INTERNACIONAL
Mace delivers blistering impact statement, shakes hand of trans threat suspect’s father after bond is denied
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., praised a South Carolina judge Friday after bond was denied for the 19-year-old transgender activist accused of threatening to assassinate her. She also shook the hand of the suspect’s father.
Samuel Theodore Cain, who identifies as transgender and uses the name «Roxie Wolfe» online, was arrested May 15 by state agents for allegedly posting graphic threats targeting Mace and her children. Cain remains in custody, and a trial date has not been set.
The judge cited the seriousness of the threats during a hearing.
«Mr. Cain, I do believe that you are a credible threat, and I’m going to put you in on a no bond,» the judge said. «The only condition bond I’m going to put on you right now is no contact with the victim.»
EXCLUSIVE: NANCY MACE UNLOADS AFTER ARREST OF TRANS ACTIVIST WHO ALLEGEDLY THREATENED TO ‘ASSASSINATE’ HER
Samuel Theodore Cain is escorted by a prison guard at the Greenville County Detention Center in Greenville, S.C., Friday, May 16, 2025. (WHNS)
Mace flew in from Washington, D.C., to deliver a victim impact statement in court Friday morning and speak to reporters afterward.
«I come before you today not just as a victim, but as a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives who has been the target of a direct and credible threat on her life,» she told the judge.
She described how the threats forced her to change her routine, seek shelter and request increased law enforcement patrols for her home and congressional offices.
«This meant I was vulnerable. My staff was vulnerable. And my children were vulnerable,» she said. «Threats like these are acts of terror meant to shake the foundations of democracy.»
REP. NANCY MACE’S ALLEGED ATTACKER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO INCIDENT ON CAPITOL GROUNDS
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., right, thanks the father of Samuel Cain after he apologized to her for Samuel’s actions before a bond hearing at the Greenville County Magistrate’s Court in Greenville, S.C., May 16, 2025. (Ken Ruinard/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Outside the courthouse, Mace reflected on Friday’s bond hearing and finally seeing Cain in person.
«My first thought was, he’s huge,» she said. «This guy was well over 6 feet, over 200 pounds. I’m 5-foot-6, 115 pounds. He’s twice my size. It was scary.
«As a mom, this was heartbreaking. All I could think about was his family. And my kids. My kids live in fear about being murdered.»
She said she was surprised but thankful for the judge’s ruling.
«I’ve seen how women are treated in this state. I hope this gives women hope,» she said. «If there’s a mentally ill man coming after us, we need to stand up for our rights. That’s what I saw the judge do today.»
After the hearing, Mace approached Cain’s family and shook the hand of his father.
«I shook the hand of a father whose son threatened to kill me, not out of forgiveness, but out of grace,» she later posted on X. «Strength is about standing your ground and we can be humble with humanity.»
«I want to thank Samuel Cain’s family,» she said during her remarks for the media. «Their humility meant a lot to me. As a mom, it meant something to see them show up. We’re all human. But threats like this have to come with consequences.»
Mace said the threats were discovered by Capitol Police and were serious enough that her staff and law enforcement begged her to get to a safe location.
«This was serious. Nobody knew where he was,» she said. «Law enforcement told me to go inside immediately. That’s how real it was.»
She described the toll the threats have taken on her daily life.
Rep. Nancy Mace (Getty Images)
«I face threats every day. This is the second person this year. But I receive death threats from trans activists and trans people every single day. And not a single U.S. attorney in the state of South Carolina or anywhere in the country has taken them seriously.»
She warned that continued inaction could be deadly.
«One day, someone’s going to pull the trigger. Someone’s going to get a bullet. Someone’s going to die.»
She also highlighted a broader pattern of violence and called out what she sees as a lack of accountability from Democrats.
«This case isn’t just about one man’s threats. It’s about a culture that tolerates violence against elected officials, especially women who speak up,» Mace said. «We do not accept terror. The normalization of threats against public servants corrodes democracy from within.
«Not one Democrat has spoken up to say it’s wrong,» she added. «Only Democrats blame the victim.»
On social media, Mace shared a photo of Cain in an orange jumpsuit.
«This is not Roxie Wolfe, this is not a woman, and threatening my life is not a joke. Look at his smirk,» she posted.
Mace ended her statement in court with a final plea for justice.
«I pray this young man finds God, who alone can change hearts of stone into hearts of flesh,» she said. «Letting him walk away sends the message that threatening to kill a member of Congress is just another day without consequence. It is not. It is criminal. And it must be treated as such.»
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Rep. Mace’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Crime,Politics,South Carolina,In Court,Police and Law Enforcement
INTERNACIONAL
Cartels outgun police: Rocket launchers seized in El Mencho raid spotlight CJNG firepower
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Mexican forces seized rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft during the operation Sunday that killed cartel boss Ruben «Nemesio» Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho,» underscoring how the Mexican Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) amassed military-style firepower over the years.
Authorities have previously linked CJNG to a 2015 attack in Jalisco in which cartel gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to bring down a Mexican military helicopter – one of the starkest examples of a cartel directly engaging federal forces with battlefield-grade weapons.
The assault marked a turning point in how Mexican authorities viewed the group’s capabilities.
During Sunday’s raid, officials said security forces were attacked and returned fire, deploying aircraft and specialized units to carry out the operation. Authorities said troops seized armored vehicles and heavy weapons, equipment more commonly associated with armed conflict than routine law enforcement.
TOURISTS IN MEXICAN SEASIDE CITY TOLD TO STAY ON RESORT AS GOVERNMENT WARNS OF ‘CLASHES’
Ruben «Nemesio» Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho,» was killed during a Mexican operation in Jalisco on Sunday. (Drug Enforcement Administration)
Mexican Special Forces, with aircraft assistance from the Air Force and National Guard rapid-reaction units, participated in the mission, highlighting the scale of force required to confront senior cartel leadership.
Former U.S. officials have described CJNG as operating more like a paramilitary organization than a traditional trafficking ring, using coordinated roadblocks, armed convoys and structured enforcement wings to assert control in contested regions.
In prior reporting, former Drug Enforcement Administration officials said the group commanded large numbers of gunmen and organized itself in a way that allowed it to deploy force quickly and visibly.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT UNSEALS MULTI-STATE INDICTMENTS AGAINST TREN DE ARAGUA LEADERS FOR VIOLENT CRIMES
CJNG is known for its paramilitary-style operations and structure. (Eduardo Verdugo, File/AP Photo)
CJNG’s tactics have included seizing vehicles and staging coordinated attacks in urban areas to demonstrate strength and deter rivals or security forces.
Over time, such displays reinforced its reputation as one of Mexico’s most heavily armed criminal organizations.
ALLEGED SINALOA CARTEL FENTANYL PRODUCER CHARGED IN NEWLY UNSEALED FEDERAL INDICTMENT
Smoke rises into the sky over Puerto Vallarta during an operation targeting cartel activity on Feb. 22, 2026. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
The State Department issued a travel alert Sunday urging Americans in multiple Mexican states to shelter in place due to «ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity,» reflecting the instability that can follow major cartel confrontations.
In recent years, Mexican authorities have increasingly relied on military forces – rather than local police – to confront senior cartel figures as groups like CJNG expanded their reach and arsenals.
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The raid that killed «El Mencho» marked not only the removal of a powerful drug lord but also another example of how heavily armed cartels can challenge state forces in direct confrontations.
location mexico,mexican cartel violence,narco terror,military
INTERNACIONAL
El narcotráfico dio una brutal muestra de poder de fuego ante el cambio de estrategia del gobierno mexicano
La violencia desatada tras la muerte del líder del Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho”, dejó al descubierto no solo el poder de fuego que maneja el narcotráfico en México, sino también un cambio evidente de la estrategia del gobierno en el combate contra el crimen organizado.
No fue un hecho sorpresivo. El narco domina vastas regiones donde impera su ley. Incluso, en muchos estados se convirtió en un importante empleador e impulsor de las economías locales en base a su connivencia y control del poder político y judicial.
Leé también: Nahuel Gallo exige asistencia consular y la visita de la Cruz Roja para levantar la huelga de hambre
Con 175.000 “soldados”, es hoy la quinta fuerza empleadora más grande del país, detrás de Fomento Económico Mexicano (la empresa embotelladora más grande de Coca-Cola en el mundo), Walmart, Manpower y América Móvil. Está por delante hasta de la petrolera estatal Pemex y el poderoso Grupo Salinas.
En ese escenario, el Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación es uno de los más poderosos y violentos.
El académico mexicano Rafael Prieto Curial, investigador del Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, con sede en Viena, dijo a TN que el Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación tiene hoy 25.000 miembros.
La presión de Donald Trump y el cambio de estrategia de Claudia Sheinbaum
Algo cambió en México tras la asunción de Donald Trump hace un año. La presión ejercida por el presidente estadounidense sobre el gobierno de la izquierdista Claudia Sheinbaum derivó en un palpable cambio de estrategia en el combate al tráfico de drogas.
Hace seis años, las fuerzas federales mexicanas detuvieron y enseguida liberaron a Ovidio Guzmán, hijo de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, líder histórico del Cartel de Sinaloa, hoy sentenciado y detenido en una cárcel de máxima seguridad en Estados Unidos.
La presidenta de México, Claudia Sheinbaum (Foto: EFE)
Entonces, el gobierno del presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador reconoció que habían liberado al hijo de El Chapo para evitar un baño de sangre.
Hoy, la estrategia es otra. El gobierno sabía que la muerte de El Mencho iba a derivar en una ola de caos y violencia como la que se vivió el domingo en vastas zonas de Jalisco, incluso en el turístico balneario de Puerto Vallarta.
Leé también: El mensaje de la presidenta de México tras la muerte del líder del Cártel de Jalisco: “Mantenernos en calma”
“Por presión de Estados Unidos, pareciera que se está cambiando la estrategia del gobierno respecto al narco. Esto hubiera sido impensable hace 10 años. El caso emblemático fue el de Ovidio Guzmán, detenido y liberado para evitar el caos que vemos hoy. Es una visión totalmente distinta”, dijo a TN el exdiputado Fernando Rodríguez Doval, ex secretario nacional del Partido Acción Nacional (PAN, derecha).
Para el dirigente, esta nueva táctica “puede acarrear rupturas en el seno del gobierno”.
“Pareciera que esta captura y abatimiento es respuesta a las presiones de Trump, Eso está cada vez más claro. Fue un operativo conjunto. Habrá que ver hasta dónde abarcó la cooperación. Si solo fue una colaboración de inteligencia o hubo algo más. Pero es evidente que fue una acción coordinada con el gobierno de Estados Unidos”, afirmó.
El poder del narcotráfico en México
El poder del narco mexicano ha crecido en forma exponencial en los últimos años.
Los carteles manejan ejércitos propios con un poder de fuego brutal que quedó plasmado en la ola de incendios de vehículos, cortes de rutas y tiroteos que siguieron a la muerte de El Mencho.
Un policía observa un vehículo calcinado que fue incendiado en una carretera de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, el domingo 22 de febrero de 2026, tras la muerte del líder del Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, conocido como «El Mencho». (Foto AP/Alejandra Leyva)
“Su muerte derivó en el despliegue en alrededor de 10 estados de muchísima fuerza narco. Esto nos habla de la enorme fuerza del crimen organizado y la debilidad dramática del Estado a pesar del éxito del operativo”, dijo Rodríguez Doval.
Para el exlegislador, el narco creció de la mano de su connivencia con el poder político. “Eso le ha permitido crecer mucho, conquistando espacios cada vez más fuertes y dominar buena parte del territorio nacional”.
El poder es tan omnipresente que el tráfico de drogas es hoy solo una parte del negocio.
“Hoy se dedican a todo tipo de actividades. Antes eran solo las drogas, pero ahora se han diversificado con ´nuevos mercados´. Se dedican al tráfico de personas, el robo de autos, el cobro de extorsiones, el secuestro, venta de gasolina, peaje. Lo que vemos es una industria criminal presente en muchos ámbitos económicos», afirmó.
La sucesión en el Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación
En su diálogo con TN, Rafael Prieto Curial dijo que el abatimiento de El Mencho genera tres sensaciones diferentes.
“Por un lado, era el líder de uno de los carteles mas importantes del mundo, sanguinario, violento y con muchísimo poder en todos los estados del país. Su caída es algo bueno”, dijo.
Pero al mismo tiempo genera la reacción del cartel con “víctimas secundarias, pánico en la sociedad y acostumbrarse a que México es este país” dominado en vastas zonas por organizaciones criminales.
Finalmente, ahora se abre un panorama de enorme incertidumbre por la sucesión del poder en el grupo. “Si el cartel se fragmenta en más de una facción, como ocurrió con el de Sinaloa, podría terminar en una violencia terrible como sucede hoy en ese estado”, indicó.
“Pero si una persona distinta ocupa el lugar de El Mencho, el impacto es nulo. El cartel tiene mas o menos 25.000 miembros. Si pierde a uno, aunque sea el más importante, solo es uno. No estamos viendo a los otros 25.000 que siguen siendo parte del grupo. Lo feo es pensar que aquí termina la política de seguridad”, concluyó.
México, Narcotráfico
INTERNACIONAL
US assets in Middle East positioned for ‘highly kinetic’ war, ex-Pentagon official warns
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The U.S. is in position for a «highly kinetic» campaign against Iran after launching one of its largest recent military buildups in the Middle East, a former senior Pentagon official has claimed.
Dana Stroul, now research director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, made the assessment Sunday as Washington and Tehran prepare for a second round of indirect nuclear talks in Oman.
«The US military is ready for a sustained, highly kinetic campaign should President Trump order it, and also prepared to defend allies and partners in the Middle East from Iran’s missiles,» Stroul told Fox News Digital.
«The US military can rapidly reposition assets from all over the world and deploy overwhelmingly lethal force in a short period of time to one theater,» she said before highlighting how there is «no ally or enemy capable of what we have seen from the US in this current buildup.»
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S IRAN BUILDUP MIRRORS 2003 IRAQ WAR SCALE AS TENSIONS ESCALATE
The world’s largest warship, U.S. aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, on its way out of the Oslofjord at Nesodden and Bygdoy, Norway, September 17, 2025. (NTB/Lise Aserud via Reuters)
Describing how the current posture differs from the June 2025 strikes on Iranian-linked nuclear targets, Stroul said the U.S. has expanded its offensive and defensive capabilities.
«Two US aircraft carriers and their accompanying vessels and air wings were stationed in the Middle East last summer during the 12-day war and the US operation Midnight Hammer,» she explained.
«The addition of the Ford is really important, it expands US offensive capabilities if we go to war with Iran,» she said.
While in June 2025, the US carried out limited but highly targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear infrastructure to degrade key facilities without triggering a regional war, now, Stroul said the force posture is broader and more sustained.
The US has also «increased the number of guided-missile destroyers, fighter aircraft, refuelers, and air defense systems» in the region, she explained.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN HAS 15 DAYS TO REACH A DEAL OR FACE ‘UNFORTUNATE’ OUTCOME
An F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 10, 2024. (U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Daniel Kimmelman/Reuters)
The deployment of aircraft carriers such as the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln has assumed heightened strategic importance.
The USS Gerald R. Ford was recently tracked transiting the Strait of Gibraltar eastward, while the USS Abraham Lincoln is operating in the Arabian Sea.
«They will both be in the Middle East CENTCOM theater,» Stroul explained before clarifying that there could be «one in the eastern Mediterranean and the other in the Arabian Gulf.»
«There would probably be a combination of reasons for that based on availability, readiness, proximity to the Middle East.
«The Ford was heading home and directed to turn around,» she added.
While the specific destinations of the carriers have not been publicly disclosed for operational security reasons, their presence alone signals escalatory leverage and deterrence.
WITKOFF WARNS IRAN IS ‘A WEEK AWAY’ FROM ‘BOMB-MAKING MATERIAL’ AS TRUMP WEIGHS ACTION
Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner meet ahead of the US-Iran talks, in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on February 06, 2026. (f Oman, on FebruarOman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The military buildup comes as indirect diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran continue, with Oman once again serving as a mediator Feb. 26.
Stroul argued that Iran’s leadership is trying to balance brinkmanship with negotiation.
«Iran’s leaders are playing a weak hand by combining saber-rattling about their own capabilities, staging preparations and exercises to signal readiness,» she claimed.
«They are attempting to slow this down by pursuing negotiations. No one should be under any illusions about the reality of US dominance — Iran is completely outmatched in conventional terms,» Stroul said.
BUILT FOR WEEKS OF WAR: INSIDE THE FIREPOWER THE US HAS POSITIONED IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Armed NOPO special police units are on the scene as Iranians take to the streets in the downtown Enghelab (Revolution) Square in Tehran, Iran on June 24, 2025, to celebrate the ceasefire after a 12-day war with Israel. (NEGAR/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
«Israel dominated Iranian airspace in one day last year, targeted many of Iran’s security leaders, took out half of its missile arsenal, and the US significantly set back its nuclear program,» Stroul said.
Iran’s long-cultivated network of proxies across the region — including Hezbollah, Shiite militias in Iraq, and elements in Syria — has also been weakened after sustained Israeli military pressure.
«Iran’s long-cultivated network of proxies across the region is degraded after more than two years of Israeli operations, and they declined to enter the war and support Iran’s defense last summer,» Stroul explained.
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«No matter what Iran’s leaders say, Iran is not able to rebuild a decades-long project in a few months.»
«That said, the US military is in a position to execute whatever orders President Trump gives,» she said. «It is not a question of military readiness, but a political decision.»
iran,middle east,wars,donald trump,ali khamenei,pentagon defense,pentagon,us navy,military
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