The Meth-Tied GOP Operative Behind CBP Bovino's 2028 run (bovino2028.com) is a former Roger Stone protege and former Loomer friend, recently arrested on drug charges
[written by a liberal]
"Just five months after being fired from his leadership role in Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign, former U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino is eyeing a run for president. He made his interest formally known earlier this week, after having just returned from a racist convention in Portugal in which he appeared alongside literal neo-Nazis.
“If running for President is what it takes to actually get it done, then all options are on the table,” Bovino wrote in a post on X endorsing the exploratory bid.
… [snide commentary omitted for space]
"Bovino’s 2028 exploratory run is the brainchild of Jacob Engels, a former protégé of notorious dirty trickster Roger Stone and a Laura Loomer pal who has since turned on them and the rest of Trump world.
Engels put out a video announcing this effort back on May 31. Walking across a bridge in a suit and sunglasses, sporting a tightly cropped haircut, Engels extolled Bovino’s tough leadership and blasted White House chief of staff Susie Wiles for “86”-ing the former border commander from the administration. Engels then hawked a Cash App link to help fund the nascent effort and pledged to send Bovino back to Minneapolis for a “hero’s welcome.” Engels also launched a website for the campaign, now promoted by Bovino himself, that features weird fascist imagery and a picture of Bovino under the Game of Thrones-style name “House Bovino”: [snapshot included]
..
"[Yet] just a few weeks ago, Engels was being wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by police outside a motel, allegedly with meth in his pocket.
"According to a police incident report obtained by False Flag, sheriff’s deputies in the small Wisconsin town of River Falls were called to a budget motel around 1 p.m. on May 20. Engels must have been starting to catch the notice of law enforcement, because 'the night before, he and his mother had been arguing so loudly that police had been called to separate them. When the cops showed up again the next afternoon, Engels was refusing to check out of the motel."
"Staff initially gave him extra time to leave. But Engels still wouldn’t budge—allegedly calling the receptionist a “special bitch.”
"When officers did eventually make it into the room, they found it strewn with empty liquor bottles. According to the report, Engels himself was “highly intoxicated” and “reeked of intoxicants.”
“His speech was repetitive, vulgar, confrontational, argumentative and he was overall incredibly uncooperative,” one officer noted.
… "deputies claim the ornery Engels launched into explicit rants, spouting such words and phrases as “motherfucker,” “queer,” and the evocative “double-jointed pussy.”
"After Engels allegedly refused to leave the room, deputies wrestled him down to the ground and forcibly handcuffed him, according to the report. Deputies claimed a dollar-bill with traces of methamphetamine on it fell out of Engel’s pockets. They also allegedly found muscle relaxant pills and Xanax in his other belongings.
"The incident raises obvious questions about whether Engels is capable of managing a motel bill—let alone Bovino’s political ambitions. The report notes this was actually the second motel Engels was banned from in the area in just one week.
It’s quite a fall for someone once considered a leading henchman of Stone. Engels had a starring role in “Stop the Steal” protests in Florida in 2018, and joined Loomer and fellow mischief-maker Jacob Wohl on a bizarre trip to Minneapolis to investigate whether Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) had married her brother.
…"a promotion [in MAGA circles] never came. Instead, Engels has been out in the cold, nursing various grievances in Wisconsin and resenting old MAGA friends amid a feeling he’d been shut out of the Trump world career he deserved. Among other claims he’s made in a series of strange right-wing media appearances is his insistence that Loomer is transgender.
… [Will Sommer, 6/11/26]
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/meth-scandal-rocks-nascent-greg-bovino-2028-campaign
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/fledgling-bovino-presidential-campaign-roiled-by-felony-meth-arrest-report/ar-AA25ppp1