Category: Crime

The White House reportedly instructed FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate a leak to theNew York Times over the newspaper's reporting of President Donald Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One alternative.
Patel was planning to fly to Chicago last week to see his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins, a country music singer, and to visit an FBI field office in the city when he abruptly cancelled the trip.
It emerged that Patel was called in to the White House, where he spent “roughly eight hours running the investigation from there rather than FBI headquarters,” on Friday, the newspaper reports. The Times noted the move marked “a major departure from historical practice.”
Two people familiar with the situation told the Times that Patel briefed senior administration officials about the investigation into the paper’s Air Force One report. One person told the newspaper that the FBI director “had his own concerns about the type of information publicly disclosed about the plane.”
On Friday nigh..

Trump says military will ‘completely decimate and destroy’ Iran if he’s assassinatedThe US has launched fresh strikes on Iran less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump threatened to “decimate and destroy” the country in the event of his assassination.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a message on X Saturday night saying, “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”
Central Command confirmed that its forces attacked Iran in retaliation for the nation’s alleged attack on a civilian-crewed container ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The attack comes just hours after Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed revenge for the death of his father at the start of the war.
“Iran was provided yet another opportunity to demonstrate adherence to the Memorandum of Understanding after being held accountable for earlier attacks on commercial vessels but has again failed,” Central Command said in a statement. “In response, the United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ab..

Critics are attacking the Trump administration for a deal to let the United Arab Emirates access cutting-edge U.S. technology, accusing the White House of offering the country preferential treatment because a U.A.E. royal invested millions in a Trump family cryptocurrency company last year.
The Commerce Department announced on Friday that it will allow the U.S. ally license-free access to crucial technology such as AI chips. That status will extend to U.A.E. companies such as G42, which is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser.
Four days before President Trump’s inauguration, another Tahnoon-backed company reportedly spent $500 million to buy what was initially a secret 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s fledgling crypto firm. The deal reportedly sent an immediate $187 million to Trump entities and helped fuel the family’s crypto empire.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the change in Commerce Department e..

Israel reportedly shared intelligence with the U.S. about potential plans by Iran to kill President Donald Trump.
The warning about the alleged plot, reported by The Wall Street Journaland CNN, comes amid growing tension between the U.S. and Israel over what the next phase of the Iran war and peace process should like.
The Independent has contacted Iran’s mission to the United Nations and the Israeli embassy in Washington for comment.
When asked about the alleged intelligence tip, the White House pointed to President Trump’s comments yesterday claiming that he was under threat from Iran.
“They want to take out the U.S. leader — me,” Trump said. “I’m on whatever list. I saw this morning I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long. These are evil, sick people. And we have to root out that cancer. That cancer. You know what you do? You’ve got to cut out cancer early. And that’s the way I feel.”
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Trump says Iran wants a deal 'so badly' after US military actionThe United States and Iran have continued to trade strikes, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a near standstill on Thursday.
More airstrikes were launched against Iran early today, after Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the strait signalled the end of the ceasefire.
Tehran accused Washington of a strike near a nuclear power plant after the US military said it had struck dozens of sites across Iran overnight.
Iran's deputy governor of Bushehr province told state media a US projectile struck the area surrounding Iran’s Bushehr power plant, shortly after reports of explosions in the southern coastal region.
The official said several locations in Bushehr province, including the perimeter area of the nuclear facility, were hit in US attacks, without specifying when.
Iran also launched fresh strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain in response to the wave of US attacks overnight.
The latest ..

President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner was “in a bind” but added that the seriousness of the situation hinged on whether “you believe the woman” after Platner faced an accusation of sexual assault.
The president made the comments Wednesday evening as he gaggled with reporters on Air Force One as he returned to the U.S. from Ankara, Turkey, where he attended the Nato summit this week.
Trump was asked by reporters if Platner should be made to withdraw from the race after a woman he previously dated came forward with her experience of Platner coming into her home uninvited and forcing himself upon her. Her account was corroborated by contemporary remarks to friends, as well as a therapist. Platner, in a video message, denied the woman’s claims, calling them “troubling and false.”
The president also said that Maine Democrats were facing a tough situation, but appeared to suggest that there was room for people to believe Platn..

Maine oysterman Graham Platner has dropped his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins after an allegation of sexual assault led to prominent Democrats abandoning his campaign.
Platner, a political novice, saw his campaign rocked when Politico reported that he had sexually assaulted an ex-girlfriend, which he vehemently denied. The revelation, however, came after several other reports of potentially troubling behavior and past history dogged Platner throughout his campaign.
Platner put out a video where he continued to deny the accusations.
“We're not doing it because of the allegations,” he said in a video posted on X. “We're doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.”
His exit came just days before the July 13 deadline for Democrats to remove Platner from the ballot and after a number of Democratic Senators and left-wing advocates called on him to step aside.
Maine’s seat, currently held by five-term Republican Sen. Susan ..

A homeless Texas woman has been saved days after she spent days stuck in mud and sewage at the bottom of a ravine.
The Dallas Police Department took to social media Monday to thank first responders who helped them rescue the young woman in 104-degree weather on June 28.
Shortly before 5:30 p.m., local time, that day, a young man had heard faint cries for help coming from the woods behind a nearby high school, according to authorities.
“After investigating, he discovered the cries belonged to a young woman who had been trapped in a steep ravine for days by deep mud and sewage,” Dallas police wrote on Facebook.
Robert Kober, a paramedic who responded to the call, told local outlet WFAA that the woman, who was homeless, was “extremely weak and dehydrated because she had been out in the elements for several days.”
A Texas woman has been saved days after she got stuck in mud and sewage at the bottom of a ravine (KDFW)Footage captured by local outlet KDFW showed Kober walking reporter Dav..

An ex-girlfriend has accused embattled Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner of removing condoms during sex without her consent, the latest in a string of major misconduct allegations against the Democrat.
Lyndsey Fifield, 41, who dated Platner in the Washington, D.C., area, told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection when they were intimate during their relationship, which lasted from 2013 to 2015.
“He would pull condoms off,” she said in an interview with the paper. “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.”
The campaign told the Post that Fifield’s accusation is “categorically false and politically motivated.” It also reportedly noted that Fifield, who has worked in conservative politics, supported Brett Kavanaugh when he was accused of sexual assault ahead of his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Independent has contacted the Platner campaign for comment.
open image in galleryAn ex-girlfriend accuses Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Pl..

The daughter of Senator Mitch McConnell has deleted her X account amid widespread speculation over the former Senate majority leader’s health, following a sudden June hospitalization.
It is unclear when or why Porter McConnell, a progressive-leaning political activist who previously directed the Take On Wall Street campaign, deleted her account.
The Independent has contacted Porter McConnell for comment.
Porter McConnell is one of three daughters the senator had with his first wife, Sherrill Redmon. She frequently posted criticism of the Republican Party on the now-deactivated account, TMZ noted.
Her social media activity comes as McConnell was found unconscious on June 14 and received CPR after suffering an apparent heart attack in his Washington, D.C., home, according to emergency records obtained by a variety of news outlets.
open image in galleryPorter McConnell, the daughter of Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured hugging her father in 2008, has deleted her X account amid widesprea..