COMMUNITY United States Politics Thread: Trump's Second Term



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www.thedailybeast.com

Trump Struck Secret Deal With El Chapo’s ‘Terrorist’ Cartel

The family members of infamous drug lord “El Chapo” were given access to the U.S., catching the Mexican president off-guard.
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com

Nearly 20 family members of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán crossed the U.S. border thanks to a deal made with the Trump administration.

The special access came after negotiations between the White House and El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, who is a top-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, AP News reported late Tuesday. The criminal group is designated a foreign terrorist organization and a powerful drug trafficking and organized crime syndicate based in Mexico.

Mexican security secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed the group’s entrance, explaining that the 17 individuals were family members of both former Sinaloa Cartel leader El Chapo and his son, who was extradited to the United States in 2023. Guzmán Lopez, 35, is currently locked up in the U.S. awaiting federal charges after he and his brothers flooded the country with fentanyl for hundreds of millions of dollars. He and his brothers’ group was called “Los Chapitos” or the little shorties, a reference to his father’s nickname “shorty.”

Last week, the cartel’s family members walked across the border from Tijuana with their suitcases to U.S. agents who were waiting for them there.
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“It is evident that his family is going to the U.S. because of a negotiation or an offer that the Department of Justice is giving him,” García Harfuch said. The family members who entered the United States were not wanted by Mexican authorities, he said.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo told reporters that she was caught off guard by the news. The Mexican government has demanded President Donald Trump share information about the deal with Mexican prosecutors, which it has not yet done.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Trump administration for comment about the family members and their entrance.

Guzmán Lopez and his brothers rebuilt their father’s international drug empire after his extradition in 2017 and incarceration in 2019. El Chapo was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and is incarcerated in Colorado.

Guzmán Lopez was first caught in 2019 but released after cartel members attacked civilians. He was arrested again in 2023 in an operation that led to another 30 deaths.
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He has previously pleaded not guilty but is expected to appear in federal court this July to change his plea. Court records do not include details about a possible plea agreement.

García Harfuch’s confirmation comes as the U.S. attorney general’s office announced it was charging cartel leaders with “narcoterrorism” for the first time since Trump labelled several cartels foreign terrorist organizations.

Prosecutors declined to comment to AP News about footage showing the cartel family members crossing the border. But U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon and other officials sent a warning to the cartel from California.

“Let me be direct, to the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted,” he said. “You will be betrayed by your friends, you will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California.”
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Random, but Kristi Noem is a transformer.

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She looks like a completely different person. That makeup is doing some heavy lifting. I bet with it off, she looks ever bit like the grandmother she is.
 

Could cost close to a billion to retro fit Trumps temp jet. I'm sure he gives no fucks

Converting a luxury jet gifted by Qatar to President Donald Trump into a replacement for Air Force One could potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it could take up two years to install the necessary security equipment, communications and defensive capabilities for it to be safely used by the commander in chief, current and former officials told CNN.
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It has been estimated the jet is worth $400 million, but a person a person familiar with the details of the potential plan said the value of the Qatari aircraft is closer to $250 million. Overhauling it, according to administration estimates the person has been briefed on, could cost as much as three times that, or more.
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“You would want to check the airplane out completely – strip it down, check for bugs, things like that, harden it to make sure nobody could hijack the electronics on the airplane … The ability for the president to command and control his military in the worst days, that takes a lot,” a retired senior military official familiar with Air Force One told CNN.

That process could take anywhere from several months to two years, the retired senior military official told CNN. Another official familiar with the situation voiced concerns that the White House is not entirely aware of how much work would have to be done on the jet, which will involve multiple intelligence agencies.

Upgrading the Qatari jet would likely not exceed what has already been spent on the long-delayed Air Force One upgrade program, but Trump has made clear accepting the Qatari jet would only be a temporary solution.
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The say we wasted close to a billion dollars going after the Houthis only for Trump to cave. What could be worse is the hit to our military's reputation if the specifics of how bad our military failed come out.
 
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