DOJ, Coast Guard bust 45,000 pounds of cocaine tied to cartels
ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice and the U.S. Coast Guard busted 45,000 pounds of cocaine with a value of over $500 million, according to top DOJ officials on Wednesday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were at Port Everglades in Florida on Wednesday and said the seizures of the drugs saved lives and protected the public.
“We have saved thousands and thousands of lives as a result of this incredible cooperation,” Bondi said. “We believe two cartels, CJNG and Sinaloa, were heavily tied to these shipments.”
She added that the Coast Guard used “drones, aircraft and ships to interdict the traffickers.”
Patel had a message for the cartels: There is new leadership throughout the DOJ.
“We are going to dismantle the ‘next-man-up’ theory that has been breeding in these Mexican cartels for generations,” Patel said of the Mexican drug cartels. “No more.”
The Coast Guard said the operation took 11 days for the crew of the Cutter James and that finding drug traffickers in their patrol area is like “finding a needle in a haystack.”
Bondi noted that 11 people were arrested in connection with the operation.
Patel said it was an interagency effort with Coast Guard, Department of Defense and DOJ assets at play.
U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Nathan Moore told reporters that since February, the Coast Guard has seized over 59 metric tons of narcotics.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is hosting South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on Wednesday amid tensions between the two nations over the U.S. resettlement of white South Africans.
Trump and other top officials have claimed that a race-based “genocide” is unfolding against white farmers in the country. South African officials, including Ramaphosa, have vehemently pushed back, arguing that is not the case.
“It’s a genocide that’s taking place,” President Trump said last week. “Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. But whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me. But white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.”
That same day, the first flight of Afrikaners arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Ramaphosa responded that the individuals who went to the U.S. “do not fit the definition of a refugee” — someone who is leaving their country out of fear of persecution due to race, religion, political opinion or nationality.
“And I had a conversation with President Trump on the phone, and I — he asked, he said, ‘What’s happening down there?'” Ramaphosa said. “And I said, ‘President, what you’ve been told by those people who are opposed to transformation back home in South Africa is not true.'”
The South African government, in a statement last week, said its police statistics on farm-related crimes “do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race.”
The dozens of Afrikaners who arrived in the U.S. last week had their applications fast-tracked under an executive order issued by Trump in February titled, “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa.”
The order contends the South African government passed a law allowing it to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation” in a “shocking disregard of its’ citizen rights.” It instructs that the U.S. will not provide aid or assistance to the nation, and that the U.S. “promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees.”
The law passed by South Africa cited by the administration aims to address land injustices established during apartheid. It states land can be expropriated in the public interest and in most cases must be subject to compensation, the amount of which must have been agreed to by the owners or approved by court. Experts say the law is comparable to similar legislation around the world regarding eminent domain.
In addition to Trump’s executive order, his administration expelled South Africa’s Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool from the U.S. earlier this year.
Trump has been scrutinized for prioritizing Afrikaners while moving to restrict immigration from elsehwere, including from Afghanistan, Venezuela and Haiti.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked to defend the administration’s position while testifying before a Senate panel on Tuesday.
“I think those 49 people that came strongly felt they were persecuted, and they passed every sort of check mark that needed to be checked off,” Rubio said. “The president identified it as a problem and wanted to use it as an example.”
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said he believed the claim there is persecution of Afrikaner farmers was “completely specious” and noted the U.S. hadn’t let in Black South Africans during apartheid.
“I think that the United States has a right to allow into this country and prioritize the allowance of who they want to allow it come in,” Rubio responded.
Elon Musk, a South African native and a top adviser to the president during his second term, has also been vocal about the plight of South African landowners, amplifying claims of “white genocide.”
Ramaphosa on Tuesday projected optimism about the upcoming talks with Trump.
“We’re always ready and we hope to have really good discussions with President Trump and his fellow government colleagues. Looking forward to a really good and positive meeting, and we’re looking forward to a really good outcome for our country, for our people, for the jobs in our country and good trade relations,” Ramaphosa told reporters as he arrived at the South African Embassy in Washington.
He said trade is the “the most important, that is what has brought us here” and that they want to strengthen economic ties between the two nations in a video posted to X. Ramaphosa also said he and Trump will discuss Israel as well as Russia and Ukraine.
Ramaphosa didn’t mention the United States’ prioritization of the resettlement of white South African refugees in the videos posted to social media, though he vowed to protect South Africa’s sovereignty.
“We will always do what is best for South Africans,” he said.
ABC News’ Shannon Kingston contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden will deliver one of his first public speeches since leaving office 85 days ago, expected to speak about safeguarding Social Security amid Republicans’ current threats to it at a conference in Chicago on Tuesday.
Biden re-enters the public stage after keeping a relatively low profile in the time since he left office. After he gives the keynote speech at the gathering of the Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled, Biden will have been seen now a handful of times in recent weeks — emerging even while President Donald Trump continuously blames his predecessor for a range of issues.
Trump has blamed Biden for everything from rising egg prices (during his address to a joint session of Congress in March, claiming “Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control”) to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. Trump notably called Biden a “stupid president” during his contentious meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in March and refers to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “Biden’s war.”
ACRD is billing Biden’s remarks as the first of his post-presidency, though the 82-year-old is known to have given remarks at two recent events, though less publicized. He spoke at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers event in Washington last week when he became an honorary member of the union. In March, he spoke at the Model United Nations conference in New York.
“We are deeply honored President Biden is making his first public appearance at ACRD’s sold-out conference,” said Rachel Buck, ACRD Executive Director. “As bipartisan leaders have long agreed, Americans who retire after paying into Social Security their whole lives deserve the vital support and caring services they receive. As a result, we are thrilled the President will be joining us to discuss how we can work together for a stable and successful future for Social Security.”
ACRD is convening its conference to bring together policymakers and advocates in a bipartisan effort to support Social Security, the organization claims, especially as operational and staffing issues caused by cuts by the current administration have impacted the older and disabled Americans who use Social Security income and insurance.
Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have slashed 7,000 Social Security Administration jobs over the past few months in their efforts to cut down the federal workforce as part of the new Department of Government Efficiency, moves that Democrats have vigorously rallied against.
Biden’s speech comes as Democratic congressional leaders are billing Tuesday as a ‘Day of Action’ focused on Social Security.
“Across the country, Democrats are leading the fight to oppose the Republican plan to gut Social Security. Our Save Social Security Day of Action will mobilize Americans from every corner of the United States to push back on Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE’s cuts to Social Security,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement.
“Republicans want to slash this critical lifeline by making it harder for seniors and people with disabilities to access their earned benefits. Shutting down local offices, firing large numbers of experienced constituent service workers and cutting phone services makes it harder for people to get their checks. Republicans are trying to kill Social Security from the inside — it is a cut by another name — and we won’t let that happen.”
Biden will be joined in Chicago by former Maryland Gov. and Social Security Administrator Martin O’Malley and the organization’s co-chairs — former Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow and former Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
(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.
