Tulsi Gabbard tears up at Hawaii's 'FAITH IN GOD' 2 years after Lahaina fires
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfIf3JJ6zOc
Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize, says Armenian, Azerbaijani leaders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71agcZf94Lo
UCLA to pay over $6 million to settle lawsuit over pro-Palestinian protests
UCLA announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement in a discrimination lawsuit brought by Jewish students and a faculty member, agreeing to pay more than $6 million.
The plaintiffs, who brought the lawsuit in June 2024, accused the university of failing to take action when pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments last spring. They claimed that the protest areas were inaccessible to Jewish students and amounted to what plaintiffs referred to as “Jew exclusion zones.” While UCLA has denied any wrongdoing, it agreed to settle fully, with $50,000 payments to each of the plaintiffs in addition to $2.33 million in donations to organizations that combat antisemitism.
“We are pleased with the terms of today’s settlement. The injunction and other terms UCLA has agreed to demonstrate real progress in the fight against antisemitism,” the parties said in a joint statement.
The day the settlement was announced, the Justice Department shared that in its investigation into the University of California system, it found that UCLA violated federal civil rights law by acting with “deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.”
The agency’s Civil Rights Division said the university had failed to “adequately” respond to complaints of harassment and abuse toward its Jewish and Israeli students on campus since Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel.
“This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand: DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release about the announcement.
The Justice Department had filed a statement of interest for the plaintiffs in the settlement case. However, a DOJ spokesperson told NBC News that “the settlement is not directly related to DOJ’s findings, but underscores DOJ’s finding of systemic antisemitism at UCLA.”
UCLA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the settlement, UCLA agreed to ensure that Jewish students and faculty would not be excluded from any programs, activities or campus areas. The eight organizations to which the school agreed to donate include Hillel at UCLA, the Academic Engagement Network and the Anti-Defamation League, the settlement said. Additionally, the school said it will allocate $320,000 for its Initiative to Combat Antisemitism, according to a press release about the settlement.
“Antisemitism, harassment, and other forms of intimidation are antithetical to our values and have no place at the University of California,” UC Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly said. “We have been clear about where we have fallen short, and we are committed to doing better moving forward.”
Yitzchok Frankel, a UCLA student and plaintiff in the case, said in a statement that though he was disappointed in the school’s initial actions, the settlement was a positive development.
“Today’s court judgment brings justice back to our campus and ensures Jews will be safe and be treated equally once again,” he said.
The settlement comes more than a year after students staged pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country, with tent encampments established at many campuses. Since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attacks more than 60,000, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave.
At UCLA, protesters called on the school to divest from companies that have ties to Israel with an encampment of their own in late April 2024. Counterprotesters attacked the encampment, leading to violent clashes. Police were eventually called, and more than 200 people were arrested.
Months later, the school implemented a “zero tolerance” policy, banning encampments, masks that hide identities and any protests that block pathways.
Lawsuits have also been filed by Pro-Palestinian protestors and supporters as well. UCLA was hit with a lawsuit in October, accusing it of suppressing antiwar voices and ordering students and faculty protesters to be arrested unlawfully. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, also accused the school of violating free speech rights. The case is still being litigated.
Columbia University last week said it will pay $200 million to the Trump administration to restore funding that had been cut over allegations it violated anti-discrimination laws. In March, the administration said it was canceling $400 million in grants to the Ivy League institution, accusing it of “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Earlier this month, Barnard College in Manhattan, an all-women’s affiliate of Columbia University, also settled a lawsuit that accused the school of failing to sufficiently combat antisemitism on campus. Among the terms it had agreed to, the school said it would ban masks at protests and that it would refuse to meet or negotiate with a coalition of pro-Palestinian student groups.
The settlement immediately drew criticism from its students and faculty. Nara Milanich, a Barnard history professor who is Jewish, told CNN that the settlement appears to “equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.”
“That is a problem for critical thought and academic freedom,” she said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ucla-pay-6-million-settle-lawsuit-pro-palestinian-protests-rcna221783
Kash Patel Awarded $100K Compensatory + $100K Punitive Damages Default Judgment in Libel Suit Against Substacker Jim Stewartson (Filed in 2023)
Back in June 2023, now-FBI-Director Kash Patel sued Jim Stewartson for libel, alleging that Stewartson had falsely claimed that Patel "attempted to overthrow the government," "planned 1/6," was "guilty of sedition," was a "Kremlin asset," and paid people to "lie to congress"; some of the allegations were also about Patel's Kash Foundation. Stewartson didn't appear to defend himself, so eventually, in March 2025, Patel moved for default judgment.Yesterday, Judge Andrew Gordon (D. Nev.) granted the motion:
As a result of the entry of default [triggered by Stewartson's failure to defend himself], "the factual allegations of the complaint, except those relating to the amount of damages, [are] taken as true." Stewartson's statements are defamatory as to Kashyap Patel. And the complaint alleges that at least one of these statements was impliedly directed at the Kash Foundation, Inc. and "directly and proximately caused the Kash Foundation significant damages …." Thus, liability is established.
The plaintiffs' motion offers scant evidence of harm or damages to either plaintiff. Even if damages are presumed, there must be some evidence to support a monetary award. The plaintiffs' expert report offers only conclusory statements about reputational damage and lost Foundation donors, with almost no reference to specific instances to support those. For example, the reports states that Mr. Patel's "image has been deeply hurt by the defamation accusing him of working against the government, corruption, and crime. Apart from the business already lost, this impacts future opportunities and relationships." But the report offers no examples of "business already lost" and how Mr. Patel's image was hurt by the defamatory statements themselves, as opposed to the myriad non-defamatory attacks Mr. Patel has suffered as a result of being a public figure.
To the contrary, after the defamatory statements, Mr. Patel was confirmed by the United States Senate as Director of the F.B.I. Clearly his reputation was not significantly sullied by the defamatory statements. Thus, minimal, if any, reputational rehabilitation damages are needed.
Nevertheless, Stewartson's statements were defamatory and caused presumed damages. Falsely stating as fact that a public figure "attempted to overthrow the government," planned the January 6 insurrection, was a "Kremlin asset," and paid people to "lie to [C]ongress" inflicts real injuries, personally and professionally. I award Mr. Patel $100,000 in compensatory damages.
Likewise, there is almost no concrete evidence of harm or damages suffered by the Foundation. All of the defamatory statements were directed at Mr. Patel individually. The Foundation contends it was harmed "by implication." The plaintiffs' expert states that Mr. Patel's "reputational damage has affected the ability of Kash Foundation to continue carrying out its social impact and affected donor and client relationships." But there is only proffer of a possible harm to the Foundation: according to Andrew Ollis (whose affiliation with the Foundation is not described) "[a]t [l]east 7 donors, with a total donation/gift of $25,000+ have stopped giving since the incident, with the defamation being a highly probable cause of the same because the narrative directly contradicts the benevolence of donating to a charitable cause." There is no indication which "incident" (i.e., which defamatory statement) is referenced and why that statement (or the series of statements) is "a highly probable cause" of the lost donations, as opposed to other reasons. Nor does the report explain why those seven donors account for "$25,000+" in lost donations when the average donation to the Foundation is $47.
Nevertheless, I will accept the $25,000 figure as a reasonable estimate of the harm to the Foundation, given that there is no other evidence of any affected donor or relationship or any impact on the Foundation's ability to carry out its mission. I award the Foundation $25,000 in compensatory damages.
The plaintiffs also request an award of punitive damages. Such an award is appropriate here, in part to deter Stewartson and others from engaging in defamation. Factual criticism of, and opinions about, public figures are protected speech and must be tolerated. This nation was founded on "a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials."
But defamatory falsehoods made with actual malice are not protected, even if directed at public officials. The complaint and the motion adequately demonstrate Stewartson acted with malice.
I consider "three guideposts" when evaluating punitive damages: "(1) the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant's misconduct; (2) the disparity between the actual or potential harm suffered by the plaintiff and the punitive damages award; and (3) the difference between the punitive damages awarded by the jury and the civil penalties authorized or imposed in comparable cases." … Here, the harm was economic, the plaintiffs were not financially vulnerable, and the conduct involved repeated defamatory statements infused with malice. Considering these factors, I award Mr. Patel $100,000 in punitive damages and the Foundation $25,000 in punitive damages.
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/08/06/kash-patel-awarded-100k-compensatory-100k-punitive-damages-default-judgment-in-libel-suit-against-substacker-jim-stewartson-filed-in-2023/
Jesse Watters
@JesseBWatters
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Democrat staffers are LEAKING LIKE CRAZY about Jazzy Crockett… and it’s BRUTAL 🤯
Aides say Jazzy loves to lay around her apartment and TERRORIZES her staff — making them CHAUFFEUR her to work like it’s the MET GALA🎩
https://x.com/JesseBWatters/status/1953643754906157168
Libs of TikTok
@libsoftiktok
MAJOR SCANDAL UNFOLDING IN FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN VIRGINIA
Two former students allege that the school arranged and bankrolled abortions for them without telling their parents. One student was a minor at the time.
PEOPLE NEED TO GO TO PRISON FOR THIS
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1953363767711912279
Winsome Earle-Sears
@winwithwinsome
Abigail Spanberger took $50,000 from a Chinese Communist Party member. Maybe that’s why she voted against a bill to block China from buying American farmland.
You can’t be Virginia First when you’re China First.
https://x.com/winwithwinsome/status/1953472446570373342
Winsome Earle-Sears
@winwithwinsome
A man with 43 prior charges—including attempted murder and assault—was released without bail by Fairfax officials.
Three days later, he tried to kidnap a toddler from a Virginia mall.
🧵
https://x.com/winwithwinsome/status/1951081507805606092
Baskin Robbins drops new Sydney Sweeney commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xbgTm3NHVY
Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
🚨 HOLY CRAP: Footage has just been released of an alien KIDNAPPING a young girl from a Virginia mall.
Luckily, this POS got caught.
These people were allowed into the country en masse, by the way.
https://x.com/winwithwinsome/status/1951081519000461793
Your Tax Dollars Are Doxxing ICE Agents and Sabotaging Deportation Raids
Left-wing agitators and their NGO allies are secretly using your tax dollars to sabotage President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
With the border closed and enforcement ramping up, these radical groups have pivoted to a new tactic: hotlines dedicated to doxxing ICE agents and leaking raid details. They’re also funding the legal defense of illegals aliens at risk for deportation. (Translation? Criminals.)
Here’s a list of several left-wing NGOs collaborating with state and local government initiatives to subvert the Trump administrations’s deportation agenda.
•NYC’s New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) is a public defender program for detained migrants facing deportation, funded by New York City and supplemented by the State in recent years. NYC’s Comptroller calls for increasing city dollars to “fully fund NYIFUP,” and the program began with City Council funding.
•Los Angeles County’s RepresentLA is a county program providing legal representation to migrants at risk of removal created by the County as detailed in an official status report submitted to the Board of Supervisors.
•Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership is supported by Alameda county, which has appropriated millions for immigrant legal assistance, including $700,000 to create/expand a rapid-response hotline to report ICE activity and connect people to defense. A Board memo shows district funds for re-establishing ACILEP’s hotline, and county-linked pages list ACILEP’s hotline and services.
•Rapid Response Network is funded primarily by Santa Clara County, recently boosting funding to nearly $1 million for FY25–26, explicitly to expand hotline capacity and related services responding to enforcement.
•In San Francisco, the Mayor’s Office announced more than $3 million for legal defense services (including deportation proceedings) via the Public Defender’s Office in the latest budget.
•Department of Commerce Legal Aid for Immigrants is a state grant program in Washington that funds organizations providing legal representation in immigration courts (i.e., removal defense), with eligible services and funding spelled out on the state website.
•Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI) belongs to the New Jersey Department of Human Services/Office for New Americans, with awards up to $8.2 million per year.
•State Immigration Legal Defense Fund (HB21-1194) was formed by a Colorado state law that funds nonprofits representing immigrants in removal proceedings. Denver also runs a city Immigrant Legal Services Fund to pay nonprofits for deportation defense.
•Equity Corps of Oregon provides an attorney to illegal aliens at risk of deportation; the statutory framework (ORS 9.860) designates a fiscal agent to grant out state funds for immigration legal services.
•Amica Center was provided funding by Fairfax County in Virginia for the Fairfax Immigrant Defense Program, providing direct representation to residents in deportation proceedings.
•San Diego Rapid Response Network is supported by county and federal grants, which are used to operate an Emergency Immigration Enforcement hotline that has been promoted by the city.
https://nataliegwinters.substack.com/p/your-tax-dollars-are-doxxing-ice?r=gb03o&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
Melania Trump earns groveling apology from James Carville after challenging false Epstein connection
First Lady Melania Trump triggered another public apology from the media on Thursday, after a Democratic operative launched a false claim.
Democratic strategist James Carville was forced to apologize for accusing her of being introduced to Donald Trump by convicted financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Politics War Room podcast hosted by Carville and journalist Al Hunt revealed in a public message that during an episode with leftist journalist Judd Legum about Epstein, comments made about the first lady were incorrect.
'We took a look at what they complained about, and we took down the video and edited out those comments from the episode,' the message read, noting that they received a letter from the First Lady's lawyer.
'I also take back these statements and apologize,' the message from Carville concluded.
The video was labeled on Youtube as 'The Epstein Connection between Trump and Melania' which was promptly removed and edited after hearing from the first lady's lawyer.
The comments from Carville were deleted before the Daily Mail could verify exactly what was said in the video.
The First Lady posted screenshots of the apologies from Carville on her X account without comment.
Mrs. Trump's post drew praise from her legions of fans on social media.
'Great work, these people are despicable liars!' wrote one person.
'IMO, people like James Carville know exactly what they are doing when they create videos like that, and they should know what not to say,' wrote another user on X about Carville.
'It's not his first time on video talking. If it were me, I would sue them if possible. They'll understand that,' the user added.
'What a great woman. Never looking for the limelight but if you step on her toes…..she’ll break your foot!' wrote another fan.
The first lady's office also threatened legal action against the Daily Beast earlier this week which earned a retraction and a rare apology from the news outlet for making the claim, based on a statement from discredited author Michael Wolff that Epstein introduced the couple.
'After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article,' a Daily Beast editor wrote in a statement.
'After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding,' the statement concluded.
Mrs. Trump revealed in her memoir that she met Donald Trump at a September 1998 Fashion Week party at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City.
The Trumps were engaged in 2004 and married on January 22, 2005, at the Bethesda-by-the-Sea church in Palm Beach, Florida.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14980601/melania-trump-james-carville-donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein.html
Astronaut Jim Lovell, famed Apollo 13 commander, dies at 97
Astronaut Jim Lovell, best known as the commander of the near-tragic Apollo 13 mission to the moon, died Thursday in Illinois. He was 97.
Lovell was a veteran of four spaceflights: Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13.
In a statement released Friday, the Lovell family highlighted his “amazing life and career accomplishments” and his “legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight.”
“But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero,” the family said in its statement. “We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind.”
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a news release: “NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.”
Lovell was selected to join NASA in 1962 as part of the agency’s second round of astronauts — a group that included Neil Armstrong, Charles “Pete” Conrad, John Young and others that were nicknamed the “Next Nine.”
Lovell’s first two spaceflights, Gemini VII and Gemini XII, were designed to demonstrate how humans could live in weightlessness and to test rendezvous and docking technologies that would be essential for subsequent space station operations.
Lovell next circled the moon on the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, but it was his fourth and final spaceflight that brought him the most fame.
Apollo 13 launched into space on April 11, 1970, on a mission that was intended to be NASA’s third moon landing. But 55 hours, 55 minutes and 4 seconds into the flight, disaster struck.
One of the spacecraft’s oxygen tanks exploded, causing another to fail as Lovell and his two crew members, John “Jack” Swigert and Fred Haise, were about 200,000 miles from Earth. It was Swigert who initially radioed the infamous message to NASA’s Mission Control: “OK, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”
When asked to repeat, Lovell followed up: “Houston, we’ve had a problem. We’ve had a Main B Bus Undervolt.”
Over the next three days, NASA engineers and mission controllers executed a harrowing rescue that was lauded as one of the agency’s finest achievements. The explosion crippled the command module, and the astronauts faced an extreme shortage of water and electrical power, along with dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide, according to NASA.
After about six days in space, the Apollo 13 crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. The mission came to be known as a “successful failure,” one that demonstrated the ingenuity and tenacity of the agency’s engineers and astronauts.
Lovell won praise for his steady leadership throughout the flight.
“As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future NASA missions,” Duffy said in the statement.
The mission had receded into history until 1995 when Lovell was portrayed by Tom Hanks in “Apollo 13,” a movie that captured the danger and drama of the mission. The movie would make Lovell’s name among the most recognizable of astronauts’, arguably only behind Armstrong and John Glenn.
Hanks posted to Instagram Friday offering a parting message for Lovell.
Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and went on to log more than 7,000 hours of flying time.
Over the course of four spaceflights, Lovell spent 715 hours in orbit, according to NASA. He retired from the agency in 1973.
In a 2020 interview with the “TODAY” show, Lovell reflected on the milestones of his life as an aviator and astronaut.
“I think I’m very fortunate,” he said. “I think that I’ve lived a life that — if I had a chance to live all over again, even though if I knew what the consequences would be and the chance of coming back, you know, were not unknown at the time … I would do it.”
CORRECTION (Aug. 8, 2025, 6:30 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the year Jim Lovell graduated from the Naval Academy. It was 1952, not 1962.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/astronaut-jim-lovell-apollo-13-commander-dies-97-rcna223949
Mario Nawfal
@MarioNawfal
🚨🇶🇦🇬🇧 QATAR’S ROYAL FAMILY OWNS MORE OF LONDON THAN KING CHARLES
Forget Buckingham Palace - London’s real power landlords aren’t British.
They’re Qatari.
The House of Al-Thani, rulers of Qatar, control an estimated 1.8 million square feet of prime London real estate - dwarfing the British royals’ personal holdings, which are tied up in The Crown Estate and owned on behalf of the nation.
Their empire includes a quarter of Mayfair (“Little Doha”), Britain’s priciest private home (£400M), Harrods, Claridge’s, The Shard (95% Qatari-owned), a chunk of Canary Wharf, 20% of Heathrow, and a 14.3% stake in Sainsbury’s.
King Charles may reign, but in London’s property game, the Qataris are the undisputed kings.
Source: GB News
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1953793382930592111
Trump removes IRS boss, Treasury Secretary Bessent takes over for now
Billy Long, who was sworn in just under two months ago, was already the sixth person to hold the job this year. He told NBC News he will be the next U.S. ambassador to Iceland.
President Donald Trump on Friday removed Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Billy Long and is replacing him temporarily with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, three sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.
Long was only just sworn in as commissioner in June. The change also comes days after Trump's sprawling new tariffs took effect, and a month after the president signed several tax cuts and changes to the tax code into law.
Long confirmed to NBC News that he is leaving the job.
“It is a honor to serve my friend President Trump, and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland. I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead!” Long said in a text message to NBC News.
Bessent will become the sixth person this year to oversee the critical agency under Trump. Danny Werfel, who was nominated to the role by President Joe Biden, also held the job until Trump's inauguration in January.
The temporary appointment adds to Bessent’s long list of tasks such as managing trade talks with China, Canada and Mexico as well as other countries that are still trying to negotiate tariff rates. Bessent is also currently helping with the search for the next Federal Reserve chair. The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.
Under the Trump administration, the IRS has faced sweeping job cuts as part of a push by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
A Treasury spokesperson said in a statement that the department "thanks Commissioner Long for his commitment to public service and the American people. His zeal and enthusiasm to bring a fresh perspective to the Federal Government was evident in both the House of Representatives and as part of the Trump Administration."
"A new candidate for Commissioner will be announced at the appropriate time," the spokesperson added.
Before being confirmed by the Senate to run the IRS, Long was a congressman from Missouri from 2011 until 2023. Before serving in Congress, he was an auctioneer.
One day before his removal, Long sent all IRS employees an email saying, "Please enjoy a 70-minute early exit tomorrow. That way you’ll be rested for my 70th birthday on Monday," The New York Times reported.
Internal vs. 'external' revenue
Trump's government is shaking up how the nation collects revenue. The United States is now collecting billions of dollars more in tariff revenue every month due to Trump's new import taxes. So far this year, importers, which include small and large U.S. businesses, have paid more than $100 billion in customs duties to the U.S. government.
Trump has long promised to set up an "external revenue service" for collecting those tariff revenues but the task still falls to the Treasury Department and Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Last month, Trump signed into law his "big, beautiful bill,” which includes sweeping tax cuts, spending initiatives and service cuts. The Senate passed the contentious bill thanks to Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaker.
The law extends the expiring tax cuts he enacted in his first term, in 2017, while temporarily slashing taxes on tips and overtime pay and allowing deductions on auto loan interest payments. It also includes hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending on the military and on carrying out Trump’s mass deportation plans.
Republicans battled over how much they should cut federal safety net programs in the spending bill as well as how much to raise the deduction cap on state and local taxes, or SALT.
The legislation is projected to increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion over 10 years and lead to more than 11 million people losing health insurance coverage due to Medicaid cuts and other provisions.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/trump-replaces-irs-chief-with-bessent-rcna223965
William Webster, former head of FBI and CIA, dies
William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, has died. He was 101.
“The proud and loving family of the Honorable William H. Webster sadly announces the death of a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and patriot,” his family said in a statement Friday.
At the time Webster was selected to lead the FBI in 1978 by then-President Jimmy Carter, the bureau’s reputation was badly damaged by congressional revelations that unearthed corruption and extrajudicial spying on Americans under longtime Director J. Edgar Hoover. Webster, who was previously a Republican-appointed federal judge from Missouri, sought to restore the bureau’s image: one of his first acts in office was to remove the bust of Hoover from the director’s office, The Washington Post reported in a laudatory 1987 editorial.
When his nine-year term leading the FBI concluded, Webster was quickly tapped by then-President Ronald Reagan to head up the CIA, which itself was in the middle of a public relations fiasco stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal. There, again, Webster moved to clean up the agency’s image, this time by cracking down on the kinds of secret practices that led to the arms sale scandal and disciplining lower-ranking officials who were involved, The New York Times reported. His time at Langley, from 1987 to 1991, coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Persian Gulf war.
Webster was highly regarded for his stewardship in both roles, at least as far as the mainstream press was concerned. Regarding his time as FBI director, the Post approvingly said Webster “used his reputation for personal integrity to restore public confidence in a tarnished agency,” and the Times hailed his CIA leadership in restoring “public trust in American intelligence.”
Upon his departure from the CIA, Webster emphasized the need to establish public confidence in American intelligence agencies.
“We are entering a period of reexamination of the intelligence organization,” Webster said, a reference to the end of the Cold War. “Whatever the outcome, I am convinced that the most important ingredient is professional respect and mutual trust. No laws can make these happen.”
In a statement to CNN, former FBI Director Christopher Wray described Webster as “a giant—not only in the history of our nation’s security, but in the hearts of all who believe in public service grounded in integrity and principle.”
“Judge Webster’s visionary leadership helped shape and build the FBI into an amazing and enduring institution. His steadfast commitment to the rule of law, his integrity, and his humility set the standard for what it means to lead,” Wray, who resigned in January from his post as it became clear that President Donald Trump would force him out, said. “His legacy will endure—not only in the institutions he guided, but in the generations of public servants he inspired to carry the torch forward.”
Webster was born March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, according to the FBI. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College, a law degree from Washington University Law School and served in the Navy as a lieutenant during both World War II and the Korean War.
Webster served as a district judge in the Eastern District of Missouri from 1970 to 1973, and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 1973 to 1978, according to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, on which he held the title of chair emeritus. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.
The FBI has at times called upon Webster’s experience since his departure to conduct reviews on the agency, including following the exposure of double agent Robert Hanssen in 2001 and again in 2009 to review the “policies, practices and actions” leading up to the massacre of 13 people and an unborn child by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood.
Webster also served a three-week stint in 2002 on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which held the power to inspect and discipline auditing firms in the wake of corporate scandals like the fall of Enron.
He occasionally made headlines in later life: Webster helped thwart a phone-scammer who, apparently not realizing the target, tried to extort the intelligence veteran and his wife Lynda in 2014 and penned an op-ed in The New York Times in 2019 condemning then-President Donald Trump for attacking the credibility of the FBI.
“Calling F.B.I. professionals ’scum,’ as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe,” Webster wrote.
Webster was married to Drusilla Lane Webster for 34 years until she died at age 57 in 1984. They had three children together, Amherst College reported in 2022. Webster remarried six years later to Lynda Clugston Webster.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/politics/william-webster-former-head-of-fbi-and-cia-dies
Cincinnati woman beaten by mob speaks out after near-death attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCjJKKRHOu8