Category: Fbi
FBI Internal Emails Suggest Potential Biden White House Involvement in Mar-a-Lago Raid
Fox News obtains bureau communications raising new questions about political coordination in unprecedented search of former president’s home
FBI Internal Emails Suggest Potential Biden White House Involvement in Mar-a-Lago Raid
Fox News obtains bureau communications raising new questions about political coordination in unprecedented search of former president’s home
Why the FBI ditched Chevy Suburbans for BMW SUVs
The FBI is abandoning General Motors.
For generations, the black Chevrolet Suburban has been a rolling symbol of federal authority. Its size, shape, and presence are instantly recognizable — whether pulling up to a courthouse, idling outside a hotel, or leading a motorcade through city streets. That familiarity, however, is precisely why the FBI’s recent decision to move away from armored Suburbans in favor of BMW X5 Protection SUVs deserves a closer look. Despite the political noise surrounding the change, the rationale behind it is not ideological. It is practical.
While BMW is a German brand, all BMW X-series SUVs — including the X5 — are manufactured at the company’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant.
Under FBI Director Kash Patel, the bureau has reportedly ordered a fleet of armored BMW X5 Protection SUVs to replace the Chevrolet and GMC models traditionally used for executive transport. The reasons cited by the FBI are straightforward: The BMWs cost significantly less, attract less attention, and are built in the United States. Taken together, those factors point to a procurement decision driven by economics and operational efficiency — not symbolism or brand preference.
Frugal fleet
According to FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson, vehicle fleet decisions are routinely reviewed based on security needs, usage patterns, and budget considerations. In this case, the BMW X5 Protection was selected after comparing costs and capabilities with other armored options. Williamson said the move could save taxpayers millions of dollars by choosing a less expensive vehicle while still meeting the bureau’s protection requirements.
The cost differences are hard to ignore. Government-spec Chevrolet Suburban Shield vehicles produced by GM Defense have been reported to cost anywhere from roughly $600,000 to as much as $3.6 million, depending on armor level, drivetrain configuration, and mission-specific equipment. Even conservative estimates put a new armored Suburban at around $480,000 per vehicle. By contrast, the BMW X5 Protection VR6 is generally priced between $200,000 and $300,000 — less than half the cost of many armored Chevrolet and GMC alternatives.
When multiplied across an entire fleet, those numbers add up quickly. Savings of $200,000 or more per vehicle matter for an agency under constant pressure to justify spending. From a taxpayer perspective, the question is simple: If the required level of ballistic protection can be achieved for significantly less money, why wouldn’t the FBI pursue that option?
The BMW X5 Protection VR6 is not a standard luxury SUV fitted with aftermarket armor. It is engineered from the factory with integrated ballistic protection designed to meet VR6 standards, including resistance to high-powered rifle fire and explosive threats. These vehicles are already in service with governments and diplomatic protection units around the world, including the U.S. State Department, which uses armored BMWs to protect American diplomats in high-risk regions. This is a proven platform, not an experiment.
Stealth mode
Cost, however, is only part of the story. The FBI has also indicated that the BMWs are less conspicuous than traditional government vehicles. That claim may seem counterintuitive until one considers how closely the Suburban is associated with federal authority. A line of black Suburbans with dark glass immediately signals government transport. Their presence often draws attention.
The BMW X5, even in armored form, blends more easily into traffic — particularly in urban and suburban areas where luxury SUVs are common. It does not carry the same visual shorthand of authority. From a security standpoint, reducing predictability and visibility can be an advantage. A vehicle that does not immediately announce its purpose may attract less attention and lower risk in certain situations.
Critics argue that the publicity surrounding the purchase undermines any claim of stealth, and that may be true in the short term. Over time, however, the novelty fades. What remains is a vehicle that looks like countless others on the road, rather than one that announces its role at a glance.
RELATED: A federal ‘kill switch’ for your car is coming — and neither Democrats nor Republicans will stop it
United Archives/Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
American-made
Another point often lost in the debate is where these vehicles are built. While BMW is a German brand, all BMW X-series SUVs — including the X5 — are manufactured at the company’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant. It is BMW’s largest production facility worldwide and one of the most significant automotive exporters in the United States by value. The armored X5s used by the FBI are built by American workers on American soil.
That reality complicates claims that the FBI is abandoning American manufacturing. Both the Chevrolet Suburban and the BMW X5 are products of U.S. factories, assembled by U.S. labor, and supported by domestic supply chains. The distinction lies not in where the vehicles are built, but in how much they cost and how effectively they meet the agency’s needs.
Government fleets have always been guided by pragmatism. Federal agencies regularly reassess equipment based on performance, cost, and evolving threats. The FBI’s decision fits squarely within that tradition.
The emotional attachment to the Suburban is understandable. Introduced in 1935 as the Carryall Suburban, it is the longest-running nameplate in American automotive history and has served military, law enforcement, and civilian roles for nearly a century. But symbols come at a price, and in this case that price appears to have climbed sharply.
Time will tell
Imagining a single Suburban costing as much as $3.6 million is enough to give any budget analyst pause. Even at the lower end of reported figures, the cost difference between an armored Suburban and an armored BMW X5 is substantial. In an era of heightened scrutiny over federal spending, paying more than double for a vehicle that may also be more conspicuous is difficult to justify.
That does not mean the BMW choice is without trade-offs. Long-term maintenance costs, parts availability, and service complexity will ultimately determine whether the savings persist over the full life cycle of the vehicles. German engineering can be expensive to maintain, but heavily armored Suburbans are also highly specialized machines with their own costly upkeep requirements. The true comparison will emerge over time.
What is clear now is that the decision is rooted in cost control and operational considerations — not political signaling. The FBI did not choose BMW to make a statement. It chose BMW because the vehicles were cheaper, less visually obvious, and built domestically.
For taxpayers, the takeaway is straightforward. If a federal agency can meet its security needs while spending significantly less money, that is not a controversy. It is what responsible stewardship is supposed to look like. The badge on the grille may spark debate, but the math behind the decision tells a far more practical story.
Church invasion suspect arrested by feds is woke Minneapolis prosecutor’s right-hand man
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Friday morning the arrests of several radicals who allegedly stormed Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
One of Don Lemon’s fellow arrestees, Jamael Lydell Lundy, is a newly announced Democratic candidate for the Minnesota Senate who previously worked for Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum and now serves as the right-hand man for Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County’s Soros-backed prosecutor.
Moments prior to the church invasion, Lundy told Lemon on camera, “I’m here to support our community activists,” reported the New York Post.
‘They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country.’
“I’m currently a candidate for Minnesota state Senate District 65,” Lundy told the former CNN talking head. “I feel like it’s important if you’re going to be representing people in office, that you’re out here with the people as well.”
“We all we got,” continued Lundy. “I’m actually married to an elected official; I work closely with elected officials, but direct action from the community, certainly within the lines of the law, is so important to show that we have one voice.”
In footage of the subsequent church invasion, Lundy appears fully engaged in the mob’s disruption of the Christian service and the parishioners’ worship, pumping his fist in the air and shouting near the altar.
RELATED: Don Lemon ARRESTED over apparent involvement in church invasion; Jim Acosta whines
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
According to Lundy’s campaign website, he is married to St. Paul City Councilwoman Anika Bowie, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s former political director.
In his role as Moriarty’s intergovernmental relations manager, Lundy — who supported the “bananas with rice” Somali accused this week of spitting on federal agents — is responsible for interfacing with the federal government, reported the Daily Wire.
Lundy’s radicalism is in keeping with that practiced by his anti-ICE boss, who launched a project with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and other woke prosecutors on Wednesday aimed at “collaborating to ensure federal officials are held accountable when they exceed their lawful authority.”
The non-straight prosecutor has been one of the more unhinged critics of federal agents’ enforcement of federal immigration law in Minneapolis, claiming earlier this month, for instance, “If you do not have white skin, you are in danger of being approached by ICE.”
President Donald Trump suggested those who stormed the church were “agitators and insurrectionists.”
“These people are professionals! No person acts the way they act,” continued Trump. “They are highly trained to scream, rant, and rave, like lunatics, in a certain manner, just like they are doing. They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country.”
Blaze News has reached out to Moriarty’s office for comment.
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Don Lemon ARRESTED over apparent involvement in church invasion; Jim Acosta whines
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon put Don Lemon “on notice” after he allegedly joined other radicals in participating in a so-called “ICE Out Action” by storming Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
It appeared, however, that the former CNN talking head might avoid consequence for his alleged involvement in the church invasion when, earlier this month, an activist judge refused to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Evidently, that was a surmountable obstacle.
‘A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!’
Federal agents arrested Lemon on Thursday night. Sources told CBS News that agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations were reportedly involved in the arrest, which apparently came hours after a grand jury was impaneled.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday morning that Lemon was arrested at her direction along with three others involved in the church invasion, namely Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy.
A source told the Washington Examiner’s Christian Datoc that Lemon has been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act.
Lemon’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, stated that the arrest took place in Los Angeles, where the radical was supposedly covering this weekend’s Grammy Awards.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”
RELATED: ‘This is First Amendment activity’: Democrats give church-storming mobs their stamp of approval
Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Lemon — who suggested in October that “black people, brown people” should take up arms against ICE — appeared to join other radicals in disrupting a service at Cities Church, video showed. The church was targeted because of a pastor’s reported role at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The leftist interlopers not only screamed and chanted but castigated the pastor and pressed parishioners individually to answer whether they support ICE.
Lemon, who lost his CNN gig amid accusations of sexist comments, seemingly slipped in and out of character as a journalist during the mob action, stating, “There’s nothing in the Constitution that tells you what time you can protest. You can protest at any time. That’s the whole point of it — is to disrupt, is to make uncomfortable. And that’s what they’re doing, and that’s what I believe when I say everyone has to be willing to sacrifice something. You have to make people uncomfortable in these times.”
The former CNN host also lectured lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell after Parnell said the mob action was “unacceptable” and that it was “shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
“There’s a Constitution and the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest,” Lemon told Parnell, excusing the mob’s interference and intimidation tactics.
Dhillon later responded to Lemon’s defense of the mob action, noting, “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
Lemon is reportedly scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday morning.
Liberals who were silent when Blaze News reporter Steve Baker was arrested for covering the Jan. 6 riot are apoplectic over the arrest.
Jemele Hill, a writer for the Atlantic, called the radical’s arrest “horrifying,” adding that “this absolutely cannot stand.”
Jim Acosta, also formerly of CNN, adhered to a similar script, writing, “This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!”
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BALLOT BOX BLITZ: FBI Hits Fulton’s Election Hub With Court-Authorized Search Warrant [WATCH]
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FBI agents executed a court-authorized search warrant on Wednesday at Fulton County’s Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia, seeking 2020 election records.
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He went from the slopes to the underworld.
Russiagate Update!
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Dan Bongino Tells Sean Hannity What He Has In Mind For ‘Full-Diaper’ Media
‘They are a big, full diaper’
