PHOENIX—At Turning Point USA’s 2025 America Fest Thursday, Erika Kirk pledged the organization’s support behind one possible 2028 presidential candidate. “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible!” said Kirk, whose husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in September. Turning Point Action, the organization’s grassroots political advocacy arm, is “locked in and mission focused” for the midterms and 2028 election. Kirk further shared that they are focused on “building the red wall” in Arizona, Nevada, and New Hampshire. In a October interview, Vance said talk of a presidential run was “premature.” “So my attitude is, the American people elected me to be vice president. I’m gonna work as hard as I can to make the president successful over the next three years and three months,” he told the New York Post. In September, Vance and his wife, Usha, joined Erika Kirk to escort Charlie Kirk’s body on Air Force Two from Utah to Arizona. Kirk also spoke on the future of TPUSA. “A year ago, my husband stood on this stage,” Kirk began, “and said ‘Lord send me,’ and boy he did.” After her husband’s death, Erika Kirk was appointed as CEO of Turning Point USA in an unanimous decision by the organization’s board. She shared that they are taking a “Make Heaven Crowded Tour” across the nation. In honor of Charlie Kirk’s love of debate, the “Prove Me Wrong” tour will relaunch this spring. While dark corners of the internet celebrated Charlie Kirk’s murder, Erika Kirk also quickly became the center of conspiracy theories, threats and intense media scrutiny. She addressed that and more with a forgiving heart. “Joy Reid probably needs a really, really good hug. And honestly, I’m here for it if she needs it. I’ve got a good hug for you … and I’ll even touch the back of your head,'” Kirk said, making light of the internet scrutiny she received following an interaction with the vice president. Joy Reid, a former MSNBC host, reportedly made a snide remark about Vance swapping his wife Usha to marry Erika Kirk. “Wouldn’t it be the most perfect MAGA fairytale if he [Vance] finally sees the light that he needs a white queen, instead of this brown Hindu?” Reid told podcast host Jennifer Welch in November, according to Mediaite. Joy Reid pushes the deranged conspiracy theory that JD Vance is going to leave his wife for Erika Kirk:“Rubbin on his head? Babyyyy… you in leatha pants?… Wouldn’t it be the most perfect MAGA fairy-tail if he finally sees the light that he needs a White Queen instead of this… pic.twitter.com/BFj4vmcsYT— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) November 25, 2025 Kirk also shared some of the statistics from this year’s America Fest conference. She remarked that a third of attendees are students, 54% are female, all 50 states are represented, and 25 countries are represented. “Don’t worry, guys, Egypt is not on this list,” quipped Kirk, likely alluding to a theory from podcast host Candace Owens. The crowd erupted into laughter.. ERIKA KIRK:"Don't just attend AmFest. Let it mark you. Let it stretch you. Let it challenge assumptions, strengthen convictions, and maybe even make you a little uncomfortable because that's where growth happens, in those moments. Let it be another Turning Point in your life.… pic.twitter.com/Hx4xBQY3Sw— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 19, 2025 Kirk finished with words of encouragement, welcoming over 30,000 attendees to the conference. “You may not agree with everyone on this stage this weekend, and that’s OK. Welcome to America!” Charlie “believed disagreement was something not to be canceled. It was something to confront with clarity, courage, and grace,” she added. “The mission didn’t end with Charlie’s life,” Kirk also said. The post Erika Kirk Endorses ‘My Husband’s Friend’ JD Vance for President appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The suspect in last weekend’s fatal shooting at Brown University has been found dead in a storage unit he rented in Salem, New Hampshire, authorities announced Thursday night. The suspect has been identified as Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, 48, a Portuguese national. A car belonging to the suspect had been found earlier Thursday outside the storage unit facility. Authorities have been conducting a manhunt since the Dec. 13 shooting inside a classroom building at Brown University shook Rhode Island’s capital city of Providence. Two students were killed and at least eight were wounded.Meanwhile, police are investigating a possible link between the Brown University shooting and the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loreiro two days later in Brookline, Massachusetts. Loreiro was born and raised in Portugal. Earlier this week, an FBI official said authorities did not believe there was a link between Saturday’s shooting at Brown and the MIT professor’s murder. Loureiro was a member of the departments of nuclear science and engineering and physics as well as MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Seeking the Public’s Help Investigators in Providence said the suspect in the Brown University shooting escaped on foot into nearby streets, prompting a search that relied heavily on residential security footage because of a lack of surveillance cameras in the classroom building and surrounding area. Police released images and video of a masked man believed to be the shooter, based on survivor accounts, and have repeatedly asked for the public’s help in identifying that man. The footage showed the suspect walking in a nearby neighborhood both before and immediately after the attack, including moments when police vehicles arrived with flashing lights. “He could be anywhere,” Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez said on Wednesday, adding that authorities did not initially know the suspect’s identity or motive. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said residents and students had grown “restless and eager” for an arrest as the search stretched into several days. Police also circulated photos of another unidentified man seen near the area, saying they wanted to speak with him as a potential witness who may have relevant information. During Thursday night’s press conference, authorities said that potential witness did quickly come forward. Authorities initially announced a person was in custody a day after the shooting but later released that individual after determining he was not involved. Reuters contributed to this report. The post BREAKING: Suspect in Brown University Killing Found Dead, Police Probe Link With MIT Murder appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is calling on Gov. Mike Braun to join other Republican governors in branding the Council on American-Islamic Relations a terrorist organization. “It’s high time that Indiana declare CAIR a foreign terrorist organization,” Rokita told The Daily Signal in an interview Thursday. “I completely agree and I call on Gov. Braun to do that very thing.” Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization on Nov. 18, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., followed suit last week. Both Abbott and DeSantis cited the history of CAIR, which bills itself as the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S. Members of the Islamic Association for Palestine, an organization affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and created to support Hamas in the U.S., founded CAIR in 1994. Federal prosecutors named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror financing case, in which CAIR associates were convicted of providing material support to designated terrorist organizations. While a federal judge later ruled that publicly naming CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator violated the group’s Fifth Amendment rights, he also found “ample evidence to establish” its associations with the Holy Land Foundation, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and Hamas. CAIR’s Lawsuits CAIR sued Abbott on Nov. 20 and DeSantis on Dec. 15. CAIR claims that neither Abbott nor DeSantis has the authority to designate foreign terrorist organizations—only the federal government does—and that the governors violated its 14th Amendment due process rights and First Amendment free speech and free association rights. CAIR also cites a statement that has been on its website since 2009: “We unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the U.S. Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.'” Last week, CAIR filed a public records request seeking DeSantis’ communications with Israeli officials and “anti-Muslim hate groups.” “Ron DeSantis has a long history of close collaboration with anti-Muslim hate groups and Israeli government officials who have spent years trying to silence American Muslims who support Palestinian human rights,” CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw said in a statement. “The people of Florida and the broader public have a right to know whether Governor DeSantis collaborated with a foreign government or hate groups to launch his unconstitutional and defamatory attack on CAIR-Florida and the broader Florida Muslim community.” Discovery will be quite interesting… https://t.co/aUtQwFwsKT— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 18, 2025 ‘Dispelling Rumors’ CAIR has long disputed claims of the kind Abbott and DeSantis cited. The organization updates a web page dedicated to dispelling “rumors” and “conspiracy theories.” CAIR admits that it was included on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case, but notes that there were more than 300 other organizations on the list. “There is no legal implication to being labeled an unindicted co-conspirator, since it does not require the Justice Department to prove anything in a court of law,” the organization notes. “Regardless, the issue of our inclusion on the list was settled in CAIR’s favor.” The judge in the case stated, “This case is not about CAIR.” The Biden administration distanced itself from CAIR after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. The Biden White House had previously included CAIR in its initiative to combat antisemitism. CAIR’s claim about DeSantis working with “anti-Muslim hate groups” relies on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s accusations. Critics have long claimed that the SPLC falsely brands mainstream conservative and Christian groups “hate groups,” partly because they disagree with the SPLC’s own agenda. Organizations like the Center for Security Policy and the David Horowitz Freedom Center vehemently contest the accusation. CAIR has attacked Jewish groups as “anti-Muslim.” DeSantis’ Response When CAIR threatened a lawsuit shortly after DeSantis’ designation, the governor responded that he looked forward to accessing CAIR’s internal records in the discovery process. “I look forward to discovery—especially the CAIR finances,” the governor posted on X. “Should be illuminating!” “We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” DeSantis’ communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, told The Daily Signal in a statement this week. The post Indiana AG Calls on Gov. Braun to Designate CAIR a Foreign Terrorist Organization appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are becoming burned out, according to multiple sources.   ICE agents are “maxed out,” a senior Trump administration official told The Daily Signal, and yet there is “frustration” within the administration that deportation numbers aren’t higher.   “I think it is just an enormous challenge to get 20 million people out of this country,” the official said, referring to an estimation of the number of illegal aliens living in the U.S.   The administration has deported over 600,000 illegal aliens since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, according to the Department of Homeland Security. An additional 1.9 million have self-deported, but the White House is not satisfied, according to sources familiar with the situation.   “ICE is under major pressure from the White House,” another senior Trump administration official told The Daily Signal, adding, “That’s public information. A bunch of people got transferred and fired … in ICE because they’re not hitting the numbers that they want them to hit.”   In October, The Associated Press reported that the Trump administration planned to reassign a dozen directors of ICE field offices and replace them with Customs and Border Protection or ICE officials.   ICE Under Pressure   While the pressure is mounting to make more arrests and conduct more deportations, a retired ICE officer with knowledge of the current administration says agents are being affected by the demands.  ICE agents are glad they can do their job, but the pace of the job is causing “a little bit of burnout” he said, adding that the increased pay for overtime work only goes so far when agent’s marriages are feeling the weight of the demanding work schedule, and they are not seeing their children.   The retired ICE officer said he believes the Trump administration does care about the well-being of the agents, and stressed that he supports the administration’s immigration agenda, but said ICE agents are “not robots.”   “And you know, when you make them tired and you keep them working, that’s when mistakes are made, and mistakes are dangerous when you carry guns,” the retired officer said.   DHS is currently working to hire, train, and deploy 10,000 new ICE agents, which will help the workload, according to the retired ICE officer, but new agents won’t have the institutional knowledge and background of longtime agents. The concern is that seasoned agents may start leaving ICE if the pressure and demands don’t change.   DHS says some of the new hires are already in the field.   “Many of ICE’S new recruits are former law enforcement officers, military, or former ICE officers who retired or quit under President [Joe] Biden because they were frustrated about not being able to do their jobs,” a DHS spokesperson told The Daily Signal.  “The vast majority of new officers brought on during the hiring surge are experienced law enforcement officers who have already successfully completed a law enforcement academy. This population is expected to account for greater than 85% of new hires,” the DHS spokesperson added.   A Trump administration official says while he has not witnessed the burnout of ICE agents, “it’s like a question of when, because you can only be going at 100 miles an hour for so long before you it gets to you.”  White House Response   Asked about the concern of burnout, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Signal that the “American people are deeply appreciative for the heroic work being done by ICE agents. They make American communities safer and protect American families, all in the face of unrelenting smears from Democrats.”  “The Trump administration will continue supporting our great ICE agents and ensuring they have the resources they need to be successful in and out of the workplace,” Jackson added.   Trump administration officials, including the president, DHS secretary Kristi Noem, and border czar Tom Homan speak highly of ICE agents and have repeatedly expressed their gratitude for the hard work of the men and women of ICE.   “The Trump administration is not tired of winning—and neither are our brave law enforcement officers,” a DHS spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “Thanks to the leadership of the secretary and president, the U.S. has seen more than 2.5 million illegal aliens leave the U.S.”   Reporting Deportation Numbers  The Trump administration is remaining highly focused on deportations headed into 2026 and deportation numbers are expected to grow higher. To this end, a senior Trump administration official says, the media should not be surprised when illegal aliens without a criminal record are also arrested and deported.  The Trump administration “said the ‘worst first,’ not only the worst of the worst,” the senior official noted, adding, “obviously there’s some other category that’s going to be second and third.”  While ICE is occasionally releasing deportation numbers, they are not reporting regular deportation numbers in the same way that Customs and Border Protection reports border encounter numbers every month. One possible reason for the lack of reporting might be because there is dissatisfaction over the numbers not being higher, two senior Trump administration officials told The Daily Signal.   ICE also does not have a good system for tracking and reporting deportation numbers, according to one of the officials.   “Nobody’s on the same page about what statistics are important and also what they mean,” the senior official said, explaining that if ICE assists the Texas Department of Public Safety in making an immigration arrest, it is not clear if ICE or Texas DPS, or both law enforcement agencies, count the arrest.   Bed space also limits the number of arrests ICE can make since DHS must have a space to hold the illegal alien while paperwork and logistics are completed ahead of deportations.   Furthermore, as a Trump administration official explained, ICE is smaller than CBP and likely has fewer resources to dedicate to data collection and reporting.   “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, DHS law enforcement officers are delivering on the mandate to Make America Safe Again,” the DHS spokesperson said, adding that arrest and deportation numbers have “already shattered records.”   The post SCOOP: ICE Agents Are Becoming Burned Out as Trump Administration Pushes for More Deportations appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL – The Oversight Project is calling for the Justice Department to keep incarcerated prisoners whose Biden autopen clemencies were voided by President Trump.  The watchdog group shared a video with The Daily Signal that focused on two individuals whose sentences former President Joe Biden had commuted.  The Oversight Project was the first to call attention to the mass number of presidential actions taken via autopen.  This prompted a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee inquiry that found senior Biden White House officials were unclear if Biden was aware of the actions taken with his autopen. AUTOPENNED "WILLIE HORTONS" SCHEDULED TO BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Biden's "null and void" autopenned commutations of gangbangers are still being treated as legitimate. Some will be released back into the streets in the next few days. More will follow. pic.twitter.com/iNhT9s8Gv0— Oversight Project (@ItsYourGov) December 18, 2025 Biden’s own words during a New York Times interview published in July, reveal that he was aware of “categories” of people with clemency, but not individuals. Three days before leaving office, the Biden White House issued a statement that said he gave clemency to “nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses” who had what they viewed as disproportionately long sentences. However, the Oversight Project later obtained documents from Biden’s own Justice Department that warned the White House against releasing some of the individuals who were violent offenders.  ?Biden’s Own DOJ Threw Red Flag on Autopenned Pardons ?NEW DOCS FROM @EagleEdMartin show Biden’s own DOJ warned against autopenned clemency awards.@realdonaldtrump should refuse to release inmates that received this illegal clemency and re-arrest those already released. pic.twitter.com/pPCYz8UD3f— Oversight Project (@ItsYourGov) August 19, 2025 The documents show a Biden Justice Department attorney raised concerns about what he called a “highly problematic” review process for what the White House characterized as nonviolent offenders.  Prison sentences commuted, apparently by autopen, include inmates who carried out violent crimes. Others were apparent gang members. The video highlights two individuals whose senteneces Biden commuted and who were to be released days after Christmas.  “Enough is enough. The American People want accountability and results. President Trump has been emphatically clear that autopenned actions are null and void,” Oversight Project President Mike Howell said. “The Trump administration should not allow these gang-bangers to roam American streets with an autopen pardon or commutation in their back pocket, probably right next to their gun and drugs.” “It is the opposite of law and order and I know that President Trump does not want that,” Howell continued.  He added: “I’m sick of seeing these gangbangers being released by this Department of Justice. Arresting those released and refusing to release any more gangbangers would be a great result and entirely justified legally.” The Oversight Project’s video references two individuals who received clemency.  Kewaannee Williams was sentenced to seven years and six months. His sentence was commuted to under three and half years just ahead of Biden’s departure. Williams is set to be released on Dec. 28, according to the Oversight Project. Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deal crack cocaine and other offenses.  The Oversight Project referenced court records showing the Justice Department initially sought a sentence of 120 months because Williams was a leader in a New York City gang that dealt drugs. The attorney for Williams, Benjamin Zeman, told The Daily Signal the U.S. attorney’s office negotiated the case and that his client didn’t plead down. Frequently, felons plead down to a lower offense.   “He pleaded guilty to what he took responsibility for,” Zeman said.  In a July 2022 sentencing memorandum with the Southern District of New York, Zeman wrote: “We submit that, given the unstable circumstances of Mr. Williams’s early life, his substance abuse history, the promise of his young and hopeful family, the voluntary withdrawal from this behavior more than a year-and-a-half before his arrest and his willingness to accept responsibility for this criminal activity, a sentence to 60 months incarceration is justified in this case and sufficiently balances the various goals of sentencing.” The Oversight Project video also references Jason Gonzalez, who was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. Gonzales, who was sentenced in 2022, is set to be released on December 27. The federal government initially sought a 136-month sentence based on his alleged role in a gang and owing to a previous conviction of attempted murder, according to federal court documents referenced by the Oversight Project.  The attorney for Gonzales, Thomas Ambrosio, said guidelines are not mandatory, and there were many mitigating circumstances.  “Mr. Gonzalez had a longstanding drug addiction. The crimes he committed were driven by his drug addiction,” Ambrosio told The Daily Signal. The July 2022 sentencing memorandum that Ambrosio wrote to the Southern District of New York acknowledged his client at age 19 shot someone in the leg. He added that the attempted murder was charged in a New York state court.  “People plead to attempted murder in New York without ever saying they tried to kill someone,” Ambrosio said. “They’re told ‘time served if you agree to plead guilty to attempted murder.’” Earlier this month, Trump announced on Truth Social: “Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized ‘AUTOPEN,’ within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect. Anyone receiving “Pardons,” “Commutations,” or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect.” During Biden’s four years in office, the White House issued 4,245 acts of clemency. That’s more than the previous record of 3,796 held by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Of those, 96% were granted between Oct. 1, 2024, and Jan. 20, 2025. The post Oversight Project Demands DOJ to Act on Trump Reversal of Biden Autopen Clemency appeared first on The Daily Signal.