Second Amendment rights advocate Kyle Rittenhouse disappeared from the limelight for a bit to make incredible strides in his own life — but he’s back and more motivated than ever to keep up the good fight.

“I was just done with the media. I was done with the hate. I was done with the lies being pushed against me. It was a lot that I was dealing with. And then I moved to Florida. I took that hiatus. I met my beautiful wife, Bella. And we moved to Colorado,” Rittenhouse tells BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales at AmFest.

However, after the events of September 10, Rittenhouse knew it was time “to get back into the fight.”

“I need to pick up the mic because what happened on September 10 is not okay. We need more conservative voices out here. We need more than ever. And that is why I’m here,” he explains, pointing out that he’s back to “advocating for the Second Amendment.”

But it hasn’t been a warm reception from the left.

“I’ve had countless death threats since I’ve gotten back into the fight. I’ve had people saying they’re going to assassinate me, kill me, they’re going to do terrible, terrible things because that’s the left,” Rittenhouse tells Gonzales.

“We’ve seen an increase in left-wing violence since August 25, 2020, when they tried to kill me in the streets of Kenosha to now. It’s only gotten worse. And our job as conservatives, and our job as Americans and Christians, to be frank, is to stand up and fight,” he continues.

And while Rittenhouse believes in his fellow conservatives’ ability to do this with him, he does worry that too many fear being too “controversial.”

“We need to say, ‘Screw being controversial,’” Rittenhouse says. “We need to stand up for what’s right, because if we’re not, they’re going to take us over and we’re going to lose.”

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sharing, Free, Video, Camera phone, Video phone, Upload, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Leftism, Kyle rittenhouse, Charlie kirk, Kenosha rioting, Kenosha shooting, Second amendment rights, Second amendment, Gun rights 

An appropriations bill could allocate billions in funding to refugee programs after temporary government funding expires.

Congress passed a clean funding extension in November 2025 that expires on January 30, 2026, when new funding allocation could take place.

‘These programs provide a variety of benefits and services to refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants.’

This possibility has conservatives pointing out issues with legislation like a Senate appropriations bill, first proposed in July, for fiscal year 2026.

The bill, which allocates funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and “related agencies,” has garnered significant attention from online researchers regarding its allocation of funds to refugee programs.

“Hey guys, all those insane ‘refugee assistance’ grants I’m always tweeting? The [GOP] is about to supercharge the funds,” wrote Oilfield Rando, an X account with more than 235,000 followers.

RELATED: Warlord, terror, and taxpayer theft: Somali scheme allegedly bilks millions from Maine Medicaid to fund foreign army

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Particularly, conservatives online have taken issue with the bill’s recommendations for “Refugee and Entrant Assistance,” for which the committee recommends $5.691 billion.

“These programs provide a variety of benefits and services to refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, immigrants arriving on Special Immigrant Visas [SIV], trafficking victims, and torture victims,” the bill reads.

A whopping $564 million of those funds is recommended for “Transitional and Medical Services,” while providing grants to states and “nonprofit organizations to provide cash and medical assistance to arriving refugees, as well as foster care services to unaccompanied minors.”

More than $300 million is recommended for “Refugee Support Services.”

The Senate committee argued in the document that HHS needs to ensure funding for resettlement agencies so that they can maintain their infrastructure and capacity at a level to continue to serve “new refugees, previously arrived refugees,” and others who are eligible for “integration services.”

RELATED: ‘Rents will come down’ — but not in sanctuary cities: Loan agent chronicles homes apparently abandoned by illegal aliens

Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

According to the Baker Institute, the Trump administration set the refugee cap at 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, the lowest in U.S. history. This is reportedly a 94% reduction from the 125,000 cap that the Biden administration set for FY 2025.

President Trump famously admitted 59 South African refugees into the United States in May; however, there have been no other major intakes by the administration over the course of 2025.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations is majority Republican, with 15 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

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​Politics, Senate, Appropriations committee, Refugees, Asylum seekers, Haitian, Cuban, News 

A Hall of Fame basketball player says that mandatory service would help Americans with discipline and structure.

Compulsory service is required in many first-world countries, like South Korea, Finland, and Sweden. While duties and service time vary, many believe the requirement can foster a more responsible citizenry.

‘Learn how to defend yourself. Shoot and handle guns properly.’

A former NBA player and champion, 6’10” Dwight Howard recently called upon President Trump to consider implementing a mandatory term of service for Americans.

“I honestly feel like the president should make one year of service mandatory for everyone born in America,” Howard wrote on X. “A lot of other countries do it. And I think it would help with discipline and structure.”

Howard then asked, “I’m curious what yall think[:] would this help America or nah[?]”

RELATED: NBA players finally drop brutal truth bombs on WNBA stars: ‘It should be common sense’

— (@)

Howard responded to a few reader remarks, including one who suggested such service could be performed during summers while a student is in high school.

In response, Howard revealed his stance on the duration for service.

“Everyone should do a year,” he wrote.

Another reader suggested mandatory customer service work for Americans, such as working in “retail, serving, bartending,” or answering phones. That notion saw Howard remain steadfast in his opinion that Americans should perform military service.

“I think military service would be better,” he replied. “Learn how to defend yourself. Shoot and handle guns properly. The bond and respect for each other would go up.”

RELATED: Rookie NFL QB declared the new Obama — and the ‘most powerful black man since 2009’

Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Following his NBA career, Howard played basketball overseas in the T1 League in Taiwan, where he again became a star. Perhaps this is where his inspiration came from, as Taiwan has a mandatory 12 months of military training for males ages 18-36, according to World Population Review.

Howard has discipline and law enforcement in his family’s background; an archived USA Basketball profile notes that his father, Dwight Sr., was a Georgia state trooper as of 2007.

According to Sky News, approximately 80 countries have some form of mandatory service or conscription. Some countries reportedly have mandatory service for women, as well, such as Sudan, Morocco, Mozambique, North Korea, and Sweden.

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​Fearless, Nba, Basketball, Military service, Mandatory service, Conscription, Draft, Sports 

“9-1-1. What is your emergency?”

When crisis strikes, Americans in big cities and rural landscapes alike trust that first responders such as firefighters and EMTs are just a phone call away. However, recent spikes in costs and wait times associated with fire trucks have left fire departments across the country scrambling to make do with what they have — sometimes to the detriment of public safety.

‘Your profits have grown five times over the last five years, $250 million, but nobody can get their equipment!’

Much of the problem appears to stem from a massive consolidation of fire apparatus manufacturers nearly 20 years ago. This consolidation “effectively created a duopoly” that severely restricted competition, according to a recent op-ed from Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin and retired New Haven, Connecticut, Battalion Chief Frank Ricci, who together have more than 60 years of field experience.

The problem has grown so wide in scope that it has drawn the attention of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. On April 3, 2025, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disaster Management Chairman Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ranking Member Andy Kim (D-N.J.) sent a letter to the executives of Rev Group, Oshkosh Corporation, and Rosenbauer, which collectively corner between 70% and 80% of the fire-truck market share.

In just the past few months, multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed against these companies alleging anti-trust law violations, and Hawley claimed at a subcommittee hearing in September that their “business models are identical.”

One such “identical” tactic the companies appear to have taken, according to the lawmakers, is to delay fulfilling orders on purpose to keep costs and demand artificially high.

Just six short years ago or so, Rev Group, for example, had a backlog of fire equipment orders totaling about $1 billion, with an expected wait time of 12 to 18 months, the New York Times reported in February. Now, however, the company backlog total has quadrupled, and wait times have jumped to two or three years.

“Your profits have grown five times over the last five years, $250 million, but nobody can get their equipment!” Sen. Hawley railed to Mike Virnig, president of REV Fire Group, at the September hearing.

“What have these gigantic corporations done with all that market power? Well, they have hiked prices, restricted supply, and created a dangerous backlog of firefighting equipment,” added Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

Furthermore, even when departments can get the equipment, it shows no “discernible improvements in technology,” the letter said.

RELATED: Retired Florida firefighter shot and killed by cops investigating ‘horrific’ child sex abuse material

Rubin and Ricci argued that this alleged market manipulation has had serious consequences. In the summer of 2023, so many pumper fire trucks were out of commission in Kansas City, Kansas, that firefighters were forced to use SUVs and a borrowed brush truck that lacked essential tools.

“Based on the lack of fire truck repair parts, our fire department in Kansas City, Kansas, has been negatively impacted on several occasions. This situation is not acceptable!” Chief Rubin — who previously served as chief of the department in Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. — told Blaze News in a statement.

“The impact is real, and it directly affects ability to deliver the level of service the public counts on every day,” added P.J. Norwood, retired deputy chief in East Haven.

‘It is wrong when private equity companies deliberately distort the efficient operation of the free market.’

A spokesperson for Oshkosh indicated to Blaze News that disruptions to supply chains during COVID and customization are two major factors that can help account for the rise in prices and delayed orders.

“Depending on the options a customer chooses, producing a single fire truck can take up to 7,000 hours, with an average of approximately 2,000 hours,” the spokesperson said.

“We acknowledged the lead time problem as soon as it emerged, and we have made — and will continue to make — historic investments to increase throughput,” Dan Meyer, vice president of sales at Oshkosh’s Pierce Manufacturing, told Sens. Hawley, Kim, Warren, and others at the September hearing.

“We know customers want and deserve shorter lead times, and the manufacturers who can accomplish that will win their business. Pierce is determined to meet our customers’ needs, which is why our company is committed to investing in our people and our manufacturing capabilities to reduce lead times and best serve the firefighter community.”

Rubin and Ricci do not deny that specific customization demands from so many municipalities remain a major problem, and they encourage the adoption of “a more standardized production model, with separate lines for urban, suburban, or rural, and custom builds” to address this issue. They also believe that states and cities ought to revisit their bidding procedures to root out any unfair practices that further drive up prices.

Still they view the limited competition at the manufacturing level as the main cause.

“We must champion American manufacturing that wins on competition and merit — not monopolistic tactics,” Ricci told Blaze News.

“There’s nothing wrong with earning a profit, but it is wrong when private equity companies deliberately distort the efficient operation of the free market on the one hand — and then fire departments rig the bidding process on the other,” added Yankee Institute President Carol Platt Liebau. “If legislators aren’t willing or able to ask the tough questions, then of course it’s the taxpayers — as always — who are exploited and ripped off.”

Rev Group, Rosenbauer, and Sen. Kim’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Sen. Hawley’s office directed Blaze News to his statements at the September hearing.

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​Josh hawley, Andy kim, Fire truck, Rev group, Oshkosh corporation, Rosenbauer, Elizabeth warren, Politics, Dennis rubin, Frank ricci 

One of the most consequential developments of 2025 has received far less scrutiny than it deserves: the steady surrender of executive authority to an unelected judiciary.

President Trump was elected to faithfully execute the laws of the United States, yet his administration increasingly behaves as if federal judges hold final authority over every major policy decision — including those squarely within the president’s constitutional and statutory powers.

Judicial supremacy thrives on abdication. It advances because presidents comply, lawmakers defer, and voters are told this arrangement is normal.

By backing down whenever district courts issue sweeping injunctions, the administration is reinforcing a dangerous precedent: that no executive action is legitimate until the judiciary permits it. That assumption has no basis in the Constitution, but it is rapidly becoming the governing norm.

The problem became unmistakable when federal judges began granting standing to abstract plaintiffs challenging Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to protect ICE agents under attack. Many assumed such cases would collapse on appeal. Instead, the Supreme Court last week declined to lift an injunction blocking the Guard’s deployment in Illinois, signaling that the judiciary now claims authority to second-guess core commander-in-chief decisions.

Over the dissent of Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch, the court allowed the Seventh Circuit’s decision to stand. That ruling held that violent attacks on ICE agents in Chicago did not amount to a “danger of rebellion” sufficient to justify Guard deployment and did not “significantly impede” the execution of federal immigration law.

That conclusion alone should alarm anyone who still believes in separation of powers.

No individual plaintiff alleged personal injury by a Guardsman. No constitutional rights were violated. The plaintiff was the state of Illinois itself, objecting to a political determination made by the president under statutory authority granted by Congress. Courts are not empowered to adjudicate such abstract disputes over executive judgment.

Even if judges disagree with the president’s assessment of the threat environment, their opinion carries no greater constitutional weight than his. The commander in chief is charged with executing the laws and protecting federal personnel. Courts are not.

If judges can decide who has standing, define the scope of their own authority, and then determine the limits of executive power, constitutional separation of powers collapses entirely. What remains is not judicial review but judicial supremacy.

And that is precisely what we are witnessing.

Courts now routinely insert themselves into immigration enforcement, national security decisions, tariff policy, federal grants, personnel disputes, and even the content of government websites. The unelected, life-tenured branch increasingly functions as a super-legislature and shadow executive, vetoing or mandating policy at will.

RELATED: Judges break the law to stop Trump from enforcing it

Cemile Bingol via iStock/Getty Images

What, then, remains for the people acting through elections?

If judges control immigration, spending, enforcement priorities, and foreign policy, why bother holding congressional or presidential elections at all? The Constitution’s framers never intended courts to serve as the ultimate policymakers. They were designed to be the weakest branch, confined to resolving concrete cases involving actual injuries.

Trump’s defenders often argue that patience and compliance will eventually produce favorable rulings. That belief is not only naïve — it is destructive.

For every narrow win Trump secures on appeal, the so-called institutionalist bloc on the court — Chief Justice John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — uses it to justify adverse outcomes elsewhere. Worse, because lower courts enjoin nearly every significant action, the administration rarely reaches the Supreme Court on clean constitutional grounds. The damage is done long before review occurs.

Consider the clearest example of all: the power of the purse.

Congress passed a budget reconciliation bill explicitly defunding Planned Parenthood. The bill cleared both chambers and was signed into law. Under the Constitution, appropriations decisions belong exclusively to Congress.

Yet multiple federal judges have enjoined that provision, effectively ordering the executive branch to continue sending taxpayer dollars to abortion providers in defiance of enacted law. Courts have not merely interpreted the statute; they have overridden it.

That raises an unavoidable question: Does the president have a duty to enforce the laws of Congress — or to obey judicial demands that contradict them?

Continuing to fund Planned Parenthood after Congress prohibited it is not neutrality. It is executive acquiescence to judicial nullification of legislative power.

The same pattern appears elsewhere.

Security clearances fall squarely within executive authority, yet the first Muslim federal judge recently attempted to block the president from denying clearance to a politically connected lawyer. Immigration, long recognized as a sovereign prerogative, has been transformed by courts into a maze of invented rights for noncitizens — including a supposed First Amendment right to remain in the country while promoting Hamas.

States fare no better. When West Virginia sought to ban artificial dyes from its food supply, an Obama-appointed federal judge intervened. When states enact laws complementing federal immigration enforcement, courts strike them down. But sanctuary laws that obstruct federal authority often receive judicial protection.

Heads, illegal aliens win. Tails, the people lose.

RELATED: The imperial judiciary strikes back

Moor Studio via iStock/Getty Images

What we are witnessing is adverse possession — squatter’s rights — of constitutional power. As Congress passes fewer laws and the executive hesitates to assert its authority, courts eagerly fill the vacuum. In 2025, Congress enacted fewer laws than in any year since at least 1989. Meanwhile, judges effectively “passed” nationwide policies affecting millions of Americans.

This did not happen overnight. Judicial supremacy thrives on abdication. It advances because presidents comply, lawmakers defer, and voters are told this arrangement is normal.

It is not.

Trump cannot comply his way out of this crisis. No president can. A system in which courts claim final authority over every function of government is incompatible with republican self-rule.

The Constitution does not enforce itself. Separation of powers exists only if each branch is willing to defend its role.

Right now, the presidency is failing that test.

​Opinion & analysis, Imperial judiciary, Judicial supremacy, Judicial overreach, Supreme court, Clarence thomas, Neil gorsuch, Samuel alito, John roberts, Amy coney barrett, Brett kavanaugh, Constitution, Separation of powers, Immigration, Mass deportation, Congress, One big beautiful bill, Planned parenthood, Federal courts, Judges, Monarchy, National guard, Tariffs, Donald trump, Presidency 

Despite the U.S. Justice Department’s claim in a new court filing that there is “overwhelming evidence” of a Virginia man’s guilt in the D.C. pipe-bomb case, his location and movements on Jan. 5, 2021, do not appear to be as clear-cut as the FBI’s cellphone evidence implies.

When the FBI arrested Brian Jerome Cole Jr. Dec. 4 at his mother’s home in Woodbridge, Va., agents filed a federal court affidavit that relied heavily on pings from Cole’s cell phone. Those pings placed him in a variety of general areas on Capitol Hill the night of Jan. 5. The FBI said the pings were “consistent with” the phone being in certain tower sectors where the hoodie suspect was known to be.

‘No way. The kid doesn’t walk like that.’

Experts say cell-tower ping analysis is an imprecise method when trying to define a phone’s geographic location. The FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team field guide says a phone ping only indicates the device is somewhere within one of the three 120-degree sectors that radiate from the tower, which can reach a large area, depending on how far away the next closest tower is.

What’s coming Tuesday

Cole was charged in a criminal complaint with planting pipe bombs at the Democratic National Committee building and behind the Capitol Hill Club near the Republican National Committee building between 7:54 and 8:16 p.m. Jan. 5. The DOJ has charged the crime as an act of terrorism.

Cole will be in federal court in Washington, D.C., Tuesday afternoon for a detention hearing and a preliminary hearing. There, the government is expected to present enough of its case to establish probable cause that Cole committed the crimes with which he is charged.

Cole’s defense team filed a motion to ensure the preliminary hearing takes place Tuesday in addition to a hearing on whether Cole will remain jailed until trial. If for any reason the DOJ is not ready to proceed with the preliminary hearing, Cole would have to be released from federal custody, defense attorney John Shoreman wrote in a filing Monday.

The government’s case includes Cole’s reported confession that he didn’t have a side in the partisan divide, but “something just snapped” and, inspired by the IRA in Northern Ireland and video games, he decided to place bombs at both political parties’ headquarters at night and hoped they wouldn’t hurt anyone.

The FBI also cited alleged credit card purchases for bomb materials, Cole frequently wiping his cellphone data since mid-2022, cellphone pings and a license plate reader allegedly placing Cole at the crime scenes.

Location, location

The first ping the FBI describes in its evidence against Cole happened at 7:39 p.m., when his phone interacted with Tower 59323, located atop an apartment building at 103 G St. SW in Washington, D.C. The sector associated with Tower 59323 faces southeast, with an azimuth of approximately 120 degrees.

“Sector depictions represent a general antenna orientation and do not define precise or exclusive coverage boundaries,” said a retired FBI supervisory special agent who has worked with the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team. He reviewed the ping evidence in the case for Blaze News.

The FBI said Cole’s phone also pinged off Tower 126187, which faces east from its location at 200 Independence Ave. SW.

“The idealized sector depictions for the two towers overlap in a limited area on the map,” the retired agent said. “However, without [radio frequency] calibration or carrier engineering data, the actual extent and shape of any overlap cannot be reliably determined.”

The expert said that while evidence suggests Cole’s phone was south of the hoodie suspect’s location at 7:39 p.m., it can’t be proven from the data.

‘No reliable nexus can be established between the cellular records and that individual.’

“The government’s interpretation of the sector orientations suggests that the handset may have been located south of the individual observed on video; however, sector-based [cell site location information] does not provide sufficient precision to determine the handset’s exact location or its position relative to the hoodie-wearing suspect,” he said. “Without RF calibration, distance metrics, or carrier engineering data, such directional interpretations remain general and non-exclusive.”

At the exact time the FBI claims Cole’s phone pinged on the southeast-facing tower sector, the hoodie bomb suspect walked along D Street Southeast, about to turn south on Capitol Street SE toward the DNC, according to video from U.S. Capitol Police security Camera 753. The hoodie suspect did not appear to be holding or otherwise using a cell phone at the time.

The retired supervisory special agent said the security video provides no evidence supporting Cole’s phone being at the same location as the hoodie suspect.

“Geometric comparison between tower locations, sector orientations, and the video-confirmed sidewalk location demonstrates that the location of the hoodie-wearing individual is not a clean main-lobe match for the southeast-facing sector of Cell Site 59323.” The ping was “a low-specificity, general-area location inference.”

“The surveillance video provides a high-specificity location constraint for the unidentified hoodie-wearing individual at specific times,” he said in an analysis commissioned by Blaze News.

“However, the video does not identify the individual and does not show the individual using, possessing, or interacting with a cellular device,” he said. “There is no visual evidence linking the individual on video to the handset reflected in the [cell site location information] records.”

If confirmed, that would put Cole’s vehicle more than one mile away from the hoodie suspect.

A ping, shorthand for a cellular device’s interaction with a tower, “documents the activity of a device, not the actions or identity of a person,” he said.

“Absent evidence demonstrating device possession or use by the individual observed on video, no reliable nexus can be established between the cellular records and that individual,” he said.

Further, Cole’s blue 2017 Nissan Sentra does not appear on any Capitol Police security cameras in the areas of the DNC or RNC, according to video investigator Armitas, who scrubbed the video feeds of dozens of USCP cameras. Armitas found only two Nissan Sentras on the road on Capitol Hill, one of which was driven by a white individual with a white passenger. Cole is black.

The other Sentra appeared to be a visual match for Cole’s vehicle, Armitas said, but the driver’s characteristics and identity cannot be determined from the security video.

In a memo filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to keep Cole in jail pending trial, the DOJ said Cole told the FBI he parked his car on D Street Southeast at Folger Park and walked from there to the DNC.

Folger Park is just beyond the network of more than 1,800 Capitol Police surveillance cameras. The court filings in the Cole case do not indicate if Cole was somehow aware of the boundaries of USCP surveillance cameras when selecting a parking area.

The FBI said Cole’s vehicle was captured on a license plate reader taking the Capitol Street exit from Interstate 395 South at 7:10 p.m.

The hoodie suspect was first captured on Capitol Police video at 7:34 p.m., the FBI said. Capitol Police Camera 5050 showed the bomb suspect crossing E Street Southeast on New Jersey Avenue at 7:35 p.m.

DNC bench but no ping?

Another potential phone conflict happened at 7:44 p.m., when the FBI said Cole’s phone pinged off the eastern sector of Tower 126187.

Video shows the hoodie suspect was sitting on a DNC bench at 7:43 p.m., using a cell phone. That phone did not appear to have produced a manual ping between 7:43:36 p.m. and 7:44:19 p.m. At least, no such ping is referred to by the FBI in public Cole case documents.

It seems unlikely that the hoodie suspect was on Ivy Street at 7:44:36 p.m. as the FBI asserts. The bomb suspect had to walk from the DNC bench a short distance on Capitol Street to Canal Street, then use Canal to cross Ivy Street before proceeding up Ivy Street.

Could that distance be covered in just six seconds? It seems doubtful, even if the suspect was running. The hoodie suspect no longer appeared to be using a phone when the person disappeared from DNC camera view at 7:44:30.

Third potential contradiction

A third potential contradiction in the cell-tower evidence came at 7:59 p.m., when the hoodie-wearing suspect was — according to the FBI — on New Jersey Avenue SE, about to turn east on E Street SE and continue onto North Carolina Avenue SE. Capitol Police Camera 0703 at the entrance to the Capitol Power Plant captured a glimpse of the bomb suspect turning from New Jersey Avenue to E Street.

The FBI said at 7:59:36 p.m., Cole’s cell phone pinged in a sector of Tower 147990 that faces south approximately 180 degrees from its location at 200 Independence Ave. SW. The FBI links this ping to the hoodie suspect’s appearance at New Jersey Avenue and E Street.

At roughly 8 p.m., the hoodie suspect was believed to be walking northeast toward Folger Park. There is an eight-minute gap during which the bomb suspect is not visible on any security cameras. The FBI has theorized since early in the case that the suspect used Folger Park as a base of operations.

Since the FBI said the bomber only carried one pipe bomb at a time in the backpack, the suspect would have had to acquire the second bomb before reappearing on camera walking toward the Capitol Hill Club and the Republican National Committee building.

A 2017 Nissan Sentra believed by video investigator Armitas to be pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr.’s vehicle is shown a mile from where the hoodie-wearing suspect was at the same time.Capitol Police CCTV

The hoodie-wearing suspect’s likely resupply mission presents a possible problem for the FBI’s timeline. At 8:03 p.m., security cameras captured what Armitas believes to be Cole’s blue Nissan Sentra traveling north on 3rd Street SW toward C Street SW, according to several USCP cameras along the route.

If confirmed, that would put Cole’s vehicle more than one mile away from the hoodie suspect at 8:03 p.m. Since it is a six- to seven-minute drive to Folger Park from 3rd Street SW, Cole could not be in the same location as the hoodie suspect at the time. According to Capitol Police cameras, the Nissan Sentra tracked by Armitas traveled north on 3rd Street SW to C Street SW, then turned east.

That Nissan was last seen at 8:04 p.m. on Capitol Police Camera 8483 on C Street at Second Street SW, in front of the O’Neill House Office Building. The Sentra drove onto an entrance ramp to I-395, traveling west — away from Folger Park, the Capitol Hill Club, and the Republican National Committee building. Cole could not have been hiding in or near Folger Park from roughly 8:02 to 8:08 p.m. and also been driving away from Capitol Hill more than a mile away at the same time.

Confession claim

The DOJ detention memo said Cole confessed to placing the bombs and his intention was that they would detonate at night on Jan. 5 and not the next day, on Jan. 6. The DOJ said Cole “set the timer on the first device to the maximum duration (60 minutes) and planted the device.”

Armitas said the surveillance video released by the FBI from a DNC security camera shows that the bomber took the device out of a backpack and immediately placed it under the bush near the base of the park bench. “Video from 2 different angles shows that the timer was never set,” Armitas wrote on X Monday.

“This device requires 2 full turns of the dial to set it,” Armitas wrote, “not to mention you have to unclip and reclip all the alligator clips, otherwise turning the dial will close the switch across those clips, shorting the detonator — Kaboom. As we can see in the video, the device is pulled out of the backpack and immediately placed.”

Shoes and gait

Cole’s demeanor, mannerisms, and walk look distinctly different from the bomb suspect wearing the hoodie on FBI video.

According to Prince William County Police bodycam video from the scene of a minor traffic accident involving Cole in late April 2024, Cole has more of a lumbering walk with his feet facing outward with no cadence to his steps. Blaze News obtained the 48-minute video through a freedom of information request.

Cole noticeably leans his head and neck to the left, while the hoodie suspect stood upright with a straight back and squared shoulders. As the hoodie suspect walked south down Rumsey Court to place the second pipe bomb at 8:16 p.m. on Jan. 5, video showed a confident stride with a fast cadence. On the bodycam video, Cole looked unsure of himself, withdrawn, avoiding eye contact and appearing to lack the confidence displayed by the original bomb suspect.

Cole told the Prince William County officer he had a “lapse in focus” that led to him run into the pickup truck in front of him. When the officer issued Cole a citation for following too closely, it appeared that Cole’s eyes welled up with tears. “It’s not a criminal offense,” the officer reassured Cole. “It’s just a traffic offense. So you can go to court. You can fight it if you want or you can prepay it.”

The owner of a 7-Eleven on Minnieville Road in Woodbridge, not far from the Cole family home, said Brian Cole Jr. has come into his store for years, always purchasing the same thing: pizza and two Cokes.

“I saw him for 13 years a minimum of two to three times per week,” said Sunny Sandhu. “He was probably here every day.

“Every time he came in here, it was always the same thing, same routine,” Sandhu told Blaze News in an interview. “Always had his headphones on. Always made it the same order, bought two Cokes and a pizza.”

Sandhu said if he didn’t have a fresh pizza on display, he would offer to make one for Cole, but in those cases Cole always opted instead for chicken wings. He said Cole usually didn’t say anything, but occasionally would nod when Sandhu thanked him and said goodbye.

After Cole’s arrest, Sandhu said he watched the FBI video of the hoodie suspect walking down an alley to place the second pipe bomb near the RNC.

“I go, ‘No way. The kid doesn’t walk like that,’” Sandhu said. “This kid has no confidence in his stride at all.”

Cole has a “goofy walk” that does not resemble the FBI’s bomb suspect, Sandhu said. “There’s no way,” he said.

The 7-Eleven owner said the FBI didn’t come to his store asking about Cole before or since the Dec. 4 arrest.

An FBI whistleblower who has worked in the Washington Field Office filed a protected disclosure with the U.S. House on Dec. 11, asserting that Cole was simply mentally incapable of carrying out the placement of pipe bombs while evading a massive law enforcement dragnet for nearly five years. The disclosure was filed with U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Attorney Kurt Siuzdak said his whistleblower client lives in the vicinity of the Cole home in Virginia and has observed Brian Cole “hundreds of times, if not more, over the course of nearly a decade.” He said his client described Cole as “detached and vacant” and displaying “awkward” behavior.

“It is obvious he has a mental disability and likely lives in a permanent vulnerable, intellectual and emotional state,” Siuzdak wrote. “It is well understood that individuals with mental conditions are susceptible to providing inaccurate and unwarranted ‘confessions.’ The FBI should have used caution and its behavioral experts to ensure any [interrogation] was proper.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) outlined a litany of problems he has with the state of the pipe-bombs case, including the fact that Cole is “borderline autistic,” as disclosed by Cole’s grandmother, Loretta Cole.

“They said, ‘Look, our son or our grandson, he’s autistic and he’s operating at a 16-year-old level and he’s not capable of this,” Massie said Dec. 11. “That was their claim, and I do think that that’s relevant to know his mental acuity.”

Different eyesight?

The way Cole held his cell phone at the accident scene is very different from how the hoodie suspect held and used a cell phone on Jan. 5. Cole kept the phone less than a foot from his face while reading the screen, video showed.

The hoodie suspect, in contrast, held the cell phone in his or her lap while sitting on the park bench behind the DNC. This could indicate that Cole’s eyesight is significantly different from the eyesight of the hoodie suspect.

The Converse Chuck Taylor All Star canvas sneakers Cole wore at the 2024 accident scene also appear to be larger than the Nike Air shoes worn by the pipe-bomb suspect on Jan. 5. The FBI said Cole told agents he used to have a pair of Nike Air Max shoes but threw them away because they were in poor condition.

Ignored evidence

In its narrative accusing Cole of being the pipe bomber, the FBI apparently did not ask Cole about stopping at a bush alongside the Congressional Black Caucus Institute at 7:48 p.m. — a video discovery made by Armitas and published by Blaze News Oct. 29.

Security video shows the hoodie suspect walked from New Jersey Avenue down a sidewalk next to the CBCI building, 413 New Jersey Ave. Southeast. The suspect spent one minute, 17 seconds near the bush — first bent over, then sitting down in front of the shrub — Capitol Police security video shows. The suspect rummaged through a backpack while sitting cross-legged, then leaned into the bush and appeared to place or attempt to place something underneath.

Police walked right past DNC pipe bomb to first look under a bush where bomber sat 17 hours earlier. Photos by U.S. Capitol Police

The suspect stood up after 77 seconds and walked to the DNC building. There, the suspect sat on a park bench and, at 7:54 p.m., placed a pipe bomb under an adjacent bush, video released by the FBI showed.

The DOJ memo does not mention the CBCI or indicate whether Cole explained why he stopped at the bush next to the headquarters of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. Information on the bomber’s time near the CBCI and the video showing the suspect’s actions was shared with the FBI by Armitas earlier this year.

It also does not mention that the bomb suspect stopped in a garden in front of the C Street Center, 133 C St. SE. The building has long served as a dormitory or rooming house for members of Congress and staff.

Armitas said he believes the suspect was attempting to place the second pipe bomb in the bushes in front of 133 C Street but may have been interrupted by a Capitol Police squad car that turned onto C Street from the east with its emergency lights on.

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​January 6 

Pope Leo XIV says people need more face-to-face interaction in their lives.

Speaking with Italian mayors from the association of local Italian authorities, the Assocazione Nazionale dei Comuni Italiani, the pope touched on some of the biggest issues faces the world today.

‘Democracy atrophies, becomes just a name, a formality.’

During the Vatican meeting, Pope Leo noted that a “demographic crisis” and “struggles” among families and young people remain top issues. According to Vatican News, the Catholic leader also stated that social isolation and “social conflicts” are pervasive issues in Italy.

At the same time, the pope — Robert Francis Prevost — said he wanted to focus on one of the biggest topics in today’s world: gambling. The Chicago native explained that he wanted to “draw attention in particular to the scourge of gambling,” which has “ruined many families.”

Citing a “major increase” in gambling in Italy in recent years, Prevost cited a recent report that described gambling as a “serious problem” in terms of education, mental health, and societal trust for Italians.

RELATED: New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan resigns; pope appoints his replacement

Photo by Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images

The pope stressed that gambling addiction is a form of “loneliness” and called on the local mayors to promote “authentically human relationships between citizens” as a way to tackle the issue.

Pope Leo reportedly drew from 20th-century Italian priest and activist Don Primo Mazzolari in order to illustrate the need for social interactions between Italians.

“[Italy] does not only need sewers, houses, roads, aqueducts, and pavements,” but also “a way of feeling, of living, a way of looking at one another, and a way of coming together as brothers and sisters.”

RELATED: Pope Leo XIV, Eastern Orthodox patriarch signal greater unity at site where Nicene Creed was adopted 1,700 years ago

Photo by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images for Philipp Plein

To solve many of these modern issues, authorities must listen to the weak and the poor, the pope said. If not, he said, “democracy atrophies, becomes just a name, a formality.”

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​Align, Faith, Religion, Catholics, Gambling, Italian, Pope, Pope leo, Lifestyle 

When Lindsay Tornambe was just 11 years old, her parents and four siblings moved out to remote Minnesota to join a religious compound called River Road Fellowship. The group was led by a man named Victor Barnard, who claimed that God had ordained him to gather and shepherd the fragmented people of the Way International — a deeply heretical “Christian” sect — after its founder Victor Paul Wierwille died in 1985.

At first, things were almost idyllic. Lindsay spent her days playing with the other kids, tending to animals, and skating on the frozen lake. But it wasn’t long before Barnard’s sinister intentions shattered the pastoral facade he had created, condemning Lindsay and other victims to years-long servitude in a sex cult.

On this episode of “Relatable,” Allie Beth Stuckey interviews Lindsay about her decade as a “maiden” in a cult whose leader is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence.

After secretly grooming Lindsay, Victor, who had taken off his wedding ring, claiming he was “married to the church” like Christ, reportedly preached a sermon from the passage in Exodus where God commands the Israelites to “give” Him their firstborns, meaning redemption through small payments or temple service.

As many cult leaders do, however, Victor reportedly twisted the passage to mean that parents must literally give their firstborn daughters over to him.

“He read off a list of names. Mine was on there,” says Lindsay.

This all happened during the early 2000s, amid lingering influences from the 1999 “Summer of Love” — a notorious period in the Way International when leadership allegedly encouraged widespread sexual promiscuity among members, including married people, as a supposed expression of “God’s love.”

Victor, however, didn’t frame the girls’ role as sexual. They were merely being asked to serve Christ and the church. Lindsay, after seeing her friends eagerly volunteer, consented to being a “maiden,” having no idea what awaited her.

She, along with nine other young girls, was then removed from her family home and taken to live in Victor’s private living compound. The maidens were assigned different duties, like gardening, cooking, cleaning, and assisting Victor with various tasks, many of which were intimate.

“Things in the beginning were kind of okay,” says Lindsay, noting that she initially believed her time as a maiden was temporary.

“I was under the impression that I would serve there and live at the camp … and then I would go home and be homeschooled,” she says.

But a shepherdess who helped oversee the young girls told 13-year-old Lindsay, who had expressed excitement about returning home to her family, that her role as a maiden was a lifetime commitment. “You’re not going home. This is your home now,” she said.

“It was shortly after that that I was raped by Victor for the first time,” says Lindsay, adding that he justified his actions by claiming that “Jesus Christ had Mary Magdalene and the apostle Paul had Phoebe” as sexual partners.

He also claimed that “even though he would be having sex with me, I could remain a virgin spiritually,” she adds.

This abuse, which was often accompanied by physical and emotional abuse, lasted for years, she says.

Eventually, fear and manipulation brainwashed Lindsay into believing she genuinely loved her captor. “One thing that Victor would tell us is that the more we dedicated ourselves to him in this life and to God, the better place in heaven we would have, and so I think the thought of not being in heaven with the maidens and with Victor really scared me,” she says.

But Lindsay’s sympathetic view of Victor was a ticking time bomb.

In 2008, after most of the girls had been moved to another remote location in Washington state, one of the maidens was deported to Brazil after her student visa expired. Victor sent other maidens to live for temporary periods in Brazil alongside her.

When it was Lindsay’s turn to go, she was exposed to the outside world for the first time since her family had joined the commune. The taste of freedom was intoxicating.

When she returned to Washington, the maidens had started their own cleaning business. As a housemaid, Lindsay got another taste of life outside the cult, as she studied family pictures on walls and heard secular music drifting from radios.

This view of the outside world had already begun to sour Lindsay’s feelings for Victor, but then news came that he, still legally married to his wife, who lived next door to him, had been sleeping with married women in the community.

In Minnesota, it is against the law for pastors to have sexual relations with their congregants, so one of the women in the commune reported Victor to the police and even shared some information about his “maidens,” forcing him to flee. The infidelity broke up the original commune in Minnesota, sending Lindsay’s family back to their home state.

Lindsay, deeply disturbed by Victor’s philandering but still unaware of her own abuse, decided she was done being a maiden. Even though fellow maidens and Victor pleaded with her to stay — calling her Judas and accusing her of not loving God — Lindsay’s mind was made up.

She called her parents, who were still committed to the Way International and Victor, and they agreed to allow her to come home.

“They gave me $500 and bought me a train ticket, and I took Amtrak all the way from Washington state to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia,” says Lindsay.

Re-entering secular society at 23 proved difficult and confusing for Lindsay. “At that point, I thought the only way to make a man happy was to sleep with him, and so I slept around a lot. I lived in a lot of sin,” she says.

“I just was really interested in exploring and living life and making friends and getting away from my parents, because they were still supporting Victor.”

While her outside life looked fun and exciting, Lindsay’s internal world grew darker over the years, as she reckoned with her past life in the cult.

“I just kept thinking over and over again: If God is a God of love that I read and believed for so long, why would he let this happen to me? If heaven is so great, why don’t I kill myself now and not live in this internal pain that I feel?” she admits.

To quell the pain, Lindsay experimented with a gamut of “remedies” — self-love programs, crystals, witchcraft, even self-harm.

“I always came up feeling so empty, so unsatisfied,” she says.

But despite Lindsay’s doubt and sin, God was working in ways she couldn’t see. Single motherhood, unexpected friendships, and perfect timing wove together and allowed Lindsay to distinguish the real God from the phony one who had been used to warp and manipulate her as a child.

To hear the beautiful story of Lindsay’s redemption, including where her family is today and the trial that landed Victor behind bars, watch the full interview above.

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​Relatable, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Lindsay tornambe, Cult, Sex cult, Cult survivor, Child abuse, The way international, Religious cult, Victor barnard, Blazetv, Blaze media, Christianity