Multiple people are dead and many more injured after a man opened fire at a Michigan church, President Donald Trump orders troops to Portland, and the FBI admits there were agents in the crowd on J6.
It’s Monday, September 29, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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Church Attacked In Michigan
Topline: Tragedy rocked a small town in Michigan after a man targeted a Mormon church on Sunday, opening fire on the congregants and leaving the building ablaze.
The horrific attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc left the church completely engulfed in flames. Grand Blanc is a small community of about 8,000 people and a suburb of Flint, about 50 miles from Detroit.
The shooting occurred around 10:30 a.m. ET, while the church was in service. Hundreds of people were worshiping when the gunman rammed his truck into the building. He then opened fire on congregants, shooting at least 10 people. At some point, the church was set on fire; officials believe the fire was intentionally set by the suspect, perhaps using an accelerant such as gasoline.
According to police, the gunman was killed in a shootout with authorities. At least four people have been confirmed killed, not including the gunman, and multiple others were wounded. Officials have stated that they fear the casualty count will rise due to the fire.
The gunman: The shooter was a 40-year-old man from Burton, Michigan, just a few miles from the church, according to police.
A pickup truck was used to ram through the church. Reports say that the vehicle had two large American flags in the cab. Other reports have said the suspect is an Iraq War veteran.
Authorities said they have targeted the gunman’s home with search warrants and are going through cell phone records to find out more about the motive.
Step back: This comes a month after the deadly shooting that targeted the Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota.
Washington reacts: President Donald Trump issued a statement saying that this “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.” He asked that Americans “PRAY for the victims, and their families,” and added, quote, “THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel also responded quickly, confirming that federal agents were on the scene to assist local authorities. Patel added that “violence in a place of worship is a cowardly and criminal act.”
Trump To Deploy Troops To Portland
Topline: President Trump continues to take his crime crackdown nationwide, announcing plans to deploy troops to Portland to protect ICE facilities.
President Trump is clearly feeling emboldened to expand his efforts after the successful operation in DC. Now, he is looking for similar results in Portland, Oregon, a city ravaged by crime and violent political riots over the last five years.
Writing on Truth Social on Saturday, the president announced: “At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland … I am authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
Why Portland? Trump says the city is the epicenter of activity for “Antifa,” the far-left political movement that has been linked to riots and violent demonstrations for years now.
Militants have repeatedly laid siege to ICE processing facilities in the city, attacking agents with rocks, fireworks, and smoke grenades, blocking entrances, setting fires, and even doxxing federal agents, posting their home addresses on message boards and flyers around the city, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In response to that violence in Portland and elsewhere, last week, Trump issued an executive order saying, “I hereby designate Antifa as a ‘domestic terrorist organization.’” calling it a “militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government” while using a “campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.”
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said earlier this month: “The Antifa riots, the attacks on ICE officers, the doxxing campaigns, and now the political assassinations. These are not lone, isolated events. This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism. It is structured and sophisticated, well-funded, it is well planned … It is terrorism on our soil.”
Portland pushes back: Flyers were reportedly posted around the city, calling on members to “Squad up. Make travel plans. Bring PPE and your unhinged Portland energy.”
Democratic lawmakers in the city have doubled down on their opposition to Trump — the city’s official website has a permanent banner at the very top that reads “Portland is a sanctuary city.” The site links to an anti-ICE hotline and reassures residents that local law enforcement will not cooperate with federal immigration agents. Over the weekend, Democratic lawmakers from across the city decried Trump’s efforts as authoritarian, saying they had things under control.
Oregon Democratic Governor Tina Kotek said on Saturday: “Portland and the state of Oregon believe in the rule of law, and we can manage our own local public safety needs. There is no insurrection, there is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city. They are not needed here.”
On Sunday, Oregon and Portland filed a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration in an effort to block the deployment of the state’s National Guard. Their suit claimed in part, “Far from promoting public safety, Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry.”
January 6th Revelations
Topline: The FBI placed hundreds of plainclothes agents in the crowd around the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The years-long refusal by the FBI to acknowledge those 274 agents until now has raised many questions about past bureau leadership.
Trump weighs in: President Trump aired some frustration on his Truth Social account on Saturday. He wrote, “This is different from what [former FBI Director Christopher Wray] stated, over and over again!” Trump lumped in Wray with former FBI Director James Comey as two officials who “got caught lying.” The president later told NBC News that he “would certainly imagine” that Wray is being investigated by the Justice Department.
The new sheriff: FBI Director Kash Patel clarified that the plainclothes agents were sent in “against FBI standards” after the riot had started for crowd control, and that “[t]his was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.”
The hot seat: Wray is facing numerous questions, even from rank-and-file FBI agents who were present at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. An after-action report revealed to Congress last week lists a host of issues that agents have had with FBI leadership. Several agents have expressed concerns that politics had deeply influenced the bureau’s mission over the course of Comey and Wray’s tenures.
Another indictment?: Republican Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona said Wray “will be held accountable” and pointed to an exchange he had with Wray in 2023:
BIGGS: I thought I heard you say you didn’t know whether there were FBI agents or informants or human sources in the Capitol or in the vicinity on January 6th. Did I misunderstand you? I thought that’s what you said.
WRAY: I referred very specifically to undercover agents.
BIGGS: And so are you acknowledging, then, there were undercover agents?
WRAY: As I sit here right now, I do not believe there were undercover agents on scene.
Worth noting: If it comes to an indictment, some have disputed that “plainclothes” is synonymous with “undercover.” Additionally, Wray made it clear that he believed his statements to be true, but stopped short of explicitly stating they were true. This ambiguity underscores that, regardless of the frustration over the FBI, perjury cases are challenging to win convictions in.