trump's administration, competence seems to be a fireable offense.

[Solauren]

I wonder if anyone has explained to them that "those people have actually commited nothing they that could be charged or go to jail over, and taking them to court is what would ruin our credibility." and it would be better to say "we investigated them, and shockingly, they didn't break any crimes. They're scumbags, but they're at least not lawbreakers."

Probably haven't, for fear of Trumps reaction.

That credibility is already gone with judges. Except for SCOTUS. Also the DOJ keeps failing to get indictments from grand juries.

In Trump's administration, competence seems to be a fireable offense.

The competent ones are just staying out of the limelight/off Trumps radar.

[bilateralrope]

Luigi Mangione's lawyers slam Charlie Kirk comparisons made by Trump administration

Some have compared Kirk's slaying to other recent acts of political violence, including the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.

Sept. 25, 2025, 2:15 AM GMT+12 / Updated Sept. 25, 2025, 10:28 AM GMT+12
By Matt Lavietes

A federal judge said Wednesday that President Donald Trump and other administration officials may have violated the law with their recent public statements about Luigi Mangione.

In a court filing, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett ordered the Justice Department to respond to a letter Mangione's lawyers sent Tuesday.

The letter accused the Trump administration of violating their client's right to a fair trial in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. Mangione's lawyers referred to several comments administration officials made about Mangione in the days after Kirk's killing, some by Trump.

"The Government has indelibly prejudiced Mr. Mangione by baselessly linking him to unrelated violent events, and left-wing extremist groups, despite there being no connection or affiliation," the letter reads. "A recent, tragic, high-profile murder has only increased this prejudicial rhetoric."

Kirk, a popular conservative activist and podcaster, was assassinated as he was speaking at an event on a college campus in Utah on Sept. 10. Commenters have compared the killing to other recent acts of political violence, including the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel in December.

Mangione, 26, is charged with state and federal crimes in connection with Thompson's death. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. State prosecutors have presented diary entries they say belong to Mangione that include references to killing a health insurance CEO to make a statement about the broader health care industry.

Mangione's lawyers pointed to Trump's interview with Fox News on Sept. 18, a little over a week after Kirk was killed, in which he said Mangione "shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me. ... He shot him right in the middle of the back — instantly dead. ... This is a sickness. This really has to be studied and investigated."

The letter notes that an X account affiliated with the White House, Rapid Response 47, posted a video with Trump's comment about Mangione to its millions of followers a day later.

It adds that Chad Gilmartin, the deputy director of the Justice Department's Public Affairs Office, reposted the video and wrote that Trump "is absolutely right."

Mangione's lawyers also pointed to comments White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made on Sept. 22, when she referred to Mangione as a "left-wing assassin [who] shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson right in the back in New York City."

Last, the attorneys pointed to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller's comment in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. Miller, referring to Mangione, said that "of course the health care CEO was brutally gunned down by another self-described so-called anti-fascist that was then celebrated by other self-described anti-fascists, so, of course, really communist revolutionaries."

Mangione’s lawyers wrote: "The attempts to connect Mr. Mangione with these incidents and paint him as a 'left wing' violent extremist are false, prejudicial, and part of a greater political narrative that has no place in any criminal case, especially one where the death penalty is at stake."

In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Mangione’s federal case.

Mangione’s lawyers also argued that the administration was violating an April court order by making such comments publicly.

In her order Wednesday, Garnett directed the government to give a sworn declaration of “how these violations occurred."

Mangione's lawyers declined to comment. The White House referred NBC News to the Justice Department, which did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment.

A New York state judge dismissed state terrorism charges against Mangione last week, arguing that the crime he is accused of does not fit "within the definition of terrorism."

Days later, Mangione's attorneys filed a 114-page motion in his federal case, arguing that federal prosecutors should be precluded from treating it as a death penalty case and that the indictment should be dismissed.

Federal judge warns Trump DOJ of sanctions, contempt for rule violations in Mangione case

Trump officials have already broken the rules in a high-profile death penalty case. Will it matter?

Sept. 26, 2025, 3:57 AM GMT+12
By Jordan Rubin

Is the Trump administration trying to mess up its prosecution of Luigi Mangione? How it responds to a federal judge’s new order will show its priorities.

The order came Wednesday in Mangione’s federal case (he has a state case, too), after his lawyers wrote to the judge to complain of what they said was illegal Justice Department conduct. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett seemed to agree, writing that actions by high-ranking DOJ staff members “appear to be in direct violation” of a court rule and prior court order.

Mangione’s lawyers wrote to the Biden appointee Tuesday that the government “has continued to prejudice his right to a fair trial in a death penalty case.” They pointed to officials promoting on social media, in a since-deleted post, President Donald Trump’s statement in a Fox News interview that Mangione “shot someone in the back as clear as you’re looking at me . . . he shot him right in the middle of the back — instantly dead.”

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murdering health care executive Brian Thompson in one of the most high-profile cases of Trump’s second term. The defense letter comes amid Mangione’s broader attack on the government’s attempt to use the death penalty against him, which Garnett has yet to rule on.

In her order on this narrower issue Wednesday, Garnett highlighted the court rule in question, which instructs lawyers and nonlawyer personnel in their offices not to release or authorize the release of any opinion “if there is a substantial likelihood that the dissemination will interfere with a fair trial or otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice.” She noted that the rule gives as an example of such a prohibited statement any “opinion as to the accused’s guilt or innocence or as to the merits of the case or the evidence in the case.”

In her order, the judge gave the DOJ until Oct. 3 to explain “how these violations occurred” and “what steps are being taken to ensure that no future violations occur.” She also warned that “future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to the prosecution of this matter.”

It’s that last, vague phrase — “relief specific to the prosecution of this matter” — that suggests the DOJ’s actions could hurt the case itself. I use that flimsier wording like “suggest” and “could” because that’s the tenor of the order, which implies that no judicial discipline will be carried out against officials for violations the judge said have already occurred; but there may be some as-yet unspecified discipline for future violations.

Perhaps the judge is mindful that any consequence she imposes could be upended on appeal, as happened in a different case in August, when a Trump-appointed appellate panel majority tossed a judge’s probable cause order that raised the prospect of contempt proceedings against Trump officials.

To be sure, it might be annoying for the DOJ to have to come up with an explanation for why government officials violated a court rule and order. Beyond that, it’s unclear what, if any, consequence the government will suffer here. As ever, it seems that Trump officials will have to try to mess up the case — and even then, it remains unclear what consequence would come should officials keep breaking the rules.

Looks like this could be the first case Trump's regime blows up because they can't keep their mouths shut.