Published by an old curmudgeon who came to America in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and proudly served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is a former law enforcement officer and a retired professor of criminal justice who, in 1970, founded the Texas Narcotic Officers Association. BarkGrowlBite refuses to be politically correct.
(Copyrighted articles are reproduced in accordance with the copyright laws of the U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 107.)
Trucker returns to find trailer loaded with $16 million worth of cocaine at truck stop
WKRC
Dec 17, 2025
Whiteland police found 350 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $16 million, in a semi-trailer in June 2025.
WHITELAND, Ind. — A trucker returned
to find his trailer loaded with millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine
after stopping at an Indiana truck stop.
According to WXIN,
authorities in Indiana are still searching for suspects after a large
amount of cocaine was discovered in a semi trailer at a Pilot Travel
Center in Whiteland, Indiana.
Law
enforcement in Whiteland responded to the Pilot Travel Center on East
County Road at approximately 5 p.m. on June 17 after receiving a report
of suspicious activity, the outlet reported.
When
speaking with officers, the trucker said he was performing a pre-trip
inspection when he noticed that the seal on his trailer had been
tampered with, WXIN stated. Officers investigated and, after opening the
trailer, reportedly discovered ten boxes that were not part of the
driver’s original load.
The cocaine seized
was believed to have an estimated value of $16 million. Authorities
noted that the quantity of cocaine created a security concern because
there wasn’t enough space to store it in the evidence room, according to
the report.
WISH-TV reported that the seizure is believed to be one of the largest cocaine confiscations in Indiana’s history.
No
suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the incident,
according to WXIN. Authorities also told the outlet that investigators
no longer have possession of the cocaine, as it was scheduled to be
destroyed.
Biloxi PD arrested Camille Benson in connection to the razor blades found in bakery items at Biloxi Walmart stores.
BILOXI, Miss. - The Biloxi Police
Department has arrested the person they believe to be responsible for
placing razor blades and a fishing hook in several bakery items at two
Biloxi Walmart stores.
Razor blades
were first found in loaves of bread purchased at Walmart more than a
week ago, but police were not called until Monday.
On
Tuesday, 33-year-old Texas woman Camille Benson was taken into custody.
A tip to investigators stated she had been seen in the 1000 block of
Division Street, leading to her arrest.
Around noon, Biloxi investigators released surveillance photos of Benson
exiting a Walmart store, identifying her as a person of interest. By 5
p.m., she was behind bars in Harrison County.
A WLOX viewer bought a loaf of bread from Walmart and found razor blades in it.
Benson is charged with attempted mayhem and is being held in lieu of a
$100,000 bond at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center.
Over the past 11 days, razor blades were
found in both a banana nut muffin and several loaves of bread at two
Biloxi Walmart stores: the Superstore on CT Switzer Sr. Drive and the
Neighborhood Market on Pass Road.
Monday, multiple customers complained to Walmart that they found razors in their loaves purchased at the Superstore.
Turns out, this wasn’t the first incident. A razor was found in a banana
nut muffin on December 5 at the same Superstore, and in a loaf of bread
on December 7 at the Neighborhood Market.
According to Biloxi investigators, the
two stores each believed the first reports were isolated incidents. It
wasn’t until Monday’s customer complaint that managers realized the
extent of this crime.
“[Walmart
workers] did another sweep of their merchandise for sale and found
multiple loaves of bread that were compromised with razor blades. They
also found a muffin with a fishing hook in it,” Lt. Candice Young told
WLOX News. “Somebody had poked those items through the plastic
packaging.”
Young called the crime ‘strange’ and said that if the customers weren’t so vigilant, this could have been much worse.
No injuries have been reported.
Walmart Corporate released the following statement to WLOX News Tuesday afternoon.
If you bought bread at any Biloxi Walmart locations, check for any sharp objects. If you find something, let Biloxi Police know.
Pipe bombs placed at ATMs leads federal investigators to home in north Bexar County
ATF confirmed it was leading the investigation after a large law enforcement presence was spotted at the home Friday.
By Alyssa Muñoz, David Lynch and Sue Calberg
KVUE
Dec 15, 2025
SAN ANTONIO — Federal agents executed a
search warrant Friday morning on the far north side, the result of an
investigation into homemade explosives and pipe bombs placed at San
Antonio banks months ago, according to officials.
Dustin Jay Ammons, 43, was taken into custody
and faces charges of felon in possession of a firearm and possession of
an unregistered destructive device, according to a Department of
Justice press release. Two guns, components of a pipe bomb and "multiple
suspected destructive devices in various stages of manufacture" were
allegedly found at Ammons' Canyon Ranch residence.
Officials say Ammons' car matches the suspect
vehicle from incidents on Sept. 12 and Sept. 26 when someone placed
pipe bombs at external ATMs, in attempt to breach them.
The law enforcement activity began early in
the 300 block of Eugene Sasser near Timberwood Park, where neighbors
reported seeing a heavy police presence. A KENS 5 crew on the scene
heard two explosions and observed a small cloud of smoke at the scene
shortly before 3 p.m.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) confirmed it was leading the investigation, with the
FBI, SAPD, SAFD's arson team and other entities providing support.
Ammons, who officials say was previously
convicted of possessing a stolen firearm, faces up to 15 years in prison
if convicted of the new charges.
The Orange Man announced today
via Executive Order 10949 that a whole flock of new restrictions are
being placed on immigration or even entry via visa on more than 20
countries.
The countries
being slammed the hardest are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somali, Sudan and
Yemen.
Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela are on the suspended/limited list.
Also
Burkina Faso and Laos are on a shit list due to their refusing to
accept back their citizens who are being removed from the U.S. In
addition they have an exceptionally high rate of overstay on things like
routine travel and student visas.
Mali, Niger and Sierra Leon are being similarly restricted due to similar issues.
President
Donald Trump has ordered "a total and complete" blockade of all
sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, while also
calling the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a foreign terrorist organization.
In
a post on Truth Social, Trump said: "For the theft of our Assets, and
many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human
Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN
TERRORIST ORGANIZATION," Trump posted, "Therefore, today, I am ordering A
TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into,
and out of, Venezuela."
I (Bob) am not
completely sure what the difference between "sanctioned" and
"non-sanctioned" tankers is but I suspect it has something to do with
the legitimacy of their flagging.
We may get a change of regime in Venezuela for Christmas. We may also get a shooting war. Ho Ho Ho.
United States Representative Ilhan Omar is under
investigation by La Migra for fraud with regards to her and maybe her
brother(?) husband(?) coming into the U. S. There has been a lot of
noise that she married her brother in order to facilitate his entry into
the U.S. Tom Homan has asserted on the record that such an
investigation is under way.
Assuming
they find that the fraud occurred her skanky ass could be thrown out of
the country. Her brother/husband could get the heave-ho as well.
Damn. Wouldn't that be cool?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Omar vehemently denies that she ever married her brother.
Donald Trump has in fact filed suit for $10 billion against the BBC in federal court in Florida.
The
BBC has admitted that 12 seconds of the 57 minute broadcast were
factually false. In order to prevail Trump must prove that the
incorrect broadcast was false, the broadcaster KNEW it was false and
broadcast it anyway with malicious intent.
Donald Trump celebrates Hanukkah with Laura Loomer and by telling White House guests Ilhan Omar 'hates Jewish people'
By Nikki Schwab
Daily Mail
Dec 16, 2025
President Donald Trump said at Tuesday night's Hanukkah reception that
Representative Ilhan Omar 'hates Jewish people,' again hitting the
Minnesota Democrat after a nasty attack on her last week in Pennsylvania.Trump is pictured with Rabbi Levi Shemtov during the Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House
President Donald Trump
marked the third night of Hanukkah by celebrating at the White House
with conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and other, less controversial,
allies in the Jewish community.
'I will always be a friend and a champion to the Jewish people,' he told a crowd gathered in the White House's East Room.
Despite it being billed as a festive affair, Trump took a whack at some of his political nemeses.
Trump twice told a story to the crowd
about how the strongest lobby in Washington was previously the Jewish or
pro-Israel lobby.
'That's no longer true. You have to be very careful. You have a Congress, in particular, which is becoming antisemitic,' he said.
'You have AOC plus three,' he continued, referencing Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
and the original makeup of 'the squad,' a quartet of female progressive
members of color who were elected during Trump's first term.
'Ilhan Omar, she hates Jewish people,' the president then said.
He's heightened his rhetoric against the Minnesota Democrat, a Muslim who was born in Somalia, mocking her 'little turban' during his campaign-like speech in Pennsylvania last week, and pushing the rumor that she married her brother to help him get immigration status in the U.S.
Laura
Loomer (left), a conspiracy theorist who has become an influential
adviser of President Donald Trump outside of government, was invited to
Tuesday night's Hanukkah reception at the White House
When Omar first came to Congress in 2019,
she was forced to apologize after using Jewish stereotypes in remarks
about Republican support for Israel.
In
recent years, she's spoken out against Israel's killing of Palestinian
civilians in Gaza, with a number of her Democratic colleagues joining
the choir.
On Tuesday night, several
Jewish Democratic lawmakers joined Trump in the crowd, including
Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Jared Moskowitz.
President
Donald Trump has repeatedly gone after Minnesota Democratic
Representative Ilhan Omar, who is Muslim and was born in Somalia. Last
week he mocked her 'little turban' at a rally-like event in
Pennsylvania
Trump started the event by paying tribute to the victims in the Bondi Beach antisemitic attack.
'Let
me take a moment to send the love and prayers to the entire nation, the
people of Australia, and especially all those affected by the horrific
and antisemitic terrorist attack, and that's exactly what it is -
antisemitic,' Trump said.
He then had a lovefest with those in the room.
Trump
pulled onstage radio personalities Mark Levin and Sid Rosenberg
and later Miriam Adelson, the widow of the late casino magnate Sheldon
Adelson, giving her a smooch as she walked to the podium to give
remarks.
Adelson told Trump that
lawyer Alan Dershowitz told her it's legally possible for the president
to run for another four years. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution
says that a president can only be elected twice.
Mirian
Adelson (right) told President Donald Trump (left) that lawyer Alan
Dershowitz told her it's legally possible for Trump to run for another
term and encouraged him to do so. 'Think about it,' she said. 'She said,
"Think about it, I'll give you another $250 million," Trump replied
'So, we can do it,' Adelson told Trump, telling the president to 'think about it.'
'She said, "Think about it, I'll give you another $250 million,"' Trump said, laughing.
Adelson gave Trump more than $100 million of her fortune in 2024.
Trump
lauded Representative Ronny Jackson, his former White House doctor,
claiming Jackson rated Trump healthier than Democratic Presidents Barack
Obama and Joe Biden.
'If he didn't say that, I would have never talked to him again,' the president joked.
In another snub to Biden, the White House menorah,
made from wood from the residence that was removed during President
Harry Truman's renovation, wasn't utilized this year.
The Biden administration made history in 2022 by adding a White House menorah to the permanent collection.
Not surprisingly, the menorah on display Tuesday night in the East Room was bigger and more golden.
A
menorah was added to the White House's permanent collection for the
first time under Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022. The wood came
from the White House and was removed during renovations under President
Harry Truman
President
Donald Trump opted to use a menorah that was larger and more golden for
this year's Hannukah celebrations, having Commerce Secretary Howard
Lutnick (second from right) help with the lighting on Tuesday's event
marking the third night
The president walked offstage before the menorah lighting, watching the process from the East Room's floor.
He had made another pitch for his ballroom to the audience, as the project is now under legal threat.
'We're donating a $400 million ballroom and we're being sued,' Trump complained, prematurely claiming that the case is over.
But
he also confessed that the National Trust for Historic Preservation,
which initiated the lawsuit, had company in wanting construction to
stop.
'And my wife is being driven
crazy,' Trump said. 'She said this is not what I had in mind. The first
day she was great. ... Second day she was OK. Third day she wasn't
thrilled, but after that it's been brutal.'
As the press left the White House after the reception, loud pounding could be heard from the East Wing construction site.
Trump’s Chief of Staff Tells Everything in Astonishing Breach
BLABBERMOUTH. On
everything from the Epstein files and pardons for Jan. 6 rioters to
Trump’s dreams of a third stint at the White House, MAGA’s Susie Wiles
has a story to tell.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles Donald Trump’s chief of staff has blown the lid off the inner workings
of his second administration in a staggeringly candid series of
interviews touching on everything from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal to
the prospects of a third MAGA presidency. Since the Republican leader’s inauguration earlier in January, his chief of staff Susie Wiles has met with Vanity Fair 11 times to discuss, on the record, the ins and outs of Trump’s earth-shattering second stint at the White House.
Wiles is credited with not only managing the
litany of crises and scandals that have engulfed the administration to
date, but also having helped assemble Trump’s cabinet of “disrupters” by
advocating for picks like FBI Director “Keystone Kash” Patel, Defense
Secretary “Pentagon Pete” Hegseth, and Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi “ICE Barbie” Noem.
White
House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles credits herself with steadying the
ship throughout the president's scandal-ridden second term.
“So
many decisions of great consequence are being made on the whim of the
president. And as far as I can tell, the only force that can direct or
channel that whim is Susie,” as one former Republican chief described
her level of influence at the White House.
It seemed unlikely from her two-part tell-all
that others within the Trump administration were aware of the full
extent of her conversations with the outlet, which paint a stunningly
detailed portrait of the woman behind the MAGA throne.
“They don’t know what I’m doing,” she’s reported
to have told journalist Chris Whipple, laughing as she motioned toward
the Oval Office during one of their meetings.
The
disclosures would not appear to have gone over well at the White House.
“The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed
hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet
in history,” Wiles wrote on X Tuesday, as she now battles to save her job.
Here’s everything you need to know.
The Ghost of Jeffrey Epstein
Wiles
said she’d initially “underestimated the potency” of perhaps the most
shocking scandal to have dogged Trump’s second stint at the White House.
On last year’s campaign trail, the president
repeatedly pledged full transparency on Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,
prompting massive backlash when in June, the Justice Department and FBI
determined that contrary to conspiracy theories long-cherished by the
MAGA base, the disgraced pedophile’s 2019 death in police custody was a
suicide, and that he kept no “client list” of uber wealthy
co-conspirators.
Trump's second stint in the White House has been consistently dogged by allegations concerning his relationship with Epstein.
Amid
mounting public backlash and renewed public scrutiny of Trump’s own,
once-cozy relationship with the convicted sex trafficker, lawmakers have
now forced the president to release any remaining DOJ documents
pertaining to the case.
Wiles has confirmed
prior reports that Trump’s name indeed appears in those investigative
materials. “[He] is in the file. And we know he’s in the file,” she told
Vanity Fair, clarifying that from what she’s seen, “he’s not in the file doing anything awful.”
Trump has, without evidence, accused Clinton of visiting Epstein's island a total of 28 times.
“[Trump]
was on [Epstein’s] plane… he’s on the manifest,” she added. “They were,
you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it’s a passé word but
sort of young, single playboys together.”
She
was also quick to pour cold water on Trump’s claims, for which the
president has provided no evidence to date, that the documents show
President Bill Clinton visited Epstein’s notorious private island a
total of 28 times.
“There is no evidence” of those visits, Wiles
told the outlet, adding about whether the documents contained damning
material about Clinton’s relationship with Epstein: “The president was
wrong about that.”
An “Alcoholic Personality,” Driven by Retribution
By
her own reckoning, Wiles is well-versed in managing relationships with
addictive personalities. Her own father, she says, was an alcoholic, and
she says she recognizes many of the same character traits in Trump
himself, despite the president’s often-trumpeted teetotalism.
“Some clinical psychologist that knows one
million times more than I do will dispute what I’m going to say. But
high-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their
personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit
of an expert in big personalities,” she said.
Trump
apparently has “an alcoholic’s personality,” and “operates [with] a
view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
Perhaps the starkest evidence of the president’s
aggressive, almost obsessive pursuit of his agenda to date has played
out in the prosecutions brought against some of his longest-standing
adversaries, particularly former FBI Director James Comey, New York
Attorney General Letitia James, and his own former National Security
Adviser, John Bolton.
“I mean, people could
think it does look vindictive. I can’t tell you why you shouldn’t think
that.” Wiles said of the proceedings against Comey. “I don’t think he
wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there’s an opportunity, he
will go for it.”
James Comey was fired as FBI director by Donald Trump in 2017.
Wrecking Balls at the White House
Earlier
in September, Trump provoked widespread outcry by demolishing the East
Wing of the White House to make way for a new, 90,000 square-foot
ballroom funded in large part by donors with vested interests in
policies pursued by his administration.
The $300 million ballroom is being built while tens of millions of Americans suffer in a cost-of-living crisis.
As
the president now charges ahead with further plans for a tacky “Arc de
Trump” in Washington, DC, modeled on the Arc de Triomphe of Paris fame,
Wiles suggests the self-anointed builder-in-chief may not yet have
exhausted his appetite for remodelling one of the nation’s most
instantly recognizable buildings in his own image.
“I
think you’ll have to judge it by its totality because you only know a
little bit of what he’s planning,” she said. “I’m not telling,” when
pressed on the matter.
Vance’s Love of the Tin Foil Hat Brigade
Vice President JD Vance has, according to Wiles, been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.”
She
didn’t clarify whether this worldview also covers lizard overlords of
global finance, staged moon landings, or the infamous bunkers under
Denver International Airport — but she did have thoughts on Vance’s leap
from “Never Trump guy” to MAGA convert.
Wiles did not elaborate on what conspiracy theories Vance believes.
“His
conversion came when he was running for the Senate. And I think his
conversion was a little bit more, sort of political,” she said.
“I
realized that I actually liked him, I thought he was doing a lot of
good things,” she added of how her view of him changed during his 2022
run for one one of Ohio’s senatorial seats. “And I thought that he was
fundamentally the right person to save the country.”
Viscous Vought and The Ballard of Quirky Bobby
Wiles
describes Project 2025 architect Russell Vought—now Trump’s head of the
Office of Management and Budget, and widely credited as the driving
force behind MAGA’s slash-and-burn crusade against the federal
bureaucracy—as “a right-wing absolute zealot.”
She would also appear to have a special soft spot
for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., perhaps
one of Trump’s most controversial cabinet members, given his credentials
as a notorious anti-vaxxer.
“Quirky Bobby,”
she calls him. “He pushes the envelope—some would say too far. But I say
in order to get back to the middle, you have to push it too far.”
A known anti-vaxxer now in charge of U.S. healthcare, RFK Jr. is among Trump's more controversial cabinet picks.
Full Credit to Eugenics
Wiles’
has had a storied career in U.S. politics, starting out as a student
intern for New York Congressman Jack Kemp in the 1970s before going on
to secure jobs at the Ronald Reagan White House and on George H.W.
Bush’s first presidential campaign.
Trump, himself a former reality TV star, appears
to have been less taken by those credentials at their first meeting in
2015 than by the fact Wiles is the daughter of American football great
Pat Summerall.
“He’s said it a million times,” Wiles said of her introduction to the then-future president. “‘I judge people by their genes.’”
Mega MAGA Meltdowns in Miami
While
Trump reportedly believes Wiles may be “clairvoyant” in her electoral
predictions, her relationship with the MAGA leader has always been plain
sailing. In fact, the pair is understood to have almost parted ways
after a vicious falling out at one of his Florida golf clubs in the
final, anxious rundown to the 2016 presidential election.
Trump, Wiles recalls, was unhappy with his
polling in the Sunshine State, which had put him further behind than he
was hoping for. “I don’t think I’ve seen him that angry since. He was
ranting and raving,” she said of him lashing out at her in front of a
group of other advisers. “I didn’t know whether to argue back or whether
to be stoic. What I really wanted to do was cry.”
“I
finally said, ‘You know Mr. Trump, if you want somebody to set their
hair on fire and be crazy, I’m not your girl. But if you want to win
this state, I am. It’s your choice,’” she remembers saying as she
stormed out. ““Lo and behold, he called me every day [after that],” she
added.
Perhaps a Little Prudence on Pardons?
One
of Trump’s first acts upon assuming the presidency again this year was
to issue blanket pardons to almost every one of his supporters convicted
for attempting to overthrow the results of the 2020 elections during
the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill.
Wiles says
she urged caution on that front. “I did exactly that,” she said when
asked whether she’d suggested the president might want to be more
“selective” with his application of clemency.
Trump has pardoned almost all rioters convicted over the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill.
“I
said, ‘I am on board with the people that were happenstancers or didn’t
do anything violent. And we certainly know what everybody did because
the FBI has done such an incredible job’,” she said—contradicting the
president’s preferred narrative that Joe Biden, who was not president at
the time, in fact charged the bureau with staging those riots as part
of a “Democratic hoax.”
“There have been a couple of times where I’ve been outvoted,” she conceded. “And if there’s a tie, he wins.”
Managing Musk
Earlier
in May, toward the end of Elon Musk’s explosive tenure as head of the
Trump administration’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency
initiative, the New York Times released a report detailing how the Tesla
CEO’s drug use was reportedly far more severe and excessive than had
previously been known.
Wiles appears to be
under no illusions about the SpaceX founder’s penchant for
self-medication. “The challenge with Elon is keeping up with him,” she
said. “He’s an avowed ketamine [user]. And he sleeps in a sleeping bag
in the EOB [Executive Office Building] in the daytime. And he’s an odd,
odd duck, as I think geniuses are. You know, it’s not helpful, but he is
his own person.”
Wiles says she struggled to get behind Musk's gutting of USAID.
She
adds that Musk’s coup at USAID, and his subsequent shutdown of the
United States’ chief agency providing desperately needed humanitarian
aid to millions across the planet, took her wholly by surprise. “I was
initially aghast,” Wiles told me. “Because I think anybody that pays
attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believed,
as I did, that they do very good work.”
Sandbags on Tariffs
By
most metrics, the U.S. economy is not faring well under the second MAGA
administration. GBP growth is down almost half from the previous year,
inflation remains persistently high at almost 3 percent, and nearly half
of all Americans say the current cost-of-living crisis is the worst
they’ve ever seen.
Many economists chalk
these financial woes up to the president’s sweeping “Liberation Day”
tariffs earlier in April, marking the launch of Trump’s ongoing trade
war against much of the rest of the planet.
Concerns
appear to have been widespread among Trump’s advisers, with Wiles
scrambling behind the scenes to shore up support for the president’s
proposed fiscal measures.
“I said, ‘This is
where we’re going to end up. So figure out how you can work into what
he’s already thinking.’ Well, they couldn’t get there,” she remembers
telling staffers.
“It’s been more painful than I’d expected,” she added.
Reign of ICE
Trump’s
second stint in the White House has witnessed perhaps the most
aggressive anti-immigration crackdown in U.S. history, with experts
warning the frenzied pace of deportations across the country has
resulted in rampant violations of due process and migrant rights under
the Constitution.
Wiles has repeatedly said Miller's deportation policies might warrant a second look.
“I
will concede that we’ve got to look harder at our process for
deportation,” Wiles reflected in response to the MAGA administration’s
notorious deportation of Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia in March,
which the White House attributed to a “clerical error.”
“If
there is a question, I think our process has to lean toward a
double-check,” she later said of the same process, seemingly
contradicting the government’s own published notices that “in some
cases, a noncitizen is subject to expedited removal without being able
to attend a hearing in immigration court.”
Cut the Feeds
In
February, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for an
Oval Office summit widely panned by critics as little more than a
diplomatic disaster.
Over the course of the
sitdown, the MAGA leader and JD Vance repeatedly berated Zelensky over a
perceived lack of gratitude for U.S. support amid the Kremlin’s ongoing
invasion of Ukraine, in what was roundly received as a diplomatic boon
to the aggressor in that conflict, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have proven turbulent under Trump 2.0.
“If we had it to do over,” Wiles said, “I wouldn’t have cameras, because it was going to end that way.”
She
further adds that the confrontation exploded as a result of Zelensky
supposedly skipping out on an earlier meeting with Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent in Kyiv. “It just was a bad sort of sentiment all the way
around,” she said. “And I wouldn’t say JD snapped, because he’s too
controlled for that. But I think he’d just had enough.”
Make America Great Again… and Again… and Again?
Trump
has repeatedly toyed in public with the prospect of running for a third
term in the White House. Wiles, for her part, thinks such musings,
roundly decried by his critics, amount to little more than trolling.
“No,”
she said when asked whether the president is seriously weighing the
possibility of defying more than 250 years of Constitutional history.
“But he sure is having fun with it,” she quickly added, noting he knows
it is “driving people crazy.”
In defiance of latest polls, she remains
similarly adamant that the president’s plummeting ratings will have
little impact on next year’s crucial race for control of the House and
Senate.
“We’re going to win the midterms,” she said.
The
Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
“Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has helped President Trump achieve the most
successful first 11 months in office of any President in American
history. President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than
Susie,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The entire
Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully
behind her.”
Funeral home mistakenly gave father his dead son's BRAIN in a plastic bag when he only asked for his clothes
By Emma Richter
Daily Mail
Dec 16, 2025
Alexander
Piñon, 27, tragically died on May 19 in Santa Clara, California. His
devastated family were later handed his brain after arranging to pick up
his clothing from the funeral home, according to a new lawsuit
A California funeral
home allegedly gave a father his dead son's brain in a plastic bag
after he requested his child's clothing, according to a newly filed
lawsuit.
The Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel in San Jose is accused of making the horrific blunder while handling the burial of Alexander Piñon.
The
27-year-old San Jose native suddenly died on May 19, 2025 at a home in
Santa Clara. His cause of death has not been released.
His family contacted the funeral home and
paid the business $10,454.34 for the 'full-service memorial tribute
package', according to the lawsuit reviewed by the Daily Mail.
His
parents, Raymundo Llanes and Dolores Piñon Llanes, specifically asked
the funeral director, Anita Singh, not to dress their son in the clothes
he died in because they wanted him to be buried in a nicer outfit, the
lawsuit stated.
Llanes went to collect
his son's clothing on June 4, 2025 and was handed a 'red bag indicating
biohazardous material inside', per the filing.
Piñon's
father saw an odd substance inside the machine that was later found to
be 'human brain matter,' according to the lawsuit.
The
family accuse funeral director, Anita Singh (pictured) of handing
Piñon's brain to his father when he asked for his son's clothing
Not Alexander's clothing
'At that point, they had no idea that it
was their son's brain that was in the washing machine,' Samer Habbas,
the family's attorney, told KGO.
'They didn't know if it was mixed up with somebody else's brain, whether it was their son's, they had not a single idea.'
Fearful
the chilling discovery would upset his wife, Llanes called his
sister-in-law instead to tell her what he witnessed, the lawsuit
detailed.
Llanes was not sure what the
material was in the washing machine, and according to the lawsuit the
young man's family, 'were not aware that the coroner had performed a
cranial autopsy or that any portion of the decedent's brain had been
removed,' the filing stated.
Llanes
then phoned Singh and let her know. She then told the shaken father to
bring the bag back to her at the funeral home, the lawsuit said.
Llanes then had to scoop up the substance that he still didn't know was his son's brain, per the lawsuit.
After
placing the red bag inside a trash bag, he brought it back to Singh
that same day and got 'no explanation' from her over the alleged mix-up.
He also never received his son's clothing, the filing stated.
Piñon's
funeral was held the following day at Lima Family Erickson Memorial
Chapel and he was buried at Oak Hill Memorial Cemetery.
His
family contacted Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel (pictured) to
plan his funeral and paid the business $10,454.34 for the 'full-service
memorial tribute package'
More than a month went by without the
family getting the clothing they initially asked for, despite contacting
Singh on multiple occasions to do so, the lawsuit detailed.
A funeral home employee allegedly reached out to the family to inform them it was their son's brain in the bag.
The
worker claimed that after Llanes returned it, Singh placed the organ in
a box and left it sitting in a courtyard for two-and-a-half-months.
The employee only uncovered this after they became 'overwhelmed with the smell' of 'a rotting human brain', the lawsuit said.
Habbas said he knows humans make mistakes, but it's a different story when people try to cover those errors up.
'Don't
get me wrong, errors can happen. But what cannot happen, and what
should not happen, is that you cover up your errors, and that's what the
funeral home has done here,' he told the outlet.
The
Daily Mail contacted Dignity, the company Lima Family Erickson Memorial
Chapel operates under, and Service Corporation International (SCI), the
largest funeral service company in North America.
For
now, Piñon's family plans to move forward with the lawsuit and are
working on a plan to have his brain reunited with his now buried body
SCI owns Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel.
Christopher James, a spokesperson for SCI, told KGO: 'Due to active litigation, we won't be commenting on this matter.'
When
the outlet went to the funeral home to speak to Singh, another employee
informed them that she was no longer with the company.
A reporter for ABC then tried to approach her at her home, but Singh drove away without a word.
For
now, Piñon's family plans to move forward with the lawsuit and are
working on a plan to have his brain reunited with his now buried body,
the outlet reported.
'We don't know the extent of how much suffering they're gonna go through for the remainder of their life,' Habbas explained.
'But I can tell you, it's something that they're never gonna forget, it's something they're gonna have to live with forever.'
The Daily Mail also contacted Singh and Habbas for comment.
MAGA Hollywood actor James Woods slams Trump for Rob Reiner slurs as he chokes up on air
By Natasha Anderson
Daily Mail
Dec 16, 2025
James Woods slammed Donald Trump over his 'distasteful' comments about
Rob Reiner during his Monday night appearance on Fox News' Jesse Watters
Primetime
James Woods has slammed Donald Trump over his 'distasteful' comments about Rob Reiner despite being one of Hollywood's most outspoken supporters of the President.
The
78-year-old praised Reiner - a staunch liberal - for saving his career
and being a 'Godsend in my life' during his Monday night appearance on Fox News's Jesse Watters Primetime.
The
actor also hit out at Reiner's critics, claiming that although their
politics did not align, the murdered filmmaker does not deserve to be
spoken poorly of.
'I judge people by how they treat me, and
Rob Reiner was a Godsend in my life. We got along great, we loved each
other… He was always on my side,' Woods said.
'When
people would say to me, "What do you think of his politics?" I would
say, "I think Rob Reiner is a great patriot." Do I agree on many of his
ideas on how that patriotism should be enacted, to celebrate the America
that we both love? No.
'He doesn't
agree with me either, but he also respects my patriotism. We had a
different path to the same destination, which was a country we both
love.'
Woods further argued that saying
'horrible things' about Reiner is 'infuriating and distasteful,'
adding: 'Because you disagree with people doesn't mean that you have to
hate people.'
The remark was an
apparent jab at Trump, who in a Truth Social post Monday described
Reiner as suffering from a 'mind crippling disease known as Trump
derangement syndrome.' He also described him as being 'very bad for our
country.'
Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Their 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held without bail.
Reiner,
78, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 70 (pictured together in
2023), were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on Sunday
Woods became overwhelmed with emotion and teared up as he spoke about Reiner's death with Watters.
'I
judge people by how they treat me, and Rob Reiner was a Godsend in my
life. We got along great, we loved each other,' the actor said. 'He was
always on my side.'
Woods shared how Reiner casting him in the 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi saved his career, which at that point was on a downfall.
James Woods in Rob Reiner's 1996 film'Ghosts of Mississippi'
'Rob
literally saved my career and really put me back on track,' he said,
noting how the role took him from being 'basically out of a job' to
'getting an Academy Award nomination.'
Reiner
'really fought for me when the studio didn't want me in a movie,' Woods
explained and said the director was 'somebody I love, respect, and
cherish.'
The actor also noted how Reiner, unlike many other Democrats, refrained from criticizing Charlie Kirk after he was assassinated.
'I knew Charlie Kirk, I supported him… people said some such horrible things, and Rob did not,' Woods said.
He
doubled down that although he did not agree with Reiner's politics, he
loved him as a 'friend, as an artist, as an icon of Hollywood, and as a
patriot.'
'I am just absolutely devastated,' he shared.
The
President appeared to blame Reiner and Michele's killings on the
liberal director's 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' in a Monday post on
Truth Social
An aerial view shows the couple's home in Brentwood, LA, where they were found dead
Los Angeles police are set to present a case to prosecutors today following Nick Reiner's arrest in the killings of his parents.
Prosecutors will decide whether and how to charge the 32-year-old, who is being held in jail without bail.
He
was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead in their
home in LA's upscale Brentwood neighborhood on Sunday, police said.
Investigators believe the couple died from stab wounds, although they have not offered any potential motive for the killings.
Hollywood celebrities and Republicans pushed back on his statement, with some calling it 'disgusting and vile.'
But the President seemed undeterred in his criticism of the late director.
When
pressed by a reporter in the Oval Office about his previous statement,
he said: 'Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person.
As far as Trump was concerned.
The 78-year-old director famously supported liberal causes and Democratic candidates (pictured with Hillary Clinton in 2008)
'I think he hurt himself, career-wise, he
became like a deranged person, [with] Trump derangement syndrome. So I
was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way shape or form. I thought
he was very bad for our country.'
Trump also accused Reiner of pushing the 'Russia hoax', the allegation that the President was compromised by the Kremlin during his first term.
He
wrote that Reiner, a 'once very talented movie director and comedy
star,' passed away, 'reportedly due to the anger he caused others
through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind
crippling disease' he calls TDS - or Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The term is used by conservatives to describe disdain for the Republican President.
Reiner
was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom All in the Family who went on
to direct films including When Harry Met Sally... and The Princess
Bride. He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades.
Michele was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.
Three
months ago, Nick was photographed with his parents and siblings at the
premiere of his father's film Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.
Trump
(pictured in the Oval Office on Monday) doubled down on his criticisms
of Reiner, adding: 'I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged
person'
He had spoken publicly of
his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment
facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen
years.
The father and son explored - and seemed to improve - their relationship through the making of the 2016 film, Being Charlie.
Nick
co-wrote and Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an
addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but
included several elements of their lives.
'It
forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,' Reiner told the
AP in 2016. 'I told Nick while we were making it, I said, "You know it
doesn't matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already".'
Trump's Ice Maiden describes the
president's 'alcoholic personality' and brands JD Vance a 'conspiracy
theorist' in bombshell interview
By Jon Michael Raasch
Daily Mail
Dec 16, 2025
White
House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles gave brutal assessments of many of
Trump's Cabinet members in a bombshell Vanity Fair story
Donald Trump's White House
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has divulged stunning details about the
inner workings of the administration in an explosive new report.
Wiles,
68, speaking with Vanity Fair over the course of the last year, likened
Trump to her own late alcoholic father and legendary sportscaster Pat
Summerall, noting the president has 'an alcoholic's personality.'
The president 'operates [with] a view that there's nothing he can't do. Nothing, zero, nothing,' Wiles added.
Notably, Trump does not drink and has spoken about losing his older brother, Fred, to addiction and alcoholism.
The chief of staff also dished on Vice President JD Vance, noting his late MAGA conversion and early critiques of Trump.
The VP, she added, has also been 'a conspiracy theorist for a decade.'
A
longtime political operator who has worked with Trump for a decade
since his 2015 campaign, Wiles is one of the most powerful figures in
the administration - and the first female chief of staff in history.
Though shortly after the article went to print on Tuesday, Wiles pushed back, calling it a hit piece.
Wiles notes that Trump has an alcoholic's personality. The president does not drink, however
The VP, Wiles said, has been 'a conspiracy theorist for a decade'
'The article published early this morning
is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President,
White House staff, and Cabinet in history,' the chief of staff said.
'Significant
context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the
team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after
reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and
negative narrative about the President and our team.'
Her
wide-ranging interview offers a buffet of insights into those she works
closest with, including her 'junkyard dogs,' a cadre of powerful Trump
lieutenants ready to execute the president's orders and fight those who
stand in opposition.
'She doesn't raise her voice. But she
likes being around junkyard dogs,' White House Deputy Chief of Staff
James Blair, 36, told the outlet.
'She is a 'go to church every Sunday, uses a swear word very, very rarely,' he added.
Blair is one of the bulldogs dispatched by Wiles to enact the president's will.
The
others are longtime Trump advisor and architect of the president's
domestic policy agenda, Stephen Miller, and the president's golf
caddie-turned-advisor, Dan Scavino - both also deputy White House chiefs
of staff.
One of them is clearly top dog, however, and that's Miller.
The
chief of staff joked that former DOGE advisor Elon Musk was
'microdosing' when posting about Hitler on social media earlier this
year
Donald
Trump speaks with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles before
departing the White House in Washington, DC, on June 20, 2025, en route
to his club in New Jersey
Donald
Trump praises his campaign senior advisor Susie Wiles during an
election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06,
2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida
The White House chief of staff's 'core
team' consists of Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the
40-year-old homeland security advisor.
Others in Trump's orbit got less favorable superlatives from Wiles.
Office
of Management and Budget chief Russell Vought, a chief planner for
Project 2025, she likened to 'a right-wing absolute zealot.'
Pressed
on former DOGE leader Elon Musk's late-night social media ranting about
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, the 68-year-old candidly
shot back: 'I think that's when he's micro-dosing.'
She admitted she had no proof, but the mercurial entrepreneur and father of over a dozen children has admitted to Ketamine use.
'He is a complete solo actor,' she said of Musk.
'He's
an avowed ketamine [user]. And he sleeps in a sleeping bag in the EOB
[Executive Office Building] in the daytime. And he's an odd, odd duck,
as I think geniuses are. You know, it's not helpful, but he is his own
person,' she told Vanity Fair.
