The number of weapons bought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reportedly surged 700 percent under President Donald Trump—and even includes chemical agents and warheads.
Federal purchasing logs show ICE spent $71,515,762 on “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories,” including military supplies, weapons, and ammunition, in the nine months between Jan. 20 and Oct. 18.
One of Donald Trump’s most high-profile staffers has joined the growing line of people leaving the White House.
Taylor Budowich has spent years helping to build and lead Trump’s messaging to his MAGA faithful and the world.
Budowich—a deputy chief of staff who ran communications, cabinet affairs, and speechwriting, and was a close ally of Vice President JD Vance—is departing at month’s end, multiple outlets have reported.
He plans to return to the private sector after years at Trump’s side, including helming the main pro-Trump super PAC through most of 2023 and 2024, according to Axios and The New York Times.
The departure is striking, given his close relations with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ operation, and his years leading Trumpworld messaging.
When the Daily Beast contacted the White House for comment, they provided quotes from four of Budowich’s former colleagues.
While Trump was notable by his absence, Wiles said, “Taylor is a dear friend, and I know that President Trump holds him in very high regard. I hate to see him go, personally and professionally, but obviously wish him well in whatever he decides is next.”
Vance said Budowich is “someone I’ve personally relied on countless times during an amazing first year in office.”
Stephen Miller, a fellow deputy chief of staff, also praised him for his loyalty to Trump.
Another deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, described Budowich as a “vital asset in Trump 2.0.”
His exit follows a string of high-profile departures from Trump’s second-term power structure.
The White House’s principal deputy communications director, Alex Pfeiffer, quietly walked last week having joined the White House in January.
The MAGA supporter left to join PR shop Watchtower Strategy, whose partner Arthur Schwartz said, “Alex is one of the most effective communicators in the Republican Party, and we’re thrilled to share his talents with our clients.”
On the national-security side, retired Green Beret Mike Waltz—who flamed out as national security adviser in May after a Signal-chat fiasco—was confirmed two days later as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Beyond the West Wing, personnel turbulence has rippled through the administration.
It was reported this week that DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle—an ally of Stephen Miller—is set to depart after just 10 months, having helped drive attorney general Pam Bondi’s hard-edge agenda before deciding to return to Florida.
The comings and goings follow Elon Musk’s brief, chaotic imprint on Trump’s bureaucracy as the head of DOGE—as well as its messy fall-out that saw other high-visibility figures purged, before the government begged hundreds of government workers fired by DOGE to come back.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-donald-trump-aide-ditches-the-white-house-as-exodus-speeds-up
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi [“Bimbo #2”] Noem could be subpoenaed after she joined a blundering ICE raid in which two U.S. citizens were wrongly detained, according to a former prosecutor.
[“Bimbo #2”] Noem—dubbed ICE Barbie for her love of dolling up in military gear for photo-ops—was present when the Americans were detained by her masked goons Tuesday as part of her ongoing “Operation Midway Blitz” in the Chicago area.
The embarrassing episode—which took place on Mexican Independence Day—prompted a former federal prosecutor to warn that Noem could be compelled to testify.
Joyce Vance—the former U.S. attorney in Alabama during the Obama administration and now an NBC and MSNBC legal analyst—argued in her Civil Discourse newsletter that Noem’s presence in an active operation potentially makes her a witness, opening the door to defense and civil lawyers seeking her testimony.
She wrote that [“Bimbo #2”] Noem’s on-scene involvement was “dangerous” and apparently done for “a photo op.”
“[“Bimbo #2”] Noem, too, should be concerned about the security risk her presence creates,” Vance wrote. “Furthermore, if [“Bimbo #2”] Noem accompanied agents to the scene, as the reporting indicates, she made herself a witness. If I’m a criminal defense lawyer for one of the men or a plaintiff’s lawyer in a civil suit, I’m cutting the subpoena for her testimony pronto.”
“This is why smart prosecutors know better than to go along when a search warrant is executed, let alone an attorney general or a Cabinet secretary,” Vance added. “But [“Bimbo #2”] Noem likes her photo ops.”
In typical fashion, [“Bimbo #2”] Noem has leaned into the cameras throughout Operation Midway Blitz.
[“Bimbo #2”] Noem boasted that she was “on the ground in Chicago” Tuesday as agents arrested what the department called “the worst of the worst.”
Coverage of the operation in Elgin, Illinois, noted that two U.S. citizens were cuffed and later released. [“Bimbo #2”] Noem posted footage herself on X.
However, one of those detained was Texas-born Joe Botello.
“I’m just blessed that I’m still alive,” the 37-year-old told theChicago Tribune, describing how armed and masked agents had smashed down his door and handcuffed him and his friends.
“I’ve been hearing it and seeing it through social media. But it never crossed my mind that it was going to happen here at the house… where I live.”
CBS News reported that a second U.S. citizen was also arrested during the raid. After showing their IDs, they were both released.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, a DHS spokesperson denied any “arrest” of U.S. citizens in the operation, insisting the men were held only “for their and officers’ safety… [which] is standard protocol.”
[“Bimbo #2”] Noem’s own video did not acknowledge the mistake.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbie-could-be-hit-with-subpoena-after-photo-op-flub-joyce-vance
Chuck Schumer blasted Donald Trump for sending his “personal lawyer” to interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison in what he described as a clear “conflict of interest.”
“Sending Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to interview Ghislaine Maxwell while she’s in prison, a woman who’s been convicted of abusing people, to offer some kind of corrupt deal so that she can exonerate Donald Trump just stinks of high corruption,” the Senate minority leader said in a video posted on X.
Blanche was appointed deputy attorney general in March, serving under Attorney General Pam Bondi, but he is most famous for having served as Trump’s lead counsel in his criminal case a year earlier.
The 50-year-old lawyer traveled to the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on Thursday and spoke with Maxwell for several hours, in a meeting that was widely criticized on social media.
In his own post on X Thursday, Blanche confirmed the meeting and announced a follow-up session: “Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking under-age girls for Jeffrey Epstein. The social links between her and Epstein with Trump continue to dog the president.
Blanche did not disclose what was discussed during the six-hour meeting.
However, Maxwell was said to have “answered every single question” during Thursday’s interview with Blanche, according to her lawyer David Markus. “She answered all questions and did not take the Fifth,” he added.
Amazingly, it appears to be the first time Maxwell—who declined to testify at her trial in 2021—has ever been formaly interviewed about the Epstein case.
Jonathan Turley, a leading legal commentator and professor at the George Washington University Law School, wrote on X that he had recently spoken with Maxwell’s counsel, Leah Saffian, and she “surprisingly maintained that neither state nor federal investigators ever interviewed Maxwell.
He added: “That struck me as curious in a scandal involving a myriad of state and federal investigations. If so, she may have new information.”
Within minutes of Schumer’s first tweet, the 74-year-old fired off a second, aimed at House Republicans, who had just departed Washington for their August break.
“It’s the first day of House Republicans fleeing town for their Epstein Recess. They high-tailed it out of here hoping to hide the story. But the story is growing louder by the hour with Trump and the administration’s lies.”
The House’s early getaway heightened Democratic accusations of a Republican Trump-Epstein cover-up.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Justice Department for comment.
ICE’s assault on illegal migrants could be about to take a dystopian twist—with the creation of a detention camp dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has proposed building a center in the middle of the Everglades—surrounded by ‘gators, crocs and snakes—as a “low-cost” solution for detaining what he described as “criminal aliens.”
Speaking from the Miami-Dade Collier training facility, Uthmeier said in a video posted to his X account that the abandoned airfield site in a 30-square-mile patch of isolated swamp, could quickly be transformed into what he called “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“People [detained migrants] get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” he declared. “It presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity… because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter.”
With ICE detention centers overflowing, Uthmeier claimed the site could be operational within 30 to 60 days of breaking ground and could house up to 1,000 people.
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Uthmeier also did not provide any details about funding, oversight, and federal involvement…. The [DHS] department is tearing through its budget, which is already more than $1 billion in the red, according to a report in Axios on Monday.
The inexperienced 22-year-old reportedly tasked by Donald Trump with tackling U.S. extremism was working as a neighborhood gardener just five years ago and in a grocery store as recently as August 2023, the Daily Beast can reveal.
Thomas Fugate, who graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio just 12 months ago, is currently heading up the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the DHS, as first reported by ProPublica Tuesday.
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But according to the youngster’s LinkedIn page, Fugate has almost no experience in this field—and in 2020 was working as a self-employed ‘Landscape Business Owner.’
Vincent Scardina supported Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration at the ballot box. But that decision came back to bite the roofing boss when ICE detained a third of his workforce.
The six men, all from Nicaragua, were pulled over in a work truck on May 27 while heading to a job—and carted off to jail.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies helped transport the men to a local detention facility “for deportation.”
Scardina, who runs a small roofing business in Florida’s Lower Keys, cannot believe it. “It’s quite a shock. You get to know these guys, you become their friends—not just an employer but a friend,” he told NBC6, visibly emotional.
Adding to Scardina’s annoyance, the men had valid work permits and pending asylum applications, according to their attorney Regilucia Smith. “They are legally here,” she said. “Valid work permit, not even close to expired… again, no criminal records—not here, not in Nicaragua.”
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The detained men represented a third of his total staff—devastating in a small labor pool like Key West. “We’re not able…to just replace people as easily as, say, a big city, [with] very limited people to pull from, and then you would have to train them, and that takes sometimes years,” he said.
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Scardina isn’t alone. He says other contractors in the area are being hit hard too. “I know of one landscaper that lost nine or 10 of his whole crew he had and he’s just totally out of business all of a sudden, just like that.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-voter-gets-choked-up-after-ice-detains-a-third-of-his-staff
