President Donald Trump and the FBI Director Kash Patel kicked off an event Wednesday to announce the results of a law enforcement effort called “Operation Summer Heat.”
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Operation Summer Heat was a three-month initiative to crack down on violent crime across the country between June and September.
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“Just as we’re forging peace and stability abroad, we’re also restoring peace and safety and stability at home,” Trump said.
FBI director touts efforts to crackdown on violent crime
Patel joined Trump in the Oval Office to tout federal law enforcement’s efforts to combat crime across the U.S. He cited the arrests of 8,700 people accused of violent crimes and more than 2,200 guns seized as part of “Operation Summer Heat.”
Current and former FBI officials say the bureau’s heightened focus on immigration and violent crime, areas typically worked by other local and federal agencies, risks drawing attention and resources from the sophisticated threats for which the FBI is uniquely responsible for confronting.
Trump won’t rule out U.S. strikes on Venezuelan soil
The president said of U.S. strikes against boats off of Venezuela, “We are certainly looking at land now.”
A series of recent U.S. strikes have sunk vessels the White House says were carrying drugs from Venezuela. Asked if such attacks may eventually target mainland Venezuela, Trump said, “I don’t want to tell you, exactly.”
But he suggested that land attacks were an option “because we’ve got the sea well under control.”
The president also said he’d authorized the CIA to operate in Venezuela.
Asked if the agency could “take out” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump was noncommittal, saying it was “a ridiculous question” for him to answer.
Patel hails capture of Abbey Gate bombing suspect even as prosecutor in case has been fired
Patel trumpeted the FBI’s arrest in the early days of the Trump administration of a suspect in the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and roughly 170 Afghan civilians in 2021.
Mohammad Sharifullah was brought to the U.S. earlier this year to face prosecution in federal court in Virginia.
Patel praised the capture during a news conference at the White House on Wednesday focused on violent crime. What he did not mention was that a key prosecutor in the case, Michael Ben’Ary, was fired earlier this month by the Justice Department.
Ben’Ary, who was chief of the national security section in the Eastern District of Virginia, was fired just hours after Julie Kelly, a conservative writer and activist, shared online that he previously worked as senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco during the Biden administration.
Trump says India will stop buying Russian oil
The U.S. president said he received assurances directly from Prime Minister Modi in a conversation on Wednesday.
“There will be no oil. He’s not buying oil,” Trump said. The change won’t take immediately, but “within a short period of time.”
The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has been pushing India to stop buying Russian oil to escalate pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.”If India doesn’t buy oil, it makes it much easier,” he said.
FBI agents to get paid in shutdown
The president and his FBI director also said that key personnel at the bureau will get paid as the government shutdown continues.
“Special agents at the FBI are going to receive their paychecks,” Patel added.
Trump says judge who didn’t jail ex-DOGE staffer’s assailants should ‘be ashamed’
The two 15-year-olds who pleaded guilty to assaulting former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine in August were sentenced to probation by a federal judge on Tuesday.
The attack is widely considered a key factor in Trump’s decision to flood the streets of Washington with National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers in an attempt to crack down on crime.
Asked about the judge’s decision not to incarcerate the 15-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl, Trump said, “wow” and called it a “terrible” decision.
“I think the judge should be ashamed of himself,” Trump said in response to a question during an Oval Office appearance with Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, to discuss the administration’s crime-fighting initiatives.
DOGE is the Department of Government Efficiency, once led by Elon Musk at Trump’s direction, to cut the size of government.
