Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Democrats shatter precedent with fast-track dismissal of Mayorkas impeachment
The Senate made history on Wednesday as it voted to dismiss articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, marking the first time the chamber has exonerated someone without holding a trial or reviewing evidence. Published April 17, 2024
Playing hardball: National Park Service browbeats baseball team over trademark infringement
A lower-level minor league baseball team says the National Park Service is trying to bully it into giving up its arrowhead logo, complaining that people might somehow not be able to tell the difference between the federal agency and a baseball club. Published April 17, 2024
While Congress deals with impeachment, Mayorkas focuses on child safety
As Congress is carrying out impeachment proceedings against Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security secretary is in New York on Wednesday to announce a new campaign to raise awareness about online exploitation of children. Published April 17, 2024
Mayorkas feuds with GOP as Senate begins long-delayed impeachment
The House delivered articles impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, kicking off what is expected to be an abbreviated process that Democrats have vowed will end in acquittal. Published April 16, 2024
Homeland Security chief Mayorkas refuses to tell Congress if terror attack is imminent
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was repeatedly pressed Tuesday on whether a terrorist attack is imminent in the U.S. but he declined to say, instead assuring lawmakers he is "vigilant." Published April 16, 2024
Supreme Court grapples with obstruction charge lobbed at 350 Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump
The Supreme Court struggled Tuesday with the government's case against 350 Jan. 6 defendants from the 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol, with justices pondering how a law written in the wake of the Enron document-shredding scandal can be applied to those who brought the 2020 election certification to a halt. Published April 16, 2024
Garland gives himself an ‘A’ grade for work on crime
Attorney General Merrick Garland graded himself an "A" for his work on crime over his three years in office, though he told Congress on Tuesday that there is "room for improvement." Published April 16, 2024
DHS is monitoring 617,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records
Some 264 illegal immigrants sit in jail in Tarrant County, Texas, and among them they face eight counts of murder, Sheriff Bill Waybourn will tell the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday. The hearing comes hours before the House is slated to send to the Senate two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Published April 16, 2024
ATF says guns now being sold on apps such as Facebook, TikTok and Tinder
More guns are now trafficked to criminals through online sources such as Facebook, TikTok and Tinder than are trafficked at gun shows or flea markets, according to new Justice Department data that argues the marketplace for illegally obtained weapons is quickly evolving. Published April 15, 2024
Feds bust illegal immigrant theft ring that targeted home improvement stores
Federal authorities said they have busted a massive theft operation run by Guatemalan immigrants that targeted Home Depot stores along the Atlantic coast, stealing and reselling power tools and other high-dollar items. Published April 15, 2024
Progressive activists see ‘betrayal’ after Democrats save government snooping program for Biden
Progressive activists have unleashed fury on Democrats after party leaders rallied to pass a bill expanding the government's chief snooping authority without any major new safeguards for Americans' privacy. Published April 14, 2024
Illegal immigration ticks down at the border
Homeland Security reported a slight drop in illegal immigrants trying to sneak in across the southern border in March, suggesting the department may have turned a corner in the border chaos that's reined since the start of the Biden administration. Published April 12, 2024
Supreme Court to review feds’ use of obstruction charge against Jan. 6 defendants, Trump
The fate of hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants lies with the Supreme Court, which will hear a case Tuesday arguing that the obstruction law under which they were charged was never meant to apply to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Published April 12, 2024
Death threat: Mexican cartel forces witness to cancel congressional testimony
A Mexican drug cartel used death threats to force a tribal leader to back out of testifying to Congress this week, according to another tribal leader who did show up to tell lawmakers just how much power the drug lords have accumulated. Published April 11, 2024
Republican lawmakers aim to reverse Biden’s expanded gun background check rule
Republican senators said Thursday they will pursue legislation to overturn President Biden's new gun control regulation that would expand the universe of gun sales subject to background checks. Published April 11, 2024
Biden announces largest expansion of gun background checks in decades
The Biden administration has finalized the largest expansion of gun-sales background checks since the advent of the federal check system in the 1990s, moving to close the "gun show loophole" and online sales that have avoided checks in the past. Published April 11, 2024
‘I don’t hate you’: Sen. Kennedy and other GOP lawmakers unload on Mayorkas
Republicans challenged Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, telling him that he's failed the American public which no longer trusts him to manage the border Published April 10, 2024
Feds fall short on recovering pandemic fraud; less than 1% has been clawed back
The Justice Department's pandemic fraud task force has recovered just $1.4 billion in money seized or forfeited from people who stole the government's coronavirus cash, just a fraction of 1% of the total lost to theft. Published April 9, 2024
House GOP delays delivery of Mayorkas impeachment articles to Senate
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday said the articles of impeachment against Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will not be delivered to the Senate until next week, a move meant to build pressure on Democrats to hold a full trial. Published April 9, 2024
Schumer vows to crush Mayorkas impeachment trial
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Tuesday promised to quash the impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas "as quickly as possible." Published April 9, 2024
