Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is working to increase the retirement age for U.S. Capitol Police officers as the number of threats to lawmakers continues to climb and the department struggles to recruit and retain enough officers. Legislation passed unanimously by the Senate on Thursday would allow Capitol Police officers to apply to extend their service until age 62, while a bill passed by the House earlier this year would allow them to serve until age 65. That would raise the current age from 60 for officers who apply for waivers to work beyond the legal forced retirement age of 57...

Washington — Accused White House Correspondents' Dinner attacker Cole Allen is now facing charges of assaulting a federal officer. Allen was formally indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on four charges, including three counts that he was charged with through a criminal complaint last week — attempting to assassinate President Trump and two firearm charges — and a new count of assault on a federal law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon. Federal prosecutors charged Allen in the hours after the attempted attack at the annual press gala in Washington, D.C., but had not presented the charges to a...

Dashcam video obtained by News4 shows the National Mall shooting Monday involving Secret Service officers. The Secret Service said a Texas man fired toward officers, who returned fire and hit him multiple times. A teen bystander was hit by the suspect’s gunfire and suffered a graze wound, authorities said. Gunshots can be heard in the video as drivers sit in traffic near Independence Avenue and 15th Street SW, just southeast of the Washington Monument. A man can be seen falling to the ground. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” someone shouts. Police identified the man shot and wounded by the Secret Service as...

"Hi my name is Guido Reichstadter & I'm currently occupying the top of the Frederick Douglass memorial bridge in Washington DC. I'm calling on the people of the United States to bring an immediate end to the Trump regime's illegal war on Iran and the removal of the regime power through mass nonviolent direct action and non-cooperation. I also want to urgently warn the people of the US and the world of the imminent danger we are in of crossing a point of no return towards the development of artificial intelligence which poses the risk of catastrophic harm to humanity,...

Health officials are warning that confirmed cases of measles may have spread at this year's National March for Life rally and concert in Washington, D.C. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators converged upon the National Mall and other locations in the nation's capital for the annual event at the end of January. The DC Department of Health says it's working to identify people who are at risk. "DC Health was notified of multiple confirmed cases of measles whose carriers visited multiple locations in the District while contagious," the agency said in a press release on Sunday. "DC Health is informing people who...

The Trump administration has ended the lease agreement for three public golf courses in Washington, a move that offers President Donald Trump an additional opportunity to put his stamp on another piece of the nation’s capital. The National Links Trust, the nonprofit that has operated Washington’s three public courses on federal land for the last five years, said Wednesday that the Department of the Interior had terminated its 50-year lease agreement. The Interior Department said it was terminating the lease because the nonprofit had not implemented required capital improvements and failed to meet the terms of the lease. While it...

The latest brutal act of Afghan refugee terrorism claimed the lives of two brave members of the National Guard in D.C.. Since their arrival in the United States, Afghan ‘refugees’ have been involved in violent attacks, in assorted crimes, and in sexual assaults on women and girls.The attack by Rahmanullah Lakanwal took place a mere week after another Afghan, Abdullah Haji Zada, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Election Day plot.Abdullah and Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, his Afghan brother-in-law, a former ‘guard’ at an American facility in Afghanistan, had plotted a mass shooting attack directed at “large groups...

President Donald Trump says the alleged shooter of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., entered the United States from Afghanistan in 2021 and asks for Americans to pray for the victims.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s shooting of two National Guard troops near the White House, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump has requested the deployment of another 500 Guard members to the nation’s capital. "President Trump has asked me ... to add 500 additional troops, National Guardsmen, to Washington, D.C. This will only stiffen our resolve to make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful,” Hegseth told reporters. “President Trump will never back down.” Two members of West Virginia's National Guard were shot in downtown Washington, just blocks from the White House. A suspect shot in the incident is in...

Two National Guard soldiers were shot in the head just yards from the White House during a possible terror attack by a lone gunman identified as an Afghan national. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the alleged gunman in custody over the horror shoot-out at Farragut West metro station in the center of Washington, DC, which has left two soldiers in a critical condition. Law enforcement sources initially told NBC News the gunman has been identified as an Afghan national and the shooting is being investigated as a possible act of terror. He allegedly came to the United States...

It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries. These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country. We are in ongoing contact with federal officials as the investigation continues. Our entire state grieves with their families, their loved ones, and the Guard community. West Virginia will never forget their service or their sacrifice, and we will demand full accountability for this horrific act.— Governor Patrick Morrisey (@wvgovernor) November 26, 2025

Muriel Bowser has served as the mayor of Washington, D.C. for the past decade. She first assumed office in January 2015 and won reelection for a second and third term in 2018 and 2022, respectively. On Tuesday, Bowser announced that she will not be seeking a fourth term, sharing a video of the announcement on her X account. It has been the honor of my life to be your Mayor. Together, we have built a legacy of success of which I am intensely proud.With a grateful heart, I am announcing that I will not seek a fourth term.For the next...

Two twisted Texans allegedly planned to invade a small Haitian island with an army of homeless people — to kill all the men so they could enslave the women and kids as “their sex slaves,” according to federal prosecutors. Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, were indicted for conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country for the bonkers plot “for the purpose of carrying out their rape fantasies,” federal prosecutors announced Thursday. The accused pedophiles “planned to purchase a sailboat, firearms, and ammunition, then recruit members of the [Washington, DC] homeless population to serve...

A federal judge on Nov. 20 ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. Trump had said the troops were needed to deal with rampant crime and violence in Washington and support federal immigration law enforcement efforts there. On Aug. 11, the president signed a presidential memorandum, in which he said the local D.C. government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city.” “It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in...

Sean C. Dunn, the man who pitched a sandwich at the chest of a federal agent in a viral act of opposition to President Trump's law enforcement policies in Washington, was acquitted on Thursday after a jury found him not guilty of misdemeanor assault. The verdict, which arrived after the jury deliberated for roughly seven hours, capped a nearly three-month effort to penalize Mr. Dunn for the August outburst and the resulting chase to arrest him, after the government previously failed to persuade a grand jury to charge him with a felony. It marked a significant setback for Jeanine Pirro,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hurling a sandwich at a federal agent was an act of protest for Washington, D.C., resident Sean Charles Dunn. A jury must decide if it was also a federal crime.“No matter who you are, you can’t just go around throwing stuff at people because you’re mad,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parron told jurors on Tuesday at the start of Dunn’s trial on a misdemeanor assault charge.Dunn doesn’t dispute that he threw his submarine-style sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. It was an “exclamation point” for...

Washington, D.C., police on Sunday arrested a man with hundreds of explosive devices outside a church holding a Mass in honor of the Supreme Court. The man had a manifesto that suggested he was targeting the Supreme Court and Catholics, according to court papers obtained by The Daily Wire. Louis Geri, a 41-year-old from Arizona and New Jersey, was apprehended outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on October 5, the same day the church held its annual “Red Mass” in which a cardinal prays for the high court as it embarks on a new term, and which is...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson President Trump is greeted with cheers at Joe’s Seafood in Washington DC: “We have a safe city. Enjoy yourselves — you won't be mugged going home. Have a good time, everybody. Don't drink too much.” From Rapid Response 47 7:22 PM · Sep 9, 2025

Trump’s control over DC police is set to expire next week on September 10 if Congress doesn’t act. President Trump, on August 11 signed an executive order declaring a “crime emergency” and invoking powers under section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act to federalize the police. The Home Rule Act requires Congressional approval for the President to federalize the police for more than 30 days. However, earlier this week, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an executive order for local law enforcement to work with federal officials indefinitely. Bowser previously admitted that Trump’s crackdown on crime in the city was...