Category: Security

President Donald Trump proposed the U.S. taking over the Gaza Strip and assuming responsibility for reconstructing the war-torn territory during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

Trump suggested he would be open to deploying U.S. troops to secure the area, saying he would “do what is necessary,” and added that he saw the U.S. presence in the contested territory as a “long-term ownership position.” The long-time New York real estate developer painted a vision of a “Riviera of the Middle East” with “world class” construction projects.

Netanyahu seemed to entertain but stop short of fully endorsing the proposal, which, if pursued, would represent a dramatic new U.S. intervention in the Middle East and upend decades of foreign policy doctrine. The Israeli prime minister described Trump’s proposal as “a different idea” from his own but one “worth paying attention to.”

“We’re talking about it, he’s exploring it with his people, with his staff. I think it’s something that could change history,” Netanyahu said. “And it’s worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.”

Trump also repeated calls for other nations in the region to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, despite neighboring countries stating publicly they were not interested in doing so.

“It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there,” Trump said. “Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them, that want to do this, and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck.”

Trump also said he would visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gaza Strip during upcoming foreign travel.

Earlier in the Oval Office, Trump said “really rich” nations will supply land, and several areas could be built to permanently house Palestinians “where they can live a beautiful life.” He suggested the new developments would be nice enough that Palestinian refugees would not want to return to their homeland.

Pressed on whether the U.S. could help secure a deal that normalizes ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel without the Palestinian state, Trump expressed confidence that the Saudis would back the proposal, suggesting that they and other nations would welcome a fresh approach to addressing the conflicts in the region.

“Saudi Arabia is going to be very helpful and they have been very helpful,” Trump said. “But everybody feels that continuing the same process that’s gone on forever, over and over again, and then it starts and then the killing starts, and all of the other problems start. And you end up in the same place, and we don’t want to see that happen.”

Netanyahu said he believed “peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only feasible, I think it’s going to happen.”

Trump’s proposal all but sweeps away decades of U.S. policy in support of Palestinian statehood, including during his first term, when he once said “I like the two-state solution.” The status of Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank, as well as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, had been expected to be settled somewhere within that future state.

But the prospects for Palestinian statehood have rarely appeared so remote, with Netanyahu’s government now pledging it will never happen. Some of Netanyahu’s hard-right supporters in Israel have previously called for clearing all Palestinians out of Gaza and making it an extension of the Jewish state.

Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu takes place at a pivotal moment, as negotiators attempt to broker the next phase of an agreement that could bring an end to the war in Gaza. Much of the enclave is in ruins after Israel’s 15-month war in response to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, which is now in a six-week ceasefire.

Trump has repeatedly said he’d like to see the Gaza Strip cleared out in the wake of Israel’s devastating military campaign against the territory.

The idea faces long odds. Egypt and Jordan as well as the Arab League have pushed back on Trump’s idea, as have Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Palestinian Authority itself. Asked about the fact that Jordan has swatted down the idea, Trump pointed to Venezuela, which recently agreed to take back deportees from the U.S. after refusing for a year.

“Look, the Gaza thing has not worked,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier in the day. “I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land, and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable, and enjoyable, somewhere.”

“I don’t know how they can want to stay,” Trump said. “It’s a demolition site. It’s a pure demolition site.”

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and founder of investment firm Affinity Partners, drew attention last year when he said the Gaza Strip could be “very valuable.”

“Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” he said in an interview posted by Harvard University’s Middle East Initiative.

Kushner, whose firm is backed by investors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, later clarified in a post on X that he was expressing “my dismay that the Palestinian people have watched their leaders squander decades of Western aid on tunnels and weapons rather than on improving their lives.”

Israel and Hamas remain far apart on crucial issues. Netanyahu has pledged to achieve total victory over Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the U.S., and return all the hostages taken in the group’s assault on Israel that started the war. Some right-wing members of Netanyahu’s coalition have been critical of the deal and have pressured him to resume the war.

Hamas has said it will not release Israeli hostages in a second stage of the ceasefire unless Netanyahu agrees to end the war and pull Israeli forces out of the Gaza territory it controls.

Trump has offered unorthodox solutions to ending the conflict. The U.S. president has been outspoken in supporting Israel but has also pledged to wind down the conflict and took credit for the deal, which was agreed to during the final days of his predecessor Joe Biden’s presidency.

“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” Trump said. “I deserve it but they will never give it.”

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© 2025 Bloomberg L.P

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman and his estranged wife were sued in a set of federal cases filed in New York, Wisconsin and Massachusetts on Monday, alleging the bestselling author violently raped and sexually abused the former nanny of his child.

The suits brought by Scarlett Pavlovich come after Gaiman, 64, was recently accused in a New York Magazine cover story of sexually assaulting, abusing and forcing at least eight women into sex while at the height of his success.

Gaiman is accused of multiple instances of depraved sexual violence in the Wisconsin suit, including assaulting the former minder of his child near Auckland, New Zealand, where she worked for him and his wife until she was injured and unconscious. It alleges the attacks were committed with such regularity that Gaiman’s child became aware of them and began calling the nanny “slave.”

In graphic detail, Pavlovich alleges the abuse occurred as recently as February 2022, when the suit describes the author as violently forcing anal sex on her “while smearing her with truffle oil,” and, on another occasion, butter and ordering her to “clean him up.”

The New York and Massachusetts suits, which only name Gaiman’s estranged wife, artist and author Amanda Palmer, as a defendant, alleges Palmer was aware of her husband’s “need to humiliate his female sexual partners — with or without their consent.”

The Manhattan suit lists human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, negligence, and related offenses as causes of action. The Wisconsin and Massachusetts suits list the same claims, and assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of extreme emotional distress against Gaiman.

Lawyers for Pavlovich declined to comment. Efforts to reach Gaiman and Palmer were unsuccessful.

In a statement posted on his website last month, Gaiman said there were things he “could have and should have done so much better,” but that he had “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.”

In the wake of the recent blockbuster expose in Vulture, a vertical of New York Magazine, Gaiman was dropped by Dark Horse Comics last week. Several Hollywood adaptations of his stories have been paused since he first faced accusations of sexual abuse. Netflix recently announced that the second season of its “The Sandman” adaptation would be its last.

Multiple women told the outlet that the writer tried to pay them off after the abuse and forced them to sign nondisclosure agreements.

The U.K.-born Gaiman, the author of “The Sandman” graphic novel series and several beloved books, including “American Gods” and “Coraline,” had long been hailed as an ally of progressive causes.

One of his early vignettes in “The Sandman” tells the story of a fictional writer who imprisons and rapes the Greek muse “Calliope” to draw inspiration for his work. The story was retold in the Netflix adaptation.

Pavlovich was one of two women who accused him of sexual abuse in a podcast by Tortoise Media broadcast in July.

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© 2025 New York Daily News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

After a short reprieve earlier this month, respiratory illness levels have again moved from moderate to high in Illinois, with the flu driving much of the increase, according to the state health department.

There was a “notable” increase in emergency department visits and hospital admissions for the flu during the week that ended Jan. 25, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. In Chicago, flu activity increased from high to very high during the same week, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Statewide, the percentage of hospital admissions due to the flu grew to 4.6% during that week, surpassing a peak of 3.3% last flu season. About 7.8% of emergency department visits were due to the flu (up from a peak of 5% last flu season), and 24.5% of flu tests during the week were positive, according to the state health department.

So far this season, five children in Illinois have died of the flu.

“Flu continues to circulate widely across Illinois,” said Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, in a news release. “I recommend that all those over 65, very young children, individuals with chronic disease, and those who are immunocompromised, use all the tools at their disposal to prevent exposure.”

Doctors say it’s not too late to get flu vaccines for those who haven’t done so. It takes about two weeks for vaccines to take full effect. Prescription antiviral medications for the flu are most effective if they’re taken within 48 hours of developing symptoms.

Meanwhile, another common ailment, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, may be abating. The percentage of hospital admissions that were due to RSV, statewide, fell slightly for the week that ended Jan. 25. The Chicago Department of Public Health noted in its most recent report that emergency department visits, hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions for RSV “continue to decrease and are likely past peak for the season.”

Most people with RSV develop mild, cold-like symptoms and recover in a week or two, but babies and older adults can develop more severe cases.

The state’s overall respiratory illness level moved from moderate to high in late December, and then dipped back to moderate in January, before bouncing back to high for the week that ended Jan. 25.

During that week, the percentage of hospital admissions due to COVID-19 fell slightly statewide. In Chicago, COVID-19 activity increased from low to moderate.

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© 2025 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

More than 100 protesters were detained and released on Monday as hundreds gathered in Los Angeles to protest President Donald Trump’s illegal immigrant deportation operations across the country.

According to CBS News, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that anti-deportation protesters gathered at City Hall on Monday in support of the national “A Day Without Immigrants” movement. The protest, which took place after thousands of protesters gathered on Sunday to block the 101 Freeway, started peacefully; however, the protest later turned violent as protesters clashed with police officials, according to The Post Millennial.

The Post Millennial reported that protesters marched throughout the city, chanted and carried Mexican flags. The outlet noted that some protesters jumped on top of cars and blocked various intersections.

On Monday night, the Los Angeles Police Department Central Division ordered the protesters to disperse, tweeting, “All persons who remain at Arcadia, Main, Spring and Los Angeles are subject to arrest. Please leave the area.”

READ MORE: Jan 6 protester shot, killed during traffic stop after Trump pardon

In a statement obtained by CBS News, Los Angeles Police Department Commander Lillian Carranza said, “They were warned, they were identified and they were advised that if they do not leave, and if they converge again and continue this illegal activity they will be cited and in some cases arrested.”

A video shared by reporter Anthony Cabassa shows Los Angeles Police Department officials warning protesters to disperse immediately or face the possibility of arrest.

UPDATE : Few hundred protestors are gathered on Cesar E. Chavez and Alameda and are being warned by LAPD if they do not disperse they will be arrested. pic.twitter.com/cT3OPMbSFa

— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) February 4, 2025

Another video shared by Cabassa shows protesters clashing with police. “Protestors and police in physical altercation as tensions continue to escalate in downtown LA protests,” Cabassa tweeted. The reporter added that multiple people were injured in Monday’s protest.

BREAKING : Protestors and police in physical altercation as tensions continue to escalate in downtown LA protests. Multiple injured. pic.twitter.com/KWjbmUmuiX

— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) February 4, 2025

In another post, Cabassa shared a video of police officials detaining more than 100 anti-deportation protesters in a Los Angeles tunnel.

HAPPENING NOW : CHP officers have arrived and together with LAPD have successfully detained over 100 protestors inside a tunnel. It’s unknown if all are about to be arrested. pic.twitter.com/ss67DL7TnY

— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) February 4, 2025

Cabassa later shared another video of Los Angeles Police Department officials releasing the protesters from custody. “LAPD so far are releasing all protestors one by one, and the people are beginning to go home,” the reporter tweeted. “No reports of anyone arrested, after a group of about 150 were detained earlier.”

UPDATE : LAPD so far are releasing all protestors one by one, and the people are beginning to go home. No reports of anyone arrested, after a group of about 150 were detained earlier. pic.twitter.com/u5PHWwzGoX

— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) February 4, 2025

CBS News reported that one protester was arrested for the alleged possession of a firearm and that police officials were searching for a suspect who allegedly shot a firework at a police helicopter that was monitoring Monday’s protest.

During the protest, Democratic Mayor Karen Bass released a statement on social media, saying, “My office is actively monitoring the protests downtown. Angelenos have the right to express their First Amendment rights, but it must be in a safe and lawful way. L.A. is a city of immigrants and we will protect all Angelenos.”

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. intelligence community, focused critical attention on the Central Intelligence Agency’s activities in Syria during her confirmation hearing on Jan. 30.

Trump’s nominee to serve as the director of national intelligence (DNI), testified in what proved to be a confrontational round of questioning about her views on key national security topics, including her views on the U.S. involvement in Syria.

At one point during the hearing, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), called on Gabbard to address past comments she had made, alleging the United States has armed designated terrorist groups in its bid to oust long-time Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Kelly asserted Russian actors have made similar claims in order to bolster Assad and discredit U.S. activities in the region.

“I’m interested to hear, what was your goal in saying these things, and did you consider before saying them the motives of Iran and Russia what their motives might have been before making these claims,” Kelly said.

Gabbard responded that she specifically joined the U.S. military in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacks and has been committed to their defeat.

“It was shocking and a betrayal to me and every person who was killed on 9/11, their families, and my brothers and sisters in uniform, when as a member of Congress, I learned about President Obama’s dual programs that he had begun, really to overthrow the regime of Syria and being willing to, through the CIA’s Timber Sycamore program that has now been made public, of working with and arming and equipping Al Qaeda in an effort to overthrow that regime, starting yet another regime change war in the Middle East,” she replied.

Timber Sycamore

Timber Sycamore, the CIA program Gabbard mentioned, was an operation to funnel weapons into Syria to arm rebel forces against Assad. The U.S. government has acknowledged few details about the program. Much of what’s known about the CIA operation has instead come from reporting in 2016 and 2017 by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

These reports indicated Timber Sycamore saw the U.S. government both arm and train Syrian rebels.

U.S. actors would primarily train these rebel factions across the border from Syria, in Jordan and Turkey. The program reportedly provided these rebels with rifles; mortars; rocket-propelled grenades; Tube-launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) anti-tank guided missiles; night vision goggles, and pickup trucks.

The program became a cause for concern amid indications the weapons the U.S. government was providing for anti-Assad rebels were ending up in black markets. In other cases, reports indicated many of the same rebel groups the U.S. government was training and equipping were closely linked with Al Nusra Front, a Syrian offshoot of Al Qaeda.

A 2017 report published by Conflict Armament Research, and commissioned by the European Union, determined some weapons purchased by the United States even fell into the hands of the Islamic State, fueling its rise to power. While the report doesn’t identify Timber Sycamore by name, it does describe U.S. efforts to arm the anti-Assad rebels. In at least one instance, the report found U.S.-purchased anti-tank guided missiles ended up in the hands of the Islamic State within two months of leaving the factory.

According to an August 2017 New York Times article, President Barack Obama was hesitant to support the program in 2012, when then-CIA Director David Petraeus proposed it.

Obama’s opposition centered around concerns it would be nearly impossible to keep the weapons they would supply out of the hands of groups like Al Nusra. Obama reportedly changed his mind on the idea, following lobbying from foreign leaders such as King Abdullah II of Jordan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who called for the United States to take a more involved role in the Syrian civil war.

A Parallel Operation

President Donald Trump appears to have suspended the Timber Sycamore program in 2017, during his first term in office. Gen. Tony Thomas, the then-commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, gave an interview at the Aspen Security Forum in July of 2017 in which he appeared to confirm the program had ceased.

While the CIA ran Timber Sycamore, the U.S. military began a similar program in 2014, known as the Syrian Train and Equip Program (STEP). This second DOD program was ostensibly focused on arming Syrian factions to fight against the emerging Islamic State, rather than Assad.

Though Timber Sycamore appears to have ended in 2017, the U.S. military has continued this parallel STEP program to train Syrian factions ostensibly to fight the Islamic State.

The STEP program saw its own list of setbacks over the years. One of the first cohorts of U.S.-trained Syrian forces, dubbed Division 30 of the Free Syrian Army, collapsed in 2015 after just a few months. In July of 2015, members of Al Nusra reportedly kidnapped Division 30 members shortly after they crossed over into Syria. By August of that same year, Al Nusra fighters reportedly attacked another outpost that Division 30 had established inside Syria, fragmenting the force.

Subsequent reports indicated another element of Division 30 handed over much of their weapons and ammunition to Al Nusra shortly after entering Syria in September of 2015.

Another setback in the STEP program came when three U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed in an insider attack at the King Faisal Air Base in Jordan in November of 2016. Those U.S. soldiers were in Jordan as part of the effort to train up anti-ISIS forces. The shooter was a Jordanian soldier assigned to the base.

In 2017, the U.S. military publicly cut ties with one of the anti-Islamic State factions it trained through the STEP program, after the group, known as Shuhada al-Qaryatayn, began pursuing Assad regime targets rather than fighting with the Islamic State.

Assad’s Fall

Much about what happened with the STEP program after Trump’s first term is still unclear, but some reporting suggests the forces being trained to fight the Islamic State were quietly reoriented to the anti-Assad mission.

On Dec. 18, 2024, The Telegraph reported U.S. forces notified and helped coordinate their STEP program trainees, to take part in the recent offensive that drove Assad from power.

A leader of one such U.S.-trained group called Maghawir al-Thawra, also known as the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA), told The Telegraph that U.S. advisors forewarned them of a surprise offensive against Assad and told them to “be ready” to march and join in the fight.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led the final offensive that drove Assad from power in December. HTS formed out of Al Nusra and remains designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization.

Despite this terror group designation, President Joe Biden’s administration publicly took an aloof approach to HTS after it toppled the Assad government, and even retracted a $10 million bounty against the group’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Sharaa has since installed many of his HTS allies into positions of power in post-Assad Syria. The HTS-formed Syrian transitional government also named Sharaa as its president on Jan. 29.

At her hearing on Jan. 30, Gabbard asserted Sharaa had celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and has a pattern of Islamist extremist sentiments that continues to this day.

“I shed no tears for the fall of the Assad regime but today we have an Islamist extremist who is now in charge of Syria as I said who danced on the streets to celebrate the 911 attack who ruled over Idlib with an Islamist extremist governance and who has already begun to persecute and kill and arrest religious minorities like Christians in Syria,” she said.

While Gabbard explained her concerns about both Timber Sycamore and post-Assad Syria, Kelly reiterated that he was concerned Gabbard has shown a tendency to promote Russian narratives and to “discount what comes from our intelligence community.”

“Senator, every American deserves to know that people in our own government we providing support to our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda that should not be acceptable by anyone,” Gabbard replied.

If confirmed as the next director of national intelligence, Gabbard would have a high degree of oversight over the actions of intelligence agencies like the CIA. If confirmed, she could bring greater scrutiny to past U.S. operations in Syria, particularly at a time when Trump has expressed an interest in pulling U.S. forces out of the country. But her critical views of U.S. policy toward Syria could put her at odds with the very same senators who will decide whether or not she should be confirmed.

This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.

President Donald Trump was handed a major win in court on Monday as a Florida judge ruled against a motion filed by members of the Pulitzer Prize Board in an attempt to prevent Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board from moving forward to the discovery phase.

According to Fox News, members of the Pulitzer Prize Board filed a motion last week for a protective order governing discovery to prevent internal communications regarding the board’s decision to award a Pulitzer Prize to The New York Times and the Washington Post for reports on Trump’s alleged connection with Russia during his first term as president from being revealed.

Fox News reported that 19th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Robert L. Pegg ruled against the motion, writing, “The rule requires ‘an affirmative showing of annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense’ from such party or person.”

“Defendants have failed to meet this requirement, as there is no factual support in the record demonstrating that any defendant, much less each defendant, would be subject to annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense if a protective order is not entered,” Pegg added.

READ MORE: Trump sentenced in historic case

Following Monday’s ruling, Trump’s attorney, Quincy Bird, told Fox News that the 47th president is “committed to holding those who traffic in deception and fake news to account.”

“The defendants, hiding behind the once-prestigious Pulitzer Prizes, attempted to resurrect a left-wing hoax by giving, as well as continuing to stand by and republishing, its disgraced award to the organizations that drove the infamous ‘Russia Russia Russia’ hoax,” Bird said.

The Trump attorney claimed that the reporting by The New York Times and The Washington Post was a “defamatory scam” that was intended to hurt Trump’s image and presidential campaign. In light of Monday’s ruling, Bird said the defamation case will now move toward the discovery process. Bird added that Trump remains committed to “seeing this case through to a just conclusion.”

According to Fox News, Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board’s decision to award the 2018 National Reporting prizes to The New York Times and The Washington Post for covering the “now-debunked theory” of the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia was initially filed in 2022. The defamation lawsuit argued that the two outlets’ reporting was based on a “demonstrably false connection.”

“A large swath of Americans had a tremendous misunderstanding of the truth at the time the Times’ and the Post’s propagation of the Russia Collusion Hoax dominated the media,” the lawsuit states. “Remarkably, they were rewarded for lying to the American public.”

President Donald Trump’s administration confirmed on Tuesday that the “first flights” of illegal immigrants being sent to Guantanamo Bay were “underway.”

During a Tuesday interview with Fox Business host Stuart Varney, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump is not messing around, and he’s no longer going to allow America to be a dumping ground for illegal criminals from nations all over this world.”

Leavitt told Fox Business that El Salvador has agreed to repatriation flights for its own citizens and has also agreed to allow “illegal criminals from other nations” to be sent to prisons in El Salvador.

“Venezuela as well has agreed to repatriation flights, and Colombia also agreed to cooperate with the repatriation of illegal Colombian nationals that we have found in the interior of our country,” Leavitt said. “And I can also confirm that today the first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt: “The first flights from the United States to Guantanamo Bay with illegal migrants are underway.”

Boom!! pic.twitter.com/8ohoqb1TEv

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 4, 2025

According to Fox News, Leavitt explained that by sending illegal immigrants to Guantanamo Bay, Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth are “already delivering on this promise to utilize that capacity at Gitmo for illegal criminals who have broken our nation’s immigration laws and then have further committed heinous crimes against lawful American citizens here at home.”

READ MORE: Pics: ‘Deportation flights have begun,’ officials say

Last Wednesday, Trump announced an executive order instructing the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to “begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay.” Trump explained that the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, also referred to as Gitmo, will be used by the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to “detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

“Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back so we’re going to send them to Guantanamo,” Trump said. “This will double our capacity immediately.”

In his executive order, Trump ordered the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to “expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity” to house “high-priority criminal aliens” who have illegally entered the United States.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he has “left instructions” that will result in Iran being “obliterated” if the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism assassinated him. The revelation comes after Trump survived two assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential election and after the Justice Department announced charges against an Iranian national who was allegedly involved in a plot to assassinate Trump.

Asked about assassination threats from Iran and its regional partners while signing an executive order in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “They haven’t done that, and that would be a terrible thing for them to do. Not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end.”

“I’ve left instructions,” Trump added. “If they do it, they get obliterated; there won’t be anything left. And they shouldn’t be able to do it.”

The 47th president also criticized former President Joe Biden for not issuing a strong threat against Iran amid reports that Iran was targeting Trump during the 2024 presidential election.

READ MORE: Video: Iran claims it ‘never’ tried assassinating Trump

“And Biden should have said that, but he never did,” Trump said. “I don’t know why- lack of intelligence, perhaps, but he never said it.”

Trump explained that if a leader or “close to a leader” was assassinated by a foreign government, “you would call for total obliteration of a state that did it,” including Iran.

BREAKING: President Donald Trump says he has left instructions to “obliterate Iran” in the event he is assassinated by them.

“If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left” pic.twitter.com/xgR4rncZdA

— ALX (@alx) February 4, 2025

According to Fox 56, Trump’s warning against Iran came after the president signed an executive order that allows him to use all possible tools to engage with Iran’s government in order to place additional pressure on Iran. Trump described the executive order as “very tough on Iran.”

“I’m going to sign it but hopefully we are not going to have to use it very much,” Trump told reporters. Fox 56 reported that Trump also noted that he wants to pursue a deal with Iran so everyone “can live together.”

In November, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges against Farhad Shakeri, an Iranian national involved in a plot to assassinate Trump before the 2024 presidential election. According to The Associated Press, Shakeri, who was allegedly tasked by Iranian officials with assassinating Trump, remains at-large in Iran.

However, prior to Trump’s inauguration last month, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed that Iran has “never” tried to assassinate Trump and that Iran “never will” plot his assassination.

A video shows Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) appearing to suggest that he is hiding an illegal immigrant at his home in a direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s administration. The governor’s comments quickly led Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, to threaten prosecution against the Democrat leader.

According to The Daily Wire, during an interview at a “Blue Wave New Jersey” event over the weekend, Murphy claimed that New Jersey has been “the lead state in challenging birthright citizenship” following New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin’s effort to challenge Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants in the United States.

In a video from the event shared on X, formerly Twitter, Murphy said, “Tammy [Murphy] and I were talking about – I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there’s someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to, and we said, ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage’ and good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.”

New Jersey Governor Sheltering Illegal Alien at His Home, Defies Trump Admin to ‘Come Get Her’

“There’s someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point they are trying to get it to. We said, ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above… pic.twitter.com/AZcvUEtREn

— Border Hawk (@BorderHawkNews) February 4, 2025

Following Murphy’s comments, a source close to the Democrat governor told Fox News, “No one ever actually moved into his home, so not for a month, not for a week, not for an hour, not for a day.”

“He was just talking about someone in his broader orbit who was on edge over the broader climate and was concerned,” the anonymous source added. “He mentioned, not even to the person, he mentioned to someone else that they could move in if they want, so I think that’s where some of the misunderstanding was.”

The source told Fox News that the individual Murphy was talking about in the video was not “undocumented” but was a “legal resident” of the United States.

READ MORE: Video: Hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested so far, Trump border czar says

Asked about Murphy’s comments during an interview on Fox News, Homan said, “I think the governor is pretty foolish … I got note of it. Won’t let it go. We’ll look into it. And if he’s knowingly, knowingly harboring, concealing an illegal alien, that’s a violation of Title VIII, United States Code 1324. I would seek prosecution, or the Secretary would seek prosecution. So maybe he’s bluffing. If he’s not, we’ll deal with that.”

Homan also noted that the Trump administration will be “suing sanctuary cities” as part of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Homan described sanctuary cities as “sanctuaries for criminals.”

“Sanctuary cities are responsible for deaths of thousands, thousands of young children throughout my career. And we’re going to sue ’em,” Homan said. The border czar later added that Trump will “end sanctuary cities.”

JUST IN: Border Czar Tom Homan says he plans on going after NJ Governor Phil Murphy who taunted the Trump admin when he revealed that he was housing an illegal immigrant.

Murphy: We are housing an illegal above our garage. Good luck to the Feds who will try to get her.

Homan:… pic.twitter.com/a9JmGp5Nmo

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 4, 2025

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

Some 20,000 civilians have fled a township in central Myanmar’s Magway region amid three days of heavy fighting between rebels and junta troops that destroyed around one-third of area homes, residents said Monday.

The intense combat in the heartland township of Pwintbyu is the latest sign that the junta is losing ground as the civil war enters its fourth full year.

People displaced from Pwintbyu told RFA Burmese that fighting worsened on Saturday, prompting them to flee from 10 villages in the township, which lies next to the Rakhine mountain range.

A resident of one of the villages — Ma De — told RFA that they fled their home on Saturday and now “face many difficulties.”

“Sadly, we had to leave behind our parents, who are over 80 years old, as they refused to flee with us,“ said the resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke with RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

” Very few people remain in our village. Both young and old now live in temporary huts on farms, and we’ve been building makeshift shelters ourselves. “

He said “almost everyone in the villages had fled,” and that, for livestock farmers, feeding their left-behind cattle “has become a challenge.”

“After the fighting broke out, about 100 out of 300 houses in Ma De village were burned down,” he said. “The harvested rice and sesame crops were also destroyed by fire.”

Residents said that junta troops have been stopping displaced civilians at checkpoints in the region.

Junta troops advance

The fighting came after junta infantry battalions No. 253, 254, and 255 advanced on Pwintbyu in three columns from their base in Salin township, around 27 kilometers (17 miles) to the north, according to an official with the anti-junta People’s Defense Force, or PDF.

Anyar Thar, the news and information officer for the Minbu District PDF, told RFA that during the fighting on Saturday, junta troops shot and killed a young man from Ma De village.

Around 20 junta soldiers were killed in the recent clashes, he said, although RFA was unable to independently confirm the claim.

PDF groups involved in the fighting included those from Myaing and Pauk townships, the No. 6 and 4 battalions of Minbu, the JOKER Guerrilla Force, the Young Force PDF, the Sidoktaya PDF and the Earthquake PDF.

The spokesperson for the Earthquake PDF, who also declined to be named, told RFA that rebel forces jointly carried out attacks on police stations in Pwintbyu’s Me Za Li village and Minbu’s Let Pa Taw village, as well as “other military columns.”

“We dropped bombs from drones on the police station and then ambushed their reinforcement column on the way,” he said. “At the moment, the fighting is still intensifying.”

A resident of Magway with ties to rebel forces in the region said that the groups are “striving to liberate Magway region from the military junta,” suggesting that “victory is within our reach.”

Rebel sources say fighting is intensifying in the Magway towns of Pa Dan, Mindon, Saw, Gangaw, and Htee Lin, near the borders of Rakhine and Chin states.

Attempts by RFA to contact Myo Myint, the junta’s social affairs minister and spokesperson for Magway region, went unanswered Monday.