He ripped toilets out of his Chicago mansion to dodge $331,000 in property taxes.
This billionaire hid millions in Bahamas trusts while raising taxes on Illinois families.
His family vacationed in Florida and Wisconsin during his strict COVID lockdowns.
All the while, he averages a trip out of Illinois every single month.
Pritzker’s obsession with Trump? Nothing but desperate deflection.
J.B. Pritzker’s bid for a third term as governor doesn’t seem to be the only race he has his eye on.
Pritzker, who’s up for re-election Nov. 3, is on tour building a national profile and says a bid for the White House hasn’t been “ruled out.”
While he mulls that, don’t forget the trail of scandals Pritzker has left across Illinois:
Hiding millions of dollars in trusts in the Bahamas.
Cited on federal wiretaps with a politician convicted of corruption.
Removed toilets in his mansion for a $331,000 tax break. (He ended up paying the money.)
Scrubbed internet of photo with someone accused of murder.
Blurred the lines when giving out political contracts.
Hypocrisy during the COVID no-travel order.
Skirted rules to appoint brother-in-law to a political position.
Pritzker also has prioritized traveling to build his personal brand over concerning himself with his constituents in Illinois.
Here are details:
Hiding millions of dollars in trusts in the Bahamas.
While Pritzker has consistently pledged to raise taxes on the rich in Illinois, he has exempted himself.
When he was challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for governor in 2018, the Chicago Tribune connected Pritzker to trusts in the Bahamas that were avoiding taxes. Reporting then indicated Pritzker may have avoided millions of dollars in taxes from 2008 to 2018.
At the same time, Pritzker has levied at least 57 tax and fee hikes on Illinoisans since taking office, punishing Illinois with the highest tax burden in the nation.
Cited on federal wiretaps with a politician convicted of corruption.
Comments from Pritzker were caught on wiretaps of convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, exposing his disparaging remarks about African-Americans while talking about filling a vacant Illinois U.S. Senate seat.
Blagojevich was impeached in 2009 amid numerous allegations of corruption, including an attempt to profit the Senate seat, vacated by Barack Obama after he was elected president. Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 and served nearly eight years in federal prison before President Donald Trump commuted his 14-year sentence.
Removed toilets in his mansion for a $331,000 tax break.
Pritzker removed toilets in a Chicago mansion to reap a property tax break of more than $331,000. The scheme garnered enough attention to warrant a federal criminal investigation. Pritzker was not charged and ended up paying the money.
The contractor that removed the toilets received a nearly $9 million contract to convert an old Chicago-area hospital for use in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Illinois has among the highest property taxes in the nation.
Scrubbed internet of photo with someone accused of murder.
Resisting Trump’s push to send the National Guard to Chicago, Pritzker met with Peacekeepers, a group of community violence intervention workers, and posted photos on his official website.
When one of those Peacekeepers was later charged with murder and other crimes after a smash-and-grab burglary of a Louis Vuitton store on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Pritzker quietly removed a photo of them together.
While the governor does meet a large number of people, quickly scrubbing the photo is questionable, especially given Chicago’s’ increasein arrest rates for violent crimes in 2025.
Blurred the lines when giving out political contracts.
During his 2020 State of the State address, Pritzker declared of the state’s deep-rooted corruption that “protecting that culture or tolerating it is no longer acceptable.”
His involvement with his 2019 bipartisan infrastructure bill, Rebuild Illinois, showed otherwise. A congressman whose construction company got $750,000 worth of Rebuild Illinois contracts had endorsed Pritzker in 2018 and was quietly hired as a $13,000-a-month political consultant. Pritzker was essentially paying him twice.
Hypocrisy during the COVID no-travel order.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave Pritzker emergency powers that he overused for three years, issuing 40 emergency orders. Early in the pandemic, while Illinois schools were closed, the governor’s family escaped their patriarch’s stay-at-home order for vacations in Wisconsin and Florida, states with notably less stringent COVID-19 restrictions compared to Pritzker-piloted Illinois.
Skirted rules to appoint brother-in-law to political position.
Skirting around the legal prohibition against state employees appointing relatives to state positions, Pritzker named his brother-in-law to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees as the code “does not legally apply to a separate entity like the University of Illinois.”
To top off all of that, the governor has prioritized trips for his personal brand over Illinois constituents.
Capitol News Illinois found that 81% of Pritzker’s media interviews in 2025 were with national outlets, podcasters, social media influencers or television entertainment hosts — not local news stations.
All the while, Illinoisans are left to shoulder sluggish economic growth, rising unemploymentand less accountability from an absent governor.
Fire from scandals loses flame over time. But political decisions allowing high spending and high taxes are pushing Illinoisans to other states creating long-term problems for taxpayers.
As Pritzker eyes a political future beyond Illinois, Illinoisans will be left carrying the burden of his decisions.
The US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts to determine whether they have included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any class for grades pre-K-12.
Local this investigation includes Leyden High School District 212, as well as Elmwood Park High School.
If they are teaching SOGI-related content, the investigations will examine whether the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction. The investigation will also assess whether the Illinois School Districts limit access to single-sex intimate spaces (such as bathrooms and locker rooms) and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex.
“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The investigations will examine whether these Illinois School Districts, which are recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s extensive precedents on parental rights as recently reiterated in Mirabelli v. Bontaand Mahmoud v. Taylor.
The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.
The Illinois School Districts under investigation include:
Atwood Heights School District 125
Bloomington Public Schools District 87
Bluford Unit School District 318
Buncombe Consolidated School District 43
Center Cass School District 66
Central School District 104
Community High School District 155
Country Club Hills School District 160
Crete-Monee School District 201-U
DeKalb Community Unit School District 428
East Dubuque Unit School District 119
Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401
Freeport School District 145
Galena Unit School District 120
Gillespie Community Unit School District 7
Iroquois County Community Unit School District 9
Leyden Community High School District 212
Lick Creek Community Consolidated School District 16
Lyons School District 103
Martinsville Community Unit School District C3
Meridian Community Unit School District 223
Noble Network of Charter Schools
North Chicago Community Unit School District 187
North Palos School District 117
Norwood Elementary School District 63
O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District No. 90
Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123
Odin Public School District 722
Oregon Community Unit School District 220
Pembroke Community Consolidated School District 259
Reavis Township High School District 220
Ridgeview Community Unit School District 19
Stockton Community Unit School District 206
Tamaroa School District 5
Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215
Will County School District 92
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said it is investigating 35 Illinois school districts, including several in the suburbs, and a Chicago charter operator to see if they are teaching about sexual orientation and “gender ideology” in classrooms and if so, whether parents are allowed to opt out.
The investigations also will examine whether the districts limit access to single-sex locker rooms and bathrooms and girls sports teams. That essentially means they’ll be looking at whether or not districts allow transgender students to use facilities and play on athletic teams that correspond with their gender identity.
In a news release, Justice Department officials cited Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, as the basis for the investigations, as well as a recent Supreme Court decision that ruled parents have the religious right to opt their children out of lessons at school if they do not align with their faith. It appears the Trump administration is trying to take that further by proactively looking into whether school districts have opt-out procedures in place.
The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which runs 17 high schools and one middle school in Chicago, is among those under investigation. A spokesperson for the operator said they didn’t have a comment at this time.
Chicago-area districts under investigation include Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123, Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401 and Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215.
A spokesperson for District 215 said its attorney was reviewing the department’s correspondence but didn’t have further comment. The other two districts did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The Justice Department didn’t outline what sparked the investigations or how it chose those districts out of the hundreds in Illinois. A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the investigations.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement that the department is determined “to put an end to local authorities keeping parents in the dark” about how sexuality and gender identity are “being pushed” in classrooms.
“Parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children,” Dillon wrote. “This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The Trump administration has wielded the threat of pulling federal funding to change school policies it disagrees with, but the Justice Department’s involvement in matters related to school curriculum appears to be a relatively new strategy. In February the department announced similar investigations into school districts in Michigan.
The investigations follow a pattern of attempts by the Trump administration to strip protections for LGBTQ+ students enacted by school districts across the country. It’s also taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs, such as Chicago Public Schools’ Black Student Success plan.
The Department of Education announced last year that it was investigating CPS over whether the district’s policies allowing student locker room access that aligns with their gender identity violated Title IX.
The administration has also shown support for parental rights advocates who were handed a victory last year by the Supreme Court in Mahmoud v. Taylor. Parents in Montgomery County, Maryland sued the school district after it prevented them from opting their children out of lessons featuring LGBTQ characters and themes.
Parents argued the teachings went against their religious beliefs and they should be allowed to opt out. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents.
It led to concerns that some schools would choose to forsake certain lessons and materials to reduce the likelihood of opt-outs, decreasing the diversity of curriculums.
The Department of Justice launches a civil rights investigation into 36 Illinois school districts over schools teaching lessons on sexual orientation and gender ideology
This investigation will also look at whether schools limit access to places like bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex
I looked into what the full investigation covers
Curriculum and Lessons on Sexual Orientation and Gender Ideology
Whether districts included such content in any Pre-K through 12th-grade classes
Whether parents were properly notified and given the opportunity to opt their children out of these lessons
Access to Single-Sex Spaces and Sports
Whether schools limit access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and other intimate single-sex facilities based on biological sex
Whether girls’ sports teams are restricted to biological females, including policies on transgender participation
The concern is whether schools were teaching this without proper parental notice or consent
The DOJ wants to know if schools followed rules protecting single-sex spaces and fair sports for girls
According to state policy this is what they are allowed to do. Bottom line-if you don’t agree then don’t vote for politicians that support this.
Illinois schools have followed state-level policies and guidance that treat gender identity as the basis for access to facilities and sports, rather than biological sex. This stems from the Illinois Human Rights Act (which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity) and non-regulatory guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR). dhr.illinois.gov Facilities (Bathrooms, Locker Rooms, Changing Areas)
Official policy: Students must be permitted to use restrooms, locker rooms, showers, and changing rooms aligning with their gender-related identity, without needing medical documentation, surgery, or proof of anatomy/chromosomes. Restricting based on “physical anatomy or chromosomal sex” is described as discriminatory. Schools are advised to develop policies for full access consistent with gender identity. dhr.illinois.gov
ISBE/IDHR guidance: This is framed as required for compliance with state law. Districts are encouraged to designate “Gender Support Coordinators” and make these policies public. isbe.net
Documented implementation: In practice, this has led to biological males (identifying as girls) using girls’ facilities. Examples include complaints and investigations in districts like Deerfield Public Schools District 109 (middle school girls reportedly required to change in front of a transgender student in the girls’ locker room) and earlier Palatine Township High School District 211 cases involving locker room access. foxnews.com Sports and Athletics
IHSA (Illinois High School Association) policy: Transgender students can participate in sports aligning with their gender identity. For state series/postseason, they may need an eligibility waiver or ruling, but the default follows state law allowing participation consistent with gender identity. In one reported year, only a small number (e.g., three) of biological males received waivers for girls’ teams. mystateline.com
State guidance: Sports and physical education are treated as “facilities, goods, and services” under the Human Rights Act. Students cannot be denied full participation on teams aligning with gender identity. This applies to interscholastic activities. dhr.illinois.gov
IHSA stance: The association has upheld this approach citing state law, even amid federal executive actions emphasizing biological sex. Regular-season decisions are largely left to member schools. mystateline.com Curriculum and Related Practices Many districts have incorporated LGBTQ+ topics via the Inclusive Curriculum Law (Public Act 101-0227, effective 2020), which requires instruction portraying contributions of LGBT individuals accurately. ISBE provides implementation guidance for aligning this with social science standards. Sex education in some districts follows broader standards that can include gender identity topics. isbe.net These are statewide frameworks applied across public schools. Individual districts vary in exact implementation, training, and parent notification, which is part of what the current DOJ probes are examining. Illinois has resisted federal shifts toward biological-sex definitions, leading to the compliance reviews. Biological males retain average physical advantages (e.g., muscle mass, bone density, strength metrics) after puberty, per sports physiology data, which is the core fairness issue in girls’ categories.
🚨 Let me explain what actually happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner..
This was not just a random panic moment in a ballroom.
It was a security architecture problem.
The dinner was at the Washington Hilton.
That matters.
Because a hotel is not the White House.
It has guests. It has staff. It has service corridors. It has elevators. It has storage rooms. It has staging areas. It has normal public-building chaos around one extremely protected room.
Officials say the suspect rushed a Secret Service checkpoint with a shotgun, handgun and knives.
Trump, Melania, Vance and Cabinet officials were inside.
A Secret Service officer was hit in the vest.
The suspect was taken alive.
So yes, the final checkpoint worked.
But that is not the only question.
The real question is:
How did a man with that kind of weapon loadout get close enough that the final checkpoint had to save the night?
That is the part everyone is going to fight over now.
Not because the protectees were hurt.
They were not.
Because the event almost turned a press dinner into a live-fire test of the last possible security layer.
And nobody wants to admit how thin that last layer can feel inside a normal building.
if you’re not following me you’re finding out about this 48 hours late from someone who read my post..
MS NOW host Symone Sanders Townsend recounts how poor security was at the WHCD. She says she was able to roll up to the front door on a scooter and security did not ask to see her ID nor see her ticket, they assumed she was a guest at the hotel:
“I actually showed up to the Hilton shortly after 8 P.M. And I actually took a scooter right up to the front of the Hilton driveway. And this matters because, as you know, usually there’s a lot of protesters outside that’s outside of those barricades before you can actually enter into the driveway of the Hilton.
But this year, there are no protesters outside. I come to find out the people were actually milling about into the lobby. When I got off of the scooter and into in front of the barricade, usually you have to show ID and a ticket.
The folks, the security at the gate, these were not agents, the Secret Service agents. They were not identified as Secret Service agents that I could see at the gate, but they did not ask me to show ID, and they did not ask me to show a ticket. They said, ‘Oh, you’re good. I’m sure you’re going to your room.’ I am not staying at the Washington Hilton.
As I entered into the driveway, I saw the president’s vehicle. The Beast was driving around in the circle of the Hilton driveway, and people walking around near it, taking photos. Secret Service was not keeping a perimeter. And it went around about two or three times while I was outside.
When I entered into the Hilton, I asked Secret Service agents, which I saw they were identified as Secret Service agents, which way the ballroom was, and they said they didn’t know.
When I finally got my way onto elevator, no one asked me to show ID. No one asked me to show a ticket. I got all the way down to the red carpet area without ever showing a ticket to anyone in the Hilton.
I am saying it like this because this is unusual.”
We are so lucky that track star shooter did not have a suicide vest on… He could have decapitated our entire government like we did Iran’s because our Secret service had our President, VP, and most of the Cabinet in a public hotel outside of the security of the White House Gates… And on live TV! We are currently in a war with the largest terrorist state in the world and we have known for years that Iran has sleeper cells in our country that have orders to assassinate our President! WTF are we doing… Sleeping at the wheel? This is why we need that WH ballroom yesterday. Protect our President at all costs
So let’s unpack a few things right up front…
1) He left California and was in DC at the hotel where the WHCD was veing held. 2) Imagine the intent he had to have in order to travel that distance all the while thinking about what he was going to do. 3) He either moved several weapons or procured them in/around DC and figured out a way to get them in proximity to the WHCD. 4) He took the time to load the weapons on to his body (to reportedly include several knives) and nobody noticed. 5) Now here is the kicker…in his hidden location he was somehow aware that the President was in the room and was seated. How/when was he aware of that part? 6) If he wasn’t a guest at the WHCD and he couldn’t see the President from where he was….how did he know? 7) It’s not like he could go look in the room and then go load up with his gear. 8) He was supposedly a guest at the exact hotel? Like every room in that place wasn’t booked full over a month in advance? In DC, on a Saturday, with the WHCD in the same hotel….have you ever booked a hotel in DC during a Major Presidential event? Good luck!!!
All of it screams that he had help from someone in DC. Someone with some serious knowledge and capabilities.
You just don’t pull off something like that on a whim and without some serious reconnaissance ahead of time.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, 92, came within minutes of being the next president of the United States.
The President, Vice President and Speaker of the House could have been killed Saturday night. Had that happened, Grassley, as President pro tempore of the Senate would have been next in line.
There need to be serious conversations about security surrounding our president and top administration officials.
Everyone is overlooking the most chilling detail regarding last night’s third assassination attempt on POTUS.
The shooter at the DC correspondents diner was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from California. part-time teacher/tutor. Teacher of the Month in December 2024 at C2 Education. BS Mechanical Engineer, Master in Computer Science, video game developer. Donated to Kamala in 2024.
This dude has a background (so far) as normal as it gets, regardless of the contempt smile that seems to be part of his body language baseline, as you can see in the photo below.
But nobody, and I mean nobody, expects to rush a room full of secret service officers expecting to survive whatever goal he had set himself to achieve.
What I mean is that this guy had an actual death wish and the willingness to self-immolate for a chance to hurt people, and if was POTUS, all the better.
Which means that the mass psychosis that some Americans are developing, is pushing them to disregard their own life’s value in exchange for bringing some kind of ‘justice’ or at least pain, from anyone who supports Trump to Trump himself.
That’s the most concerning part. Even if this guy happened to have a ‘history of mental illness’ (which is not confirmed but I wouldn’t be surprised), it actually reinforces the fact that there are deranged sleeper cells out there ready to give their lives some sort of meaning by doing stuff like this.
And I don’t say ‘sleeper cells’ in terms of foreign influence or brainwashing. These are not Manchurian candidates. This is the obvious product of the hate rethoric that has been pushed, over and over again, by the hard left.
You only need to take a look at Bluesky or Reddit to confirm that half of those people think this was fake and the other half are frustrated that he missed.
That’s the real problem America is facing now, and we 100% know who are the ones to blame.
🚨Oh, look at that—America’s “watchdogs of democracy” didn’t just fail the vibe check at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night. They straight-up looted the joint like it was the apocalypse, and the only thing worth saving was the open bar.
While shots rang out, the President was being yanked offstage by Secret Service, and the entire ballroom was one trigger-pull away from turning into a national nightmare, what were these tuxedoed truth-tellers doing? Filing urgent dispatches? Checking on colleagues? Showing one ounce of basic human concern? Nah.
They were playing human Roomba on the tabletops—grabbing bottles of wine and champagne two at a time, stuffing them into camera bags, under jackets, down blouses, whatever fit. One blonde in a black jacket looked like she was training for the Olympic wine-heist relay. Another kept casually nibbling her dinner like it was just another Tuesday, and the gunfire was ambient noise. Bro, the President almost got assassinated. and your priority was playing “how many free Cabernets can I smuggle out before security notices?”
These are the same smug, pearl-clutching hacks who spend every waking hour lecturing the rest of us about “civility,” “empathy,” “moral leadership,” and how we’re the ones destroying the country. The ones who cry “threat to democracy” if you question their narrative. The ones who virtue-signal about compassion while calling half the country garbage.
Turns out their moral compass doesn’t point north—it points straight to the nearest unopened bottle of Dom.
Congratulations, media. You didn’t just expose your hypocrisy; you speed-ran it on camera. While the nation held its breath wondering if the President was okay, you proved you’re not elite journalists. You’re not even good looters. You’re the people who show up to a black-tie event, watch bullets fly, and think, “Perfect—now’s my chance for a free case of bubbly.”
At least actual looters wait for the power to go out. You did it with the lights on, in formalwear, live on X.
Classy. Real classy.
Now go write your 3,000-word think piece about how this was actually Trump’s fault for making the wine too tempting. We’ll wait. With our own bottles. That we paid for.
Suspect dead after shooting at White House Correspondents Dinner. NEWS: The attempted shooter at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner is 31 year old Cole Tomas Allen from Torrance, California and he is in custody.
C2 Education of Torrance California recognized Cole Allen as a “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024.
C2 (challenge & confidence) Education started in Harvard focuses on SAT/ACT prep & college admissions counseling, now they can add assassin training to the curriculum
On Saturday night, April 25, 2026, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton after shots were fired.
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are reportedly uninjured.
Several loud bangs were heard approximately five minutes into the dinner hour, causing hundreds of guests to duck under tables for cover.
It’s HEARTBREAKING to see the look of fear on our first lady’s face. She must be terrified that the left will never stop trying to end her husband’s life. The father of her only child. Pray for her🙏🏾
Law enforcement officials confirmed a shooter opened fire in the hotel lobby. Multiple reports indicate the suspect is dead after being engaged by the Secret Service.
JD Vance was pulled off the stage (right) and Trump was still sitting in his seat facing the crowd for another 10 seconds (left)…
The Secret Service continues to fail.
Protestor who attempted to ram President Trump’s vehicle motorcade while the shooting took place tonight at WHCD was wearing a Keffiyeh.
If this was a Muslim inspired shooting by a Palestinian or Iranian, people must be made to pay severely.
High-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were also evacuated.
Heavily armed Secret Service agents and members of the National Guard secured the ballroom and the surrounding Hilton premises.
8:20 p.m.: President Trump, Melania Trump, and JD Vance entered the ballroom at the Washington Hilton.
8:30 p.m.: Loud bangs, described as four to five gunshots, were heard approximately five minutes into the dinner hour.
8:31 p.m.: Secret Service agents immediately rushed the President and First Lady off the stage.
8:45 p.m.: The presidential motorcade was seen leaving the hotel.
8:50 p.m.: Reports confirmed the shooter was “neutralized” in the hotel lobby.
BREAKING: U.S. Secret Service Agent Assigned to VP JD Vance Leaks Sensitive Security Information to Undercover Reporter.
Escotto is a holdover from the Biden administration and stated that he voted for Joe Biden, while expressing opposition to ICE & the Trump administration’s immigration policies. “I hate that [ICE] sh*t.”
Tomas Escotto, a current U.S. Secret Service agent on Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, was recorded on hidden camera providing an undercover journalist with sensitive security information, including protective formations, shift schedules, travel plans, & real-time locations.
The Secret Service agent detailed how the Vice President is physically surrounded, described multiple daily shift changes, & disclosed advance security procedures.
In addition to past movements, the agent revealed future travel plans, sometimes days in advance. Escotto even sent images from Air Force Two while onboard with the Vice President.
Despite acknowledging that he signed paperwork prohibiting the disclosure of sensitive information, the Secret Service agent repeatedly shared details with someone he believed was a casual romantic interest.
While the safety of the Vice President and his family was always our top priority, what OMG uncovered raises serious questions about operational security, protocol compliance, and oversight within the U.S. Secret Service.
Our team coordinated with the U.S. Secret Service ahead of publication, redacted sensitive operational details at their request.
We were just informed Tomas Escotto has been placed on administrative leave with his clearance suspended and access to agency facilities and systems revoked.
Secret Service failures and sloppiness was exposed by @JamesOKeefeIII only 3 months ago, and which they snarked at in their official Statements made in response. But perhaps it tightened thing up just enough needed to save the President’s life tonight. x.com/i/status/20111…
Tonight you’ve seen another mostly peaceful protest at the correspondent dinner in Washington DC.
The terrorist attempted assassin is from Torrence, California and you can count on right now enforcement having surrounded his home as they’re waiting for a search warrants. It’s gonna be interesting how this thing unfolds and what we find out about the clown.
Something I noticed even before coming into the #WHCADinner was that the security was only outside the ballroom inside, not outside the building. So the entrance of the building did not have a security machine only guards, you only went through the screening before the ballroom. @Newsweek
🚨🚨 SECRET SERVICE EXCLUSIVE: For the two weeks before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, the Secret Service had been investigating a mystery shooting that took place near the White House the morning after Easter Sunday around 1-2 a.m.
The White House/President Trump has been demanding answers from the Secret Service – but the USSS has been at a loss.
The agency found rifle casings at K and I Streets, and had the license of the car, but no images of the shooter, and the license was stolen, according to multiple Secret Service sources.
The case had gone cold — to the frustration of the Secret Service and the White House.
Wolf Blitzer said on CNN that immediately after the evacuation, Trump personally ordered security to protect the entire media, including outlets that are often critical of him.
PoliticsOnX reacts to the April 2026 WHCD shooting incident—where gunshots prompted Trump’s safe evacuation— prioritizing concern for pregnant Second Lady Usha Vance and her unborn fourth child, noting no health updates available yet.
The post condemns the violence as “too far” and directly blames Democratic “violent rhetoric” for causing the event, rejecting any possibility of political unity with the party.
As a pro-MAGA account focused on breaking political news and commentary, it uses the moment to emphasize divine protection for the Vance family amid the chaos, including a related motorcade ramming attempt.
🚨 WHCD SHOOTER UPDATE 1st Photo of the gunman (Cole Tomas Allen, 31) neutralized in the lobby near security screening. Secret Service took him down fast. In custody. Trump & all safe. No injuries. Investigation ongoing. WHCD #Trump #Breaking
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and multiple knives, according to DC police chief Jeffrey Carroll.
The shooter was identified as 31-year-old teacher Cole Allen from Torrance, California.
The suspect emerged from a “makeshift room” near the entrance, where “there was no security” near where bar carts were stored, according to the New York Post.
“He was in that room… he grabbed it out of a bag or something.” The weapon “was long” and “didn’t look like a typical gun,” a witness who was a volunteer at the event told the Post.
It is reportedly believed that Allen was a guest at the Hilton hotel where the dinner took place.
Cole Allen’s Sister Avriana Allen Developed Voter Guides for CalMatters and Holds Elite Journalism Credentials
Avriana F. Allen, 27, of Washington, D.C., is the sister of Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old Torrance, California teacher identified by authorities as the suspect in the April 25, 2026, shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Public records confirm the sibling relationship through shared mother Kathleen A. Allen and prior family address in Torrance. Family records link: truepeoplesearch.com/find/person/px…
Avriana worked as Full Stack Web Developer at CalMatters, a left-leaning nonprofit California newsroom, from 2021 until her recent layoff. In her LinkedIn post, she noted building the interactive California Voter Guides for the 2021 Recall Election, 2022 general election, and 2024 presidential election. These tools provided explanations of voting deadlines, ballots, statewide propositions, key races, candidate positions, and district lookups. Her LinkedIn post: linkedin.com/posts/avriana-… Examples:
2024 Voter Guide: calmatters.org/california-vot…
2022 Voter Guide: calmatters.org/california-vot…
She also redesigned the CalMatters homepage, improved navigation and archive pages, and created internal tools for the editorial team.
Avriana earned a Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (Class of 2021), double-majoring in journalism and statistics with a minor in creative writing. Her prior roles included Interactives Editor at North by Northwestern and work at Northwestern’s Knight Lab, plus a 2020 Engineering Fellowship at the Texas Tribune. She currently works as Junior Tooling and Support Engineer at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. (started September 2025).
Her Medill journalism degree and experience building digital tools for news organizations placed her in professional D.C. journalism and research networks. There is no public evidence that Avriana Allen attended the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, received press credentials for the event, or had any involvement in or prior knowledge of the shooting.
Questions the Secret Service should ask her: -Did Cole stay at your D.C. residence before or on April 25, 2026? -Did you meet up with Cole in D.C. around the shooting date? -When was your last phone call, text, or in-person contact with Cole? -Did Cole discuss travel plans, the WHCD, or any weapons with you? -Have you provided him money, a place to stay, or event access? -Did you share any press credentials or D.C. contacts with him? -Were you aware of his trip to Washington?
As I lay in bed struggling to stay awake, this man who is 79 years old is answering questions about why people keep trying to kill him at 11:00 pm on a Saturday night… and giving damn good answers too:
“I’ve studied assassinations and I must tell you, the most impactful people, the people that do the most… the people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after. They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much, cause they like it that way.
And when you look at the people that have, whether it was an attempt, or a successful attempt, they’re very impactful people.”
God bless this man 🙏🇺🇸
The President almost just got assassinated and members of the media are using the opportunity to steal bottles of wine.
You don’t hate them enough!
Trump says one officer was shot tonight but is “doing great” — saved by a “really great bulletproof vest”
To the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei:
The 31-year-old Californian arrested after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner tonight – identified as Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance – is under FBI interrogation right now.
You’d better pray he has zero ties to the Islamic Republic, the IRGC, or any of your regime’s cutouts.
Because if even a single thread connects him to Tehran, the consequences will not be “proportional.” They will be decisive. Your father’s fate already proved America and Israel strike without hesitation when red lines are crossed on U.S. soil. A proxy hit at the President’s dinner would end the conversation permanently.
— Joseph Fosco April 25, 2026
Moments before the situation unfolded at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Scott Jennings delivered a powerful reminder to the CNN panel about President Trump’s media access.
It’s a moment that now carries added weight given what followed.
JENNINGS: “I think journalism has never had more access to the leader of the free world than they have right now.”
“Everybody in that room, as was noted by the press secretary, has his cell phone number.”
“And lo and behold, he answers their calls!”
“He answers their questions in the Oval Office on a daily routine basis.”
“I mean, he answers questions on the tarmac.”
“He answers questions on the South Lawn.”
“You couldn’t pry access like this out of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or any other president.”
“And so if you just think of what is the job of journalism, and that is to take us inside the decision making process of the president of the United States, we’ve never had a more accessible president to get those answers than we have right now.”
There’s never been a president and probably will never be another one who would hold a press conference within an hour and a half of another attack on his life. Many times he’s less than eloquent in his words, but the most transparent president in history!
Respected Illinois political observer Thomas Devore says that multiple sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations are saying that the decision to move to Indiana has been is “effectively made”.
“The Bears are leaving for Indiana, drawn by a far more business-friendly environment and a state government that isn’t layering on uncertainty, taxes, and political gamesmanship.”
So, the bill Democrats and some Republicans approved on Wednesday that raises property taxes for all Illinois for the next 40 years, is all going to be for nothing. Your property taxes will still increase, but there will be no “Bears” to show for it in the state of Illinois.
Read more in Thomas Devore’s post on social media below.
Top points out, if this is true, and there’s little reason to believe insiders across different circles are all wrong, then the central justification for the megaprojects bill collapses.
The Democrats official pitch for Illinois’ so-called “mega-project” bill is straightforward: keep the Chicago Bears from leaving. But if you listen to people who are actually close to the situation, the true nature of what is seemingly going on starts to surface.
Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations are telling me the decision is effectively made. The Bears are leaving for Indiana, drawn by a far more business-friendly environment and a state government that isn’t layering on uncertainty, taxes, and political gamesmanship. If that’s true, and there’s little reason to believe insiders across different circles are all wrong, then the central justification for this bill collapses. So why are the Democrats pushing it anyway? One of Rahm Emanuel’s famous statements starts ringing true. Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.
Because it is all but certain this bill was never really about the Bears. Look at its scope. This isn’t a targeted stadium incentive. It’s a massive, statewide framework designed to subsidize large private developments with public backing. It opens the door for billions in incentives, shifting financial risk onto taxpayers under the banner of “economic development” to save the Bears. The Bears are just the headline as it’s useful, emotional, and politically convenient.
If Democrat lawmakers already know the team is gone, then invoking the Bears starts to look less like urgency and more like strategy. It’s a sales pitch. A way to manufacture pressure. A way to make opposing the bill seem like you’re responsible for “losing the Bears,” even if that outcome is already baked in.
There’s also the bipartisan angle. By tying the bill to something as high-profile as the Bears, Democrats are pulling in Republican votes especially from districts where the team still carries cultural weight. If the Democrats succeed, they get to label the final product “bipartisan,” spreading political ownership and insulating themselves from future criticism when the costs come due for massive taxpayer financed projects that have nothing to do with the Bears. .
If the goal is to create a permanent mechanism to subsidize large projects across the state, then that debate should happen in the open, on its own merits. However, lawmakers are wrapping it in the urgency of a departing NFL franchise, one that by many credible accounts, has already made up its mind. And that’s the part that should concern taxpayers most because the real special interests groups (corporations and unions) behind the scenes don’t want to surface! Their token special interest group is the Bears carrying the water for who really wants this bill.
After the Bears leave, which is almost certainly the case according to insiders, we will all be left with a far-reaching piece of legislation that was sold under false urgency, expanding public exposure to private risk for years to come.
I encourage all Republican elected officials to vote NO for any legislation that expands the scope of this bill beyond only what is necessary to make a fair proposal to the Bears. If the Democrats push back, then you will all know my suspicions which are supported by insider knowledge is correct.
They call us “The Elderly” We were born in the 40-50-60’s. We grew up in the 50-60-70’s. We studied in the 60-70-80’s. We were dating in the 70-80-90’s. We got married and discovered the world in the 70-80-90’s. We venture into the 80-90’s. We stabilize in the 2000’s. We got wiser in the 2010’s. And we are going firmly through and beyond 2020.
Turns out we’ve lived through EIGHT different decades.. TWO different centuries.. TWO different millennia.. We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long–distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world. We have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and Whats App. From live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, colour TV and then to 3D HD TV. We went to the Video store and now we watch Netflix. We got to know the first computers, punch cards, floppy disks and now we have gigabytes and megabytes on our smartphones. We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long trousers, Oxfords, flares, shell suits & blue jeans.. We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, polio, tuberculosis, swine flu and now COVID-19. We rode skates, tricycles, bicycles, mopeds, petrol or diesel cars and now we drive hybrids or electric.. Yes, we’ve been through a lot but what a great life we’ve had! They could describe us as “exennials,” people who were born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood. We’ve kind of “Seen-It-All”! Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.. It is our generation that has literally adapted to “CHANGE.” A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which will be UNIQUE!!!! 🙏🙏🙏
I don’t recall any recent Supreme Court opinion that so directly denounces and renounces a dissent, in this case by the leftist Biden appointee Justice Jackson:
JUSTICE JACKSON, however, chooses a startling line of attack that is tethered neither to these sources nor, frankly, to any doctrine whatsoever. Waving away attention to the limits on judicial power as a “mind-numbingly technical query,” post, at 3 (dissenting opinion), she offers a vision of the judicial role that would make even the most ardent defender of judicial supremacy blush.
In her telling, the fundamental role of courts is to “order everyone (including the Executive) to follow the law—full stop.” Post, at 2; see also post, at 10 (“[T]he function of the courts—both in theory and in practice—necessarily includes announcing what the law requires in . . . suits for the benefit of all who are protected by the Constitution, not merely doling out relief to injured private parties”); see also post, at 11, n. 3, 15. And, she warns, if courts lack the power to “require the Executive to adhere to law universally,” post, at 15, courts will leave a “gash in the basic tenets of our founding charter that could turn out to be a mortal wound,” post, at 12.
Rhetoric aside, JUSTICE JACKSON’s position is difficult to pin down. She might be arguing that universal injunctions are appropriate—even required—whenever the defendant is part of the Executive Branch. See, e.g., post, at 3, 10–12, 16–18. If so, her position goes far beyond the mainstream defense of universal injunctions. See, e.g., Frost, 93 N. Y. U. L. Rev., at 1069 (“Nationwide injunctions come with significant costs and should never be the default remedy in cases challenging federal executive action”). As best we can tell, though, her argument is more extreme still, because its logic does not depend on the entry of a universal injunction: JUSTICE JACKSON appears to believe that the reasoning behind any court order demands “universal adherence,” at least where the Executive is concerned. Post, at 2 (dissenting opinion). In her law-declaring vision of the judicial function, a district court’s opinion is not just persuasive, but has the legal force of a judgment. But see Haaland v. Brackeen, 599 U. S. 255, 294 (2023) (“It is a federal court’s judgment, not its opinion, that remedies an injury”). Once a single district court deems executive conduct unlawful, it has stated what the law requires. And the Executive must conform to that view, ceasing its enforcement of the law against anyone, anywhere.17 We will not dwell on JUSTICE JACKSON’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries’ worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself.
We observe only this: JUSTICE JACKSON decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary. No one disputes that the Executive has a duty to follow the law. But the Judiciary does not have unbridled authority to enforce this obligation—in fact, sometimes the law prohibits the Judiciary from doing so. See, e.g., Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137 (1803) (concluding that James Madison had violated the law but holding that the Court lacked jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus ordering him to follow it). But see post, at 15 (JACKSON, J., dissenting) (“If courts do not have the authority to require the Executive to adhere to law universally, . . . compliance with law sometimes becomes a matter of Executive prerogative”). Observing the limits on judicial authority—including, as relevant here, the boundaries of the Judiciary Act of 1789—is required by a judge’s oath to follow the law.
JUSTICE JACKSON skips over that part. Because analyzing the governing statute involves boring “legalese,” post, at 3, she seeks to answer “a far more basic question of enormous practical significance: May a federal court in the United States of America order the Executive to follow the law?” Ibid. In other words, it is unecessary to consider whether Congress has constrained the Judiciary; what matters is how the Judiciary may constrain the Executive. JUSTICE JACKSON would do well to heed her own admonition: “[E]veryone, from the President on down, is bound by law.” Ibid. That goes for judges too.
Everyone is watching the Strait of Hormuz for oil and fertilizer. Almost nobody has noticed that it is also shutting down MRI machines, semiconductor fabs, and the global aerospace supply chain.
Helium. The second lightest element in the universe. No substitute exists for it. You cannot synthesize it. You cannot replace it. And roughly one-third of the world’s supply just went offline.
Qatar produces 30 to 33 percent of global helium as a byproduct of LNG processing at Ras Laffan, home to the largest helium production facilities on Earth. When the Hormuz blockade triggered LNG force majeure declarations and attacks hit Qatari infrastructure, the helium stopped flowing with it. Prices have doubled in spot markets. And helium has a property that makes this crisis structurally different from oil, fertilizer, or any other commodity caught behind the strait.
It evaporates. Continuously. Even in sealed containers, helium boils off. The global supply chain operates on roughly 45 days of buffer before existing inventory simply ceases to exist. You cannot stockpile helium the way you stockpile crude oil in salt caverns or grain in silos. If the supply stops for six weeks, the buffer is gone. Not depleted. Gone. Returned to the atmosphere where it is too diffuse to economically recapture.
This is why the industries that depend on helium are facing a crisis that no financial instrument can solve.
Semiconductor manufacturing requires ultra-pure helium for wafer cooling in lithography and for leak detection in sub-5-nanometre chip fabrication. TSMC, Samsung, and Intel cannot produce advanced processors without it. Every AI chip, every smartphone processor, every data centre GPU in the current generation traces its manufacturing lineage through a helium-cooled process. If fabs run dry, the production lines stop. Not slow. Stop.
MRI machines require liquid helium to cool superconducting magnets to near absolute zero. Hospitals cannot substitute another gas. When helium supply tightens, MRI availability falls. During previous shortages, hospitals rationed scans. A sustained one-third supply cut puts diagnostic imaging capacity at risk across every healthcare system that depends on magnetic resonance.
Aerospace depends on helium for purging rocket fuel systems, pressurising tanks, and testing for leaks in systems where failure means explosion. NASA, SpaceX, ULA, and every launch provider in the Western world runs on helium. Fibre optic cable manufacturing requires helium atmospheres. Quantum computing research requires helium-3 isotopes for cryogenic cooling.
The US is the world’s largest helium producer and has some buffer capacity. Algeria and Russia produce meaningful volumes. Overland rerouting from Qatar through Oman and Saudi Arabia is theoretically possible but logistically slow and capacity-limited. None of these alternatives can replace one-third of global supply within the 45-day evaporation window that defines the crisis timeline.
The same 21-mile strait that is starving the food system is now threatening the technological infrastructure of modern civilization. The fertilizer trapped behind Hormuz determines whether four billion people eat. The helium trapped behind Hormuz determines whether the chips powering the AI revolution get manufactured, whether cancer patients receive diagnostic scans, and whether rockets carrying communications satellites reach orbit.
One chokepoint. Two invisible supply chains. Both irreplaceable. Both operating on biological or physical deadlines that no ceasefire retroactively extends.
The world built petroleum reserves. It never built fertilizer reserves. It never built helium reserves either.
The pattern keeps repeating. The lesson keeps being ignored.
You may have seen this smiling face all over Catholic Charities’ social media this fall.
Meet Dr. Ismat Rashid Kaakar, Afghan Refugee Program Coordinator at Catholic Charities of Central & Northern Missouri.
He arrived in America from Afghanistan as a Fulbright Scholar in 2019. Two months after earning his Master’s in Health Administration from Mizzou, he was hired by Catholic Charities… to resettle more Afghan refugees.
In his own words (KOMU 8 interview):
“This is an opportunity for me, because before going back to my career, this is the time that I could use to help refugees from my home country.”
Exactly.
Another Afghan Muslim, brought in as a “refugee”/scholar, now sits in a key position inside an officially Catholic organization, using its name, its crucifix, and your tax dollars to import wave after wave of his own people.
This is the same nationwide:
Catholic Charities (and Lutheran Social Services) hire the very Muslim refugees they resettle because “they speak the language.” Those hires rise, take over the programs, and turn “faith-based” charities into Muslim import machines, all while keeping the Catholic branding for cover.
Missouri is now on the list right next to Utah, North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and D.C.
This is conquest with a smile and a Catholic logo.
Christian organizations are being hollowed out from the inside.
American taxpayers are funding their own replacement. Read the full exposé:
See the full report: rairfoundation.com/daniel-greenfi…
🚨 ALERT: TROJAN HORSE IN MORMON UTAH – WE ARE BEING REPLACED!
Somali Muslim Aden Batar Runs “Catholic” Refugee Machine Funded by LDS Tithing, Producing DSA Candidate Liban Mohamed
A 27-year-old Democratic Socialist, the son of Somali immigrants who came to America, and a proud Muslim, just announced his run for Congress in what was supposed to be one of America’s reddest districts.
His name is Liban Mohamed, and he is the political face of Utah’s rapidly expanding Somali Bantu Muslim community.
⚠️That community did not grow by accident.
Meet Aden Batar, Somali Muslim refugee turned Director of Migration & Refugee Services at Catholic Community Services of Utah. (Say What!?)
He was resettled by them in 1994. Now he runs the entire program, alongside his deputy, Khalid Al Hachami (another Muslim), bringing more Muslim refugees into Utah under a Catholic label.
But listen to Batar himself in a recent talk:
“As a Muslim and also working for [the Catholic] organization… every single bed that they sleep with comes from the LDS Church… As a Muslim when 9/11 happened… the first person that reached to us at our mosque was the leadership from the LDS Church… ‘We are here with you… if one religion is attacked, all religions [are] attacked.’ It gives me a lot of comfort to live in this community… I’ve never felt that I’m in the minority here.”
He openly admits: He’s a Muslim running a “Catholic” refugee machine.
Every bed for the hundreds of refugees they import comes from the LDS (Mormon) Church.
Notice the narrative: Right after 9/11, while America was still reeling from radical Islamic terror, Batar portrays Muslims as the primary victims in need of Christian support and protection.
Meanwhile, the very system he now oversees continues bringing in more refugees from the same regions.
This is the Red-Green Axis in action:
Radical leftists (the “Red”) and Islamic movements (the “Green”) are working in alignment, leveraging Christian compassion, taxpayer dollars, and interfaith goodwill.
🔥Meanwhile, Batar also leads the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake 🔥
When an American/Israeli flag appeared at a local mosque last year, he issued a statement, in his official capacity at Catholic Community Services, calling it a “hate crime.”
This is the pipeline:
Christian compassion and taxpayer dollars → resettlement infrastructure → administered by Muslim leadership → expanding communities → producing the next generation of political candidates like Liban Mohamed.
Utah’s well-known culture of generosity is playing a central role in this transformation.
This is demographic and political shift driven through resettlement systems.
Roy F. McCampbell's Blog 
Justice Department Launches Investigations Concerning Gender Ideology in Pre-K-12 Schools in 36 Illinois School Districts including Leyden SD 212, and Elmwood Park High School
The US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts to determine whether they have included sexual orientation and gender ideology (SOGI) content in any class for grades pre-K-12.
Local this investigation includes Leyden High School District 212, as well as Elmwood Park High School.
If they are teaching SOGI-related content, the investigations will examine whether the schools have notified parents of their right to opt their children out of such instruction. The investigation will also assess whether the Illinois School Districts limit access to single-sex intimate spaces (such as bathrooms and locker rooms) and girls’ sports teams based on biological sex.
“This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The investigations will examine whether these Illinois School Districts, which are recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s extensive precedents on parental rights as recently reiterated in Mirabelli v. Bontaand Mahmoud v. Taylor.
The Civil Rights Division has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.
The Illinois School Districts under investigation include:
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said it is investigating 35 Illinois school districts, including several in the suburbs, and a Chicago charter operator to see if they are teaching about sexual orientation and “gender ideology” in classrooms and if so, whether parents are allowed to opt out.
The investigations also will examine whether the districts limit access to single-sex locker rooms and bathrooms and girls sports teams. That essentially means they’ll be looking at whether or not districts allow transgender students to use facilities and play on athletic teams that correspond with their gender identity.
The Trump administration has used the term“gender ideology” to call into question the existence of transgender people and gender identities. Top federal officials have spent the last year working to eliminate instruction about and recognition of trans people in K-12 schools, including by seeking to strip federal funds from schools that teach about trans youth in federally funded sex ed classes or allow trans students to play on sports teams that match their gender identity.
In a news release, Justice Department officials cited Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, as the basis for the investigations, as well as a recent Supreme Court decision that ruled parents have the religious right to opt their children out of lessons at school if they do not align with their faith. It appears the Trump administration is trying to take that further by proactively looking into whether school districts have opt-out procedures in place.
The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which runs 17 high schools and one middle school in Chicago, is among those under investigation. A spokesperson for the operator said they didn’t have a comment at this time.
Chicago-area districts under investigation include Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123, Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401 and Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215.
A spokesperson for District 215 said its attorney was reviewing the department’s correspondence but didn’t have further comment. The other two districts did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The Justice Department didn’t outline what sparked the investigations or how it chose those districts out of the hundreds in Illinois. A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the investigations.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement that the department is determined “to put an end to local authorities keeping parents in the dark” about how sexuality and gender identity are “being pushed” in classrooms.
“Parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children,” Dillon wrote. “This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests.”
The Trump administration has wielded the threat of pulling federal funding to change school policies it disagrees with, but the Justice Department’s involvement in matters related to school curriculum appears to be a relatively new strategy. In February the department announced similar investigations into school districts in Michigan.
The investigations follow a pattern of attempts by the Trump administration to strip protections for LGBTQ+ students enacted by school districts across the country. It’s also taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs, such as Chicago Public Schools’ Black Student Success plan.
The Department of Education announced last year that it was investigating CPS over whether the district’s policies allowing student locker room access that aligns with their gender identity violated Title IX.
Less than a month into his second term, Trump issued an executive order threateningto withhold federal funding from schools that allow trans girls to play on women’s sports teams. His administration has sued states for not complying.
Illinois has followed its state laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, requiring schools to protect transgender students’ right to use facilities and participate in events and programs that match their gender identity.
The administration has also shown support for parental rights advocates who were handed a victory last year by the Supreme Court in Mahmoud v. Taylor. Parents in Montgomery County, Maryland sued the school district after it prevented them from opting their children out of lessons featuring LGBTQ characters and themes.
Parents argued the teachings went against their religious beliefs and they should be allowed to opt out. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents.
It led to concerns that some schools would choose to forsake certain lessons and materials to reduce the likelihood of opt-outs, decreasing the diversity of curriculums.
The Department of Justice launches a civil rights investigation into 36 Illinois school districts over schools teaching lessons on sexual orientation and gender ideology
This investigation will also look at whether schools limit access to places like bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex
I looked into what the full investigation covers
The concern is whether schools were teaching this without proper parental notice or consent
The DOJ wants to know if schools followed rules protecting single-sex spaces and fair sports for girls
According to state policy this is what they are allowed to do. Bottom line-if you don’t agree then don’t vote for politicians that support this.
Illinois schools have followed state-level policies and guidance that treat gender identity as the basis for access to facilities and sports, rather than biological sex. This stems from the Illinois Human Rights Act (which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity) and non-regulatory guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR). dhr.illinois.gov
Facilities (Bathrooms, Locker Rooms, Changing Areas)
Sports and Athletics
Curriculum and Related Practices
Many districts have incorporated LGBTQ+ topics via the Inclusive Curriculum Law (Public Act 101-0227, effective 2020), which requires instruction portraying contributions of LGBT individuals accurately. ISBE provides implementation guidance for aligning this with social science standards. Sex education in some districts follows broader standards that can include gender identity topics. isbe.net
These are statewide frameworks applied across public schools. Individual districts vary in exact implementation, training, and parent notification, which is part of what the current DOJ probes are examining. Illinois has resisted federal shifts toward biological-sex definitions, leading to the compliance reviews. Biological males retain average physical advantages (e.g., muscle mass, bone density, strength metrics) after puberty, per sports physiology data, which is the core fairness issue in girls’ categories.
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