By Allan Lengel

More than 130 Secret Service officers who protect the White House and the president during his travels have tested positive for Covid or are quarantining because of exposure to co-workers, the Washington Post reports.

The spread of the virus is believed to be partly linked to a series of campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, the Post reports, citing anonymous sources.

The news comes as the country battles a surging virus that shows no signs of easing at the moment.

By Steve Neavling

ICE and its international partners arrested 113 alleged child predators in the U.S. and South America as part of a crackdown called “Operation Protected Childhood.”

The operation focused on distributors and producers of child pornography from the U.S. and Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Panama. In the U.S., ICE executed child exploitation-related search warrants in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Colorado and Florida. 

“This collaborative effort by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and its foreign law enforcement partners has put dangerous criminals behind bars and, most importantly, has led to the rescue of innocent children,” Robert Fuentes Jr., ICE attaché for Brazil and Bolivia, said in a statement. “Thank you to our Brazilian partners for their unwavering efforts over the last five years to combat child exploitation through Operation Protected Childhood. And to our partners who have most recently joined our operation, we look forward to the continued fight and relentless effort to put a stop to this horrific crime.”  

Launched in 2015, OPC works in partnership with the Brazil Ministry of Justice and the Public Security (MJSP) Secretariat for Integrated Operation (SEOPI) Cyber Laboratory.

During the arrests, officials found thousands of images of child pornography. Investigators tracked down the suspects using social media and cell phone apps. 

By Steve Neavling

Two top Homeland Security officials have been forced to resign by the White House as President Trump continues to remove anyone who hasn’t demonstrated “complete loyalty.” 

Bryan Ware, a senior policy aide at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Valerie Boyd, the top official for international affairs at Homeland Security, are the latest national security officials to resign under pressure, The Washington Post reports.

“They’re looking for complete loyalty, and someone with experience serving different administrations is not perceived as sufficiently loyal,” one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Post. 

Boyd previously served in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. 

In her resignation letter, Boyd told acting secretary Chad Wolf that she hopes the administration will “act with honor” by creating a peaceful transition to a new presidency. 

“It has been my belief that people of character should support the institution of the Presidency and work within it to inform and influence policy decisions that reflect well on the people’s government,” Boyd wrote. “This belief has been tested many times these past few years, and it is my fervent prayer that I made the best possible choices. I wish you and our colleagues across the government the strength to act with honor in the months ahead.”

Ware told The Post, “I’m proud of the work that I did. I’m proud of what the agency accomplished and proud to have had the privilege to serve the country.”

Neither the White House nor Homeland Security would comment.