An employee of the U.S. State Department was reportedly shot to death by a Virginia state trooper after four women and a dog were stabbed.
According to the Virginia State Police, the trooper arrived at the scene of a crash on I-495 on Sunday to find Jared Llamado, 32, holding a knife. The trooper also said that four women and a dog had suffered stab wounds.
A State Department spokesperson told WTOP that Llamado was employed as a foreign service officer.
"We are aware of the tragic incident that involved a Foreign Service Officer and occurred on Sunday, March 1, in Fairfax County, Virginia. We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy," the department said in a statement.
Llamado and one of the stabbing victims, 39-year-old Michelle Adams, died of their wounds, police said. The dog was also reportedly killed.
Three of the women were said to be recovering from serious knife wounds.
Llamado's LinkedIn page indicated that he had worked at the State Department in a technology role for about 1.5 years.
Police did not believe that the incident, which followed a traffic accident, was related to terrorism.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) presented Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with evidence that she was not telling the truth after she claimed she had not blamed her statements about the killings of protesters on White House adviser Stephen Miller.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Noem told Kennedy that the FBI was investigating the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two protesters killed by DHS agents. The senator was curious about why she had called the dead demonstrators domestic terrorists.
"I believe at the time you said these were acts of domestic terrorism, is that right?" Kennedy asked.
"Sir, in answer to questions at the press conference that afternoon, it was that it appeared to be," Noem said. "And as I've said previously in this hearing, is that we're getting information from a chaotic scene on the ground and relaying information to the American people."
"Okay. Now, again, those videos are public people can draw their own conclusions," Kennedy noted. "What got my attention was that you, you blame those statements on Mr. Stephen Miller at the White House. Did you not?"
"No, sir, I did not," Noem stated. "And in fact, where you're seeing that is in a news article of anonymous sources. And anonymous sources say a lot of things, but it is, I've never said that at all."
"Well, here's what you said on the record," Kennedy shot back. "I'm going to read your words, quote, everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen."
"Sir, where did you see me say that at? You read that in a news article with no sources?" Noem demanded.
"You said it on the record on January 27th of 2026," Kennedy explained. "Did you, did I read your words accurately?"
"I enjoy working with the president, and with Stephen Miller, and that day we were working to get as much information to the American people as possible," Noem deflected.
"Do you think it was fair to blame Mr. Miller?" Kennedy pressed.
"Sir, I did not do that," Noem insisted. "You're reading from a newspaper article with anonymous sources."
"Are you denying that you said that?" the senator wondered.
"Sir, I'm not going to speak to that situation that is relayed on anonymous sources that no one has heard me say that," Noem said.
"It was you!" Kennedy remarked, pointing at the secretary. "They're quoting you on the record saying it's Stephen's fault."
An analyst revealed the difficult challenge ahead for President Donald Trump as the war in Iran now enters its fourth day.
In an interview on MS NOW's Morning Joe with David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post, and Shashank Joshi, defense editor at The Economist, Joshi discussed the Trump administration's mixed messaging about objectives for the military strikes in Iran, including regime change, then "imminent threats" from Iran against Israel and the push to stop Iran from developing ballistic missiles.
"What we heard yesterday from Dan Caine, from Secretary Rubio, from Secretary Hegseth,others, was a very,very different set ofaims narrowly focusedaround Iran's missileprogram," Joshi said.
The war aims, such as regime change, could take weeks, Joshi explained.
"Now that, I think, can be donein a short period of time,they can degrade missilestockpiles, and we've alreadyheard the Iranians the Israelis say they havedestroyed about half of the Iranian missile launchesthat Iran's able to bring tobear and I think you couldhave really longlasting and severe damagedone to Iran's missileprogram by the end ofthis week," Joshi said. "There's no doubt about it.But the problem is, youwould still have an Iranled by individuals who aremore hardline in somerespects than theleaders who have been killedby the strike so far.You have, you know, a newleader of these Islamic Revolutionary Guard, calledVahidi, who is this man? Well,you know, David is, you know,he is a former head of theexpeditionary,IRGC. He was associated with the bombingof a Jewish cultural centerin Argentina in the1990s. This is not a regimethat will be more moderate,more pragmatic, moredeterred than that, of Ayatollah Khamenei."
Despite the killing of Khamenei and the dismantling of Iran's weapons, the problem over Iran's leadership will still remain.
"Andso, I still think at the endof this week, eventhough enormous damage mayhave been done to Iran'smissile program, includingthe supply chain, theexplosives, the guidancesystems, you will still havethe political problemsitting in Iran over regime, thatcast this incredibleU.S. missile shadow over the Persian Gulf, and I think the Trump administration willfind it very hard toarticulate that and framethat as some kind ofdecisive win," Joshi added.
The strikes have wiped out the regime, but it could take time for Iranians to reform their government.
"But I think the focus of these first three days of operations have been on Iran's missile forces, Iran's navy and nuclear and missile sites as well as political leadership," Joshi said. "I think if you are going to give the Iranian people the confidence to say, 'if we go back onto the streets in a week's time and we want confidence, we are not going to be gunned down in the same way.' I think what you need to see is an Israeli and American set of strikes over the next four or five days that systematically break down Iran's domestic security apparatus."
But history could repeat.
"I think that is a very hard thing to do, and I think that President Trump will face the dilemma between doing that and upholding his commitment to the Iranian people that he has made and sucking himself into a longer campaign, but it'll, he should remember the case of George H.W. Bush in 1991, who, as you will recall at David and others, called upon the Iraqi people to rise up in 1991 after the first Gulf War and the Shias in the south and the Kurds in the north did so, and they were massacred by Saddam Hussein," Joshi said. "That should be, I think a very, very cautionary tale for American strategy today."
President Donald Trump acknowledged that his decision to attack Iran was at least partially motivated by efforts to assassinate him.
The 79-year-old Trump ordered airstrikes against Iran over the weekend that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Washington Post reported that he gave an interview Sunday night suggesting that decision was connected with two two cases of alleged Iranian murder-for-hire attempts that were charged by U.S. federal prosecutors.
“I got him before he got me,” Trump told ABC News on Sunday night. “I got him first.”
Iran had plotted to kill Trump in 2024 in retaliation for a January 2020 airstrike that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and federal prosecutors charged two cases involving Iran that appear to be unrelated to two assassination attempts while he campaigned for a second term two years ago.
"They tried twice," Trump told ABC News.
The White House did not provide evidence to back Trump's claims, saying the "plots to assassinate President Trump are just one reason" to "eliminate terrorists like Ayatollah Khamenei," but Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, said the efforts to kill the U.S. president were part of a broader pattern that justified the war.
“It is responsible for a series of unprovoked armed attacks against the United States and Israel, violations of the UN charter, and threats to international peace and security across the Middle East,” Waltz said Saturday at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. “It has even attempted to assassinate the U.S. president, President Trump."
Protests erupted during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem refused to retract claims that two protesters killed by her agents were domestic terrorists.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was the first Democrat to confront Noem about the killings at Tuesday's hearing.
"Secretary Noem, the nation has watched horrified as immigration agents killed Renee Good, Alex Pretti," Durbin said. "In Chicago, one of your Border Patrol agents shot Marimar Martinez five times after ramming her car."
"You and your agency rush to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists," he continued. "We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements cause immeasurable pain to these families. Let me give you an opportunity to do the right thing. Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?"
For her part, Noem declined to retract the claims of domestic terrorism.
"You know, Senator Durbin, when we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families," the secretary explained. "And I offer mine as well. These are tragic situations. And I can't imagine what these families go through in losing a loved one."
"I was getting reports from the ground from agents at the scene," she added. "And I would say that it was a chaotic scene, as you've seen in Minneapolis and St. Paul, as immigration enforcement has gone forward. And we've worked at targeting the worst of the worst that many times our agents have been faced with violent protesters."
"You believe calling the victims of that violence domestic terrorists as a way to calm the scene?" Durbin wondered.
"These violent terrorists have put them in a situation where they've been, it's unprecedented what these agents have faced it," Noem insisted.
At that point, the secretary stopped speaking as a protester erupted in the room.
"You haven't given their family any justice," the demonstrator screamed. "They have names!"
The Lincoln Project founder, Rick Wilson, believes the president has overstepped and is dishing out false information with his claims on munitions supplies. Trump took to Truth Social earlier today (March 3) and made his thoughts on stockpiling munitions and the aid given to Ukraine clear.
He wrote, "The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better - As was stated to me today, we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries finest arms!).
"At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be. Much additional high-grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries."
Wilson has disagreed with the claim of strong munition supplies, instead suggesting Trump has no idea what the actual number is for the material backing the US military.
Wilson wrote, "Now let’s talk about the dangerous part: casually boasting about stockpile levels. There is a reason serious leaders don’t blurt out operational readiness claims on social media, as if they’re bragging about golf handicaps.
"Even if the numbers were accurate (and spoiler alert: he doesn’t know, and we’re burning through long-lead-time systems like a drunken sailor on shore leave), publicly telegraphing assessments of readiness, sufficiency, and shortfalls is the kind of thing professionals handle with classified briefings, not all-caps self-congratulation.
“'Wars can be fought forever.' No, they can’t. Wars chew through materiel, money, alliances, and political capital. Ask the Romans. Ask the British Empire. Ask the Nazis (the old ones, not the new ones). Ask the Soviets in Afghanistan. Ask anyone who served from 2003-2021 in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"The idea that modern, high-intensity warfare can be sustained indefinitely without economic, industrial, and human consequences is the strategic equivalent of saying your credit card has 'virtually unlimited' funds because the machine hasn’t declined you yet. Those $30,000 Shahed drones getting knocked down by $3,000,000 Patriots is a bad exchange rate."
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) pushed back on conservative CNBC host Joe Kernen for calling the Constitution's war powers provisions a "moot point" because President Donald Trump had already ordered attacks on Iran without the permission of Congress.
"You must have seen that some of the things that are circulated, how many times President Obama took military action without a declaration," Kernen said in defense of Trump on Tuesday. "But it's almost a moot point. [Trump has] at least has probably 60 days under certain provisions to carry things out."
"And if we did go your route, Senator, what's happened over the past three days is impossible. It could never happen. Even informing Congress at times about certain raids that or actions that have to be done. That's not in the real world, it's not possible," he added.
Kaine replied: "Let me just underline the fact that I made an argument about the Constitution, and you said it was a moot point. I don't believe that. I don't believe the Constitution is a minor matter or a moot point."
Kernen insisted that he didn't believe the Constitution was a moot point.
"I'm asking every senator to do what you should ask them to do," Kaine insisted. "Go on the record and declare, are you for this or against this? Anybody who's elected to a job like this should not hide under their desks and say, oh, you know, even though the Constitution says it's for Congress, let's let the President do it and try to evade accountability. We've got to be accountable."
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee sounded the alarm that President Donald Trump launched a war without having enough weapons.
The 79-year-old president fired off a Truth Social post Monday night stating that the U.S. military had a "virtually unlimited supply" of munitions that would allow the war to continue "forever," but he also blamed former President Joe Biden for giving away too many weapons to Ukraine.
"Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine – Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth – And, while he gave so much of the super high end away (FREE!), he didn’t bother to replace it," Trump posted. "Fortunately, I rebuilt the military in my first term, and continue to do so. The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!"
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) cast doubt on the president's assurances on the third day of Operation Epic Fury.
"Well, I think at firstsuggests to me that we do nothave an unlimited arms," Reed told "CNN News Central." "Thepresident is trying to put agood face on a situation which,not immediately, but certainlywithin a weeks or months, we'regoing to run into a crisis ofhaving sufficient arms. That iswhy over the last year, the Department of Defense has beeninvesting significantly onincreased arms productionbecause, even without thisconflict, they anticipated thatwe would not have adequatenumber of arms for a majorconflict."
"I think thepresident is simply trying todispense with the real problem,which is that at some point wehave to start rationing ourarms, and again, the questionis, when is it – this week?" Reed added. "Is itfive weeks? Is it five months? The whole question of unlimitedtermless war is something that weface. I don't know of any warin the Middle East that has beenshort and sweet, other than the1991 attack against Iraq. Butthat was limited by President George Herbert Walker Bushhimself. They were theyunderstood they didn't want togo all the way to Baghdad, amistake that was made by his son George W. Bush."
Peace talks between the United States and Iran may have been a smokescreen as a decision to strike had already been made, an analyst has claimed.
Bill Press, the former California Democratic Party chair, believes Donald Trump's administration already knew a strike on Iran would be made while also hosting peace talks with representatives. In a column for The Hill, Press claimed a decision could have been made as early as before Trump delivered his State of the Union address.
Press wrote, "Iran didn’t walk away from making a new deal. The U.S. did — and it started bombing the next morning. In fact, there is reason to believe that the entire Geneva operation was only a smokescreen, designed to fool Iran’s leaders into thinking the U.S. was negotiating in good faith.
"Clearly, the decision to bomb Iran had already been made before the State of the Union, while the Trump administration was still pretending to be seriously interested in diplomacy." Press went on to suggest that the deal the US and Iran had discussed before the bombing was nearing a reasonable conclusion.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump to take advantage of the opportunity to kill Khamenei," he wrote. "Trump agreed to do their dirty work.
"It is also not true, as Trump claims, that Iran 'walked away from the table' without agreeing to abandon plans to build a nuclear bomb. In fact, as late as last Friday, negotiations between Iran and the U.S., moderated by Oman, were still underway in Geneva — with public assurances of progress being made."
Trump issued a statement on the Iran war earlier today (March 3), with the president claiming a war with the Middle Eastern country could last much longer than anticipated.
He wrote, "The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better - As was stated to me today, we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries finest arms!).
"At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be. Much additional high-grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries.
"Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine - Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth - And, while he gave so much of the super high-end away (FREE!), he didn’t bother to replace it. Fortunately, I rebuilt the military in my first term, and continue to do so.
"The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP."
A convicted Jan. 6 rioter was arrested for assault after touching several women on public transit.
Bryan Betancur recorded videos of himself stroking the women's hair while riding Metro trains in suburban Washington, D.C., and police arrested him after the videos circulated on social media, reported WUSA-TV.
"Bryan Betancur has been in and out of jail for stalking and threatening women," posted journalist Amanda Moore, who says she's one of the women he has stalked. "He was wearing an ankle monitor when he stormed the US Capitol on January 6, which he had been given after he broke into a Baltimore County elementary school."
The 28-year-old Betancur, who spent four months in prison for taking part in the Capitol riot, was charged with assault and battery for his actions on the Silver Line train.
The Silver Spring man wore a Proud Boys shirt to the riot, although investigators said he was not affiliated with the right-wing militant group, and he later admitted to climbing Capitol scaffolding and helping to pass furniture out a congressional office window.
He was described in charging documents as a "self-professed white supremacist" who said he wanted to be a “lone-wolf killer," but he was among more than 1,500 rioters pardoned by President Donald Trump on Inauguration Day 2025.
Betancur violated an anti-stalking order in 2024 and sent back to jail for two months and sentenced to two years probation, so he appears to still be under those conditions.
A former senior intelligence service official said on Tuesday that Marco Rubio's latest comments about the Iran war left him and other observers "speechless."
Rubio raised eyebrows with his comment on the Iran war, which largely pointed to Israel as the chief reason for the US involvement.
"Rubio speaking to reporters now says the 'imminent threat' the administration has referred to to justify US strikes on Iran was that they knew Israel was going to attack Tehran, and believed such an attack would prompt Iran to strike US bases and assets in the region."
Pod Save The World's Ben Rhodes shared Treene's reporting and replied, "America doesn't have to go to war just because Israel was going to go to war."
National security expert Danny (Dennis) Citrinowicz also chimed in, adding, "If there is a strategic risk greater than Iran itself for Israel, it is the perception that Israel pushed the United States into a discretionary and open-ended war. In the current American political environment, perception matters as much as operational reality."
"Israel’s standing among younger Americans, within significant parts of the Democratic Party, and even among segments of the Republican coalition, is already under strain," he added in response to comments by Rubio.
That led to ex-CIA senior official Marc Polymeropoulos to speak out. He said, "Rubio in his statement and the admin’s decision to toss this war all on Israel may have catastrophic effects on future American support for Israel."
The expert further added:
"I texted an Israeli friend right after Rubio’s presser and said just that-it’s a step away from essentially blaming Israel (which he did) to saying ‘blame the Jews.’ I was stunned at the abject stupidity of this tact from the admin and it left me speechless. All the anti semitic crazies feel validated now."
Rubio in his statement and the admin’s decision to toss this war all on Israel may hav catastrophic effects on future American support for Israel. Below analysis is spot on. I texted an Israeli friend right after Rubio’s presser and said just that-it’s a step away from… https://t.co/ul7WsAzYp4 — Marc Polymeropoulos (@Mpolymer) March 3, 2026
Secretary of State Marco Rubio infuriated MAGA's already angry "America First" wing – and especially antisemitic influencers on the right – by identifying Israel as the driving force behind the U.S. military action in Iran.
The secretary of state justified the airstrikes as necessary because Israel intended to launch its own attacks on Iran, which he said would have resulted in retaliatory airstrikes against American forces, and Axios reported that set off howls of rage among President Donald Trump's right-wing base.
"Rubio's remarks were widely interpreted as making the U.S. look subordinate to Israel's interests," Axios reported. "And they inflamed already angry MAGA elites who had spent the day railing against President Trump's decision to go to war."
Pro-Trump influencers expressed their frustration that the 79-year-old president had fallen into the thrall of military hawks and neocons he explicitly ran against since entering politics, and anti-Israel voices and explicitly antisemitic influencers claimed vindication.
"So he's flat out telling us that we're in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand," posted The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh. "This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said."
MAGA influencer Mike Cernovich described Rubio's comments as "a record scratch moment," while podcaster Megyn Kelly expressed "serious doubts" about the operation, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon demanded more explanation about the decision.
"If we knew Israel would strike and Iran would retaliate against us, where was the coordination?" Bannon said. "We need a strategic explanation."
Nick Fuentes, an influential white nationalist who called on his "groyper" followers to abandon Trump, called the operation "a war of aggression for Israel."
"Americans will die in terrorist attacks and in missile strikes so that Israel can expand its borders in every direction," Fuentes said. "Trump, Vance, and Rubio sold us out."
A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers Monday that the Iran war was part of God's plan to usher in the End Times and bring about Jesus Christ's second coming, according to a complaint filed with a religious freedom watchdog.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has fielded more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the U.S. military between the war's start on Saturday morning and Monday night, reported journalist Jonathan Larson on his Substack page, and the group told him the complaints came from more than 40 different units stationed in at least 30 military installations.
"These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients [service members who seek MRFF aid] report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new 'biblically-sanctioned' war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian 'End Times' as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation," said MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein, a veteran of the Air Force and the Reagan White House.
"Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100 percent accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology," Weinstein added.
Weinstein pointed out prohibitions in the U.S. Constitution and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) against inserting religious beliefs into official military instruction or messaging, and a non-commissioned officer who filed a complaint with MRFF said their commander's comments "destroy morale and unit cohesion."
"This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be 'afraid' as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now," that non-commissioned officer said in a complaint filed Monday. "He urged us to tell our troops that this was 'all part of God’s divine plan' and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ."
"He said that 'President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,'" the complaint continued. "He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy."
"Our commander would probably be described as a 'Christian First' supporter," the complaint added. "He has been this way for a very long time and makes it clear that he desires all of us under him to become just like him as a Christian. But what he did this morning was so toxic and over the line that it shocked many of us in attendance at the ops readiness briefing."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has elevated a Christian nationalism theology that has simmered within the military for decades, Larson wrote, and he attends a weekly White House Bible study session led by right-wing pastor Ralph Drollinger, who preaches support for Israel is required by the Scriptures.
"Some Christians claim biblical prophecy requires Israel to exist for Jesus to return," Larson wrote. "But Hegseth’s Bible study leader, preacher Ralph Drollinger, teaches that the reason to support Israel is that God still blesses Israel’s allies and curses Israel’s enemies, even though Israel killed Jesus (this smear, the historic root of antisemitism, has been rejected by every major religion)."
The non-commissioned officer's complaint states that those views were passed down from their commander to troops deployed in their "ready-support" unit, and that individual said the group was troubled by the apocalyptic religious framing of the military operation.
"I and my fellow troops know that it is completely wrong to have to suffer through what our commander said today," that non-commissioned officer said. "It’s not just the separation of church and state as we discussed Mr. Weinstein. It’s the fact that our commander feels as though he is fully supported and justified by the entire (combat unit’s name withheld) chain of command to inflict his Armageddon views of our attack on Iran on those of us beneath him in the chain of command."
