Andrew Tate's Arrest Is Way Worse Than You Think

Jul 20

Written By Guest User

PDS Published 07/20/2026

We need to talk about the craziest parts of Andrew Tate and his brother getting arrested in Florida that a lot of people are missing. Zohran Mamdani wants to arrest Netanyahu. At least three more U.S. troops have been killed in Iran, as the military might be hiding even more injuries. You've got the full scope of how The Odyssey just embarrassed red pill YouTubers all over the place. And you've got a mom who killed a man that she found hiding under her 13-year-old daughter's bed, and now she's getting charged. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco Show.
Your daily dive into the news, starting with you've now got the Tate brothers finally being arrested again. And actually, if Zohran Mamdani gets his way, Benjamin Netanyahu might be next. We're gonna get to that, and actually a lot more, in a little bit.
Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate Arrested in Florida
But first, do y'all remember last year when Andrew Tate fled Romanian prosecutors for Miami, Florida, and then taunted Ron DeSantis, saying, "I look forward to getting arrested. If you have probable cause, come get me. If I'm guilty, then charge me in a court of law."
That obviously did not age well because he and his brother got snatched up by U.S. Marshals on Saturday, with the self-described alpha male wearing whatever this outfit is. Wearing a very tight, open-neck mesh purple shirt. Also high-waisted black capri pants, cropped to show off his bare ankles, and slip-on loafers without socks.
Which is why, even though this is a very serious situation, you had the internet just mercilessly roasting him. Talking about it's Fruity Pebbles vibes, mocking his elf shoes, calling him the Temu Genie. I would say this is an outfit that a mannequin at Dorothy Perkins would literally spit on and be like, "Please do not put me in that."
I also just want to say, as if you haven't tried enough to really fuck women up, you've now managed to ruin capri pants for us in the middle of summer. Thank you so much.
People were saying he was arrested wearing Doris Day clam digger slacks and a kicky purple blouse. Another used AI to insert him into a scene from The Office where Michael Scott accidentally came to work wearing a women's suit from a thrift bin.
The Charges Against the Tate Brothers
As far as the serious stuff, the Tate brothers were being arrested for a bunch of charges, some old, some new.
You've got the old rape, human trafficking, and sexual assault charges in Britain, and now you've got the U.K. saying that because of new evidence related to four more victims, they're adding new ones.
For Andrew Tate, there are seven counts of rape, three counts of sex trafficking, and three counts of assault, along with 19 more charges related to sexual images of children and extreme pornography.
Then for Tristan, it's two new counts of rape, one count of sexual assault, and three counts of sex trafficking.
So taken together, they now face a total of 59 charges involving seven alleged victims.
And that's just in Britain.
Because you also have them being investigated in Romania, where they were jailed for three months a few years ago on similar charges, with that case ultimately getting bungled on procedural grounds.
But also, I think what a lot of people don't realize is that prosecutors there are trying for a redo, alleging that the brothers coerced dozens of women and that Andrew raped a 15-year-old girl.
And as part of that, they were barred from leaving the country.
But then, of course, last year the travel restriction was lifted, and that apparently was in no small part because of pressure from Washington.
They've long had friends in Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, and several supporters inside of the Trump administration, with The New York Times even reporting that Andrew Tate texted someone, "I had word from the Trump admin that they're on top of things."
Then the following month, you had prosecutors reportedly getting an order from the highest levels of the Romanian government, with the Tates then being free.
And so they flew to Florida, and they've been partying there ever since, sometimes hopping over to Dubai or Russia as well.
In fact, the night that he was arrested, Andrew was supposed to be co-hosting a bare-knuckle boxing event in downtown Miami.
Attorney Responds and Extradition Questions
As far as the attorney for the Tates, you have Joseph McBride, who, just a fun fact, also represented January 6 rioters.
You had him coming out with a statement saying:
"The world knows Andrew and Tristan Tate are innocent. Their enemies know it best of all. That is exactly why they have been attacked. Last night, the United Kingdom, a corrupt and fallen nation that jails its own citizens for tweets while ignoring rape gangs it found too inconvenient to prosecute, conjured up a wave of charges against the Tate brothers."
Saying:
"This is not law enforcement. This is a political hit ordered by a dying empire that fears two free men with a microphone more than it fears actual criminals walking in the streets."
Then later on in that same post, he makes what looks like a thinly veiled plea for the Trump administration to save them, saying:
"Our understanding is that this arrest was greenlighted by a low-level functionary at the Department of Justice who never got approval from leadership."
"Think about it. Two men who came to this country openly, lawfully, and peacefully were thrown in a cage on the say-so of a bureaucrat freelancing with the full force of American law enforcement."
But for now, we don't know how this is going to play out.
First, judges have to permit the extradition request from the U.K. Then Marco Rubio has to make it actually happen. And the Tates themselves can challenge that request.
Public Opinion Begins to Shift
The Tates do have supporters who think they've been unfairly prosecuted, with those at one point including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
More recently, many of their allies have stopped publicly defending them.
People like streamer Niko, for example, actually turned against them.
"At the time, I did believe it. I believed that they were innocent. But you look into it more, and you look into what the Loverboy method is, and you look into what that is. They literally said that they were recruiting women to pimp them out. This is how you do it. If you want a girl to fall in love with you so that you could traffic her, buy my course and I'll teach you how. So first you make her fall in love with you. You have sex with her, then you program her. Then you take her passport. Then she's in love with you. Then you put her on OnlyFans."
In the meantime, you've had others like Megyn Kelly and Ben Shapiro stepping up their attacks.
"It was a gigantic mistake for so many people on the right to embrace Andrew Tate just because Andrew Tate was transgressive. There's this thing that has happened, I've talked about it a lot on the show. Obviously I've been talking about it for years, that if somebody is transgressive of leftist orthodoxies, it doesn't matter if they're a complete piece of crap. There's a willingness on the right to then give them extraordinary credibility, even if they're a piece of crap. In fact, sometimes because they are pieces of crap. The worse they are, so long as they're saying transgressive things, this has now been taken as a sign that they ought to be part of the quote-unquote 'our team.'"
And so you have members of the administration who are very close with the Tate brothers.
But there is at least one public figure who has stuck by the Tates' side through thick and thin, and that is Nick Fuentes.
"I don't support the pimp activities. I support what he says politically. And the reason why he is being persecuted has nothing to do with pornography. We have to just say it outright. It's all political. People like Jeffrey Epstein were tolerated. Andrew Tate is pushing political viewpoints for all the people that don't like him on this side that are more red-pilled than almost anybody else that is actually, strictly speaking, in politics. Tate was pushing criticism of the Jews and Israel, goes on major platforms like X Network and others, and criticizes the Jews and Israel and their power..."
And so, yeah, the Tates have some friends, some enemies, and a very uncertain future.
Netanyahu Arrest Comments
But also, speaking on that last part, let me mention another internationally wanted figure who might be facing arrest in the United States, and that is Benjamin Netanyahu.
Because you've got the Israeli prime minister reportedly coming to New York this September for the U.N. General Assembly.
But the mayor, he's not sure whether he's going to let him leave.
"I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He's a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years."
"I've also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York, meaning that whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that's what we will do. But we won't be writing our own laws to that end."
"What does the law allow you to do?"
"That's an active conversation with our legal department in seeing what the prospects are we have here in our municipality. However, what we've seen at the national level is a desire sometimes to write your own laws, to go outside of the bounds of legality. That's not something we have an interest in."
Those were Mamdani's comments to The New York Times, and they provoked, I'll say, quite a response from some of the usual suspects, like Eric Adams and John Fetterman ripping into him.
"What is such a tough guy to say that kind of thing? He has no way to do that, of course. Obviously America is not even part of that corrupt court. And so he's just a clown to even say that. So he won't try that. He'll just sit down and focus on the other problems that they have in New York."
But then also you've got people who are typically more on Mamdani's side of the spectrum, including on Israel, seemingly not too hot about the mayor's comments.
"He can come to the U.N. Assembly. The ICC and ICJ have a legal process. That case will go forward. My bigger concern is how do we get out of this war? You know, I'm not for creating a spectacle. The U.N. is a place that people can come to."
And then, of course, you had Israel's ambassador to the U.N. saying that if anyone should be arrested, it's Zohran Mamdani.
Now, legally speaking, your guess is as good as mine as far as what Mamdani can or will actually do.
As far as 2024, the ICC has a warrant out for Netanyahu's arrest on account of his alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But you've also had Biden and Trump blasting that decision, with Trump even sanctioning the court last year. The U.S. is not a member of it.
Meanwhile, you had Trump making very clear what his position on Mamdani's comments are.
In a Truth Social post today, writing:
"Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested in any way, shape or form while in the United States of America because he is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran."
And adding:
"The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction."
But whether or not Netanyahu.
Whether or not Netanyahu ever faces any consequences for what's happened in Gaza, or honestly just a number of other places, you've got plenty of people who are still paying the price for the war that he started against Iran with Donald Trump.
And that includes now at least three more American troops who have been killed. The Pentagon might be hiding dozens more injuries. And the U.S. and Iran are now back on the verge of an all-out war that could send even more to their deaths, all while you've got another new blockade in the Middle East threatening to send oil and gas prices back up to, and beyond, the highest levels we've seen this year.
More U.S. Troops Killed
But where we'll start is with the latest deaths.
Because on Saturday, you had the Defense Department announcing that two U.S. troops were killed the previous day during Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in Iraq, with U.S. Central Command also revealing that one service member was missing and another four had been medically evacuated to Jordan.
Then, a few hours later, U.S. forces had begun launching new airstrikes against Iran to, quote, "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Iranian forces who launched attacks against American service members."
Then the next day, CENTCOM revealed that a third service member had been killed in northern Iraq during what they called a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone.
And you also had them saying that unidentified remains had been found at the location of the previous attack in Jordan, and that efforts were ongoing to identify them.
So we're still waiting to find out whether they belong to a potential fourth killed service member. Depending on that answer, the total death toll on the U.S. side is now 17 or 18.
Plus, there have been more than 430 injuries.
I do want to be very clear with you, though. That number—it is very possible that number is far higher.
Pentagon Transparency Concerns
And that's because the Pentagon hasn't exactly been transparent.
With that, you have The New York Times reporting today that in the weeks leading up to Friday's deadly attack, Iran actually carried out three other strikes that injured dozens of additional U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters.
A strike at the same facility roughly a day before, for example, injured around a dozen troops, but the Pentagon never came clean about any of that.
That said, you did have one official telling The Times that CENTCOM doesn't have to share information about injured troops, especially when they quickly return to duty.
You also had another arguing that letting Iran know whether its attacks were effective could potentially help it be more accurate and deadly with subsequent attacks.
Ultimately, there may be a real balance to strike between what's known as operational security and the government's obligation to let the public know how the war is going.
You also have the situation where it is very hard to argue that the current administration is striking that balance.
In fact, you have it seeming like the White House has all but given up on keeping the public informed.
There hasn't been a major Pentagon briefing on the war since early June.
Though also, to be clear, even when we were getting those, they still fell far short of the standards that were set in the past.
During the first five weeks of the 2003 Iraq War, for example, the Pentagon held more than 30 press briefings.
During the first six weeks of this current war, the Pentagon held only eight press briefings, which is especially notable for an administration filled with people that love to get on TV.
Political Reaction
Actually, with that, lately you've had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemingly just busier with efforts to boost testosterone levels in troops and crack down on DEI.
Of course, he still does chime in on the Iran war from time to time, with him writing in response to the recent troop deaths:
"Godspeed, heroes! Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve."
Then you have people like former MAGA Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's become one of the fiercest critics of the war, responding:
"Sacrifice? What the fuck are you talking about? They did not willingly sacrifice. They were killed because of the war you, Trump, and the administration are waging on behalf of a foreign country. You mean their deaths fuel your bloodlust for a senseless war."
The Growing Human Cost
Of course, with that, the death toll from this war goes beyond U.S. troops.
You've had Iranian attacks killing at least 60 people in Israel and dozens more in Gulf countries.
Israeli bombing in Lebanon has killed at least 4,000 people.
U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran have reportedly killed at least 3,000.
And you've got Iranian authorities claiming that U.S. attacks just since the collapse of the Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, have killed at least 50 people.
They're also saying that strikes against a desalination plant left 10,000 people without water.
The Collapse of the MOU
Actually, on the note of the MOU, it's been a failure for everyone.
Iran officially announced that it was suspending all of its commitments under the agreement.
With that, you had Trump responding to the news in an interview with NewsNation yesterday by saying that he couldn't care less, echoing dismissive comments that he's made about the MOU already, even though, again, he once claimed that it was a historic deal that would bring peace and security to the entire region.
You also had him talking to reporters about the latest U.S. deaths after the World Cup final yesterday.
"Well, we feel very badly. But you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting so that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. So we'll see what happens. But we hit them very hard again tonight. And we did that in honor of the probably three—it's probably three as opposed to two—great patriots."
Escalation Continues
As far as hitting Iran hard, you had CENTCOM announcing what it said were the ninth consecutive night of strikes against the country, which then, of course, triggered retaliatory strikes from Iran, and around and around we go.
Despite the fact that Iran keeps firing back, you had Trump claiming that they're basically already defeated.
"Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They've lost everything almost militarily. They've got very little left. They've got some missiles, they've got some drones, they've got some manufacturing ability. Not much. We control the Strait. They don't control anything."
But then, even if that's true, it also definitely can't be said that the U.S. controls the Strait.
In fact, the war seems essentially to be all about the Strait rather than Trump's original—and still unmet—objectives from starting this whole war in the first place.
And it actually looks like his attempts to end the war that he started have given Iran a chance to regain its footing.
The MOU, for example, resulted in Trump lifting the U.S. naval blockade and U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil.
That allowed Iran to rake in billions of dollars.
By the time Trump put those measures back in place, Iran had already accumulated money that's now going to allow it to survive this standoff even longer.
New Blockade Threatens Global Economy
The economic pressure on the rest of the world might also be about to increase.
You've got the Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group in Yemen, announcing today that they're imposing a blockade in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another crucial waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Turns out roughly 25% of global container trade passes through there on the way to and from the Suez Canal.
The key thing is that following Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which previously handled roughly one-fifth of the world's oil shipments, Saudi Arabia diverted its supplies to a port on the Red Sea.
So now the bulk of the country's crude oil exports go this way as well.
So while the Houthis say this blockade is targeting Saudi Arabia, it's going to affect everyone.
You've got reports suggesting that a Houthi blockade could affect more than 3% of the global oil supply.
That said, there are questions about whether they can and will follow through.
But also, in the meantime, the global oil price has gone above $90 a barrel for the first time in more than a year.
In the U.S., you've got the national average gas price again climbing above $4 per gallon.
Even if this Houthi blockade doesn't amount to much, continued escalation between the U.S. and Iran is likely to have a similar effect.
Diplomatic Outlook
All while you've got an official with knowledge of the Trump administration's internal discussions reportedly telling The Washington Post that the U.S. is planning for a wider war and that the Pentagon was increasing the number of military aircraft in the region.
That also is a key thing, because its ability to launch more strikes might be limited by dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions.
The U.S. ability to surge more troops and aircraft into the area might also be affected by the damage already taken to military assets and infrastructure in the region.
So you have one official claiming:
"We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don't think the White House is aware of that."
As far as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he's saying that the U.S. is still open to a diplomatic solution, even claiming that Iranian officials continue to send signals that they want to talk and that they want to negotiate.
But then he also said that Iran's current behavior makes it impossible, though he blamed that on divisions between hardliners and reformers in the country.
"It's becoming increasingly apparent that even within their own system they're growing split between those that understand that their economy is in shambles and they need to do something or they're going to be in a lot of trouble very soon economically, domestically, and others who are very militant in their view of life and in their view of the world and continue to launch attacks."
It appears that there is some truth to that.
What is also worth noting is that reports suggest the hardliners are gaining influence, something again that experts and analysts predicted might happen from the very beginning of this war.
And generally, it seems like almost every way that these experts and analysts predicted that this war could be a disaster has been coming true—just on a very weird timeline because of the way this administration has been working.
And then there's more we gotta dive into in just a minute.
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Then, diving right back into the news.
We've got to talk about The Odyssey because, of course, last week you had a lot of right-wingers saying this was going to bomb. It's going to be a nightmare. Nobody's going to go see this woke movie, and it's going to be a box office bust. They're going to make zero money on it.
And it turns out they were right about nothing.
The Box Office Success
The Odyssey crushed.
It broke box office records by making over $260 million worldwide in just its opening weekend. It's Christopher Nolan's biggest debut ever.
In fact, it overperformed studio expectations.
In fact, so much so, seemingly people that were inside of this outrage bubble around this movie were like, "Wait a second. Why were these actors so prominent in the advertising for this film?"
Showing Elliot Page and Lupita Nyong'o, whose screen time clocked in at five and a half minutes and just a little over three and a half minutes.
The obvious answer that a lot of these people didn't realize is they really weren't overly thrown out there.
It was all the culture war outrage machine trying to get people riled up, get views from stuff that was like, "Look at these people," making an issue out of a non-issue.
Critics Reverse Course
In fact, now that the movie is out, even people like Ben Shapiro are conceding that it's a masterpiece.
You can just find video after video showing people waiting in these massive lines.
People saying they've already gone multiple times or booked showtimes at 2:00 in the morning because those were the only IMAX screenings with any seats left.
Even at IMAX, the CEO saying:
"When we look at our presales for the next five weeks, we've sold out shows. An IMAX film in week five for a lot of theaters. So this thing is going to play."
Why the Demand Is So High
Part of the reason there has been such a demand for this movie is the format.
The Odyssey is the first feature film that's been shot entirely on IMAX cameras.
And so with that, you have places like Wired saying:
"Despite the best efforts of some of the world's worst people, you can't just quell the basic human desire to see big-name actors on enormous screens battling enormous monsters and bedding down with witches. You can downvote a trailer, but you cannot downvote the dreams of the larger moviegoing public."
You also have the likes of Vanity Fair arguing that its success breaks the "go woke, go broke" myth.
The Bigger Picture
It feels like everything's on a repetitive cycle.
When the movie bombs, people go, "It proves it."
When it doesn't bomb, people go, "It proves it's not true."
Meanwhile, there are often numerous reasons why a movie will succeed or fail.
But what I will say is I did agree with the article that most normal people are not terminally online, and they were likely, quote, "unaware of this manufactured controversy."
And even if they have heard about it, they certainly aren't letting it influence their viewing habits.
A Strong Summer for Movie Theaters
But also, I will say, looking at the bigger picture, this summer might be the best summer box office since 2019, before the pandemic really interrupted moviegoing and set the industry back.
And while obviously you have a lot of people pointing to The Odyssey, these massive presales, the IMAX demand, it's also been propped up by other movies like Toy Story 5 and unexpected horror hits like Obsession and Back Rooms.
And it's also not over.
Later this summer you've got Spider-Man, which is very likely going to be successful.
So overall, 2026 could be the first year since COVID that the box office crosses $10 billion.
So you've got people wondering: Is this an outlier, or the beginning of a much more positive trend?
Because as far as the industry, it kind of hit its peak in the 2010s when constant blockbusters brought ticket sales above $11 billion for five years straight.
What I will say is this is a step in the right direction for them.
And you have the chief revenue officer of a cinema chain telling The Wall Street Journal:
"We went through five years of pain. Now we're up huge."
And so there's a lot of hope. There's a lot of excitement.
People are going, "How do we keep this trend going?"
Why Theaters Are Rebounding
Well, there you've got places like The Wall Street Journal noting that the studios are just releasing more movies across different genres for different audiences.
So that brings more chances for success.
And those fears that younger generations had kind of just shunned movie theaters forever are starting to die down because they're actually driving the rebound.
You have both Gen Z and Millennials going to the cinema at higher rates than Gen X and Baby Boomers.
One of the interesting things they saw with Gen Z is that while, yes, you have a lot of people complaining about just how expensive it is to go to the movies, it still ends up being way cheaper than another night out—going to concerts, bars, and clubs and stuff like that.
While Gen Z largely isn't as big into drinking, there ends up being kind of a social element to it because it's an opportunity to turn off your phone, hang out with real people in real life, and get away from the internet.
With all that said, we'll see if this trend continues.
And in the meantime, if you saw The Odyssey, what are your thoughts?
I personally saw it over the weekend in an IMAX. I loved it.
I'm going to try to book another screening in the next two weeks to actually see it in 70mm IMAX.
I thought it was pretty great. Pretty fantastic.
I had some friends that agreed. Some disagreed.
I was talking earlier this week with someone that was like, "I give it a six out of ten."
The big thing there is, like, that's fine to me, right?
Entertainment is subjective.
It's the people pre-hating because of a culture war narrative that ends up not even being accurate or true that I think are the losers here.
Like, people who had such a hard take on this, they thought that it was a good substitute for a personality.
But then from that, we need to pivot to a very different subject because I've got a few pieces of ICE-related news that you need to know about.
Explosion Outside Federal Building in New York
Starting with this explosion that just happened outside of a federal building in New York City that houses ICE, immigration courts, the FBI, and numerous other agencies.
And while right now, as I'm filming this, we don't have too many details.
The FBI said that a suspect set off an incendiary device and ignited a fire in front of the building.
You had the agency adding that the suspect was taken into custody and that the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the incident.
According to some local reports, the device consisted of fireworks and a flammable liquid, and the suspect was seen wheeling around a cart with airsoft rifles, additional fireworks, and other materials.
You also had the explosion causing road closures, transit disruptions, and it prompted a larger emergency response, including firefighters who quickly put out the fire that had been started.
Adding to that, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a tweet that two minor injuries had been reported.
Then you also had firefighters telling CBS that four people had minor, non-life-threatening injuries, and one person had been transported to a local hospital.
Now, as far as the suspect, while law enforcement officials had not released any identifying information as of this recording, you did have some local outlets reporting that they had a history of anti-ICE activism and mental health issues.
Some also reported that the suspect held a sign that said, "ICE off our streets."
Right, so in response to this, you had Mayor Zohran Mamdani calling the incident deeply disturbing, noting that his team will support the federal investigation.
And his administration will continue to ensure that every New Yorker is safe in their city and hold accountable anyone who threatens that safety.
FBI Reportedly Ending Investigations Into Assault Claims Against ICE Agents
But also, while the FBI continues to investigate this attack, they reportedly will no longer be allowed to investigate confrontations with ICE agents themselves.
According to The New York Times, FBI managers nationwide were informed of this change in a written notice late last week, and agency officials notified ICE agents the same day.
Specifically, you have sources telling The Times that under the new guidance, the FBI would stop investigating claims of assaults made against ICE agents themselves.
Instead, you'd have those cases likely being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, which is literally just an arm of ICE.
Effectively making it so that the agency will just be allowed to investigate itself whenever one of its agents claims they were assaulted.
Why the Change Matters
It just seems like not only an absolutely massive decision, but an insane one for a few different reasons.
First of all, cases that involve alleged assaults on ICE officers have been an enormous source of tension with both the public at large and inside federal law enforcement agencies themselves.
You've got the White House and Trump's DOJ pressuring prosecutors to bring as many charges as possible against anti-ICE protesters and anyone else who gets in their way.
You've had the administration specifically using a federal law that says felony charges can be brought against anyone who, quote:
"Forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with" federal law enforcement.
Trump officials claiming that under that law, anyone who makes physical contact with an officer should be charged with felony assault.
But also, many of those cases have just fallen apart.
According to a recent analysis by The New York Times, nearly half of the 400 assault cases that have been resolved resulted in charges being tossed or withdrawn, or defendants being acquitted altogether.
Concerns About Accountability
But also, shifting the FBI's investigatory powers to HSI can make it even easier for the administration to bring even more frivolous assault charges.
Because HSI itself is an arm of ICE.
It's a solid bet that it's going to want to be more aggressive in pursuing these cases.
But then there's an even bigger concern: decreasing accountability for agents who themselves are implicated in violent encounters, including ones that are fatal.
Even though assault investigations are intended to determine whether ICE officers were attacked, they can also provide evidence that can be used against agents.
So, for example, when ICE agents have fatally shot people in the past, you had the FBI being tasked with determining whether the officers were assaulted before they fired.
Those investigations can be valuable for future cases against the offending ICE agent, including civil rights probes or possible prosecutions.
Here you've got experts saying that shifting responsibility to HSI would leave a major gap in holding ICE officials accountable.
For one, HSI is going to be less likely to bring charges against its own colleagues in ICE.
But they also don't even have jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations.
So, as The New York Times explains, putting the change into practice would make it far less likely that shootings of unarmed people by ICE agents would be investigated to determine whether the agents broke federal law.
Even beyond all that, HSI isn't usually tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings.
So they don't even have the structure or tools to handle core elements of those cases.
Things like ballistics analysis, forensic processing, large-scale witness canvassing, and other critical investigative work.
DOJ and DHS Response
A big thing here is that both DHS and the DOJ have denied that the policy had actually changed, claiming that the FBI would still be investigating these incidents.
But they also didn't explain why officials in both agencies had been informed otherwise.
ICE Body Camera Policy
But then all of that also brings us to the last ICE-related update for today.
You had Border Czar Tom Homan announcing that the agency will start requiring at least one agent to wear a body camera during traffic stops.
This move, of course, is coming after the back-to-back fatal shootings of two men in Texas and Maine whom ICE agents had attempted to pull over during traffic stops.
Both of whom weren't even the targets that ICE was looking for.
You had, in both of those cases, none of the agents present wearing body cameras.
That, of course, despite the fact that the Trump administration had said it would equip agents with cameras and Congress passed legislation to provide funding for them.
But also, a big thing is it doesn't seem like Homan's reasoning here is because he wants increased accountability for ICE.
"I think the American people need to see what that officer sees and hears. I think it's important. And if you look at the data, body cameras actually exonerate agents more than they provide evidence of wrongdoing."
One, whatever gets these cameras on these ICE agents.
And two, even though it is a win to some degree, that's because the bar is in hell.
We'll then also have to wait and see, in each of these incidents, when the cameras are actually turned on—or off.
Because that is an issue, among many, that we've seen elsewhere.
But then from that, let's dive into the final block today, which is just cramming in more news you need to know as fast as possible.
FDA Clarifies Taylor Farms Test Results
First up, we've got to talk about how, you know that parasite that's given now over 5,000 people explosive, potentially life-threatening diarrhea?
Well, last week you had the FDA saying that Taylor Farms was to blame.
We're now seeing them say there was a false positive.
And, you know, that's gone wild on the internet.
Except that apparently only applies to the one specific shipment of lettuce sent for testing.
So now you're seeing them trying to clarify that Taylor Farms has still been implicated in the investigation, and the concern that led to their voluntary recall is still there.
And while you had the FDA sending them an apology, that's only after the company had to do a national recall of its iceberg lettuce.
So it's only a question of which was hit bigger: their revenue or their reputation.
And, of course, it's not just one company.
Taco Bell has been in the news a lot around this.
They even had to remove some ingredients from menu items and find new suppliers for them.
Cyclospora Outbreak Continues
Then also, of course, you've got the nationwide concern.
You've got record numbers of Cyclospora in 30 different states.
You've got this outbreak making a bad problem even worse.
Because Cyclospora numbers have actually been on the rise for years, stemming from a variety of different causes.
Also, the last big spike you had was back in 2019, with 4,700 cases reported nationwide.
Which is really wild because just in Michigan alone—one of the recent hotspots—they've reported more than 5,000 cases, and you've got more than 2,000 additional probable and suspected cases in other states.
And while, luckily, there have been no deaths reported so far in Michigan, they've had more than 100 hospitalizations, with dozens more reported across the country.
And now, unfortunately, with this FDA update, it feels like it's caused more chaos.
With some people saying this is a public health communications nightmare that we'll study for a long time.
And then finally today, you've got this mom who's been charged with murder.
Except the guy that she killed was a man that she found hiding under her 13-year-old daughter's bed.
You've got Memphis police saying this woman's daughter snuck this man, 20-year-old Roderick Morton, into the house around 1:00 a.m. through the back door.
At this point, you've got the mom, Kendra Scott, not actually home.
She's at work.
Also, according to neighbors, there are other kids as young as two years old in the house while all this is happening.
Then 30 minutes later, you have Scott showing up, and seemingly she just knows that he's in there.
She's reportedly pounding on the front door saying, "Who's at my house?"
She's holding the gun.
Apparently Scott had warned her daughter before that, "If I see a boy in my house, I will put a hole in his ass."
And then she did exactly that.
The Shooting
You have her finding Morton under the bed.
He runs to leave, bolts out the front door, and that is when Scott shoots him in the back on the porch, killing him.
You've got her now charged with first-degree murder because the cops say that does not count as self-defense.
Tennessee does have the Castle Doctrine, which protects someone from being criminally prosecuted if they use force against an intruder, as long as that person is violently threatening them.
Public Debate
But also, if you look online, this case is really dividing people.
Some say, yeah, she went too far.
She could have just called the cops.
But others are saying she was completely justified.
Arguing this was a grown man sneaking his way into a house with multiple young girls, and she didn't know what he was doing to them behind locked doors.
But as far as Scott, she reportedly told police:
"I did what I had to do."
We're going to have to wait to see if the charges stick because this is first-degree murder.
So prosecutors are arguing that it was premeditated.
As you can expect, they're going to use Scott's past comments against her.
But Scott's defense, at the very least, is going to be arguing that this was a heat-of-the-moment situation.
Closing
But then, my friend, you beautiful bastard, that is the end of your Monday show.
But I've actually also got a bonus video for you today that I'm releasing on the News Clips channel here on YouTube.
We dive into the stock market stabbing, what the Senate got wrong, and also this other fantastic video.
But hey, thank you for watching.
I love yo' faces.
And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.