The FBI

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Epstein explosion

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Rick Friedman and Emily Michot/Miami Herald via Getty Images

FBI deputy director Dan Bongino didn't show up to work today, leading some insiders to believe he had quit in protest over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Administration officials say he's still on the job, but the internal tension over the Epstein case is severe, Axios' Marc Caputo scoops. "He ain't coming back," a source close to Bongino said. ? Zoom in: At the center of the argument is the surveillance video from outside Epstein's cell that the administration released — calling it proof no one had entered the room before he killed himself. Bongino — who pushed Epstein conspiracy theories as a MAGA-friendly podcast host before President Trump appointed him to help lead the FBI — had found the video, and touted it publicly and privately as proof that Epstein hadn't been murdered. Two sources familiar with Bongino's position say he was increasingly displeased with Attorney General Pam Bondi's handling of the Epstein case. He thought she publicly overpromised, and underdelivered, disclosures about an Epstein "client list" that apparently never existed. The two clashed Wednesday in front of other senior officials — a sign of just how much the administration has been rocked by its handling of the Epstein case. "Pam said her piece. Dan said his piece. It didn't end on friendly terms," said one person briefed on the heated discussion. Bongino left angry, the source said. Go deeper.

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? Bongino: "She goes or I go"

Via X

"It's me or her. ... She goes or I go." FBI deputy director Dan Bongino has made that provocative internal declaration about Attorney General Pam Bondi over the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Axios' Marc Caputo reports. Whether Bongino ultimately quits is anyone's guess. Why it matters: An administration statement this week that contradicts conspiracy theories about Epstein infuriated many MAGA influencers, who say there's more to be known about the financier and sex trafficker's death. The imbroglio is Trump's biggest split with vocal members of his base since he took office. The fallout from the handling of the Epstein conclusions, reported first by Axios, has produced one of this term's nastiest ruptures among top Trump officials. Behind the scenes: The controversy has pitted Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel against Bondi — who, as head of the Justice Department, is technically their boss. Caputo scooped yesterday that Bondi and Bongino clashed during a White House meeting on Wednesday, in Patel's presence. Bongino left angry, a source told us. ?️ With some in the administration speculating Bongino will quit, there's concern that he'd restart the lucrative, popular podcast that made him famous before he joined the administration (7 million followers on X) — and that he'd start firebombing Bondi via Rumble, a popular MAGA platform. "Dan isn't some no-name," a person familiar with Bongino's thinking told us. "He has a brand and a following. If Bondi thought she could just squash him, she's got the wrong guy." ? What we're hearing: Bongino hasn't decided whether to go, and might well stay. A source told us Patel spent yesterday morning trying to talk Bongino down and make peace. But Bondi is dug in. "He yelled at the wrong woman," an administration source told us. "If Bongino wants to make Trump choose, it's not a choice at all for her … It's the most important position in the cabinet for him, given his history with AG. He trusts her. He loves her." The situation might be so toxic that only Trump can order the feud to be quashed — internal peacemaking for a president preoccupied with ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Between the lines: The online right —the MAGA base and its influencers — is far more pro-Bongino than pro-Bondi. Charlie Kirk, a powerful MAGA podcaster, asked onstage yesterday at his Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa: "Who would you guys prefer, Bongino or Bondi?" The crowd roared back: "Bongino!" Kirk said: "It's 7,000 to zero." Megyn Kelly, onstage with Kirk, told him: "They want Dan. ... Dan understands MAGA. ... And now it's a time for choosing." ps:Well we know whom trump wont fire!! So will Bongino go?? I doubt it!!!!

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• ? The FBI will cooperate with Texas police to locate the 50 Democratic legislators who left the state to avoid a redistricting vote, per Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Go deeper.

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FBI searches home and office of ex-Trump national security adviser John Bolton

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI on Friday searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton as part of a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-bolton-patel-records-home-search-d02cca9e51360115262727ce45be3d65?

ps:Of course he had them raid a home of his "so called" enemies!!

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FBI bushwhacks in Washington forest for traces of Travis Decker, wanted in deaths of 3 daughters

LEAVENWORTH, Wash. (AP) — The FBI on Monday launched an intensive two-day search for clues to the whereabouts of Travis Decker near the Washington state campground where his three young daughters were found dead in early June.

https://apnews.com/article/washington-travis-decker-search-daughters-38df9e49c5603a4bb7f094b832cfe67d?

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Founder of a California-based porn empire sentenced to 27 years in federal prison

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The founder of a California-based porn empire that recruited women with false modeling offers was sentenced Monday to 27 years in federal prison.

https://apnews.com/article/porn-site-sex-trafficking-guilty-d4d4f3069e15ad3ea7ada372986aec10?

This Imam Refused to Be an FBI Informant. Now ICE Wants to Deport Him.

It was a humid June morning when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents knocked on the door of a modest condo in North Miami Beach, Florida, just across the canal from Greynolds Park — a relic of the New Deal, shaded by old oaks. They weren’t conducting a sweep. They had come for Foad Farahi, a Sunni imam who had lived in the area for more than 30 years.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/05/fbi-ice-informant-trump-foad-farahi/?

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3 fired FBI officials sue Patel, saying he bowed to Trump administration’s ‘campaign of retribution’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three high-ranking FBI officials were fired last month in a “campaign of retribution” carried out by a director who knew better but caved to political pressure from the Trump administration, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that describes the White House as directly meddling in the bureau’s personnel moves

https://apnews.com/article/fired-fbi-agents-lawsuit-patel-trump-4431bc93e2783b3b9c658ece82476742?

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? Inside the Bolton FBI raid

An FBI affidavit seeking a warrant to search former national security adviser John Bolton's home alleges he used a private email account that was hacked by a "foreign entity" and wrongly shared classified information, Axios' Dave Lawler reports.

• Why it matters: Bolton's role as one of President Trump's sharpest critics has sparked claims, which Trump denies, that he is being investigated for political purposes. The newly unsealed document sketches the outlines of the FBI probe into Bolton's handling of classified information.

⚡ A judge approved the release of the affidavit yesterday in response to a request from media organizations, including Axios. The document was heavily redacted at the government's request.

• It contains details of what the FBI was searching for and by what methods — including a request to use Bolton's biometrics to open any locked accounts, and a request to access safes.

? The intrigue: Ten pages of the 39-page affidavit are part of a section titled: "Hack of Bolton AOL Account by Foreign Entity." They're entirely redacted.

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FBI fires agents photographed kneeling during 2020 racial justice protest, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, three people familiar with the matter said Friday.

https://apnews.com/article/fbi-george-floyd-kash-patel-8d18a1e6a5a36636cc2415fc492b3f52?

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Keystone Kash Botches Overseas Visit by Handing Out Illegal Guns

FBI boss Kash Patel in trouble for his gift ideas.

Bungling FBI chief Kash Patel gifted security chiefs a pair of pistols during an official overseas visit—which then had to be confiscated and destroyed by police as they are illegal under local law.

The Trump-appointed FBI director had flown to New Zealand in late July to open the bureau’s first standalone office in the country—but promptly left his hosts with a diplomatic headache.

The pistols were meant as symbolic or decorative items, but New Zealand gun laws treat inoperable firearms as operable if it is possible to make them functional again.

Patel presented “challenge coin” display stands that included 3D-printed plastic pistols to Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and the directors of New Zealand’s spy agencies, AP reported.

Chambers confirmed he had ordered them to be “retained and destroyed.”

The FBI declined to say what permissions, if any, Patel sought before flying the weapons into Wellington.

New Zealand’s firearm laws are among the strictest in the developed world, hardened after the 2019 Christchurch massacre.

Pistols are tightly restricted and require special permits, and 3D-printed guns need an additional permit.

None of that appears to have factored into Patel’s souvenir strategy. AP says the recipients sought advice the day after receiving the stands, and regulators concluded the items couldn’t be kept.

However, even some of Patel’s critics attempted to dismiss the New Zealand incident.

Ex-FBI agent James Davidson—who opposed Patel’s appointment—called the destruction “an overreaction” and said the gesture seemed genuine.

Yet Patel’s early tenure has been marked by missteps that have earned the former podcaster and Trump ally his nickname ‘Keystone Kash.’

They have included numerous failings in the FBI’s investigation of the Sept. 10 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which has seen his job called into question, and an uber-touchy reaction to questions over his agency’s failure to release the so-called ‘Epstein files.’

Even before his pistol pratfall, Patel’s Kiwi trip had already been controversial, reported AP.

His remarks suggesting the new office would counter China’s influence drew a polite brush-off from New Zealand officials—who emphasized joint work on child exploitation and drug smuggling—and a complaint from Beijing.

The outlet reports the office had been overseen from Canberra since 2017 and that news of the standalone hub only emerged after Patel’s ribbon-cutting.

The FBI declined to comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-fbi-director-keystone-kash-patel-botches-overseas-visit-by-handing-out-illegal-guns/?

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Kash Patel cuts FBI ties with Anti-Defamation League

FBI Director Kash Patel ended the bureau's long-standing partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the prominent civil rights group that has worked with law enforcement to combat antisemitism and extremism.

https://www.axios.com/2025/10/02/kash-patel-fbi-adl-comey-anti-defamation-league?

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NBA head coach and player charged in sprawling sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes

NEW YORK (AP) — The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.

https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-terry-rozier-gambling-probe-de98ecb76bb8f13b85f4c5ac62f66221?

NBA head coach and player charged in sprawling sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes

The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people in two criminal cases alleging sprawling separate schemes to rake in millions by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families, authorities said. Read more

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Black Sox, Ohtani’s interpreter and more: A look at notable sports betting scandals NCAA will allow college athletes to bet on professional sports starting Nov. 1 What Americans think about legal sports betting, according to recent polls

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Multiple people have been arrested in Michigan in a Halloween weekend attack plot, FBI director says

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Multiple people who had been allegedly plotting a violent attack over the Halloween weekend were arrested Friday in Michigan, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post.

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-halloween-plot-dearborn-arrests-2596849c221468000de4be1dfad72535?

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Michigan lawyer says a Halloween terror plot that FBI Director Kash Patel described never existed

A Michigan defense lawyer is disputing FBI Director Kash Patel’s allegations that his 20-year-old client and four other young suspects were planning to carry out a terror attack on Halloween weekend.

https://apnews.com/article/detroit-michigan-halloween-terror-plot-fbi-patel-d4758edbde0b18c19ca7b38f9e836904?

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Michigan FBI raid

Two men face federal charges for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired Halloween attack in the US — possibly on the scale of the 2015 Paris terror attacks that killed at least 130 people, authorities say. An FBI raid on Halloween morning stunned neighbors in Dearborn, Michigan, the second-safest city in the state. The suspects had "multiple AR-15 rifles, tactical gear, and a detailed plan to carry out an attack on American soil," Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media. Dearborn is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US and has frequently faced Islamophobic and hateful remarks. Members of the community, including neighbors and attorneys for the suspects taken into custody, say they are skeptical of the allegations.   2 Massachusetts men are arrested in the weekend explosion at Harvard Medical School BOSTON (AP) — Two Massachusetts men were arrested Tuesday in connection with a weekend explosion at Harvard Medical School, authorities said. https://apnews.com/article/harvard-medical-school-explosion-15fc171395f620f572d6a44b470a5230?

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3D-printed guns FBI Director Kash Patel gave to New Zealand officials were inspired by Nerf guns Inoperable pistols gifted by FBI Director Kash Patel to senior New Zealand security officials, who had to relinquish them for destruction because they were illegal to possess, were revolvers inspired by toy Nerf guns and popular among amateur 3D-printed weapons hobbyists, documents obtained by The Associated Press show. Read more.

What to know: Pistols are tightly restricted under New Zealand law, requiring a permit beyond a standard gun license. Law enforcement agencies didn’t say whether the officials who met with Patel held such permits, but without them they couldn’t have legally kept the gifts.   The AP first reported that Patel gifted plastic 3D-printed replica revolvers as part of display stands given to New Zealand’s police and spy chiefs, along with two cabinet ministers in July. Patel was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in the country. A spokesperson for him didn’t respond to a request for comment on Monday.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Lawmakers question legality of Border Patrol license plate reader program   Justice Department renews bid to unseal Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury materials   Judge seeks settlement in ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ civil rights lawsuit

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FBI seeks interviews with Democrats who urged US troops to defy illegal orders

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” say the FBI has contacted them to begin scheduling interviews, signaling a possible inquiry into the matter.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-congress-80c1a1ffbbaa3a12e63745356f2377f3?

 

The FBI is seeking interviews with six Democratic lawmakers who, in a controversial video posted last week, urged military service members to refuse illegal orders that may come from President Trump. The six Democrats were quickly attacked on social media by Trump, who called them traitors and suggested they engaged in "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" The lawmakers involved said they are undeterred, arguing that Trump is weaponizing the FBI. This comes as the Pentagon has focused on potential punishments for Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired US Navy Captain. Sources say the FBI's investigation may result in him being recalled to active duty to face a court-martial or administrative punishment for his part in the video.

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FBI paid nearly $1M in overtime to redact Epstein files, documents show

Claim:

FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi spent nearly $1 million in overtime pay for personnel to redact the files related to the case of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Rating:

True  About this rating

Context

The FBI released files to Bloomberg investigative Reporter Jason Leopold following a civil lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. These files indicated that the agency had spent at least $851,344 the week of March 17, 2025, in overtime pay for 934 agents mobilized to process and redact the Epstein files as part of a project called Epstein Transparency Project 2025. Snopes verified the records were authentic using public documents the FBI filed in response to the lawsuit. The available documents neither confirmed nor disproved the related claims that the overtime pay was specifically for removing Trump's name from the files or that all of the money went to "redaction training."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fbi-overtime-redact-epstein-files/?

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Man accused of planting pipe bombs before Jan. 6 Capitol attack is charged with explosives offenses

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI on Thursday arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack, an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021.

https://apnews.com/article/pipe-bombs-dc-jan6-40d748385b7b18ece2208c6c6690708b?

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How Many Members Does Antifa Have? Where Is Its Headquarters? The FBI Has No Answers.

A top FBI official toed the White House line about antifa as a major domestic terror threat at a House hearing on Thursday — but he struggled to answer questions about the leaderless movement.

https://theintercept.com/2025/12/11/fbi-antifa-terrorist-location/?

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Keystone Kash Suffers New Fiasco in Ivy League Shooter Hunt

Kash Patel had posted about the FBI’s success in tracking the person down.

Police will release a man detained in connection with Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in an embarrassing twist for FBI Director Kash Patel.

The decision was confirmed in a late-night press conference including Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, who said evidence in the case “now points in a different direction.”

Patel had previously posted about tracking the person of interest down, claiming on X that the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team had used “critical geolocation capabilities” to detain the man in a hotel room in Coventry.

Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee said officials had contacted Patel ahead of announcing the news of the release of the person of interest.

“I wanted to make sure that he was fully aware of this press event, and he was,” McKee said. “And he also committed to continue to bring out the resources of the federal government into this case.”

The person of interest detained in the Brown University shooting was a 24-year-old from Wisconsin, multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News and The Washington Post on Sunday. The term “person of interest” is usually used by authorities to refer to someone who they believe has information related to a case.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said authorities were unsure if the shooter had left the state.

“We are searching for additional video evidence,” Smiley said, adding that he was aware that releasing the individual would cause “fresh anxiety” for the local community.

“We want to reiterate what we said earlier, which remains true, which is ever since the initial call, now a day and a half ago, we have not received any credible or specific threats to the Providence community,” Smiley said.

“And so, the status of safety in our community remains unchanged. And we believe that you remain safe in our community, though we will continue to have an enhanced police presence throughout the city and on the Brown campus.”

The shooting began around 4 p.m. local time on Saturday. Two people were killed while another nine were injured.

Col. Oscar Perez said it was a “very complex investigation” and “we followed a specific lead but we were able to examine... evidence that led us to this individual. It’s not a mistake, it’s just how investigations work. We’re not in the business of putting people in jail that don’t deserve to be.”

“I think it’s fair to say that there is no basis to consider him a person of interest, so that’s why he’s being released,” Neronha said. “We still have a lot of steps to take in this case.”

He added, “I’ve seen enough after 30 years in law enforcement, there were a lot of twists and a lot of roads that I’ve walked down, and so I’m not here to predict anything.”

Neronha declined to share the next steps in the investigation, noting that, “We have a murderer out there frankly, so we’re not going to give away the game plan. Sometimes investigations take a little bit of time.”

Patel has faced criticism over fumbling several key investigations since taking over leadership of the FBI in February.

Hours after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in September, Patel wrote on X that the “subject for the horrific shooting… is now in custody,” before posting again less than two hours later to say the “subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.”

Last month, Patel complained that the estate of Jeffrey Epstein was refusing to hand over documents to investigators, which was quickly shut down by a lawyer for the sex offender’s estate.

“The Epstein estate has no idea what information the FBI or the Department of Justice has available to them, in addition to materials the FBI took from Mr Epstein’s residences after his arrest in 2019,“ the spokesman said in a statement to the Daily Beast.

“However, FBI Director Patel is incorrect when he claims that the estate has refused the DOJ’s requests for information—we are unaware of any such requests.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/keystone-kash-suffers-new-fiasco-in-ivy-league-shooter-hunt/?

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Longtime Paid FBI Informant Was Instrumental in Terror Case Against “Turtle Island Liberation Front”

An FBI investigation into an alleged terror plot in Southern California bears the familiar hallmarks of the bureau’s long-running use of informants and undercover agents to advance plots that might not otherwise have materialized, court documents show.

https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/fbi-informant-turtle-island-terror-plot/?

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FBI tip alleged Trump witnessed Epstein victim's baby being killed, dumped in Lake Michigan

Claim:

In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice released an FBI tip in which a complainant alleged President Donald Trump witnessed her uncle kill her newborn child and dispose of the body in Lake Michigan when she was 13 and being trafficked for sex by Jeffrey Epstein.

Rating:  True

Context

Although the document is real, its claims have not been substantiated.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-baby-lake-michigan/?

ps:I pray to God this isn't true! He can't be that low of a person!!

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?️ None will mourn

Photo: Thomas J. O'Halloran/U.S. News & World Report via Getty Images The J. Edgar Hoover Building — the FBI's HQ for 50 years, scorned by the Harvard Graduate School of Design (and so many others) as the "Ugliest Building in Washington" — will be shuttered. "After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI's Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a safe, modern facility," FBI Director Kash Patel announced, without giving a date or other details. The Brutalist behemoth opened in 1975. The FBI announced in July that HQ will move to the nearby Ronald Reagan Building complex. FBI HQ history.

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Minnesota Fraud Probe

FBI Director Kash Patel said yesterday the agency was reallocating resources to Minnesota to continue investigating allegations of widespread fraud linked to federally funded programs. The update came after investigative YouTuber Nick Shirley last week released a 42-minute documentary visiting the addresses of day care centers, adult home care companies, and other businesses. Many appeared to be inactive despite claiming millions of dollars in state-distributed taxpayer funds, including from the Education Department and Medicaid. In yesterday’s announcement, Patel noted the FBI’s work dismantling a $250M scheme to siphon pandemic-era food assistance via the Feeding Our Future network (see explainer). The amount of stolen taxpayer money—from the food aid scheme and others—reportedly exceeds $1B.  More than 90 people have been indicted and more than 50 convicted to date, many of them of Somali descent. Gov. Tim Walz (D) has criticized President Donald Trump's language toward Somali Americans in Minnesota and has sought to defend his administration, which oversaw the distribution of the funds.   ? YouTuber's fraud probe draws FBI response Nick Shirley, a MAGA-friendly YouTuber, lit up X during Christmas week with video reports from Minnesota alleging massive fraud in government-funded child care programs — and provoked approving responses from the FBI and Vice President JD Vance. Why it matters: Shirley, 23 — who has more than 1 million YouTube subscribers and spoke during a White House roundtable this fall — is one of several young "independent journalists" turning heads among conservatives and Trump administration officials by going on-location and quickly posting minimalist, outrage-inducing videos. ? In one viral scene from Minneapolis, Shirley stands in front of the supposed Quality Learning Center, misspelled on the sign as a "Learing" center — a "day care center that can't even spell 'learning' right," Shirley deadpans to the camera. The building appears abandoned at midday on a weekday. Administration officials argue that Minnesota — under Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic VP candidate — is a hotbed of fraud perpetrated by the state's large Somali community. Walz's office told Fox News he "has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action … He has strengthened oversight." ⚖️ The backstory: A federal prosecutor — Joe Thompson, first assistant U.S. attorney for Minnesota — said earlier this month that $9 billion or more in federal funds that supported 14 Minnesota-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen, including COVID-related fraud. Somali Americans make up 82 of the 92 (89%) defendants charged, according to the U.S. attorney's office for Minnesota. What they're saying: Vance, reposting Shirley's 42-minute report, said: "This dude has done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 [Pulitzer] prizes." FBI Director Kash Patel, under the heading "CASE UPDATE: MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEME," said yesterday: "The FBI is aware of recent social media reports in Minnesota. However, even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs." ? Zoom in: Shirley's video about Minnesota "fraudsters" has over 1 million views on YouTube and over 100 million on X, where it has spread widely in the MAGA universe. It's not the first time his videos have apparently prompted an administration response. In September, he posted a widely watched video, "I Confronted Dangerous Migrant Scammers in NYC," about vendors selling counterfeit goods on Lower Manhattan's Canal Street. Less than a month later, ICE agents targeted the area and said they detained nine men in the country illegally. Go deeper …