BUCKLE UP — Trump Arrests the One Person Liberals Warned Him to Never Touch
BUCKLE UP — Trump Arrests the One Person Liberals Warned Him to Never Touch
Two Chinese nationals have been charged with acting as agents of the People’s Republic of China’s government
Accused of gathering intelligence on U.S. Navy personnel and bases while recruiting other military members to work for China’s primary foreign intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS).
The Department of Justice announced that Yuance Chen, a resident of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren Lai, who entered Houston on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested. Both face charges related to conducting covert intelligence operations in the U.S. on behalf of the MSS.
In addition to recruiting potential MSS assets and collecting sensitive information on service members and military installations, the two men are also accused of facilitating a “dead drop” cash payment on behalf of the MSS.
The FBI arrested Chen in Happy Valley and Lai in Houston, with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
“Today’s arrests reflect the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protecting our national security and safeguarding the integrity of our military,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News.
“The individuals charged were acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service — part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions,” he continued.
“Thanks to outstanding coordination with our partners, including NCIS, we disrupted those efforts and sent a clear message: the United States will not tolerate espionage on American soil. Our counterintelligence operations remain focused, vigilant, and relentless,” he added.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the Northern District of California, the DOJ stated that the government of the People’s Republic of China conducts intelligence operations against the U.S. through various channels, including the MSS, which handles intelligence gathering on civilians as well as foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, and political security.
The complaint further alleges that Lai recruited Chen to serve the MSS in 2021, Fox reported.
In January 2022, the two men were in Guangzhou, China, where they reportedly coordinated a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 on behalf of the MSS. The operation involved collaborating with accomplices in the U.S. to stash a backpack containing the cash in a day-use locker in Livermore, Calif., Fox continued.
After the cash drop, Lai and Chen continued their work for the MSS, assisting in identifying Navy personnel who might be willing to collaborate with the agency.
The DOJ reported that in 2022 and 2023, the two visited a U.S. Naval facility in Washington State and a Navy recruitment center in San Gabriel, California.
At the recruitment center, Chen allegedly photographed a bulletin board displaying the names, programs, and hometowns of Navy recruits. Most of those listed had “China” noted as their hometown, and the DOJ claims the photos were transmitted to an MSS intelligence officer in China, the Fox report continued.
The DOJ also alleged that the MSS instructed Chen on what to say to potential recruits regarding payments, preferred Navy job assignments, and ways to reduce the risk of Chen being exposed.
According to the complaint, Chen eventually communicated with a Navy member via social media and arranged a tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego with that individual. Chen reportedly sent information about the Navy employee back to the MSS.
The complaint further alleges that Chen traveled to Guangzhou in April 2024 and March 2025 to meet with MSS intelligence officers and discuss compensation for specific assignments, Fox said.
Lai allegedly traveled to Houston in April 2025, stating that the trip was for his online retail business and that he planned to stay for two weeks.
Both Chen and Lai have been charged with acting as agents of a foreign government in the U.S. without notifying the Attorney General. If convicted, they face fines of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison.
Trump ‘Briefed With Options’ Amid Stalled Iran Talks
The Trump administration on Wednesday continued to express optimism about negotiations with Iran, even as Iranian officials insist that no direct talks have taken place, according to reports.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said no face-to-face meeting had occurred in Doha and that no direct negotiations with the United States were currently planned.
Despite Tehran’s position, President Donald Trump described the discussions as “very good,” apparently referring to indirect contacts involving U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through third-party intermediaries.
Vice President JD Vance struck a firmer tone the same day, warning that the United States could escalate its response if Iran refuses to cooperate or takes actions that further destabilize the Middle East.
His remarks underscored the administration’s message that while it remains open to a diplomatic resolution, additional measures remain on the table if negotiations fail.
“If Iran attempts to rebuild its nuclear program, threaten its neighbors and support terrorism, President Trump has options to deal with it,” Vance noted, without elaborating.
Earlier, a Wall Street Journal report claimed that Trump had been briefed on several military options, including “all-out war,” but Trump said he wanted to give diplomacy more time.
Vance additionally stated that the US “dropped bombs on Iran because it fired on ships, and we used leverage to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
He went on to suggest that the U.S. could take that course of action again.
Vance also said the current talks are “to discuss the details and flow of maritime traffic.”
The vice president, addressing U.S. military personnel at a naval base in Virginia on Wednesday, also said that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back decades.
“If you look at what our own intelligence says about their nuclear program, they are further away from developing a nuclear bomb than they have ever been since basically the last 20 or 30 years,” Vance said, though he stopped short of Trump’s claim that the program had been “totally obliterated.”
“What the president asks you to accomplish is to destroy the defense industrial base of that country, so that if they ever decided to rebuild their military, or if they ever decided to rebuild that nuclear program, they would be harmless to do it. You did that exactly as well,” Vance added, per the Times of Israel.
The VP went on to say that Trump is now “negotiating from a position of strength because of you.”
“If the Iranians try to rebuild the nuclear program, the President’s got options. If the Iranians try to threaten their neighbors or fund terrorism, we’ve got options,” Vance continued.
“But what we must never do is drop bombs just for the sake of dropping bombs. And that is what the president will never ask you to do,” Vance added.
“He’ll ask you to go to war, yes. But when he asks you to go to war, he’ll tell you exactly what you’re going for,” the veep noted further.
“And I think that is what you should expect out of your political leadership.”
“What I noticed about the people who are attacking the administration for negotiating is that they are the very same people who, for example, encouraged us to just go a little bit further and just drop a few more bombs in places like Afghanistan,” he said.
“If you go back to the mistakes that were made, those very same people refused to say what we were dropping bombs for,” he added.
“We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago… Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships… We applied some leverage, and we’ve had free commercial transit for the last three days,” Vance told the naval personnel.
