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Justice Department charges 16 across multiple states with alleged illegal voting, election crimes

Justice Department charges 16 across multiple states with alleged illegal voting, election crimes

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against 16 people in multiple states in connection with alleged illegal voting, voter registration and other election-related crimes, including cases involving noncitizens accused of casting ballots in federal elections. DOJ followed the announcement with a warning on social media, saying some of those charged allegedly voted in the 2022 and 2024 elections, and warning others against attempting to illegally participate in U.S. elections. “Let this be a warning to ANYONE trying to cheat and undermine our elections,” the DOJ wrote. “Spread the word!” According to DOJ, eight non-citizens residing in Texas were charged, while the other cases involved defendants in Idaho, Georgia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey and Michigan. SKID ROW FORGERIES, ILLEGAL VOTES AND A MAYORAL CANDIDATE: ELECTION FRAUD CASES PILE UP NATIONWIDE The allegations include noncitizens voting in federal elections, false claims of U.S. citizenship to register or vote, and false statements related to naturalization. During the investigations, the DOJ said authorities also uncovered alleged passport and identification fraud, wire fraud and firearm-related offenses. The cases are part of a broader Trump administration enforcement effort targeting alleged illegal voting and election-related crimes. WATCH: ILLEGAL ALIEN BUSTED IN BATTLEGROUND STATE AFTER ALLEGEDLY COMMITTING VOTER FRAUD In Georgia, DOJ said Analiea Milliscent Eccles, a Venezuelan national and DACA recipient, voted nine times between 2008 and 2024. She was charged with voting as a noncitizen and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote. Avila Gomez, a Mexican national residing in Idaho, is accused of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register to vote and then voting in May 2022 and November 2024. The indictment also includes wire fraud, passport, identification-document and firearm-related charges. DOJ said Santana Coulibaly, a lawful permanent resident in New Jersey, registered to vote in 2016, voted in federal elections in 2018 and 2020 and submitted a provisional ballot in the 2024 presidential election. She also faces allegations involving statements made in her naturalization applications. Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the DOJ’s Fraud Division told Fox News that the Trump administration has now charged 50 non-citizens with illegal voting. ICE ARRESTS PERUVIAN NATIONAL ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2024 ELECTION AS DHS CITES SIMILAR CASES “America’s elections are for Americans,” McDonald said. In a separate interview, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin said a broader investigation was underway. Mullin said officials have more than 1,620 open cases and have made 151 arrests. He also said authorities are looking into more than 300,000 suspected cases, a figure he said continues to grow. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN INDIANA FOR ALLEGEDLY VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTION: DHS Mullin asserted that “every single vote that was at the hands of an illegal [immigrant], canceled out a citizen that was legally registered and able to vote.” “One is too many, but the fact that we have 300,000 cases we’re looking into right now and 1,620 cases that are under investigation, and 151 arrests is unacceptable,” Mullin said. The Justice Department noted that the charges announced Friday are accusations and that all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

NORAD F-16 intercepts aircraft that violated restricted airspace over Camp David with Trump present: officials

NORAD F-16 intercepts aircraft that violated restricted airspace over Camp David with Trump present: officials

A NORAD F-16 fighter jet intercepted an aircraft that violated restricted airspace over the area of Camp David Saturday morning while President Donald Trump was there, according to officials. There is a permanent no-fly zone over Camp David in Maryland, with additional restrictions when the president is there. NORAD dispensed flares during the intercept to get the pilot’s attention and was able to safely escort the aircraft out of the area, the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) said in a release. NORAD F-16S INTERCEPT MULTIPLE AIRCRAFT VIOLATING TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS OVER NEW JERSEY “Should NORAD aircraft intercept a general aviation aircraft, the pilot should immediately come up on frequency 121.5 or 243.0 and turn around to reverse course until receiving additional instructions on one of those frequencies,” the release said. NORAD F-16S INTERCEPT MULTIPLE AIRCRAFT VIOLATING FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS OVER NEW JERSEY Turmp left for Camp David Friday evening. “Pilots! @NORADCommand fighter aircraft intercepted an aircraft violating restricted airspace over Thurmont, MD, resulting in flares being deployed,” the First Air Force, part of NORAD, wrote on X Saturday.  “Make sure to check NOTAMs before takeoff to ensure you have current information about TFRs in your area. Stay Safe, Fly Informed!” A plane was last intercepted over Camp David in June when Trump was staying there. That pilot was also safely escorted away.

Trump announces new ‘AI Force,’ vows to protect industry as AI czar announcement nears

Trump announces new ‘AI Force,’ vows to protect industry as AI czar announcement nears

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he is creating an AI Force and plans to name an artificial intelligence czar as his administration pushes to accelerate the growth of AI in the U.S. Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post that his administration would resist efforts to restrict the rapidly developing technology while using the existing criminal and civil justice systems to address potential wrongdoing. “We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry,” the post said. “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!” GOP LAWMAKERS SMELL SOMETHING ELSE BEHIND BIG TECH’S AI DOOMSDAY WARNINGS: ‘SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON’ Trump added that the government would also be “looking for BAD” and said existing criminal and civil laws could be used to address problems with the technology. “For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term,” the president’s post continued. “To that end, I will be announcing, in the near future, the AI ‘Czar’ — Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!” Trump did not provide details about the structure, authority or membership of the proposed AI Force or identify potential candidates to serve as its czar. POWERFUL COLD WAR-ERA TOOL TRUMP COULD USE IN AN AI EMERGENCY IS SET TO EXPIRE IN DECEMBER Trump’s announcement comes as lawmakers grapple with whether and how to regulate the rapidly developing technology. Some Republicans have questioned calls for additional government oversight, while others have pushed for safeguards after AI industry leaders raised concerns about increasingly capable models. Earlier this week, Trump joined the debate by rejecting calls for additional government regulation of the industry, arguing that restrictions could hinder the U.S. in its competition with China. In Saturday’s post, Trump compared criticism of AI and data centers to several other political controversies and argued that opposition to data center construction had largely failed. RAND PAUL CLASHES WITH FELLOW REPUBLICAN OVER AI ‘KILL SWITCH’ AS SENATE GRAPPLES WITH ‘TERMINATOR’ FEARS Trump also predicted that AI could eventually account for as much as 25% of U.S. gross domestic product, though he did not cite a source for the estimate. “AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country’s GDP,” he wrote. “We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way!” In a separate Truth Social post, Trump asked people to choose within the post on what to call AI. “Many people think that the words “Artificial Intelligence” are inaccurate, and very ineloquent, relative to AI, or Artificial Intelligence. A far more elegant and accurate description of this new phenomena would be Superior Intelligence (SI) or, Extreme Intelligence (EI) or, Supreme Intelligence (SI),” he wrote.  “This is a Poll, and I would appreciate everybody voting! Which is the best name for this ever growing “Revolution?” President DONALD J. TRUMP”

LA homelessness fraud cases expose deeper problem than stolen millions, oversight hawk warns

LA homelessness fraud cases expose deeper problem than stolen millions, oversight hawk warns

Federal charges alleging that millions of dollars were siphoned from Los Angeles homelessness programs are exposing what one lawmaker told Fox News Digital is a deeper failure in the way Washington funds and measures such programs. The latest cases out of Los Angeles fuel the concern of Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, that not only are corrupt providers stealing taxpayer money, but that the programs aren’t meeting their goal of getting people off the streets. “The only people really getting upward mobility in these programs, it would seem, is the people running the programs,” Cloud told Fox News Digital after a House Oversight hearing examining federally funded homelessness programs in Los Angeles, Seattle and elsewhere.  “And that’s not really what the program’s supposed to be about.” LA REAL ESTATE VET COMES AT MAYOR BASS WITH RECEIPTS OVER DAMNING HOMELESSNESS REPORT: ‘SHE DOESN’T GET IT’ Federal prosecutors charged three defendants Wednesday in separate homelessness fraud cases involving alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, including money allegedly spent on a nightclub and adjacent bingo hall and bribes allegedly tied to fake housing referrals. Los Angeles’ homelessness agency paid one of the suspect nonprofits more than $75 million, according to federal prosecutors, leading Cloud to seek out the real culprits blazing the money trail. WHITE HOUSE PUSHES ‘WATERSHED’ FRAUD-FIGHTING REFORM IN CONGRESS AS VANCE CONVENES TASK FORCE Cloud said the fraud itself is only one piece of a broader problem and that the system appears to reward spending and program activity without adequately measuring lasting outcomes. Government too often judges success by “how much money we send out the door” instead of whether the spending is “actually helping people” or whether safeguards are in place to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used properly, Cloud said, describing the system as having been “incentivized for fraud.” “We’ve got to take those incentives out and get back to making sure that all these programs have incentives for oversight and that the dollars are managed well.” LETITIA JAMES FACES SCRUTINY AFTER NEW YORK CITY SPENDS $81,700 PER HOMELESS PERSON AMID SHELTER SCANDALS Some programs can keep a person “kind of in a cycle of dependency so that the program manager has job security, in a sense, and gets to live off the government dime,” Cloud said. “You [are seeing], as we begin to look into waste, fraud and abuse, why is it that these Democrat-led states are saying, ‘No, we don’t want the controls in place,’” he said, pointing to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ decision to step down from the LAHSA commission. Los Angeles is not alone, he said, citing what has been called the feds’ “Housing First” philosophy, generally prioritizing placing homeless in housing with less immediate regard for sobriety, mental health treatment or overall stabilizing services. WATCH: DR. OZ SAYS NEWSOM, OTHER BLUE STATES HAVE TURNED MEDICAID FRAUD INTO A ‘FEATURE’ Cloud did not use the term “housing first” during the interview, but he described the concern behind that critique, arguing that some homelessness programs define success in ways that leave people dependent on government rather than moving toward independence. Housing First is distinct from HUD’s “Continuum of Care” framework, which is the local funding and coordination structure through which nonprofit providers, state and local governments and other organizations receive federal homelessness money. WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES In Los Angeles, LAHSA leads the local Continuum of Care, which HUD says received nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars over the previous five years. Under Secretary Scott Turner, HUD moved to suspend LAHSA this year, citing alleged failures involving financial management, internal controls and safeguards against conflicts of interest. LAHSA has challenged the federal action in court. “The ‘housing first’ experiment failed Americans by warehousing the vulnerable without results,” Turner said in June when HUD announced a $4.04 billion Continuum of Care funding opportunity. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “This ideology promised to end homelessness. Instead, billions of taxpayer dollars were spent while homelessness increased to record levels.” That funding will focus on organizations aiding treatment and recovery, while setting aside $1.3 billion for new projects prioritizing transitional housing and supportive services and adding measures intended to prevent fraud, waste and abuse.