Washington
Former private prison executive will become ICE’s acting leader
WASHINGTON (AP) — David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency’s current leader steps down at the end of the month.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration’s tumultuous crackdown on immigration. ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information Wednesday.
Venturella left the Geo Group in early 2023 and has been working at ICE leading the division that oversees detention contracts, members of Congress wrote in a public letter earlier this year.
At the Geo Group, Venturella served in a number of posts, including executive vice president overseeing corporate development, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Venturella will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. Under Lyons’ leadership, the agency used a massive infusion of cash to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the Republican administration.
Federal officials announced Lyons’ departure last month. He led ICE amid Trump’s efforts to reshape immigration.
Venturella’s appointment comes as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin settles into his role atop the Cabinet agency overseeing ICE. Mullin has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president’s priorities on mass deportations.
Missouri
Man charged after bomb-making tutorials were allegedly used in New Orleans attack
Federal prosecutors charged a Missouri man on Tuesday with allegedly sharing instructional bomb-making videos on social media, which were eventually used by the man who killed 14 people and injured dozens in New Orleans on New Year’s Day in 2025.
Investigators believe Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who drove a pickup truck down Bourbon Street, downloaded the tutorials and put improvised explosive devices consistent with the videos near the attack, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Matthew Price.
Jabbar exited his vehicle wearing a ballistic vest and fired at officers who returned fire and killed him. The explosives didn’t detonate and were safely removed by law enforcement after the attack.
Prosecutors also said the instructional videos were used before an explosion earlier this month at a private residence in Odessa, Missouri.
An attorney wasn’t listed for the man charged with making the videos.
The man is charged with one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives. He is also accused of making and possessing explosive devices without a license. He is facing up two 10-year sentences and one 20-year sentence in prison if convicted.
Washington
FBI Director Kash Patel denies drinking allegations in heated Senate exchange
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker at a budget hearing Tuesday, calling allegations that he drinks excessively on the job and has been unreachable to his staff at times “unequivocally, categorically false.”
“I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations and fraudulent statements from the media,” Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a testy exchange that began when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.
Patel has filed a $250 million lawsuit over the story. The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”
Patel shouted over Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables by accusing him of “slinging margaritas on the taxpayer dime” in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he was jailed there following his mistaken deportation to the country.
“The only person who has been drinking during the day on the taxpayer dime was you,” Patel said.
“Director Patel, come on,” Van Hollen said. “These are serious allegations that were made against you.”
He at one point asked Patel if he was willing to take a test meant to measure whether an individual has a drinking problem, prompting Patel to shoot back, “I’ll take any test you’re willing to take.”
The senator called Patel’s claims of margaritas in El Salvador “provably false.” After last year’s meeting, Van Hollen publicly accused El Salvador’s government of having misrepresented the nature of his encounter with Abrego Garcia, saying officials there had staged the meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol and angled to set the meeting by a hotel pool.
The testy exchange occurred at an annual Senate subcommittee budget hearing featuring Patel and other senior law enforcement leaders. The director used the forum to tout what he described as major crime-fighting achievements since he took the position and received a friendly reception from Republican senators who praised his leadership.
Democrats, by contrast, pressed Patel on headline-generating travel that has blended his professional duties with private leisure — including a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy, where he partied with the U.S. men’s hockey team after their gold medal win — as well as the mass terminations of agents who worked on investigations into President Donald Trump.
“You attended the Olympics in Milan,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat. “How much did your trip cost and to what extent did that help you carry out your mission as director of the FBI?”
Patel responded that the FBI was responsible for security at the Olympics and asserted that his trip to Italy helped facilitate the transfer of a Chinese cybercriminal to U.S. custody, who had been detained by Italian authorities.
Former private prison executive will become ICE’s acting leader
WASHINGTON (AP) — David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency’s current leader steps down at the end of the month.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration’s tumultuous crackdown on immigration. ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information Wednesday.
Venturella left the Geo Group in early 2023 and has been working at ICE leading the division that oversees detention contracts, members of Congress wrote in a public letter earlier this year.
At the Geo Group, Venturella served in a number of posts, including executive vice president overseeing corporate development, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Venturella will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. Under Lyons’ leadership, the agency used a massive infusion of cash to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the Republican administration.
Federal officials announced Lyons’ departure last month. He led ICE amid Trump’s efforts to reshape immigration.
Venturella’s appointment comes as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin settles into his role atop the Cabinet agency overseeing ICE. Mullin has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president’s priorities on mass deportations.
Missouri
Man charged after bomb-making tutorials were allegedly used in New Orleans attack
Federal prosecutors charged a Missouri man on Tuesday with allegedly sharing instructional bomb-making videos on social media, which were eventually used by the man who killed 14 people and injured dozens in New Orleans on New Year’s Day in 2025.
Investigators believe Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who drove a pickup truck down Bourbon Street, downloaded the tutorials and put improvised explosive devices consistent with the videos near the attack, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Matthew Price.
Jabbar exited his vehicle wearing a ballistic vest and fired at officers who returned fire and killed him. The explosives didn’t detonate and were safely removed by law enforcement after the attack.
Prosecutors also said the instructional videos were used before an explosion earlier this month at a private residence in Odessa, Missouri.
An attorney wasn’t listed for the man charged with making the videos.
The man is charged with one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives. He is also accused of making and possessing explosive devices without a license. He is facing up two 10-year sentences and one 20-year sentence in prison if convicted.
Washington
FBI Director Kash Patel denies drinking allegations in heated Senate exchange
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel angrily lashed out at a Democratic lawmaker at a budget hearing Tuesday, calling allegations that he drinks excessively on the job and has been unreachable to his staff at times “unequivocally, categorically false.”
“I will not be tarnished by baseless allegations and fraudulent statements from the media,” Patel told Sen. Chris Van Hollen during a testy exchange that began when the Maryland Democrat confronted him about a recent article in The Atlantic magazine that painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership of the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.
Patel has filed a $250 million lawsuit over the story. The Atlantic has said it stands by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”
Patel shouted over Van Hollen and sought to turn the tables by accusing him of “slinging margaritas on the taxpayer dime” in El Salvador, a reference to a visit the Democrat paid last year to Kilmar Abrego Garcia while he was jailed there following his mistaken deportation to the country.
“The only person who has been drinking during the day on the taxpayer dime was you,” Patel said.
“Director Patel, come on,” Van Hollen said. “These are serious allegations that were made against you.”
He at one point asked Patel if he was willing to take a test meant to measure whether an individual has a drinking problem, prompting Patel to shoot back, “I’ll take any test you’re willing to take.”
The senator called Patel’s claims of margaritas in El Salvador “provably false.” After last year’s meeting, Van Hollen publicly accused El Salvador’s government of having misrepresented the nature of his encounter with Abrego Garcia, saying officials there had staged the meeting with drinks appearing to be alcohol and angled to set the meeting by a hotel pool.
The testy exchange occurred at an annual Senate subcommittee budget hearing featuring Patel and other senior law enforcement leaders. The director used the forum to tout what he described as major crime-fighting achievements since he took the position and received a friendly reception from Republican senators who praised his leadership.
Democrats, by contrast, pressed Patel on headline-generating travel that has blended his professional duties with private leisure — including a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy, where he partied with the U.S. men’s hockey team after their gold medal win — as well as the mass terminations of agents who worked on investigations into President Donald Trump.
“You attended the Olympics in Milan,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat. “How much did your trip cost and to what extent did that help you carry out your mission as director of the FBI?”
Patel responded that the FBI was responsible for security at the Olympics and asserted that his trip to Italy helped facilitate the transfer of a Chinese cybercriminal to U.S. custody, who had been detained by Italian authorities.
