The U.S. Secret Service-involved shooting of a man with a shotgun inside the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago over the weekend brought the Department of Homeland Security’s partial shutdown into new focus.

Two USSS agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy confronted and later shot and killed Austin Martin, 21, who authorities said slipped through a vehicular exit gate that had opened for a car before brandishing his weapon.

‘They confronted a white male that was carrying a gas can and a shotgun. He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him – at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position… the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat,’ according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Those agents are among the many working their dangerous jobs without pay due to the ongoing partial shutdown of DHS, which Republicans say was brought on by Democrats’ demands that ICE, which remains funded through other means, be reformed.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who represents Daytona Beach just up the coast from Mar-a-Lago, said the incident proves the bravery of the Secret Service no matter the circumstances.

‘The attempted assassination of President Trump at Mar-a-Lago is a stark reminder of growing leftist political violence in our country,’ Fine said in a statement.

‘Grateful to the Secret Service who neutralized the terrorist. Even as Democrats refuse to pay them because of their shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, these men and women continue to stand their post.’

Top White House aide Stephen Miller offered an even more pointed response to the dynamic:

‘Democrats voted to defund Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations (who partner with Secret Service) and all the intelligence and law enforcement functions that support Secret Service,’ Miller said.

‘Never before in history has federal law enforcement been purposefully defunded.’

House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams of Texas added that Americans should take note of the agents who responded whether paid or not.

‘As we continue to learn more about the armed man at Mar-a-Lago this morning, we must remember that the brave agents who responded are serving our country without pay due to the Democrat-led shutdown,’ Williams, R-Texas, said.

Prior to the incident, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., warned that the Secret Service and other agencies like FEMA would be put in a bad spot if the partial shutdown went forward.

‘Democrats are prioritizing illegal immigrant criminals ahead of the safety of the American people,’ he said in a February 12 floor speech.

At least one Democrat did react to the agent-involved shooting.

Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, for whom Trump is technically a constituent at his Mar-a-Lago address, said that ‘political violence is never the answer.’

‘Thank you to the Secret Service and Palm Beach County law enforcement for their swift response today and for their continued work in keeping the president safe,’ Frankel said.

The Northeast blizzard presents separate challenges for resource-suspended agencies like FEMA, while certain Homeland Security-run services, such as TSA escorts for members of Congress, are also suspended.

Fox News’ Elise Oggioni contributed to this report.

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Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has settled into a grinding conflict defined by high casualties and incremental territorial shifts. Russia still controls roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, while Kyiv has recently clawed back limited ground in counteroffensives. Military estimates put Russian losses at about 1.2 million casualties since 2022, with Ukrainian losses between 500,000 and 600,000, underscoring the scale of attrition on both sides.

Diplomacy has intensified alongside the fighting. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last August for high-stakes talks aimed at advancing negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has traveled to Washington multiple times since Trump returned to office, including a contentious Oval Office meeting in Feb. 2025 and a follow-up visit later in the year.

The most recent U.S. engagement with both sides came during trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi earlier this year and more taking place in Geneva on Feb. 17–18, where special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian and Ukrainian delegations as part of ongoing efforts to broker a settlement.

As the war enters its fifth year, former officials and analysts say the next phase could unfold along three possible paths: prolonged stalemate, shifting Ukrainian momentum, or a dangerous erosion of Western resolve.

Scenario one: Prolonged stalemate

The most immediate trajectory is continuation. The war remains defined by attrition, with neither side delivering a decisive blow and negotiations producing little progress.

Ret. U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, former NATO supreme allied commander of Europe, said Moscow is not winning despite its territorial hold, ‘There isn’t a winner right now.’

‘Russia, supposedly a world superpower with one of the world’s probably top three world armies and top four world air forces, in 12 years has gained about 20% of Ukraine. And they have lost some, say, over 1.2 million in the conflict so far. It’s a conflict that Ukraine is working hard to manage. It’s also a conflict that Russia is not, I repeat, not winning,’ he said.

Scenario two: Ukrainian momentum reshapes diplomacy

Recent battlefield developments suggest another possibility. Breedlove pointed to rapid Ukrainian gains following disruptions in Russia’s command-and-control systems.

‘In the last three or four days, because of the loss of the Starlink command and control system, Ukraine launched an offensive, and they have snatched back months of Russian gains in three days, three-pronged push, hundreds of square miles regained, and Russia is backing up in several places right now.’

Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition, said such advances could shift leverage at the negotiating table. ‘Ukraine’s recent advances to recapture its territory is yet another signal that Putin’s war machine is continuing to atrophy as the world marks the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Russia’s latest territorial losses shows that far from being invincible, Putin and his army are beginning to experience real failures in terms of capability and resources.’

She added that momentum matters. ‘Not only is this the most significant Ukrainian advance on the battlefield in more than two years, its importance may be felt even more concretely at the diplomatic table. Finding a lasting and equitable peace deal through negotiation is often about momentum – and right now the Ukrainians have it.’

If sustained, such gains could alter Moscow’s calculations and give Kyiv a stronger footing in negotiations as long as Ukraine has strong U.S. support, Breedlove argues, ‘The first thing and the most important thing Ukraine needs is a declaratory statement by the West and specifically by the United States that we are not going to allow Russia to win in Ukraine, and we will give Ukraine what it needs to stop Russia… where Putin hears it loud and clear and where the people of Russia hear it loud and clear that is a game changer. And I think that’s when Mr. Putin is going to have to make some tough decisions.’

Scenario three: Escalation or Western fatigue

A third path worries some Western strategists: that inconsistent support could prolong or tilt the conflict in Russia’s favor.

Heather Nauert, who served as spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State from 2017 to 2019, framed the war as more than a territorial dispute. ‘As we now enter the fifth year of Putin’s war in Ukraine, we’re reminded that this conflict has never been only about territory — it’s about identity, faith, and the future of a free nation. Russia has destroyed more than 600 churches, persecuted millions of Ukrainian Christians under occupation, and abducted more than 19,000 children in an effort to break Ukraine’s spirit. President Trump’s push for a lasting peace must be backed by strength and accountability – one that protects innocent lives, defends religious freedom and brings stolen children home.’

Ret. Lt. Gen. Richard Newton said deterrence remains central. ‘Four years into this horrific war, the fundamental lesson remains unchanged: Peace is only possible when strength shapes the terms. Putin will continue to savagely test our resolve until the costs of his aggression outweigh any possible gain.’

‘What Ukraine needs isn’t gestures from the world, but instead, unwavering support from the U.S. and Europe that convinces Moscow further advances carry unacceptable consequences,’ he argued. ‘Russia must not prevail against Ukraine and the West. What are needed are credible security guarantees, robust offensive and defensive capabilities and a unified, long-term commitment by the West to ensure deterrence isn’t an elusive goal, but a lasting reality.’

Breedlove warned that negotiations alone will not shift the balance. ‘The most dangerous scenario is that we do not do what we should do in Ukraine and Russia takes over Ukraine because they’re not done.We have a policy of peace through strength and we’re using it in Iran. We’ve used it in Venezuela. We’re using it with oil tankers around the world… But when it comes to Putin and Ukraine, we are peace through weakness.’

‘Mr. Putin is making a point that he’s in charge in Ukraine, not the West and certainly not America. And so we need to change that dynamic. You got good guys and you got bad guys. And right now the bad guys have told America to take a hike. So now, rather than telling them what to do, we are going to the good guys and saying, you have to give up more because the bad guys are not playing well in the sandbox. That’s peace through weakness, not peace through strength,’ Breedlove concluded.

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As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its fourth year since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer referred to the ongoing conflict as ‘the most critical issue of our age,’ according to a press release announcing additional UK assistance for Ukraine.

‘On this grim anniversary, our message to the Ukrainian people is simple: Britain is with you, stronger than ever. That is why we are announcing new support today and we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,’ Starmer said, according to the press release.

‘For all the noise in world affairs today, this war remains the most critical issue of our age. It asks the question of whether Ukrainian and European freedom will endure. Our answer, together, is unequivocal. Russia is not winning this war. They will not win this war. Ukraine’s courage continues to hold the line for our shared values, in the face of Putin’s aggression,’ Starmer continued. ‘We will stand by their side, until a just and lasting peace – and beyond. Slava Ukraini.’

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested that the Western World is ‘pussyfooting around.’

‘Putin will not stop the slaughter until he faces much greater pressure. So for heaven’s sake let’s get on with it. Impound his entire shadow fleet. Unfreeze all his frozen assets and give them to Ukraine. Give the Ukrainians the weapons they need to take out all the Russian drone factories. Do all of it now. Putin will not negotiate sincerely until he feels he has no choice,’ Johnson wrote in a post on X.

‘The Ukrainians fight like heroes while we in the West pussyfoot and delay. The West can end the war this year — if we stop pussyfooting around,’ he said.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been attempting to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.

In its statement, the UK government said the country’s security is closely tied to Ukraine’s fate and outlined new assistance, including £20 million (about $27 million) in emergency energy funding to help repair and protect Ukraine’s power grid and expand generation capacity.

The package also includes £5.7 million (around $7.7 million) in humanitarian aid for frontline communities, including people requiring evacuation and those affected by airstrikes or internal displacement, according to the release.

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A deadly confrontation at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend is the latest in a string of high-profile security incidents involving President Donald Trump, as former Secret Service officials warn that low-tech, lone actors now pose one of the toughest challenges to presidential protection.

‘It should be quite clear to all of us by now that Trump is the most threatened president in the history of the U.S.,’ former Secret Service agent William ‘Bill’ Gage told Fox News Digital Monday, pointing to multiple high-profile incidents in recent years. Unlike past presidencies, where threat levels often subsided over time, Gage said, ‘the longer he’s president, the more these attacks keep happening.’

Gage said the most difficult cases to prevent are often the least sophisticated. The recent incidents, he noted, were ‘super low-tech attacks by people with zero training,’ using rudimentary weapons. ‘If you were standing behind them in line at Starbucks, you wouldn’t have given them a second look,’ he said.

Gage said the threat landscape shifted over the course of his 12-year career as a Secret Service agent. When he joined the Secret Service in 2002, he said the agency was moving away from what he described as the traditional ‘lone gunman’ model — figures like Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated John F. Kennedy, or international militants such as ‘Carlos the Jackal,’ one of the world’s most wanted terrorists in the ’70s and 80s — and adapting to a post-9/11 world focused on coordinated terrorist networks like al Qaeda and later ISIS.

‘But if you look at Butler and the two incidents at Mar-a-Lago, those were super low-tech attacks,’ Gage said. ‘The low-tech actors are the ones that tend to slip through the cracks.’

He also warned of a potential copycat effect when details of such incidents become public. 

‘If it were up to the Secret Service, they would never report any of these incidents ever,’ Gage said, arguing that widespread coverage allows others to ‘study what happened’ and attempt to refine it. 

In today’s hyperconnected political climate, he said, that dynamic adds another layer of complexity for agents trying to stop the next threat before it materializes.

In the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, a 21-year-old man identified as Austin Tucker Martin of North Carolina was shot and killed by U.S. Secret Service agents and a local sheriff’s deputy after entering the secure perimeter of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Authorities say Martin drove through the north gate carrying a shotgun and a gasoline can. After being ordered to drop both, he dropped the can but raised the shotgun toward officers, who fired and killed him at the scene. Trump and First lady Melania Trump were in Washington at the time.

The incident marked the third highly publicized security encounter involving Trump in less than two years. In July 2024, a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s ear and killing an attendee before being shot by a Secret Service sniper. In September 2024, a man armed with a rifle was confronted by agents near Trump’s golf course while he was playing; that suspect was later convicted on attempted assassination charges.

While the incidents have drawn intense attention, former Deputy Assistant Director Don Mihalek said the latest Mar-a-Lago intrusion does not necessarily signal a breakdown in protective systems.

‘He got through an exterior gate of an active club,’ Mihalek told Fox News Digital. ‘This wasn’t someone reaching the president’s residence.’ Agents confronted the suspect within seconds, he said, describing the rapid response as evidence that overlapping security layers functioned as designed.

Mihalek said presidential protection relies on multiple rings of security because outer perimeters at properties like Mar-a-Lago cannot be sealed in the same way as the White House. ‘If he ended up in the president’s house on Mar-a-Lago, that might be a different conversation,’ he said.

He also cautioned against viewing recent incidents in isolation, noting that presidents routinely face roughly 2,000 threats per year, most of which are mitigated before the public ever becomes aware of them. ‘These just happen to be very public instances,’ Mihalek said, arguing that the social media era amplifies perceptions of escalation.

Mihalek pointed to last summer’s rally shooting in Butler as an example of how early intervention can be decisive, noting that local law enforcement had reportedly identified the suspect prior to the attack. ‘If somebody had walked up and said, ‘Hey, who are you?’ we wouldn’t be talking about Butler,’ he said.

As Trump prepares to address Congress at the State of the Union, both former officials said the security posture at the Capitol is unlikely to change in response to the weekend incident.

The annual address is designated a National Special Security Event — the highest level of federal security planning — triggering coordination among the Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, War Department and other agencies. The designation allows for expanded perimeter controls, airspace restrictions and continuity-of-government planning.

Gage, who previously led advance planning for State of the Union addresses, said the event operates under a well-established security ‘blueprint’ built to account for worst-case scenarios. ‘There’s really no way to increase it anymore,’ he said.

Both former officials said the defining challenge for presidential protection today is unpredictability: individuals with minimal training, rudimentary weapons and the ability to find reinforcement online. Unlike organized extremist networks, such actors may leave few detectable signals before acting.

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The UK government is set to unseal a first batch of key documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the U.S., MPs were told Monday.

The disclosure, set for ‘early March,’ follows a Commons motion ordering the release of files related to Mandelson’s vetting for the post and comes in the wake of his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

‘The government expects to be able to publish the first tranche of documents very shortly, in early March,’ Darren Jones, chief secretary to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, told the House of Commons.

‘I should, however, inform the House that it remains the case that a subset of this first tranche of documents is currently subject to the ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation,’ he said.

Jones added that ‘a small portion of that material engages matters of national security or international relations’ and would be handled through the Intelligence and Security Committee, in line with the will of the House.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed in a statement Monday that officers had arrested a 72-year-old man at an address in Camden and took him to a London police station for questioning.

The arrest follows revelations about Mandelson’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and comes days after former Prince Andrew was detained.

The investigation relates to allegations that Mandelson shared confidential government information with Epstein while serving as business secretary.

Police had opened a criminal inquiry after the government passed on communications between the former ambassador and the disgraced financier.

Emails released by the U.S. Department of Justice also appeared to show Mandelson sharing market-sensitive information with Epstein during the 2008 financial crisis.

Mandelson has denied wrongdoing and said he does not recall the alleged disclosures and apologized to Epstein’s victims for maintaining contact with him after his conviction.

On Feb. 4, Starmer told the Commons: ‘I’m as angry as anyone about what Mandelson has been up to. The disclosures … are utterly shocking and appalling. He has betrayed our country. He has lied repeatedly. He is responsible for a litany of deceit.’

Starmer later said that if he had known then what he knows now, Mandelson ‘would never have been anywhere near government.’

Mandelson, an architect of New Labour, was appointed U.S. ambassador before being dismissed in September 2025 as scrutiny over his links to Epstein intensified. 

He resigned from the Labour Party and stepped down from the House of Lords.

As U.S. ambassador, Mandelson scored an early victory by ensuring Britain was the first country to agree to a deal with the U.S. to lower some of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but was fired a few months later.

Starmer has also faced calls to step down over Mandelson’s appointment, Reuters reported.

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Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., is using President Donald Trump’s State of the Union to send a message to critics of an X post he made about choosing ‘between dogs and Muslims.’

Fine’s guest to Trump’s primetime address will be his father, Alan Fine, along with his father’s seeing-eye service dog, Sadie. 

‘I think it’s also important, given the issues that I burst into the public consciousness last week, to talk about the importance of our dogs as Americans,’ Fine told Fox News Digital on Monday. ‘My father’s seeing-eye dog is part of our family and allows him to live his life, and I’m going to fight like hell against anyone who wants to take it away.’

The dog will be outfitted with a shirt that reads, ‘Don’t tread on me,’ which has become Fine’s rallying cry against the outpouring of rage from Democrats over his controversial X post.

Last week, Fine shared a screenshot from X of Palestinian Muslim activist Nerdeen Kiswani writing, ‘Finally, NYC is coming to Islam. Dogs definitely have a place in society, just not as indoor pets. Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.’

Fine wrote on the platform in response, ‘If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.’

It prompted an outpouring of criticism from House Democrats, with calls ranging from a censure to Fine’s outright ouster from Congress.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., posted on X, ‘House Democrats will not let the racist and bigoted behavior of Randy Fine go unchecked. Accountability is coming to all of these sick extremists when the gavels change hands in November, if not sooner.’

The Florida Republican responded to the criticism by questioning the lack of widespread outrage when a member of the House Democratic Caucus, nonvoting Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., was found to have been texting Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing, and when Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., was accused of misusing COVID-19 pandemic funds.

‘I think the same people that don’t have a problem with a member of Congress texting Jeffrey Epstein, the same members of Congress who don’t have a problem with a member who stole $5 million of money that was supposed to go to people suffering from natural disasters … somehow have a problem with a member of Congress who says Americans have a right to have a dog and if people don’t like it, they can leave,’ Fine said. ‘So they can shove it.’

Kiswani has since posted that her initial comment was meant to be a joke and called Fine’s X post ‘genocidal.’

But he has dug in since then, even introducing a resolution to Congress called the ‘Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act.’

His father, Alan Fine, said he was eager to see his son on the House floor as a member of Congress.

‘I’m actually more excited to be here to watch my son,’ he said. ‘More to see him than the president, to be quite honest. I guess that’s because I’m a Jewish father.’

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A Republican lawmaker is teaming up with outspoken detransitioner Chloe Cole to push federal legislation that would block gender-related medical procedures for minors, saying that children are being rushed into receiving treatments with life-altering results.

The Chloe Cole Act is being introduced on Monday as federal legislation aimed at protecting minors from gender-related medical procedures. 

Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., who is behind the bill, has a medical degree and is sounding the alarm over the impact that gender-related treatments can have on minors. The congressman told Fox News Digital that his bill will not only protect minors from these treatments, but will also give children and parents the right to hold medical professionals accountable in court.

‘We know that in the last 15 years, the transgender movement has convinced tens of thousands of boys and girls that they are born in the wrong body…. And then a chain of transgender clinics has exploited these kids for the ideology and for the profit and really done permanent damage to the health of those kids with wrong sex hormones, puberty blockers and even mutilating surgeries,’ Onder told Fox News Digital.

The congressman said the Chloe Cole Act arises from President Donald Trump’s January 2025 order titled, ‘Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.’ The order encouraged lawmakers to ‘work to draft, propose, and promote legislation to enact a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.’ The order noted that statutes of limitations for these cases should be ‘lengthy.’

Cole, who has become a prominent detransition advocate, told Fox News Digital that the legislation is ‘a vital step in our mission to ensure that no minor in America ever endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage I experienced.’

‘While we’ve made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over. Too many children remain at risk of irreversible harm from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures pushed on them before they can fully understand the consequences,’ Cole said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital.

‘We must finish what we’ve started and safeguard the next generation from these experimental and barbaric treatments,’ she added.

A recent legal judgment in New York has provided advocates like Cole some hope in holding medical providers accountable. Recently, a jury awarded 22-year-old Fox Varian $2 million in damages after she sued a plastic surgeon who performed a double mastectomy on her when she was a teenager. Varian’s lawsuit was also aimed at her psychologist. The New York Times noted that Varian claimed the 2019 double mastectomy left her disfigured. Varian, like Cole, was born female and at one point identified as a man. She is now undergoing the detransition process.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has previously expressed support for providing minors with gender-related medical treatment.

‘The AAP and other major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization — support giving transgender adolescents access to the health care they need,’ a 2023 statement from the AAP read. ‘The AAP opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.’

Cole celebrated the judgment, and said in a Fox News Digital op-ed: ‘There are so many other young people like us. We were lied to by doctors, nurses and therapists when we were vulnerable and confused children. They did irreversible harm to our bodies and minds, making a mockery of the medical profession. They should absolutely be held accountable for sacrificing us in service to radical transgender ideology.’

In her op-ed, Cole brought up a subject that Onder also touched on during his interview with Fox News Digital: the prevalence of medical professionals warning parents that their child could harm themselves or even commit suicide if they are not allowed to undergo the procedures.

‘Those parents are being lied to,’ Onder said. ‘The words I hear quoted over and over again, by Chloe, by Luka Hein, by others, is that their parents were told, ‘Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?’ implying that the risk of suicide is approaching 100%, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is an utter lie,’ Onder said.

The congressman lambasted the industry behind gender-related medical procedures, wondering if children were being pushed into the surgeries because of ‘sick ideology’ or a ‘desire for profit.’

‘Parents are being lied to, the transgender clinics and the transgender doctors are making off with a lot of money. It’s really a despicable development in American medicine. And as a physician, I look forward to the day where it’s in our rearview mirror and no longer are kids being exploited,’ the congressman added.

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Government documents reveal the fall of drug kingpin ‘El Mencho’ over the weekend was the culmination of an aggressive, more than yearlong strategy of ‘total elimination’ pursued by the Trump administration against the ruthless Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which is present in almost all 50 U.S. states.

Ruben ‘Nemesio’ Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho,’ the leader of the CJNG, was killed Sunday in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, Mexico, authorities said. Though the operation was carried out by Mexican forces, the United States laid the groundwork, making El Mencho’s fall possible.

On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate several cartels and international criminal groups ‘foreign terrorist organizations’ (FTOs), a designation unlocking military-grade surveillance and ‘material support’ prosecutions. Though lesser known than MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, CJNG was one of the groups designated an FTO by the administration.

Shortly after Trump’s executive order, on Feb. 5, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a policy memorandum to all Department of Justice employees, announcing a ‘fundamental change in mindset and approach’ to cartels and transnational criminal organizations to a policy of ‘total elimination.’ 

Rather than simply seeking to mitigate the harms of cartel activity, Bondi said the DOJ would be suspending red tape to ’empower federal prosecutors throughout the country to work urgently with the Department of Homeland Security and other parts of the government toward the goal of eliminating these threats to U.S. sovereignty.’

The memo said the DOJ would be prioritizing cartel managers and leaders.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment, CJNG is one of the most ruthless cartels in Mexico and a key supplier of fentanyl to the U.S., making it ‘one of the most significant threats to the public health, public safety, and national security of the United States.’

The DEA said CJNG operates vast distribution networks within the U.S., with associates, facilitators and affiliates operating in ‘almost all 50 U.S. states.’ The DEA also said CJNG has been increasing its involvement in non-drug crime, including extortion, taxing human smuggling and fraud schemes.

A 2019 DOJ statement to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs states that CJNG is ‘one of the most powerful and fastest growing cartels’ and operates key drug distribution hubs in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The Department of National Intelligence estimates the group has approximately 15,000–20,000 members.

Recognizing the threat posed by CJNG, the administration announced major results just over one month after Trump’s inauguration. On Feb. 27, Bondi announced the U.S. had secured the extradition of 29 high-ranking cartel leaders from Mexico, including top-tier CJNG leaders, a key money broker and a family member of El Mencho. Among those extradited and charged was Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as ‘Tony Montana,’ El Mencho’s brother, who was charged in the District of Columbia for his alleged leadership role in the cartel.

On March 7, El Mencho’s son and heir apparent, Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez, known as ‘El Menchito,’ was sentenced in Washington, D.C., to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered to forfeit $6 billion in drug proceeds. El Menchito had been extradited to the U.S. during the first Trump administration in 2020.

The next week, on March 15, the president again upped the ante against the cartels by designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, authorizing the use of advanced military assets for supply-side interdiction at the border. The move had a major impact on CJNG’s drug smuggling operations.

June was another high-impact month in the fight against CJNG. El Mencho’s brother-in-law, José González Valencia, ‘La Chepa,’ was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Another high-ranking leader, José González Valencia, co-founder of the CJNG’s financial wing ‘Los Cuinis,’ was also sentenced to 30 years.

The same month, the Treasury Department used the FEND Off Fentanyl Act for the first time to cut off three major Mexican banks, CIBanco, Intercam and Vector, from the U.S. dollar system for allegedly laundering CJNG funds.

In August, the administration secured the extradition of another 26 high-ranking cartel leaders from Mexico, including Abigael González Valencia, another brother-in-law of El Mencho known as ‘El Cuini,’ who was the head of a major money-laundering organization for the cartel.

Not letting up, the next month, the DEA and Department of Homeland Security launched a massive, nationwide weeklong operational surge targeting CJNG distribution networks. The effort led to 670 arrests and the seizure of $18 million in currency and $29 million in assets. The operation also resulted in the seizure of 92.4 kilograms of fentanyl powder and 1,157,672 counterfeit fentanyl pills.

Announcing the seizures, DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said the administration ‘is targeting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as what it is—a terrorist organization—at every level, from its leadership to its distribution networks and everyone in between.’

‘Let this serve as a warning,’ said Cole at the time. ‘DEA will not relent … This focused operation is only the beginning — we will carry this fight forward together until this threat is defeated.’

By the end of 2025, the DEA was reporting that it had seized a total of 47 million fentanyl pills, enough to represent more than 369 million lethal doses, from cartel smugglers, including CJNG.

At the start of 2026, the administration again increased its targeting of CJNG and other cartels. The Department of War established the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JIATF-CC) under U.S. Northern Command as the ‘next step’ in the whole-of-government approach to ‘identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the U.S.-Mexico border.’

On Feb. 19, just 72 hours before the Tapalpa raid, the Treasury sanctioned Kovay Gardens, a CJNG-controlled resort in Puerto Vallarta, cutting off a $300 million revenue stream flowing into the cartel’s coffers.

Following the raid, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the U.S. provided intelligence support to the Mexican government to assist in the operation.

Leavitt added that Trump ‘has been very clear the United States will ensure narcoterrorists … are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved.’

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U.S. policy is often reported through announcements, personalities, and regulatory skirmishes. Far less attention is paid to the economic mechanisms that actually move structures and determine outcomes.

To understand how the White House is organizing a multi-pronged strategy for AI adoption and export, and how its pieces are meant to work together in practice, I had an exclusive sit down with Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The fundamental issue you speak about at the summit is the widening AI adoption gap between the developed and developing world. What makes that a concern for the White House right now?

The divergence in AI adoption between developed and developing countries is growing every day. We see the world in two broad categories, and different tools are needed for each.

Developing countries are at risk of falling behind at a fundamental inflection point. That is why we urge them to prioritize AI adoption in sectors that deliver concrete benefits: healthcare, education, energy infrastructure, agriculture, and citizen-facing government services.

For too long, countries seeking development support faced a false choice. We believe the American AI Exports Program offers a different path: trusted best-in-class technology, financing to overcome adoption barriers, and deployment support so governments can learn how and where to use these tools.

America remains the undisputed leader in AI, from GPUs to data centers to frontier models and applications. That leadership brings with it a responsibility to share the foundations of a new era of innovation. We stand ready to work with partners around the world so creativity, freedom, and prosperity shape today’s technological revolution.

A lot of governments say they want AI leadership. Your delegation came in talking about real AI sovereignty, rejecting global governance, and launching an export program with multiple prongs. What is fundamentally different about this approach, and how should countries understand the system you’re building?

The hope of the United States is that the pursuit of real AI sovereignty, the adoption and deployment of sovereign infrastructure, sovereign data, sovereign models, and sovereign policies within national borders and under national control, will become an occasion for bilateral diplomacy, international development, and global economic dynamism. The American AI Exports Program exists to make that happen.

Real AI sovereignty means owning and using best-in-class technology for the benefit of your people, and charting your national destiny in the midst of global transformations. We urge nations to focus on strategic autonomy alongside rapid AI adoption rather than aiming for full self-sufficiency. AI adoption cannot lead to a brighter future if it is subject to bureaucracies and centralized control.

We deeply believe that the best pathway for the developing world to fully realize the untold benefits of AI is through the adoption of the American AI stack. The American AI stack has the best chips, the best models, and the best applications in the world, and that is what countries ultimately need to deploy AI effectively.

When you say the American AI stack, are you talking about selling products, or shaping the foundation on which countries build while keeping sensitive data under national control?

Working with the American AI stack allows nations to build on the best technologies in the world while keeping sensitive data within their borders. Independent partners are critical to unlocking the prosperity AI adoption can deliver. That is why the President launched the American AI Exports Program.

American companies can build large, independent AI infrastructure with secure and robust supply chains that minimize backdoor risk. They build it, and it belongs to the country deploying it.

If this is an adoption strategy, then cost and complexity become the bottlenecks. Your public remarks emphasize financing and deployment sophistication as the two biggest hurdles for developing countries. How are you actually removing those barriers?

Developing countries face two major obstacles to AI adoption. One is financing. The AI stack is expensive. Through the energy and material demands of its infrastructure, it brings the digital transformation of our world back into physical reality. Data centers, semiconductors, power production all require real labor and real resources.

The second barrier is a deficit in the technical sophistication needed to deploy AI tools effectively. To address this, we announced a U.S. government-wide suite of support initiatives to facilitate global adoption of trusted AI systems, create a competitive and interoperable AI ecosystem, and advance the American AI Exports Program in both developed and developing partner nations.

Spell out that suite. What are the prongs, capital, integration, standards, execution, and which agencies are being activated?

We unveiled a new set of initiatives across the federal government supporting the American AI Exports Program, which was launched by executive order last July.

The first new initiative within it is the National Champions Initiative. It is designed to include the leading technology companies of partner countries directly into the American AI stack. We want the best technologies from all our partners and allies to be part of that ecosystem wherever the American AI stack goes.

The second is a full suite of financing and funding opportunities. We are mobilizing support through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Export Import Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and a new World Bank fund, with additional programs launched by Treasury and other parts of the U.S. government. The message is simple: this is serious. Every possible financing avenue is being brought to bear.

The third is the creation of the U.S. Tech Corps. It is a reimagining of how the Peace Corps can make an impact in the modern era. We are seeking Americans with technical backgrounds who can help deploy American technology abroad, because there is no better tool to drive economic development, health improvements, and quality of life gains than AI.

And finally, we believe one of the fastest ways to drive global adoption is through standards, particularly as the next wave of innovation centers on AI agents. How those agents communicate and coordinate their actions will benefit from unified standards, which is why NIST has launched a dedicated initiative.

The National Champions Initiative is easy to misunderstand. Critics hear American stack and assume dependency. Your framing suggests the opposite, integrating partner champions so countries do not have to choose between importing the stack and building domestic capability. Is that the point?

Exactly. To integrate partner nation companies with the American AI stack and ensure that no country has to choose between completing the stack and developing domestic AI, we established the National Champions Initiative. Partners need the opportunity to build native technology industries, and facilitating that is a core part of the exports program.

You have also criticized previous U.S. approaches to AI diffusion for restricting partners. What did that get wrong strategically?

The previous approach treated partners as second-tier actors with significant restrictions on access to advanced technology. That was a lose-lose AI diplomacy strategy. It cut off partners from the best technology and limited American companies from competing globally.

Under President Trump, the United States is rethinking how it advances international development and how technology can deliver lasting impact. We believe both developed and developing countries can build sovereign AI capability if given the chance.

Let’s talk about the Tech Corps, because it would be easy to dsmiss it as a feel-good addition. In your model, it sounds like an execution layer. What would these teams actually do on the ground?

These will be like Peace Corps volunteers, except the focus is on technology. We are looking for people with technical backgrounds who want to help implement AI solutions.

If a country wants to improve agriculture through precision farming, apply AI to healthcare systems to improve hospital efficiency, or modernize digital public services, American technologists through the Tech Corps and the Peace Corps will be able to support those efforts.

A lot of young people today care deeply about real-world impact. What is special about this moment is that the United States has incredible technology, the best chips, models, and applications, and we are being more deliberate about sharing it.

You put unusual emphasis on AI agents and interoperability. Why does the White House see standards as a strategic lever now?

The next wave of AI innovation over the next year or two will center on agents. How those agents communicate and orchestrate their actions would benefit greatly from unified standards. NIST has launched an initiative to develop standards for agents so these systems can interoperate securely and effectively.

You also linked this export architecture to supply chains, from chips to data centers to power and minerals. Where does Pax Silica fit? Is it the hard backbone complement to the adoption layer?

Pax Silica is a broader alliance focused on supply chain challenges that the United States and many partner nations have faced. It is a small, select group of countries working together to alleviate these challenges. India is a tremendous addition.

AI adoption depends on secure physical inputs. The AI stack is tangible: data centers, semiconductors, power generation. Pax Silica helps address those vulnerabilities while the exports program accelerates adoption. They are complementary.

Since India hosted the summit and joined Pax Silica, what role do you see for India within this strategy?

India is a technology powerhouse. It graduates an incredible number of engineers, has deep domestic talent, and is building strong products and applications. We look forward to working with them.

India has long been a strong partner in how the United States shares technology abroad. Our major hyperscalers have data centers and research operations here and employ large numbers of Indian engineers. We believe many Indian companies can ultimately become part of the American AI stack.

When critics frame this as being about China, you resist that characterization. How does the administration view competition?

We do not see this as being about any one competitor. This is about the fact that the United States has the best AI technology in the world, and many countries want it in their ecosystems. We are excited to share it and build mutually beneficial partnerships globally.

The father and brother of a young woman killed by an illegal immigrant will be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night watching President Donald Trump deliver his State of the Union address, after his administration helped track down the man who ended the woman’s life.

Sarah Root, a 21-year-old Iowa native, was killed in Nebraska hours after she graduated from Bellevue University by a drunk driver whose blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit.

The man, Eswin Mejia, was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the incident in January 2016. He was arrested and released on bond the following month and fled the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Then-candidate Trump was critical of the Obama administration’s handling of the case.

The Trump administration later tracked Mejia down in Honduras and extradited him to the U.S. in March 2025. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.

Sarah Root’s father and brother will attend in-person as Trump delivers his primetime address to Congress on Tuesday evening, thanks to an invitation from Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa.

‘I think that the message it sends is that, under President Trump, that we will find you. I mean, if you’re an illegal criminal in this state or in this country, we will find you, and you will get deported, or you will be prosecuted. I think that is the message loud and clear,’ Feenstra told Fox News Digital.

He said Sarah Root’s father, Scott Root, was present at the White House when Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law last year. 

The anti-illegal immigrant bill also included an amendment named after Sarah Root that would require Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal immigrants charged with seriously injuring or killing someone.

‘Scott was at the White House with me during the signing of the bill. And he got to know President Trump, so now to be there at the State of the Union — that is really, really a big deal,’ Feenstra said.

Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has been a primary focus of his administration, after his criticism of how the issue was handled by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.