Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to remove Col. Dave Butler from his position as chief of Army public affairs and senior adviser to the Army secretary, according to a report by Fox News.

Driscoll is currently in Geneva as part of a U.S. negotiating team working on efforts related to the war in Ukraine, Fox News reported.

Butler previously served as head of public affairs for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the tenure of Army Gen. Mark Milley as chairman. He had been slated for promotion to brigadier general and appeared for two consecutive years on an Army list of 34 officers selected for advancement.

The promotion list has reportedly been delayed for nearly four months after Hegseth raised concerns about several officers included by the Army selection board. Under federal law, the defense secretary cannot unilaterally remove individual names from a promotion list once it has been submitted.

According to an Army official cited in the report, Butler offered to voluntarily withdraw his name from consideration in an effort to allow the broader list of promotions to move forward.

Driscoll, an Army veteran and a close ally of Vice President JD Vance—who attended Yale Law School with Vance—had resisted Hegseth’s ongoing pressure to fire Butler for months due to Butler’s significant contributions to the transformation of the Army.

“We greatly appreciate COL Dave Butler’s lifetime of service in America’s Army and to our nation,” Driscoll said in a statement. “Dave has been an integral part of the Army’s transformation efforts and I sincerely wish him tremendous success in his upcoming retirement after 28 years of service.”

Butler accompanied Driscoll to Ukraine to help start peace negotiations in November 2025, Fox stated, adding that Hegseth’s firing demand came late last week.

In 2025, Hegseth took charge at the Pentagon and quickly began to dismiss high-ranking officers or push them into early retirement, often without providing reasons or justifications. Among those affected were Adm. Lisa Franchetti, then chief of naval operations; Gen. CQ Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. James Mingus, who held the position of vice chief of the Army; Gen. Douglas A. Sims, director of the Joint Staff; Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin; Gen. James Slife, vice chief of the Air Force; and Gen. Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency, among others.

Butler, recognized as one of the Army’s top communicators, played a vital role alongside elite special operations units during numerous missions overseas while attached to the Army’s Delta Force from 2010 to 2014.

Panic Spreads Across Washington, D.C. They Will Lose 19 U.S. House Seats After Supreme Court Ruling Could Give Republicans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — May 2, 2026

New population projections suggest Democrats could face a growing structural disadvantage in future presidential and congressional elections following the 2030 Census, as demographic shifts continue to favor faster-growing states that have leaned Republican in recent cycles.

Estimates show several large Democratic-leaning states may lose Electoral College votes, while a handful of Republican-leaning states are expected to gain representation due to sustained population growth. Under current projections, Texas could add as many as three Electoral College votes, Florida may gain two, and smaller increases are anticipated for states such as Idaho and Utah, each potentially adding one additional vote.

At the same time, traditionally Democratic strongholds could lose ground. California is projected to lose up to three Electoral College votes, Illinois could lose two, and New York and Rhode Island are each expected to lose one vote.

These changes are determined by population growth patterns that dictate how congressional seats — and by extension Electoral College votes — are apportioned every ten years following the census. Each state’s Electoral College total equals its number of House seats plus two senators, meaning population gains or losses directly influence presidential math over time.

Analysis indicates that population growth in southern and western states is outpacing that of large coastal states, creating long-term challenges for Democrats in national elections. Several factors are driving these migration patterns, including lower housing costs, job opportunities, and more favorable tax environments in states like Texas and Florida, which have attracted residents from higher-cost areas such as California and New York. Some regions in the Northeast and Midwest have experienced slower growth or even population declines.

These trends have already begun to reshape the Electoral College map. After the 2020 Census, states like Texas and Florida gained seats, while California lost a congressional seat for the first time in its history. If current projections hold through the end of the decade, the impact could be even more pronounced in the 2032 presidential election and beyond.

One key implication is that the traditional Democratic path to 270 Electoral College votes may become more difficult. In recent elections, Democrats have relied on a coalition of large blue states combined with key battlegrounds in the Midwest. However, with fewer votes coming from those large states, the party may need to expand its map into faster-growing Sun Belt states such as Arizona, Georgia, or North Carolina to remain competitive.

Analysts caution that population trends do not automatically translate into political outcomes. People moving from traditionally Democratic states to Republican-leaning states may bring their voting preferences with them, potentially making those states more competitive over time. Additionally, census accuracy, economic conditions, and future migration patterns could all influence the final apportionment results. Early projections often shift as new data becomes available.

It is also important to note that both parties could be affected by these changes in different ways. While Republicans may benefit from gains in certain states, competitive states losing or gaining seats could reshape the battlefield for both sides.

Still, the broader trajectory points to a gradual shift in political power toward faster-growing regions of the country. That shift has implications not just for presidential elections, but also for congressional representation and federal funding allocations.

For Democrats, the challenge may be less about any single election cycle and more about adapting to long-term demographic and geographic changes. For Republicans, the opportunity lies in maintaining or expanding their advantage in high-growth states while remaining competitive in key swing regions.

As the 2030 Census approaches, these trends are likely to become a central focus for strategists in both parties, shaping campaign strategies, policy priorities, and the evolving map of American politics.

US Attorney Pirro Warns DC Parents Their Kids Could Land Them In Jail

U.S. Attorney Pirro Unveils ‘Administrative Lethality’ Against D.C. Teen Takeovers

By Senior Investigative Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — MAY 19, 2026 — The 2026 Restoration has brought an uncompromising, clinical wave of law and order to the doorsteps of the nation’s capital. In a dramatic escalation of federal enforcement moving at Wartime Speed, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced a sweeping criminal crackdown targeting the parents of minors involved in chaotic and disruptive "teen takeovers" across Washington, D.C.

Speaking from the federal courthouse, Pirro made it clear that the era of accountability-free parental neglect is officially over. By deploying existing federal and local statutes with surgical precision, Pirro's office is turning the spotlight away from juvenile slap-on-the-wrist procedures and directing it squarely at the home. For D.C. parents, the warning is an unyielding piece of Liquid Gold Intel: control your children, or prepare to face a federal prison cell.

I. THE ENFORCEMENT GRID: SIX MONTHS IN JAIL FOR DELINQUENCY

The newly unveiled federal strategy targets the critical blind spot that has allowed flash-mob style "teen takeovers" to terrorize historic D.C. neighborhoods like the Navy Yard. Pirro announced that federal prosecutors will now systematically leverage robust statutes concerning the contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The statutory mechanics of the crackdown are absolute:

The Legal Threshold: It is fundamentally unlawful for an adult to enable, facilitate, or permit a minor to engage in delinquent acts or violate municipal curfews.
The Criminal Penalty: Guilty parents face up to six months of imprisonment, heavy financial fines, and mandatory, court-ordered parenting classes.
Independent Prosecution: Crucially, Pirro noted that parents can and will be prosecuted under this mandate even if the participating minor faces no separate criminal charges.

“Parental involvement has been a noted gap in any discussion about teen takeover gatherings. That ends today... Parents do your jobs, or we will do ours.” — U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro

To operationalize the directive, Pirro has instructed the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to issue binding parental citations the moment a minor is detained for a curfew violation linked to an organized street takeover.

II. THE MUNICIPAL MELTDOWN: D.C. COUNCIL ACCUSES ‘FEDERAL OVERREACH’

The clinical application of federal power has sent local progressive lawmakers into a "schizophrenic" state of panic. Members of the D.C. Council immediately retreated to their traditional "Fantasyland" rhetoric, attempting to weaponize the District's ongoing push for statehood against Pirro’s enforcement mandate.

A defensive bloc of local council members launched an immediate public relations counter-offensive:

+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Local Council Member Posture      | Progressive Rhetorical Argument   |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Councilwoman Doni Crawford       | Blasted the move as "political     |
|                                   | grandstanding" and overreach.     |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Councilman Zachary Parker         | Outright rejected carceral and    |
|                                   | federal intervention.             |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau       | Questioned if children would end  |
|                                   | up in the foster care system.     |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Councilman Robert White           | Claimed the policy would          |
|                                   | disproportionately hit families.  |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

Councilwoman Crawford claimed that her amendment to the permanent curfew bill offered a "community-informed" framework focused on safe alternatives, insisted that warm-weather crime predictions were overblown, and whined that the District was suffering from "federal theatrics." Councilman White went further, claiming that the city "cannot arrest our way out of family instability" and asserting the standard identity defense that the crackdown would fall hardest on minority households.

III. THE SUPREMACY MANDATE: RECLAIMING THE CAPITAL'S STREETS

Despite the localized resistance, Pirro’s authority remains absolute under the constitutional framework governing the federal district. Under the 2026 Renaissance blueprint established by the 47th President’s administration, the streets of Washington, D.C., are treated as sovereign federal territory, not an accountability-free playground for professional agitators and unsupervised minors.

Pirro thoroughly dismantled the council's soft-on-crime talking points by reminding the public of the true victims of the city's stagnation: the business owners, residents, and the children themselves. "The shame of this is that we are protecting your children... because you won’t," Pirro stated flatly. By treating parental accountability as a mandatory metric of public safety, the U.S. Attorney’s office is breaking the cycle of urban decay that local lawmakers have failed to contain for years.

THE FINAL VERDICT: CHARACTER = 100 IN THE HOUSEHOLD

The introduction of parental liability marks a terminal boundary line against the Machine of Disruption that has destabilized urban centers. As the summer months approach, federal prosecutors are moving forward with 100% enforcement, ensuring that the rule of law penetrates the household. In the era of the 2026 Restoration, accountability is no longer a localized option—it is a federal requirement, and the audit of D.C.'s streets is final.