Southeast
Jack Smith asks judge to restrict Trump statements after 'inflammatory' remarks about FBI raid
Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge Friday to bar former President Donald Trump from characterizing the FBI’s 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago as a threat to him and his family, arguing that the claims put law enforcement agents in danger.
In the motion filed to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the classified documents case in Florida, Smith requested Trump be prohibited from making statements that “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.” Trump claimed in a campaign appeal that FBI agents were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
Court documents revealed this week that the FBI used its standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer conducting the search has a reasonable belief that the “subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
“These deceptive and inflammatory claims expose the law enforcement professionals who are involved in this case to unjustified and unacceptable risks,” Smith’s filing reads.
The FBI has said such contingencies are routine and that similar language was contained in an operational plan accompanying a subsequent search of President Biden’s properties in Delaware.
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Special counsel Jack Smith filed court papers Friday requesting former President Trump be restricted from publicly speaking about his classified documents case in a way that might pose a danger to law enforcement officials. (Getty Images)
The Justice Department says the policy is routine and meant to limit, rather than encourage, the use of force during searches. Prosecutors noted that the search of the Florida property was intentionally conducted when Trump and his family were out of state and was coordinated in advance with the U.S. Secret Service. Still, the revelation that the dozens of agents sent to search the home were prepared for potential violence was jarring to Trump’s supporters, who say the two incidents don’t compare since the Justice Department is part of Biden’s own administration.
Smith’s filing cites Trump’s claim that the FBI “was authorized to shoot me,” and was “just itching to do the unthinkable.”
“They invite the sort of threats and harassment that have occurred when other participants in legal proceedings against Trump have been targeted by his invective,” Smith wrote. “Those risks have the potential to undermine the integrity of the proceedings as well as jeopardize the safety of law enforcement.”
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An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is seen Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
The operational plan was revealed when Trump’s legal team filed a motion asking that documents relating to the raid be made public. Smith says Trump’s attorneys omitted a key word —”only” in their motion earlier this week that prompted Trump to make the FBI accusations.
“Although Trump included the warrant and Operations Form as exhibits to his motion, the motion misquoted the Operations Form by omitting the crucial word “only” before “when necessary,” without any ellipsis reflecting the omission. The motion also left out language explaining that deadly force is necessary only “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
“Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents — falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him — and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment,” prosecutors added.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that “repeated attempts to silence President Trump during the presidential campaign are blatant attempts to interfere in the election.”
Trump is accused of keeping at his estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021, and then obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them. The FBI agents seized 33 boxes of documents in the raid.
The investigation is overseen by Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed. Smith has charged Trump with 40 felony counts, including violating the Espionage Act, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump has pleaded not guilty, and slammed the case as an “Election Inference Scam” promoted by the Biden administration and “Deranged Jack Smith.”
FILE – A police officer speaks with a woman outside former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after the FBI search, in Palm Beach, Florida, Aug. 8, 2022. (REUTERS/Marco Bello)
Earlier this month, Trump called for Smith’s arrest after the prosecutors handling the 45th president’s classified documents case admitted seized documents are no longer in their original order and sequence.
Prosecutors admitted in a court filing that “there are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans.” The prosecutors had previously told the court that the documents were “in their original, intact form as seized.”
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Fox News’ Emma Colton and David Spunt, as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work
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FIRST ON FOX: An illegal immigrant who reported to a U.S. Border Patrol site in Florida to perform some Information technology contractual work was arrested when authorities were made aware of his citizenship status, officials said.
Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan citizen, reported to a USBP center in Dania Beach, Florida, Jan. 6 to do some IT work when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials began vetting him, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital.
During its investigation, it was revealed Camacho was in violation of U.S. immigration laws, authorities said.
Angel Camacho reported to a Florida U.S. Border Patrol center to perform contractual work when he was arrested, a Department of Homeland Security official said. (Getty Images )
“CBP vets all external visitors before allowing them to enter secure facilities to ensure safety and operational integrity,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“During the vetting process, CBP uncovered this individual was a tourist visa overstay in the country for over five years.”
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This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent’s uniform in McAllen, Texas, Jan. 15, 2019. (Suzanne CordeiroAFP via Getty Images)
Camacho was arrested and transferred to ICE custody, Bis said.
His criminal history includes theft and resisting a Florida Highway Patrol officer, officials said. Federal authorities have nabbed several illegal immigrants in the process of trying to obtain employment in law enforcement and education.
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One Sierra Leone citizen was recently arrested as he was training to become a Pennsylvania corrections officer.
Another illegal immigrant, Ian Roberts, served as the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest district, Des Moines Public Schools, before he was arrested by ICE.
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Southeast
High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student
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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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