D.C. resident wants National Guard to stay, cites shootings
The very day last month that the District of Columbia was arguing in a federal appeals court against President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to help protect the city, David Michael captured a daylight shooting on his patio cam at his LeDroit Park home.
Three men drove up to an intersection, got out of their sedan, spread out in the street and let loose with a hail of semiautomatic gunfire — more than two dozen distinct shots can be heard.
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Mr. Michael tells “Seen, Heard & Whispered” that it’s not an isolated incident. He’s tallied at least 20 shootings within a couple of blocks of his home.
In one video, a police cruiser is sitting at the intersection when gunfire erupts a half block down the street. An apparent getaway car zooms right by the cruiser, which slowly drives off, leaving a jogger shrugging her shoulders in dismay.
Mr. Michael says the National Guard could help.
“While our city’s leaders were fighting in court to remove that protection, my family and neighbors were living through another shooting,” he said.
The culprits are believed to be rival gangs.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that it has dedicated “substantial resources” to the LeDroit Park neighborhood during this past year.
“These efforts include deploying dedicated officers in marked police vehicles to increase visibility and deterrence, expanding patrol supervisor coverage, and installing a mobile trailer camera with a 24-hour live feed to our Real Time Crime Center,” MPD said. “We have also increased both overt and covert camera coverage, regularly deployed our Crime Suppression Team with support from federal partners, and continued consistent operations by our Narcotics Enforcement and Robbery Suppression Teams.”
Mr. Michael said the police are already in the neighborhood, but it hasn’t solved things.
“We need those senior federal resources because what we’re facing are armed death squads, and the current approach isn’t stopping them,” he said. “The shootings happen right in front of police cars, so we’re not convinced that continuing to pay police overtime to sit on our block will deter anyone. And we’re frustrated with the non-pursuit rules that let shooters simply drive away.”
Muslims favored in internships
Colorado state Sen. Iman Jodeh — the first Muslim elected to the legislature — is promoting an internship program, but you can only be hired if you fit the right race.
Her job posting — since deleted — said one qualification for the MENASA & Muslim Joint Legislative Caucus intern program was that applicants “Identify as a Muslim and/or as Middle Eastern, North African or South Asian.”
Other qualifications included a minimum 3.5 grade-point average and interest in “social change/justice” and the legislative process.
The internship offered a $1,000 stipend and promised experience in the offices of Ms. Jodeh and state Rep. Yara Zokaie.
They did not respond to requests for comment.
Katie Zacharia doesn’t want White House job back
Former White House press secretary Katie Zacharia says she’s not trying to get her job back.
Ms. Zacharia had a brief stint at the podium for President Trump, then gave up the office amid a flood of stories questioning her past claims of being a lawyer.
As Mr. Trump still searches for a replacement, The New York Post reported Ms. Zacharia was back in the mix, and hosted election night coverage on an online platform, the Right Side Broadcasting Network, as a sort of audition.
She was also seen having dinner with friends at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
But Ms. Zacharia said in text messages to ’Seen, Heard & Whispered’ that it was all “Absolutely FAKE NEWS.”
“I told the reporter,” she said.
Ms. Zacharia held one press briefing that lasted roughly 14 minutes.
DOJ lawyer booted off immigration case
U.S. District Judge Sanket J. Bulsara booted a Justice Department lawyer from being able to argue in a case over ICE arrests in New York, saying he believes Thomas Price violated a key rule of court procedure with a recent filing in the case.
Rule 11 of the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure allows sanctions against a lawyer who files dishonest or frivolous briefs.
Judge Bulsara said he’d found “prima facia Rule 11 violations” in a Nov. 4 brief filed by Mr. Price, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York.
“AUSA Price is barred from continuing appearances in this case,” the Biden appointee wrote. He suggested other punishments could be forthcoming.
The U.S. attorney’s office, in a statement to The Washington Times, acknowledged “the importance and seriousness of the court’s concerns” and said it would respond to the judge’s request.
Judge Bulsara’s scolding is the latest for DOJ.
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, a Biden appointee, has ordered a special investigator to probe whether the government was truthful with her as it pursued changes to the golf course at East Potomac Park.
And in Florida, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, an Obama pick, was so upset by DOJ’s role in the settlement of Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS — and the creation of the now-defunct anti-weaponization fund — that she referred her scathing findings to the bar in New York.
• Seen, Heard & Whispered is a weekly column taking you inside the conversations happening in Washington’s power corridors, the moves being made and the whispers that explain what’s really going on in the nation’s capital. Email tips to whispered@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive this in your inbox every Friday morning.
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