WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has reached settlements with a group of current and former FBI agents who have said they were disciplined for invoking personal and political views, including about the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot and the COVID-19 vaccine, or for clashing with supervisors about approaches to investigations, their lawyers said Tuesday.
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Empower Oversight, a group founded and led by former staff members of Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, announced the resolutions of 10 cases, including eight settlements in the last two weeks. Most of the cases concern agents who had accused the FBI of politicizing its work during President Joe Biden’s administration, a claim leadership denied.
Three of the agents are returning to duty at the FBI. Others are being permitted to voluntarily retire, and some are receiving restoration of back pay and benefits, the organization said in a statement announcing the deals. The FBI did not return an email seeking comment, though Director Kash Patel said on social media last week that agreements had been reached.
The resolutions come even as the FBI under Patel has moved to reassign and outright dismiss experienced senior executives for unclear reasons. The bureau this month fired, among others, a former acting director who had resisted a Trump administration demand to produce the names of agents who participated in Jan. 6 investigations. The head of its Washington field office, who had played an important role in those probes, was also forced out.
The FBI Agents Association has warned that those terminations were done without due process.
The settlements announced Tuesday include agents who were held up by Republican lawmakers looking to establish that the FBI during the Biden administration had become intolerant of the expression of conservative viewpoints — something Patel’s predecessor, Chris Wray, vigorously denied. Several accused the FBI of politicization before a special House committee in 2023 investigating what Republicans assert is the “weaponization” of the federal government against conservatives.
Democrats dismissed the testimony, calling the hearing another attempt by Republicans on the committee to help now-President Donald Trump.
Those being reinstated include Steve Friend, who has said he was suspended and later resigned after refusing to participate in a SWAT team arrest of a Jan. 6 suspect, and also objected to a COVID vaccine mandate.
Another is Garret O’Boyle, who complained to Congress about the FBI’s handling of Jan. 6 investigations. His lawyers said he was suspended after being suspected of improperly accessing and sharing case information about conservative activist group Project Veritas.
Also reinstated was Zachery Schoffstall, whose lawyers say he was disciplined after he complained about the exclusion of what he believed was exculpatory information in an FBI affidavit during an investigation into a white nationalist hate group.
One of the 10 settlements was reached last year, when the Biden administration agreed to restore the security clearance of Marcus Allen, another FBI employee who had accused the bureau of politicizing its work. He formally resigned.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Voting-rights advocates sued Tuesday to overturn a redistricting map drawn by Texas Republicans meant to favor the party in the 2026 midterm elections, saying it weakens the electoral influence of Black voters.
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The NAACP and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed the lawsuit in Texas.
They accuse Texas legislative leaders of engaging in gerrymandering to prevent Black voters from electing candidates of their choice.
“The state of Texas is only 40 percent white, but white voters control over 73 percent of the state’s congressional seats,” Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement. “It’s quite obvious that Texas’s effort to redistrict mid-decade, before next year’s midterm elections, is racially motivated. The state’s intent here is to reduce the members of Congress who represent Black communities, and that, in and of itself, is unconstitutional.”
Since the Voting Rights Act was adopted, the state of Texas has been found to have discriminated against Black and/or Brown citizens after every cycle of redistricting, according to the NAACP.
Black residents for decades have overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates.
FILE – NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson speaks before President Joe Biden addresses the crowd, at the 115th NAACP National Convention in Las Vegas, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Texas lawmakers approved the map Saturday, adding five new districts favoring Republicans. The move came after President Donald Trump requested it.
The effort by Trump and Texas’ Republican-majority Legislature prompted state Democrats to hold a two-week walkout and kicked off a wave of redistricting efforts across the country. California Gov. Gavin Newsom in response has approved a special election for a redrawn map to help Democrats win more seats.
Republican Sen. Phil King, the Texas measure’s sponsor, previously denied accusations alleging that the redrawn districts violate the Voting Rights Act by diluting voters’ influence based on race.
“I had two goals in mind: That all maps would be legal and would be better for Republican congressional candidates in Texas,” he said.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that the Constitution does not prohibit partisan gerrymandering to increase a party’s clout, only gerrymandering that’s explicitly done by race.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has not yet signed the map into law, has predicted it will survive any court challenges. Abbott also has predicted other Republican-led states will make similar moves seeking new seats for the GOP in Congress.
The NAACP also on Tuesday urged all other states to act immediately by redistricting and passing what it called new, lawful and constitutional electoral maps.
“It may still seem far away, but the 2026 midterm elections will determine whether our democracy still holds on or whether the people surrender their power to a king,” Johnson said earlier this month.
An Isanti County man charged with hiding a Forest Lake teen in a tent in rural Pine County pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony charges of kidnapping and second-degree criminal sexual conduct, officials said.
Shawn Patrick Bellach (Courtesy of the Pine County Sheriff’s Office)
Shawn Bellach, 39, of Dalbo, was arrested in July 2023 after the girl, 14 at the time, was found living in a tent north of Grasston, Minn. She had been missing since May after leaving her house on a bicycle with her cat and $3,000 in babysitting money
Her mother told the Pioneer Press that the girl left a note saying she was going to be “traveling around the United States with her boyfriend.”
Bellach faces a sentence of four years in prison. His sentencing is slated for Oct. 31.
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By CHRISTINE FERNANDO, SOPHIA TAREEN and OBED LAMY
CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago sent ripples through America’s third-largest city as many residents defended their home against Trump’s escalating rhetoric toward its violent crime, including claims it is a “killing field.”
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The threat of federal troops stirred a mix of fear, frustration and defiance for residents as they pointed to historic drops in violent crime. Groups constantly pressing for police reform said sending troops who lack training in de-escalating violence or any knowledge about the nuances of neighborhoods still grappling with violent crime would undo progress made in recent years.
The sentiment was echoed by people going about their day — commuters heading to work, cyclists weaving through traffic, and friends pausing to take photos along Michigan Avenue — who said the presence of troops would only heighten tensions, not ease them.
“It’s a direct affront to the progress our communities have made,” said Bradly Johnson, who leads BUILD Chicago. The anti-violence organization focuses its efforts on neighborhoods on the city’s West Side that have seen persistent crime, even as rates overall have fallen.
“It’s not a war zone,” Johnson said. “They’re vibrant resilient communities where young people deserve opportunities and not intimidation.”
Trump has focused on Chicago
On Tuesday, Trump called Chicago a “hell hole” and repeated that Chicagoans are asking “Trump to come in” to reduce crime in the city. The statements echoed comments earlier this month when Trump indicated Chicago may be next for a federal crackdown, claiming Chicago is “a mess” and residents are “screaming for us to come.”
Trump has long singled out Chicago, making it a recurring theme on the campaign trail in both 2016 and 2024. He has drawn controversial comparisons between the city and war zones like Afghanistan, and in 2017, he vowed to “send in the feds” in response to gun violence.
But data paints a more nuanced picture of crime — one that varies dramatically block by block and that has seen recent progress.
Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. Shootings are down 37%, and homicides have dropped by 32%, while total violence crime dropped by over 22%.
“The empirical data is very clear that the Chicago trend is extremely positive,” said John Roman, who directs the Center on Public Safety and Justice at the University of Chicago. ”… Chicago is doing better than the rest of the country on a lot of really important measures.”
Still, the city’s most ardent defenders acknowledge gun violence still plagues parts of the city in recent years, particularly in warmer months. Chicago saw about 570 homicides in 2024, according to city data. Shooting lethality — the rate at which shooting victims die from being shot — has increased in recent years, as has the number of high-capacity magazines recovered by Chicago police at shooting scenes, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
Crime in Chicago represents persistent, localized challenges, said Kimberley Smith, director of national programs for the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The neighborhoods with the highest homicide rates experience about 68 times more homicides than those with the lowest rates.
Rene Cardona, a maintenance worker born and raised in Chicago, acknowledged these inequities in exposure to violent crime while maintaining that he feels safe in Chicago generally.
“It depends where you’re at and what time it is,” he said. “Overall, Chicago’s a pretty good place to live … There’s more good people than bad people here.”
Crime has fallen in Chicago through groups’ efforts
Smith attributes much of the drops in violent crime to a focus in Chicago on the systemic drivers of violence, rather than the militaristic approach Trump has touted in Washington, D.C. She encouraged more federal investment in researching these types of violence-prevention strategies, calling Chicago “a hub for innovation in gun violence prevention.”
Jahmal Cole, founder of the community organization My Block, My Hood, My City, said Trump’s comments “erase this work being done on the ground by local leaders, community organizations and residents themselves” to combat gun violence.
“As for Trump’s remarks, it’s worth remembering that rhetoric alone doesn’t improve public safety,” he said. “We need smart, community-focused investments, not sensationalism.”
As a show of unity against the move, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender, convened roughly 100 elected officials, pastors, business leaders and activists at a splashy news conference against the backdrop of gleaming skyscrapers along the Chicago River. The attendees Monday ranged from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, to the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a well-known Catholic priest in the city.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks during a news conference at River Point Park, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks during a news conference at River Point Park, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker greets people as he walks to a news conference in a Chicago water taxi Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference at River Point Park, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks during a news conference at River Point Park, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
“Take the wasted money in sending the National Guard and the wasted money used on threatening commercials by your Homeland Security secretary and use it on real violence and prevention programs that will bring peace,” Pfleger said.
Residents reject Trump’s statements
Art Jarrett, a business owner just south of downtown, also pointed to Trump’s business presence in the city, saying: “He can’t think it’s that big a killing field; he wouldn’t have built a building here.”
“He’s full of crap,” said Jarrett, who has felt safe in the 57 years he has lived in Chicago.
Pastor Donovan Price, a local advocate for gun crime victims, said Trump “unequivocally does not know what they’re talking about” when it comes to crime in Chicago. He said federal troops threaten to undo progress toward reducing crime.
“When things are finally starting to turn around, you have someone come up with something totally unnecessary that could perhaps change the tide,” he said. “He’s trying to strike the hope out of the hearts of good people in our city.”
Sydney Aldrich, 26, said deploying federal troops isn’t the answer and hoped to challenge the harsh narrative of violence that so often defines her city in the news.
“We have a lot of community members around town that are supportive of one another, and we watch out for each other,” she said.
Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
