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Trump Expected to Replace Rowe as Secret Service Director

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce before Monday's inauguration that he plans to replace Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, according to reports Friday morning. 

The Secret Service has not been officially notified of any changes, but it is operating under the assumption that Rowe's leadership at the agency will not be extended, reports ABC News, quoting sources from within the agency.

Sean Curran, the head of Trump's protective detail, is the leading candidate to replace Rowe, multiple sources said. 

Rowe was appointed as the acting director of the agency after the resignation of former Kimberly Cheatle 

last July.

She stepped down when she came under scrutiny over the Secret Service's failure to prevent the assassination attempt against Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. 

In December, Rowe spoke at a final public meeting of a bipartisan House task force investigating the attempted assassination, as well as another attempt in Florida in September. 

"July 13 was a failure of the Secret Service to adequately secure the Butler farm show site and protect President-elect Trump," he said at the hearing. "That abject failure underscored critical gaps within Secret Service operations, and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public, Congress, and our protectees."

Rowe said that the Secret Service has made several structural changes, after the assassination attempts. Further, he said that the use of drones and counter-drone technology was stepped up and Trump's protective detail was increased during the final months of his 2024 campaign. 

He added that the Secret Service has been increasing its staffing. 

Sandy Fitzgerald ✉

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

 

The Dem Failure Just Won't Stop: Huge Fire Erupts at CA Lithium Battery Facility, Evacuations Ordered

It all seems as if it’s almost timed to coincide with the return of Donald Trump’s return to power. The failure of progressive leadership has been exposed in a way that it has never been before as disastrous wildfires wipe out entire neighborhoods in deep-blue Los Angeles, a result not only of natural forces like unusually high winds and dry conditions but by the epic breakdown of any real leadership in the Golden State and the misplaced priorities of elected officials like LA Mayor Karen Bass and camera-addicted Gov. Gavin Newsom.

We have covered the seemingly endless perversions of what passes as official management in this one-party state, but it just keeps getting worse. For every fiasco we report, another one quickly comes in. While Newsom and his ilk scold us endlessly for our gas-powered cars, the wildfires—that could have arguably been prevented by competent stewardship of our forests—have now caused far more damage than one million of my Ford Explorers could possibly ever do.

And now that clean, green technology he so touts is coming back to haunt him—there’s a huge fire Thursday night at a lithium battery plant in northern Monterey County. What’s a little lithium smoke in the air in the name of progress, right?

Highway 1 is closed and evacuations were ordered in Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area after a major fire erupted Thursday afternoon at a battery storage plant in Moss Landing in northern Monterey County.

The fire, which was raging out of control Thursday night, sending up huge flames and clouds of hazardous black smoke, was reported around 3 p.m. at the plant, located on Highway 1, Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli said.

Evacuations of about 1,500 people were ordered for areas of Moss Landing south of Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Road and Monterey Dunes Way, and west of Castroville Boulevard and Elkhorn Road to the ocean, he said.

Don’t worry, though; it’s all in the name of leadership. “California leads the nation in environmental stewardship,” Newsom recently proclaimed as he announced an executive order aimed at streamlining regulatory requirements to start rebuilding in the ravaged Pacific Palisades. To me, “environmental stewardship” does not include massive conflagrations that send so much smoke into the atmosphere that they can be seen from space, nor toxic battery fires that emit toxic chemicals into our collective atmosphere.

Nothing to see here, folks:

The plant is located on the site of a now-shuttered 1950s-era PG&E Moss Landing natural gas plant visible for its huge smokestacks near Moss Landing Harbor. The first phase was completed in 2020, and it was expanded to 750 megawatts in 2023. Vistra sells the electricity stored there to PG&E, which also owns another battery storage plant on the north side of the site that has hundreds of Tesla battery packs. That facility did not appear to be burning by 8 p.m.

The facility has been the site of other fires before.

I am not opposed to progress and technology, and perhaps one day soon we will find a clean, safe energy solution (such as nuclear energy, which my colleague Ward Clark argues vociferously for), but in the meantime, the Joe Biden-Gavin Newsom et al. efforts to shove not-ready-for-prime time “solutions” down our throats before they're ready has proven far more disastrous than the effects of SUVs or gas stoves or our water heaters.

At this point, it's hard not to argue that the cure is far worse than the "disease" they claim is climate change. Meanwhile, if they truly believe that global warming is the cause of these fiery disasters—why weren't they better prepared for them? Burning questions that need answers.

Gavin Newsom’s (political) world has gone up in smoke this week, and this latest toxic fire just ruins him even more.

It’s time for a different way.

 

Delusional, Bitter Biden Gives One Last Interview to Sycophantic MSNBC—Pathetically Blasts 'Red States'

Joe Biden just can’t seem to let go. 

Although his presidency and his legacy have been thoroughly repudiated—whether it be through the polls, which show he’s one of the lowest-rates presidents of all time, or at the ballot box where his hand-picked successor Kamala Harris was brutalized in the November elections—his tenure has been thoroughly tainted by an astounding record of failure. Inflation has killed the dreams of regular folks as just paying for groceries has become a traumatic experience; young people have no hope of buying a home or living the American Dream—considering the crushing interest rates and noxious cost of living. Meanwhile, wars rage on the international stage.

There is almost nothing good that he leaves his successor, Donald Trump.

Yet he continues in his final days to flail away at convincing us that somehow his presidency was a success.

On Thursday night, he appeared with one of the most vacuous hosts in the history of cable news, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, to continue to try to burnish his disastrous legacy. This after the lame-duck commander-in-chief delivered one of the darkest, most depressing farewell speeches in the history of our Great Experiment.

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Failure, personified: WATCH: Biden Gives Train Wreck Farewell Speech, Goes Ron Burgundy Again and Rants Aimlessly

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In this segment, he waxes philosophical about his endless career in politics:

For Biden, he was relatively cogent; to be honest (not trying to be mean here, just telling the truth), I could barely understand him in his Oval Office farewell speech—his slurring was that bad. But on MSNBC, at least, his words were mostly clear. When asked, predictably, about the "fragility of Democracy," he tried to wax poetic:

“That sounds corny. But I mean, I really, really am concerned, because you’ve heard me say it 100 times, I really think we’re in an inflection point in history here. Where unrelated to any particular leader.”

He added that “the thing that keeps it on track are the guardrails. There’s a Supreme Court that’s independent, but accountable. There is a Congress that you speak your mind, but you’re held accountable to basic standards. [Really?! Did you see Jasmine Crockett the other day?]

"There’s a presidency that says you have really limited powers. I mean, you’re the top dog, but you can’t dictate everything. And I don’t know, they seem to just be chipping away at all those elements.”

The problem here is that it’s actually Joe Biden who’s been chipping away at all those elements. He’s done everything in his power to undermine a key branch of government, the Supreme Court, and he’s been open about his desire to crack down on free speech—a key factor in our Democracy, codified in the First Amendment. He’s weaponized the judicial system, turning the powers of the state on his political rivals and forcing social media companies to bend the knee and censor regular Americans.

Oh, and I love how O'Donnell admits that Joe's handlers shoved him and the rest of the reporters out of the room; he says it with admiration as if silencing the press is a noble effort. He's right up there with Jim Acosta in the "No Shame" Hall of Fame. 

He leaves in disgrace, and no amount of googly eyes from the shameless Lawrence O’Donnell or Joe’s ponderous reflections can change that. Biden’s sad, pathetic farewell address from the Oval Office will go down in history as one of the worst ever, and this meandering, pointless interview will only add to that shameful legacy.

Oh, and of course, he blasts red states—completely ignoring actual facts:

Goodbye, Joe Biden. Please, let the door hit you on the way out.

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Here's Where You Can Shut Off Merrick Garland's Goodbye Video

 

These people insult everyone’s intelligence. Less than four days until we’re rid of the incompetent scum that’s made us poorer, less safe, and the laughingstock of the world. On January 20, the American revival under Donald J. Trump begins, and the end of this failed Biden experiment gets hurled into the dustbin. It was a presidency built on lies, where a braindead executive putzed around, his staffers illegally pushing policy, and his son could maximize the influence peddling that this crime family has engaged in for years.  

Joe Biden has destroyed the Department of Justice. The man who politicized the Senate Judiciary Committee’s handling of Supreme Court nominations finally corrupted the Justice Department as a parting gift to his unremarkable career in public life. The irony is that he used the ‘corrupt DOJ’ line as cause to pardon his disgrace of a son, Hunter. Biden did lasting damage to constitutional norms, siccing the DOJ onto agencies investigating Hunter, namely the IRS, and going after Trump, pro-life activists, and parents at school board meetings.  

This parting video from Attorney General Merrick Garland is laughable:

 

 “We have strengthened the norms that safeguard the Justice Department's independence and integrity.” 

This man needs to be drug tested. You can shut it off at this part, where he says there aren’t two separate rules for Democrats or Republicans. Man, where have you been for the past six years?

 

Garland has even infuriated liberals who felt he dragged his feet on the Trump indictments that are now being trashed due to the former winning the 2024 election. It’s over. The lawfare failed. Do you remember when liberals wanted this guy on the Supreme Court?  

Biden is the kiss of death to everyone and everything. Please go away, you stupid, old man. 

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Did Anyone Else Catch Mazie Hirono's Creepy and Outlandish Question for Doug Burgum Yesterday?

 Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) was already insufferable during these hearings, asking the dumbest questions to the point where they helped Trump’s nominees. It was unnecessary, too, since every single one is likely to be confirmed. Pete Hegseth has the votes, as do Marco Rubio, John Ratcliffe, and Scott Bessent, who are all going to get the nod. It’s over, Mazie.  

But she has her part to play, which is that of an attack dog, even though she’s more like the brain-damaged horse on Family Guy:

 

Hirono has her DNC talking points to get into the record. I wish I could continue saying we should let the special kid do her thing, but yesterday was out of control. Hirono has a sexual assault obsession. If not, it’s the worst attack and the most poorly executed character assassination ever. During the confirmation hearing for Doug Burgum, who Donald Trump nominated to be our next secretary of the interior, Hirono asked if he raped anybody:

Hirono is blind, deaf, and dumb. I’m not a doctor, but what the hell is this, lady?

Get a grip.

***

I mean, she's hopeless. If you never caught Mazie on the dais, count yourself lucky.

Trending on Townhall Videos

 

FBI Closed Its DEI Office In December, Ahead Of Trump’s Inauguration

A seal reading “Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation” is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, DC, on August 9, 2022.

The FBI officially closed its DEI office back in December, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office.

The agency reportedly “took steps to close the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), effective by December 2024,” the agency announced on Thursday.

The move comes as DEI initiatives have been increasingly criticized following the recent New Orleans terror attack on New Year’s Day — which claimed the lives of at least 14 individuals and instilled fear in NOLA residents.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan previously sent a letter to Christopher Wray, the outgoing FBI director, criticizing the agency for prioritizing DEI initiatives over ensuring the safety of U.S. citizens.

“The law enforcement and intelligence capabilities of the FBI are degrading because the FBI is no longer hiring ‘the best and brightest’ candidates to fill the position of Special Agent of the FBI,” Jordan wrote.

“An increasing number of lower quality candidates–described by one source as ‘bread crumbs’ because they were rejected by other federal law enforcement agencies–are applying to become FBI Special Agents; and the FBI is selecting those candidates to become FBI Special Agents because they satisfy the FBI’s priority to meet Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) mandates,” the letter continued.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) also sent a more recent letter to Wray following the New Year’s Day attack, calling Wray’s leadership in question.

“I am deeply concerned that–under your leadership–the Bureau has prioritized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives over its core mission of protecting the American people,” Blackburn wrote following the attack.

“Americans now feel increasingly unsafe because of incidents like the January 1 terror attack, and the FBI’s prioritization of diversity over competence shows that their concerns are well founded,” she continued. “Fortunately, the American people have spoken, and President Trump will soon bring law and order back to our nation.”

In addition, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) slammed the FBI’s commitment to filling DEI quotas, rather than hiring the best and brightest.

“Some of these agencies have gotten so wrapped up in the DEI movement. You know, call it wokeness, call it whatever you want,” Scalise stated earlier this month.

“But where their main focus is on diversity and inclusion as opposed to security. And they’re two very different things. And we’ve got to get back to that core mission,” he added.

Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, has previously called for reforming the FBI in his book “Government Gangsters,” which “pulls back the curtain on the Deep State, revealing the major players and tactics within the permanent government bureaucracy, which has spent decades stripping power away from the American people and their elected leaders,” according to the book’s description.

Patel, a former DOJ prosecutor, has yet to take part in his confirmation hearing, with senators planning on questioning his purported “enemies list,” a list of names working at the DOJ that Patel gathered in his “Government Gangsters” book. The list references “members of the unelected bureaucracy,” also known as “deep state” agents.

Patel has spent his career as a federal attorney and he has worked in U.S. intelligence positions during Trump’s first administration. He also played a key role in debunking the Democrats’ alleged “Russian collusion” conspiracy theory during the 2016 election.

“[Lawyer] Marc Elias invented the hoax that President Trump colluded with Russia. As lawyer for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in 2016, Elias hired Fusion GPS to collect the phony opposition research on Trump that became known as the Russia dossier. It was debunked by the Mueller [DOJ] report,” according to the Ohio Senate’s official website.

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Nonprofit Voting Advocacy Group Founded By Stacey Abrams Hit With 'Historic' $300K Fine Over Campaign Finance Violations

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams wipes her eye during a concession speech to supporters during an election-night party on November 8, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The New Georgia Project, a nonprofit voting advocacy group founded by failed Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, has been hit with the largest fine for campaign finance violations in the state’s history.

The New Georgia Project was founded in 2013 by Abrams before being taken over by Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) in 2017, operating as a charity accepting tax-deductible donations.

It is unclear why she left the group in 2017.

The group was originally organized in order to register more progressive young voters and minority voters.

The organization, along with The New Georgia Project Action Fund, which served as the organization’s fundraising counterpart, both recently agreed to pay a $300,000 fine after admitting that $3.2 million was spent on Abrams’s campaign efforts in 2018.

“Today the State Ethics Commission entered into a consent agreement with the New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund for a total of $300,000,” the Georgia State Ethics Commission stated on Wednesday.

“This certainly represents the largest fine imposed in the history of Georgia’s Ethics Commission, but it also appears to be the largest ethics fine ever imposed by any state ethics commission in the country related to an election and campaign finance case,” the announcement continued.

“This represents the largest and most significant instance of an organization illegally influencing our statewide elections in Georgia that we have ever discovered, and I believe this sends a clear message to both the public and potential bad actors moving forward that we will hold you accountable,” the State Ethics Commission added.

Today we instituted the largest fine in Commission history. We are proud of the commitment our staff attorneys made in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office to see this case through after five years of litigation. pic.twitter.com/jhMhKmkrQc

— State Ethics Commission (@georgiaethics) January 15, 2025

The commissioners unanimously voted to accept the resolution on Wednesday, putting an end to a six-year long legal battle.

The nonprofit was in violation of federal laws after paying for fliers and door-to-door marketing for Abrams and other Democrats without registering as a political action committee.

The group spent $3.2 million in total, the “most amount of money that we’ve ever caught a group dumping to illegally influence our elections,” according to David Emadi, the executive director of the ethics commission.

The New Georgia Project also revealed that they are “glad to finally put this matter behind us,” in order to “fully devote its time and attention to its efforts to civically engage and register black, brown, and young voters in Georgia.”

“While we remain disappointed that the federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act was overturned on entirely procedural grounds, we accept this outcome and are eager to turn the page on activities that took place more than five years ago,” the group added.

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Netanyahu: 'Last-Minute Crisis' With Hamas Delays Ceasefire Vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a "last-minute crisis" with Hamas was holding up Israeli approval of a long-awaited ceasefire that would pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and release dozens of hostages. Israeli airstrikes, meanwhile, killed at least 72 people in the war-ravaged territory.

Netanyahu began signaling there were issues with the deal just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced it was complete. The objection created a dual reality: War-weary Palestinians in Gaza, the relatives of hostages held there and world leaders all welcomed an agreement, expected to begin Sunday, even as Netanyahu said it was not yet finalized.

It was not yet clear if Netanyahu’s statements merely reflected jockeying to keep his fractious coalition together or whether the deal was at risk.

Netanyahu's office said his Cabinet won’t meet to approve the deal until Hamas backs down, accusing it of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt to gain further concessions, without elaborating.

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group “is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”

The deal announced Wednesday would see a scores of hostages held in Gaza released and a pause in fighting with a view to eventually wind down a 15-month war that has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

Israel responded with a fierce offensive that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half of those killed. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The military campaign has also leveled vast swaths of Gaza, and pushed around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are struggling with hunger and disease in squalid tent camps on the coast, according to United Nations officials.

Netanyahu’s office earlier accused Hamas of backtracking on an understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages.

The Israeli prime minister has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of hostages, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions. He has enough opposition support to approve an agreement even without those partners, but doing so would weaken his coalition.

One of his far-right allies, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, has already come out against the deal. Another, Bezalel Smotrich, posted on X late Wednesday that he was demanding “absolute certainty” that Israel can resume the war later, calling the current deal “bad and dangerous” for Israel.

The departure of both of their factions would seriously destabilize the government and could lead to early elections.

Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight as people were celebrating the ceasefire deal. In previous conflicts, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires as a way to project strength.

“We were expecting that the occupation would intensify the bombing, like they did every time there were reports on progress in the truce (negotiations),” said Mohammed Mahdi, who fled his home a few months ago and is sheltering in Gaza City.

Ahmed Mattar, who lives near the city’s Al-Ahly hospital, said he heard “massive airstrikes” overnight.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli strikes have killed at least 72 people since the ceasefire deal was announced. It said the toll from Thursday’s strikes only includes bodies brought to two hospitals in Gaza City, and that the actual toll is likely higher.

“Yesterday was a bloody day, and today is bloodier,” said Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the ministry’s registration department.

An Associated Press reporter on the Israeli side of the border near Gaza heard more airstrikes and artillery fire on Thursday.

Under the deal reached Wednesday, 33 of some 100 hostages who remain in Gaza are set to be released over the next six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Israeli forces will pull back from many areas, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would be able to return to what’s left of their homes, and there would be a surge of humanitarian assistance.

The remainder of the hostages, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second — and much more difficult — phase that will be negotiated during the first. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it dismantles the group and to maintain open-ended security control over the territory.

Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. are expected to meet in Cairo on Thursday for talks on implementing the agreement, which came after a year of intensive talks with repeated setbacks.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy joined the talks in the final weeks, and both the outgoing administration and Trump’s team are taking credit for the breakthrough.

Many longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism, including from its closest ally, the United States, over the civilian toll in Gaza. It also blames Hamas for the civilian casualties, accusing it of using schools, hospitals and residential areas for military purposes.

Hamas, a militant group that does not accept Israel’s existence, has come under overwhelming pressure from Israeli military operations, including the invasion of Gaza’s largest cities and towns and the takeover of the border between Gaza and Egypt. Its top leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, who was believed to have helped mastermind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, have been killed.

But its fighters have regrouped in some of the hardest-hit areas after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, raising the prospect of a prolonged insurgency if the war continues.