A Democratic member of Congress who was caught texting Jeffrey Epstein during a House hearing has had even more connections to Epstein exposed in the latest Epstein files document dump.

According to a series of 2014 emails, which came several years after Epstein’s Florida conviction on sex crimes, Democratic Delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands Stacey Plaskett arranged to visit Epstein’s island, according to political news outlet NOTUS.

“Will you be able to meet with Jeffrey on his island on Monday Aug. 18th at 11 am?” an Epstein assistant asked Plaskett.

Plaskett was noted in the files touching base with Epstein again in 2017.

Epstein assistant Lesley Groff scheduled a “phone date” between Epstein and Plaskett.

In 2016, Groff wrote Plaskett that “Jeffrey has tried for you a few times on your cell but has been unsuccessful” and urged her to call him.

“Thanks. Spoke with him,” Plaskett responded five minutes later.

The newly released files showed Plaskett contacting Epstein to secure campaign donations in 2017 and 2018.

In September 2018, Plaskett texted Epstein, writing, “I know you’re tremendously busy. Thanks so much for taking time and sharing ideas and thoughts. I appreciate your support and hope I’m not presumptuous to consider you a friend,” according to the New York Post.

“Privileged to be called friend [sic],” he replied.

On May 13, 2019, Epstein wished Plaskett a happy birthday. She asked how he knew the date.

“You told me when you were in my office,” Epstein replied. She then reponed to him that, “You’re good.”

Epstein replied, “No I’m bad, but I’m thoughtful.”

The Washington Post reported last year that during a February 2019 hearing, Epstein texted Plaskett, writing “Great outfit”

“You look great,” he texted at 10:22 a.m. “Thanks!” she said in reply.

The Post said one minute after Plaskett was on TV making chewing motions, Epstein asked her, “Are you chewing[?]”

“Not any more,” she replied. “Chewing interior of my mouth. Bad habit from middle school”

One minute after Plaskett finished questioning former Trump attorney Michael Cohen at the hearing, Epstein wrote her, saying, “Good work.”

In November, the House held a vote on censuring Plaskett, but it failed.

 “No one who turns to a convicted predator for input on how to conduct official business, especially in a congressional hearing, should sit on the Intelligence Committee or any committee, for that matter. This is about restoring trust in an institution that desperately needs it,” Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said in introducing his motion to censure Plaskett, according to Newsweek.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson tried to talk fast after being caught driving fast, but she got nowhere fast except jail.

Richardson was stopped after an Orange County, Florida, sheriff’s deputy said she was driving at 104 mph on a Florida highway, according to WFTV.

The interplay between the Paris 2024 gold medalist and the deputy who stopped her was recorded by the deputy’s bodycam.

“I’d wipe that smile off your face,” the deputy advised, adding that Richardson was “stopped for dangerous, excessive speeding,” according to TMZ.

“You’re driving at 104 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone, with subpar equipment, flashing people to get out of your way, following too close, using every lane to pass everybody, cutting me off, passing a car on the inside shoulder with their hazard lights on, you’re going to jail for dangerous excessive speeding,” he said.

Bodycam footage of Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s arrest on Thursday has been released. pic.twitter.com/cvKr1Vua7J

— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) January 31, 2026

That litany of offenses triggered a bout of begging from Richardson.

“I really want to work with you, sir. I am a law-abiding citizen,” she said. “Sir, please don’t allow me to go to jail. Please. Please, sir.”

The words kept flowing.

“Please, sir. I’m begging you. Don’t take me to jail. I will do everything. My tire, I cannot go to jail. I promise you, I don’t want to go to jail. I’m right here. I have a team here. I have a coach, everything. I was not intentionally doing anything.”

But Sgt. Gerald McDaniels did not budge — not even when she claimed an under-inflated rear tire was to blame, according to the New York Post.

Then came the claim that the car sped up because her phone slipped, changing the car’s setting and triggering its sprint.

At one point, Richardson said she did not even know her car was speeding, only to be told “that’s why they give you a speedometer,” according to Fox News.

Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman, Richardson’s boyfriend, showed up and was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer without violence, the New York Post reported.

Fellow Team USA sprinter Twanisha Terry was ticketed for stopping on a limited-access highway when she arrived demanding to know what was taking place.

As noted by WFTV, Florida’s so-called “super speeder” law, which took effect in July 2025, allows police to jail anyone who drives over 100 mph or 50 mph over the limit.

The New York Post noted that Richardson and Coleman were each jailed and then freed on a $500 bond apiece.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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A nationwide raid on the Latin Kings gang has resulted in about 50 arrests, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Friday.

The three-month multi-state operation was named “Operation Broken Crown,” according to Fox News.

More than a dozen FBI field offices partnered with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, the FBI said.

The FBI added that more than $200,000 and more than 10 kilograms of illegal drugs were seized.

The operation, which began in October, has also seized more than a dozen guns.

“Under President Trump’s and Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, this FBI is dismantling violent gang networks in America at a record clip — breaking their operations and saving lives in the process,” Patel said.

“In 2025 we saw a 210 percent increase in gang takedowns from MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, and now just weeks into 2026, we’re announcing another three-month takedown operation,” he continued.

Patel said the FBI “will continue working 24/7 to crush violent crime and eliminate networks facilitating harm on the American people.”

For the last 3 months the FBI has quietly executed Operation Broken Crown… a sweeping violent gang takedown involving 13 field offices targeting the Latin Kings Gang – members which were publicly threatening law enforcement officers.

Here’s the public results so far:
-50… pic.twitter.com/NjSxZhT5kP

— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) January 30, 2026

Noting that members of the gang were “publicly threatening law enforcement officers,” Patel posted on X that “we’re breaking the violent gang network in America.”

Earlier this month, a Latin Kings gang member was arrested in connection with the theft of federal government property in Minneapolis.

Raul Gutierrez, 33, was arrested by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Fox News.

White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that the suspect “is now wearing a set of handcuffs in custody,” and said more arrests will take place.

“Others are coming,” he said. “They’re gonna be held accountable.”

We caught one of the individuals that was part of destroying the FBI vehicles. He will now be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

His life has been changed forever due to his foolishness. Don’t be like him. https://t.co/m9sLDm7vmO pic.twitter.com/cgKOY5b8ld

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 16, 2026

“We caught one of the individuals that was part of destroying the FBI vehicles. He will now be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. His life has been changed forever due to his foolishness. Don’t be like him,” the Department of Homeland Security posted on X.

Separately, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has swept up gang members in its Minnesota crackdown on illegal immigrants.

“We’ve arrested over 2,500 criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota since starting this operation with DHS,” ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a news release. “We’re picking up the worst of the worst offenders, and as these cases come in, we’re finding that a significant number of the aliens we arrest — in addition to having serious criminal histories in the U.S. and abroad — are part of dangerous gangs that terrorize communities all over the nation.”

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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In its second round of mass layoffs since its CEO announced last year that artificial intelligence would reshape its workforce, Amazon announced Tuesday that it is cutting about 16,000 jobs.

As noted by CNN, the first cuts announced in late October trimmed about 14,000 jobs.

Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, announced the cuts on the company’s website. She said Amazon was “working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy.”

Galetti said employees have 90 days to find a new job at Amazon, and that severance pay and other supports would be extended to workers getting the axe.

“While we’re making these changes, we’ll also continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future. We’re still in the early stages of building every one of our businesses and there’s significant opportunity ahead,” she wrote.

CNN noted that Amazon has about 350,000 corporate employees, making the cuts about 9 percent of its corporate workforce.

Amazon did not provide details of which jobs would be cut, but according to The New York Times, more cuts targeted software engineers than any other job category.

The report noted that most of Amazon’s 1,578,000 employees are hourly warehouse and operations workers who are not impacted by the cuts.

However, The New York Times noted, Amazon has floated plans to use robots to replace up to half a million jobs.

In its report on the job cuts, CNN noted that “Amazon is in stiff competition with Microsoft, Google, Meta, OpenAI and a host of other technology companies that are battling to ramp up computing power and large language models that they believe will power the economy of the future.”

In October, Galetti posted that “the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.”

In June, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said AI “should change the way our work is done.”

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” he wrote then.

Last week, Mike Rowe warned that changes due to AI were going to hit some Americans harder than others, according to Fox Business.

“AI is coming for the coders. It’s not yet coming for the welders, and that basic understanding has taken root,” Rowe said.

In an interview, Rowe listed where workers are needed the most.

“The automotive industry needs over 100,000 skilled workers immediately… Larry Fink at BlackRock talks about four to 500,000 electricians needed in his portfolio of companies alone,” Rowe said. “The data center push, shipbuilding, the U.S. maritime industrial base is looking for 400,000 skilled workers alone. It goes way beyond just the construction industry.”

“Certainly nobody has a crystal ball, but it seems pretty clear, and I haven’t talked to anybody that disagrees with the idea that the category of jobs or the cohort of workers least likely to be disrupted by AI is going to be welders and electricians and steam fitters and pipe fitters, and energy workers and so forth,” Rowe said.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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