By Steve Neavling

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday pledged to hire any “dissatisfied” FBI agents following the raid on former President Trump’s house. 

In an interview with radio host Chris Salcedo, Abbott said Texas has law enforcement jobs to offer.

“If you’re an FBI officer looking for a different opportunity in law enforcement, Texas needs a lot of it. And we got a lot of investigations,” Abbott said.

“If there’s anybody in the FBI who is dissatisfied with their working condition with their leadership, which, by the way, is not just Border Patrol and may not just be FBI, there are so many people working under the Biden administration that see how this administration is completely going off the rails.”

Abbott joined the Republican chorus of criticism of the raid, despite having no information on what prompted the raid and what was found.

He accused Biden of trying to “squelch dissent.”

This isn’t the first time Abbott has offered jobs to federal law enforcement officers. When Border Patrol agents were accused of whipping Haitian migrants last year, he offered to hire any agents who were disciplined in the incident. 

 “I came out multiple times and said that if those border patrol officers are punished in any way, the State of Texas will be proud to step up and hire them and add them to our forces that we have on the border to secure our border,” Abbott said on the radio show. “And the same principle applies here.”

By Steve Neavling

A man who repeatedly assaulted a CBP officer while attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico was sentenced to 68 months in prison. 

Rene Robert Ruiz was trying to cross the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on May 17, 2021, when the incident occurred. 

According to the Justice Department, Ruiz became irate, yelled “f*** you!” at an officer, and refused to show documentation. 

An officer demanded that Ruiz calm down before he could enter. 

Ruiz responded, “F*** you! I’m a U.S. Citizen, I’m coming in,” and tried to push his way past the officer. When the officer pushed Ruiz back past the line between the U.S. and Mexico, Ruiz lunged at the officer and repeatedly punched him in the head. 

The officer sustained a concussion and other injuries. 

Ruiz was convicted during a jury trial in October 2021. 

During sentencing this week, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel noted that Ruiz has a history of violence and was in a violent motorcycle gang. 

“This defendant viciously attacked a customs officer completing routine duties at the port of entry,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement. “Law enforcement officers—such as the victim here—perform vital services for us all and must be allowed to do their jobs without the risk of harm. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to vigorously prosecute those who place their safety and security at risk.” 

Added Anne Maricich, acting director of field operations at the San Diego Field Office, “Violent acts like these against our officers will not be tolerated and we are thankful to the San Diego USAO for ensuring justice was served.”

By Steve Neavling

Yaser Abdel Said, who had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List from 2014 until he was captured last year, was convicted of capitol murder Tuesday. 

The 65-year-old man shot his two teenager daughters, Amina and Sarah, on New Year’s Day 2008. 

A Dallas County jury found Said guilty after four hours of deliberations, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

The judge sentenced Said to prison to life without parole. 

“My client has told me from the start that he didn’t do it,” Brad Lollar, one of Said’s attorneys, said after the verdict.

Said’s former wife, Patricia Owens, said her husband’s actions are unforgivable. 

“You can keep those evil eyes glaring at me,” Owens said. “I don’t have to worry about you anymore. My kids were my world.”

Said disappeared after a capital murder warrant was issued for his arrest in January 2008. 

He was captured in Justin, Texas, in August 2020. He had been driving a taxi for a living. 

Established in March 1950, the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list has helped track down hundreds of suspects. Said was the 504th person added to the list.

By Steve Neavling

Law-and-order Republicans lashed out at the FBI for raiding former President Trump’s house in Florida, with some suggesting the bureau should be defunded.

Without citing evidence, Republicans insisted the raid was political retaliation. 

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., called the raid a “brazen weaponization of the FBI by Biden’s DOJ against his political opponent.”  

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, demanded testimony from FBI Director Chris Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland before the House judiciary Committee on Friday. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., went further. 

“The GOP majority must defund all forms of tyranny throughout Biden’s government,” Boebert wrote on Twitter, before adding, “Weaponizing the FBI to raid President Trump’s home makes Watergate look like nothing.”

Not to be outdone, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., tweeted, “We must destroy the FBI. We must save America.”

U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy pledged to retaliate against Garland and the Justice Department. 

“When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned,” he tweeted. “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.” 

 The impetus for Monday’s raid appears to be boxes of White House documents that Trump took after he left office.

The FBI and Justice Department have not commented on the raid. 

In other words, Republicans are making the comments without knowing whether the FBI and Justice Department had adequate justification to conduct the raid. 

This doesn’t sound like the party of law and order.

By Steve Neavling

If Donald Trump ends up behind bars, he’d likely still receive Secret Service protection. 

That’s what former Secret Service officials told Insider.

Trump is the subject of several federal investigations, and on Monday morning, FBI agents raided his Florida resort.

The Justice Department also is investigating his businesses’ practices and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. 

“Is an agent going to be with him inside a cell? No,” one former Secret Service official said. 

If Trump ended up in prison, it would most likely be a “country club-type place,” the official said. 

The most likely scenario would be at least one agent at the prison to protect Trump, even though that person wouldn’t be “walking on his shoulder out in the yard.”

It’s not a job most agents would want, unless, say, they were working on their master’s degree. 

“I would think you’d have a lot of time to do some reading,” the official said. 

By Steve Neavling

The FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., as part of an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified documents, the Guardian reports, citing two sources familiar with the investigation.

Trump removed 15 boxes of presidential records from the White House after he left office last year. 

The National Archives referred the case to the Justice Department earlier this year, and Trump eventually returned the boxes.

“My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said in a statement Monday evening.

“They even broke into my safe!”

Trump supporters rallied outside his house Monday evening. 

By Steve Neavling

A retired DEA special agent and firearms instructor is accused of shooting another man in what appears to be a road-rage encounter. 

Bradley Sosnowsky, 55, has been charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and discharging a firearm from a vehicle, the Palm Beach Post reports.

The incident occurred at about 3:45 p.m. on Aug. 1 as Sosnowsky’s car and another vehicle exited Interstate 95 at Boynton Beach Boulevard. 

Their cars were stopped at a red light when Sosnowsky told police that he shot the other driver in self-defense. 

But video of the incident tells another story: The 67-year-old driver made no threats and didn’t have a weapon. 

The driver, who has not been identified, was hospitalized and in critical condition late last week with a gunshot wound in his upper left chest. 

Sosnowsky is a 15-year veteran of the DEA. He retired in 2014. 

By Steve Neavling

A bipartisan Senate bill would create a reserve Border Patrol, give agents a 14% pay raise, and increase the number of total agents to 20,500. 

The bill was introduced by Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

“Every time I’ve visited with Border Patrol, they have made it clear that they need increased funding to recruit and retain agents,” Portman said in a statement. “At a time when our southern border crisis is heading towards a catastrophe, we must provide Border Patrol with the tools and resources they need to do their jobs.”

The pay increase would make salaries more “competitive” with other Homeland Security agencies, the senators said in a statement.

“Border Patrol must maintain a strong workforce to secure the border, protect our communities, and ensure the fair and humane treatment of migrants,” Sinema said. “Border Patrol does not have the staffing or resources to meet that goal – our bipartisan legislation addresses these issues to adequately support Border Patrol as they protect Arizona communities.”