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Pardoned Capitol Rioter Accused of New Crime

May 16, 2026 · 7:25 am ET · Leave a Comment

Ryan Nichols, who plead guilty in connection with the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol and was later pardoned by President Trump, was charged with threateningly displaying a handgun to a person with whom he was arguing in a church parking lot, The Guardian reports.

Crime and Punishment

Colorado Governor Grants Clemency to Tina Peters

May 15, 2026 · 4:52 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) “will reduce Tina Peters’ sentence by half, he confirmed Friday, appearing to bend to demands from President Donald Trump — while ignoring the pleas of many other Colorado elected officials and the prosecutor who won the former county clerk’s conviction in an election data-breach scheme,” the Denver Post reports.

“The commutation will reduce Peters’ original sentence of nearly nine years, which was thrown out last month, to about 4.5 years, Polis said in an interview Friday. His decision will make her parole-eligible for release from prison beginning June 1.”

New York Times: “Mr. Polis said he believed that Ms. Peters, a nonviolent first-time offender, had received too harsh a sentence because of her embrace of conspiracy theories about Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss.”

Crime and Punishment

Brad Raffensperger Gets Credible Death Threat

May 13, 2026 · 6:54 am ET · Leave a Comment

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) received “a four-page ‘manifesto’ threatening the Republican’s life a day before authorities were alerted to a suspicious object that disrupted a Macon event for his bid for governor,” the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports.

2026 Campaign, Crime and Punishment

The Assassin’s Delusion

May 12, 2026 · 12:10 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Adam Serwer: “People keep trying to kill the president. The closest call came in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024, when Donald Trump (then a candidate) had his head grazed by a bullet. Other apparent attempts include an incident at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, and possibly another that resulted in a Secret Service shooting at Mar-a-Lago in 2026. The latest would-be executioner, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, was stopped long before he got anywhere near Trump. Nevertheless, these repeated incidents are disturbing symptoms of an obsession with vigilante violence that has infected the country.”

“No figure on the left in a position of power comparable to that of the president has called for violence the way that Trump has—but the sentiment that he deserves to be killed is easy to find online. Imagining that assassinating a president would solve any kind of problem is delusional. Presidents are chosen by the electorate; their supporters and their politics do not disappear when they die.”

Crime and Punishment, White House

FBI Questions CIA Officers in Brennan Probe

May 12, 2026 · 10:37 am ET · Leave a Comment

“The FBI has begun interviewing current and former CIA employees as part of the Department ​of Justice’s investigation into ex-CIA director John Brennan over his role in an intelligence finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help Donald Trump,” Reuters reports.

Crime and Punishment

Patel Demanded Purge of Agents Linked to Trump Probes

May 12, 2026 · 6:50 am ET · Leave a Comment

Fired former acting FBI chief Brian Driscoll told CNN that Kash Patel tied his job security as a career agent to helping purge FBI agents linked to criminal probes of Donald Trump.

Patel told Driscoll “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.”

ABC News: Kash Patel set to testify on Capitol Hill amid controversies.

Playbook: “His testimony comes as Patel’s favorability tanks, with one recent poll by the Democratic-leaning group Impact Research showing his net favorability at -11 overall, including -25 among independents in swing districts.”

Crime and Punishment

Israel to Use Eichmann-Style Tribunal for Oct. 7 Suspects

May 11, 2026 · 5:33 pm ET · Leave a Comment

“Israel’s parliament approved a special military tribunal for hundreds of Palestinians accused of taking part in the attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, some of whom could face execution,” Bloomberg reports.

“The prosecution plan approved on Monday recalls aspects of the 1961–1962 trial of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann, which Israeli leaders at the time viewed as an opportunity for the young state, and for international audiences, to confront the crimes of the Holocaust. His conviction upheld on appeal, Eichmann was hanged.”

Crime and Punishment, Foreign Affairs

Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Attempted Trump Shooting

May 11, 2026 · 10:14 am ET · Leave a Comment

“White House Correspondents Dinner shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges that include trying to assassinate President Donald Trump,” CNBC reports.

Crime and Punishment

Hacker Stole Thousands From Cory Booker’s Campaign

May 6, 2026 · 7:08 pm ET · Leave a Comment

A hacker stole more than $3,000 from Sen. Cory Booker’s reelection committee, NOTUS reports.

Crime and Punishment

Assaults on Jews Reach 46-Year High

May 6, 2026 · 8:50 am ET · Leave a Comment

Physical assaults against Jewish people in the U.S. last year reached the highest levels since 1979, Axios reports.

Crime and Punishment

Narcotics Agents Uncover Drugs-for-Votes Operation

May 5, 2026 · 3:27 pm ET · Leave a Comment

ProPublica: “To the narcotics agents investigating drug smuggling in Puerto Rico prisons, it seemed at first like a typical scheme: associates of an inmate gang sneaking drugs into the prison, gang members distributing them inside and bank records showing the money flowing.”

“Then the agents discovered something unusual.”

“Leaders of the prison gang known as Los Tiburones, or the Sharks, were selling drugs to inmates not only for money, but for their votes. Specifically, votes for now-Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón, a longtime Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, investigators found.”

Crime and Punishment

Political Violence Drives Demand for Security

May 3, 2026 · 1:26 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Pennsylvania’s governor is trying to figure out who will pay to improve safety at his personal residence. Baltimore’s mayor is being questioned over a $160,000 SUV with enhanced security features. And Minnesota legislators are considering a new security unit for elected officials that would cost millions each year.”

“Even before the attempted attack at the White House correspondents’ dinner last weekend, a spate of political violence and a rising number of threats had rattled state and local officials asking what should be done to protect those in public office.”

Crime and Punishment

Jeanine Pirro Appears to Drop Appeal of Fed Chair Probe

May 3, 2026 · 1:09 pm ET · Leave a Comment

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Sunday appeared to abandon a plan to appeal an adverse ruling in her attempts to criminally investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, CNBC reports.

Crime and Punishment

Rubio Ally Convicted in Lobbying Scheme

May 1, 2026 · 1:52 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL), a political mentor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was convicted Friday for his role in a secret $50 million campaign to lobby officials in Washington on behalf of the Venezuelan government, the Washington Post reports.

“Rubio testified before the jury early in the trial — the first time in more than four decades that a sitting Cabinet secretary has served as a witness in a criminal trial.”

Crime and Punishment

Shooting Suspect to Face More Charges

April 30, 2026 · 11:30 am ET · Leave a Comment

“The US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said she will issue more charges against the alleged shooter at a press dinner gala over the weekend,” Bloomberg reports.

Said Pirro: “There will be many more charges. We’re waiting for the official ballistics test, but at the same time, we filed papers in court this morning for the detention hearing today indicating that this defendant was calculated. He was premeditated. He had every intention of killing the president and anyone who got in his way.”

Crime and Punishment

The Emergence of the High-IQ Political Attacker

April 29, 2026 · 6:32 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Wall Street Journal: “An Ivy League grad. An aspiring engineer who scored 1530 out of 1600 on his SAT. A 4.0 high-school student with a prestigious college scholarship. And now, a Caltech grad.”

“America’s growing rogue’s gallery of high-profile alleged violent attackers is notable for a glaring reason: In a shift from recent decades, they are young men who have excelled in academics, at times at the highest levels.”

Crime and Punishment

Bongino Says He Planted Fake Info to Catch ‘Snakes’

April 29, 2026 · 9:30 am ET · Leave a Comment

Dan Bongino, the former deputy director of the FBI, told Sean Hannity that he would occasionally spread false information to identify “snakes” within the agency that he believed were leaking to the media.

Bongino said he decided to “start messing with people” offering “innocuous” details about his whereabouts and schedule to flush out supposed leakers.

Crime and Punishment

Calling Trump a Tyrant Is Not a Call to Violence

April 28, 2026 · 3:19 pm ET · Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “To describe Donald Trump as a corrupt aspiring authoritarian is not to conclude that he should be murdered.”

“This ought to be a simple point to understand. Yet it is lost on a large swath of the American right, who insist that calling Trump what he is causes at least some of his opponents—among them, the accused shooter Cole Tomas Allen—to believe that violence is justified against the president.”

Crime and Punishment, White House

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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