Welcome to Monday, October 28th, crunchy and chewy...

U.S. Special Ops launched a "dangerous and daring nighttime raid" and killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

"Last night, the United States brought the world's number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead," President Donald Trump said in a televised announcement from the White House. “He was a sick and depraved man, and now he’s gone."

Trump explained that "U.S. special operations forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style."

Baghdadi was forced into a dead-end tunnel where he detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and three of his children.

“He didn’t die a hero. He died a coward,” the president said. “Crying, whimpering, screaming and bringing kids with him to die. Certain death.”

Do you support U.S. military operations targeting ISIS?

On the Radar

DOJ Probing the Probe

Attorney General William Barr’s probe into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation is now a criminal investigation.

Barr told the House Appropriations Committee in April that he was assembling a team to look into claims that the FBI’s investigation into President Trump’s possible collusion with Russia was motivated by anti-Trump sentiments in the agency.

Now that it's shifted to a criminal probe, this investigation of the investigators has the authority "to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to impanel a grand jury and to file criminal charges," per the New York Times.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut John Durham, who’s leading the probe, has interviewed "about two dozen and current FBI officials" as of Oct. 19.

Durham is examining what led the FBI to open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and whether the surveillance of the campaign was legal and appropriate.

Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) reacted via a joint statement on Twitter:

"These reports, if true, raise profound new concerns that the Department of Justice under AG Barr has lost its independence and become a vehicle for President Trump’s political revenge."

Do you support the DOJ’s criminal probe into the Russian investigation?

Under the Radar

Eminem Interviewed by Secret Service Over ‘Threatening’ Trump Lyrics

Eminem claimed in his 2018 song “The Ringer” that he’d been visited by the Secret Service over incendiary lyrics perceived to be a threat to Trump:

“But I know at least he’s heard it / cause Agent Orange just sent the Secret Service to meet in person to see if I really think of hurtin’ him / or ask if I’m linked to terrorists,” he rapped in Kamikaze’s lead track.

A recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, however, reveals that Eminem (nee Marshall Mathers nee Slim Shady) was, in fact, interviewed by the agency.

In the 40 pages of documents received by Buzzfeed, the Secret Service write that their interest in Eminem was based on “threatening lyrics” in his rap “Framed,” which appeared on the album Revival.

“Donald Duck’s on as the Tonka Truck in the yard / But dog, how the f— is Ivanka Trump in the trunk of my car...? / Cause I feel somewhat responsible for the dumb little blonde girl, that motherf---’ baton twirler that got dumped in the pond..."

Agents with the service met with Eminem on Jan. 16, 2018, where, the report reveals, they began reciting the lyrics of the freestyle rap and “Mathers was familiar [with] the song and began rap along with the interviewers as the verse was read.”

Two days later, the agency “determined that this case will be NON-REFERRED” to a prosecutor” as Eminem did not pose a plausible threat to Trump or his family.

Do you support the Secret Service’s probe into Eminem?