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An illegal immigrant serving a lengthy prison sentence for the murder of a Michigan woman is suing President Donald Trump, alleging he faced humiliation when his case was used as a political talking point, and is demanding $75 million, a public apology, and U.S. citizenship.

Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 27, who was previously deported from the United States, is serving a sentence of 39 to 102 years in prison for killing Ruby Garcia in March 2024.

Garcia’s body had several gunshot wounds and was found dumped along a road in Grand Rapids. The pair were in a romantic relationship and were engaged in an argument at the time of the slaying.

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In a handwritten complaint filed in federal court, Ortiz-Vite named Trump and White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Steven Cheung as defendants.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.

Ortiz-Vite’s case garnered national attention and was highlighted when Trump, who made combating illegal immigration a large part of his campaign, visited Grand Rapids in 2024. During his remarks, Trump labeled Ortiz-Vite as “America’s problem.”

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He also featured Ortiz-Vite’s mugshot in commercials as an example of the “murderers, rapists , and drug traffickers” who resided illegally in the United States, The Midwesterner reported.

He was mocked by prison staff and other inmates, he said.

“I was put into a category. Who I was as a person no longer mattered! What only mattered was my race,” Ortiz-Vite wrote. “My case and immigration status! Once again, it belittled me, shattered my dignity and what I was as a person.”

“The shame it brought to my family name is a reality I have to live with now,” he added. “I took full responsibility for my actions but for them to use my case for political gain on TV was unjust. Humiliating. When I thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. I was center stage in front of a nation, public scrutiny at its finest!”

Ortiz-Vite, who acted as his own attorney, said his case came under intense media coverage, resulting in him living in a “nightmare”.

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“It all became clear to me when I first met with my court-appointed attorneys. They explained how my case had now gotten blown out of proportion and was now a high-profile case!” he wrote. “The shock in their eyes and the tears from mine were a reaction to my realization that I was living everyone’s worst nightmare! To be publicly infamous—a target! To the United States of America, from here everything went downhill. I was now labeled a cold-blooded murderer in the eyes of the people of this nation.”

“The anxiety and despair I felt compares to no other,” he added.

Matthew Borgula, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed, citing a range of facotrs, including presidential immunity. 

“Federal law requires courts to screen prisoner suits before anyone is served. This complaint will likely not survive that screening,” Borgula told Fox News Digital. “Also, Presidential immunity covers official acts, and campaign statements can fall outside it — but this suit fails for more basic reasons.”

Borgula noted that Trump’s statements on the Ortiz-Vite’s case were “substantially true, and being publicly embarrassed by a politician isn’t a constitutional violation. This case should end before it begins.” 

Tudor Dixon, a former Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate, called the lawsuit an example of arrogance and entitlement.

“As long as we have Democrats jetting to other countries to coddle criminal illegal aliens over margaritas, this level of arrogance and entitlement from convicted murderers will continue,” Dixon told Fox News Digital. “It’s time lawmakers stand with the Ruby Garcias of the world instead of her killer.”

After entering the U.S. illegally, Ortiz-Vite remained under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program until his status expired on May 10, 2019, MLive.com reported.

He was deported following a 2020 arrest for driving while intoxicated. It was unclear when he re-entered the U.S. illegally.

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The complaint didn’t cite any legal violations, instead blaming Trump for labeling him as an example of the Biden administration’s border policies.

Ortiz-Vite eventually said he “stood tall” and took responsibility for his actions.

“Because I was remorseful for my actions on the 26th, I turned myself in and confessed to the murder of my partner at the time,” he wrote. “Knowing the consequences it would bring, I stood tall and was respectful when asked about the actions that took place on the night of March 24th, 2024.”

He is seeking $75 million, a public apology, and “naturalization to this beautiful country.”

Despite its lack of merit, Borgula, the lawyer, noted that the lawsuit appears to be a window into what it’s like to become a talking point in a national campaign. 

“While the plaintiff may feel aggrieved, I don’t see that a federal court can offer a remedy,” he said. “He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Once you’ve done that, absent overturning the conviction, I don’t see a legal avenue for collecting damages on a theory that your conviction was unfair.”

The congressional fight over birthright citizenship shifted to the U.S. territories this week after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s effort to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present.

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said a Senate proposal as well as the overall birthright citizenship debate leaves untouched the five inhabited U.S. territories, where citizenship at birth was established by federal law rather than directly under the Fourteenth Amendment.

“The ‘Barbara’ decision leaves open the door for Congressional action on citizenship in the American territories,” Griffith said in introducing the End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act, referring to the Supreme Court’s recent birthright citizenship ruling.

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“Because of the current birthright laws in place in the territories, any child born in a U.S. territory minus American Samoa, regardless of a parent’s nationality, accesses U.S. citizenship automatically.”

Four of the five U.S. territories – the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) would be covered by Griffith’s bill. American Samoans are not automatically conferred U.S. citizenship upon birth.

“This bill should stop the so-called ‘birth tourism’ that is taking place in the American territories,” Griffith said.

SEN ERIC SCHMITT SEEKS TO END BIRTH TOURISM, REVOKE CITIZENSHIP FOR BABIES OF FOREIGN DIPLOMATS

Congress established birthright citizenship in most territories by statute, and Griffith argues it therefore has the authority to revise those laws.

“Accordingly, I am leading the charge in Congress to rectify this problem, clarify U.S. citizenship laws in the territories and combat foreign nationals who are exploiting loopholes in our citizenship laws to take advantage of U.S. generosity.”

After the federal government assumed control of CNMI immigration in 2009, DHS used parole authority to permit eligible Chinese and Russian visitors to enter the islands without visas — a policy critics say facilitated birth tourism.

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That change led CNMI to be “flooded with so-called birth tourists” in what a New York Post report described as a “tropical maternity ward” of citizens ripe to reach voting age around 2030.

Residents of the five inhabited territories cannot vote in the presidential general election while living there, though they participate in party presidential nominating contests. Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and CNMI elect House delegates, while Puerto Rico elects a resident commissioner. None may vote on final passage of legislation on the House floor.

Federal prosecutors shut down one of the CNMI’s largest commercial birth-tourism operations during the first Trump administration.

Prosecutors said one individual, Sen Sun, operated a lucrative birth-tourism business on Saipan that “illegally employed dozens of caretakers… all Chinese nationals… without work authorization,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Guam and CNMI. Sun pleaded guilty to harboring illegal aliens.

Griffith’s bill relies partly on the Insular Cases, a group of early-20th-century Supreme Court decisions addressing how constitutional protections apply in U.S. territories.

Lower courts later applied that territorial framework in citizenship cases, including the D.C. Circuit’s 2015 decision in Tuaua v. United States, which held that the Citizenship Clause does not confer birthright citizenship on people born in American Samoa.

Asked about Griffith’s bill and the recent reports on birth tourism in her territory, Del. Kimberlyn King-Hinds, R-CNMI, said she supports securing U.S. borders and stopping anyone who “tries to abuse America’s immigration laws.”

“If someone is exploiting our immigration system, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I have zero tolerance for fraud or abuse,” King-Hinds said.

However, she claimed Griffith’s bill is targeting the wrong people – noting the 2009 shift in territorial immigration authority to the federal government.

King-Hinds said that with people admitted to CNMI under federal oversight, Congress should strengthen enforcement rather than “single-out” Americans living there.

King-Hinds said CNMI has a unique relationship with the mainland through what is called its “Covenant” – a negotiated agreement she said deserves “careful consideration” before Congress adjusts rights granted to people born there.

“I am also deeply concerned about creating one standard of citizenship for Americans born in the fifty states and another for Americans born in the territories. The people of the CNMI have disproportionately and proudly served in our Armed Forces, contributed to this nation, and lived as loyal Americans for generations. They should not become the testing ground for policies that Congress cannot or will not apply elsewhere.”

“I stand ready to work with my colleagues to accomplish those goals, but I will always fight to protect the rights of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands,” she said.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Dels. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., Pablo Jose Fernandez, D-P.R., and James Moylan, R-Guam, for comment.

In the 2022 case United States v. Vaello Madero, the Supreme Court upheld Congress’ exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from the Supplemental Security Income program. Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed with the judgment but wrote separately to argue that the Insular Cases should be overruled.

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“A century ago in the Insular Cases, this court held that the federal government could rule Puerto Rico and other territories largely without regard to the Constitution. It is past time to acknowledge the gravity of this error and admit what we know to be true,” Gorsuch wrote – potentially setting up another court battle, should Griffith’s bill gain further steam.

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Other critics have countered that if territorial residents want full rights, they should actively pursue statehood as Alaska and Hawaii did in the modern era.

Griffith’s proposal could force Congress and the courts to confront how much authority lawmakers retain over citizenship rules in the territories.

Fox News Digital’s Robert Schmad contributed to this report.

With the House facing a jam-packed final week before August recess, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is making clear lawmakers won’t leave Washington until they finish their work.

Asked by Fox News on Monday whether he would send the House home early if GOP leaders failed to win a critical vote slated for Tuesday afternoon that would tee up consideration of several major bills, Johnson had a quick three-word response.

“I will not,” he said.

The speaker’s comments come as he attempts this week to put a GOP-authored stock trading ban on the floor along with a stopgap spending measure funding the government through the midterm elections, while bringing a must-pass annual defense policy bill up for a second time.

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GOP leaders are also racing to pass a $95 billion budget framework providing for $73 billion in defense and intelligence funding as the Iran war drags on while also funding agriculture and election integrity priorities. The Trump-endorsed blueprint has spurred criticism from fiscal conservatives, who argue it lacks spending offsets.

The first test comes Monday evening when the House Rules Committee is expected to report out a rule setting up a chamber-wide procedural vote on the legislative items Tuesday.

Given House Republicans’ slim margins, Johnson can afford to lose just three GOP defections if all members are present and voting.

House conservatives have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to vote down party-line procedural votes this year over various concerns, including frustration over the SAVE America Act stalling in the Senate.

“The fact that there is no payfor and no language defunding Planned Parenthood is enough for me to vote no,” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a fiscal hawk, told Fox News Digital on Monday, regarding the budget framework.

Trump urged Republicans in a Truth Social post Monday to support the budget plan, arguing it would include as much of the election measure “as possible.”

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Burlison has voiced concern about getting elements of the SAVE America Act through the Senate’s stringent budget reconciliation requirements — a process in which the Senate parliamentarian plays an outsize role.

“I am open to a dialogue with the administration on how we can ensure that the SAVE language is solid and what we might be able to do with stopping abortions by mail,” he told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Monday that Congress should stay in Washington until a short-term funding package and the SAVE America Act reach Trump’s desk.

“After this week, the House and Senate won’t be in session at the same time again until SEPTEMBER 14 if we keep the current schedule,” he wrote on social media. “That’s insane. We STILL need to pass the SAVE America Act and prevent Democrats from shutting down the government in October.”

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“This would NOT fly in the business world. We need to stay here until we get ALL our work done. That’s what the American people expect of us,” he continued.

Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., wants to make her role as caretaker for her brother’s seat in the Senate permanent.

Graham, who was appointed to finish off the remainder of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s term, is officially entering the special election to claim the Republican nomination in South Carolina after a push from President Donald Trump.

Graham, during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, acknowledged the “tremendous amount of pressure” to take over the position and run.

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“I feel like I can do it, I feel an inner peace about it,” Graham said. “Will it be difficult? Yes.”

When asked if she had made a decision on what she would do, she told Hannity she had.

“I’m in,” Graham said.

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Her addition to the growing roster of hopefuls to replace the late lawmaker will likely shake up the race less than one day before candidates can begin officially filing to run for the nomination.

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So far, Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Russell Fry, R-S.C., and businessman Mark Lynch have all publicly committed to running. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has strongly suggested that she’ll throw her hat into the arena, too.

Far-left political influencer Hasan Piker sparked heated backlash over the weekend after addressing a group of college students wearing an outfit resembling the wardrobe of former communist dictator Mao Zedong.

“No more to Trumpism, but no more to the Democrats who compromise, who conciliate, and who betray us,” Piker said to applause at the 2026 College Democrats of America summer convention in a clip that was widely shared on social media, including by the account DSA Watch, which called the appearance a “Hitler style speech” and was viewed over a million times.

Piker continued, “No more to the fascist reactionaries, but no more to the Democrats who will collaborate and cooperate with the fascists, who will fund ICE, who will fund Israel, who will help poison the planet, who will stiff workers and help bosses.”

The appearance, and specifically the Mao-style suit, generated instant outrage on social media.

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“Hasan Piker dressed as Mao, brainwashing your kids at college,” former Los Angeles mayoral candidate and reality TV star Spencer Pratt posted on X. “They’re communists. This was always communism. “

Pratt added, “Mao killed more people than Hitler. If Hasan Piker had dressed like a Nazi, we’d have an appropriate outrage. But because commies have infiltrated all our institutions & lied about how evil they are, we don’t get the National Socialists were no worse than all other socialists. “

“We can all agree that dressing up as Mao while preaching this faculty lounge cosplay communism is a little on the nose, right? ” GOP strategist Matt Whitlock posted on X.

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Atlantic Council senior fellow Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib responded on X saying, “The transformation of Hasan Piker is nearing completion: dressed up as Chairman Mao whom he called ‘one of the great leaders of this world who changed the entire universe,’ he & his followers are attempting a cultural takeover of the Democratic Party, which is letting them in.”

“Serious issues aside, it remains funny to me the amount of costumery required to be a Leftist in good standing,” CNN political commentator Scott Jennings posted on X.

Piker, who has previously expressed admiration for Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist revolutionary whose policies historians estimate contributed to the deaths of tens of millions of people, responded to the DSA Watch post on X saying, “no more to fascist trumpism and no more to the democrats who collaborate w fascists by funding ice and israel is a hitler style speech to you? “

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Fox News Digital reached out to Piker’s team for comment.

Piker, backed by roughly 10 million followers across various internet platforms, has endorsed several far-left candidates across the country, including campaigning with Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, as the Democratic Party grapples with a socialist wave of candidates that have won elections across the country.

Various campaigns and candidates have faced criticism for associating with Piker, a streamer who has made a variety of inflammatory comments including that the United States “deserved” 9/11.

“I never would and never will criticize Mao Zedong,” Piker said earlier this year in a clip that is currently recirculating on social media. “One of the great leaders of this world.”

A College Democrats of America Executive Board member at a college in New York told Fox News Digital that the group “platforming someone like Hasan Piker is antithetical to the party that common sense democrats are trying to present to the American people before November’s midterms.”

The board member added, “We have a golden opportunity to stand up to Trump’s corrupt and authoritarian brand of politics, fight against the MAGA affordability crisis, and restore congressional checks on an executive branch that has far overreached its role in our government. Platforming malignant outside actors, such as Piker, who actively work to cloud our policy platform will only harm our broad electability amongst average voters.”

Fox News Digital reached out to College Democrats of America for comment.

The War Department has identified two active-duty Army soldiers killed during an enemy attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan last week as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas.

They were the first U.S. service members killed since the restart of hostilities amid Iran’s violations of President Donald Trump’s peace agreement.

A third U.S. service member’s remains are being identified, while another was killed Saturday “during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance” in northern Iraq, U.S. Central Command said.

The announcement brought the number of U.S. service members killed since the war began to 17, while more than 420 have been wounded.

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Feehan and Gonzales were victims of the Iran attack Friday on Jordan, which remains under investigation. The release of their identities noted they were in Jordan supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The mission has ended operations in Iraq, while the U.S. has been consolidating and transitioning its presence in Syria.

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Feehan was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Gonzales was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, in Ansbach, Germany.

The U.S. and Iran have intensified attacks since an interim ceasefire deal signed a month ago fell apart last week, leading to the return to all-out war.

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“Godspeed, heroes,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X. “Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”

Trump has authorized nine consecutive days of pounding strikes on Iran’s coastal military sites and Islamic Revolution Guard Corps forces defying the terms of the now-defunct memorandum of understanding (MOU), designed to bring a ceasefire and open up the Strait of Hormuz to freedom of navigation.

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“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of the probably three – it’s probably three as opposed to two great patriots,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday night. “We feel very badly, but you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon.”

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is aiming to unseat another House Democrat as the divide between the establishment and the far-left continues to fuel chaos within the party.

The national DSA confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that it was endorsing Donavan McKinney, a Michigan state lawmaker, over Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich.

Thanedar made headlines for his own push to impeach President Donald Trump and similar threats to several Cabinet officials, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. He’s also pushed legislation to pave the way for a national reparations system to give payments to Black Americans.

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But he’s still fielding attacks from fellow members of the far-left, with several self-proclaimed Democratic Socialists also endorsing McKinney.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and DSA member Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., are among the sitting members of Congress backing McKinney over Thanedar.

Thanedar, who is running for a third term representing his deep-blue Detroit-area district, renounced his own DSA membership in October 2023 over fellow socialists’ stances on the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

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“After the brutal terrorist attacks on Israel, which included the indiscriminate murder, rape, and kidnapping of innocent men, women, and children, I can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms,” Thanedar said in the days following the terror attack.

McKinney was already endorsed by the Detroit-area DSA. His endorsement by the national party was first reported by Politico.

Several sitting House Democrats have already fallen victim to the far-left wave sweeping the country, particularly in the party’s strongholds.

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Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., lost their respective primary races to challengers from the left flank.

DSA-backed Melat Kiros unseated longtime Denver-area Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Colo., a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Republicans have seized on their victories as evidence that Democrats are shifting further left and away from where most Americans are politically.

It’s prompted more moderate Democrats to sound the alarm ahead of November’s midterms.

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Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, one of the most vulnerable Democrats of this election cycle, told Fox News’ “Saturday in America,” “As a Democrat, I reject what the DSA is doing. I read their platform, and it is radical.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Thanedar’s campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration suspended a U.S. territory’s housing-finance authority from receiving further federal funding after the Department of Housing and Urban Development cited years of alleged financial mismanagement, dire audit findings and the conviction of a former executive in a disaster-recovery contracting scheme.

The suspension over alleged waste and abuse at the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority (VIHFA) comes as HUD Secretary Scott Turner, a member of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, ramps up the administration’s scrutiny of federal grant recipients following a series of high-profile investigations nationwide.

“The Trump administration is changing the game when it comes to who we entrust with taxpayer dollars. Organizations riddled with corruption, mismanagement, and crime will no longer be allowed to squander billions,” Turner, also a former NFL cornerback, told Fox News Digital.

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“[VIHFA] officials cannot be allowed to prioritize kickbacks over helping families recover from disasters. I promised that HUD would be a faithful steward of the American people’s hard-earned money, and we are keeping that promise.”

Turner said the suspension is “effective immediately,” as the HUD chief’s deputy Andrew Hughes fired off a 13-page letter to VIHFA official Dayna Clendinen laying out HUD’s findings and alerting that they are barred from future federal procurement while an investigation takes place.

When approached for comment, a representative who picked up the phone at VIHFA on Monday directed Fox News Digital to a full voicemail box. Fox News Digital then reached out via VIHFA’s contact page for comment.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-VI, and Democratic Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan’s office for additional comment.

VANCE REFERS TIM WALZ, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL TO DOJ FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OVER STATE’S ALLEGED FRAUD

In the letter, HUD claimed the nearly-$2 billion appropriation to VIHFA was intended for recovery after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the American archipelago in 2017 – calculated to about $20,000 per USVI resident.

“Nine years later, because of VIHFA’s blatant mismanagement of these critical disaster funds, USVI citizens still do not have the housing and electrical power they were promised nearly a decade ago,” the agency said, citing the prevalence of blue-tarped roofs and shoddy infrastructure including a teetering power grid in the time since.

HUD said audits found disaster recovery spending lagged badly while administrative spending consumed a disproportionate share of available funds. The agency also cited the former COO’s criminal kickback scheme as evidence of weak internal controls.

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VIHFA’s former chief operating officer, Darin Richardson, was sentenced in March to 36 months in prison after being convicted of bank fraud, money laundering, making false statements and criminal conflict of interest. Prosecutors said Richardson received $107,000 from a contractor in connection with the scheme. HUD said the misconduct occurred “during execution of his duties” at VIHFA.

That contract was later inflated by 50% from $3 million to $4.5 million, HUD said in its letter, adding that much of the lumber then was allowed to rot in the tropical sun.

HUD said Richardson’s conduct, standing alone, was sufficient to call into question VIHFA’s responsibility to receive additional federal funds.

HUD informed VIHFA it has “substantial evidence” of failure-to-comply with aid obligations, a lack of internal controls over financial matters, fraud risks and conflict-of-interest situations.

“[VIHFA] has failed to implement effective fraud controls despite the indictment and conviction of its former COO in a federal contracting fraud scheme. It has repeatedly made false certifications to HUD that it has proficient financial controls, has safeguards to prohibit conflicts of interest, has not obtained duplicate federal benefits, and complies with applicable laws and regulations,” HUD alleged in their suspension notice.

HUD cited multiple audits spanning a decade that raised “significant concerns” about funding-related activities – which collectively questioned millions in costs and uncovered weak financial controls, inadequate project oversight, poor fraud-risk management and inaccurate reporting. A 2026 audit concluded VIHFA had failed to implement a structured fraud prevention framework despite overseeing $1.9 billion in disaster recovery funding.

Further condemning the “glacial” pace of storm recovery, HUD found that only 2% of planned single-family rental, 16% of single-family homeowner and 19% of multi-family rental projects had been completed since the storms struck nearly a decade ago.

None of 329 housing-work mitigation projects had been finished, while HUD found a “yawning gap” between high expenditures by VIHFA on administrative concerns and low expenditures on residents and their homes.

“Whether poor management or something worse, the consequences are unacceptable– the residents of the USVI who were devastated by disaster are not getting what they need from VIHFA,” HUD wrote to the authority. VIHFA spent $52.6 million on administrative costs alone, according to its report.

HUD also found VIHFA’s divisions unwisely “operate in silos,” hindering communication and fraud-risk management.

The agency told VIHFA that the HUD inspector general’s office also found that employees had personal knowledge of fraud or suspected fraudulent activity – but then VIHFA failed to conduct further investigations or alert its senior management.

The auditing apparatus of VIHFA only notified then-directors of the divisions involved, who allegedly “sat on the findings” according to HUD’s recounting of a 2023 IG probe.

That along with the material facts behind Richardson’s convictions bolster Turner’s decision to cut off VIHFA, the agency wrote.

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“An officer corruptly awarding disaster clean up contracts violates, at minimum, HUD rules on oversight of contractors,” HUD said, citing Richardson’s kickbacks of at least $107,000 in one case.

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VIHFA will have 30 days to request a hearing on the matter or HUD’s funding suspension will be final, Hughes said.

The suspension marks the latest front in the feds’ anti-fraud campaign, which has now stretched from the massive Feeding Our Future prosecution in the cold northern reaches of Minnesota now to the southern, sunny confines of Charlotte Amalie.

Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday described America’s political system as a “disease” moments after professing his love for the country where he was raised.

El-Sayed delivered blistering attacks on the American political system during the final stop of “The People v. The Powerful” tour at DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids. 

He spoke at the event alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as the trio criticized President Donald Trump, party leaders, corporations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Egyptian American physician and former public health official first reflected on the opportunities he said America had afforded him, noting he received an “incredible” public university education and a medical education funded through the National Institutes of Health.

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“No, don’t get it twisted. I love America. I know exactly what America gave to me. I know what my life would have been, but for America,” El-Sayed said. “I know what America can do, and at the same time, it’s impossible not to reflect on the worst moments of those 250 years as well.”

He then argued that Trump was merely a symptom of broader problems in American politics. 

“Donald Trump is not, himself, the disease of our politics. He’s just the worst symptom of the disease of our politics,” El-Sayed said. 

“The disease? It’s the system that allows corporations and billionaires and special interests like AIPAC to buy and sell politicians to rig the system against us.” 

Ocasio-Cortez also echoed that message moments prior, telling the crowd, “You deserve a politics that treats the disease and not the symptoms.”

BILL MAHER CALLS OUT BERNIE SANDERS, SAYS HE’S TIRED OF HEARING THE RICH DON’T PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES

El-Sayed then targeted the nation’s healthcare system, arguing that medical debt should be eliminated and contrasting its cost with federal spending on political campaigns and foreign aid. 

“Medical debt shouldn’t exist,” he said, claiming the country’s roughly $225 billion in medical debt could be erased for about $2.25 billion because it can be purchased “for a penny on the dollar.”

He later turned his attention to ICE, calling it a “rogue agency” that should not exist. 

“ICE has nothing to do with immigration. ICE has nothing to do with the southern border. ICE is about normalizing paramilitary forces on our streets. ICE is about weaponizing the idea of immigration against the Constitution itself. ICE cannot be reformed. ICE cannot be retrained. ICE has to be abolished.”

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The Senate hopeful also described himself as “dangerous” to a range of political and corporate interests, including health insurers and Democratic leaders.

“If you’re Blue Cross Blue Shield, I’m dangerous,” he said. “If you’re Chuck Schumer, trading politicians like trading cards, I’m dangerous.”

EXCLUSIVE – 78 Super Bowls in 38 days. This was the scale of the task facing the Federal Bureau of Investigation going into the first World Cup final the United States has hosted in more than thirty years.

“That’s what we executed on,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview detailing the largest commitment of the agency’s resources ever devoted to securing a sporting event – the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“We’re proud to report that, thank God, and thankfully to the men and women of the FBI and our partners, we had no significant criminal attacks during this World Cup,” Patel said. “And just to put that in perspective, we had 6.5 million people attend the 78 matches in the U.S. across 11 venues.”

Patel said the planning and execution had to be “mathematically precise.”

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The tournament shattered previous attendance records and brought millions of international visitors to the country. The FBI dedicated nearly 5,000 personnel to the effort, including more than 4,000 from field offices, 800 from FBI Headquarters and two Legal Attaché offices, along with support from 59 Homeland Security Task Forces. 

The Bureau also conducted approximately 300,000 background checks on players, coaches and other accredited personnel. All told, nearly 7 million fans from all over the world attended World Cup games in the United States, Canada and Mexico, all with no reported major security incidents. In fact, getting into the stadiums often took fans less than 15 minutes for games that averaged more than 65,000 in house.

A defining element of the FBI’s security operation was its aggressive response to the rapidly evolving drone threat. Recognizing that even a low-cost unmanned aircraft could be used to surveil players practicing at the dozens of team base camps around the country, track their movements to and from hotels, probe for security tactics at stadiums or fan zones, disrupt an event or deliver an explosive or chemical device, the Bureau treated every unauthorized incursion as a potential threat.

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“If you’re in the space, we’re gonna take you down. And that’s why we took down over 700,” Patel said. “Some of these folks were maybe borderline nuisances, while many of them were criminal in terms of violations of FAA airspace and also failing to register their drones… We’re not taking any chances.”

The FBI established its first dedicated counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft system) school at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama to train state and local officers in detecting, tracking and intercepting unauthorized drones. Those officers were then deployed on FBI-led ground-intercept teams at World Cup venues, creating a nationwide counter-drone capability built for a threat that barely existed when the U.S. last hosted the tournament in 1994.

“We, the FBI, specifically train for the worst of the worst,” Patel said, pointing to the possibility of drones being used to deploy explosives or chemical agents. Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was instrumental in developing the Bureau’s counter-drone program.

That preparation was tested as the World Cup was getting underway, when investigators uncovered an alleged coordinated attack targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.

5 CHILLING DETAILS FROM THE ALLEGED WHITE HOUSE ATTACK PLOT TIED TO UFC EVENT

Federal prosecutors allege the suspects planned to use explosive-laden drones to trigger panic and force crowds to evacuate into areas where armed attackers could strike. Patel said the FBI launched a six-state operation, tracked the alleged threat through online communications and began a coordinated takedown “before the first punch was thrown,” allowing the event to proceed without an attack.

Eight defendants have since been charged, although the allegations remain unproven and the defendants are presumed innocent.

FBI REVEALS WHY TRUMP WHITE HOUSE UFC EVENT WENT AHEAD DESPITE ALLEGED TERROR PLOT

International cooperation was another critical component of the World Cup security operation.

“They’re working overseas in their home locations and giving us information back in real time on any single threat that’s coming in,” Patel said.

The FBI hosted the International Police Cooperation Center in Northern Virginia, deploying more than 70 personnel to work alongside officers from U.S. host cities and security officials representing the nations sending teams to the tournament. 

The FBI also assembled a Joint Operations Center with foreign police representatives from 46 of the 48 participating countries, allowing investigators to receive real-time threat intelligence from officials who understood their teams, fan bases and domestic security concerns. That information was supported by the FBI’s Intelligence Coordination Center, where more than 400 personnel processed an average of 26 incidents per day and produced nearly 100 intelligence reports for federal, state, local and private-sector partners, according to the FBI.

Patel credited the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup with bringing federal, state and local agencies together under a unified security strategy. Established by President Donald Trump and led by Andrew Giuliani’s team, the task force served as a central hub for interagency planning, intelligence sharing and the rapid deployment of law enforcement resources across the tournament’s 11 U.S. host cities.

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“Like anything in government, to succeed, you need tremendous leadership,” Patel said. “President Trump had the foresight to establish the White House Task Force… and what they were able to do was bring in the interagency, at least at the federal level, and then work with us at the state and local levels through our partnerships and put everybody under one roof.”

Patel said the coordinated structure allowed the FBI to quickly send bomb technicians, evidence teams, tactical operators, SWAT personnel and hostage-rescue capabilities wherever additional resources were needed.

FOX WORLD CUP ANNOUNCER SAYS TRUMP’S APPEARANCE AT FINAL IS ‘FUN, UNIQUE THING’ DESPITE POTENTIAL BACKLASH

“President Trump set the standard: Not only were we going to have the largest and safest sporting event in the history of the world, but we were going to make sure everyone had a great time. Those were the marching orders,” Patel said.

He pointed to the social media videos showing international fans enjoying restaurants, pubs, sporting venues and other distinctly American experiences — even joking that Europeans fell in love with ranch dressing.

VIRAL GERMAN SOCCER FAN FREDDY INVITED FOR WHITE HOUSE VISIT AS FAIRY-TALE TRIP ACROSS AMERICA CONTINUES

“These are small vignettes, but they quantify and qualify how awesome America did,” Patel said. “And I don’t just mean government. I mean the private sector. They came in and partnered with us as well.”

Patel said those partnerships helped generate billions of dollars in revenue across the country while giving visitors a memorable experience.

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“They wanted not just safety and security, but to show off America to the world,” he said. “And I think we did it brilliantly.”

The Republican National Committee is trolling the Democratic National Committee and the Maine Democratic Party with an offer to provide election lawyers, trained observers and other resources as Democrats scramble to replace disgraced Senate primary candidate Graham Platner.

“So, in a spirit of generosity we hope will not go unnoticed, the RNC formally offers our election integrity resources and personnel to ensure a process worthy of Democrat voters’ confidence,” read a copy of the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. “Mainers deserve a nomination that is fair, accessible, and free from disenfranchisement — and it never hurts to have professionals in the room.”

The tongue-in-cheek letter is expected to be sent Monday morning from the RNC to DNC chair Ken Martin and Maine Democratic Party Chair Charles Dingman, the RNC election integrity unit told Fox News Digital.

PLATNER ALLY TROY JACKSON CLOSING IN ON DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOD IN KEY RACE TO FACE COLLINS

The letter unwinds many of the Democratic Party platform’s attacks on Republicans in a week that featured an unusual Democratic Party debate and President Donald Trump’s primetime White House address on election integrity.

“The RNC has a deep bench of experienced election attorneys, trained observers, a dedicated State Election Integrity Director, and nationwide election integrity resources — all standing by to assist with convention procedures, delegate credentialing, ballot-counting transparency, and election law compliance,” the letter read, pointing to its multi-million dollar midterm election integrity ground game. “We built this operation to protect elections from exactly this kind of chaos. We simply never expected the loudest cries for help to come from inside your own house.

“As our friends on the left never tire of reminding us, ‘democracy dies in darkness.’ We are offering to turn on the lights.”

MEET THE DEMOCRATS GUNNING TO REPLACE GRAHAM PLATNER

Republicans have received criticism for questioning election integrity, but the RNC letter attempted to turn the table back on the Democrats, during a key Senate race in Maine that could help determine the Senate majority this November.

“We also request clarification on whether your nominating convention will include the basic safeguards every election deserves: voter identification, proof of residency, and independent observation,” the letter continued, pointing to apparent hypocrisy. “We ask in a spirit of thoroughness, not suspicion. Mostly thoroughness.”

“We further understand that proxy voting will not be permitted,” the letter said. “I’m pleased to hear your party discover, at last, the merits of in-person voting — and to learn that when the stakes are highest for Democrats, you too believe there is no substitute for showing up and casting a ballot yourself.”

When Platner suspended his Senate campaign before the July deadline after winning the nomination in June, he called out the party’s “establishment” for forcing its will over the will of voters.

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“For his part, Mr. Platner announced the suspension of his campaign by insisting that his replacement come from “‘the people of Maine’ through a system that is ‘open, transparent and democratic’ and that reflects the voices of those who supported him,” the RNC letter noted, adding a dig on the DNC’s reported financial struggles, suggesting its political opponents should accept their offer of help.

“We also know that this convention comes at a difficult time financially for you, with the DNC $18 million in debt. Finding the resources necessary to run a nominating convention must be tough.”

Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson appears to have locked up enough delegates to win the abbreviated race to replace now ex-candidate Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee in the high-stakes showdown to face off with longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Delegates aligned with Jackson won the vast majority of the 500 slots that were up for grabs on Saturday and Sunday as Maine’s 16 counties held two days of delegate selection for next weekend’s nominating convention. And Jackson’s top two rivals for the nomination, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah, a former top public health official, dropped out of the race on Sunday.

“In November, Mainers will defeat Susan Collins, and we will take back our Senate seat from the billionaires and corporations who think they own it,” Jackson said in a social media post Sunday evening.

While the delegates on Jackson’s slate are not required to support him at next weekend convention, he is in an extremely strong position to secure the nomination and face off in the midterm elections against Collins in what’s expected to be a combative and expensive ballot box battle that’s among a dozen nationwide which will determine if the Democrats can win back the Senate majority. The GOP currently holds the chamber 53-47.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

A fifth-generation logger and a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago, Jackson came in third place last month in Maine’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.

On Saturday, in the race to replace Platner, Jackson-aligned delegates won more than 90% of the slots, including all 149 in Cumberland County, Maine’s most populous county and home to the state’s largest city, Portland.

“Yesterday was an unbelievable huge step, but our work is not finished — not even close,” Jackson said Sunday morning. And the winning streak of Jackson-aligned delegates continued throughout the day.

Over 450 of the 500 delegates elected this weekend were on Jackson’s slate. The delegates chosen will join another 101 coming automatically from the Democratic State Committee. All 601 will officially vote for the Senate nominee at next Saturday’s convention in Bangor, Maine.

Bellows, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, exited the Senate sprint on Sunday morning.

“Donald Trump’s attacks on our democracy are only accelerating, and the best way that I can serve our state and country at this moment is by focusing exclusively on my role as Secretary of State,” Bellows said in a statement that didn’t mention Jackson.

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Shah, a former director the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2019 to 2023 who later served as principal deputy director of the federal CDC during then-President Joe Biden’s administration, and who came in second in last month’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, dropped out Sunday evening and backed Jackson.

“To Maine Democrats: Susan Collins will not be defeated without a united Democratic Party. And we cannot unite without treating one another with respect,” Shah wrote in a statement. “No matter whom you supported in this race, I urge us all to remember that in the weeks ahead.”

Jackson, in a social media post, thanked Shah and urged, “Now it’s time for all of us to come together, build the broadest possible coalition, and defeat Susan Collins. Let’s get to work.”

Jordan Wood, a former congressional staffer for then-Rep. Katie Porter of California who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate as well as the Democratic nomination in the state’s 2nd Congressional District this cycle, also dropped out on Sunday. Another Senate candidate, Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban,  announced a campaign suspension on Sunday as well..

MAINE DEMOCRATS RALLY BEHIND PLATNER’S PLATFORM IN SPRINT TO REPLACE HIM

Along with Platner, Jackson had the support of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as he ran for governor, and he is currently backed by ‘Our Revolution,’ the group born in 2016 out of Sanders’ first presidential campaign.

Jackson, similar to Platner, is running on a progressive and populist platform aimed at working-class voters. He backs raising taxes on billionaires, the universal healthcare system known as “Medicare-for-all,” abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he opposes military aid to Israel at a time that Democrats are increasingly divided on support for America’s longtime Middle East ally.

Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer who was backed by Sanders soon after he launched his bid last August, saw his campaign quickly catch fire. Two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was heavily recruited by longtime Democratic Senate leader Sen. Chuck Schumer to run for the Senate, suspended her campaign this spring after trailing Platner in fundraising and in the polls.

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But even as Platner steamrolled the Democratic establishment and crushed the competition last month to capture the nomination, he had already been forced on defense in the wake of a slew of scandals.

Platner dropped out earlier this month, amid calls from top Democrats in Maine and across the country to immediately exit the race following an explosive report containing an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. Platner denied the report but stepped aside.

While Jackson was among those who quickly called on Platner to end his bid in the wake of the rape allegation, he had previously campaigned alongside Platner and made the case that he was the best candidate to continue the fight for the progressive and populist agenda.

“This movement has always been bigger than one person. It’s about taking on a system rigged against working people, fighting for ‘Medicare-for-all,’ strong unions, higher wages, reproductive freedom, and an economy where billionaires and corporations finally pay their fair share,” Jackson said last week during a Our Revolution virtual town hall, as he pointed to Platner supporters.

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At last week’s first debate among the replacement candidates, Jackson pointed to Platner and said, “That’s the thing that I think Graham did the best: talked about fighting against the health care industry and the prescription drug industry to make sure that people in this state and this country have affordable, quality health care.”

One of the nation’s largest labor unions wants President Donald Trump to make one of America’s favorite imports a lot more American.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters are urging the administration to impose significant tariffs on Mexican beer, arguing more of it should be brewed by U.S. workers instead of across the border.

The request comes as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative continues to assess whether certain countries’ policies have fueled unfair manufacturing advantages. 

The Teamsters argue Mexico has fueled its brewing industry through government-backed investment incentives, lower labor costs and export-focused policies that have expanded production and exports, helping imported beer capture a growing share of the U.S. market.

AMERICA’S FAVORITE BEERS — AND THE JOBS TIED TO THEM — ARE AT THE CENTER OF A BREWING TRADE FIGHT

The tariff push could have implications for some of America’s best-known imported beer brands, including Modelo, Corona, Pacifico and Tecate, much of which is brewed in Mexico before being shipped to retailers across the U.S.

“We can brew Modelo beer. It’s the same recipe. Let’s brew it in the United States,” Sean O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, told Fox News Digital. “We are very good at producing goods and services in this country,” he added.

In its filing, the union said Mexican beer production has increased 85% since 2014, with about 80% of the country’s beer exports shipped to the United States. Meanwhile, capacity utilization at major U.S. breweries fell from 82% in 2013 to 65% in 2023, a trend the Teamsters say threatens thousands of well-paying union jobs.

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The union argues tariffs would help shift more beer production back to the U.S., supporting American breweries along with the farmers who grow barley and hops, aluminum manufacturers that produce cans and the truckers who move beer across the country.

“I’m pro-America, pro-American worker, pro American jobs. So if there’s an opportunity to tariff Mexican beer in this situation, which is gonna provide opportunity for our current members, which we have tens of thousands in the brewery and distribution industry, then I’m all for tariffs and all for keeping American jobs in America,” O’Brien added.

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The Teamsters say the threat to U.S. brewery jobs is growing as major brewers continue investing billions of dollars in Mexico.

According to the filing, breweries have announced plans to add another 19 million to 23 million hectoliters of production capacity over the next five years, an expansion the union attributes to export-focused tax incentives, lower labor costs and industrial policies aimed at boosting manufacturing for foreign markets.

The filing also cites Mexico’s 2023 tax incentives for export-oriented manufacturers and its broader “Plan México” industrial strategy, arguing those policies have encouraged additional investment while suppressing wages and making it more difficult for U.S. producers to compete.

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The Teamsters have publicly backed tariffs as high as 75% on Mexican beer imports, calling them one potential remedy to what they describe as an uneven playing field. In a separate submission to USTR, the union said continued pressure from imported beer could force more U.S. brewery slowdowns or closures, jeopardizing good-paying brewery jobs that have supported American families for generations.

The Teamsters’ filing is one of several submitted as USTR weighs potential trade actions under its ongoing Section 301 investigation.

USTR did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The State Department on Saturday reiterated its worldwide warning for Americans overseas as fears grow that Iran or its supporters could retaliate against U.S. citizens and interests far beyond the Middle East.

The “Worldwide Caution” alert, which has been in place since February, warns that groups supportive of Iran could target Americans and U.S. interests overseas.

The advisory urges U.S. citizens abroad to remain vigilant, monitor local developments and follow guidance from nearby U.S. embassies.

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The warning follows a series of rapidly escalating developments in the region. Earlier Saturday, the U.S. military said an Iranian missile and drone attack in Jordan killed two American service members and left another missing, underscoring concerns that the conflict could spill beyond traditional battlefields and increase security risks for Americans overseas.

The heightened security concerns were reinforced when the U.S. Embassy in Amman issued a separate security alert after Jordanian authorities evacuated Aqaba’s international airport and seaport because of what officials described as a “specific and credible threat.” 

The embassy urged Americans to avoid both locations and reminded U.S. citizens that the State Department has maintained an ordered departure for non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their families in Jordan since March because of ongoing security risks.

TWO US SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN IRANIAN STRIKES ON JORDAN, CENTCOM SAYS

The State Department said the security environment remains “complex” and warned the conflict could escalate with little notice. 

Officials also noted that U.S. diplomatic facilities, including some outside the Middle East, have previously been targeted and cautioned that groups supportive of Iran could target other U.S. interests or locations associated with the United States and Americans around the world.

Officials urged Americans worldwide, particularly those in the Middle East, to exercise increased caution, keep a low profile, avoid locations associated with the United States when possible, monitor local news, follow security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate and enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which provides security updates and allows embassies to contact U.S. citizens during emergencies.

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The advisory also warns that continued military activity could lead to commercial flight cancellations and temporary airspace closures, adding to travel disruptions across the Middle East. Travelers were advised to check with airlines before departing and prepare for potential delays, rerouted flights and last-minute itinerary changes as security conditions evolve.

The State Department issues worldwide caution alerts when officials believe security threats extend beyond a single country or region. 

While the advisory does not prohibit international travel, it reflects growing concern that the conflict could create security risks well beyond the Middle East, prompting U.S. officials to urge Americans everywhere to remain vigilant and prepared for rapidly changing conditions.

As questions persist about Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s condition, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., issued a blistering rebuke about his team’s handling of the crisis, reminding them of their “obligation to your constituents.”

The 84-year-old former Senate majority leader has been absent from the upper chamber for over a month now after a fall at his home left him hospitalized. His absence, coupled with the sudden death of late Sen. Lindsey Graham, leaves Senate Republicans down two crucial votes amid a dead sprint to wrap up key parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Hawley, a conservative populist, said he wishes McConnell and his family well and hopes for a recovery.

At the same time, however, Hawley said that “at a certain point you do have an obligation to your constituents and the country to tell them what’s going on.”

MCCONNELL FACES FRESH CALLS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES

“To be down a vote,” Hawley continued, “We’ve got a slim majority; it’s not easy.”

While Hawley said he would “defer” to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on how to handle McConnell’s situation, he noted that the lack of GOP votes is hurting priorities like the voter integrity measure, the SAVE America Act.

“I just hear a lot from leadership that, ‘Well, we don’t have the votes for this.’ Like the voter I.D., we don’t have the votes for that. Well, we might want to do something about that,” he said.

Hawley also said that he too has been “totally in the dark” about McConnell’s condition and said, “I never had any idea about any of his health stuff.”

“I hope he recovers, but I also hope that they get the transparency out there to help people know what the situation is,” he said.

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Asked whether he believes McConnell’s condition evidences a need for age limits to serve in office, Hawley quickly shot back, “Well, I’m a term-limit guy, so I’m all for that.”

“Nothing against colleagues who are older,” he continued. He pointed to 92-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, saying, “Chuck is sharp as a tack and spry and all that stuff.”

“But I do think there needs to be term limits. People just come here and stay forever. And I don’t think it’s what the founders intended; I don’t think it’s what people want. So, I’ve always been a big proponent of a constitutional amendment for term limits.”

McConnell is completing his seventh term in the Senate. He was first elected to the chamber in 1984. This June, he was hospitalized after a fall in his Washington, D.C., home. He later developed pneumonia while in the hospital.

After an extended period of silence, McConnell’s issued an open letter to Kentuckians in which the senator addressed his prolonged absence. McConnell attributed his fall to mobility issues left from his childhood fight with polio.

SEE IT: GOP SENATORS SPLIT ON MCCONNELL QUESTIONS AS TUBERVILLE SEEKS TIMELINE, KENNEDY DEFENDS LEADER

He acknowledged that at the advice of his doctors, he “won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.”

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However, McConnell emphasized, “I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do” and said, “I’ll keep working hard to get back on the Senate floor as soon as possible.”

He also pledged to keep his constituents updated on the progress of his recovery.

The older brother of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has been charged after Honolulu police say he allegedly tried to lure several children to his Waikīkī hotel room by offering them gum and money, as his family says he is continuing to receive psychiatric treatment.

Batarti Gabbard, 55, was charged with second-degree custodial interference after the July 12 “stranger danger” incident at a Waikīkī hotel pool, according to police.

Honolulu police allege Gabbard approached several children, including a 9-year-old boy, asked for their names, wrote them in a notebook and offered them money and gum if they would accompany him to his hotel room.

EXCLUSIVE: TULSI GABBARD RESIGNS FROM TRUMP CABINET

Fox News Digital obtained new comment from Gabbard’s father, Hawaii state Sen. Mike Gabbard, who declined to discuss the allegations, but confirmed his son continues to receive medical and psychiatric treatment.

“We love him, and asked him to follow the protocol at the hospital, which he says he will do,” Mike Gabbard told Fox News Digital. “We’re praying for his speedy recovery, and would appreciate the prayers of others.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Tulsi Gabbard through her public office and left a voicemail requesting comment.

She did not immediately respond.

GABBARD CLAIMS ‘COORDINATED EFFORT’ BY INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY TO ADVANCE NARRATIVE TO IMPEACH TRUMP

Police said the incident occurred around 2 p.m. on July 12 at the pool area of an unnamed Waikīkī hotel, where Batarti Gabbard allegedly approached several children.

According to police, the children refused and Gabbard walked away. 

A 42-year-old woman reported the incident to police.

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According to KITV, Gabbard had also been arrested July 16 on charges of theft.

He pleaded not guilty to the theft charge Friday morning, was released and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 14 in that case.

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KITV reported that no court date has yet been set on the custodial interference charge.

Honolulu Police confirmed to Fox News Digital that Gabbard is no longer in custody.

New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani is embracing his identity as a Democratic Socialist, arguing the movement represents a return to the Democratic Party’s New Deal roots even as he insists Wall Street and corporate leaders have nothing to fear from his administration.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Mamdani rejected the notion that his political label is a liability, instead characterizing Democratic Socialism as the modern embodiment of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vision for the Democratic Party.

“So much of what makes me proud to be a Democrat is looking at what our party used to stand for. You think about the Four Freedoms, you think FDR, you think the New Deal,” Mamdani said. “Those are at the core of what our party’s identity is, and yet it feels like to experience it, you have to read about it. You can’t see it around you anymore. And that isn’t something that I’m willing to accept, and I know that many feel similarly.”

DE BLASIO DEFENDS SOCIALIST ‘INSURGENCY’ INSIDE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, SAYS TRUMP HAS BECOME ‘STATUS QUO’

The remarks come as Mamdani has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent progressive voices following a string of successful endorsements of fellow Democratic Socialist candidates, who won their primary House races.

Even as he doubled down on Democratic Socialism, Mamdani insisted his administration welcomed private investment and collaboration with Wall Street, finance and real estate leaders, despite continuing to push for higher taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents.

“I think it’s important,” Mamdani said of the city’s relationship with private business leaders. “And what I have in common with leaders of those sectors — even amid disagreements, because I believe that we can raise taxes a little bit more on the wealthiest New Yorkers — what brings us together is both a belief in the city and a commitment to its continued vitality.”

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Mamdani pointed to the recent announcement of American Express’ new headquarters at Two World Trade Center as evidence that major corporations continue investing in New York.

“These business leaders, they’re not just making decisions on the basis of dollars and cents; they’re also making decisions on the basis of investing in the city and in what the city represents,” he said.

The mayor also rejected the idea that Democratic Socialism is incompatible with economic growth after the interviewer remarked that he sounded in line with a “capitalist mayor.”

NYC MAYOR MAMDANI CALLS THREAT OF RICH PEOPLE LEAVING NYC OVER TAXES ‘IMAGINED’

“I will always celebrate continued investment in this city,” Mamdani said. “And I’ll also look to ensure that more and more New Yorkers can be a part of those benefits.”

But even as Mamdani boasts his support for corporate investments, an analysis by the Citizens Budget Commission found New York’s share of the nation’s millionaires fell from 12.7% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2022, the steepest decline of any state, costing an estimated $10.7 billion in personal income tax revenue in 2022 alone.

The report points to New York’s high taxes and declining competitiveness relative to states like Florida and Texas as factors behind its shrinking share of the nation’s millionaires.

Mamdani has made raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers a centerpiece of his economic agenda, arguing the city’s highest earners and most profitable corporations should shoulder more of the cost of funding public services.

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His interview comes as national Democrats debate the party’s future direction ahead of the 2028 presidential election. Mamdani argued that the victories of democratic socialist candidates signal that voters are embracing his vision for the party.

“For too long, it has felt like our party, the Democratic Party, the only answer we have is to say that we are not the Republican Party,” Mamdani said. “But we also have to have a vision of what comes after this administration.”

Far-left New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration is actively exploring whether the city has the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York for this month’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), escalating one of his sharpest criticisms yet of the foreign leader.

In remarks first reported by The New York Times, Mamdani called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who “belongs in the Hague” and said his administration is in an “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over what legal authority New York City possesses should the Israeli prime minister travel to the Big Apple.

The comments from self-described Democratic socialist Mamdani raises questions about the limits of a mayor’s authority over foreign affairs and whether New York City could take legal action against a visiting head of government.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office asking whether Mamdani stands by calling Netanyahu a “war criminal,” whether City Hall is actively consulting with the Law Department regarding possible legal action against the Israeli leader, and whether the mayor would direct the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu if attorneys determined the city had legal authority.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz slammed Mamdani’s remarks as “pure political theater,” saying the mayor has no legal authority to arrest Netanyahu.

In a post on X, Waltz argued that the U.S. is not party to the ICC’s founding treaty, the U.N. Headquarters Agreement protects visiting heads of government, head-of-state immunity applies and “federal authority trumps any local mayor’s wishes.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity tied to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

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Israel has rejected the allegations and disputes the court’s jurisdiction, while the U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.

The issue has become increasingly contentious as world leaders weigh whether they would act on the warrant if Netanyahu enters their countries.

The United Nations General Assembly annually brings dozens of heads of state and government to New York, creating unique diplomatic and security considerations for the city.

The comments are likely to intensify scrutiny of Mamdani’s foreign policy positions, particularly regarding Israel, which became a flashpoint during his mayoral campaign.

Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected allegations that Netanyahu committed war crimes, arguing Israel is acting in self-defense following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack.

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Mamdani’s office has not yet publicly detailed any legal analysis supporting the idea that New York City or the NYPD could independently execute an international arrest warrant against a visiting foreign head of government, though Fox News Digital has requested further details.

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Mamdani’s remarks are the latest example of his administration venturing into international affairs.

Earlier this year, the State Department stepped in to halt a planned meeting between a senior Mamdani administration official and Iran’s U.N. ambassador, stressing the role of federal, not local government to conduct U.S. foreign policy.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this reporting.

The White House released a trove of election integrity documents Thursday night after President Donald Trump’s primetime address, posting files related to alleged voting system vulnerabilities, China’s alleged acquisition of U.S. voter data, a Michigan voter registration investigation and noncitizens on state voter rolls.

The documents, posted on a new White House election integrity page, are organized into four buckets and include intelligence assessments, FBI files, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency materials and Department of Homeland Security-related summaries covering issues ranging from election infrastructure cybersecurity to voter-registration database threats. 

The release gives the public access to records the White House says support Trump’s renewed push for election reforms, including voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements.

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The president claimed in his address that electronic voting machines are vulnerable and easily compromised. Fox News has not yet seen evidence supporting that claim and is not able to independently evaluate the accuracy of his statement.

“This vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” Trump said Thursday night during an address from the White House on election integrity. “But that all changes right now.”

The White House page lists the four document categories as “Vulnerabilities in Electronic Voting and Ballot-Counting Systems,” “China’s Acquisition and Exploitation of American Voter Data,” “Michigan Voter-Registration Investigation” and “Noncitizens on State Voter Rolls.” The page says the files span from January 2020 to June 2026.

Fox News Digital could not independently verify the contents of the documents.

In the section on voting systems, the White House says the documents include what it describes as previously classified intelligence assessments and other reports warning that U.S. adversaries could compromise election infrastructure, including voter registration databases, poll books and election websites.

A separate section includes White House claims that China acquired hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files, while another highlights FBI files tied to an alleged voter registration operation in Michigan.

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“Those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Trump claimed. “They did not disclose (it) to me as president or to anyone else.”

The final bucket focuses on what the White House describes as a DHS review that the White House claims identified noncitizens on state voter rolls.

The documents were posted to the White House website during the president’s speech Thursday night, and more updates, filings and findings are expected to drop, according to the new election integrity webpage.

“The documents we will release starting tonight have been gathered by the White House Government Transparency Taskforce, a great group of people, along with the staff of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, supported by our top intelligence agency chiefs, who have all personally reviewed the findings we are presenting this evening and fully confirmed their authenticity,” Trump said during his speech Thursday.

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The files were released as Trump has intensified his election integrity push ahead of the midterms, including calls for voter ID, proof-of-citizenship requirements and Senate passage of the SAVE Act.

Trump previously signed an executive order aimed at requiring proof of citizenship on federal voter registration forms, but federal judges have blocked key portions of the order while the House-passed SAVE Act remains stalled in the Senate.

“No trust, no greatness,” Trump told Americans Thursday.

A fraud expert who testified before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday warned the federal government lacks the tools and policies needed to prevent criminals from using artificial intelligence against taxpayers.

“What’s happening right now is the fact that we simply don’t have the right tools to deal with fraud,” David Maimon, head of fraud insights at SentiLink, told Fox News Digital.

“We don’t have the right policies to deal with fraud. We don’t have enough deterrence. We have no close collaboration between the government and the [private] sector to try and find the right solution to this issue.”

The hearing, “Emerging Fraud Threats and the Evolving Fraud Landscape,” was held by the Government Operations Subcommittee as the Trump administration wages a nationwide “War on Fraud,” led by Vice President JD Vance and focused on how the federal government can better detect and prevent emerging fraud threats through stronger digital identity verification.

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“Fraud against government programs is no longer a series of isolated schemes,” Maimon told lawmakers during the hearing. “It is a durable, specialized criminal infrastructure.”

He also told lawmakers that “criminals exploit the seams between agencies precisely because our defenses are built program by program, while their infrastructure is built to move across all of them.”

Maimon highlighted how his company has collected intelligence to “understand how the criminals work, what they do and how they do what they do” while uncovering networks where fraudsters share stolen information and tactics.

“We were able to infiltrate thousands of markets where fraudsters are operating. Where you can find identities and stolen checks, you can find tutorials of how to engage in fraud against the government or target financial institutions across the country,” he said.

One of the biggest challenges, he said, is keeping pace with rapidly evolving fraud tactics.

“The most important thing is to make sure that the government is aware of some of the fraud trends we’re seeing out there that fraudsters are engaging in, essentially stealing taxpayers’ money,” Maimon said.

Maimon said the government’s slow deployment of fraud-fighting tools allows criminals to “take advantage of these opportunities” and “continue to exploit” resources.

“The bad guys are moving faster than the government,” he said. “While the government is still trying to catch up and roll out better tools, criminals keep finding new ways to steal money.”

Criminals are now using AI to create fake documents, videos and phishing emails that steal passwords and personal information or bypass identity verification, according to Maimon.

“It’s difficult to prove that you’re not essentially using AI while verifying your identity with documents and liveness tests and selfie images,” he said.

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During the hearing, Maimon said fraudsters are already using “AI-generated faces and deepfake video to defeat liveness checks at digital banks and tax preparers.”

Pointing to his earlier investigation of Medicaid fraud, Maimon said his team discovered providers that had billed the government about $2 million and claimed to have staff and caregivers, but when investigators visited the addresses in person, many of the employees and operations didn’t exist.

“Sometimes you need to take a look at signals that appear in the database but also at the physical location,” he said.

Instead of relying on a picture or video, Maimon said the government should verify identities using trusted historical data that is harder for AI to fake.

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“In order to make sure that we address this issue — and it really depends on the type of fraud that you’re dealing with — but to address this issue in a more effective way, maybe we need to have some historical signals around identities we’re trying to verify, rather than just looking at images that could be created easily by AI tools,” he said.

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Maimon told lawmakers the fraud affects more than the government’s finances, ultimately hurting the people these programs are designed to serve. 

“Every dollar we protect from organized fraud is a dollar that stays available for the people Congress intended to help,” he said. 

But after years of studying the dark web and Telegram marketplaces, Maimon said law enforcement has uncovered only a fraction of organized fraud.

“I think they’re just scratching the surface.”