Hi everyone!
LA Mayor Karen Bass heard that ICE agents were conducting some kind of enforcement in MacArthur Park on Monday and just had to run over to join in the fun. She confronted the federal agents, tried to get them not to do their job, and posted on social media about it before running away when media tried to get her to answer some questions. "The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW," she said.
"They need to leave, and they need to leave right now," Bass said when she got there. The federal agents didn't leave, though, in fact they don't work for Mayor Bass, as one of them was quick to point out. "I don’t work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles," Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino told Fox News' Bill Melugin.
It was the size of the operation that drew attention at the city park. There were 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, two ambulances, and National Guard soldiers. It's not clear exactly what went down, and it hasn't yet been confirmed that anyone has been arrested. In response to a question, DHS deputy Tricia McLaughlin said "the operation is ongoing, so that should be a message in itself," and did not further clarify.
Sanctuary city laws really make immigration enforcement much worse when they refuse to hand over illegal immigrant criminals to ICE for deportation. If ICE has to go looking for someone, they'll likely bring a whole enforcement team and, as Tom Homan already said, they'll sweep up any other illegal immigrants they find while looking for the one bad guy. Democrats in these cities seem to like the optics, however, so my guess is they'll keep doing it.
The White House responded on Monday to questions about the Epstein files release, or rather the lack of the release, which was revealed in a leaked memo on Sunday night. The memo is real, per the White House, who addressed its claims directly before talking about the Trump administration's tough stance on crime in general.
"I would argue," said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, "this administration has done more to lock up bad guys than certainly the previous administration, and the Trump administration is committed to truth and to transparency."
"That's why the Attorney General and the FBI Director pledged, at the President's direction, to do an exhaustive review of all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and his death, and they put out a memo in conclusion of that review," Leavitt continued from the briefing room.
"There was material they did not release, because, frankly, it was incredibly graphic and it contained child pornography, which is not something that's appropriate for public consumption, but they committed to an exhaustive investigation. That's what they did, and they provided the results of that. That's transparency."
It's unlikely that this will quell the concerns of the conspiracy minded. In fact, there was a discovery that the time stamps on the videos released of the exterior of Epstein's jail cell were missing an entire minute, which has fueled wild speculation. Personally I think there's a good chance we'll never really know for sure who Epstein trafficked underage girls to. Pete Doocy asked the question that was on everyone's minds: if there was no client list, then why several months ago did AG Pam Bondi say there was a client list on her desk waiting for her review?
Leavitt said Bondi was not actually referring to the client list she'd been asked about at the time, but the entirety of all the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. "That's what the Attorney General was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that. But again, when it comes to the FBI and the Department of Justice, they are more than committed to ensuring that bad people are put behind bars."
The aftermath of the flooding in Texas continues to be completely heartbreaking. Ten campers and their counselor are still missing, two sisters were found dead but clutching tight to each other's hands and their rosaries. A couple remembers watching a father get washed downstream holding onto his two young sons. Still others recount hearing screams in the night, people calling out for help, while they themselves were in no way able to rush across the waters to anyone's aid. The death toll has climbed to over 100 and bodies continue to be uncovered as water recedes.
A pediatrician in Houston said maybe those Trump-supporting people in Kerr County "got what they voted for." She got fired, which is probably not what she was looking for in her missive. Others have been complaining that people are upset white children died. Pretty gruesome.
I've never quite got over the idea of having summers off. It's a hangover from academia but I know I can't be the only one who hits July and just thinks a couple months off to sit in the sun, read that stack of books I really want to dig into would make it easier to come back refreshed in September. I have some trips planned, but you'll still hear from me every day because I'm something of a completist.