Hegseth Criticizes Europe Over Migration ‘Invasion’ in D-Day Speech 7JUN26

 

SECRETARY of Defense fascist fotze trunt petie lola hegseth proves he is not qualified for the position he holds but is actually a no class loud mouth PUNK. He is more a gang leader than a Sec of Defense, the only position he is qualified for is on his knees licking NOT MY pres drumpf's/trump's ass. From the New York Times.....

Hegseth Criticizes Europe Over Migration ‘Invasion’ in D-Day Speech

The remarks from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reflect many of the Trump administration’s previous assertions on immigrants in Europe, which overlap with the language of European far-right political parties.

By Claire Moses

June 7, 2026

 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a D-Day speech in France on Saturday to criticize Europe over its migration policies, saying that “dangerous ideologies” were storming the continent’s shores, in what he compared to an “invasion.”

On the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history, Mr. Hegseth made the speech at the Normandy American Cemetery before nearly 9,400 graves of American soldiers, most of whom died in the assault on June 6, 1944, and the operations that followed. The anniversary is usually regarded as a time to commemorate unity among Allied countries that fought against Nazi Germany.

In his remarks, Mr. Hegseth said that “freedom is not free” and especially praised the role played by American troops, but said that over the past eight or so decades, some European countries had grown “comfortable.”

“Today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” he said. “Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late?”

The comments appear to reflect the United States’ recently updated national security strategy around the world, which warned that Europe was on a path to becoming “unrecognizable” because of migration policies that it said were undermining the national identities of European countries. The document provoked sharp retorts from across Europe.

Many of the Trump administration’s assertions on immigrants in Europe overlap with the language of far-right political parties in European countries, which have seen an increase in support since a migration crisis that peaked between 2014 and 2016. The European Union’s border agency, Frontex, reported that unauthorized border crossings dropped by a quarter in 2025, continuing a yearslong trend.

On Friday, Vice President JD Vance also criticized European migration policies, when he commented on the 2025 killing in England of Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old who had been handcuffed by police as he lay dying after being stabbed by a man, who was Sikh.

In a post on social media, Mr. Vance blamed Mr. Nowak’s death on “European elites” and “the mass invasion of migrants.” Britain’s government condemned Mr. Vance’s comments, according to the BBC, saying that the vice president was interfering in its democracy and seeking to create further division.

In Mr. Hegseth’s speech on Saturday, he praised American veterans of the D-Day invasion, only a few of whom survive today.

“We owe you a debt of gratitude we can never repay,” he said.

Mr. Hegseth’s speech, his second on this anniversary as defense secretary, also comes against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, which started with Russia’s invasion in 2022. He did not mention that war in his speech.

Claire Moses is a Times reporter in London, focused on coverage of breaking and trending news.

Our Coverage of U.S. Immigration

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• Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia: Abrego Garcia has been saying that he would end his legal fight with the Trump administration if he could be deported to Costa Rica. Markwayne Mullin, the new homeland security secretary, told Congress that his department had no problem sending him there in what appeared to be a change of course for the administration.

• Protesters Convicted: A jury in Spokane, Wash., convicted three anti-ICE demonstrators in a closely watched case that tested the effectiveness of the Trump administration’s effort to use federal conspiracy charges against protesters.

POLITIFACT WEEKLY: GRADING TRUMP'S COGNITIVE TEST CLAIM, This week: The Iran War on view in the Senate… Concert on the National Mall is shrinking… No property tax for 60% of FL homeowners under DeSantis plan?… That video of Trump’s name being removed from the Kennedy Center… ‘Tofu Talarico’? There’s no meat to this Texas race talking point 4JUN26

 

Grading Trump’s cognitive test claim

Cognitive test Trump took screens for signs of dementia, not intelligence levels President Donald Trump recently celebrated what he called an "extremely good" medical examination. In a May 31 Truth Social post, Trump wrote: "The results of my Physical Examination, taken at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, and just released, were extremely good. Unlike other U.S. Presidents, none of whom have ever taken an approved, high difficulty, Cognitive Test, I scored a perfect 30 out of 30, considered ‘extreme intelligence.’ Are the Dumocrats really surprised? In fact, this is my fourth such test, all PERFECT or, 120 correct answers out of 120 questions asked! It is very rare that anyone gets a Perfect Score, especially when achieved four times in a row. All people running for President and Vice President should be forced to take high difficulty Cognitive Tests. Congress, and the Dumocrats, should demand it! President DONALD J. TRUMP" We’ll have to take Trump’s word for it that he scored a 30 out of 30 on the test, which medical experts believe — based on Trump’s own descriptions — is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. (When we asked the White House whether that was the test Trump took, a spokesperson did not dispute it.) Trump reportedly also took the test in 2018 and twice in 2025. But medical experts said Trump inaccurately described the test as measuring intelligence. Instead, it aims to detect signs of cognitive impairment; if the score is low enough, then further testing is recommended. "The test measures cognition," including attention, concentration, language, memory, abstract thinking and calculation skills, said Ziad Nasreddine, a Quebec-based neurologist who created the 10-minute Montreal Cognitive Assessment in 2005. "Cognitive function is correlated with IQ. But the test was not designed to detect the genius level of cognitive performance. It's meant to reassure that cognitive functions are normal." Patients might have to read a list of words and recall them; repeat a list of numbers forward and backward; subtract a one-digit number repeatedly starting from 100; repeat a sentence; draw comparisons between two objects; and know the time of day and their location. Trump garnered attention in 2020 when he told Fox News, "It's like you'll go: Person, woman, man, camera, TV. So they say, ‘Could you repeat that?' So I said, ‘Yeah. So it's person, woman, man, camera, TV.’ ‘Okay, that's very good. If you get it in order, you get extra points.’" (Nasreddine has said that the test has never included that series of words, nor another example Trump has cited involving a giraffe, tiger and whale.) Scores from 26 to 30 are considered normal. Scores below 26 are considered to reflect some form of cognitive impairment, with the degree of impairment increasing as the score drops. Neither Nasreddine nor Ishani Ganguli, a Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine and a primary care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said they would describe the test as "high difficulty," as Trump did.  "A 30/30 score would suggest normal cognitive function, meaning no evidence of cognitive impairment or dementia," Ganguli said.  Neither expert offered specific data on whether a 30 out of 30 is "very rare," but from their own experience, the frequency of a 30-point score is somewhere between "relatively uncommon," as Nasreddine estimated, and "somewhat common," as Ganguli said. "It has to be sufficiently hard to detect early-stage cognitive disorders, and not too hard to decrease the risk of false positives," Nasreddine said. We rate the statement False. — Louis Jacobson

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Fact-checks of the week Talarico attacks Paxton on plea deal arrangement: U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has accused his competitor, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, of being lenient on people who sexually abuse children. On May 28, Talarico’s campaign posted a social media ad on X, stating, "Adam Hoffman abused a little boy for 3 years. He should have faced life in prison — but Ken Paxton and his wealthy lawyer friends let Hoffman off the hook." The statement is accurate but needs additional information. We rate it Mostly True. Adam Dean Hoffman, a Waco attorney, was charged in 2022 with a felony, continuous sexual abuse of a child. The trial ended in a hung jury. State prosecutors in Paxton’s office agreed to a plea deal in which Hoffman pleaded guilty to misdemeanors that did not require him to register as a sex offender. In a signed, written confession, Hoffman said he touched the victim’s genitals with the "intent to arouse or gratify my sexual desire" without the victim’s consent. The war abroad and in Congress: We live fact-checked Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. Rubio faced questions about the U.S. war against Iran, including Trump’s dismissal of high gas prices as “peanuts,” the cost of the war and the status of Iran’s navy. The Secretary of State said “the war is over.” Trump announced a ceasefire in April, but has threatened Iran while negotiations continue. Over three months, Trump has offered contradictory explanations for the war’s timeline and purpose and the status of a peace deal. New Freedom 250 setlist just dropped: Plans for a National Mall concert series celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary fell apart, leaving behind canceled performances and scathing Truth Social posts. On May 27, Freedom 250 — a public-private partnership tasked with celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary — announced a lineup of nine musical acts that would perform June 25 to July 3 in the nation’s capital. But in the days that followed, the majority of the named performers bowed out, with most saying they feared the event had become politicized. The performances had been envisioned as anchor events for "The Great American State Fair" concert series, part of a festival that would showcase the culture and history of every state and six U.S. territories, alongside livestock competitions and a Ferris wheel, Axios reported. Here’s a rundown of how Freedom 250 has evolved. What to know about US military boat strikes as death toll passes 200 Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean during a Senate hearing June 2, saying the Defense Department determined the strikes’  legality and based its decisions on intelligence information. "Every strike has a legal officer on the deck that has to make a determination about whether the call is legal or not, and this is done by the Department of War, the way it's been done in other theaters around the world," Rubio said in response to a question from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., about the criteria to target boats. The U.S. military on May 30 struck another boat it said was engaged in "narco-trafficking operations" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men and increasing the total death toll to 205 people.  The U.S. Southern Command shared footage on X of the boats being blown up, but provided no evidence that the boat was involved in narcotrafficking.  The U.S. military started attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela on Sept. 2; the Trump administration has said it’s part of an effort to thwart drug smuggling. The U.S. has since struck at least 59 boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. In October, President Donald Trump declared that the U.S. is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels and designated some as terrorist organizations.  How many drugs have been seized? Are the strikes legal? Here’s a rundown of our recent fact-checks and stories about the boat strikes. — Maria Briceño Would Ron DeSantis’ plan exempt 60% of Florida homeowners from property taxes? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his long-awaited plan to overhaul the state’s property tax system, saying it would initially eliminate property taxes for 60% of Florida homeowners.  DeSantis’ proposal calls for raising Florida’s threshold for taxing primary residences, or homestead properties, from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028.  This would erase property taxes on primary homes assessed at these values or less. For homes valued at more than $250,000, only the amount above $250,000 would be taxable.  Under the plan, the Legislature would create a schedule to raise the exemption to $500,000 and above, eventually eliminating property taxes on primary homes at any value. Critics said the proposal is a watered-down version of DeSantis’ promise to immediately eliminate all homestead property taxes. DeSantis said the plan has a better chance of passing. "A $250,000 limit — that eliminates property tax for 60% of Florida homeowners," DeSantis said May 27. Raising the threshold to $500,000 means 92% of all homes would be tax free, he said. DeSantis’ figures about how many Florida homeowners would benefit from the plan don’t line up with publicly available state data that breaks down the market values of Florida’s primary homes. The September 2025 data from the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research shows that about 28% of Florida’s homestead properties have a just value (or market value) of $250,000 or below. About 76% of homestead properties are valued at $500,000 or below, although DeSantis said 92% of homes would be exempt from taxes at that price level.  Amy Baker, coordinator at the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, told PolitiFact that Florida's existing property tax reduction programs and exemptions have to be considered to accurately calculate which residences would no longer pay property taxes under the plan.   Florida voters approved the Save Our Homes program in 1992, which caps annual increases on primary residences' taxable value at 3%, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Florida residents also can qualify for property tax exemptions available to military veterans, active-duty military, first responders, low-income senior citizens and disabled people. After those things are calculated, Baker said, the value that is taxable is "just a fraction of the total" value. DeSantis’ plan still has to pass the Legislature by a three-fifths majority and then be approved by 60% of Florida voters in November. The center-left Florida Policy Institute estimated that dropping property taxes on all primary homes would cost local governments about $18.5 billion, which breaks down to $7.8 billion for counties, $3 billion for cities and $7.7 billion for school districts. — Samantha Putterman Quick links to more fact-checks & reports  Three Democrats vying for the U.S. Senate nomination in Michigan sparred over foreign policy, campaign finance and state business development during a May 28 primary debate. We fact-checked their statements. Should you be taking vitamin supplements? Before you spend your money, follow these five steps to find out whether you really need it, or if your body will simply flush it out. Social media users shared a video of workers removing President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center. It was generated with artificial intelligence.  Editor-in-Chief Katie Sanders will be back in your inbox next week. Have questions or ideas for our coverage? Send us an email. Thanks for reading!  Ellen Hine PolitiFact Senior Audience Engagement Producer Send this link to your friends so they can sign up for this email!

Texas lawmakers, advocates demand accountability from AG’s office in Adam Dean Hoffman case & Talarico attacks Paxton on plea deal arrangement & Inside the child sex abuse case that resulted in Ken Paxton’s officer offering a plea deal of just one day in jail 15&28&19MAI26

Waco attorney Adam Hoffman arrested in alleged sexual assault of a child ( KWTX )

TEXAS Attorney General fascist fotze trunt kenny paxton arranging a sweetheart deal for fellow sexual deviant little boy molester adam dean hoffman. It's no surprise NOT MY pres drumpf/trump has endorsed paxton in the 2026 Texas race for US Senate, they have so much in common with drumpf/trump being an adulterer and an alleged child rapist per the epstein files. These from KCEN-TV , PolitiFact and News From The States.....

Polk County Sheriff’s Office makes 266 arrests including "MAGA INFLUENCER" CRAIG LONG & PARDONED 6 JAN 21 RIOTER RYAN YATES during human trafficking and child predator enforcement operation “Polk Around and Find Out” 1MAI26

Ken Paxton Insists God Is Male. The Bible Says Not Quite 2JUN26

Senate GOP expresses frustration, anger, sadness as Trump snubs Cornyn in Texas 20MAI26

Texas AG is caught in shocking sex scandal as details of secret affair with married Christian influencer mom-of-seven are exposed 12SEP25

Texas lawmakers, advocates demand accountability from AG’s office in Adam Dean Hoffman case Texas lawmakers and the victim’s family are calling for accountability in the Adam Dean Hoffman case while pushing for stronger protections for child victims. Author: Julieanna Jackson Published: 5:41 PM CDT May 15, 2026 Updated: 5:41 PM CDT May 15, 2026 WACO, Texas — Texas lawmakers and advocates for the victim’s family are calling for accountability from the Texas Attorney General’s Office in the Adam Dean Hoffman case, while also pushing for legislative changes they say would better protect child victims and prevent similar outcomes in the future. During the press conference, State Representative Pat Curry and State Representative Jeff Leach criticized the handling of the case and announced plans to push for legislative reforms ahead of the next session. “This is a travesty that cannot continue to happen,” Curry said during the conference.  Hoffman accepted a plea deal in a child sex abuse case that sentenced him to 30 days in prison, later doubled to 60, and does not require him to register as a sex offender.  The outcome has sparked outrage from lawmakers, victim advocates and supporters of the victim’s family. Leach called the handling of the case one of the most troubling he has seen. “A Texas boy was systematically and repeatedly horrifically abused… by Adam Hoffman,” Leach said.  Leach also called on the Attorney General’s Office to publicly address the case. “The Attorney General should own it," Leach said. "He should apologize to the family, to the victim and to the people of Texas for what happened in that case." Lawmakers said they are now looking at possible changes to state law, including mandatory sex offender registration for people who admit to child sex crimes and stronger protections for child victims during testimony.  During the press conference, advocates for the victim’s family handed out a letter from the victim’s mother criticizing how authorities handled the case. In part, the letter read: “Why are the people in charge of protecting us getting away with this? My son deserved protection. Instead, authorities protected the abuser. Ken Paxton must be held accountable.”  Family supporters said they hope the case leads to long-term changes that better protect children across Texas. “We’ve got to do better," family spokesperson Melissa Dietrich said. "Why are we not protecting our children? Our first thought was 'he’s gonna do this again.'”  Curry said lawmakers plan to continue working with victim advocacy groups, prosecutors and legal experts before the next legislative session. Talarico attacks Paxton on plea deal arrangement: U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has accused his competitor, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, of being lenient on people who sexually abuse children. On May 28, Talarico’s campaign posted a social media ad on X, stating, "Adam Hoffman abused a little boy for 3 years. He should have faced life in prison — but Ken Paxton and his wealthy lawyer friends let Hoffman off the hook." The statement is accurate but needs additional information. We rate it Mostly True. Adam Dean Hoffman, a Waco attorney, was charged in 2022 with a felony, continuous sexual abuse of a child. The trial ended in a hung jury. State prosecutors in Paxton’s office agreed to a plea deal in which Hoffman pleaded guilty to misdemeanors that did not require him to register as a sex offender. In a signed, written confession, Hoffman said he touched the victim’s genitals with the "intent to arouse or gratify my sexual desire" without the victim’s consent.

Inside the child sex abuse case that resulted in Ken Paxton’s officer offering a plea deal of just one day in jail May 19, 2026 | 6:00 am ET By Neena Satija, The Texas Newsroom, Taylor Goldenstein, and Molly-Jo Tilton, KWBU  WACO — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under fire for a plea deal his prosecutors offered last month to a Waco man charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy. The deal in the case, which Paxton’s office took over about three years ago after the locally elected district attorney recused himself, would have let the man plead guilty to two misdemeanors and serve a total of just one day in jail. Now Paxton, locked in a heated primary to be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, is facing criticism from political opponents who say his office was too lenient toward the man, who admitted that he molested the victim. This comes even as Paxton has built a reputation attacking local district attorneys for being too soft on crime. “Predators who commit these crimes tend to repeat them over and over again, until stopped,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who Paxton is seeking to oust in the primary, recently posted on X. “Paxton could have stopped this one, but instead cut him loose to reoffend over and over again, putting more children at risk.” State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican who has endorsed Cornyn’s reelection, sent a letter to Paxton’s office earlier this month calling the deal “incomprehensible” and demanding answers. Paxton’s office did not respond to emailed questions for this story. A spokesperson pointed to a letter that two of his prosecutors who worked on the case sent to Leach last week, in which they explained that the case went to trial last year but ended in a hung jury, and the young victim did not want to testify a second time. “The child emphasized that he preferred to move on with his life and prioritize his mental and emotional health,” wrote the prosecutors, Brenda Cantu and Dorian Cotlar. Beyond Paxton’s immediate political rivals, the deal has attracted criticism from local officials in Waco, including the McLennan County district attorney, a state representative from the area and even the judge presiding over the matter. “One day. Seriously? Somebody has to sell me on the wisdom of it,” said Judge Roy Sparkman, according to a transcript of an April 16 hearing. Sparkman, a visiting judge who previously served on the bench as a Republican, later insisted on a 60-day jail sentence. The mother of the victim agreed to an early version of the plea deal in court, but said in an interview that she now disagrees with the outcome. “We were put in an impossible situation,” said the mother, who The Texas Tribune and The Texas Newsroom are not naming to protect the identity of the victim. ”How do you trust the prosecution to go back to a case that they want to plead out when they’re the ones that are supposed to fight for it, and they don’t want to do it?” The Texas Newsroom and the Tribune examined hundreds of pages of court documents related to the Waco case and conducted more than a dozen interviews, including with people close to the case as well as experts who were not involved in it but reviewed some of the details. The experts said the outcome reflects the difficult nature and often-painful reality of prosecuting complex child abuse cases. “I do really love getting life or 50 years in a case when I feel like it’s appropriate,” said Angela Weltin, chief of the Special Victims Bureau for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “But there are times when I have to dismiss the case even when I know they committed this offense, because I can’t prove it and I can’t re-traumatize that child.” The controversy over the case has raised fresh questions about whether Texas’ top lawyer is living up to his own hardline stance on criminal prosecutions. Critics are pointing to two other serious felony cases that the attorney general’s prosecutors took to trial that ended in mistrials and, eventually, plea deals.  For instance, attack ads from Cornyn’s allies highlight the case of a man originally charged with child sex trafficking who received a deal for a probation sentence. And Sparkman brought up another case in open court last month, noting that Paxton had also taken over a murder-for-hire case that he oversaw, which resulted in a misdemeanor plea and a four-day jail sentence. “I’m seeing a pattern here that is concerning me,” Sparkman said, referring to the way Paxton’s office prosecutes cases. “If they get a mistrial, all of a sudden it’s just a little misdemeanor with a slap on the hand.” Court records show that all three cases drawing scrutiny began as high-level felony charges and ended in mistrials. All were eventually resolved with plea deals resulting in little to no jail time. And in each case, the judge presiding over the deal insisted on a harsher punishment than what Paxton’s office originally proposed. In some ways, the controversies Paxton is facing mark the inevitable collision of tough-on-crime political rhetoric with the daily, often messy realities of the courtroom – and they come as Paxton has sought more authority over local prosecutors. Some are now suing him over a rule he announced last year requiring them to send his office detailed reports on their activities. One of them is Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick, a Republican. “I can’t speak to the result in this specific case without having all the facts, but it is ironic that Paxton is now facing criticism for this outcome when he frequently criticizes the work of local prosecutors who are faced with these difficult decisions daily,” Dick said in an interview. A hung jury Last summer, two prosecutors from the attorney general’s office stood in a Waco courtroom and acknowledged that jurors had a difficult task in front of them. The defendant, a local attorney named Adam Dean Hoffman, stood accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy for years. The boy had told an investigator that Hoffman raped him and showed him pornography, court records show. And he talked about his suffering on the witness stand in detail during the trial. “Think about this kiddo and what this kid went through at age 8, and 9, and 10,” Cotlar said during the closing arguments, later adding, “He’s not lying, and you know that because he’s so specific.” But there were complicating factors for the jury to consider. The victim’s revelation about his abuse came after he was caught “acting out sexually” with his cousin, Cotlar said. He’d also recanted parts of his testimony during the trial, including a claim that he saw guns in Hoffman’s home. Experts say it’s not uncommon for young victims of such abuse to become perpetrators soon afterward. Nor is it out of the ordinary for children to offer conflicting accounts – especially if they’re testifying years later. In this case, the trial happened three years after the boy made the first accusation. But the reality is that in child abuse cases, the child’s testimony is often the only evidence that’s available, said Weltin, the Harris County prosecutor. And so if it’s inconsistent, that can create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors. Waco authorities had also botched a key part of the initial police investigation, well before Paxton’s office was involved in the case. Instead of a child abuse expert, a police officer interviewed the boy about what he went through, which experts say is a clear departure from best practice. “Was this the perfect way to conduct this investigation? No, it was not, and we own that,” Cotlar told jurors during closing arguments. “The case comes as it comes.” In the end, jurors could not deliver a verdict. “Deliberations are not productive at this point,” the lead juror wrote in a note to the judge after the jury had deliberated for nine hours. The note also said that five jurors were leaning toward a “not guilty” verdict, while seven felt that the boy’s testimony, as well as that of forensic experts, “were enough to prove guilt.” Prosecutors were left with three options – dismiss the case, negotiate a plea agreement or take the case to trial again, which would have required the victim to take the witness stand once more. “It was horrible,” his mother recalled in an interview. Her son had been forced to talk about “the most horrible things that have ever happened in his life, in a room full of strangers and the person that did it, and he didn’t want to do it again.” About 10 months after the first trial resulted in a hung jury, the mother said prosecutors met with her and her son. They explained that they wanted to drop the felony charge of “continuous sexual abuseof a young child” and allow Hoffman to plead guilty to two misdemeanors: “indecent assault” and “display of harmful materials to a minor.” As part of the indecent assault plea, Hoffman agreed to make a statement that he “did then and there, with the intent to arouse or gratify my sexual desire, touch genitals of [the victim, identified by initials] … and I acted without the complainant’s consent.” Crucially, Hoffman was legally admitting to abusing an individual whose age is not specified in the plea documents. That crime does not require him to register as a sex offender. And prosecutors were agreeing to a jail sentence of “time served,” which included the one day in jail Hoffman had spent following his initial arrest before he bonded out. “I said I had to think about it and pray about it,” the mother said, describing her response to prosecutors during the meeting. The prosecutors then told her, “they represent the state, not us, and that they can do it without me … but they would like me to agree,” she recalled. Reluctantly, she agreed. But the judge did not. When the prosecution and defense convened on April 16 to announce the deal, Sparkman balked. “Somebody want to explain this to me?” he asked, according to the transcript. “Judge, there were ongoing discussions with multiple members of the defense team as well as the state reviewing the state of the evidence, reviewing the anticipated trauma on the victim,” Cantu, one of the prosecutors, responded. “My inclination is not to accept a one-day sentence,” Sparkman said, before calling a short recess. When everyone returned, Cantu pitched a new agreement: Hoffman would spend 30 days in jail and surrender his Texas law license. She also noted there was a “lifetime protective order” barring him from any contact with the victim. Sparkman asked the boy’s mother if she and her son wanted the court to accept the plea recommendation. “Yes, your honor,” she responded. “All right,” Sparkman said. “The Court obviously has some reservations, but I want to respect the family’s wish.” But Sparkman’s final decision wouldn’t come until a formal sentencing hearing the following week. “This isn’t justice” In the days after the plea hearing, protesters marched in front of the McLennan County courthouse. District Attorney Josh Tetens had recused himself from the case years earlier because Hoffman had briefly sought Tetens’ counsel back when he was a defense attorney. But after news of the deal went public, the outcry was so intense he began issuing statements and responding to Facebook commenters, reminding them: “Our office did not prosecute this case, it was the Texas Attorney General’s office.” In another post he said that his office “shares the public’s concern and frustration over how the Hoffman case was resolved.” “I cannot — and we’ve racked our brains — cannot think of anything in recent history that was put down to a misdemeanor from that level of offense,” said Tetens, a Republican, in an interview. The public discussion made enough waves that Sparkman addressed it directly at the sentencing hearing on April 27. “I understand this has gotten some attention, which is good,” he said, before going on to ask the victim’s mother once again if she agreed to the proposed outcome in the case. “No,” she answered, adding, “It’s just not enough. He’s dangerous. This isn’t justice, and I can’t do it.” Sparkman asked her why her answer had changed. “My son just still doesn’t want to testify again, but 30 days isn’t enough,” she responded. Sparkman responded by upping the sentence to 60 days. Hoffman’s defense lawyer accepted the deal on the spot. “Not my first go-round” Before adjourning, Sparkman aired one last concern. “I’m also bothered because this is not my first go-round with the Attorney General’s Office,” he said, noting the similarities between this outcome and an unrelated case that happened to involve serious criminal charges against a different Waco defense attorney, Seth Sutton. Court records show that back in 2020, Waco authorities accused Sutton of hiring a hit man to kill someone he believed had molested his stepdaughter. The hit man turned out to be an undercover police officer who was investigating Sutton’s motorcycle club for possible gang activity. Sutton was charged with “criminal solicitation of capital murder,” a first-degree felony that could lead to life in prison. But because one of Sutton’s former colleagues had gone to work for the McLennan district attorney, the office recused itself from the case and Paxton’s prosecutors took over. Court records show it wasn’t Sutton’s idea to hire a hit man; rather, the police officer volunteered to carry out the murder for him. And he’d also continued the undercover operation even after his supervisors ordered him to stop. The trial ended in a hung jury, and a few days later, prosecutors signaled their intent to go to a second trial, according to court records. But the following year, they agreed to dismiss the felony charge, and Sutton pleaded guilty to “terroristic threat,” a misdemeanor. He surrendered his law license and got a four-day jail sentence. Sparkman had also presided over those proceedings and insisted on a harsher plea deal, demanding that Sutton be required to wait three years to re-apply for a law license, instead of being able to re-apply immediately, according to local TV station KWTX. “I can tell you that we, Mr. Cotlar and I, had nothing to do with this other prior case,” Cantu told Sparkman, after he compared it to Hoffman’s deal. “There is no sort of system that is put in place where anybody tells us what to do in our cases … We evaluate them as a team based on the evidence and based on the limitations of our evidence.” The AG’s office did not respond to a request for comment on this case. Sutton’s attorney, Clint Broden, said in an interview that he did not view the case as indicative of larger problems with Paxton’s office. Instead, he said the jury couldn’t make a decision because he’d effectively argued that the undercover police officer had placed enormous pressure on Sutton to solicit the murder, essentially entrapping him. “He’s sworn to uphold the law, and then he’s pushing you to take actions into your own hands, and that certainly did not create a good look for some people on the jury,” Broden said. In a statement, Sutton said he was “enraged” by the suggestion that his case bears any similarities to the others, adding: “I hurt no one. I scared no one. I only accepted a reduced deal to shield my family from another trial.” Questions about a third case The Hoffman plea deal has also raised questions about Paxton’s role in a third plea deal that was highlighted in a campaign attack ad paid for by a pro-Cornyn super PAC. In that Bexar County case, authorities charged Rakim Sharkey in 2017 with aggravated promotion of prostitution, accusing him of holding two girls and an adult woman against their will and forcing them to do sexual acts for money. Like the Hoffman and Sutton cases, Sharkey’s deal was also cut after a 2022 mistrial, that time because people in the courtroom, including a key witness, contracted COVID-19. Sharkey had faced up to life in prison, but under a plea deal the following year with the attorney general’s office, he instead was placed on probation and avoided having to register as a sex offender. The judge also insisted on a more punitive sentence than prosecutors originally proposed, upping the probation sentence by two years. Two years later, in 2025, Sharkey was rearrested for a series of felonies, including first-degree felony burglary, and his probation was revoked, court records show. He is now serving a 22-year prison sentence. Kirsta Leeburg Melton, a veteran prosecutor who led Paxton’s human trafficking division from 2015 to 2019, worked on the case extensively before she left the office and said she was sickened by the outcome. Melton said an attorney general’s prosecutor falsely told the court that key witnesses were unavailable for a second trial. One had testified in an unrelated trafficking case just the week prior, she said. Paxton’s office did not respond to questions about this case. “Sharkey’s case was an extremely well investigated, well-corroborated human trafficking case, and frankly, you’re not going to get better evidence,” said Melton, who in 2012 had established and led Bexar County’s first human trafficking unit. Melton, who is now running for Hays County district attorney as an independent, said she sees that outcome as “distinct” from the Hoffman case, however. “You’ve got to be willing to go to trial on hard cases, to work with victims who have been through serious trauma and to see that justice is done,” Melton said. “The prosecutor who agreed to give Sharkey probation on a severely reduced offense instead of taking the case to trial when he had victims willing to cooperate walked away from that obligation.” The Sharkey case came at a time when the AG’s human trafficking unit had come under public scrutiny for bungled cases amid high turnover, including the loss of top experts like Melton. Despite human trafficking cases skyrocketing during the pandemic, the unit did not secure a single conviction or deferred adjudication in 2020 and produced just four in 2021, the Houston Chronicle reported. Last year, Texas’ Republican-led Legislature expanded Paxton’s ability to prosecute human trafficking cases. A new law allows the attorney general’s office to pursue the cases if local prosecutors don’t do so within six months. State Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, said in an interview that the legislation was about securing the state’s “long-term future” for public safety, regardless of who serves as attorney general. However, he said he’s now worried about Paxton’s office taking over child sex abuse cases. “Frankly, with the mistakes that I believe were made in [the Hoffman] case, I will tell you that no, I don’t think I want to give them any more power over cases like this.” “Messiness of practicing trial law” A week before Election Day, the firestorm over the Hoffman case has turned into a political liability for Paxton and has prompted a virtual pit fight between his detractors and his allies. Tom Giovanetti, the president of the Dallas-based conservative think tank Institute for Policy Innovation and a Cornyn supporter, called the Hoffman outcome “an Epstein-style deal” in a post on X. Republican state Rep. Mitch Little, Paxton’s former defense attorney during his impeachment trial and a supporter of Paxton’s Senate campaign, has repeatedly defended the AG’s office online while accusing critics of exploiting the case for “political leverage.” “This is the messiness of practicing trial law,” Little said in an interview. “The emotions on cases like these run so hot, and rightfully so, that it’s very difficult to know where this lands.” Neena Satija is a reporter for The Texas Newsroom, the collaboration among the public radio stations in the state. She is based at KUT in Austin. Taylor Goldenstein is a reporter in Austin for The Texas Tribune. Molly-Jo Tilton is a reporter at the public radio station KWBU in Waco. Published on Texas Tribune   Austin, TX