By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A Border Patrol agent was repeatedly stabbed Monday night while trying to arrest what appeared to be a group of undocumented immigrants near Nogales, Ariz.

The agent, who is in his 30s, shot and killed the suspect, CBP leaders said.

The unnamed agent, who was airlifted to a hospital in Tucson in unknown condition, was patrolling on foot about 25 miles east of Nogales along the U.S.-Mexico border when he discovered the group and tried to apprehend them at about 7 p.m.

The FBI is investigating.

“I hope he wasn’t alone,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada told The Tucson Sentinel. “That’s remote, dangerous territory.”

Earlier tonight a Tucson Sector #BorderPatrol Agent was attacked and stabbed multiple times while on patrol near Nogales. Details here. pic.twitter.com/oQEM5XgvNz

— Roy D. Villareal (@USBPChiefTCA) September 22, 2020

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Acing Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is scheduled to appear before a Senate committee Wednesday for a confirmation hearing amid doubts about his legitimacy as a candidate.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee plans to introduce Wolf at the hearing after President Tump officially submitted his nomination for Wolf on Sept. 10.

Wolf is Trump’s fifth Homeland Security secretary, but his confirmation is anything but a certainty. The last Senate-confirmed secretary was Kirstjen Nielsen, who was forced out in April 2019.

Courts and the Government Accountability Office have both suggested Wolf is not legally qualified to hold the position because he was appointed through an invalid process.

“Because the incorrect official assumed the title of acting secretary at that time, subsequent amendments to the order of succession made by that official were invalid,” the GAO said in August.

In a separate ruling last week, a Maryland judge blocked the Trump administration’s new asylum restrictions, saying Wolf appears to lack the authority to introduce them.

The White House has ignored the opinions and is moving forward with the nomination.

Whether Wolf has the votes to be confirmed remains unknown.

Christopher Wray (File photo)

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

President Trump lashed out at FBI Director Christopher Wray and even suggested he may consider replacing him after he testified about Russia meddling in the presidential election.

“I did not like his answers yesterday,” Trump told reporters Friday, referring to Wray’s testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee.

When asked if he may replace Wray, Trump responded, “We’re looking at a lot of different things.”

Wray told lawmakers that Russia continues to be “very active” in interfering with the election, primarily to “denigrate” Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

“The intelligence community consensus is that Russia continues to try to influence our elections,” Wray said while testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee.

Trump suggested China was a bigger threat.

“The big problem is China,” Trump said. “And we can have others also, and I’m not excluding anybody, but the big problem is China. And why he doesn’t want to say that, that certainly bothers me.”

Trump also did not like how Wray characterized “antifa,” which the FBI director said is “more of an ideology or a movement than an organization.” Trump disagreed.

“Antifa is bad — really bad,” Trump said.

Trump has a history of butting heads with appointees who contradict his political rhetoric.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

CBP officers on Sunday arrested a woman accused of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin to the White House.

The woman was arrested with a gun in her possession soon after crossing the Canadian Border in Buffalo, The Associated Press reports.

The suspect’s identity had not been disclosed as of Monday morning. She is expected to be charged Monday.

The letter, which was addressed to President Trump, was intercepted at a mail-screening facility and traced back to Canada, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which helped the FBI investigate.

Ricin, which is derived from castor beans and has no antidote, can be deadly if inhaled or ingested.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The Secret Service has dished out $1.1 million to stay at President Trump’s properties since he took office, The Washington Post reports.

The Secret Service was even charged $21,800 to rent a cottage and other rooms for staying at Trump’s Bedminster, N.J., club while it was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It wasn’t clear why the Secret Service was there, but Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump is believed to have stayed there at least once to celebrate Passover with her family.

The Washington Post reports:

When Trump and his family members visit Trump properties, aides and Secret Service agents follow. When those federal employees rent rooms, Trump’s businesses get the revenue. Taxpayers foot the bill.

The bills are usually paid in private, with no public disclosure. The government has not disclosed how much it has paid the Trump Organization in total. Instead, The Post has tried to create an accounting of these payments, one receipt at a time, using public-records requests and lawsuits

“The waste inherent in this is appalling,” Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president at the watchdog group Public Citizen, said of the Trump Organization’s charges.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

FBI Director Christopher Wray warned lawmakers Thursday that Russia continues to be “very active” in meddling with the presidential election, primarily to “denigrate” Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“The intelligence community consensus is that Russia continues to try to influence our elections,” Wray said while testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee.

He added, “We certainly have seen very active, very active efforts by the Russians to influence our election in 2020 … to both sow divisiveness and discord and … to denigrate Vice President Biden.”

Wray said Russians are using social media and other types of propaganda to wage the misinformation campaign, but so far there is no evidence of hacking emails and election systems.

The FBI director’s testimony predictably drew criticism from President Trump, who has been largely silent on Russian interference.

But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia,” Trump tweeted. “They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam.”

But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia. They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out! https://t.co/mH3vrHWvS8

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2020

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf defied a subpoena to testify by failing to show up.

Watch Wray’s full testimony here.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Retired FBI agent Thomas O’Connor, a 23-year veteran of the Washington, D.C., field office, is a specialist in domestic extremist groups who talks on Deadline TV about guns at political rallies, the changing ideology of militia groups and the possible unrest after Nov. 3 voting.

“I think unfortunately no matter who is elected, the opposite side has a strong enough radical base right now that there will be a reaction to the action of a person being elected,” O’Connor says. “One side or the other is likely to have people who are willing to step outside the legal bounds of protest and and do an act which actually fulfills the definition of domestic terrorism. And I hope I’m wrong. … I don’t think I’m going to be proven wrong.”

O’Connor left the bureau last September and now heads FEDSquaredConsulting, which trains people in government and the private sector about counterterrorism and extremist groups.

He talks with ticklethewire.com editor Allan Lengel, who is also editor of Deadline Detroit.