Trump administration indicts former Fauci adviser, James Comey; raids Somali daycare centers; targets ABC over Kimmel

The Trump administration on Tuesday escalated its retribution campaign against political adversaries, indicting former FBI Director James Comey for a second time, charging a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, executing 22 search warrants at Somali-owned daycare centers in Minneapolis, and ordering Disney to file early license renewals for its ABC stations.

The actions came 26 days after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assumed leadership of the Justice Department following the ouster of Pam Bondi. No target of the retribution campaign has been convicted so far.

The Justice Department indicted David Morens, a former senior Fauci adviser at the National Institutes of Health, on charges of using personal email to evade public records laws and hide communications about COVID's origins. Morens' indictment marks the first criminal case against a top Fauci-era NIH official.

Federal authorities executed 22 search warrants in the Twin Cities, almost all at Somali-owned childcare centers suspected of bilking taxpayer-funded programs. FBI Director Kash Patel lashed out at Democratic state leaders and claimed credit for the crackdown. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: "Fraudsters ripping off the American people is not made up — it's a real problem that this administration is addressing head-on."

The FCC ordered Disney to file early license renewals for its eight owned-and-operated ABC stations in major markets, citing an ongoing probe into the company's DEI programs. The move comes amid fresh outrage over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who joked that First Lady Melania Trump "had the glow of an expectant widow" two days before a gunman allegedly tried to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

The Justice Department indicted James Comey for a second time, charging him with making threats against the president over a 2025 social media post showing seashells arranged to read "86 47" — which prosecutors allege was "a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States." The DOJ's first attempt to indict Comey last year collapsed when a federal judge ruled Trump's hand-picked prosecutor had been illegally appointed. Comey said in a video on Substack: "Nothing has changed with me. I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid."