Conservative strategist Steve Bannon has pleaded guilty to a fraud charge related to duping donors who gave money to a private effort to build a wall along the U.S. southern border.

Steve Bannon’s trial on charges that he duped donors who gave money to build a wall along the U.S. southern border will start a week later than scheduled after the conservative rabble-rouser hired new lawyers to pursue an aggressive defense strategy.

A Department of Justice watchdog investigation has found no evidence that politics played an improper role in a decision to propose a lighter prison sentence for Roger Stone, a close ally of former President Donald Trump.

The trial of a Colorado businessman on charges that he ripped off thousands of donors who contributed to a campaign to build a wall along the southern United States border has ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two weeks after Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy Shea visited Florida and spent time talking with Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams about violent crime in the city, the DEA has announced the launch of Project Safeguard. It’s a violent crime reduction initiative that allows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and federal marshals to partner with local police to go after violent offenders -- especially since the DEA says many of the violent crimes in Jacksonville are linked to illegal narcotics trafficking. Police in 41 cities throughout Florida are taking part in Project Safeguard. Only time will tell if the initiative reduces violent crime throughout the state. Project Safeguard is being deployed in other areas of the country such as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

“What fuels the violence in cities like Jacksonville and throughout the country is drug trafficking organizations,” Shea said. Atlanta is one of several major U.S. cities identified by the DEA as a regional drug distribution hub. According to the DEA, CJNG has operatives in Atlanta that are responsible for the distribution of meth into the southeastern region of the U.S., which includes North Florida. He also told News4Jax that his office in Washington D.C. has Jacksonville’s drug-related gun violence on its radar as well as the violence in other cities linked to drug trafficking. Recently, the DEA began a six month operation called “Operation Crystal Shield,” which targeted the smuggling and distribution of meth into America.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy Shea warned Tuesday that the eventual lifting of coronavirus restrictions could bring a flood of methamphetamine and other narcotics from Mexico into the United States. Shea met in Tallahassee with federal, state and local law-enforcement officials from North Florida and Attorney General Ashley Moody. But Shea expects that will change with development of a vaccine for the virus and the eventual lifting of restrictions. “Virtually all of the methamphetamine and much of the fentanyl in this country comes from Mexico,” Shea said. “These drugs are manufactured on an industrial scale in Mexico using precursor chemicals from China and then smuggled across the border and distributed to every state in the country.”

WASHINGTON WASHINGTON (AP) The two black SUVs travel from checkpoint to checkpoint, each guarded by federal drug enforcement agents alongside members of the National Guard. The more than 100 DEA agents who have been deployed in the district are part of a massive federal response by the Trump administration aimed at quelling the violence. On Wednesday, investigators uncovered a full pallet of bricks they believe demonstrators were planning to use to throw at officers, a law enforcement official said. Many of the dozens of agents who met with Shea said some demonstrators had shouted obscenities, but Wednesday night's protests remained largely peaceful. A senior Justice Department official said intelligence gathered by the FBI shows that antifa and other groups have been involved in some of the protests around the U.S.