FBI Director Slips into Australia for Secret High-Level Talks
The dinner meeting, held on July 27 in Sydney, also included Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw. It remained undisclosed until July 31 for 'simple security reasons,' Burke told ABC Radio National.
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USA Today
a minute ago
- USA Today
ICE drops age limit to boost recruitment. Charts show how agency is growing under Trump
You can be as young as 18, older than 40 if you pass the physical fitness test, and you'll get a signing bonus of $50,000 to join the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which has revised its hiring standards to boost deportations. The ICE budget rose to $75 billion over four years after President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4. Those funds came from the $170 billion allocated to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration and border enforcement. ICE is using some of that money to hire 10,000 recruits, for a total staff of about 30,000. The move comes as the administration seeks to fulfill a goal to deport 1 million immigrants every year. Can't see our graphics? Click here to reload the page. The federal spending plan will help make ICE the single-largest law enforcement agency in the country, larger than the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other agencies combined, USA TODAY reported. For comparison, the FBI has only about 13,700 special agents, according to the Department of Justice. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem now says anyone over 18 can apply to work for ICE, as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement across the country, according to USA TODAY. Noem told Fox News on Aug. 6 that the DHS had already received 80,000 applications. How Biden's ICE budget compares with Trump's President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocates $75 billion to ICE over the next four years, equaling about $18.75 billion per year. Combining the $75 billion with fiscal year 2025's budget means that Trump will spend $84.7 billion on ICE through 2029. That's over double the amount Biden spent during his term ‒ $35.9 billion from 2021-2024. What are ICE's physical fitness requirements? Even with the removal of the age limits, applications still need to pass a fitness test consisting of four timed events. Recruits – including seniors – must complete the following events: ◾ Sit-ups: 32 in one minute or less. ◾ Push-ups: 22 in one minute or less. ◾Sprint: 220 yards in 47.73 seconds or less. ◾Run: 1.5 miles in 14 minutes, 25 seconds or less. Some local sheriffs aren't happy with ICE's latest recruiting efforts, USA TODAY reported. They worry that deputies in already understaffed offices will be lured away by the big bonuses and higher pay. "It is tone-deaf and reflects a total lack of judgment and character on their part," Jonathan Thompson, executive director and CEO of the National Sheriff's Association, said of a recruiting offer emailed to local deputies nationwide. CONTRIBUTING Lauren Villagran, Trevor Hughes, Shawn J. Sullivan SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters;
CBS News
2 minutes ago
- CBS News
Video from Jan. 6 attack shows Justice Department adviser telling rioters attacking police to "kill 'em"
Washington — Video footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol shows a man who now works as an adviser at the Justice Department shouting at rioters to "kill" law enforcement officers responding to the attack and calling them "the Gestapo." The footage, from a body camera worn by a Metropolitan Police Department officer, was first published Thursday by NPR. The network joined CBS News and other news organizations in suing to obtain thousands of hours of surveillance footage and court exhibits from the more than 1,000 criminal cases brought by the Justice Department against people who allegedly participated in the Capitol attack. Among those defendants was Jared Wise, who eventually faced six charges as a result of his alleged actions on Jan. 6. He pleaded not guilty. Wise's hiring by the Justice Department was reported last month. A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that Wise "is a valued member of The Department of Justice and we appreciate his contributions to our team." Wise was employed as a special agent and supervisory special agent with the FBI from 2004 through 2017, according to the Justice Department. He was indicted in May 2023 on six counts that arose out of his alleged actions on Jan. 6, when a violent mob of President Trump's supporters breached the U.S. Capitol building to protest the 2020 election results. Among the charges was one count of civil disorder and one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer of the U.S. performing their official duties. In accompanying court papers, an FBI agent said that video footage depicted Wise inside the Capitol building on the afternoon of Jan. 6 after entering from a Senate door. Body camera footage from the Metropolitan Police Department also showed Wise engaging with police officers outside the Capitol, telling them, "You guys are disgusting. I'm former — I'm former law enforcement. You're disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can't see it because you're chasing a pension, right? Your pension. Your retirement right?" The footage shows him continuing to yell at the officers, telling them, "Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!" When police who were attempting to move protesters back from the Capitol were knocked to the ground in front of Wise, the video shows him shouting toward them "Yeah, f*** them! Yeah, kill 'em!" He also allegedly yelled toward rioters attacking a police line, "Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!" Wise had lived in New Braunfels, Texas, until June 2022, after which he moved to Bend, Oregon, according to court records. An unidentified tipster told the FBI in January 2022 that Wise shared he was inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, the agent said. The FBI then obtained a court-authorized search warrant for Wise's records, which confirmed he was around the Capitol that day, according to the filing. Wise pleaded not guilty to the charges in June 2023. A trial was set to begin last fall and was ultimately held in January. But before the jury could begin deliberating, Mr. Trump issued blanket pardons to roughly 1,500 defendants charged for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack. The Justice Department asked the court to dismiss Wise's case on Jan. 20, the day of Mr. Trump's inauguration, and it was granted one day later, filings MacFarlane contributed to this report.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The FBI has been asked to help locate Texas House Democrats. One state lawmaker says officials would be breaking the law
The chair of the Texas House Democratic caucus remained defiant Thursday in the face of one US senator's bid to enlist the FBI's help in returning him and his state House colleagues to the state. 'Sure, if they don't follow the law,' state Rep. Gene Wu told CNN's Pamela Brown on 'The Situation Room,' when asked whether he was concerned the FBI would arrest him and his fellow Texas state House members. 'We know that the governor has no power outside of the state, and we know that the federal government cannot get involved in this unless there is a legal reason why they are allowed to get involved.' Wu and dozens of Democratic state lawmakers remain outside of Texas as they continue their standoff with the Texas GOP over proposed changes to the state's congressional maps that would favor Republicans. Earlier this week, state House Speaker Dustin Burrows signed civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats and said law enforcement would 'need some time to work.' The warrants empowered state troopers to arrest the absent Democrats and bring them to the Texas Capitol, but the Democrats fled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts – three Democratic-led states outside Texas law enforcement's authority without local officials' cooperation. Legal experts consulted by CNN have said it's highly unlikely the Democratic lawmakers can be arrested outside state lines based on the warrants. Texas US Sen. John Cornyn, who is up for reelection next year, said Thursday the FBI had granted his request of federal assistance for state law enforcement, as they work with Texas Republicans to bring back the lawmakers and reestablish quorum. 'I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats,' Cornyn said in a statement, but did not elaborate on what such assistance would entail. He told conservative talk show host Mark Davis later Thursday that Patel had assigned agents from the bureau's Austin and San Antonio offices to fulfill his request – though did not detail what role they would have. The state lawmakers who left the state have held multiple public press conferences and made a number of media appearances. One location where lawmakers were staying received a bomb threat earlier this week. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters that Republicans threatening law enforcement action were making 'an attempt again to thwart democracy.' 'So as far as I'm concerned, we're doing the right thing, and I'm proud of it, and I'm not going to back down,' Pritzker, a Democrat, said at a press conference. 'We're going to do everything we can to protect these Texas House Democrats and to help them do what they're doing.' It's unclear to what extent agents are assisting Texas Republicans in the matter and under what authority they would be allowed to do so. The FBI has declined multiple requests for comments from CNN on the matter. A similar instance occurred in 2003, when more than 50 members of the Texas Legislature left the state to prevent a vote on a redistricting plan, and state officials reached out to federal agencies to find and bring back the lawmakers. But back then, President George W. Bush's Justice Department refused to assist, telling one congressman that they were 'not aware of any information pertinent to the Texas State legislators that would warrant action by federal law enforcement authorities, including those of the FBI.' 'Accordingly, we have not deployed and have no plans to deploy our law enforcement resources in connection with this matter,' the letter from then-Assistant Attorney General William Moschella stated. In his initial request for FBI assistance, Cornyn suggested that the Democratic lawmakers could be violating the law if they are accepting funds 'to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties' and could 'be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses.' No such charges have been filed related to their absence. Cornyn's request to the department comes as he and his primary foe, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, are each trying to stake out an aggressive stand on the controversy and attempt to woo conservative voters in their state. Cornyn on Tuesday sent a letter to the FBI today urging the federal agency to assist state law enforcement 'to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.' 'I request the FBI's assistance, as federal resources are necessary to locate the out-of-state Texas legislators who are potentially acting in violation of the law. The FBI has tools to aid state law enforcement when parties cross state lines, including to avoid testifying or fleeing a scene of a crime,' Cornyn wrote. Paxton acknowledged Tuesday night on Fox News that it would be difficult to arrest absent Democrats. His office as well as the office of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have threatened to go to court to vacate the offices of people who are currently outside the state. 'The challenge here is they go to liberal jurisdictions where we can't get help from law enforcement. So we have really very limited options,' he said. 'One is to wait, which several governors have done, and just waited them out because eventually they have to come home. Or two, this … motion or filing that has been done by Abbott, we're going to file something very similar for more of the legislators to take them out of their office, remove them from office, since they are not showing up to do their job. This is a new thing, it's never been tried before, but we think it has a very good possibility of being successful.' Abbott, for his part, warned that 'in Texas, there are consequences for your actions.' 'Texas DPS and the FBI are tracking down the derelict Democrats. They will be taken directly to the Texas Capitol,' he said on X. 'Those who received benefits for skipping a vote face removal from office and potential bribery charges.' CNN's Arlette Saenz, Ed Lavandera and Eric Bradner contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
