Trump Attacked Immigrant Food Aid in Minnesota. Locals Fought Back. Three months after it began, the story of President Donald Trump’s siege of Minnesota has been one told with violent imagery. Masked men smashing windows and dragging women from their cars. A smiling mother behind the wheel of her SUV, a rattling of gunshots, a dashboard sprayed with blood. Outraged Americans shouting at government agents amid clouds of choking gas. An ICU nurse prone on the pavement. The images told the story of the streets, but even as the administration moves to wind down its historic immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, announcing a drawdown of operations this week, another story unfolds behind locked doors and drawn curtains. It is the story of tens of thousands of families living in terror, too afraid to venture into their communities for life’s most basic necessity: food. > In response to unprecedented conditions, an underground army coalesced to bring sustenance to families in hiding. On the ground in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and communities across the state, this is the reality that has kept people up at night. In response to unprecedented conditions, an underground army coalesced to bring sustenance to families in hiding. The Intercept was recently invited inside a nondescript Minneapolis warehouse to observe their operations in action. It was delivery day, which meant volunteers stuffing boxes with oatmeal and spaghetti, flour and chicken, rice, tomato sauce, vegetable oil, and more. Six hundred boxes were prepared the day before. Hundreds more would be added by day’s end. Inside, volunteers left notes telling recipients they were missed, and that they hoped to see them again soon. The packages were loaded into a fleet of station wagons and SUVs. Alongside the food was baby formula, medication, and other essentials. Many of the vehicles were driven by teachers taking supplies to the families of students who haven’t been to class for weeks. They would proceed carefully on their mission, one eye on the rear-view mirror as they ferried their precious cargo. As the latest in a series of dragnets targeting Democratic-led cities and states, Minnesota’s “Operation Metro Surge” saw 3,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol personnel deployed in early December. Across the state, immigrant families went into hiding. Joe Walker, director of nutritional services at the Sanneh Foundation, a local charity that operates a mobile food shelf in the Twin Cities, saw the impact immediately. [ ## Related ### “Uptick in Abductions”: ICE Ramps Up Targeting of Minneapolis Legal Observers ][1] Not only were families no longer appearing to receive food, Walker told The Intercept, delivery vehicles were being followed, and distribution sites were being staked out by suspected federal agents. To volunteers on the ground, it felt as though the government was weaponizing hunger to root out a foreign enemy. “We have to play by all the rules,” Walker said. “They don’t.” ## **Building an Aid Operation** Guiding operations at the warehouse visited by The Intercept was a 24-year-old soccer coach named Mu Thoo. Thoo spent his first eight years in Thailand and the rest of his life in the Twin Cities. He went to work for Walker’s mobile food shelf in 2022. As part of the immigrant community, Thoo acknowledged that Metro Surge upended life for countless families. “It’s scary,” Thoo told The Intercept, but, he added, “I don’t believe in living in fear. People are going to need food, and that’s something every human should have a right to. And we’re gonna come out and give food to people.” > “People are going to need food, and that’s something every human should have a right to.” A veteran of the battle against hunger in Minnesota, Walker helped craft the state’s regulations surrounding food shelves and served on the governor’s hunger task force, counseling emergency management teams during the pandemic and the uprising that followed the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd. The 46-year-old was immensely proud of the system his team had built. At its core were weekly, in-person distribution events in parks across the city. Held year-round, they were designed to provide a farmer’s market-style experience, where families could pick and choose from the food on offer. Naturalists came to put on demonstrations for the kids. Families from South America would visit with volunteers. Bonds of community were forged between residents who otherwise may never have met. Watching the Trump administration’s immigration blitzes in Chicago and Los Angeles, Walker braced for a similar assault in Minnesota. His team began noticing a steady drop off in people of color showing up to receive food in late summer and early fall. After Metro Surge was announced, participation plummeted, from a high of nearly 700 people receiving food during a busy week last year to just over 60 once the operation began. [ Read our complete coverage ## Chilling Dissent ][2] It was clear a major strategy shift was in order. At first, Walker experimented with using delivering trucks to provision clients no longer showing up in person. Soon, however, it became evident the risks were too high. In January, a food shelf delivery volunteer was [taken by federal agents][3] in the parking lot of a community center. A coalition of roughly 100 hunger relief organizations [signed a letter][4] describing the apprehension as part of a broader patter of federal agents exploiting food delivery to jack up arrests. With one of his own drivers followed by a suspected ICE vehicle, Walker recognized that such surveillance could tip off federal agents to dozens of families in a single day. To safely get food to people would require a low profile, under-the-radar approach. To get there, Walker and his team embraced a decentralized, word-of-mouth method of operations, working with community members who were already known and trusted by their neighbors in hiding. The pivot took off. In December, the mobile food shelf made deliveries to 735 families. In January, they delivered 1,640, an increase of 123 percent. Food aid makes its way to immigrants in hiding on Feb. 6, 2026, in Minneapolis. Photo: Ryan Devereaux ## **Lasting Damage** On Thursday, Trump’s border czar and former ICE Acting Director Tom Homan announced a drawdown of Operation Metro Surge, effective immediately. It will likely take years to unpack the full cost of the campaign. Already, the early indicators are staggering. While the true number of households that have received aid is impossible to know, estimates in mid-January from just one network of schools and churches hovered [around 30,000][5] — likely a considerable undercount considering the vast number of smaller scale operations and neighbor-to-neighbor relationships facilitating care. The mass fear engendered by the government has cost the local economy upwards of $20 million a week. Immigrant businesses have suffered [tremendously][6], with revenue losses as high as 100 percent. Local healthcare providers [estimate][7] a 25 percent drop in emergency room and clinic visits. Isolated from their classmates and friends, immigrant kids have reverted to Covid-style online learning, as parent pick-up and drop-off sites having become hunting grounds for federal agents. In his address this week, Homan stressed that “mass deportations” remain the administration’s chief immigration objective in Minnesota and around the country, suggesting the fear that has kept people inside these past several months is unlikely to abate anytime soon. Although Minnesotans in the field of hunger relief take pride in their state’s progressive policies, efforts to feed people in need were already strained before Metro Surge began. Trump’s signature 2025 legislation, the Big Beautiful Bill, which pumped an unprecedented [$75 billion][8] into ICE, making it the most well-funded law enforcement agency in history, also cut a record $186 billion in funding for the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, significantly heightening the risk of food i for tens of millions of people nationwide. Schools with high immigrant student populations, where high attendance rates are [linked][9] to the availability of free breakfasts and lunches, have seen more than 60 percent of their kids stop coming to class. When those students join their parents in hiding, the 10 meals they would have received each week fall to their parents to provide; parents whose ability to move in the outside world, let alone earn money, is threatened by continuing deportation operations. Those burdens are exacerbated in families with multiple children and cases where the head of the household is disappeared by the state. It’s not just undocumented families being impacted, Walker explained. “There’s a lot of Black and brown people that are just scared to be out and about,” he said, regardless of their immigration status. “It’s like covid hit a certain population of the Twin Cities.” > “When do we call it’s all clear? I have no idea.” Even as ICE prepares to draw down its presence, Walker and his team recognize that picking up the pieces after an operation that left two Americans dead and funneled thousands of residents into the deportation pipeline will take months, if not years. “Families are being ruined financially, businesses are being ruined. It’s a huge economic hit,” he said. “And that is not even the hardest part. When it’s all done, then there’s the count of the missing. Where are they? Are they going to come home? These are our neighbors.” “There’s no vaccine for this one,” Walker continued. “When do we call it’s all clear? I have no idea.” ## **“The Fear Never Leaves”** Walker’s team continues to provide in-person food availability at local parks. At one drop-off location, The Intercept saw a girl of perhaps 12 years of age and what looked to be her younger brother wheel a pair of empty strollers into a recreation center. The girl loaded her reusable grocery bags with oranges, chicken and milk. It was her second time visiting the site, she said. Before leaving, the children spoke briefly with Sanneh employee Alberto Hernández. “With a lot of the first-gen kids being born here, they do come for their parents,” Hernández told The Intercept, after the children went on their way. The 25-year-old Hernández could relate. He was a first-gen kid himself, the son of Mexican immigrants, born and raised in the Twin Cities area. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after high school and joined Sanneh in September, just months before Metro Surge took off. > “I carry everything. I carry my veteran ID. I carry my passport.” Hernández is a big guy, clean cut with a friendly face. He’d served his country and was now spending his days giving back to the community that raised him. Even he was scared. “I carry everything,” he said. “I carry my veteran ID. I carry my passport.” It was Hernández who’d been followed by suspected ICE agents while making runs for the food shelf. His experience was just one of many. One of his closest friends hadn’t left home since late December. Another, a legal resident, was surrounded by eight ICE agents while shopping at a Home Depot. According to Hernández, the barrel of an AR-15 was pressed to his skull and agents threw him to the ground before permitting him to go. “The thing is,” Hernández said, “the fear never leaves.” Despite being a military veteran with a white girlfriend, Hernández still felt uncomfortable going out to eat. “We can’t even sit and just chill,” he said. “People need to know that. That’s how it is here. Always looking over your shoulder.” At the same time, life in Minnesota wasn’t all paranoia and dread. To Hernández, who lived in downtown Minneapolis and witnessed a 50,000-person march last month demanding ICE’s retreat from the city, it was a moment of neighborly solidarity the likes of which he’d never seen. It was a reminder, to him, that he was not alone. “As someone who’s a child of immigrants, it’s really nice,” he said. “It’s very, very, very beautiful to see. The people of Minneapolis, and the people of Minnesota, stand up for the community and their neighbors.” The post [Trump Attacked Immigrant Food Aid in Minnesota. Locals Fought Back.][10] appeared first on [The Intercept][11]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/09/ice-minneapolis-legal-observers-abduction/ [2]: https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/ [3]: https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/nonprofits-say-federal-agents-are-targeting-food-shelfs-harassing-minnesota-volunteers [4]: https://www.2harvest.org/sites/default/files/2026-02/MN%20Hunger-Relief%20Network%20Statement_Feb6.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawP5j8dleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFKYjFhSUJWNnVpbENvU0kwc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHtl_KxFg9kMENdAo88l1gvsL9rv9JQWv0C6ZrHYMHurS-4QVTMx7tzhCpIsz_aem_ZXDadfubJEOqkWqRSxkVBg [5]: https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-battle-for-minneapolis?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhtwitter&utm_content=null [6]: https://www.startribune.com/ice-economic-impact-minneapolis-small-business-immigrant-owned-revenue-loss-financial/601576602 [7]: https://www.kaaltv.com/news/minnesota-senate-committee-hears-testimony-over-impact-of-ice-operations/ [8]: https://democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/appropriations-committees-release-homeland-security-funding-bill [9]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/dining/minneapolis-ice-grocery-stores-hunger.html [10]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/trump-immigrant-food-aid-minneapolis/ [11]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/trump-immigrant-food-aid-minneapolis/

Pam Bondi Admits DOJ Has a Secret Domestic Terrorist List Attorney General Pam Bondi for the first time acknowledged the existence of a secret list of domestic terrorist organizations during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. “I know Antifa is part of that,” Bondi said under questioning about the list from Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government. Bondi refused to offer any further details about the “domestic terrorist organization” database being compiled under President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or [NSPM-7][1]. “The goal was to get her – even by denying that she would produce it – to acknowledge that it existed and then raise the alarm,” Scanlon told The Intercept. The Justice Department had previously refused to acknowledge the list to The Intercept, despite being asked scores of questions about it over a period of months. NSPM-7, which conflates constitutionally protected speech and political activism with “domestic terrorism” — a term that has no basis in U.S. law – [specifically targets][2] those that espouse what the administration defines as anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Christianity, anti-fascism, and radical gender ideologies, as well as those with “hostility toward those who hold traditional American views.” An implementation memo Bondi issued in December directed the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism.” The initial report was to be submitted to Bondi on January 3 with regular updates issued every 30 days. [ ## Related ### FBI Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a Climate Activist — Then Showed Up at His Door ][3] A November FBI internal report obtained by The Guardian revealed that there were multiple active FBI investigations related to NSPM-7 in 27 locations. [The Intercept revealed][4] on Thursday that the FBI appears to be investigating Extinction Rebellion NYC, a climate activism group that could potentially be related to NSPM-7. Bondi’s revelation that she has a working domestic terrorist list came during four hours of back-and-forth with lawmakers that mostly focused on the recently released Justice Department files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. When repeatedly asked if she would commit to providing the House Judiciary Committee with the NSPM-7 list, Bondi snapped at Scanlon: “I’m not going to commit to anything to you because you won’t let me answer questions.” After Scanlon clarified that this meant Bondi now had a “secret list of people or groups that you are accusing of domestic terrorism, but you won’t share it with Congress,” Scanlon noted that such secrecy precluded Americans from [challenging their inclusion][5] on the list. Bondi refused to address the issue and instead insulted Scanlon. Asked about the NSPM-7 list, the FBI told The Intercept that it had “no comment.” Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre failed to respond to questions about the size of the list or the persons or groups on it. [For months][6], the White House and Justice Department have [continually failed to answer][7] a troubling question from The Intercept regarding NSPM-7: Are Americans that the federal government deems to be members of domestic terrorist organizations subject to extrajudicial killings like those it claims are members of designated terrorist organizations who are [targeted in boat strikes][8] in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean? Scanlon entered one of the [Intercept’s stories][9] on this issue into the record during the Wednesday hearing. [ ## Related ### Trump Calls His Enemies Terrorists. Does That Mean He Can Just Kill Them? ][10] Bondi’s December memo, “Implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” defines “domestic terrorism” in the broadest possible terms, including “conspiracies to impede … law enforcement.” Federal immigration [agents ][11]have said they consider [observing][12], [following][13], and [filming their][14] operations a [crime ][15]under the statute that prohibits assaulting, resisting, or [impeding ][16]a federal officer. This is also the foremost statute in a directory of prioritized crimes listed in NSPM-7. Federal officers frequently [confront][17] and [threaten][18] those observing, following, and filming them for “[impeding][19]” their efforts. In [numerous instances][20], they have [unholstered][21] or [pointed weapons][22] at the [people][23] who [filmed][24] or [followed them][25]. Both Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis while observing immigration agents. When asked if Good or Pretti were on any domestic terrorism list, watchlist, or under surveillance by federal authorities, a bureau spokesperson said: “The FBI has no comment.” “The administration is keeping lists of Americans who the White House says are engaged in domestic terrorism. Those lists could include Americans who have not committed any acts of terrorism but simply disagree with this administration, people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” Scanlon noted during the Wednesday hearing. When questioned about the NSPM-7 list, Bondi stated that “on February 5, 2025, an Antifa member was arrested in Minneapolis.” Baldassarre did not reply to a request for clarification, but Bondi was likely referring to a Minneapolis man who allegedly described himself as an “Antifa member” who was arrested on February 5 of this year, not 2025. “This man allegedly doxxed and called for the murder of law enforcement officers, encouraged bloodshed in the streets, and proudly claimed affiliation with the terrorist organization Antifa before going on the run,” [said Bondi][26], last week, of Kyle Wagner, 37, who was arrested on federal charges of cyberstalking and making threatening communications. Bondi’s Justice Department memo claims that “certain Antifa-aligned extremists” profess “extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment” and “a willingness to use violence against law-abiding citizenry to serve those beliefs.” Over the last decade, Republicans have frequently [blamed][27] antifa for violence and used it as an omnibus term for [left-wing activists][28], as if it were an organization with members and a command structure. In September, Trump signed an executive order [designating antifa][29] as a “domestic terror organization,” despite the fact that it is essentially a [decentralized][30], leftist ideology — a collection of related ideas and political concepts much like [feminism][31] or environmentalism. In addition to the Epstein files and NSPM-7, Bondi fielded questions about her department’s unsuccessful effort a day earlier to prosecute six Democratic lawmakers [who posted a video][32] on social media in which they reminded military personnel that they are required to disobey illegal orders. The November video led to a Trump tirade that made the White House’s failure to dismiss the possibility of summary executions of Americans even more worrisome. “This is really bad,” the president[ wrote][33] on Truth Social, “and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” A follow-up [post][34] read: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Trump also [reposted ][35]a comment that said: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” Scanlon told The Intercept that while it was clear that Bondi was not going to provide substantive answers, the hearing did allow her and her colleagues to raise the alarm on a number of issues, including NSPM-7. “Every day, we’re seeing this administration weaponize government to go after people who disagree with it. Whether it’s shooting citizens who protest or trying to indict members of Congress who suggest that it’s giving illegal military orders or trying to go after attorneys general around the country. It’s not one isolated thing,” Scanlon said. “It’s connected to a whole bunch of areas where the government isn’t doing its job and instead, is just pursuing the president’s political enemies. It’s truly frightening.” The post [Pam Bondi Admits DOJ Has a Secret Domestic Terrorist List][36] appeared first on [The Intercept][37]. [1]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/ [2]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/12/trump-nspm-7-domestic-terrorist-executions-antifa-boat-strikes/ [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/ [4]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/ [5]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/ [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/12/trump-nspm-7-domestic-terrorist-executions-antifa-boat-strikes/ [7]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/02/trump-nspm-7-domestic-terrorist-minneapolis-alex-pretti/ [8]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/17/trump-boat-strikes-death-toll-caribbean-pacific/ [9]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/02/trump-nspm-7-domestic-terrorist-minneapolis-alex-pretti/ [10]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/02/trump-nspm-7-domestic-terrorist-minneapolis-alex-pretti/ [11]: https://www.reddit.com/r/50501Chicago/comments/1oeizc6/il_woman_calmly_exercises_her_right_to_record_a/ [12]: https://x.com/JTCestkowski/status/1997748578207596718 [13]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1984006619110340 [14]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/2022408581857995 [15]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1153426956907713 [16]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1933783997178576 [17]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1226461065966696 [18]: https://x.com/KimKatieUSA/status/1977428375506768289 [19]: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1329375022201281 [20]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCTUIEHpAD0 [21]: https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1944742592530485518 [22]: https://web.archive.org/web/20251208161959/https:/www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-10-31/feds-say-tiktoker-who-was-shot-previously-escaped-a-video-casts-doubt [23]: https://x.com/KimKatieUSA/status/1983220247822741841 [24]: https://x.com/TheKevinDalton/status/1935540098482733220 [25]: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-10/ice-agent-points-gun-at-female-fullerton-police-stop-not-knowing-the-identity-of-the-armed-male [26]: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/anti-ice-antifa-member-arrested-federal-charges-cyberstalking-and-threatening-communications [27]: https://theintercept.com/2020/06/29/antifa-trump-domestic-terrorism/ [28]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/who-were-the-counterprotesters-in-charlottesville.html [29]: https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic-terrorism/ [30]: https://archive.is/51i4x [31]: https://archive.is/dxg8m#selection-553.171-553.264 [32]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/us/politics/democratic-lawmakers-illegal-orders.html [33]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115582451169685243 [34]: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115582703277798715 [35]: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-democrats-death-penalty-sedition-military-orders-rcna245003 [36]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/pam-bondi-domestic-terror-list-nspm-7/ [37]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/pam-bondi-domestic-terror-list-nspm-7/

FBI Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a Climate Activist — Then Showed Up at His Door Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, at least one of whom works on counterterrorism, went to the home of a former member of a climate activism group for questioning last week, potentially signaling a new escalation in the Trump administration’s promise to criminalize nonprofits and activist groups as domestic terrorists. Two FBI agents, one from New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, told a former member of Extinction Rebellion NYC they wanted to ask him about the group at his home upstate on Friday, an attorney for the group told The Intercept. The visit followed a prior attempt to reach him at his old address. The FBI’s apparent probe of Extinction Rebellion NYC comes as the Justice Department ramps up its surveillance of activists protesting immigration enforcement and the Trump administration creates secret lists of [domestic enemies][1] under Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or NSPM-7. “I believe this to be a significant escalation of the criminal legal system against XR and find it very troubling,” said Ron Kuby, the Extinction Rebellion attorney. “This is usually the way we find out an actual investigation is underway and is often followed by other visits and other actions.” The former Extinction Rebellion member, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, said that the visit came after a phone call in January from a special agent that he assumed was a scam. “I was skeptical the phone call was really from the FBI, but after I declined to speak with the agent, she said that she was standing outside my door,” he said. She was actually at the activist’s former address, which he said made him additionally dubious. But last week, when the agents showed up at his current address, he said he saw the agent’s business card through his door. Kuby confirmed that the agent’s business card information corresponded to a current member of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force. A text message from the agent, reviewed by The Intercept, shows she identified herself and stated that she was at the former member’s house to question him about Extinction Rebellion. Her name, title, and phone number match a known special agent on the task force, according to court records. Reached by The Intercept, a public affairs officer for the New York FBI field office said, “Per longstanding DOJ policy, we cannot confirm or deny the existence or nonexistence of any investigation.” The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Extinction Rebellion NYC is a chapter of a loose international climate justice movement that does highly public direct actions, like [an April Earth Day spray-painting][2] over the presidential seal inside Trump Tower in Manhattan. Kuby said none of the group’s actions are violent or rise above the level of misdemeanors, and would not typically be of interest to federal counterterrorism investigators. The former member said he had not been involved in any Extinction Rebellion actions in two years and hadn’t participated in anything that he thought would send the FBI to his door. > “They repeatedly pursued this member and traveled hundreds of miles – this suggests a real investigative effort.” “All of our actions are incredibly public,” he said. He recalled that the agent said she had some questions about Extinction Rebellion NYC, and that he wasn’t in any trouble, before the activist declined to speak and closed his door. Why the FBI’s counterterrorism task force would investigate Extinction Rebellion is unknown, Kuby said. “Often, the FBI starts with former members of a group, or less central people, to begin investigations,” Kuby said. “The fact that they repeatedly pursued this member, and traveled hundreds of miles from his old address in NYC – this suggests a real investigative effort.” Trump’s September presidential [memorandum][3], dubbed NSPM-7, called for the National Joint Terrorism Task Force and its local offices to investigate a broad spectrum of progressive groups and donors for “anti-fascism” beliefs. [ ## Related ### Longtime Paid FBI Informant Was Instrumental in Terror Case Against “Turtle Island Liberation Front” ][4] A November FBI internal report obtained by [The Guardian][5] revealed that there were multiple active FBI investigations related to NSPM-7 in 27 locations, including New York, where the agent investigating Extinction Rebellion works. Trump’s directive instructed Joint Terrorism Task Forces to proactively investigate groups and activists with vague language that [civil liberty watchdogs say][6] could easily criminalize protected speech and protest. FBI agents also visited several activists affiliated with Extinction Rebellion and other climate groups in the Boston area last March, according to a [local news report][7]. The reasons for those visits remain unclear, and the activists involved said nothing came of them. The FBI’s Boston Division declined to comment to the press at the time. After Extinction Rebellion NYC members protested New York Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi’s town hall at a Long Island synagogue last month, objecting to his vote to increase ICE funding, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon [posted on X][8] that she would be investigating the protest to see “whether federal law has been broken.” None of the activists involved in the Suozzi protest have been contacted by federal investigators, representatives for the group told The Intercept. Suozzi did not reply to messages. In 2023, then-Florida Senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote a letter to then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking them to bar members of Extinction Rebellion in the U.K. from the U.S. in response to [a report][9] that the group planned to protest at federal properties. “Among other things, the group will allegedly block highways and disrupt federal properties, but violence and terrorist acts cannot be discounted given the group’s past threats,” Rubio wrote [in the 2023 letter][10]. He also used similar language in [proposed legislation][11] against “antifa” protests in 2022. Nate Smith, an Extinction Rebellion activist who took part in the Suozzi protest, objected to characterizations of the group’s activism as terrorism. “Is petitioning an elected official at a public event what makes America great, or a federal offense?” Smith said. “I get if you don’t like it. That’s half the point, but ‘terrorism’?” There have also been scattered [reports][12] of FBI agents visiting anti-ICE protesters around the country. While the FBI’s interest in Extinction Rebellion remains unclear, the group pointed to Trump’s NSPM-7 directive. “We did not anticipate that we would be among the first groups of those who speak inconveniently to be targeted,” Extinction Rebellion NYC said in a public statement. “We did not anticipate the level of capitulation from our country’s hallowed institutions and political opposition.” The post [FBI Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a Climate Activist — Then Showed Up at His Door][13] appeared first on [The Intercept][14]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/ [2]: https://x.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1915081690340348096 [3]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/ [4]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/fbi-informant-turtle-island-terror-plot/ [5]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/19/fbi-terrorism-investigations-anti-ice-activity [6]: https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/how-nspm-7-seeks-to-use-domestic-terrorism-to-target-nonprofits-and-activists [7]: https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/05/08/boston-environmental-activists-fbi-visits [8]: https://x.com/AAGDhillon/status/2017596908974248388 [9]: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12160801/Europes-leading-eco-zealots-planning-summer-chaos-climate-protests-US.html [10]: https://www.legistorm.com/stormfeed/view_rss/2240465/member/2809/title/rubio-warns-of-foreign-extremists-coming-to-us.html [11]: https://web.archive.org/web/20220919221309/https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/9/rubio-bill-would-make-it-illegal-for-protesters-to-block-interstates [12]: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/video-fbi-agents-visit-anti-ice-protester [13]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/ [14]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/

Marine Detained in Minneapolis Says Feds Copied His Phone Without a Warrant At first, Steven Saari said, federal immigration agents seemed to think he was one of them. Saari, a Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, went to the scene of Alex Pretti’s killing in Minneapolis less than an hour after federal agents fired the fatal shots. He was wearing his Marine camouflage and carrying a lawfully owned 9mm Glock handgun on his right hip, as he does every day, he told The Intercept. Agents on the scene “thought I was undercover,” Saari said. “They kept asking what agency I was with.” When Saari told them he was not with any agency, their demeanor shifted. Federal immigration agents soon aimed M4-style rifles at his head, footage reviewed by The Intercept shows, their fingers on the trigger less than a minute’s walk away from where Pretti was killed. “More and more Border Patrol and ICE agents gathered around me,” Saari said. “Then they moved in with rifles and handguns drawn.” The encounter raises questions about how federal agents assessed threats, used force, and made arrest decisions in the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s killing. In Saari’s case, he and his attorney told The Intercept, federal agents took scans and samples of his biometric data and made a copy of his phone — without obtaining a warrant. [ ## Related ### “Uptick in Abductions”: ICE Ramps Up Targeting of Minneapolis Legal Observers ][1] Before the agents apprehended him, Saari said he was standing on the sidewalk observing events — not recording, protesting, or engaging with federal agents until they approached him. When they did, Saari said agents issued conflicting commands and attempted to handcuff him without first securing his firearm. He said officers briefly positioned his right hand on his handgun while pulling his arms behind his back, leaving him unsure how they expected him to comply. Standard law enforcement firearms training typically emphasizes securing a weapon before attempting to restrain an armed person. Saari said he feared agents might shoot him when his hand brushed the gun, even though he said officers, not his own movements, placed it there. Agents arrested Saari and brought him to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where he was detained for at least six hours before being released without charges. Reached for comment, ICE referred The Intercept to Customs and Border Protection. Neither CBP nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment. Inside the federal building, Saari said agents shackled his hands and feet, photographed him, scanned his face, and forced him to provide a DNA sample by depressing his tongue and swabbing the inside of his mouth. He said agents denied him access to an attorney, even though they were present elsewhere in the building and in contact with civilians and federal officials that day. “I asked for an attorney probably a hundred times and was never given one,” Saari said. “I was never told why I was being arrested.” Then, Saari said, “They took my cell phone and cloned it. They actually told me they did that.” Saari said agents did not ask him to unlock the device, nor did they provide a warrant, paperwork, or explanation authorizing the search. > “They took my cell phone and cloned it. They actually told me they did that.” “Every step of this process raises red flags,” said Shauna Kieffer, the vice president of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers*,* who is now representing Saari. “You don’t get to detain someone without cause, deny them access to counsel, seize their phone, and then search or copy it without a warrant.” Law enforcement may seize a phone during an arrest, but officers generally cannot access or duplicate its data without judicial authorization, said Nathan Wessler, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. He said the only exception involves narrow emergency circumstances, which typically do not apply once both a person and their phone are already in custody. “Once the phone is secured and the person is secured, it’s very hard to imagine what kind of emergency would justify searching or copying it without a warrant,” Wessler said. Failure to get a warrant raises serious concerns of violating the Fourth Amendment, Wessler added, pointing to the 2014 Supreme Court case [Riley v. California][2], in which the court found police are generally not allowed to search an arrested person’s cell phone without a specific warrant. “The government needs a warrant to search or copy the contents of a phone, just as it would need a warrant to look through it,” Wessler said. And that warrant “has to be particularized to the evidence the government actually has probable cause to seek,” he added. “You don’t get a blank check to rummage through someone’s digital life.” > “You don’t get a blank check to rummage through someone’s digital life.” About seven hours after his arrest, Saari was released into sub-zero temperatures without transportation, unsure of where he was. He said he didn’t know if he remained under investigation, nor whether the government would retain copies of his phone data or DNA sample. “Finding out that someone who served our country was being denied access to counsel was heartbreaking,” said Kieffer, who was connected with Saari two days after his detention through a colleague. “He should never have been invisible to us.” While he was in detention, Saari said, agents provided minimal food and water, and detainees with visible injuries did not receive timely medical care. “I asked for water about a dozen times,” he told The Intercept. “At one point they brought three bottles of water for seven people.” Saari said detainees had to use their drinking water to clean blood off of their injured peers, which is consistent with accounts from another civilian arrested that day and previously reported by The Intercept. [ ## Related ### He Witnessed an Earlier Shooting. Feds Arrested Him at the Scene of Alex Pretti’s Killing. ][3] “There was a man with a golf-ball-sized contusion on his head who didn’t get medical attention,” Saari said. “There was a 70-year-old Marine Corps veteran with a deep gash on his elbow who was bleeding.” Saari said the treatment he received stood in sharp contrast to how he handled detainees during his own military service, including during combat operations in Iraq. During one raid in Fallujah, Saari said his unit detained men who surrendered without resistance. After the operation, he said, they reviewed video footage showing the detainees had recently planted an improvised explosive device targeting a U.S. convoy. Despite the brutality of some [operations in Fallujah][4], where U.S. forces repeatedly killed Iraqi civilians, Saari said his unit restrained, searched, and turned over the detainees without abuse or humiliation. “We still treated them as humans,” Saari said. “To be treated worse here, at home, than people who had attacked our unit in a war zone, it’s been hard to understand.” The post [Marine Detained in Minneapolis Says Feds Copied His Phone Without a Warrant][5] appeared first on [The Intercept][6]. [1]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/09/ice-minneapolis-legal-observers-abduction/ [2]: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/573/373/ [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/31/minneapolis-protester-witness-killing-alex-pretti/ [4]: https://theintercept.com/2023/03/24/intercepted-podcast-united-states-iraq-imperialism/ [5]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/minneapolis-federal-agents-phone-surveillance-alex-pretti/ [6]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/minneapolis-federal-agents-phone-surveillance-alex-pretti/

AIPAC Is Flooding Illinois With Cash. Pro-Palestine Groups Are Backing Kat Abughazaleh As the pro-Israel lobby seeks to shape a set of congressional races in Illinois, national progressive groups are pushing to elect a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights outside of Chicago. The national progressive outfit Justice Democrats and the Peace, Accountability, and Leadership PAC, a new group that [launched Wednesday][1] to support candidates advocating for Palestine in the upcoming midterms, are endorsing activist Kat Abughazaleh for Congress in Illinois’s 9th District. The endorsement comes as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has made its biggest investment so far this cycle in electing pro-Israel Democrats in and around deep-blue Chicago, which is home to one of the nation’s largest populations of Palestinian residents. Abughazaleh is one of [over a dozen candidates][2] running in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Also running are state Sen. Laura Fine, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, local school board member and activist Bushra Amiwala, former hostage negotiator and agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation Phil Andrew, and state Rep. Hoan Huynh. [ ## Related ### AIPAC Strategy Backfires as Progressive Underdog Wins Key House Race in New Jersey ][3] Schakowsky was a longtime recipient of support from J-Street, a moderate pro-Israel group, and AIPAC appears to view the race as an opportunity to replace her with a more hardline supporter of Israel. The pro-Israel lobby has already taken one opportunity to go after a centrist who strayed from its party line, when it ran attack ads against former New Jersey Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski — a [strategy that appeared to backfire][4] and ultimately help get the [progressive][5] in the race elected. Now, pro-Palestine groups see an opening in Chicago amid mounting public criticism of the pro-Israel lobby. Both groups said the endorsement was a reflection of a historic level of public support for Palestinian human rights and cutting U.S. funding to Israel. Abughazaleh is the [12th candidate][6] Justice Democrats has endorsed [this cycle][7] as it looks to more aggressively counter the pro-Israel lobby and [come back][8] from major losses in 2024. Abughazaleh told The Intercept she’s running to hold Democrats to a higher standard. “There’s been this idea of ‘vote blue no matter who’ for a long time that has gotten us to the moment that we’re in, because we haven’t held our Party accountable,” she said. She added that she was the first candidate to launch her campaign in the race before Schakowsky announced her retirement. “I didn’t wait in line or ask for permission,” Abughazaleh said. “I think a big part of that is because I felt a sense of urgency that many establishment politicians just don’t because they’re not facing the consequences that we are.” “Kat has spent her career doing what so many voters are desperate to see the Democratic Party do right now: fight back against Republican extremism and fight for everyday people,” Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi said in a statement to The Intercept. “At a time when so many career politicians in the Party have to be convinced to condemn genocide, we are proud to support a first-time candidate with the moral clarity to oppose bottomless budgets for Israel’s ethnic cleansing, abolish ICE and fight for every person to afford the life they deserve.” While AIPAC hasn’t officially endorsed in the race, its donors have made their pick clear. AIPAC donors have [flooded][9] Fine’s campaign and sent fundraising emails on her behalf. AIPAC is also [reportedly][10] behind just under half a million dollars in ads launched last week for Fine by the Super PAC [Elect Chicago Women][11]. Fine has distanced herself from AIPAC and said she isn’t seeking its support — despite [fundraising][12] with AIPAC’s board president. [ ## Related ### AIPAC Head Hosts Fundraiser for House Candidate Who Swears AIPAC Isn’t Backing Her ][13] Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American activist, has made her criticism of the genocide in Gaza and U.S. military support for Israel a central piece of her campaign. She’s also facing a [federal indictment][14] on felony conspiracy charges stemming from protest actions against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She turned her congressional office into a mutual aid hub and is running on Medicare for All, fixing the affordable housing crisis, and fighting authoritarianism. “AIPAC is so toxic that they have been doing everything they can to pretend that they are not in our race when they very clearly are,” Abughazaleh said. She said voters “understand the stakes, and they’re sick of their tax dollars being used to commit crimes against humanity.” Abughazaleh said she’s the only one of the top three Democratic candidates — counting herself, Fine, and Biss — who’s never met with AIPAC. Biss previously met with local AIPAC representatives, but he [said][15] he did not share the group’s “hardline views” and had never sought their support. Both Abughazaleh and Biss have been vocal in criticizing AIPAC’s efforts to boost their opponent, Fine. During a [candidate forum][16] last week, Biss directly criticized Fine’s support from AIPAC donors and said voters should be troubled by her support for unconditional U.S. military aid. “That is deeply problematic,” Biss said. “That is a right-wing policy that is bad for Palestinians, Jews, Israelis, America, and the world.” Meanwhile, United Democracy Project and AIPAC are spreading their resources around the state. UDP is also reportedly backing ads from a PAC that calls itself Affordable Chicago Now!, which is [teaming up][17] with Elect Chicago Women to back Fine, Melissa Bean in the 8th District, and Donna Miller in the 2nd District. UDP is also planning to spend close to $3 million backing Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin in the 7th District and bought its first $500,000 in ads for her on Tuesday. The move by the pro-Israel lobby has raised talk about what AIPAC donors who originally backed another candidate, [real estate mogul Jason Friedman][18], will do now. The post [AIPAC Is Flooding Illinois With Cash. Pro-Palestine Groups Are Backing Kat Abughazaleh][19] appeared first on [The Intercept][20]. [1]: https://zeteo.com/p/pal-pac-aipac-israel-palestine [2]: https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2026/02/06/what-to-know-9th-congressional-district-democratic-primary-race [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/10/aipac-new-jersey-mejia-malinowski/ [4]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/04/aipac-new-jersey-israel-lobby-donors/ [5]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/10/aipac-new-jersey-mejia-malinowski/ [6]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/04/texas-jasmine-crockett-house-primary-frederick-haynes/ [7]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/04/texas-jasmine-crockett-house-primary-frederick-haynes/ [8]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/11/aipac-valerie-foushee-nida-allam-nc/ [9]: https://prospect.org/2026/02/06/aipac-coordinates-donors-in-illinois-house-primaries/ [10]: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinois-playbook/2026/02/04/everyones-making-moves-in-il-07-00763953 [11]: https://prospect.org/2026/02/10/aipac-super-pac-illinois-house-congress-melissa-conyears-ervin/ [12]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/laura-fine-illinois-primary-aipac-donors/ [13]: https://theintercept.com/2025/12/16/laura-fine-illinois-primary-aipac-donors/ [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-ice-protest-indictment/ [15]: https://danielbiss.substack.com/p/a-note-on-aipac [16]: https://dailynorthwestern.com/2026/02/05/top-stories/democratic-congressional-candidates-spar-over-campaign-donations-at-csna-forum/ [17]: https://x.com/RyanInEvanston/status/2021382095982166409?s=20 [18]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/22/chicago-congress-aipac-jason-friedman/ [19]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/aipac-illinois-kat-abughazaleh-congress-pal-pac/ [20]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/aipac-illinois-kat-abughazaleh-congress-pal-pac/

Americans Want Accountability With the Epstein Files. Elites Couldn’t Care Less. [This photograph taken in Le-Perreux-sur-Marne, outside Paris on February 9, 2026 shows undated pictures provided by the US Department of Justice on January 30, 2026 as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files. US authorities on January 30, 2026, released the latest cache of files related to the investigation into the late conviceted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The files contained references to numerous high-profile figures. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP via Getty Images)] This photograph shows undated pictures provided by the U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 30, 2026, as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP via Getty Images With each successive trove of documents from the Epstein files the Department of Justice releases, we’re treated to rare insight into how our ruling class behaves in private, and how connected many of them were to the late sex trafficker. The list of elites who maintained close relationships with Epstein is long and includes prominent politicians, media figures, academics, and business leaders. In contrast, the list of people who have faced any meaningful consequences, at least in the United States, is so far quite short. Recently, Brad Karp, a top Democratic Party fundraising “[bundler][1],” was removed as chair of the white-shoe law firm Paul Weiss after his extensive ties to Epstein were revealed. Peter Attia, the celebrity doctor and a new hire at Bari Weiss’ CBS News, [resigned][2] from a protein bar company after emails showed him making dirty jokes with Epstein. The economist Larry Summers was [deemed][3] [toxic][4] after a previous DOJ disclosure, went on leave from teaching at Harvard, and was unceremoniously dropped by numerous institutions. So far, that’s about the extent of it. To be very explicit, this lack of serious consequences is a choice that powerful people in the United States are making. Meanwhile, [in the United Kingdom][5], Prince Andrew is prince no more, reduced to merely Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after King Charles removed all of his remaining royal titles; the former CEO of Barclays has been [barred from the finance industry][6]; the British ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, [has been forced out][7]; Morgan McSweeney, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff and a Mandelson protege, was forced to resign under pressure; and Starmer [risks][8] [losing][9] [his post][10] over the Mandelson appointment. In [Slovakia][11], the national security adviser to the prime minister has resigned. Accountability, if you care to enforce it, is in fact possible. But on this side of the pond, elites have moved to protect powerful people with Epstein connections (themselves included). Donald Trump is the most obvious example; for any other president, the relationship between the two men would have been a fast track to impeachment. The documents also reveal how many powerful people maintained relationships with Epstein years after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008: Among them are former presidential adviser and current podcast bro Steve Bannon, Trump’s Commerce Secretary [Howard Lutnick][12], Tesla et al. CEO and “[MechaHitler][13]” progenitor Elon Musk, LinkedIn co-founder [Reid Hoffman][14], Palantir co-founder [Peter Thiel][15], and Microsoft co-founder [Bill Gates][16]. Extensive redactions to the documents by the Justice Department have slow-walked matters even further, but on Tuesday, Rep. Ro Khanna [took aim ][17]by reading off the names of “six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason” on the floor of Congress. > If there’s to be any measure of accountability, the powerful people who palled around with Epstein, asked his advice, or otherwise provided cover for him need to be cast out of polite society forever. To make matters worse, many figures who appear in the files have reacted to the ongoing Epstein disclosures in ways that merit aggressive eyebrow raising. After the threat of being held in contempt of Congress, former President Bill Clinton, who for years had a close relationship with Epstein, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have finally, [under pressure][18], [agreed][19] to testify before the House Oversight Committee. The Clintons resisted subpoenas, even [calling][20] them “invalid and legally unenforceable,” until a bipartisan majority of the House Oversight Committee voted to move the measure to hold them in contempt to the full House. Before that inflection point, they apparently expected Democrats to close ranks around them, as they always have in the past. Republican maneuvering aside, the presumption that noncompliance with a legitimate subpoena from Congress is somehow permissible, or even noble, reflects the air of impunity that ruling elites have toward basic functions of the rule of law. But make no mistake: If there’s to be any measure of real accountability, the powerful people who palled around with Epstein, asked his advice, or otherwise provided cover for him need to be cast out of polite society forever. Beyond being packed with salacious gossip and more than enough material for months more of [investigative journalism][21], the newly released documents are striking in how they reveal elites’ widespread casual disdain for us commoners. Perhaps more than anything, the Epstein files are jarring for how transparently they communicate that members of our elite believe that norms, consequences, and even laws don’t apply to them. There seems to be no end to the number of emails from powerful people seeking out Epstein’s [advice for how to handle controversies][22] ranging from sexual assault allegations to formal human resources investigations to media scrutiny. (Former Arizona State University professor Lawrence Krauss is probably the clearest example; as Grace Panetta [wrote for The 19th][23], “Krauss turned to Epstein for public relations advice and strategy, sent him possible cross-examination questions for his accusers, forwarded an article on the dos and don’ts for apologizing, and fielded Epstein’s edits and feedback on draft statements.”) Not to put too fine a point on it, but it should absolutely be disqualifying to seek image management tips from someone like Epstein, particularly years *after* they pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor. If you’re running to a convicted child sex trafficker to plan your PR strategy, if you’re chummily asking for his insights and making social plans, or if you are seeking advice on how to use professional leverage to induce a subordinate to have sex with you, then you are probably someone we should never hear from again. It is worth being quite clear here: This does not mean everyone who makes any appearance at all in the files needs to be excised from public life. For instance, the political commentators Megan McArdle, Josh Barro, Ben Dreyfuss, and Ross Douthat recently recorded a podcast episode titled “[We’re All in the Epstein Files][24],” which notes that they all are there because of tweets that a third party shared with Epstein, mostly via a newsletter sent out by Gregory Brown. That sort of thing is not the point. In order to actually clean house, we need to be clear where the dirt is. But there are *many* cases where influential figures were cavorting with Epstein for years, maintaining close relationships with a prominent sex trafficker, and often being creepy in the correspondence itself. In many more, the emails became damning in context. For example, the MIT Media Lab, an initiative heavily backed by billionaire Hoffman, accepted Epstein’s donations [for years after his conviction][25], including soliciting donations in 2016. Importantly, MIT Media Lab staff internally flagged Epstein’s criminal history in 2013 — even sending a helpful link to his Wikipedia page — when Media Lab director Joichi Ito raised him as a prospective funder, according to a [report][26] commissioned by the university. Ito ignored those concerns, accepted Epstein’s money, and remained in touch until well into 2019, including exchanging [text messages][27] in May, just three months before Epstein’s death. The new documents also show Ito attempted to arrange a meeting with himself, Hoffman, and Epstein during a 2016 conference, while [promising][28] to “drag interesting [p]eople over” from the conference to a nearby house. That awkwardness is compounded by the fact that the MIT Media Lab gave Epstein an [appreciation gift][29] even later in 2017. Ito, for his part, did resign from MIT, as well as from the boards of multiple foundations in 2019. Or take prominent evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, who continued to solicit funding from Epstein until at least 2017, based on a [check][30] from January and a [thank you note][31] from August of that year. Trivers, along with Ito, shows how Epstein was still influential in shaping our public discourse long after he became a publicly known sex offender. In a February 2017 email, Trivers even [passed along][32] a “small joke” about his association with Epstein being described as a “folly” and he a “fool” for continuing the relationship (an allusion to Trivers’ book *The Folly of Fools*). Trivers also [credited][33] Epstein with coming up with the idea to branch out in order to land speaking gigs, which [resulted][34] in a speaking engagement in London. The Epstein saga has been unfolding against the backdrop of eroding trust in institutions and elites. What it has taught the public so far is that elites were undeserving of our implicit trust in the first place and, more broadly, that their shared interests are only with one another. If we want to move back toward a healthy public sphere where people are able to believe in the system and their ability to shape it, we need to reform it to be worthy of that trust. That will require never again letting people lacking any concept of basic human decency set the terms of our public discourse, dictate our moral frameworks, wield the powers of our government, or serve as our leaders. We need to cast out the creeps — permanently. **Correction: February 10, 2026, 6:49 p.m. ET** *This story has been updated to clarify that Summers went on leave from his teaching role at Harvard voluntarily.* The post [Americans Want Accountability With the Epstein Files. Elites Couldn’t Care Less.][35] appeared first on [The Intercept][36]. [1]: https://prospect.org/2020/02/21/brad-karp-top-lawyer-bankrolling-democrats/ [2]: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/02/peter-attia-epstein-files-wellness/685861/ [3]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/18/larry-summers-jeffrey-epstein-emails/ [4]: https://prospect.org/2025/12/03/former-economist-larry-summers/ [5]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/the-u-k-s-real-political-crisis-over-epstein-and-mandelson.html [6]: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/26/jes-staley-loses-legal-case-over-city-ban-for-misleading-watchdog-over-epstein-links [7]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/world/europe/uk-ambassador-us-peter-mandelson-epstein-starmer.html [8]: https://time.com/7373067/united-kingdom-keir-starmer-demands-for-resignation-epstein-mandelson/ [9]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/02/09/britain-starmer-leadership-contenders/b52c4b12-05c3-11f1-b196-5e1986b3575c_story.html [10]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/head-of-scotlands-labour-party-calls-on-starmer-to-resign [11]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvgljj1dygo [12]: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/nyregion/lutnick-epstein-files-dealings.html [13]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/26/grok-elon-musk-grokipedia-hitler/ [14]: https://www.thedailybeast.com/linkedin-billionaire-says-hes-mistaken-after-epstein-dump/ [15]: https://stanforddaily.com/2026/02/05/epstein-peter-thiel-a-great-friend/ [16]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-epstein-inserted-himself-in-a-split-between-bill-gates-and-a-top-gates-adviser-6d8fca69 [17]: https://x.com/RepRoKhanna/status/2021266289910563273 [18]: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/02/07/democrats-clinton-contempt-precedent-trump/88509918007/ [19]: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/03/bill-clinton-contempt-epstein-congress-00762396 [20]: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clintons-house-oversight-subpoena-contempt-deal-testimony/ [21]: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-iran-contra-planes-leslie-wexner-pottinger-leese-arms-weapons-smuggling [22]: https://19thnews.org/2026/02/jeffrey-epstein-files-tracked-metoo-fallout/ [23]: https://19thnews.org/2026/02/jeffrey-epstein-files-tracked-metoo-fallout/ [24]: https://www.centralairpodcast.com/p/were-all-in-the-epstein-files-feat [25]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mit-review-cites-big-mistakes-taking-epstein-donations-n1113911 [26]: https://factfindingjan2020.mit.edu/files/MIT-report.pdf?200117 [27]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01621002.pdf [28]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02458760.pdf [29]: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/08/20/mit-more-fallout-from-epstein-ties/2xNSQTkullsjQzfPcVSgjJ/story.html [30]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01348710.pdf [31]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02404908.pdf [32]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02660658.pdf [33]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02465095.pdf [34]: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02465095.pdf [35]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/10/epstein-files-american-consequences/ [36]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/10/epstein-files-american-consequences/

Officials Dispute Trump Explanation of El Paso Airspace Closure: “There Was Not a Threat” Two U.S. government officials and a member of Congress pushed back on Wednesday on Trump administration claims about the reasons for the sudden closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas. After the Federal Aviation Administration quickly rescinded an order to ground flights for 10 days, Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, and other Trump administration officials claimed that a [Mexican drug cartel drone][1] incursion prompted the shutdown. “The threat has been neutralized,” Duffy said. “Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones,” another Trump administration official told The Intercept. But two government officials with knowledge of the reasons for the shutdown say the closure was connected to the Department of War’s new counter-drone laser technology and a misunderstanding by — or miscommunication with — FAA headquarters of the risks it might pose to air traffic in and around El Paso. The government officials told The Intercept that the counter-drone laser system near Fort Bliss was tested this week. One official said a cartel drone may have been damaged or disabled by the new system. Another said that a Mylar party balloon was destroyed. The incidents appeared to be different events. Cartel drone activity isn’t unusual along the border, the sources said. The situation, as they described it, never constituted a threat. > “There was not a threat, which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly.” Asked if the closure stemmed from testing of counter-drone technology near Fort Bliss, a Department of War spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to provide.” During a call with reporters on Wednesday morning, Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents Texas’ 16th Congressional District in El Paso, also said that drone activity is frequent in the area and in this case did not pose a danger. “There was not a threat, which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly,” Escobar said. “There was nothing extraordinary about any drone incursion into the U.S. that I’m aware of.” Escobar emphasized that she had been in communication with Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. — the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee — who she said had received the same information. Escobar added: “If there were any incursion that would have posed a threat, the Armed Services Committee would have been made aware, and that would have been shared with me in my conversation with the ranking member this morning.” Smith’s office did not return a request for comment prior to publication. Late Tuesday night, the FAA announced it would halt all flights for 10 days due to “special security reasons,” surprising Escobar and other state and local officials. The shutdown went into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday and was lifted a little before 7 a.m. on Wednesday. “The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation,” [the FAA announced on X][2] on Wednesday morning. “All flights will resume as normal.” Escobar made the point that the closure order came from Washington, not local authorities or reigonal air traffic control. “I want to emphasize that this was an FAA decision,” she said. “It was their decision. There was no information provided to me or my office, no information or advance notice provided to the airport or to the city of El Paso, which is the municipality that operates the airport.” The post [Officials Dispute Trump Explanation of El Paso Airspace Closure: “There Was Not a Threat”][3] appeared first on [The Intercept][4]. [1]: https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/2021594420806639787 [2]: https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/2021594420806639787 [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/el-paso-airspace-closure-dispute/ [4]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/el-paso-airspace-closure-dispute/

Officials Dispute Trump Explanation of El Paso Airspace Closure. “There Was Not a Threat.” Two U.S. government officials and a member of Congress pushed back on Wednesday on Trump administration claims about the reasons for the sudden closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas. After the Federal Aviation Administration quickly rescinded an order to ground flights for 10 days, Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, and other Trump administration officials claimed that a [Mexican drug cartel drone][1] incursion prompted the shutdown. “The threat has been neutralized,” Duffy said. “Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones,” another Trump administration official told The Intercept. But two government officials with knowledge of the reasons for the shutdown say the closure was connected to the Department of War’s new counter-drone laser technology and a misunderstanding by — or miscommunication with — FAA headquarters of the risks it might pose to air traffic in and around El Paso. The government officials told The Intercept that the counter-drone laser system near Fort Bliss was tested this week. One official said a cartel drone may have been damaged or disabled by the new system. Another said that a Mylar party balloon was destroyed. The incidents appeared to be different events. Cartel drone activity isn’t unusual along the border, the sources said. The situation, as they described it, never constituted a threat. > “There was not a threat, which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly.” Asked if the closure stemmed from testing of counter-drone technology near Fort Bliss, a Department of War spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to provide.” During a call with reporters on Wednesday morning, Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents Texas’ 16th Congressional District in El Paso, also said that drone activity is frequent in the area and in this case did not pose a danger. “There was not a threat, which is why the FAA lifted this restriction so quickly,” Escobar said. “There was nothing extraordinary about any drone incursion into the U.S. that I’m aware of.” Escobar emphasized that she had been in communication with Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. — the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee — who she said had received the same information. Escobar added: “If there were any incursion that would have posed a threat, the Armed Services Committee would have been made aware, and that would have been shared with me in my conversation with the ranking member this morning.” Smith’s office did not return a request for comment prior to publication. Late Tuesday night, the FAA announced it would halt all flights for 10 days due to “special security reasons,” surprising Escobar and other state and local officials. The shutdown went into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday and was lifted a little before 7 a.m. on Wednesday. “The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation,” [the FAA announced on X][2] on Wednesday morning. “All flights will resume as normal.” Escobar made the point that the closure order came from Washington, not local authorities or reigonal air traffic control. “I want to emphasize that this was an FAA decision,” she said. “It was their decision. There was no information provided to me or my office, no information or advance notice provided to the airport or to the city of El Paso, which is the municipality that operates the airport.” The post [Officials Dispute Trump Explanation of El Paso Airspace Closure. “There Was Not a Threat.”][3] appeared first on [The Intercept][4]. [1]: https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/2021594420806639787 [2]: https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/2021594420806639787 [3]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/el-paso-airspace-closure-dispute/ [4]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/el-paso-airspace-closure-dispute/

Texas “Antifa Cell” Terror Trial Takes On Tough Questions About Guns at Protests Against ICE A group of activists gathered outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas last July 4 with fireworks and plans to mount more than a polite protest. They were there for less than an hour before things took a turn: A police officer was wounded by a gunshot. Only one member of the group is accused of pulling a trigger, but 19 people went to jail on state and federal charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi [labeled][1] the defendants [terrorists][2], and FBI Director Kash Patel [bragged][3] that it was the first time alleged antifa activists had been hit with terror charges. Months later, the Trump administration recycled the label to smear Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Minneapolis residents who were shot and killed by federal immigration agents. They were supposedly dangerous left-wing agitators, in Pretti’s case legally carrying what the government said was a “[dangerous gun][4].” The videos of Good and Pretti’s killings [disproved][5] the administration’s lies. Unlike the Minneapolis shootings, the full events at Prairieland were not caught on video. Instead, a jury in federal court will hear evidence against nine defendants at a trial starting next week, which will serve as the first major courtroom test of the Trump administration’s push to label left-wing activists as domestic terrorists. > “I wonder how they are going to make it stick when their attempts at framing Alex Pretti didn’t work.” Court hearings in the case have taken place under heavy security, with police caravans whisking defendants to and from an art deco courthouse in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Inside the courtroom, straight-backed officers maintain a perimeter. The odds once looked long for the Prairieland group given the conservative jury pool and the seven defendants who pleaded guilty before trial, including several who are cooperating with the prosecution. The protests, crackdowns, and killings in Minneapolis, however, may have shifted perceptions of what happened seven months earlier in Texas. “When they were crafting this indictment, they came up with that there is such a thing as a ‘north Texas antifa cell,’” said Xavier de Janon, a lawyer representing one defendant in state court. “I wonder how they are going to make it stick when their attempts at framing Alex Pretti didn’t work, fell flat on its face.” Jurors in the Prairieland case will be faced with key questions about protest in the Trump era. Are guns at protests a precaution or a provocation? Can the government succeed in using First Amendment-protected literature, such as [anarchist zines][6], to win convictions? And how far can activists go when they believe their country is sliding into fascism? ## **Making Noise** Federal investigators and a support committee for the defendants offered starkly different takes on the purpose of the late-night gathering at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. For the feds, it was a planned ambush of law enforcement staged with guns, black garb, and bad intentions. Prosecutors described the defendants as “nine North Texas Antifa Cell operatives.” Supporters of the defendants say the protest was an attempt to conduct a noise demonstration, of the sort that have since become common outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement buildings in places like Chicago and Minneapolis. [ ## Related ### “Antifa” Protesters Charged With Terrorism for Constitutionally Protected Activity ][7] The Prairieland facility, which was built to hold 700 people, [housed over 1,000 by the spring of 2025][8]. The privately operated detention center was in the news again this week, when the family of a Palestinian woman detained there since last year on alleged visa violations said she had been hospitalized [after weeks of deteriorating health.][9] On July 4 last year, a larger group of protesters had staged a traditional demonstration of the conditions inside the lockup. That night, a group of people who had conferred on an encrypted chat app arrived outside the detention center. Around 10:37 p.m., the fireworks started flying, according to the testimony of an FBI agent at a pretrial hearing. Some of the group of a dozen or so slashed tires on cars in the parking lot near the detention center and sprayed “ICE Pig” on one car. Guards called 911. Local police showed up. Within minutes, an Alvarado police officer who answered the call had been shot in the neck. The U.S. attorney’s office alleges that the shooter was Benjamin Song, a former Marine Corps reservist who was a fixture in local left-wing organizations such as the Socialist Rifle Association and Food Not Bombs. At a preliminary hearing in September, prosecutors painted a dramatic picture of the shooting: Minutes after police arrived, Song allegedly shouted “get to the rifles” and let loose with an AR-15 that had a modified, binary trigger designed to fire at a fast rate. At the same hearing, however, defense attorneys poked holes in the government’s narrative that the shooting had been planned. Prosecutors’ case that the group wanted to commit violence depends heavily on messages that members of the group allegedly sent through the encrypted messaging app, Signal, or at an in-person “gear check” before the action. “I’m not getting arrested,” Song allegedly said at one point. Defense attorneys objected to the idea that such ominous-sounding statements were proof that the group planned an attack. [ Read our complete coverage ## Chilling Dissent ][10] Under questioning from a defense attorney, an FBI agent acknowledged that no one had talked about killing police that night in the Signal group. Meanwhile, in addition to guns and black clothes, the protesters brought bullhorns. One defense attorney asked an FBI agent on the case whether the group’s members might have thought they needed guns for self-defense from police. “A person peacefully protesting, I would say there’s no risk to be killed by law enforcement,” said the agent, Clark Wiethorn. When asked whether he would acknowledge that at least some of the protesters had no plans to commit violence, the agent pushed back. “I would say every person out there had the knowledge of the risk of violence,” Wiethorn said. While the government has portrayed the group as a disciplined team of antifa attackers, the messages show members of the group squabbling. “All this stuff was kind of ad hoc,” said Patrick McLain, the attorney for defendant Zachary Evetts. “When I’m reading these texts, they were just all over the place, and they’re getting into stupid arguments with each other.” ## **Casting a Wide Dragnet** Song, the former Marine accused of shooting the officer, managed to escape a massive police response that night. According to testimony at a pretrial hearing, they hid in brush for 24 hours before supporters whisked them away. Shawn Smith, an assistant U.S. attorney, said at the hearing that the fact that so many people were willing to help Song “speaks to the kind of personality of Mr. Song and what he can motivate.” At another point, he likened Song to a cult leader. In the weeks that followed, investigators arrested and charged people with far looser connections to the action at Prairieland. One of them was Dario Sanchez, a soft-spoken teacher who lives in a Dallas suburb. He was at home on the morning of July 15 when officers ripped open his door and tossed flashbangs to gain entrance. In an interview with the Intercept, Sanchez said he was taken away in handcuffs. Law enforcement attempted to question him in a car, warning him that he faced decades in prison if he did not cooperate. Sanchez said he told his interrogators that he knew nothing about the July 4 protest – but that did not stop them from arresting him. The allegations, Sanchez would later learn, centered on the claim that he purposefully booted a defendant accused of helping Song out of a Discord group chat operated by the Socialist Rifle Association. Sanchez was arrested twice more, once when he was rearrested on a new charge, and another time on an alleged probation violation. He faces only state charges in Johnson County, Texas, and he plans to take his case to a trial that has been set for April, after the federal proceeding is over. Law enforcement has delved deep into messages among the protesters that night that appear to show allegiance to antifascism. To boost their case against the defendants, the government has secured the services of a witness who works at a right-wing think tank, the Center for Security Policy, that was founded by [Islamophobic][11] conspiracy theorist [Frank Gaffney][12]. [ ## Related ### The Feds Want to Make It Illegal to Even Possess an Anarchist Zine ][13] Prosecutors also highlighted the pamphlets and zines that two of the defendants were publishing from a garage printing press, and the membership of some defendants in a local leftist reading group, the Emma Goldman Book Club. The titles the government spotlighted at the September hearing include “Safer in the Front,” “Our Enemies in Yellow,” and “Why Anarchy.” One defendant faces charges solely for ferrying such materials from one residence to another at the request of his wife, which advocates say [essentially criminalizes ][14]the possession of materials protected by free speech. “I think what they’re going to be poring through in those things is any writings in there that advocate violence or harm, and somehow they are going to try to stretch that out,” McLain said. “They are really stretching.” Judging by the Signal messages obtained by the government, many of the Prairieland defendants self-consciously distanced themselves from more mainstream protesters. Still, the case could have implications beyond the Dallas-Fort Worth anarchist and socialist scenes – even though at the September court hearing, a prosecutor appeared to express surprise at schisms on the left. “They actually don’t like these liberal protesters who are out there just holding signs?” Shawn Smith, the prosecutor, asked the FBI agent, who agreed with him. > “These people can’t imagine that someone would care about someone else.” The Trump administration cited Prairieland as part of a supposed wave of antifascist terrorism backed or encouraged by nonprofits and Democrats. In his [National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, ][15]or NSPM-7, issued in September, Trump cited both the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Prairieland action as proof of a wave of organized political violence from the left. “A new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them — is required,” Trump [said][16]. Although many of the Prairieland defendants had already been arrested by the time of NSPM-7 was issued, it was only in October that the government obtained its first indictment charging some of them with material support of terrorism. Sanchez believes prosecutors have pursued the case so aggressively because of a “weird antifa delusion.” “These people can’t imagine that someone would care about someone else, really,” Sanchez said. “Why the hell would a bunch of people show up to protest outside an ICE detention center? Why would anyone care about these people? They can’t fathom that people would have that amount of empathy, and so in their minds, they have to cook up the idea that this has to be some kind of weird conspiracy.” The post [Texas “Antifa Cell” Terror Trial Takes On Tough Questions About Guns at Protests Against ICE][17] appeared first on [The Intercept][18]. [1]: https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1978870482314092711 [2]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/06/spencer-ackerman-9-11-terrorists-ice/ [3]: https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1978873278203560029 [4]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-says-administration-is-reviewing-everything-about-minneapolis-shooting-a501f48e [5]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/08/ice-minneapolis-video-killing-shooting/ [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antifa-zines-criminalize-protest-journalism/ [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters-terrorism-texas-prairieland/ [8]: https://tracreports.org/reports/762/ [9]: https://www.keranews.org/immigration/2026-02-09/palestinian-woman-in-ice-custody-near-dallas-hospitalized-legal-team-fears-for-her-health [10]: https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/ [11]: https://theintercept.com/2015/06/29/star-nbcs-voice-lends-musical-talent-islamophobia-cause/ [12]: https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/muslim-hating-conspiracy-theorist-frank-gaffney-joins-trumps-transition-team/ [13]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antifa-zines-criminalize-protest-journalism/ [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antifa-zines-criminalize-protest-journalism/ [15]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/ [16]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/ [17]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-trial-pretty-ice-protest/ [18]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-trial-pretty-ice-protest/

Texas “Antifa Cell” Terror Trial Takes on Tough Questions About Guns at Protests Against ICE A group of activists gathered outside the Prairieland Detention Center near Dallas last July 4 with fireworks and plans to mount more than a polite protest. They were there for less than an hour before things took a turn: A police officer was wounded by a gunshot. Only one member of the group is accused of pulling a trigger, but 19 people went to jail on state and federal charges. Attorney General Pam Bondi [labeled][1] the defendants [terrorists][2], and FBI Director Kash Patel [bragged][3] that it was the first time alleged antifa activists had been hit with terror charges. Months later, the Trump administration recycled the label to smear Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Minneapolis residents who were shot and killed by federal immigration agents. They were supposedly dangerous left-wing agitators, in Pretti’s case legally carrying what the government said was a “[dangerous gun][4].” The videos of Good and Pretti’s killings [disproved][5] the administration’s lies. Unlike the Minneapolis shootings, the full events at Prairieland were not caught on video. Instead, a jury in federal court will hear evidence against nine defendants at a trial starting next week, which will serve as the first major courtroom test of the Trump administration’s push to label left-wing activists as domestic terrorists. > “I wonder how they are going to make it stick when their attempts at framing Alex Pretti didn’t work.” Court hearings in the case have taken place under heavy security, with police caravans whisking defendants to and from an Art Deco courthouse in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Inside the courtroom, straight-backed officers maintain a perimeter. The odds once looked long for the Prairieland group given the conservative jury pool and the seven defendants who pleaded guilty before trial, including several who are cooperating with the prosecution. The protests, crackdowns, and killings in Minneapolis, however, may have shifted perceptions of what happened seven months earlier in Texas. “When they were crafting this indictment, they came up with that there is such a thing as a ‘north Texas antifa cell,’” said Xavier de Janon, a lawyer representing one defendant in state court. “I wonder how they are going to make it stick when their attempts at framing Alex Pretti didn’t work, fell flat on its face.” Jurors in the Prairieland case will be faced with key questions about protest in the Trump era. Are guns at protests a precaution or a provocation? Can the government succeed in using First Amendment-protected literature, such as [anarchist zines][6], to win convictions? And how far can activists go when they believe their country is sliding into fascism? ## **Making Noise** Federal investigators and a support committee for the defendants offered starkly different takes on the purpose of the late-night gathering at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. For the feds, it was a planned ambush of law enforcement staged with guns, black garb, and bad intentions. Prosecutors described the defendants as “nine North Texas Antifa Cell operatives.” Supporters of the defendants say the protest was an attempt to conduct a noise demonstration, of the sort that have since become common outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement buildings in places like Chicago and Minneapolis. [ ## Related ### “Antifa” Protesters Charged With Terrorism for Constitutionally Protected Activity ][7] The Prairieland facility, which was built to hold 700 people, [housed over 1,000 by the spring of 2025][8]. The privately operated detention center was in the news again this week, when the family of a Palestinian woman detained there since last year on alleged visa violations said she had been hospitalized [after weeks of deteriorating health.][9] On July 4 last year, a larger group of protesters had staged a traditional demonstration of the conditions inside the lockup. That night, a group of people who had conferred on an encrypted chat app arrived outside the detention center. Around 10:37 p.m., the fireworks started flying, according to the testimony of an FBI agent at a pretrial hearing. Some of the group of a dozen or so slashed tires on cars in the parking lot near the detention center and sprayed “ICE Pig” on one car. Guards called 911. Local police showed up. Within minutes, an Alvarado police officer who answered the call had been shot in the neck. The U.S. attorney’s office alleges that the shooter was Benjamin Song, a former Marine Corps reservist who was a fixture in local left-wing organizations such as the Socialist Rifle Association and Food Not Bombs. At a preliminary hearing in September, prosecutors painted a dramatic picture of the shooting: Minutes after police arrived, Song allegedly shouted “get to the rifles” and let loose with an AR-15 that had a modified, binary trigger designed to fire at a fast rate. At the same hearing, however, defense attorneys poked holes in the government’s narrative that the shooting had been planned. Prosecutors’ case that the group wanted to commit violence depends heavily on messages that members of the group allegedly sent through the encrypted messaging app, Signal, or at an in-person “gear check” before the action. “I’m not getting arrested,” Song allegedly said at one point. Defense attorneys objected to the idea that such ominous-sounding statements were proof that the group planned an attack. [ Read our complete coverage ## Chilling Dissent ][10] Under questioning from a defense attorney, an FBI agent acknowledged that no one had talked about killing police that night in the Signal group. Meanwhile, in addition to guns and black clothes, the protesters brought bullhorns. One defense attorney asked an FBI agent on the case whether the group’s members might have thought they needed guns for self-defense from police. “A person peacefully protesting, I would say there’s no risk to be killed by law enforcement,” said the agent, Clark Wiethorn. When asked whether he would acknowledge that at least some of the protesters had no plans to commit violence, the agent pushed back. “I would say every person out there had the knowledge of the risk of violence,” Wiethorn said. While the government has portrayed the group as a disciplined team of antifa attackers, the messages show members of the group squabbling. “All this stuff was kind of ad hoc,” said Patrick McLain, the attorney for defendant Zachary Evetts. “When I’m reading these texts, they were just all over the place, and they’re getting into stupid arguments with each other.” ## **Casting a Wide Dragnet** Song, the former Marine accused of shooting the officer, managed to escape a massive police response that night. According to testimony at a pretrial hearing, they hid in brush for 24 hours before supporters whisked them away. Shawn Smith, an assistant U.S. attorney, said at the hearing that the fact that so many people were willing to help Song “speaks to the kind of personality of Mr. Song and what he can motivate.” At another point, he likened Song to a cult leader. In the weeks that followed, investigators arrested and charged people with far looser connections to the action at Prairieland. One of them was Dario Sanchez, a soft-spoken teacher who lives in a Dallas suburb. He was at home on the morning of July 15 when officers ripped open his door and tossed flashbangs to gain entrance. In an interview with the Intercept, Sanchez said he was taken away in handcuffs. Law enforcement attempted to question him in a car, warning him that he faced decades in prison if he did not cooperate. Sanchez said he told his interrogators that he knew nothing about the July 4 protest – but that did not stop them from arresting him. The allegations, Sanchez would later learn, centered on the claim that he purposefully booted a defendant accused of helping Song out of a Discord group chat operated by the Socialist Rifle Association. Sanchez was arrested twice more, once when he was rearrested on a new charge, and another time on an alleged probation violation. He faces only state charges in Johnson County, Texas, and he plans to take his case to a trial that has been set for April, after the federal proceeding is over. Law enforcement has delved deep into messages among the protesters that night that appear to show allegiance to antifascism. To boost their case against the defendants, the government has secured the services of a witness who works at a right-wing think tank, the Center for Security Policy, that was founded by [Islamophobic][11] conspiracy theorist [Frank Gaffney][12]. [ ## Related ### The Feds Want to Make It Illegal to Even Possess an Anarchist Zine ][13] Prosecutors also highlighted the pamphlets and zines that two of the defendants were publishing from a garage printing press, and the membership of some defendants in a local leftist reading group, the Emma Goldman Book Club. The titles the government spotlighted at the September hearing include “Safer in the Front,” “Our Enemies in Yellow,” and “Why Anarchy.” One defendant faces charges solely for ferrying such materials from one residence to another at the request of his wife, which advocates say [essentially criminalizes ][14]the possession of materials protected by free speech. “I think what they’re going to be poring through in those things is any writings in there that advocate violence or harm, and somehow they are going to try to stretch that out,” McLain said. “They are really stretching.” Judging by the Signal messages obtained by the government, many of the Prairieland defendants self-consciously distanced themselves from more mainstream protesters. Still, the case could have implications beyond the Dallas-Fort Worth anarchist and socialist scenes – even though at the September court hearing, a prosecutor appeared to express surprise at schisms on the left. “They actually don’t like these liberal protesters who are out there just holding signs?” Shawn Smith, the prosecutor, asked the FBI agent, who agreed with him. > “These people can’t imagine that someone would care about someone else.” The Trump administration cited Prairieland as part of a supposed wave of antifascist terrorism backed or encouraged by nonprofits and Democrats. In his [National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, ][15]or NSPM-7, issued in September, Trump cited both the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the Prairieland action as proof of a wave of organized political violence from the left. “A new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them — is required,” Trump [said][16]. Although many of the Prairieland defendants had already been arrested by the time of NSPM-7 was issued, it was only in October that the government obtained its first indictment charging some of them with material support of terrorism. Sanchez believes prosecutors have pursued the case so aggressively because of a “weird antifa delusion.” “These people can’t imagine that someone would care about someone else, really,” Sanchez said. “Why the hell would a bunch of people show up to protest outside an ICE detention center? Why would anyone care about these people? They can’t fathom that people would have that amount of empathy, and so in their minds, they have to cook up the idea that this has to be some kind of weird conspiracy.” The post [Texas “Antifa Cell” Terror Trial Takes on Tough Questions About Guns at Protests Against ICE][17] appeared first on [The Intercept][18]. [1]: https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1978870482314092711 [2]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/06/spencer-ackerman-9-11-terrorists-ice/ [3]: https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1978873278203560029 [4]: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-says-administration-is-reviewing-everything-about-minneapolis-shooting-a501f48e [5]: https://theintercept.com/2026/01/08/ice-minneapolis-video-killing-shooting/ [6]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antifa-zines-criminalize-protest-journalism/ [7]: https://theintercept.com/2025/10/17/antifa-ice-protesters-terrorism-texas-prairieland/ [8]: https://tracreports.org/reports/762/ [9]: https://www.keranews.org/immigration/2026-02-09/palestinian-woman-in-ice-custody-near-dallas-hospitalized-legal-team-fears-for-her-health [10]: https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/ [11]: https://theintercept.com/2015/06/29/star-nbcs-voice-lends-musical-talent-islamophobia-cause/ [12]: https://theintercept.com/2016/11/16/muslim-hating-conspiracy-theorist-frank-gaffney-joins-trumps-transition-team/ [13]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antifa-zines-criminalize-protest-journalism/ [14]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/23/prairieland-ice-antifa-zines-criminalize-protest-journalism/ [15]: https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/ [16]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/ [17]: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-trial-pretty-ice-protest/ [18]: https://theintercept.com https://theintercept.com/2026/02/11/prairieland-antifa-trial-pretty-ice-protest/