NationalWatch

The Democratic Socialists of America, the political party to which New York City Mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani belongs, brushed off Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas on Monday and called for further resistance to Israel’s “apartheid and occupation” of Gaza.

The DSA released the statement, titled “Until Palestinian Liberation,” on its website, declaring that they have “no illusions that Israel will honor any negotiated agreement that preserves Palestinian life or self-determination.” The statement made no mention of the release of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity and accused Israel of “terrorizing” the Palestinian people and nations in the region.

“This will not end Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people or the theft and occupation of Palestinian lands. A conditional ceasefire agreement does not wash the hands of the ruling class,” the DSA wrote.

“The Occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, eroding under illegal settler expansion, continue to struggle under violent Israeli apartheid and occupation. Across the region, Israel terrorizes the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Qatar, and Iran while wielding the implicit threat of nuclear engagement to violently impose its fascist, expansionist aspirations,” the statement continued.

UN ACCUSED OF DOWNPLAYING HAMAS TERRORISTS’ USE OF GAZA HOSPITALS AS NEW REPORT IGNORES IMPORTANT DETAILS

Mamdani’s own statement on the ceasefire echoed the “occupation and apartheid” allegations against Israel, leading to quick criticism from both his mayoral race opponents and New York City officials.

“Today’s scenes of Israelis and Palestinians are profoundly moving: Israeli hostages being freed and families reunited after years of fear, uncertainty, and torture; the first days in Gaza without relentless Israeli bombardment of Palestinians as families return to rubble and loved ones freed from detention,” Mamdani wrote in a statement on X.

“We must work towards a future built upon justice, one without occupation and apartheid, and for a world where every person can live with safety and dignity,” he added.

MAMDANI BREAKS SILENCE ON FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGES IN STATEMENT THAT DOESN’T MENTION TRUMP

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish, lashed out at Mamdani soon afterward, calling his statement a “word-salad” and noting the absence of any mention of Hamas or its crimes.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running against Mamdani for mayor, noted how long it took the Democratic socialist candidate to address the ceasefire.

IDF KILLS HAMAS TERRORIST IT SAYS WORKED FOR UNRWA, LED CHARGE ON REIM BOMB SHELTER MASSACRE

“His silence speaks volumes,” Cuomo wrote in the hours that stretched between the release of the remaining living hostages and Mamdani’s eventual statement.

The exchange came as Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, also found herself the focus of criticism on Monday after she publicly mourned the death of a Palestinian social media influencer who praised Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7.

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The man, Saleh al-Jafarawi, was killed this weekend as Hamas clashed with rivals in Gaza after the Israeli military’s withdrawal.

“Beloved Jafarawi,” she wrote on Instagram.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Bill and Hillary Clinton are leading a chorus of prominent Democrats praising President Donald Trump for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal and the release of the remaining living hostages. 

The support from across the aisle comes as the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas freed all 20 remaining living hostages held in the Gaza Strip on Monday. 

“Today is a wonderful day. Finally, finally, finally, the last living hostages brutally held by Hamas are home, an immense and overwhelming sigh of relief,” Schumer said in a statement. “I commend the enormous advocacy of the tireless hostage families, President Trump, his administration, and all who helped make this moment happen.” 

“President Trump and his administration, Qatar, and other regional actors deserve great credit for keeping everyone engaged until the agreement was reached,” added former President Bill Clinton. 

TRUMP DECLINES TO COMMIT TO TWO-STATE SOLUTION AFTER HISTORIC GAZA PEACE DEAL: ‘WE’LL HAVE TO SEE’ 

Trump visited Israel on Monday to address Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and met with some of the families of the released hostages. While returning home on Air Force One, the president was asked by a reporter for his reaction to Clinton’s remark. 

“I’ve always liked Bill Clinton. I’ve always gotten along with him,” Trump said. “I thought it was very nice, actually. And what is he doing? He’s telling the truth.” 

WITH HOSTAGES FREED, TRUMP THANKS OTHERS IN ISRAEL SPEECH BUT IS TOO QUICK TO DECLARE WAR IS OVER 

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also praised Trump, telling CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell on Friday, “I really commend President Trump and his administration, as well as Arab leaders in the region for making the commitment to the 20-point plan and seeing a path forward for what’s often called the day after.” 

The Trump administration had published a 20-point plan in late September on how it would end the war in Gaza. 

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“I commend the people who have been a part of this process. I commend the Qataris, the Egyptians and the president,” former Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran against Trump in 2024, said in an interview on MSNBC that aired on Sunday. 

Fox News Digital’s Hanna Penreck and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris commended President Donald Trump and his team for helping to secure the deal that led to the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas — but she only referred to “the President,” and did not identify Trump by name in the statement.

“I am thankful and deeply encouraged that this ceasefire has brought long-awaited moments of joy and reunion — as 20 Israeli hostages are finally reunited with their loved ones and Palestinian families and the people of Gaza begin to receive desperately needed relief from unimaginable suffering,” Harris said in the statement.

Israel launched a war effort in the wake of the horrific October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack, which included mass murder and kidnapping. 

BILL CLINTON SAYS TRUMP AND OTHERS ‘DESERVE GREAT CREDIT’ FOR ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASEFIRE

“Through diplomacy and persistence, today is an important first step toward a more hopeful future. I commend the leaders and partners whose efforts made this agreement possible, including the President and his team,” Harris continued.

“There is still much more work to do to secure a lasting peace, ensure the safety and dignity of every innocent life, and build a future where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in freedom and security,” she concluded.

Last year, Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, trouncing Harris in the White House contest.

FETTERMAN MARKS RELEASE OF LAST LIVING HOSTAGES: ‘THE NIGHTMARE FINALLY ENDS’

The 2024 Democratic presidential candidate mounted a whirlwind campaign after President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed her.

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas took a jab at President Trump on Monday, tweeting, “Raising hell at home & then pretending to be the President of Peace is diabolical.”

TRUMP DECLINES TO COMMIT TO TWO-STATE SOLUTION AFTER HISTORIC GAZA PEACE DEAL: ‘WE’LL HAVE TO SEE’

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But Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania gave, “Credit to @POTUS for a breakthrough ceasefire of this awful war.”

The Army is launching a sweeping new nuclear program to generate power for bases across the globe, particularly in remote or contested locations where fuel might be difficult to obtain, Fox News Digital has learned.

“Hundreds of millions” of dollars will be funneled into the program known as the Janus Project over the next five years, according to Dr. Jeff Waksman, the Army official leading the effort, to install next-generation commercial microreactors at military sites.

“Great power conflict is defined by who can move their resources around,” Waksman said. Energy demands are only set to increase as modern warfare trends toward drones, directed-energy weapons and artificial intelligence. And as war planners prepare for a potential battlefront in the Indo-Pacific with China, “our ability to move energy around the oceans has never been more challenged,” he said.

“It is an immense challenge in terms of providing 24/7 power. Military bases right now are powered entirely by fossil fuels. It is not possible with current technology to provide 24/7 power with solar, wind, and batteries,” Waksman said. “So the only solution to the tyranny of fuel that exists now is nuclear power.”

TRUMP MUST TRIPLE SEVERELY OUTDATED NUKE ARSENAL TO OUTPACE CHINA AND RUSSIA, REPORT WARNS

The new plan follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed earlier this year directing the Department of War to begin operating an Army-regulated nuclear reactor at a U.S. military installation by September 2028.

The initiative — known as the Janus Program — will be led by the Department of the Army, designated as the executive agent for the mission. Waksman described Janus as a “real hardware program” aimed at delivering tangible energy capacity rather than a policy concept. “There have been a lot of nuclear projects in the past that peaked at the press release,” he said. “That is not what this is.”

Under Janus, the Army will partner with the Defense Innovation Unit and the Department of Energy’s national laboratories to oversee the design and testing of commercial microreactors. The reactors will be commercially built and operated, rather than owned by the military. To encourage private investment, the Army will use a milestone-based contracting model inspired by NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program — the same framework that helped launch the commercial space industry by funding companies like SpaceX and Boeing to reach key technical milestones instead of paying for traditional government procurement.

The Army hopes this flexible model will accelerate development, lower costs, and spur a self-sustaining market for small reactors that could eventually power both military and civilian infrastructure.

Construction of the first hardware is not expected before 2027, which Waksman called “light speed” for a nuclear program. Early work will focus heavily on materials science and supply chains, which he said remain major bottlenecks.

“In order to provide components that are viable under the conditions of a nuclear reactor, you need certified suppliers — and there just aren’t enough,” he said. “One of our goals is to help consolidate and strengthen the industrial base so multiple companies can use the same qualified suppliers.”

US COULD LOSE NEXT MAJOR WAR DUE TO PENTAGON’S ‘BROKEN’ ACQUISITION SYSTEM

The Army plans to work with multiple vendors, each expected to build at least two reactors — the first serving as a prototype and the second refined through lessons learned.

Beyond powering domestic installations, officials say Janus will also help solve one of the most pressing logistical challenges in a potential conflict with China: moving energy across vast ocean distances. Waksman cited Guam as an example — an island where more than 90 percent of electricity comes from imported oil delivered by foreign-flagged tankers traveling thousands of miles across contested sea lanes.

“Having something that can provide power for years at a time without any resupply would be an absolute game-changer,” he said.

For now, the reactors will remain stateside, but Waksman said the technology is being developed with future expeditionary use and commercial spin-offs in mind.

“The Army doesn’t want to be the only buyer of these reactors,” he said. “If we can get industry to the sixth or seventh unit, where they can sell to commercial partners, then we’ve succeeded.”

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Nuclear microreactors are smaller, factory-built power systems that use the same basic principles as traditional nuclear plants but at a fraction of the size. Most produce between one and 20 megawatts of electricity — enough to power a small town or a military installation — and can operate for years without refueling.

Unlike large commercial reactors, which can take a decade to construct, microreactors are designed for rapid deployment. They can be shipped by truck or aircraft and installed on-site within weeks, providing steady, carbon-free power in places where fuel delivery is difficult or dangerous.

Democrats tenaciously working to thwart the second Trump administration seemingly have thrown out their playbook from the president’s first administration — abandoning repeated attempts to impeach President Donald Trump in favor of broadening their focus on leveraging Article II of the Constitution to impede MAGA policies. 

Democrats, since the early days of Trump’s second presidency, have accused him of taking steps that amount to a “gross overreach of presidential authority” or launching “illegal power grabs,” most notably in response to some of the more than 200 executive orders the president has signed this term. Lawsuits challenging the administration also have focused language on claims Trump is exceeding his executive authority, sparking some policies to get tied up in the courts. 

Article II of the Constitution lays out the foundation for the balance of power between the office of the president and other branches of the government, including establishing the executive branch. Section II of Article II details the duties and powers of a president. 

WHITE HOUSE REBUKES ‘EGREGIOUS’ COURT ORDER BLOCKING TROOP DEPLOYMENTS AMID PORTLAND UNREST

Political foes have turned to Article II in their legal battles against Trump, repeatedly claiming he has exceeded his authority. But the White House says that’s not true. 

“Trump Derangement Syndrome takes on many forms — despite the Democrats’ failure to stop President Trump’s incredibly popular agenda in his first term, they’re trying a new strategy this time and failing again,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital Thursday when asked about the increase in claims and cases claiming Trump is overstepping his presidential bounds. 

“The Trump Administration’s policies have been consistently upheld by the Supreme Court as lawful despite an unprecedented number of legal challenges and unlawful lower court rulings from far-left liberal activist judges,” she continued. “The president will continue implementing the policy agenda that the American people voted for in November and will continue to be vindicated by higher courts when liberal activist judges attempt to intervene.” 

First term impeachment efforts 

Trump’s first administration was underscored by two impeachment efforts, which landed Trump as the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. Trump was acquitted by the Senate both times. 

The first impeachment effort in 2019 accused Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to allegedly seeking foreign interference from Ukraine to boost his re-election efforts in 2020. 

The focus of that impeachment focused on a July 2019 phone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings in Ukraine, including Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Burisma holdings company. Biden was under federal investigation at the time. 

NEWSOM WARNS AMERICANS ‘YOU WILL LOSE YOUR COUNTRY’ UNDER TRUMP AT CALIFORNIA SUMMIT

The House impeached Trump on both articles of impeachment in December 2019, with the Senate voting to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment in February 2020. 

Months later, Democrats teed up another Trump impeachment after the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Trump notched another first, when the Senate tried a former president after the House voted to impeach him just a week before Joe Biden was inaugurated as the nation’s 46th president. The Senate ultimately acquitted Trump in the case. 

The second impeachment focused on the breach of the U.S. Capitol by throngs of Trump supporters when the Senate and House convened to certify Biden’s 2020 election win. Trump was accused of working to overturn the results of the election and that he incited an insurrection with rhetoric regarding the election ahead of the Capitol breach. 

“I will never forgive the people who stormed the Capitol for the trauma that they caused in our young people, our members of the press who were covering that day, our staffers, the maintenance crew, the people who keep the Capitol neat and clean,” then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in an interview on MSNBC in 2022.  

“This was a disgrace. And the president instigated an insurrection, refused to stop it and as those films show, would not, in a timely fashion, allow the National Guard to come in and stop it. And that is sinful,” she continued.

The Senate acquitted Trump of the impeachment charge of inciting an insurrection in February 2021. 

The impeachment efforts followed Democrats threatening and vowing to impeach Trump at various points throughout his first administration. 

“I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America for obstruction of justice. I do not do this for political purposes, Mr. Speaker. I do this because I believe in the great ideals that this country stands for — liberty and justice for all, the notion that we should have government of the people, by the people, for the people,” Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green declared in May 2017 in regard to former FBI Director James Comey’s investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

TRUMP HAS NOW BEEN IN OFFICE FOR SIX MONTHS, FOR THE SECOND TIME. HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS

“The time has come to make clear to the American people and to this president that his train of injuries to our Constitution must be brought to an end through impeachment,” Tennessee Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen said in November 2017 over claims Trump obstructed justice when he fired Comey in May 2017. 

Out of office court battles

Trump’s four years after his first administration were riddled with a handful of civil and criminal cases, including standing trial in New York when he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024. 

District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office worked to prove that Trump falsified the business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged 2006 affair with Trump. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case, and was sentenced after his election win to an unconditional discharge, meaning he faced no prison time or fines. 

Trump also was indicted in Georgia on racketeering charges over claims he attempted to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, which the president denied. That case was put on hold after District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from prosecuting it. 

A pair of federal criminal cases were dismissed, including one that alleged Trump mishandled sensitive government documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago home after his first presidency, as well as another claiming Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election results. Special counsel Jack Smith oversaw both cases. 

Trump also faced civil cases, including New York Attorney General Letitia James accusing Trump and the Trump Organization of inflating asset values. In another case, E. Jean Carroll, a former columnist who alleges Trump raped her in a New York City department store dressing room in the 1990s, accused Trump of defamation in a 2022 case. 

Trump railed against the accusations and cases as examples of lawfare to prevent him from winning a second presidency, taking a victory lap upon his 2024 win that the efforts failed. 

“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in November 2024, when Smith announced he would drop the felony cases. 

TRUMP IS ‘UNIQUELY POSITIONED TO AVOID’ FATE OF MOST TWO-TERM PRESIDENTS, WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL EXPLAINS

“It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump added.

Second term Article II allegations 

 Trump’s second administration has faced more than 400 lawsuits, according to Just Security’s tracker, with many challenging his executive orders to reduce the size of the federal government, eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, protect girls’ sports by barring biological male participation, and remove millions of illegal immigrants who have entered the U.S. in recent years.

Trump and his administration are in the midst of cleaning up U.S. cities that historically have been rocked by crime, including working to remove illegal immigrants residing in the cities. Most recently, Trump ordered the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, in response to “radical left terrorism” in the city, specifically members of the recently-designated domestic terrorism organization, Antifa. 

“The Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now, with President Donald J. Trump mobilizing federal resources to stop Antifa-led hellfire in its tracks. While Democrat politicians deny reality, it’s obvious what’s happening in Portland isn’t protest; it’s premeditated anarchy that has scarred the city for years — leaving officers battered, citizens terrorized, and property defaced,” the White House said in an announcement that Trump was deploying federal resources to Portland on Sept. 30. 

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ‘THE REAL CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS IS TAKING PLACE WITHIN OUR JUDICIAL BRANCH’

“What President Trump is trying to do is an abuse of power,” Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in September of Trump’s order to deploy the troops to Portland. “And it is a threat to our democracy. Governors should be in command of their National Guards, our citizens soldiers who sign up to stand up in an emergency to deal with real problems.”

Oregon sued the Trump administration over the order, claiming Trump lacked the authority to deploy the National Guard. 

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a temporary restraining order halting Trump’s plan to deploy 200 Oregon National Guard troops, then again recently expanded the order to bar the administration from deploying any National Guard units from any state to Oregon pending further proceedings. Immergut determined Trump’s order likely exceeded his presidential authority. 

The White House has hit back that Trump is within his presidential limits. 

“I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law,” Leavitt told reporters at a White House press briefing. “The president is using his authority as commander in chief, U.S. code 12 406, which clearly states that the president has the right to call up the National Guard and in cases where he deems it’s appropriate. … The ICE facility has been really under siege. And, by these anarchists outside, they have been, disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence.”

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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted Immergut’s ruling that blocked the Oregon National Guard troops from deploying to Portland, but the other ruling barring any National Guard troops from deploying to Portland remains in effect. 

A new House GOP proposal would withhold funding from U.S. jurisdictions that celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day.

It comes after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation last week declaring Oct. 13 Columbus Day in honor of the famed explorer as well as the heritage of Italian Americans across the U.S.

“This is about every son and daughter of Italy, every Knights of Columbus, every pasta dinner on Sunday, and every communion — everything that makes our culture who we are, from Philadelphia to San Francisco,” Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“Every Little Italy neighborhood of this country celebrates Christopher Columbus. It’s so much more than the man. It’s the people.”

CABINET SPONTANEOUSLY APPLAUDS AS TRUMP SIGNS COLUMBUS DAY PROCLAMATION: ‘WE’RE BACK, ITALIANS’

Rulli’s new bill would both reaffirm Columbus Day as a federal holiday and punish cities and states that replaced the celebration of it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

“We are not going to allow any American municipality to think that they have power over the federal government,” he said.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden formally recognized the second Monday in October as both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day.

The move was lauded by progressive activists and historians who saw Christopher Columbus as the harbinger of a genocide against the land’s indigenous people, millions of whom were killed amid American colonization.

But Rulli argued that Columbus Day was about honoring Italian Americans’ heritage, pointing out that part of the motivation for its founding in 1892 was the extrajudicial lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans after the death of a local police chief.

He added his legislation was not meant to undercut the significance of Native Americans — whom he said deserve their own day of significance.

“I mean, the Native Americans are some of the most amazing, dynamic cultural people that make up the fabric of America. But they need their own special day,” Rulli said. “And I would be willing to do that. I’m saying right now, I would be willing to get the indigenous people their own day, but not this day.”

MAMDANI TAKES AIM AT TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES IN FIERY STATEN ISLAND SPEECH: ‘WE ARE FIGHTING TO KEEP NYC A SANCTUARY CITY’

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He further accused the Biden administration of undercutting the legacy of both peoples by declaring both holidays on the same day, while praising Trump for restoring Columbus Day’s original meaning.

“I don’t care what party you’re in … if you come from Italian American descent, you love what President Trump did. It was a wonderful olive branch to all Italian Americans,” Rulli said.

“By no means, no way, shape or form, is this bill meant to offend any of the indigenous people. They deserve their own day. We will get them their own day, but not Columbus Day. This has already been embedded in our fabric for 130 years,” he said.

New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani spent Sunday night raising money for a United Nations organization that employed Oct. 7 terrorists, just hours before the final living Israeli hostages were released from Hamas captivity.

Mamdani ran in the NYC Gaza 5K, a fundraiser for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The organization was infamously found to have employed terrorists in Gaza who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. Mamdani’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

“This morning I ran the NYC Gaza 5K in Prospect Park for the third time, alongside the Harlem Run Club, to raise money for UNRWA USA, which delivers critical humanitarian aid and services to Palestinians in Gaza,” Mamdani wrote on social media.

“I hope you’ll join me in donating,” he added.

IDF KILLS HAMAS TERRORIST IT SAYS WORKED FOR UNRWA, LED CHARGE ON REIM BOMB SHELTER MASSACRE

Mamdani included a donation link for his followers to send money to UNRWA.

The State Department issued a devastating report to Congress on UNRWA in August, determining that the agency needs to be abolished and is beyond reform. UNRWA’s stated goal is to provide aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the report argues the organization “is irredeemably compromised”

According to the State Department document, the Trump administration demanded in March 2025 that UNRWA “return all remaining unspent balances of U.S. funding in its accounts.” The UNRWA Washington office said it would do so, “but has not yet completed the action.” In May, the State Department said it is working “to cease U.S. participation in all working-level UNRWA bodies” at the United Nations.

UN ACCUSED OF DOWNPLAYING HAMAS TERRORISTS’ USE OF GAZA HOSPITALS AS NEW REPORT IGNORES IMPORTANT DETAILS

The U.S. government pulled the plug on UNRWA funding in January 2024 and has not resumed aid to the agency. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s move calling for the wholesale dissolution of UNRWA added a new layer of pressure on the U.N. and key donor nations to UNRWA, such as Japan and Germany, to reassess the viability of UNRWA.

The Biden administration had given UNRWA $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer funding since 2021 before the freeze in 2024 went into effect.

Former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said in February 2024 that dozens of individuals employed by UNRWA were directly involved in the atrocities carried out against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon told the U.N. in January that UNRWA must close its operations in Jerusalem.

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In August 2024, Fox News Digital reported the U.N. fired nine employees from UNRWA who likely participated in the Hamas slaughter of 1,200 people, including more than 30 Americans, on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., delivered a stark warning during a Monday press conference on Day 13 of the government shutdown.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history unless Democrats drop their partisan demands and pass a clean, no-strings-attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers,” the leader of the House of Representatives said.

The government entered into a shutdown nearly two weeks ago on Oct. 1 after Senate Democrats rejected the GOP’s federal funding plan. They have since blocked consideration of the same bill six more times. 

JOHNSON RAISES STAKES ON SCHUMER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BARRELS INTO WEEK 3

During his press conference, Johnson referenced former President Barack Obama telling a crowd over a decade ago, “There is one way out of this reckless and damaging Republican shutdown: Congress has to pass a budget that funds our government with no partisan strings attached.”

“What I just read was a direct quote. Those are not my words. They belong to President Barack Obama. He was speaking there in 2013 when our government was shut down for 16 days,” he said. “This would be the third-longest government shutdown in American history, that one would be.”

He added, “If Democrats keep up their obstruction here today, that’s where we’re going to be headed.”

The longest shutdown in U.S. history lasted 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019, during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The second-longest was a 21-day shutdown under former President Bill Clinton between December 1995 and January 1996, followed by the shutdown under Obama.

At this point, the 2025 shutdown is the fifth-longest in history, just behind the 1978 shutdown under former President Jimmy Carter.

SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES

Republicans proposed a seven-week bill extending fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal funding levels through Nov. 21 called a continuing resolution (CR). It’s aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term agreement on FY2026, which began on Oct. 1.

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It’s largely free of policy riders — save for an added $88 million in security funding for lawmakers, the White House and the judicial branch — and it has bipartisan support.

It passed the House along mostly partisan lines on Sept. 19. But Democrats in the House and Senate were largely infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks and are now demanding that any spending deal also include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – The scandal over Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones’ texts envisioning the murder of a rival overshadowed the state’s top-of-the-ticket race as Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Abigail Spanberger descended on Jones’ backyard in Hampton Roads, Virginia, for their gubernatorial bout Thursday. 

Earle-Sears — who also represented nearby Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the state legislature two decades ago — and Spanberger met at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia, Thursday for their one-and-only debate appearance. 

At the debate, hosted by Nexstar’s Hampton Roads affiliate WAVY, Earle-Sears repeatedly interjected to press Spanberger to call on Jones to drop out, and to admonish her for giving similarly indirect responses to questions about whether biological males should be able to use female restrooms.

But Jones’ hometown political allies — most of whom are also at the highest levels of Virginia state leadership — have redoubled their support for his bid to become attorney general while offering measured criticism of his comments threatening the life of former House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS RELEASES AD LINKING ABIGAIL SPANBERGER TO JAY JONES AFTER VIOLENT TEXTS RESURFACE

Virginia House Speaker Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, spoke to reporters immediately after the debate as an official surrogate for Spanberger. 

Scott, who represents the area directly across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, Virginia, proper, denied he was frustrated by Spanberger being pressed by Earle-Sears to call for Jones to drop out.

“It was a double standard for Spanberger,” he said. “How many times did Winsome Sears ever denounce the violence that Donald Trump has said over and over again?” 

WATCH: KAINE DEFENDS JONES AMID AG CANDIDATE’S TEXTS ENVISIONING MURDER OF GOP LEADER: ‘STILL A SUPPORTER’

“He literally said that Liz Cheney should get bullets toward her face — I think this trying to make everything appear that it is all Abigail Spanberger’s thing,” said Scott, who referenced Trump’s comment during a discussion criticizing “war hawk”-ishness in which he said the then-Wyoming congresswoman would speak differently if she were in the “war zones” neoconservatives want to send American soldiers to. 

Scott said that as the speaker of the House, that Earle-Sears — who ceremonially presides over the Senate — was “embarrassed” for the legislature of the “oldest continuous democracy in the Western Hemisphere.”

LIBERAL MEDIA DOWNPLAYS SCANDAL OF DEM VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL JAY JONES’ TEXTS FANTASIZING MURDER OF GOP LAWMAKER

“It was not the Virginia way,” he said, before blaming the media for not holding their fire until Jones debates state Attorney General Jason Miyares at the University of Richmond Thursday. 

Before the Sears-Spanberger debate, Scott had traveled to the home district of Del. Carrie Coyner, who had shared Jones’ damning texts with the press, and called the outrage a political diversion and urged parishioners at one house of worship to stay the course for Democrats.

Speaking from the pulpit of a predominantly Black church in Hopewell, Virginia, Scott dismissed coverage of Jones’ scandal as a distraction and urged congregants to vote his way in November.

“We need to understand something,” he said. “We have to be mature in our thinking, and how we vote we can’t get distracted.” 

“They want us to get distracted by the text message here, or something else, so stay focused,” he said.

EARLE-SEARS COMES OUT SWINGING IN HEATED DEBATE AS SPANBERGER DODGES JAY JONES QUESTIONS

Local reports added that Scott did condemn the substance of Jones’ comments prior to his church speech, calling them “harmful, reckless and wrong.”

Senate President L. Louise Lucas, D-Chesapeake, represents the area directly south of Jones’ former House of Delegates district, and attested to his character in a joint statement with the Senate Democrats’ political chief — whose district is just on the other side of Norfolk, Virginia, from the embattled candidate.

“Like all Virginians we were deeply disturbed by Jay’s comments and we condemn his words without hesitation,” wrote Lucas and Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Newport News.

“Let us be crystal clear there is no place for political violence or violent rhetoric in our public discourse and Jay must take accountability for his actions.”

But the two leaders then pivoted to attacking Attorney General Jason Miyares as President Donald Trump’s “pro-bono attorney.”

‘CONSUMED WITH HATE’: WINSOME SEARS, JASON MIYARES UNLOAD ON DEMOCRAT JAY JONES OVER VIOLENT TEXTS

We “will not allow this moment to overshadow the stakes in this election or to distract from the urgent fight we are all in for Virginia’s future,” they said.

“The choice before us is far bigger than this mistake — it is about the kind of leadership we need for our families, our rights and our democracy.”

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Virginia’s Hampton Roads — the collective name for the cities and counties in and around Norfolk, Virginia, and so named for the hodgepodge of maritime channels and rivers — is a perennially swing area, though its individual jurisdictions are reliably partisan. It is also best known as the mainland anchor for the U.S. Naval Fleet.

Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton, Virginia, tend to skew heavily Democratic, while Virginia Beach and other municipalities are more moderate, especially with the weight of right-leaning sailors.

The area’s congressional district — which includes Hampton Roads and the “Eastern Shore” on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel that is currently represented by Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, R-Va. — leans Republican but often ping-pongs between parties every few cycles.

Prior to his run for attorney general and preceding stint in the Biden administration’s Justice Department, Jones was a Democratic state delegate representing Norfolk, Virginia, where the two governor hopefuls, Earle-Sears and Spanberger, engaged in a raucous debate Thursday. Jones’ father, of the same name, held the seat from 1988–2002, while Jones Jr. held it from 2018–2022.

Jones Sr. unsuccessfully challenged Kaine for the 2001 lieutenant gubernatorial role alongside Gov. Mark Warner – who is also now Kaine’s partner in the Senate.

Jones Sr. died in May, and appeared to be close with both of the then-future senators who have either defended or been mum about his son’s scandal.

In remarks to Fox News Digital, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., referenced knowing the younger Jones for “25 years.” 

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania marked the release of the remaining living hostages held by Hamas, the terror group that perpetrated the heinous October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.

He credited President Donald Trump with helping to negotiate the peace agreement that led to the release of the captives kidnapped during the attack.

“The nightmare finally ends. May the hostages have a full recovery and may we never forget those who didn’t make it out alive. Credit to @POTUS for a breakthrough ceasefire of this awful war,” Fetterman noted in his post on X.

ARDENTLY PRO-ISRAEL DEM SEN JOHN FETTERMAN CONGRATULATES TRUMP FOR ‘HISTORIC PEACE PLAN’

Fetterman began his post with a quote from former hostage Eli Sharabi, who was released back in February. That two-word quote, “Now, life,” comes from Sharabi’s memoir, “Hostage.”

Fetterman has been a steadfast and ardent supporter of Israel in the wake of the horrific 2023 attack and the war that followed.

FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE RELEASED 491 DAYS AFTER HE WAS KIDNAPPED AND HIS FAMILY WAS SLAUGHTERED

“I congratulate @POTUS on this historic peace plan that releases all the hostages. Now, enduring peace in the region is possible. Our parties are different but we have a shared ironclad commitment to Israel and its people,” he noted in a post on X last week.

Fetterman also marked the 250th anniversary of the Navy on Monday.

NETANYAHU CALLS TRUMP ISRAEL’S ‘GREATEST FRIEND’ AS FINAL LIVING HOSTAGES RELEASED

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“250 years of defending freedom and protecting prosperity—and the finest sailors of the strongest naval force in the world. Proud to be the grandson of Lt. Commander Donald Fetterman, who served in the Pacific Theater of WWII. Happy 250th Birthday, @USNavy!” he noted in a post on X, adding the American flag emoji and a black-and-white photo presumably his grandfather.

The Senate is set to return on Tuesday to again vote on whether to reopen the government, but like many times before, the plan is expected to fail again as a deal remains elusive.

Lawmakers in the upper chamber are expected to vote for an eighth time on the House GOP’s continuing resolution (CR), as the government shutdown inches closer to its third week. But after a long weekend away from Washington, D.C., it’s unlikely either party has shifted from their positions.

Senate Republicans want to pass the House’s “clean” short-term funding extension, which would reopen the government until Nov. 21. Included are millions in spending for lawmaker security and a budget fix for D.C.’s local government.

TRUMP DIRECTS HEGSETH TO PAY TROOPS DURING ONGOING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STANDOFF AS HE RAILS AGAINST SCHUMER

But Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., remain adamant that they will not provide Republicans and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., the needed votes to reopen the government unless there is a firm deal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies.

Both sides are talking, breaking up into small groups that are focused on some of the Democrats’ demands, like extending the subsidies or putting guardrails on future rescissions and impoundments of federal funding.

Still, no concrete negotiations or an off-ramp out of the shutdown have materialized.

“I think Leader Schumer’s checked out,” Thune told reporters on Friday. “I don’t think this is going to happen. I think this is going to happen organically with enough reasonable Senate Democrats who care enough about doing the right thing for their country and not what’s in the best interests of their left-wing political base to come forward and help us find a solution.”

So far only three Senate Democratic caucus members, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Vt., have consistently crossed the aisle to reopen the government.

SENATE LEAVES WASHINGTON AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NEARS 3RD WEEK, MILITARY PAY AT RISK

One key deadline, which was expected to make Democrats squeamish as the shutdown continued on, was met over the weekend. While lawmakers were away, President Donald Trump authorized Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to pay military service members by Oct. 15.

But Schumer has remained steadfast that he and Democrats want more than just a guarantee on the expiring subsidies and demands that Thune, Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., come to the negotiating table.

“We Democrats want to end this shutdown as quickly as we can,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “But Donald Trump and Republicans need to negotiate with us in a serious way to fix the health care premiums crisis. We can and should do both. It’s not either or, like Republicans think.”

SENATE DEMOCRATS BLOCK GOP PLAN AGAIN TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS MILITARY PAY DEADLINE LOOMS

But Senate Republicans have countered throughout the shutdown that Democrats routinely voted for CRs under former President Joe Biden, and that the only difference between then and now is that Trump is in office.

“A political game is being played by the Democrats because they think that every day gets better for them,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said. “And this isn’t right versus left. This is right versus wrong. That’s what we’re facing in this country today.”

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And there’s still another deadline on Capitol Hill fast approaching, this time to pay Senate staff.

“I’m concerned about everybody going without pay,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said. “We need to open the government back up, and I think people need to sit down and talk to each other. And so far, the president has been unwilling to talk, the leadership in both houses have been unwilling to talk.” 

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Gaza Strip was based on one developed by the Biden administration.

In a lengthy post on X, Blinken, who served in the Biden administration, outlined how Trump was able to secure the peace agreement. He noted that Arab states and Turkey have said “enough” to Hamas, and said the response also showed that other Iran-backed groups — Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — were not coming to Hamas’ aid.

“It starts with a clear and comprehensive post-conflict plan for Gaza,” Blinken wrote. “It’s good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”

NETANYAHU ADVISOR EXPRESSES ‘DEEP FAITH’ IN TRUMP’S GAZA CEASEFIRE PLAN FRAMEWORK APPROACH

Blinken said the Biden administration briefly secured a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in January, resulting in the release of 135 hostages before the deal fell apart.

He also questioned how Trump could secure a permanent peace plan.

Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump about Blinken’s remarks aboard Air Force One.

“Everybody knows it’s a joke,” Trump said. “Look, they did such a bad job. This should have never happened.”

“If just a decent president — not a great president like me — if a decent president were in, you wouldn’t have had the Russia-Ukraine (war),” Trump said. “This was bad policy by Biden and Obama.”

Trump was in Egypt on Monday to work on the second phase of the cease-fire while meeting with more than 20 world leaders.

TRUMP’S WEEK IN REVIEW: PRESIDENT SECURES HISTORIC PEACE DEAL TO BRING HOSTAGES HOME AS SHUTDOWN CONTINUES

“We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we’re there,” Trump said.

“This is the day that people across this region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping and praying for,” he added. “With the historic agreement we have just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. Together, we have achieved the impossible.”

In his post, Blinken said the postwar plan for Gaza should be implemented immediately, “with eyes wide open about its challenges: pulling together the international stabilization force, fully demilitarizing and disarming Hamas, dealing with insurgents, and expeditiously securing a phased but full Israeli withdrawal.”

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He also credited Trump for reaffirming “the key principles we established for Gaza at the outset of the war — no platform for terrorism, no annexation, no occupation, no forced population transfers — and for making clear the overall goal is to create the conditions for a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”

The National Hockey League played seven games in its young 2025-2026 season by the end of the day last Wednesday. The contests featured a grand total of two fights. 

The government shutdown had run for eight days by the end of the day on that Wednesday. And the now lengthy shutdown sparked two extraordinary verbal brawls in the halls of Congress between lawmakers.

NHL referees Gord Dwyer and Mitch Dunning worked the Washington Capitals/Boston Bruins tilt Wednesday night in DC. Perhaps the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms could have summoned Dwyer and Dunning up to Capitol Hill to dole out a few ten-minute misconducts beforehand.

“You’re embarrassing yourself right now!” hollered House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., at Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.

JOHNSON RAISES STAKES ON SCHUMER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BARRELS INTO WEEK 3

“The only embarrassment here is you!” thundered Lawler at Jeffries.

Tempers exploded as Lawler lay in wait outside the House Radio/TV Gallery Studio for a shutdown smackdown after Jeffries concluded his now-daily press conference. 

“You’re not going to talk to me and talk over me when you don’t want to hear what I’m going to say!” yelled an animated Jeffries at Lawler, jabbing his index finger toward his colleagues chest but never poking him. 

“Oh, I’m listening,” said Lawler.

“So just keep your mouth shut!” shouted the usually cool Jeffries. 

There were multiple rounds of vocal fisticuffs between Members and Congressional leaders.

Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., summoned the press to the hallway outside the office of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to complain about the shutdown and criticize the Speaker for not swearing-in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., more than two weeks after her election. Johnson then confronted the Arizona senators. And Lawler was nearby, serving as “fourth man in.”

“This is absurd,” seethed an exasperated Johnson.

SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES

“This is the longest the House has gone…” interrupted Gallego.

“Do you want me to answer the question?” shot back Johnson.

“You’re not actually answering the question,” countered Gallego.

The multiple rounds of brawls in the halls between lawmakers were nearly unprecedented in Congress. The shutdown smackdowns featured arguments about health care. Lawler waved around legislation focused on the Democrats’ push during the shutdown: a package to extend Obamacare subsidies.

“If you believe in it so much!” chided Lawler, with a rhetorical uppercut. 

“Bro, do you understand math?” counterpunched Jeffries.

Tensions are spiking at the Capitol. Yours truly asked Johnson about Lawler confronting Jeffries and his decision to step out of the Speaker’s Office to engage Kelly and Gallego. I noted to the Speaker that if the House was in session, there may be fistfights in the hallways.

“Are you concerned and is it incumbent upon you as the Speaker to try to lower this temperature?” I asked.

Johnson added that the contretemps “concerns me.” He added that he wanted to “restore civility to the institution.”

“Let’s have policy disputes. But not make it personal. This gets personal. Emotions are high. People are upset. I’m upset. I’m a very patient man. But I am very angry right now because this is dangerous stuff. And so is it better for them to be physically separated right now? It probably is.” said Johnson. 

Lawmakers aren’t the only ones raging. Thousands of federal workers are fuming at the shutdown. The administration is now firing federal workers. 

“Right now, many families are paying the price for political gridlock that they didn’t cause,” said American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley.

TENSE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN HOUSE SPEAKER, SENATE DEMS CAUGHT ON CAMERA OVER SHUTDOWN

Rep. Sarah Elfreth, D-Md., represents 44,000 federal employees in her district near Washington, DC. She notes that Maryland has lost 15,000 federal jobs since President Trump took office in January. 

“I believe that (the firings) are not only unethical and immoral, but illegal for him to be RIF-ing people during a shutdown. There’s no new authority granted to the President or OMB during a shutdown,” said Elfreth. “I don’t believe in negotiating by threat. It also shows that I think they have the weaker hand and that they’re losing the PR battle nationally to resort to threats.” 

While the shutdown is the main event, the undercard is a fight between Democrats and Johnson over Grijalva to succeed her late father, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. The elder Grijalva died in March after a battle with cancer.

“I can’t hire staff. We don’t have an office,” said Grijalva “So it’s very much second-class citizen feeling for me.”

Democrats have tried on multiple occasions to compel the House to swear-in Grijalva during brief, pro forma sessions where the body gavels in and gavels out after just a few seconds. Once in office, Grijalva would provide the crucial 218th signature to go over the head of the Speaker and force the House to vote on a measure to release the Epstein files.

“Get your people in and stop covering up for the pedophiles,” shouted Gallego at Johnson during their confrontation in the corridor.

“That’s ridiculous,” responded Johnson. 

“There’s nobody covering up for pedophiles,” chirped Lawler from the back of the scrum. “So knock it the hell off.”

Johnson denies the Grijalva holdup is about the Epstein files. 

“We’ll schedule it, I guess, as soon as she wants. It has nothing to do with it,” said Johnson. 

But Grijalva wrote to the Speaker last week demanding the House swear her in immediately. And the House still hasn’t sworn her in.

Circumstances were different this spring when the House GOP majority dwindled to a net seat of one. Republicans needed as many votes as they could muster to pass parliamentary frameworks for the Big, Beautiful Bill. Johnson swore-in Reps. Randy Fine, R-Fla., and Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., a day after they won special elections.

“These guys worked hard and they earned the position,” said Johnson when he met with them back in April. “These gentlemen are going to come in and help us deliver the America First agenda.” 

Johnson noted that swearing-in Fine and Patronis made “the margin a little more comfortable” for House Republicans.

So Johnson is keeping the House out of session for now. House Democrats are returning to Capitol Hill this week to make a point of Johnson keeping the House out of session during the shutdown. Regardless, pouring everyone back into the Capitol would likely trigger the Congressional equivalent of a line brawl. 

There are unwritten rules about hockey fights. You don’t sucker punch someone. You don’t knee your opponent. You generally square off in a fight with someone in your same weight class. In hockey, both sides warm up on their own side of the red line before the game and between periods. Violation of that code might trigger a big brawl.

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Lawmakers from both sides seemingly left their own side of the rink to pick fights with the other side. Gallego and Kelly outside the Speaker’s Office. Lawler outside Jeffries’ news conference.

But lawmakers are apparently ignoring these unwritten rules. The government shutdown soon enters its third week and everyone is dropping their gloves.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday announced that he intends to nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in securing a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Hamas and Israel.

It will be Pakistan’s second time putting up Trump for the prize. In June, Pakistan nominated Trump for his role in securing a ceasefire agreement between Islamabad and neighboring India.

“Pakistan had nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding, extraordinary contributions to first stop the war between India and Pakistan and then achieve a ceasefire, along with his very wonderful team,” Sharif said in Egypt, speaking next to Trump.

TRUMP CELEBRATES PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER SIGNING GAZA DEAL: ‘ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE’

“And today, again, I would like to nominate this great president for the Nobel Peace Prize because I genuinely feel that he is the most genuine and most wonderful candidate for the Peace Prize because he has brought not only peace in South Asia, saving millions of people and their lives,” he added. “And today, here in Sharm el-Sheikh, achieving peace in Gaza is saving millions of lives in the Middle East.”

Trump and Sharif were part of a delegation of world leaders gathered in Egypt’s coastal resort area of Sharm el-Sheikh to sign documents related to the peace deal in Gaza.

COULD TRUMP WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AFTER ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL?

After announcing his intention to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, Sharif turned to the president and made a brief saluting gesture toward him.

“Mr. President, I would like to salute you for your exemplary, visionary leadership. I think you are the man this world needs most at this point in time. The world will always remember you as a man who did everything — who went out of his way to stop seven and, today, eight wars,” Sharif added.

Last week, the Nobel Committee in Norway awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

While introducing the other world leaders, Trump appeared to chide Norway over last week’s choice.

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“Oh, Norway — aye, yay, yay,” Trump said. “Norway. What happened, Norway? What happened?”

After facing backlash for staying silent as Israeli hostages were freed from Gaza, New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani finally broke his silence Monday afternoon.

“Today’s scenes of Israelis and Palestinians are profoundly moving: Israeli hostages being freed and families reunited after years of fear, uncertainty, and torture; the first days in Gaza without relentless Israeli bombardment of Palestinians as families return to rubble and loved ones freed from detention,” Mamdani posted on X on Monday shortly after 4 p.m. EST in a message that did not mention President Donald Trump or acknowledge his role in the negotiations. 

Mamdani went on to mark the development as a “glimmer of hope” that the ceasefire will “hold” and the “long and difficult work of reconstruction can begin.”

“I also know this news brings solace to millions of New Yorkers, who’ve felt the pain of the past few years,” Mamdani said. “We have watched as our tax dollars have funded a genocide. The moral and human cost will be a lasting stain and requires accountability and real examination of our collective conscience and our government’s policies.”

MAMDANI CAUGHT ON CAMERA GETTING CHASED OUT OF MANHATTAN SQUARE; PROTESTER BLASTS HIM AS ‘ANTISEMITE’

Mamdani’s lengthy post concluded by saying that the “responsibility now lies” with those who “believe in peace.”

“Once aid is delivered, the wounded are cared for, and a lasting agreement secured, we cannot look away,” Mamdani said. “We must work towards a future built upon justice, one without occupation and apartheid, and for a world where every person can live with safety and dignity.”

Mamdani’s post came roughly three hours after one of his opponents, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, called him out on social media for not commenting that morning as the hostages were released. 

MEET MAMDANI’S RADICAL ADVISORY CIRCLE THAT INCLUDES COMMUNIST ACTIVIST, ANTI-ISRAEL ADVOCATES

“It shouldn’t go unnoticed that @ZohrankMamdani — who still refuses to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ (widely understood to mean death to Jews) — has yet to comment on the release of the hostages,” Cuomo posted on X. “His silence speaks volumes.”

Both Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa released statements on social media earlier in the morning praising the release of the hostages, with Sliwa being the only one to offer praise to Trump by name. 

MAMDANI SAYS COLBERT SHOW SHOCKED HIM WHEN PRODUCER PITCHED ‘GAME’ TO DISCUSS ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

In a CNN interview on Friday, Mamdani hinted that he was open to giving Trump credit. 

“If the genocide ends, then I think that’s something worthy to be praised, and if the hostages are returned,” Mamdani said. “Those things together have to be done in tandem.”

Mamdani’s post quickly brought critical reactions, including from New York City GOP Councilwoman Inna Vernikov.

“GLARINGLY MISSING FROM THIS WORD SALAD: Any single mention of HAMAS or the TERRORISTS who brought this upon themselves by murdering & raping their way across Israel on 10/7,” Vernikov posted on X. “You know, the same terrorists that your wife was glorifying on her Instagram story? Those terrorists?”

Mamdani, who has been widely criticized for his comments and positions on Israel, spent Sunday night raising money for a United Nations organization that employed Oct. 7 terrorists, just hours before the final living Israeli hostages were released from Hamas captivity.

Trump celebrated “peace in the Middle East” after he signed the historic peace agreement that ended two years of fighting in Gaza. 

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“At long last, we have peace in the Middle East, and it’s a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East,” Trump said during remarks at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, flanked by dozens of world leaders. 

“We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we’re there.” 

Trump went on: “This is the day that people across this region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping, and praying for. With the historic agreement we have just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. Together, we have achieved the impossible.”

His remarks came after Hamas released the final remaining 20 living hostages on Monday as Israel backed off its frontline positioning in Gaza over the weekend. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign but did not immediately receive a response.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Former President Bill Clinton praised President Donald Trump for his administration’s efforts in brokering the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, saying the president and regional partners “deserve great credit” for keeping negotiations on track.

“The horrors of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the conflict they reignited have resulted in unbearable human loss,” Clinton wrote. “It has been hard to watch and nearly impossible to rationalize.”

“I’m grateful that a ceasefire has taken hold, that the last 20 hostages have been freed, and that desperately needed aid has begun to flow into Gaza,” he continued. “President Trump and his administration, Qatar, and other regional actors deserve great credit for keeping everyone engaged until the agreement was reached.”

Clinton added that, with support from the U.S., the region, and the world, Israel and Hamas must try to turn this “fragile moment into lasting peace that provides the dignity and security of both Palestinians and Israelis.”

WORLD LEADERS PRAISE ‘LANDMARK’ ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL MEDIATED BY US: ‘NEW HORIZON OF HOPE’

“I believe that they can get there, but only if they do it together,” Clinton said.

The praise for Trump comes after a years-long feud between him and the Clintons.

The feud stemmed from Trump’s relentless attacks on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, when he branded the former secretary of state “Crooked Hillary.”

COULD TRUMP WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AFTER ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL?

The Clintons have also argued that Trump’s presidency undermined democratic norms.

While Trump periodically revives the feud, Bill Clinton has also criticized him — particularly over his handling of Israel-Iran tensions in June.

At the time, Bill Clinton expressed skepticism about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump’s intentions for peace in the Middle East. He urged Trump to calm the situation and end the “outright constant killing of civilians.”

TRUMP ANNOUNCES ISRAEL AGREES TO GAZA ‘INITIAL WITHDRAWAL LINE’ AS ‘3,000 YEAR CATASTROPHE’ NEARS END

“First of all — they’re not talking about negotiating peace in the Middle East because the Israelis have no intention of… under Prime Minister Netanyahu, of giving the Palestinians a state. And now, they’re too divided and crushed to organize themselves to achieve it,” Bill Clinton said during a guest appearance on “The Daily Show.”

He continued, maintaining that Trump agrees with Netanyahu in believing that the Palestinians “shouldn’t have a state.” However, he added that neither leader wants to trigger a full-scale regional disaster.

“Mr. Netanyahu has long wanted to fight Iran because that way he can stay in office forever and ever. I mean, he’s been there most of the last 20 years,” the former president said. “But I think we should be trying to defuse it, and I hope President Trump will do that.”

TRUMP SAYS ‘WHOLE WORLD CAME TOGETHER’ TO SECURE ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL AFTER MONTHS OF DEADLOCK

Bill Clinton emphasized the need for the U.S. to protect its allies in the region while also urging restraint.

“We have to convince our friends in the Middle East that we’ll stand with them and try to protect them,” he stated. “But choosing undeclared wars in which the primary victims are civilians, who are not politically involved, one way or the other, who just want to live decent lives, is not a very good solution.”

Bill Clinton conceded that the U.S. must try to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon but again stressed the need to protect innocent lives in the region.

TRUMP LAUDED BY MSNBC, LIBERAL MEDIA FIGURES FOR SECURING ISRAEL PEACE DEAL

“Do I think that we have to try to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon? I do,” he declared. “But we don’t have to have all this outright constant killing of civilians who can’t defend themselves, and they just want a chance to live.”

Days later, President Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer, using B-2 bombers and other jets to strike multiple uranium sites in Iran.

Hillary Clinton also praised Trump for his Israel-Hamas peace breakthrough.

“I really commend President Trump and his administration, as well as Arab leaders in the region, for making the commitment to the 20-point plan, and seeing a path forward for what is often called the day after,” she told CBS News after Hamas agreed to Trump’s peace plan.

Hillary Clinton also appeared to pull back her digs at Trump in August, just before the president met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Appearing on the “Raging Moderates” podcast, Clinton said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he succeeded in getting Putin to end his war and return all the territory Russia seized in Ukraine.

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“You know, look, if we could pull that off — if President Trump were the architect of that — I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize,” she said during the interview.

Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill is facing criticism after a businessman linked to the Chinese Communist Party made multiple donations totaling tens of thousands of dollars to her campaign. 

Pin Ni, the founder of Wanxiang America Corporation, donated $60,000 to the One Giant Leap super PAC backing Sherrill’s campaign in the form of two checks, in addition to giving the $5,800 individual max donation directly to Sherrill’s campaign this summer, according to records reviewed by Fox News Digital and first reported on by New York Post.

Political campaigns in the United States are only permitted to accept money from American citizens or permanent legal residents and, in addition to Pin’s status being unclear, questions have been raised about the ethics of accepting money from individuals linked to the Chinese Communist Party. 

“The donor, Pin Ni, has an extensive history of assisting the CCP’s political warfare and influence operations upon the U.S., and of generally aligning with and carrying out party commands,” Michael Lucci, Founder and CEO of State Armor, told New York Post, adding that taking money from Ni is “disqualifying.”

NEW STUDY EXPOSES GREEN ENERGY ORG’S TIES TO CCP INTERESTS WHILE UNDERMINING US

Wanxiang Group posthumously awarded the company’s founder, Lu Guanqiu, the title of “National Outstanding Communist Party Member” in a 2021 press release and praised Guanqiu for his “pursuit of communism as a lifelong ideal and practice.” The press release also said Guanqiu, the late father-in-law of Pin Ni, “has always listened to the [Chinese Communist] Party and followed the Party,” a Fox News Digital review found earlier this year. 

The press release continued by quoting Chinese President Xi Jinping’s praise of Guanqiu, saying he was “in line with the Party Central Committee. He always actively does what our Party committees and governments at all levels advocate.”

‘COMING FOR US’: EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM ON CCP’S MISSION TO ‘KILL AMERICANS’ AFTER FBI MAKES SHOCKING ARRESTS

The founder’s bio on the Wanxiang website says he was elected as the 13th and 14th Representatives of the CPPCC, and a delegate to the 9th, 10th, and 11th Chinese National People’s Congress, top levels of the CCP’s hierarchy. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Sherrill campaign inquiring whether the money would be returned. 

Fox News Digital also reached out to Pin Ni but did not immediately receive a response.

Sherrill isn’t the only Democrat running for governor in November to be faced with questions about donations from Pin Ni.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger took $50,000 from the CCP-tied businessman in two $25,000 installments in April and May, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

The donations sparked criticism from Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

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“Taking $50,000 from someone with clear Chinese Communist Party ties tells us all we need to know,” her campaign spokesperson said at the time. “You can’t claim to stand up to foreign threats while pocketing money from someone celebrated by the CCP.”

A Spanberger campaign spokesperson said, “Virginians know that Abigail Spanberger has a demonstrated record of standing up for America’s national security, delivering results for Virginia families across party lines, and never backing down from keeping the American people safe.”

“Her campaign will remain focused on what Virginians care about most, keeping our communities safe, driving down costs, protecting Virginia jobs, and making sure Virginia’s public schools are the very best in America,” the spokesperson added.

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whose National Guard troops were recently deployed in support of ICE operations in Chicago, revealed the “substantive reason” why he has such a good working relationship with the president: “We both believe in the rule of law.”

“President Trump and I have a good, long-standing, working relationship, and there’s a substantive reason behind that. We both believe in the rule of law. We both believe in public safety. We both believed in securing the borders,” he explained.

Abbott said that he and President Donald Trump are “operating very closely aligned in ensuring that our country’s going to be safe.”

“I’m more than happy to be a partner with the federal government, making sure that we keep our country as safe as possible,” he added.

LONG-HELD SCOTUS PRECEDENTS COULD UNDERCUT PORTLAND, CHICAGO NATIONAL GUARD LAWSUITS

This comes as some 200 Texas National Guard troops are currently deployed to the Chicago area, tasked with protecting federal law enforcement officers as they carry out immigration enforcement operations.

For the past several weeks, the Chicago area has been rocked by anti-ICE demonstrations that have on several occasions boiled over into violent disruption. Large crowds of what DHS has called “violent rioters” have gathered outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and have repeatedly blocked federal vehicles from exiting and entering the facility. Earlier this month, federal agents were rammed and trapped by 10 vehicles, where anti-ICE crowds had gathered for days. Nearly a dozen people were arrested.

Despite this, DHS has said its agents have received little to no support from Democrat leaders in Illinois or local and state law enforcement.

Against this backdrop, Abbott authorized Trump to deploy 400 of his Texas National Guard troops to trouble spots across the country under Title 10 authority. So far, only about half of those troops have been deployed to Illinois as a legal case against the deployment makes its way through federal court.

HOMAN CONFIRMS TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD ‘ON THE GROUND’ IN ILLINOIS, WARNS ANTI-ICE RHETORIC FUELING ‘BLOODSHED’

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Abbott said the deployment of Texas National Guard troops, who have gained experience keeping the peace through deployments to the southern border, was “only natural.”

“What the National Guard is trained and skilled at doing is dealing with civil unrest like that. They dealt with civil unrest along the Texas border for the past four years while Joe Biden was president. They’ve dealt with civil unrest even in locations in the state of Texas, when I thought it was important to call them out and make sure that we did not have any unrest in our state. So, these are National Guard troopers who are very well-trained at being able to deal with this type of environment,” he said. “It’s only natural that, by extension, that if there’s a need for that elite National Guard to provide assistance anywhere in the entire country, that it would be the [Texas] National Guard called upon.”

Again, Abbott emphasized that the Trump administration shares a common vision with Texas, making them apt partners.

“What Texas is trying to do is the same thing the United States is trying to do. And that is very simply, carrying out the functions of the federal government. One of them is immigration enforcement, and another is public safety. The National Guard from Texas, they’re not there to police the city of Chicago or any other place. They are there to ensure the safety and security of the ability of federal officials to fulfill their constitutional duty to enforce the laws of the United States.”

PRITZKER SUES TRUMP TO BLOCK NATIONAL GUARD ACTION IN ILLINOIS

Though he gave no indication of what other collaborations Texas might undertake with the Trump administration in the future, he said that Texas remains ready for whatever is needed.

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“No one can accurately predict exactly what’s going to happen in the future. What I can predict is how Texas will respond. And that is, whenever the country is in time of need, Texans will step up and help out any way we possibly can.”

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner, Matt Finn, Michael Tobin and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill on Monday doubled down on her claim that Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli is “complicit” with opioid companies in the deaths of tens of thousands of New Jerseyans.

Sherrill spoke during a press conference on the Garden State’s opioid epidemic, accusing Ciattarelli of “looking at ways to help people get access to the drugs that were killing them” through his ties to pharmaceutical-backed training programs.

“So you heard it, Jack made millions,” she said. “The opioid companies made billions, and thousands of New Jerseyans were dying.”

When a reporter asked Sherrill if she still holds Ciattarelli personally responsible for the opioid deaths, the state lawmaker initially hedged her reply.

JACK CIATTARELLI DEMANDS MIKIE SHERRILL ‘COME CLEAN’ AS EXPLOSIVE ACCUSATIONS FLY IN NJ GOVERNOR’S RACE

“I think we’ve laid out the case that Jack is complicit with these opioid companies, in league with these opioid companies,” Sherrill said.

The reporter asks Sherrill again, “So you’re saying he killed tens of thousands of New Jersey residents?”

“I think he is right there with the people that again paid billions of dollars,” Sherrill replied. “So I think that the line is pretty clear.”

Sherrill first made her claims that Ciattarelli contributed to the opioid epidemic during last week’s gubernatorial debate.

‘GETTING DESPERATE’: GOVERNOR DEBATE GETS PERSONAL AFTER DEMOCRAT IS MOCKED FOR CHEATING SCANDAL

Ciattarelli fired back the day after the debate, pledging to file a defamation lawsuit against Sherrill.

“Mikie Sherrill cracked,” Ciattarelli campaign chief strategist, Chris Russell charged in a statement Thursday.

“In doing so, she claimed — twice — that Jack Ciattarelli ‘killed tens of thousands of people, including children,’ a clearly defamatory attack that shocked the moderators, press, and public alike,” Russell added. “In a time where political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent, Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate crosses the line.”

The Sherrill campaign quickly responded.

“Jack’s reaction is to hide behind a lawsuit, not to take responsibility. What’s reckless and irresponsible is Jack Ciattarelli making millions of dollars profiting off the pain of New Jerseyans — publishing misinformation about the dangers of opioid addiction and developing an app to coach patients to ask doctors for more drugs,” Sherrill campaign communications director Sean Higgins argued in a statement.

FINAL FACEOFF: CIATTARELLI, SHERRILL, BLAST EACH OTHER ON DEBATE STAGE

“As he was making millions, the Big Pharma companies made billions, and tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died. He is clearly unfit to lead and protect this state, and owes the people of New Jersey answers,” Higgins charged.

Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, is making his third straight run for New Jersey governor. Four years ago, he grabbed national attention as he came close to upsetting Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

It was during his 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.

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At a post-debate news conference last week, Ciattarelli claimed the attack by Sherrill was “a desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate.”

Sherrill, asked after the debate if she had proof directly linking Ciattarelli to the opioid deaths, told reporters, “I guess he’s not really expressed anything about this. I think there’s a lot we don’t know. I think he continues to not be very transparent about it.”

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial contests the year after a presidential election, which means the races traditionally grab outsized national attention.

This year’s ballot box showdowns are viewed as crucial early tests of Trump’s popularity and second-term agenda, and are considered key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm elections for the U.S. House and Senate.

The winner of next month’s election in New Jersey will succeed the term-limited Murphy.

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While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past ten elections.

In the 2025 race, political history favors both parties. 

The party that wins the White House tends to lose the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections the following year, which favors the Democrats. But Democrats in New Jersey are also trying to buck history — it’s been over six decades since a party won three straight Garden State gubernatorial elections.

President Donald Trump celebrated “peace in the Middle East” after he signed the historic peace agreement that ended two years of fighting in Gaza. 

“At long last, we have peace in the Middle East, and it’s a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East,” Trump said during remarks at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, flanked by dozens of world leaders. 

“We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there. And now we’re there.” 

Trump went on: “This is the day that people across this region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping, and praying for. With the historic agreement we have just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. Together, we have achieved the impossible.”

His remarks came after Hamas released the final remaining 20 living hostages on Monday as Israel backed off its frontline positioning in Gaza over the weekend. 

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Now, according to Trump, mediators will begin work on “Phase Two” of the 20-point peace plan.