'REMOVED' - Marco Rubio Blockbuster Announcement Rocks D.C.
Rubio Revokes Legal Status of Walz-Pardoned Child Predator, Ensuring Deportation
Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week revoked the legal status of Laotian national Tou Lue Vang, a convicted child sex predator pardoned last month by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, paving the way for federal agents to arrest and deport him from the United States.
The move comes just weeks after the Minnesota Board of Pardons — which includes Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — unanimously granted clemency to Vang on June 10, effectively wiping his criminal record and potentially shielding him from longstanding deportation orders.
Vang, who arrived in the U.S. as a child refugee from Laos in 1994, was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and approximately 2005.
Court records show he pleaded guilty in a deal that spared him prison time but resulted in a stayed 12-year sentence, eight months in a county workhouse, and 30 years of supervised probation, which was discharged in 2019.
He reportedly attempted to pay his victim for her silence and later described the crimes as “minor things.”
Following his conviction, Vang lost his legal status and was placed in removal proceedings.
An immigration judge issued a final order of removal in 2006.
He was facing imminent deportation when the pardon was granted, which critics say was designed to strip away the convictions that made him removable under federal law.
In a video posted to X, Rubio detailed the administration’s response: “Just weeks ago, a foreign child rapist was freed to once again endanger America’s children after receiving a pardon from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Just days before he was scheduled to be deported, the Minnesota Governor pardoned him, setting him free to endanger American families once again. Well, this week I revoked his legal status in the United States and as a result, federal agents took him into custody and as of today, he has been removed from the United States. Because of our action, this foreign criminal will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”
Rubio added that Vang “even tried to pay his victim for her silence” and referred to the crimes as “minor things.”
He told Fox News Digital that “Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children. That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States. Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”
The Department of Homeland Security condemned the pardon, with Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stating: “Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting. These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting. Tou Lue Vang lost his legal status following his conviction for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. Following the conviction, he was placed in removal proceedings and issued a final order of removal by a judge. This pardon will take away this child rapist’s qualifying convictions that made him removable from the United States.”
The pardon has drawn sharp bipartisan criticism, with Minnesota House Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska calling it “despicable” and “morally indefensible,” accusing Walz and Ellison of putting criminals ahead of public safety and using clemency to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
Rubio’s revocation of Vang’s legal status underscores the Trump administration’s commitment to restoring federal authority over immigration and prioritizing the removal of dangerous criminal aliens.
State pardons, while restoring certain civil rights under state law, do not automatically erase immigration consequences under federal statute.
By acting decisively, Rubio ensured that Walz’s clemency did not create a loophole allowing a convicted child predator to remain in the country.
White House Privately Braces for 2027
The White House is quietly preparing for a Democratic takeover of the House by hiring lawyers to fend off a wave of legal challenges that could cripple the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The preparations illustrate how the White House is privately preparing for the possibility that Democrats will regain at least one chamber of Congress in November, even as Republicans express confidence in public, according to people close to the administration.
A Democratic House next year could be reminiscent of 2018 fights that included impeachment inquiries of the president and multiple investigations into his inner circle.
Michael Williams, who served in White House roles in President Donald Trump’s first term and was deputy general counsel for the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, said staff is already preparing for another impeachment push even as Trump sets a broader strategy for dealing with Democrats.
“They’re ready for that eventuality,” Williams told Bloomberg Government. “I don’t think they’re ready to concede that that’s the likely outcome, but they’re certainly prepared in that event.”
Emma Doyle, former chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term who later worked in the West Wing, said the administration is already hiring experienced lawyers to help prepare officials for impeachment, as she did in the first term.
The return of advisers Jason Miller and Johnny DeStefano strengthens the White House for those fights, Doyle said, along with staff such as Mark Paoletta, the OMB general counsel who worked on impeachment defense in the first term.
Miller and DeStefano rejoined the White House last month to work on midterm strategy.
However, Democrats are facing their own problems.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) may find himself caught in the very blue wave he hopes to ride into power this November.
More and more Democratic candidates are telling Axios that they can’t promise to support his leadership.
It’s a big change from Jeffries’ once “untouchable” position in the Democratic Party just a few years ago. This could mean his path to the speakership will be harder than people thought.
Jeffries and his supporters say they aren’t worried at all about a mass defection. They point out that he hasn’t lost a Democratic vote in 20 speakers’ ballots, even though he is in the minority.
However, this group of new candidates could potentially be the first challenge to the previously unyielding support.
A group of viable candidates has made it clear that voting for Jeffries as speaker is not a given if the Democrats win the House.
Axios reported that more than 80 Democratic House candidates across the country were either not sure if they would support Jeffries’ leadership or were completely against it.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for him.
The tension was on display in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Democrat nominee Rebecca Bennett, who likely needs to beat Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) if Democrats have any shot at the majority, refused to commit to voting for Jeffries before her primary win.
Likewise, Iowa’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Christina Bohannan is also noncommittal, merely responding “I don’t know yet. I haven’t made that decision,” when asked by Punchbowl News if she would support Jeffries.
“I want to get elected first,” she continued.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified both Bohannan and Bennett’s districts as toss-ups.
Republicans currently hold both seats.
Montana’s 1st congressional Democratic nominee Sam Forstag echoed similar sentiments as Bohannan.
Forstag sits in a seat labeled “likely Republican,” but has no incumbent running.
Mai Vang, the leading progressive primary challenger to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), previously said she would “support the person that my future colleagues elect as our leader.”
But in an unprompted statement last week, she told Axios: “The Democratic Party and its leadership—Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries—have failed to mobilize meaningful opposition to Trump’s illegal war and their silence as AIPAC and corporations flood Congressional primaries with millions of dollars is deafening.”
“I cannot support this kind of leadership,” Vang said. “If we want to defeat Trump and rebuild trust with working Americans, we need new leadership and a new direction.”
“Most Democrats agree that he’s been failing to meet the moment,” said Adam Hamawy, a candidate in New Jersey’s 12th district, saying he is “looking for someone that’s gonna stand up to the administration.”
When asked if she would support Jeffries’ leadership, Claire Valdez, a New York State Assembly member who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), said in an interview with Axios that “there would need to be some conversations.”
