(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away an appeal by a group of gun-rights advocates seeking to overturn Maryland‘s ban on assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines under the Second Amendment.
The decision, a major win for gun-safety advocates, leaves in place a ruling by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals which ruled that the state may constitutionally prohibit sale and possession of the weapons.
The state legislation, enacted in 2013 after the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, specifically targets the AR-15 — the most popular rifle in America with 20-30 million in circulation. They are legal in 41 of the 50 states.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision, saying they would have taken up the case to decide the issue nationwide. Legal challenges to other state bans remain pending in lower courts.
“I would not wait to decide whether the government can ban the most popular rifle in America,” Justice Thomas wrote. “The question is of critical importance to tens of millions of law-abiding AR-15 owners throughout the country.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with the court’s decision to let the Maryland law stand, for now, but wrote separately to call the appeals court ruling “questionable.” Kavanaugh said that he expects the high court to weigh in formally on the legality of the AR-15 in the “next term or two.”
Maryland has seen a decline in gun violence since the enactment of a series of laws aimed at curbing access to dangerous weapons.
Officials particularly credit a series of federal, state and local restrictions imposed on gun kits in 2022 and 2023 with slowing online sales of untraceable firearms, requiring background and age checks of buyers and banning some kit sales in Maryland altogether.
While the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has issued rulings expanding the rights of gun owners, recent decisions have underscored support for some longstanding restrictions. In June 2024, the high court upheld a ban on firearm purchases and possession by Americans under domestic violence restraining orders. Earlier this year the Court also upheld federal regulations targeting ghost guns.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform.
“Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!” the president added.
Eight people were injured on Sunday in what the FBI is calling an “act of terror.” Boulder police said the motive for the attack still has not been established.
The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was allegedly heard yelling “Free Palestine” while throwing a “makeshift flamethrower” at a demonstration to raise awareness about the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to authorities.
Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to court documents. He allegedly told police “he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.”
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday said Soliman is in the U.S. illegally. He entered the country on a B2 visa, which is typically a tourism visa, in August 2022 and in September 2022 applied for asylum. The B2 visa expired in February 2023.
Soliman was granted a work permit after his B2 visa expired, a senior official told ABC News. That work permit expired on March 28, so he has been in the country illegally since then, the official said.
Trump sought to cast blame over Soliman’s immigration status on former President Joe Biden, criticizing his predecessor’s policies and saying “he must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made a similar argument on Monday as she took some questions from reporters outside the White House.
Leavitt said the suspect was “foolishly given a tourism visa” by the previous administration.
“These individuals are going to be deported, and we’re not going to tolerate such violence in our country,” Leavitt said.
While Trump seized on the fact that the alleged attacker was in the country illegally, the president did not mention antisemitism in his statement.
Though a White House senior official said Trump was briefed on Sunday, his first public comments came nearly 24 hours after the attack.
Leavitt, in her gaggle with reporters, was asked for the administration message to the Jewish community.
“We have seen two horrific cases of anti-semitic violence in our country in the last two weeks, and it is unacceptable to this president and this White House,” she said. “And rest assured to all Jewish Americans across our great country, this president has your back and he’s not going to allow anyone to take part in violent terrorism, acts of terrorism, in our country.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi also released a statement Monday in which she condemned “vile anti-Semitic violence.”
“The Department of Justice has swiftly charged the illegal alien perpetrator of this heinous attack with a federal hate crime and will hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our prayers are with the victims and our Jewish community across the world,” Bondi said.
(BOULDER, Colo.) — President Donald Trump on Monday responded for the first time to the attack against a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, seizing on the that the suspect was in the United States illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform.
“Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!” the president added.
Eight people were injured on Sunday in what the FBI is calling an “act of terror.” Boulder police said the motive for the attack still has not been established.
The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was allegedly heard yelling “Free Palestine” while throwing a “makeshift flamethrower” at a demonstration to raise awareness about the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to authorities.
Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to court documents. He allegedly told police “he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.”
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday said Soliman is in the U.S. illegally. He entered the country on a B2 visa, which is typically a tourism visa, in August 2022 and in September 2022 applied for asylum. The B2 visa expired in February 2023.
Soliman was granted a work permit after his B2 visa expired, a senior official told ABC News. That work permit expired on March 28, so he has been in the country illegally since then, the official said.
Trump sought to cast blame over Soliman’s immigration status on former President Joe Biden, criticizing his predecessor’s policies and saying “he must go out under ‘TRUMP’ Policy.”
While Trump seized on the fact that the alleged attacker was in the country illegally, the president did not mention antisemitism in his statement.
Though a White House senior official said Trump was briefed on Sunday, his first public comments came nearly 24 hours after the attack.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also released a statement Monday in which she condemned “vile anti-Semitic violence.”
“The Department of Justice has swiftly charged the illegal alien perpetrator of this heinous attack with a federal hate crime and will hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Our prayers are with the victims and our Jewish community across the world,” Bondi said.
“Yesterday’s horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado, WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform.
“Acts of Terrorism will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland. My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!” the president added.
Eight people were injured on Sunday in what the FBI is calling an “act of terror.”
The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was allegedly heard yelling “Free Palestine” while throwing a “makeshift flamethrower” at a demonstration to raise awareness about the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to authorities.
Boulder police said the motive for the attack still has not been established.
The Department of Homeland Security on Monday said Soliman is in the U.S. illegally as his B2 visa — which is typically a tourism visa — expired in February 2023. Soliman had also applied for asylum in 2022.
Soliman was granted a work permit after his B2 visa expired, a senior official told ABC News. That work permit expired on March 28, so he has been in the country illegally since then, the official said.
While Trump seized on the fact that the alleged attacker was in the country illegally, the president did not mention antisemitism in his statement.
While the administration said Trump was briefed on Sunday, his first public comments came nearly 24 hours after the attack.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Sunday that he expects President Donald Trump to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week on tariffs.
“President Trump, we expect, is going to have a wonderful conversation about the trade negotiations this week with President Xi. That’s our expectation,” Hassett told anchor George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday.
Currently, China has a 30% tariff level for goods coming into the U.S., which is reduced from the original 145% Trump levied. A 90-day reprieve from the 145% tariffs was given with the intent that the two countries would negotiate a wider trade deal.
Hassett said he was unsure of the exact date the two leaders would plan to speak to each other.
“I’m not sure, George, because you never know in international relations, but my expectation is that both sides have expressed a willingness to talk. And I’d like to also add that people are talking every day, so [U.S. Trade Representative] Jamieson Greer, his team and President Xi’s team in China, they’re talking every day trying to move the ball forward on this matter.”
Trump’s tariffs have faced a number of court challenges. An appeals court reinstated Trump’s tariffs this week after a Wednesday court order blocked them. The appeals court decision stands for the time being.
The block on the tariffs came after the Court of International Trade decided that the administration’s evocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the president the right to set “unlimited” tariffs. The Trump administration argued that the court order may harm their progress in negotiations.
Here are more highlights from Hassett’s interview:
Hassett on the legal challenges to tariffs
Stephanopoulos: Are you confident the Supreme Court is going to uphold these tariffs? What happens if they don’t?
Hassett: Right. Well, one of the things we’ve been doing all the way back until 2017, when I used to speak with you on the show last time, George, is that we’ve studied every possible way that President Trump’s tariff agenda could be pursued. And Jamieson Greer, the best trade lawyer in the business, came down and said the IEPA pursuit that we’re pursuing is the fastest, and it’s the way that’s the most legally sound.
And so we’re very thrilled. We are very confident that the judges will uphold this law. And so I think that’s Plan A. And we’re very, very confident that Plan A is all we’re ever going to need. But if, for some reason, some judge were to say that it’s not a national emergency when more Americans die from fentanyl than have ever died in all American wars combined, that’s not an emergency that the president has authority over, if that ludicrous statement is made by a judge somewhere, then we’ll have other alternatives that we can pursue as well to make sure that we make America trade fair again.
On possible deals this week
Stephanopoulos: Where are we exactly? When will we see an actual agreement? Will we see any this week?
Hassett: I expected that we were going to probably see one perhaps as early as last week. And I think that one of the things that’s happened is that the trade team has been focused 100 percent like a laser beam on the China matter, to make sure that there are no supply disruptions because these licenses are coming a little slower than we would like. And so, we’ve been focused like a laser beam on that last week, and the presidents, we expect, will discuss the matter this week. Once that thing’s resolved, then we’re going to take deals into the Oval that Jamieson Greer and Howard Lutnick have negotiated.
Hassett on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
Stephanopoulos: Facing numerous challenges to the bill in the Senate right now from both the right and the left, are you confident that the president’s deadline is going to be met?
Hassett: Deadlines are deadlines, right? So, the one thing I could say is that we’re 100 percent confident that this bill is going to pass because in the end, the senators who are worried about the bill understand that you’re going to cast the economy into recession and vote for the biggest tax hike in history if you vote against the bill.
United Nations World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain stressed the “immediate” need for aid and a ceasefire in Gaza.
“It’s a tragedy. And what we need right now is an immediate ceasefire, complete, unfettered access, along with the safe fence roads, every gate open, to feed people and stop this catastrophe from happening. If we don’t do that, it’s going to be a humanitarian catastrophe, as I’ve said, like none other,” McCain said Sunday on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began delivering aid this week after an 11-week embargo. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on May 19 that Israel, “with our American friends,” was creating a “system with distribution centers” that would be “secured by the IDF, preventing Hamas from reaching the area.”
GHF has been criticized by the United Nations and other aid groups for its distribution methods. Photos and videos out of Gaza show long lines of Palestinians waiting for aid. The United Nations warns that Gaza is approaching a famine.
According to the Gaza health ministry, 31 people were killed and 200 injured when Israel opened fire on a GHF aid distribution center located in Rafah. In a statement posted to X, the Israel Defense Forces said, “At this stage, there are no known casualties from IDF gunfire” within the site. “The matter is still under investigation.”
“They don’t have nearly enough access points. They don’t have nearly enough food going in. And — and so the — the feel of desperation, you can see it in the video, is very — it’s very disheartening,” McCain said. “I mean, for all of us that do this, you know, this is what we do. We — we — we understand what it takes and we understand the complexity of it. But we also understand the grave humanitarian need that — that is existing now.”
Here are more highlights from McCain’s interview:
On the UN’s interaction with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Stephanopoulos: Have you had any coordination at all this week with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
McCain: No, I have not personally. I know that there’s been some — some meetings that have taken place around the — around the — Europe, particularly on some of the things. But we have — we’ve not seen a plan. We’ve been a part of some of those meetings. Some of them we have not been. But again, we’ve seen no plan. And, look, we will work with anybody to feed. This is — this is the kind of thing that, at this level of desperation, we’ve got to work together on trying to feed people. So — so it’s not about not willing to work with people. We need the access. We need the Israelis to let us in so we can do our job. And we do it — we are the best at what we do, I might add. And we’re the ones — we — we can — we can not only get in, but we can get in at scale, which is what is most important right now.
On Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying ‘that’s a lie that people are dying from USAID cuts
Stephanopoulos: Is it a lie that people have died because of the aid cuts?
McCain: Well, you know, I’m not going to — going to even pretend to understand what’s going on with inside the — the U.S. government at this particular point. I know what I see on the ground, not just in Gaza but around the world. There’s places like Sudan, the DRC Congo, other places, South Sudan, et cetera, they’re — they’re in just as much trouble as this. We need to get aid in, in Gaza, and we need to get it in now to avoid this catastrophe.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans have announced plans to launch their own probe into former President Joe Biden over his cognitive abilities while in office, claiming they want to investigate who was running the country during what they call Biden’s decline.
Republican Sens. Eric Schmitt and John Cornyn will co-chair a first-of-its-kind Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next month on the subject, which they say was covered up by members of the media. The focus echoes President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated claims about Biden’s mental fitness while president and criticism of Biden’s use of autopen, a mechanical device to automatically add a signature to a document that’s been utilized by several past presidents, including Trump in his first term.
“We need to get past the failures of the media, which were legend as you pointed out, or the political issue of ‘were you for Biden or against Biden?’ This is about a constitutional crisis, where we basically have a mentally incompetent president who’s not in charge,” Cornyn said Thursday on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.”
“The question is: Who is in charge? Whose finger is on the nuclear button or has the nuclear codes? Who can declare war? How do we defend the nation when we have basically an absent president? And those are constitutional issues we need to address and correct,” Cornyn said.
Biden denied any accusations of mental decline, saying that he’s proud of his record as president.
News of the upcoming hearing comes after Cornyn penned a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi last week, urging the Justice Department to investigate whether the Biden administration was being lawful in how they presented his cognitive condition to the country.
He asked that the Justice Department open a probe into “any potential violations of federal law surrounding the representations made to the American people about the health and wellbeing” of Biden.
“Congress’ responsibility is actually bigger than just that. It is to provide oversight and to make sure that there’s more transparency for future presidents so we understand how this happened and how can we prevent it from happening again,” Cornyn said on Fox News.
Other Republicans have also been calling for answers about Biden’s health during the course of his presidency.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that former first lady Jill Biden should testify in front of Congress over the alleged “cover-up” of Biden’s health.
“I think, frankly, the former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew,” Leavitt said.
“I think anybody looking at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden with your own eyes and a little bit of common sense can see, this was a clear coverup, and Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that cover-up. There’s documentation and video evidence of her clearly trying to shield her husband away from the cameras,” she claimed.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Republican, recently called for a number of high-ranking Biden White House staffers to do transcribed interviews surrounding the topic of Biden’s alleged decline.
Comer, speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday, also suggested he might subpoena both Joe and Jill Biden, as well as former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, during the House’s investigation of the former president’s health and examination of his use of an autopen to sign legislation and executive orders.
Comer also recently requested that Biden’s White House physician, Kevin O’Connor, appear for a transcribed interview as part of the investigation.
The calls for the probes into Biden come after the release of “Original Sin” by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, which made claims about “the Bidens’ capacity for denial and the lengths they would go to avoid transparency about health issues.”
In response to the book’s release, a Biden spokesman said “there is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover up or conspiracy.”
“Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill.”
Top Democrats have largely avoided defending Biden as new details surrounding the former president’s health and alleged cover-up have emerged in recent weeks.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, when asked by CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday whether Democrats can be trusted as new details are emerging, circumvented commenting directly on the former president’s condition.
“What I can say is that we’re not looking back, we’re gonna continue to look forward because at this moment, we’ve got real problems that need to be addressed on behalf of the American people, including the Republican effort to snatch away health care, to snatch away food assistance and hurt veterans,” Jeffries said.
During a recent press conference, Jeffries also accused Republicans of “peddling conspiracy theories” intended to make the country look “backward at a time when they are actually taking health care away from the American people.”
“No, as House Democrats, we are going to look forward,” Jeffries added.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has also dodged any questions about Biden’s health, responding to CNN’s Kasie Hunt earlier this month by saying, “Kasie, we’re looking forward.”
But other Democrats, such as Rep. Ro Khanna — who defended Biden’s mental and physical fitness during the 2024 campaign — admitted he was wrong, but said there wasn’t a cover-up of ahead of the election.
“I don’t think it was a cover-up … but I do think that the advisers and people close to Joe Biden owe an explanation … What I don’t think the Democratic Party can do is just say, ‘Let’s talk about the future. Let’s move past this,'” Khanna told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl last Sunday.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Joni Ernst faced a number of agitated constituents at a town hall on Friday who expressed concerns that the Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid under their major legislative effort to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda would cause people to die.
Her response: “Well, we all are going to die.”
Audience members at the Butler County, Iowa, event raised concerns that proposed cuts to Medicaid under the Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” being mulled in the Senate could threaten the lives of individuals who lose access to health care of food benefits, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As Ernst explained her position on removing those who should not qualify for Medicaid under the current law from eligibility, an audience member could be heard shouting back at her, “People are going to die.”
Ernst quipped back, “Well we all are going to die,” she said.
Ernst pushed back as the audience reacted, explaining her position.
“Well, what you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those who are most vulnerable. Those who meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid we will protect. We will protect them,” Ernst continued. “Medicaid is extremely important here in the state of Iowa. If you don’t want to listen, that is fine, but what I am doing is going through and telling you that those that are not eligible, those that are working and have the opportunity for benefits elsewhere, then they should receive those benefits elsewhere and leave those dollars for those that are eligible for Medicaid.”
Medicaid benefits have become a key focus of negotiations on a massive spending package that Republicans, under the direction of Trump, are working to move through Congress.
House Republicans passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last week. The House version of the bill implements Medicaid reforms and changes to other programs while extending the Trump 2017 tax cuts and plussing up spending in areas such as border security and defense spending.
The Senate has promised modifications to the bill, a fact that Ernst pointed to repeatedly during her town hall. Still, in her home state, concerns about Medicaid ruled the discussion. Concerns over the bill have led to raucous town halls recently, with crowds booing Republican Reps. Mike Flood and Ashley Hinson at town hall events earlier this week.
On Friday, Ernst addressed a constituent who identified as a health care worker about her concerns that the bill would affect health care in Iowa.
“We know the House has their provisions for Medicaid, and I actually agree with most of their provisions. Everyone says that Medicaid is being cut, people are going to see their benefits cut, that is not true,” Ernst said — eliciting boos from the crowd.
As she continued to explain that she believes the bill will strengthen Medicaid by removing those who have options for other forms of health care off of the program, audience members could be heard shouting “Tax the 1 percenters; they don’t pay for it.”
Ernst’s assertion that the bill would not cut Medicaid was met by blowback from a constituent.
One such constituent said that while many people on Medicaid have jobs, they do not earn a living wage. The audience cheered as she spoke.
“That is why they are on Medicaid and that is why they deserve Medicaid and the fact that you want to take that money and route it to people that make billions of dollars who have more money than anybody in this room together,” the constituent named Jen said.
Ernst said children will continue to get the coverage they need.
“Well I would say, Jen, we are not going to cut those benefits for those children,” Ernst said as the audience audibly grumbled. “What we are doing is making sure that those that are not Medicaid eligible are not receiving benefits.”
Ernst, who is a member of the Senate DOGE caucus, also gave a defense of the work that the Department of Government Efficiency has done and continues to do.
“What we are seeing in federal government is the right sizing of the federal governments and allowing the states to take up the role that our forefathers intended,” she said.
In response to this, a member of the audience shouted “chaos” at Ernst.
“It may be chaos to you, but we do have to get back to a semblance of what our country was founded for,” Ernst said. “We are $36 trillion in debt. Both sides have contributed to this. But when does it end. When does it end?”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden, after delivering his first public remarks since his office announced last month that he had been diagnosed with ‘aggressive” prostate cancer, told reporters on Friday that he was feeling “optimistic” about his prognosis.
“Well, the prognosis is good. You know, we’re working on everything. It’s moving along. So, I feel good,” Biden said.
He said he had decided on a treatment option, mentioning that he would be taking various medications.
“The expectation is, we’re going to be able to beat this … it’s not in any organ. My bones are strong. It hasn’t penetrated so I’m feeling good,” he added, later saying his family is also optimistic about the diagnosis and said “one of the leading surgeons in the world” is working with him.
Asked about the recent controversy over his mental and physical capabilities while in office, Biden joked, with a smile, “You can see that — I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk.”
And asked about Democrats who say he shouldn’t have run again, Biden said, “Why didn’t they run against me then? Because I’d have beaten them.” He added he has no regrets.
“There’s a lot going on. And I think we’re in a really difficult moment, not only in American history, in world history. I think we’re one of those inflection points in history where the decisions we make in the next little bit are going to determine what things look like for the next 20 years,” he added, saying he is proud of his record as president.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that former first lady Jill Biden should “speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew,” accusing her of lying.
Asked about Leavitt’s comments, Biden smiled and said, “I don’t know who the press secretary is,” but afterward said he was joking and that the media would play that straightforwardly.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Trump announced Thursday night that he was tapping Paul Ingrassia, a former far-right podcast host, to lead the Office of Special Counsel — an independent watchdog agency empowered to investigate federal employees and oversee complaints from whistleblowers.
The Trump administration has previously taken aim at the Office of Special Counsel, firing the head of the agency, Hampton Dellinger (a Biden appointee) in February. Dellinger expressed opposition to the Trump administration’s firing of federal employees under DOGE-led cuts, noting that many had been fired or laid off without notice or justification.
Dellinger challenged his firing in court and was briefly reinstated to the post until a federal appeals court allowed for his dismissal. Dellinger decided to drop the challenge.
ABC News exclusively reported in February about how Ingrassia, in his role as White House liaison to the Department of Justice, was pushing to hire candidates at the DOJ who exhibited what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump. His efforts at DOJ sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, leading Ingrassia to complain directly to President Trump, sources told ABC News.
Ingrassia was pushed out of DOJ and reassigned as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, where he was serving prior to Trump announcing his new role, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.
In a post on X, Ingrassia wrote in response to his nomination: “It’s the highest honor to have been nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel under President Trump! As Special Counsel, my team and I will make every effort to restore competence and integrity to the Executive Branch — with priority on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal workforce and revitalize the Rule of Law and Fairness in Hatch Act enforcement.”
For the Senate-confirmed five-year term, Ingrassia will likely face tough questions over his lengthy history of media appearances and posts on social media promoting Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election as well as his ties to far-right media figures.
He was previously spotted at a 2024 rally hosted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes and has publicly praised figures like Andrew Tate — who has faced criminal charges for alleged sexual assault (Tate denies all wrongdoing).
Ingrassia, in a comment to NPR, maintained he did not intend to go to the Fuentes rally and instead was there for another event. “I had no knowledge of who organized the event, observed for 5-10 minutes, then left,” he wrote to NPR. He added that the notion that he is an extremist is “lacking in all credibility.”
Before joining the Trump administration, Ingrassia led communications efforts for a nonprofit legal organization that promotes itself as “the answer to the useless and radically leftist American Civil Liberties Union,” and he was a writer for the right-wing website Gateway Pundit.
Trump has also been known to post some of Ingrassia’s pro-Trump stories on social media.
