Daily Mail: Lawmaker allegedly ‘stuffs ballots’ in swing state that Trump just won

A chilling video has allegedly shown a lawmaker accompanying a friend who stuffed ballots in a swing state that Donald Trump only won by just over 80,000 votes.

Abu Musa, a city council member of Hamtramck, Michigan, was in the passenger seat handing several bundles of what appear to be absentee ballots to the driver.

Musa then watches the driver deposit three stacks of ballots into a drop box.

Michigan State Police confirmed the authenticity of the clip, which was filmed on August 1. It is part of an investigation into council members’ residency requirements.

The alleged ballot box stuffing incident took place just before the city’s latest primary election on August 5 – which Musa won with more than 1,129 votes. 

The video comes days after two of Musa’s councilmen colleagues, Muhtasin Sadman and Mohammed Hassan, were charged over forging ballots in the city’s tightly fought 2023 election.

Musa was previously named as ‘under investigation’ in the same conspiracy – but was not charged at the time.

According to a document by Attorney General Dana Nessel requesting a special prosecutor in the 2023 case, Musa’s colleagues ‘conspired to receive unvoted absentee ballots that had been signed by recently naturalized citizens.’ 

The accused then allegedly proceeded to ‘fill in the candidates of their choosing’ during the city’s 2023 elections, according to the document issued in April. 

Musa received the most votes in the August 5 primary election, per unofficial election results released on August 6 – receiving 12.5 percent of total votes in a field of 12 candidates.

Of the total 1,129 votes received by Musa, 843 were cast by absentee ballot. The 286 total of election day votes received by Musa is only the fifth-highest tally.    

Hamtramck’s council was embroiled in the election forgery scandal earlier this year – and Sadman and Hassan were charged on August 11. Musa and another council member, Mohammed Alsomiri, were not charged at the time. 

The drama was ramped up when Attorney General Nessel then decided to recuse herself from the investigation because of criticism she had faced in the past.

Nessel, a Jewish lesbian, previously criticized policy positions taken by the Muslim-majority council to ban Pride flags from being flown on city-owned property. 

The Michigan Attorney General had also faced harsh scrutiny for her prosecutions of pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Michigan in the wake of October 7.

Nessel was additionally accused of prosecuting the campus protestors due to ‘bias against Muslims and/or people of Arab descent.’ 

She foresaw similar criticisms coming her way in this ballot forgery case, as five of the defendants ‘are of Arab descent’ – therefore she removed herself. 

Hamtamack, a city in Metro Detroit, has a population just over 28,000 residents, which is over 70 percent Muslim. The city became the first in America to be governed by an all-Muslim council in 2022. 

Detroit’s Local 4 News reported that the initial investigation began ‘after the city clerk noticed unusual patterns with absentee ballots – including identical handwriting on multiple envelopes and large bundles of ballots submitted at once.’

Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj told Votebeat that ‘state laws are clear that your ballot should only be handled by you or a family member,’ adding that ‘everyone’s cousins around here.’

The council is made up of six members, and three slots are up for election every two years. Members serve four-year terms. 

Donald Trump won Michigan’s 15 electoral votes in 2024 with 49.7 percent of the votes to Kamala Harris’ 48.3 percent.

Hamtramck’s Mayor Amer Ghalib made waves last year after endorsing Trump for President as the mayor of America’s first Muslim-majority city.

Trump later nominated Ghalib to be the Ambassador to the State of Kuwait.

Daily Mail have contacted Musa for comment. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15008401/abu-musa-michigan-detroit-video-ballot-box-trump.html

CNN: US military deploying over 4,000 additional troops to waters around Latin America as part of Trump’s counter-cartel mission

The US military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two US defense officials told CNN — a dramatic show of force that will give the president a broad range of military options should he want to target drug cartels.

The deployment of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to US Southern Command, which has not been previously reported, is part of a broader repositioning of military assets to the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility that has been underway over the last three weeks, one of the officials said.

A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser are also being allocated to US Southern Command as part of the mission, the officials said.

A third person familiar with the matter said the additional assets are “aimed at addressing threats to US national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.”

On Friday, the US Navy announced the deployment of the USS Iwo Jima, the 22nd MEU, and the two other ships in the Amphibious Ready Group — the USS Fort Lauderdale and the USS San Antonio — but did not say where they were going.

One of the officials emphasized that the military buildup is for now mostly a show of force, aimed more at sending a message than indicative of any intention to conduct precision targeting of cartels. But it also gives US military commanders — and the president — a broad range of options should Trump order military action. The ARG/MEU, for example, also features an aviation combat element.

The deployment of the Marine Expeditionary Unit, however, has raised concerns among some defense officials who worry that the Marines are not trained to conduct drug interdictions and counter drug-trafficking. If that is part of their mission set, they will have to lean heavily on the Coast Guard, officials said.

MEUs have been instrumental in the past in supporting large-scale evacuation operations; a MEU was stationed for months in the eastern Mediterranean, for example, amid tensions between Israel, Hamas and Iran.

A Marine official told CNN that the MEU “stands ready to execute lawful orders and support the combatant commanders in the needs that are requested of them.”

The US military deployed destroyers to the areas around the US-Mexico border in March to support US Northern Command’s border security mission and reinforce the US’ presence in the western hemisphere. The additional assets being moved now, however, will fall under US Southern Command, and are set to support SOUTHCOM for at least the next several months, one of the officials said.

CNN previously reported that a memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this year stated that the US military’s “foremost priority” is to defend the homeland, and instructed the Pentagon to “seal our borders, repel forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities, and deport illegal aliens in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.”

The same memo also formally asked Pentagon officials for “credible military options” to ensure unfettered American access to the Panama Canal, CNN reported at the time.

So when do we invade Mexico, our future 52nd state (after Canada)?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/politics/us-military-deploying-caribbean-latin-america-cartel-mission

Associated Press: Trump’s plan to accept free Air Force One replacement from Qatar raises ethical and security worries

For President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer.

“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer,” the Republican told reporters on Monday. “I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.’”

Critics of the plan worry that the move threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.

But security is the primary concern when it comes to presidential travel. The current Air Force One planes were built from scratch near the end of the Cold War. They are hardened against the effects of a nuclear blast and include a range of security features, such as anti-missile countermeasures and an onboard operating room. They are also equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies, though it has never been utilized with a president on board.

A former U.S. official briefed on the Air Force One replacement project said that while it would be possible to add some features to the Qatari jet, there was no way to add the full suite of capabilities to the plane on a tight timetable.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-qatar-air-force-one-2ef13d87b71185bde547abe6840b098c