US Rebukes Gustavo Petro, Calls Colombian Leader ‘Illegal Drug Dealer’

The White House has responded to remarks made by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who recently criticized the United States and allies over military actions in the Caribbean that have killed dozens as part of what the U.S. government has described as strategic strikes on narcotics traffickers.

A total of 22 vessels have been struck by U.S. forces since September, resulting in at least 83 deaths, according to CBS News. President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have defended the U.S. response to “narco-traffickers” who they claim aspire to bring illegal drugs into the mainland.

“As President [Donald] Trump stated, Colombia President Gustavo Petro is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term ripoff of America,” a White House official told Military.com.

'Despotic' Behavior

Petro, in remarks made Sunday on social media, said that Mexico and Colombia respect each other and that Latin America and the Caribbean respect each other.

He said he previously proposed to General John Aquilino, former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, that “a meeting of the governments of the United States, China, Mexico and Colombia should now be included in Ecuador, Chile and Australia to analyze a treaty towards a Pacific without illegalities”.

Government supporters attend a rally called by President Gustavo Petro in Bogota, Colombia, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

“Trafficking in fentanyl precursors, cocaine, contraband and weapons must be analyzed and treated together,” Petro wrote. “The impositions here only serve the mafias. I propose the same meeting again.”

The Colombian president since 2022 discouraged the U.S. from continued threats against the Caribbean, Mexico and his native country, calling such military actions “despotic” and insinuating they “serve no purpose.”

“May US Homeland Security not end up aiding the mafias,” he added.

White House Response

The White House retorted, defending its military stance while criticizing Petro and the state of his own government.

“Despite billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars invested in Colombia’s counterdrug efforts, cartels are thriving under Petro’s failed policies,” the White House official told Military.com. “It is hardly surprising that President Petro is opposed to President Trump’s successful operations to halt the flow of drugs to our country.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during the 4th annual Northeast Indiana Defense Summit at Purdue University Fort Wayne, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Fort Wayne, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Major Carrier in Place

There was what some viewed as military escalation on Sunday, when the U.S. deployed its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford—the world’s largest aircraft carrier—to the Caribbean Sea, under control of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which runs operations in the region.

"Through unwavering commitment and the precise use of our forces, we stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region,” Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander of SOUTHCOM, said in a statement on Sunday. “The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group's deployment represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland.”

Questions remain about increased warfare in the region, including such attacks not being approved by members of Congress as has traditionally been customary.

New reporting from NPR states that in February, at an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces conference at the Justice Department's National Advocacy Center on the University of South Carolina campus, then-acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said that drug-fueled maritime interdiction was unnecessary and that the U.S. should "just sink the boats.”

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/11/18/us-rebukes-gustavo-petro-criticism-calls-colombian-leader-illegal-drug-dealer.html

Kevin Spacey reveals he is currently homeless and 'living in hotels' as he admits his financial situation is 'not great' - two years after he was cleared of sexual assault allegations

Kevin Spacey has revealed that he is currently homeless and 'living in hotels' as he admits his financial situation is 'not great'.

Just two years ago, the actor was cleared of sexual assault allegations against four men during a UK trial in 2023.

He has since struggled to get work and has passionately spoken out about his 'cancellation' in Hollywood.

At the time of the allegations he was living in Baltimore, Maryland, where he had been based for 12 years.

But in a new interview he has told The Telegraph that he lost his house and is now 'living in Airbnbs and hotels'.

He told the publication: 'The costs over these last seven years have been astronomical. I've had very little coming in and everything going out.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15307207/Kevin-Spacey-reveals-currently-homeless-living-hotels-admits-financial-situation-not-great-two-years-cleared-sexual-assault-allegations.html

Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Indicted For Stealing $5 Million in FEMA Funds

MIAMI – A federal grand jury in Miami has returned an indictment charging Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants with stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign.

According to the indictment, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds.

The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege that a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants.

The indictment further alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick and Nadege Leblanc, 46, of Miramar, arranged additional contributions using straw donors, funneling other monies from the FEMA-funded Covid-19 contract to friends and relatives who then donated to the campaign as if using their own money.

The indictment also charges Cherfilus-McCormick and her 2021 tax preparer David K. Spencer, 41, of Davie, with conspiring to file a false federal tax return. According to the indictment, they falsely claimed political spending and other personal expenses as business deductions and inflated charitable contributions in order to reduce her tax obligations.

“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida stated, “Today’s indictment shows no one is above the law. This indictment reflects our Office’s commitment to follow the facts, apply the law, and protect the American taxpayer. Public money belongs to the American people. When FEMA funds are diverted for personal or political gain, it erodes trust and harms us all. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are used as intended and that the public’s trust is safeguarded.”

If convicted, Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years in prison. Edwin Cherfilus faces up to 35 years, Leblanc up to 10 years, and Spencer up to 33 years.

U.S. Attorney Reding Quiñones; Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI, Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Ronald A. Loecker of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Florida Field Office, made the announcement.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-florida-congresswoman-charged-stealing-5-million-fema-funds-and-making-illegal

“I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!” – President Trump Officially Signs the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Says The Truth About Epstein’s Democrat Affiliates “Will Soon be Revealed”

>>23876920

This is a pretty good reading room

https://truthsocial.com/group/heavy-digger

ICE Houston Sweep: 3,600 Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested, Including 51 Child Predators And 67 convicted sex offenders

The Trump administration’s deportation surge is already producing major results. In Houston alone, ICE has arrested nearly 3,600 criminal illegal aliens in a single operation, among them 51 individuals with child-sex offenses and 67 convicted sex offenders.

These arrests are directly tied to the president’s new focus on narco-terrorism and cartel supply chains.

Houston has long served as a major distribution hub for both drugs and human trafficking; the scale of this operation underscores that the administration is targeting the worst offenders first.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1990815924954222640

The sweep is part of a broader nationwide push that began with last week’s welfare-fraud raids, which recovered more than 24,400 missing migrant children from trafficking and exploitation networks across multiple states.

The Houston operation follows directly from last week’s high-impact raids in key locations, where ICE and local law enforcement zeroed in on criminal illegal aliens preying on communities.

In Florida, the state Highway Patrol’s “Operation Criminal Return” led to the arrest of 230 criminal aliens, including multiple child predators and sex offenders, who were then turned over to ICE for deportation.

Florida has been at the forefront of these efforts, with over 6,200 illegal aliens arrested statewide in recent weeks and handed off to federal authorities.

Similarly, in Charlotte, North Carolina, federal agents arrested 130 illegal migrants over a single weekend, many with serious criminal histories including assaults, DUIs, larcenies, and hit-and-runs.

CBP Charlotte Area Port Director Gregory Bovino noted the intensity: “We do expect that number to go up a lot,” adding that nearly 100 arrests occurred in just hours, creating a visible deterrent effect—reports indicate illegal migrants in the area are now “afraid to go outside” as agents saturate the city.

These actions underscore the Trump administration’s strategy of partnering with willing states to target exploitation rings that flourished under Biden’s open-border policies.

Meanwhile, Border Czar Tom Homan addressed criticism from Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) following the Charlotte arrests, where agents removed convicted child rapists and murderers from her district:

“She can dislike it all she wants… You’d think she’d be hand-in-hand with us, thanking President Trump for focusing on the worst of the worst — child rapists and murderers,” Hooman urged.

https://modernity.news/2025/11/18/ice-houston-sweep-3600-criminal-illegal-aliens-arrested-including-51-child-predators/

Network Of California Democrat Party Insiders Under Investigation For Fraud

Initial reports of an ongoing fraud investigation in Sacramento by the US Department of Justice revealed that Gavin Newsom's former Chief of Staff, Dana Williamson, was being indicted on 23 felony counts. Crimes include conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, filing false tax returns, and making false statements to the IRS.

The charges allege she orchestrated a scheme to siphon approximately $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to former Attorney General Xavier Becerra (referred to as "Public Official 1" in the indictment), using it for personal gain through fake consulting fees, shell companies, and laundered payments. However, new information shows that Williamson may not have acted alone.

At least three other California Democrat insiders and two unnamed suspects are potentially implicated in the investigation. Charges against two of them have been formally filed so far, and the investigation continues to grow as authorities sift through evidence involving "The Collaborative", a prominent alliance of Democratic-leaning political consulting firms in California headed by Williamson.

https://youtu.be/chnyls-4PA8

A longtime Democratic power broker in California's Capitol, Williamson worked as an adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis and as a Cabinet secretary for former Gov. Jerry Brown before opening her own political affairs firm. She served as Xavier Becerra’s campaign manager when he ran for state attorney general in 2018. Becerra most recently served as President Biden's Health and Human Services Secretary and is running for California governor.

She was named Newsom’s chief of staff in late 2022, a job she held for about two years. Gov. Newsom's office said Wednesday they put her on leave in November of 2024 after she informed them that she was under criminal investigation.

Other suspects include Sean McCluskie, the former Chief of Staff for Xavier Becerra. He also served with Becerra when he was California Attorney General.

Then there is Greg Campbell, a close associate of Williamson and a well-connected lobbyist and consultant who rakes in campaign finance from massive corporate clients. He has worked as senior staff for the last five Assembly Speakers including in the role of chief of staff to Speakers Toni G. Atkins and John A. Perez.

And Alexis Podesta (no relation to John Podesta). She has not yet been charged with any crimes, and her attorney said she is cooperating with the investigation. Podesta is a Sacramento-based political consultant who served as a secretary under Gov. Jerry Brown. She is also a member of the board of the state compensation fund. She has worked for PG&E and Disney, and is listed as a managing director and member of The Collaborative, the group led by Campbell and Williamson.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/network-california-democrat-party-insiders-under-investigation-fraud

China Intel Officers Offering Western Gov't Insiders Cash For "Low-Level Information"

LONDON — Chinese intelligence officers are offering Westminster insiders strikingly large sums of money for what looks like low-level political gossip – using “head hunters” on LinkedIn to offer paid “research tasks” – and effectively flooding Keir Starmer’s government ranks with inducements to betray the people of Britain, in Beijing’s efforts to build long-term relationships to undermine the West.

That is the stark picture painted in an extraordinary new espionage alert issued by MI5 and circulated inside Parliament, which warns that officers of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) “offer large financial incentives for seemingly low-level information in an attempt to build a relationship and encourage the target to gain access to more non-public sensitive information.”

The preferred methods of payment — cash drops in China or cryptocurrency transfers — are highlighted as a warning to British politicians to think very carefully before entering into any such financial relationship with Chinese-linked actors.

The unorthodox disclosure from counter-intelligence officials that are usually tight-lipped to a fault comes on the heels of the collapse of the Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash insider-threat case — a generational scandal The Bureau has reported on extensively, and which involved alleged suitcase-cash payments, and cultivation of a Westminster researcher with access to prominent critics of China in Conservative MP ranks. MI5 does not name Berry or Cash, but the tradecraft it describes could be read as a point-by-point guide to the methods exposed in that case.

The briefing, titled “Security Service Espionage Alert: MSS tradecraft and methodology,” sets out, in unusually explicit language, how a specific “group of highly active officers” from China’s secret police service have been trying to penetrate the “UK democratic system” — especially Parliament and the ecosystem of staffers, consultants and think-tank analysts around it.

MI5 begins with a blunt statement of intent. The Chinese service, it says, “seek to collect sensitive information on the UK to gain strategic advantage,” and the alert has been triggered by “recent examples of attempts to target UK Parliament for intelligence gathering.”

That line alone resonates with what has emerged in the media leaks explaining why the explosive insider case was dropped under Keir Starmer’s government, in which senior national security appointees reportedly played down the risk of non-classified political information being spilled to Beijing through the Cash and Berry pipeline. Reporting in British media has suggested that Starmer’s government opted to preserve trade relations with Beijing rather than allow the damning insider case to proceed in court, a move that has infuriated the US government, which warned that Starmer’s government risks fracturing the Five Eyes intelligence alliance by failing to protect elected officials targeted by Beijing.

What the MSS wants — and why “trivial” titbits matter

The first section of MI5’s pointed alert to British officials is headed, “What do they target?”

MI5 says MSS officers are focused on political and economic material, “particularly of a classified or non-public sensitive nature.” But crucially, they have a “low threshold for what information is considered to be of value.” Because their collection effort is broad and sustained, “individual pieces of information fit into a wider collection effort and create a cumulative impact.”

More

https://www.thebureau.news/p/chinas-secret-police-offering-western