NationalWatch

A senior staffer for California Rep. Sara Jacobs’ office was the victim of an armed carjacking in a popular Washington, D.C., neighborhood on Friday afternoon, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report. 

Metro Police announced on Sunday two arrests in the armed carjacking that occurred on Friday afternoon in a Harris Teeter parking lot in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood. 

In addition to the victim’s personal items, the senior staffer’s government-issued iPhone, MacBook, ID and Capitol parking pass were identified as missing in the police report obtained by Fox News Digital. Jacobs’ office did not provide comment but confirmed the devices were immediately wiped.  

On Friday, around 12:08 p.m., the suspects approached the victim as they exited their car, demanding the victim’s car keys, according to Metro Police. When the staffer refused, one of the suspects brandished a handgun and obtained the keys before the suspects fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle, police said.

FAMILY OF MOM MURDERED IN RITZY DC SUBURB DECADES AGO GETS JUSTICE AS PERP NOBODY EXPECTED PLEADS GUILTY

Officers recovered the victim’s car and a firearm on Saturday, and then arrested two suspects. According to police, a 15-year-old juvenile male of Washington was charged with armed carjacking, and a 14-year-old juvenile male of Maryland was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

WOMAN ARRESTED FOR DRIVING INTO FESTIVAL CROWD HOURS AFTER EXPLOSION ROCKED SAME EVENT

As of Sunday, police are still searching for two outstanding suspects whose photos were captured during the incident by surveillance cameras. 

Navy Yard is a popular Washington neighborhood located south of the U.S. Capitol and home to the Washington Nationals baseball stadium. While the neighborhood has transformed over the past decade into an urban hub for congressional staffers and young professionals, it has also been the subject of criticism for its crime. 

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he was walking to the Navy Yard Metro Station for a transit safety event last month when he learned a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) police officer had just been stabbed in the face. 

The WMATA confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital and said the suspect stabbed the officer “with a sharp metal object” after they did not pay their fare at the station. 

President Donald Trump vowed to clean up Washington while speaking at his “Make America Great Again” rallies on the 2024 campaign trail. Since returning to office this January, Trump has committed to creating a “crime-free capital.”  

“We’re cleaning up our city. We’re cleaning up this great capital,” the president said. “And we’re not going to have crime, and we’re not going to stand for crime,” Trump said at the Department of Justice earlier this year. 

The Jacobs staffer did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and Andrew Margolis contributed to this report. 

The Trump administration has not revealed which administration official was targeted by the Biden administration’s State Department in a “disinformation” dossier compiling previous social media posts that identified them as “purveyors of disinformation.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed at the most recent Trump administration Cabinet meeting April 30 that an unidentified Trump administration official who was present had been the subject of a State Department dossier detailing alleged promotion of social media “disinformation.” 

Rubio, the State Department and the White House have not yet identified which official the Biden administration targeted. Fox News Digital has reached out repeatedly to the White House regarding the identity of the official, including on Monday, but did not receive replies. 

When asked for an update on the identity of the Trump official, the State Department directed Fox News Digital to Rubio’s April 30 remark, detailing that, “We are going to be turning over these dossiers to the individuals, and they’ll decide whether they want to disclose it or not.”

RUBIO REVEALS OBSCURE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OFFICE KEPT ‘DISINFORMATION’ DOSSIER ON TRUMP OFFICIAL

Rubio said during the April 30 Cabinet meeting that a little-known, now-defunct office within the State Department called the Global Engagement Center (GEC) had compiled disinformation dossiers on Americans across the country as part of an effort to “censor” free speech, including an individual who has since joined the Trump administration. 

“We had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans,” Rubio said during the meeting. “And, by the way, I’m not going to say who it is. I’ll leave it up to them. There’s at least one person at this table today who had a dossier in that building of social media posts to identify them as purveyors of disinformation. We have these dossiers. We are going to be turning those over to these individuals.” 

Vice President JD Vance interjected, asking, “Was it me or Elon (Musk)? We can follow up when the media is gone,” which drew laughter from the Cabinet. 

RUBIO OVERHAULING ‘BLOATED’ STATE DEPARTMENT IN SWEEPING REFORM

“But just think about that. The Department of State of the United States had set up an office to monitor the social media posts and commentary of American citizens, to identify them as vectors of disinformation,” Rubio continued. “When we know that the best way to combat disinformation is freedom of speech and transparency.”

Though Rubio did not identify which Trump official the Biden administration kept a dossier on, Elon Musk has previously railed against the Global Engagement Center. 

“The worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation is an obscure agency called GEC,” Musk posted to X in January 2023. That was more than a year before Musk endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential race and became a fixture of the administration in his temporary role with the Department of Government Efficiency. 

“They are a threat to our democracy,” Musk added.

RUBIO ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF STATE DEPARTMENT EFFORT THAT ‘WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD ALREADY’

Former President Barack Obama established the Global Engagement Center in 2016 through an executive order aimed at coordinating counterterrorism messaging to foreign nations before it expanded its scope to also include countering foreign propaganda and disinformation, State Department documents show.

Conservatives have slammed the office as a political weapon to silence free speech, including Rubio in an April op-ed when he cited a 2020 GEC report claiming that a “Russian disinformation apparatus” was behind public speculation that the coronavirus was an “engineered bioweapon” or was created by “research conducted at the Wuhan institute.” 

In the years following the pandemic, the Department of Energy under the Biden administration and former FBI Director Christopher Wray said evidence indicated that COVID-19 was the result of a lab leak, while the Trump administration’s CIA reported earlier in 2025 that a lab leak was the likely origin of the virus.

TWITTER BOSS ELON MUSK ACCUSES GOVERNMENT AGENCY OF BEING ‘WORST OFFENDER IN US GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP’

In 2024, lawmakers did not approve new funding for the office in the National Defense Authorization Act, and it was scheduled to terminate on Dec. 23, 2024. The Biden administration, however, shuffled staffers and rebranded the office. 

It became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub just days before Trump’s inauguration, the New York Post reported in January. 

Rubio announced in April that the office would officially shutter. 

“I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio said in an April 16 statement announcing the office’s closure. 

“Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” he wrote. “This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America. That ends today.” 

WHITE HOUSE PROPOSAL AXES UN, NATO FUNDS AND HALVES STATE DEPARTMENT BUDGET

Rubio has railed against the office in previous interviews and op-eds, including authoring an opinion piece for the Federalist in April touting that he was dismantling the “censorship-industrial complex” that had gripped agencies such as the State Department. 

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“Over the past half-decade, bodies like GEC, crafted by our own governing ruling class, nearly destroyed America’s long free speech history,” he wrote in the op-ed. “The enemies of speech had new lingo to justify their authoritarian impulse. It was “disinformation,” allegedly pushed by nefarious foreign governments, that was the No. 1 threat to ‘our democracy.’ To protect ‘our democracy,’ this ‘disinformation’ had to be identified and stamped out.” 

Dozens of clergy members protested outside an ICE facility in Newark, N.J., on Monday, saying they would continue to block the gates accessing the facility until they are arrested.

The group is composed of roughly 50 clergy members from Faith in N.J. and Faith in Action. They linked arms outside the main gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center as they chanted and sang songs.

Several speakers also said prayers for the inmates inside the facility and condemned their detention.

The clergy members say they have “volunteered” to be arrested and that they will attempt to enter the ICE facility.

NEWARK MAYOR ARRESTED AS DEM CONGRESS MEMBERS STORM NEW JERSEY ICE PRISON TO CONDUCT ‘OVERSIGHT VISIT’

The protest comes days after Democratic lawmakers and protesters on Friday stormed the gate of the facility. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has said the detention center is housing “murderers, terrorists, child rapists and MS-13 gang members.”

The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media about the identities of several inmates.

WHITE HOUSE BLASTS DEMS ‘CROSSING THE LINE’ BY STORMING ICE FACILITY

“The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting is false. Meet who the New Jersey lawmakers are fighting for,” the DHS wrote.

Recent polling shows an overwhelming majority of Americans, 83%, support the deporting at least some illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center. Roughly 32% of Americans say they support deporting all illegal immigrants, and of those who only support deporting some, 97% are in favor of removing any who have committed violent crimes.

ICE FACILITY DEMOCRATS ‘STORMED’ HOLDS CHILD RAPISTS, MURDERERS: OFFICIALS

A trio of Democratic lawmakers who participated in the “storming” of Delaney Hall last week doubled down on their actions this week, arguing the Trump administration is “weaponizing law enforcement.”

Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, all Democrats from New Jersey, made the comments during a joint appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. 

“Chaos ensued when someone on the phone above the leaders of ICE who were with us at that facility instructed them to go out of the facility, go to the private property and lock the mayor of the largest city in the state of New Jersey up,” Coleman said.

“That’s absurd. That’s un-American. That’s scary. That’s determination to intimidate people in this country,” she added, claiming the administration is “lying at all levels.”

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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was also present and was arrested and charged with trespassing. Authorities claim an ICE agent was assaulted in the confrontation, which was caught on camera.

FIRST ON FOX: The United States is set to welcome 49 white South African refugees who are victims of “government-sponsored racial discrimination” in their homeland, according to the State Department. 

The U.S.-chartered flight touched down at Dulles Airport in Virginia on Monday afternoon, when Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the group of Afrikaners. 

“Faced with undeniable government-sponsored racial discrimination in South Africa, the first Afrikaner refugees have arrived in the United States,” a senior State Department official said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. 

“The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program was intended for situations like this. Under President Trump’s strong leadership, the State Department has helped to provide a new life for these refugees in America, where they will live in freedom, safety, and opportunity.”

TRUMP TO BRING WHITE AFRIKANERS TO US AS REFUGEES FROM SOUTH AFRICA, IN WAKE OF EXPROPRIATION LEGISLATION

President Donald Trump first initiated their resettlement with an executive order entitled, “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” directing the State Department to bump up Afrikaners to the front of the line for resettlement. 

South Africans are now able to submit a statement of interest with the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, which will review the documents and contact those who are eligible for the interview process. 

Trump has virtually halted the refugee program for those from war- and famine-ravaged nations like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. White South Africans say they have been denied jobs and targeted for violence on account of their race. 

Trump’s executive order came in response to a law passed by the South African government allowing it to take private land for public use, sometimes without compensation. Trump claimed the law would be used to target South Africa’s White minority Afrikaner group, descended from Dutch and other European settlers who arrived more than 300 years ago. 

TRUMP, SOUTH AFRICA IN GROWING ROW OVER HOTLY CONTESTED LAND LAW, COUNTRY’S DEALS WITH US FOES

The South African foreign ministry said claims that White South Africans faced a “well-founded fear of persecution” were “unfounded.” 

“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under Apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,” spokesperson Chrispin Phiri at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation added. 

The Afrikaners’ arrival comes as Trump tries to push back on the racial politics of South Africa, where adviser Elon Musk grew up during apartheid. 

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The Afrikaner families traveling to the U.S. are largely from farming communities. 

Since apartheid ended in the 1990s, South Africa has sought to atone for segregationist policies, including with the land redistribution law signed in January. The policy came after a 2017 audit found that White South Africans owned three-quarters of individually-owned farms and agricultural property, while making up 7% of the population. Black South Africans had been denied the right to own prime agricultural land during the apartheid era.

A U.S. appeals court will review the Trump administration’s bid to avoid returning a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was deported to El Salvador earlier this year, keeping him in Salvadoran custody for now. 

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last week to take up Trump’s appeal – staying through May 15 a lower court’s ruling that required the Trump administration to immediately return him to U.S. soil.

The appeals court also ordered plaintiffs in the case to submit their response to the court before noon on Monday. The Trump administration will have through 9 a.m. Tuesday to respond.

At issue is the case of Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan national previously referred to in court documents as “Cristian,” who was deported to El Salvador in March in the Trump administration’s early wave of Alien Enemies Act removals.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF DEPORTED MIGRANT TO US, REJECTING TRUMP REQUEST

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, ruled in April that his deportation violated an agreement the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) struck in 2024 with Lozano-Camargo and a group of young asylum seekers who had entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children.

Under that agreement, DHS agreed not to deport the migrants in question until their requests for asylum could be fully adjudicated in U.S. court. Last month, Gallagher said Lozano-Camargo’s deportation was a “breach of contract,” since his asylum case had not yet been heard, and ordered the U.S. government to facilitate his release.

She reiterated that decision in court last week, rejecting a new filing from the Justice Department that said it had determined Lozano-Camargo was eligible for removal under the law, citing his earlier arrest and conviction for cocaine possession in Houston this year. 

Justice Department officials claimed in earlier court documents that Lozano-Camargo was a member of a “violent terrorist gang” but have not linked him to Tren de Aragua. Portions of their most recent court filing have been redacted. 

Gallagher had specifically ordered the Trump administration to make a “good faith request to the government of El Salvador” to “release Cristian, [or Lozano-Camargo], to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States to await the adjudication of his asylum application on the merits by USCIS,” which it had not done.

BOASBERG GRILLS DOJ OVER REMARKS FROM TRUMP AND NOEM, FLOATS MOVING MIGRANTS TO GITMO IN ACTION-PACKED HEARING

Gallagher emphasized in court last week that her decision has nothing to do with the strength of his asylum request, and is based solely on due process protections.

“I don’t think that this is a case about whether or not Cristian is going to eventually get asylum,” she told lawyers for the Trump administration.

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“Process is important. We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end so we’ll just skip that part,'” she said. “Whether he ultimately receives asylum is not the issue. The issue is – and has always been – one of process.”

Still, Gallagher agreed to stay her ruling for 48 hours, giving the administration time to appeal it to the higher court, which it did. 

A Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chairman fired up a crowd outside Philadelphia on Saturday after calling President Donald Trump a “punk” and accusing his administration of modern-day book burning for adjusting content on government websites.

“There is a strategy of authoritarians and would-be dictators and punks like Donald Trump,” Malcolm Kenyatta said at a town hall in Levittown that was officially targeting swing-district Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.

As part of that “strategy,” Kenyatta said, “one of the first things they go after is history.”

“We know that before, they used to take the books, put them in a little pile and burn them. Now they try to delete stuff off of our federal websites. But the effect is the same. They want us to forget what we are made of,” he went on, in a clip circulated by the left-leaning outlet “The Keystone.”

OBAMA SLAMS PRO-TRUMP MEN AT PHILADELPHIA RALLY WHILE SPRINGSTEEN WARNS GOP NOMINEE IS ‘AN AMERICAN TYRANT’

Since taking office, Trump has overseen agencies that have altered or removed content relating to DEI, climate change and gender ideology.

“Donald Trump is not the first bully or would-be authoritarian that Americans have taken on. We know it here in Pennsylvania. We don’t have a good relationship with kings,” he said, as Penn’s Woods was founded by Quakers and other religious exiles fed up with European authoritarians. “I’m not bowing to a king.”

Kenyatta is also the state representative for the Temple University area of North Philadelphia, and the first openly gay person of color to serve in Harrisburg.

WHO IS THE DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING AT ICE DETENTION CENTER?

He added that “people like Fitzpatrick” lack the “guts” to stand up to Trump.

At another recent appearance in Berks County – which includes Reading and Hamburg – Kenyatta railed against the arrest of Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka at an ICE detention facility there.

“He was peacefully protesting and speaking up for his constituents and his neighbors. He wasn’t inciting an insurrection… because if he was doing that, they might have offered him a position in the Cabinet,” Kenyatta said.

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Kenyatta notably finished third in the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate primary won by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and unsuccessfully ran for auditor general in 2024 against GOP incumbent Timothy DeFoor.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields responded Monday, telling Fox News Digital that Kenyatta is a “no-name state representative who was trounced in the Pennsylvania Senate primary due to his radical and unserious positions.”

“The prominence the Democrat Party affords him reflects the party’s disarray and desire to satisfy its radical base,” Fields said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fitzpatrick for comment.

China has agreed to “open itself up to American business” following trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing Saturday, according to President Donald Trump.

The arrangement arguably was the most significant development stemming from the trade negotiations, Trump told reporters Monday at the White House. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched trade negotiations with China in Geneva Saturday, resulting in a deal that would temporarily ease up on tariffs for 90 days.  

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

As the Alien Enemies Act continues to be a focal point of the immigration debate in the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, Republican attorney Mehek Cooke told Fox News Digital about why the White House is making use of the 1798 law.

Some federal judges have disagreed with the Trump administration’s decision to use the act to send suspected MS-13 and Tren De Aragua gang members outside the United States, including to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Trump designated those two groups as foreign terrorist organizations shortly after taking office.

“Under this act, it allows us to detain, apprehend, and deport alien enemies,” Cooke said.

BOASBERG GRILLS DOJ OVER REMARKS FROM TRUMP AND NOEM, FLOATS MOVING MIGRANTS TO GITMO IN ACTION-PACKED HEARING

“This immediately allowed under the Alien Enemies Act for President Trump and his administration to accelerate deportations of individuals from Venezuela and gang members,” she later added.

Earlier last week, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg asked the Justice Department about public comments Trump and other Cabinet officials made about deportation proceedings under the Alien Enemies Act and floated the idea of moving some migrants to Guantánamo Bay.

During the hearing, Boasberg specifically pressed Justice Department lawyers about statements made by Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about CECOT, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador where the U.S. has deported hundreds of migrants, and the White House’s ability to secure someone’s release.

KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA’S LAWYERS ASK FOR MORE TRUMP ADMIN OFFICIALS TO TESTIFY, POSSIBLY FROM WHITE HOUSE

Cooke noted that the debate over due process has to do with the perspective of who gets those rights in the U.S.

“I think today, when we talk about due process, people have to understand there’s American citizens that deserve due process under our Constitution,” she said.

“There’s illegal aliens that are in our country that we have given a sliding scale of due process. And then there are terrorists that deserve very little process, as we’re expediting their removal. Our immigration judges and our courts don’t have enough time to stand there with every single individual that’s a Tren de Aragua member and bicker back and forth,” Cooke continued.

DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO LIBYA WOULD VIOLATE COURT ORDER WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE, FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS

The Republican attorney said that from her perspective, many federal judges are questioning the president’s ability to actually decide what is considered an alien enemy.

“What’s happening today is courts through judicial activism are actually challenging that. So what they’re saying is that the president can’t designate somebody an alien enemy. They can’t designate Tren de Aragua an alien enemy. And more importantly, courts are pushing and saying that these individuals that are illegal terrorists in our country deserve due process,” Cooke explained.

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Global stock markets are soaring in the wake of the trade truce between the U.S. and China.

The agreement, announced early Monday, implements a 90-day cooling-off period between the world’s two largest economic superpowers, bringing a temporary end to their tariff war that last month triggered a massive financial market sell-off. 

U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, which were jacked to 145% last month as President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on countries around the world, will be scaled down to 30%, with Beijing lowering its tariffs from a retaliatory 125% to just 10%.

“We both have an interest in balanced trade, the U.S. will continue moving towards that,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland.

WHAT’S IN THE TRADE TRUCE WITH CHINA

While the initial agreement brought instant relief to the stock markets, for a president aiming to pass a sweeping agenda through Congress and hold onto his congressional majorities in next year’s midterm elections, it is the potential political payoff that may be of upmost importance.

The truce with China follows days after an initial trade deal with the United Kingdom – which is the first since Trump implemented tariffs last month. The president touted that the agreement with London would be “the first of many.”

“It’s a positive first step,” veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News.

COMMERCE SECRETARY SAYS MORE DEALS TO COME FOLLOWING US-UK TRADE AGREEMENT: ‘GOING TO DRIVE OUR ECONOMY’

Trump’s approval ratings have been sliding since he returned to power in the White House nearly four months ago and are now underwater in most national polling.

Most, but not all, of the most recent national public opinion surveys indicate Trump’s approval ratings in negative territory, which is a deterioration from the president’s poll position when he started his second tour of duty in the White House in late January.

Fueling the drop in Trump’s poll numbers are increased concerns by Americans over the economy and inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden‘s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.  

Trump stood at 44% approval and 55% disapproval in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was conducted April 18-21.

Additionally, getting past the top lines, the president’s approval registered at 38% on the economy and just 33% on inflation and tariffs.

Front and center is Trump’s blockbuster tariff announcement in early April, which sparked a trade war with some of the nation’s top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.

POLL POSITION: WHERE TRUMP STANDS 15 WEEKS INTO HIS SECOND PRESIDENCY

In discussing his tariffs soon after he announced them on what he called “Liberation Day,” the president touted that “these countries are calling us up, kissing my a–.”

“They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir!’” Trump claimed.

A month later, Trump finally has a chance to show tangible results.

The president touted, “NO INFLATION!!! LOVE, DJT” in a social media post Monday morning.

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“President Trump has argued that his agenda requires time for an adjustment and deal making. He’ll be given a period of time to execute deals to prove that his plans are working and the first major trade deal with a nation like the UK is at least a sign that some of the work has been going on behind the scenes thus and is starting to bear fruit,” Williams said last week, following the announcement of the deal with the United Kingdom.

Williams added that the president will “have to back it up with more, but it is a positive first step for him in securing other deals.”

A Democratic congressman is calling for an ethics investigation over President Donald Trump’s plans to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar that would temporarily serve as Air Force One before being allotted to Trump’s presidential library after he leaves office.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., wrote to the Government Accountability Office on Sunday, noting that the plane would be the single most expensive gift ever received by a U.S. president. Torres derided the deal as a “flying grift,” arguing it violates the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which “explicitly prohibits any person holding public office from accepting ‘any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.'”

“I am writing to express alarm over reports that President Donald Trump is poised to accept a luxury aircraft — a Boeing 747-8 — from the government of Qatar. The plane, so opulent it has been described as a ‘palace in the sky,’ is set to be made available to President Trump for official use as Air Force One and then for private use once he leaves office,” Torres wrote.

“This ‘flying grift’ is merely the latest chapter in a tawdry tale of presidential profiteering unprecedented in American history,” Torres added.

TRUMP TEASES ‘VERY, VERY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT’ AHEAD OF MIDDLE EAST TRIP, CARNEY SAYS HE’S ‘ON EDGE OF MY SEAT’

Trump described the deal in his own words on social media in a post Sunday night.

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” he wrote.

“Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!!” he added.

TRUMP STAFFERS LOAD BOXES OF ITEMS SEIZED BY FBI IN 2022 MAR-A-LAGO RAID ONTO AIR FORCE ONE

ABC News reported that Trump toured the plane in West Palm Beach earlier this year. While the deal is set to be announced during Trump’s trip to the Middle East this week, the actual transaction is not expected to be made until later. Qatari officials say they expect to donate the plane through the Pentagon.

“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense, but the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” Qatari embassy official Ali Al-Ansari told ABC News.

Presidents have for decades circumvented the Emoluments Clause by classifying gifts they receive while in office as gifts to the office of the president. Those gifts are then cataloged and stored as part of their presidential libraries after leaving office. While presidents maintain some level of access to the items in their libraries, they do not own them directly and must purchase them from the federal government in order to secure private ownership.

TRUMP STAFFERS LOAD BOXES OF ITEMS SEIZED BY FBI IN 2022 MAR-A-LAGO RAID ONTO AIR FORCE ONE

If the jet were to enter Trump’s presidential library, it is unclear how costs would be apportioned for maintenance and usage costs.

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When not in office as president, Trump has traveled in his private Boeing 757 jet, dubbed Trump Force One. That jet is famously emblazoned with Trump’s last name and was frequently seen in the backdrop of campaign rallies.

EXCLUSIVE: A division of the Congressional Budget Office, the agency charged with providing budget and economic information to lawmakers, is stacked with liberal Democrats, putting into question its long-standing reputation of being nonpartisan. 

The American Accountability Foundation, a conservative government research nonprofit, found that much of the CBO’s Health Analysis Division is made up of Democrats or Democratic donors.

Of the 32 staff members in the division, 26 of them, or 84%, have “clearly” verified liberal partisan biases, being either a Democrat donor, a registered Democrat, or a Democratic primary voter, the group said in a memo outlining its findings, which come ahead of potential scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s budget request. 

NPR, PBS CHIEFS SET TO CLASH WITH GOP LAWMAKERS DURING DOGE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING

“The CBO likes to call itself ‘nonpartisan’ in an attempt to disguise its role as an undercover leftist think tank,” AAF President Tom Jones said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “In fact, the CBO is institutionally progressive, with 84% of its professional healthcare staff members being registered Democrats. These same staff members, who are on record donating to radicals like Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton, ‘score’ legislation and present it to the American people like it’s sacrosanct.”

Jones accused the CBO staffers of not just voting left, but using their influence to promote progressive policy changes. 

DOGE SUBCOMMITTEE INVITES NPR, PBS CHIEFS TO TESTIFY ON THEIR FEDERAL FUNDING, ‘SYSTEMICALLY BIASED CONTENT’

“The Health Analysis Division has been overtaken by liberal group think,” the memo states. “As policymakers consider pronouncements and scores from CBO over the coming weeks, they should regard those from the Health Care Analysis Division with deep suspicion and should likely disregard them as the product of a politically biased policy shop, much as they would analysis from an institution like the Center for American Progress.”

The HAD is tasked with analyzing federal programs and policies that include Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies provided through health insurance exchanges. Its staffers produce reports on policy issues and play a key role in certain estimates of proposed changes in health care programs, the CBO website states.

The report noted that the CBO works to “cultivate” a reputation as a “non-partisan scorekeeper, just balls and strikes.” That reputation is so entrenched, the AAF said, that 1,358 different news media stories in the last year alone have appended the word “nonpartisan” to the beginning of the office’s name, reporting on the “nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”

“While the CBO has spun a narrative through the mainstream media that it’s a neutral scorekeeper, it’s one big gaslighting campaign to distract from the office’s fundamentally progressive roots.” Jones said. “They know the next few months with reconciliation are crucial and will do everything they can to slam and stall the Trump administration’s policies.”

CBO employees are barred from engaging in political activity if it would “identify, or appear to identify, CBO with a political campaign, candidate, officeholder, or cause,” its website states. 

“The specific positions taken are irrelevant; rather, the potential harm to CBO’s reputation for objectivity comes from association with political activity or public advocacy,” it adds. 

The agency doesn’t hire employment candidates based on their political affiliation, it said. 

Research conducted by the group found that Health Analysis Director Chapin White is a Democratic donor, having given money to former Secretary of State John Kerry. White made a $300 donation to Kerry’s failed presidential bid in 2004, according to Federal Election Commission data. 

White referred Fox News Digital to the CBO, which declined to comment.

TRUMP FCC CHAIR TARGETS NPR, PBS FOR INVESTIGATION AHEAD OF CONGRESSIONAL THREATS TO DEFUND

One analyst has donated to several Democratic elected officials, including former President Joe Biden and various members of Congress, according to the FEC. Many others are registered Democrats or have donated to Democratic pollical candidates, the think tank said. 

Much of the data gathered by the AAF was obtained through public campaign finance reporting agencies or from voter registration offices, noting that many CBO employees live in Virginia, which doesn’t have partisan registration, the nonprofit said. 

Virginia also restricts access to voter history records via the state’s Freedom of Information Act, making it challenging to ascertain whether voters cast ballots in Democratic or Republican primaries, it said. 

However, the AAF said it obtained Virginia voting history information from a trusted third-party source. 

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“There were four staff members for whom AAF was unable to secure voting history or registration information,” it said. “AAF strongly suspects if the staffers listed as ‘Data on Definitive Partisan Bias Unavailable’ were asked whether they vote in Democrat or Republican primaries (or if they had voted for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump) very few, if any, will respond that they are Republicans.”

President Donald Trump confirmed that the last living American hostage, Edan Alexander, would be released by Hamas after nearly two years in captivity.

“I am happy to announce that Edan Alexander, an American citizen who has been held hostage since October 2023, is coming home to his family,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform ‘Truth Social’ on Sunday.

“I am grateful to all those involved in making this monumental news happen. This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones,” Trump continued.  

“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!”

HAMAS CLAIMS IT WILL RELEASE AMERICAN HOSTAGE EDAN ALEXANDER

Alexander, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, has been held captive in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. 

The news comes after the terror organization announced on Sunday it was “in contact with the U.S. administration in recent days.”

“The movement has shown a high level of positivity, and the Israeli soldier with dual American citizenship, [Edan] Alexander, will be released as part of the steps being taken toward a ceasefire, the opening of border crossings, and the entry of aid and relief for our people in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read. 

Vice President JD Vance also commented on the announcement, writing: “Pray that Hamas follows through and Edan gets to come home.”

“If they do, it will have been another triumph of Steve Witkoff, who continues to face withering attacks for freeing hostages, negotiating complex diplomatic proposals, and serving his country (at great financial cost),” Vance wrote in a post on X. 

It’s unclear when Alexander will be released.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters also released a statement following the announcement of Alexander’s release, saying that they “are embracing and supporting the Alexander family.”

NEW PULITZER PRIZE WINNER DISPARAGED ISRAELIS KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS ON OCT 7, QUESTIONED THEIR ‘HOSTAGE’ STATUS

“Should this release be confirmed, the release of Edan Alexander must mark the beginning of a comprehensive agreement that will secure the freedom of all remaining hostages,” the statement read. 

“President Trump, you’ve given the families of all the hostages hope. Please, complete your mission and bring them all home.” 

Trump recently marked his 100th day in office, and the families of the five Americans still held hostage urged him to reflect on his strategy and apply pressure on both Israel and Hamas, through both economic and diplomatic means, to secure the release of all hostages.

In addition, fifty members of Congress sent Trump a letter on May 9 urging him to prioritize getting the remaining hostages out.

HAMAS AGREES TO RELEASE EDAN ALEXANDER, THE LAST LIVING AMERICAN HOSTAGE

“As months have passed since the most recent exchange, we must keep the five remaining Americans and additional 54 hostages top of mind. The five American hostages include Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai and Judi Weinstein Haggai. Only Alexander is believed to be alive while Nuetra, Chen, Haggai and Weinstein Haggai were either murdered on October 7th or in captivity,” the group wrote in a letter to President Trump.

“Our government’s most solemn responsibility is to keep Americans safe. With that responsibility in mind, we urge you to use all diplomatic tools at your disposal, in concert with our regional allies and partners, to ensure Edan’s release and the release of the remains of the deceased American hostages as soon as possible. Every day in captivity adds to the nightmare for the hostages and their families. We must bring them home now,” the letter continued. 

Raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, Alexander moved to Israel at 18 to volunteer for military service in the IDF’s Golani Brigade. He lived with his grandparents in Tel Aviv and at Kibbutz Hazor, where he was part of a group of lone soldiers.

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He was kidnapped on the morning of October 7 — a Saturday, he wasn’t required to remain on base. His mother was visiting from abroad, and like many lone soldiers, he had the option to go home for the weekend. But he chose to stay, not wanting to leave his comrades short-staffed on guard duty.

There are 59 hostages still in Gaza, at least 24 of whom are assessed to be alive, including Alexander, now 21 years old after having spent two birthdays in Hamas captivity.

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is demanding U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy “immediately fix the situation at Newark Airport,” following a stretch of travel mishaps and chaos. 

“When people hear about radar screens just going dark, traffic controllers who cannot talk to planes, technology that is seemingly working no better than tin cans, they do not think this is a story about the Trump administration’s FAA, but that is what is so scary: this story is real and this story is dangerous. This situation is also unacceptable,” Schumer said in a statement on Sunday.

“I have communicated this past week with the FAA, and I feel no better today than a week ago about the state of aviation safety since this administration took the controls at FAA. As I said last week, Newark is a harbinger. If this dangerous situation can happen in the metro region, imagine what might happen in places where there is less scrutiny. This really makes you worry.”

HAKEEM JEFFRIES BLAMES TRUMP FOR NEWARK AIRPORT CHAOS, ACCUSES WHITE HOUSE OF ‘BREAKING THE FAA’

On Thursday, more than 500 flights in and out of Newark were delayed and at least 200 others were canceled, and chaos followed throughout the weekend.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the situation on poor technology in an X post.

NEWARK AIRPORT DISRUPTIONS LEAVE AIRLINE FLYERS SCRAMBLING AS EXPERTS SHARE TIPS FOR NOT BEING ‘STRANDED’

“The technology that we are using is old. That’s what is causing the outages and delays we are seeing at Newark,” Duffy wrote.

Schumer stated there have been an average of 34 arrival cancellations per day since mid-April at Newark, according to the FAA, with the number of delays increasing throughout the day from an average of five in the mornings to 16 by the evening. They tend to last 85 to 137 minutes on average, reports say.

LAWMAKERS REACT TO NEWARK AIRPORT CHAOS: ‘YOUR FAMILY DESERVES TO KNOW YOU’LL BE SAFE’

On Sunday, Schumer said Duffy “must put Newark first in line for fixes he said would be made to the nation’s ATC systems.” 

He also gave specific details about the work that needs to be done, including installing a DIRECT fiber-optic telco line between Newark Airport and Philadelphia terminal radar approach control center, no more indirect runaround. Schumer called for a “modernized, direct connection and new computers to analyze and display transmitted data.”

In a lengthy statement obtained by Fox News and Fox Business, the FAA acknowledged that “several major airlines are facing ongoing flight disruptions at New Jersey’s Newark-Liberty International Airport as the facility contends with ongoing staffing and technology issues.”

“Last week, air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility in Philadelphia lost radar and radio signals while directing planes to Newark for nearly 90 seconds, causing significant delays and flight cancellations that remain ongoing,” the statement continued.

“We are working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area by establishing a more resilient and redundant configuration with the local exchange carriers. In addition, we are updating our automation system to improve resiliency.”

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When reached by Fox News Digital, a representative for Duffy pointed to an interview the secretary gave earlier in the day to FOX Business’ “The Evening Edit.”

“I love Democrats who are now all concerned about air traffic control,” Duffy said. 

“They spent $1.2 trillion in the Biden-Buttigieg era; $1 .2 trillion on American infrastructure, and they didn’t spend anything on air traffic [control] and they knew it was getting old and needed a massive rebuild. They didn’t do it. Now they’re complaining during the Trump administration, we’re the ones that are.”

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis and Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com

FIRST ON FOX: A measure in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” aimed at cracking down on federal payments for abortion providers could run into a buzzsaw of opposition from moderate House Republicans.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., held a conference call with GOP lawmakers on Sunday night unveiling his panel’s portion of the Republican reconciliation bill.

During the question and answer portion of the call, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., asked for clarity on several aspects, including a provision to make “large groups who provide abortion services” ineligible for federal Medicaid dollars, Fox News Digital was told.

“You are running into a hornet’s nest,” Lawler warned his colleagues.

BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY

The New York Republican, one of only three GOP lawmakers representing districts that Trump lost in 2024, questioned how those groups were being defined and said the language needed to be “looked over,” Fox News Digital was also told.

Guthrie assured him that certain considerations were being taken in the language.

Lawler also pointed out that the Hyde Amendment already prevents federal dollars from going towards abortion services, Fox News Digital was told.

His concerns were echoed by another person familiar with House GOP discussions on the matter, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

That person told Fox News Digital that several New York Republican lawmakers indicated they could oppose the final bill if that provision was included.

“We’re not fighting a new fight on abortion when that’s kind of calmed down,” the person recalled of their argument.

Fox News Digital first learned of discussions about the potential measure last week. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., alluded to Republicans’ plans in a speech at the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s gala last month.

Johnson said the Republicans’ bill would redirect funds from “big abortion” to “federally qualified health centers.”

It’s one of several efforts to rein in spending to pay for Trump’s other priorities via the budget reconciliation process.

House Republicans currently have a razor-thin three-vote margin, meaning they can afford to have little dissent and still pass anything without Democratic support. They’re hoping to do just that, with virtually no Democrats currently on board with Trump’s massive Republican policy overhaul.

The budget-reconciliation process lowers the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, lining up the House’s own simple majority threshold.

Reconciliation allows the party in power to effectively skirt the minority and pass broad pieces of legislation – provided they address taxes, spending or the national debt.

Trump wants Republicans to use the maneuver to tackle his priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, defense, energy, and raising the debt ceiling.

To do that, several committees of jurisdiction are working on their specific portions of the bill, which will then be put together in a massive vehicle to pass the House and Senate.

CHINA IS ‘CAVING’ TO TRUMP’S TRADE WAR STRATEGY, EXPERT SIGNALS

The Energy & Commerce Committee – which has a broad jurisdiction including Medicare, Medicaid, telecommunications, and energy production – was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts out of a total $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.

Guthrie said the bill released late on Sunday evening includes “north of” $900 billion in spending cuts.

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In addition to the measure ending Medicaid funds for large abortion providers, the legislation also finds savings in instilling work requirements for certain able-bodied beneficiaries of Medicaid expansion. 

Some Medicaid dollars going toward states that provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants are also targeted.

It would also repeal certain Biden administration green energy subsidies, including the former White House’s electric vehicle mandate.

Fox News Digital reached out to the committee and Lawler’s office for comment on the specific measure.

Qatar’s royal family offered to donate a jumbo jet to the Department of Defense that could serve as Air Force One, but a White House official said the offer has not been accepted, Fox News has learned.

Earlier Sunday, ABC News reported that President Trump “was poised to accept” the $400 million Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet and would use it until the end of his term, when it would be given to his presidential library. Trump is believed to be frustrated with Boeing’s delays in producing a new presidential plane.

A White House official told Fox News the gift will not be presented or accepted when Trump visits Doha this week. But the White House stopped short of denying altogether that Trump may take possession of the plane at some point.

“Any gift given by a foreign government is always accepted in full compliance with all applicable laws,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “President Trump’s Administration is committed to full transparency.”

Trump confirmed the offer in a Truth Social post Sunday night.

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump wrote. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA.”

Trump is headed to the Middle East this week and is expected to meet with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

TRUMP TEASES ‘VERY, VERY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT’ AHEAD OF MIDDLE EAST TRIP, CARNEY SAYS HE’S ‘ON EDGE OF MY SEAT’

Trump reportedly toured the plane when it was on the tarmac of the West Palm Beach Airport in Florida in February, ABC News reported. The outlet, which was the first to report on the matter, noted that the plane is so opulently outfitted that it is known as “a flying palace.”

The gift has reportedly been tied up with legal reviews as the White House counsel’s office and the Department of Justice reviewed the legality of the president accepting such a pricey gift from a foreign nation.

The current Air Force One fleet includes two planes, with Trump awarding Boeing a $3.9 billion contract in 2018 under his first term to manufacture two new jets. The construction of the jets, however, is not expected to be completed until 2029. 

“Boeing is proud to build the next generation of Air Force One, providing American Presidents with a flying White House at outstanding value to taxpayers. President Trump negotiated a good deal on behalf of the American people,” Boeing said in 2018 after ironing out a deal with Trump for the creation of the new fleet. 

TRUMP STAFFERS LOAD BOXES OF ITEMS SEIZED BY FBI IN 2022 MAR-A-LAGO RAID ONTO AIR FORCE ONE

When not in office as president, Trump travels in his private Boeing 757 jet, dubbed Trump Force One. That jet is famously emblazoned with Trump’s last name and was frequently seen in the backdrop of campaign rallies.

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Trump purchased the 757 jet in 2011 and outfitted it with luxury fixtures, such as 24-karat gold-plated seat belt buckles. The plane received a total revamp ahead of his 2024 presidential run. 

The Trump administration is temporarily banning imports of cattle, horses and bison through ports along the southern border because of the rapid northern spread of New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the suspension in an X post on Sunday.

“Due to the threat of New World Screwworm I am announcing the suspension of live cattle, horse, & bison imports through U.S. southern border ports of entry effective immediately,” she wrote. “The last time this devastating pest invaded America, it took 30 years for our cattle industry to recover. This cannot happen again.”

The USDA said in a press release the first case of NWS in Mexico was reported to the U.S. in November 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: CATTLE INDUSTRY CHIEF WARNS FLESH-EATING FLY MENACES US HERS AS MEXICO YIELDS ON PEST FIGHT

The problem is when NWS fly maggots burrow into the flesh of living animals, they can cause serious and often deadly damage to the animal, the USDA said. The types of animals NWS maggots can infest include pets, livestock, wildlife, birds, and in rare cases, humans.

According to the USDA, NWS was recently detected in remote farms with minimal cattle movement as far north as about 700 miles from the U.S. border.

The U.S. and Mexico are working together to eradicate NWS before the deadly parasitic fly works its way to the southern border.

USDA THREATENS TO HALT MEXICAN BEEF IMPORTS OVER FLESH-EATING FLY CRISIS’

Effective immediately, the USDA said, the agency’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection are restricting the imports of live animal commodities originating from or transiting through Mexico.

The suspension will continue on a month-to-month basis, until “a significant window of containment is achieved,” the USDA said.

Livestock currently being held for entry into the U.S. will be processed normally, the USDA added, and will be inspected by a port veterinary medical officer and treated to ensure they are not carrying NWS.

MAINE’S FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE FROM TRUMP’S USDA REVERSED

“Secretary Berdegué and I have worked closely on the NWS response; however, it is my duty to take all steps within my control to protect the livestock industry in the United States from this devastating pest,” Rollins said of the work she had done with her Mexican counterpart. “The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance. Once we see increased surveillance and eradication efforts, and the positive results of those actions, we remain committed to opening the border for livestock trade. This is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.”

The U.S. and Mexico are taking a three-pronged approach toward achieving the eradication of NWS, which includes field surveillance with education and outreach that ensures prevention, treatment and early detection. The approach also includes controlling animal movement to limit the spread of NWS and sustained sterile insect dispersal.

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This is not the first time the need to eradicate NWS has occurred. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said NWS was eradicated in the U.S. in the 1960s and in Mexico in the 1970s. 

However, the eradication of the deadly worm cost billions of dollars and took decades.

President Donald Trump’s administration fired the top copyright official in the U.S. – just days after terminating the Librarian of Congress.

Shira Perlmutter was in charge of the U.S. Copyright Office, which is overseen by the Library of Congress, until she was abruptly fired on Saturday. 

The U.S. Copyright Office told Fox News Digital that Perlmutter received an email from the White House, stating, “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.”

Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who was the first woman and first African American to be Librarian of Congress, on Thursday. The termination was part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials who are perceived to be opposed to Trump and his agenda.

DEMS ERUPT AFTER REPORT OF TRUMP FIRING LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS: ‘A DISGRACE’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the matter.

Hayden tapped Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.

Like Perlmutter, Hayden was notified of her firing in an email, according to The Associated Press.

NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EXECUTIVE ORDERS

“Carla,” the email from the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office reportedly began. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS DOUBLES DOWN ON DEFENSE OF COURTS AS SCOTUS GEARS UP TO HEAR KEY TRUMP CASES

The report followed a review that started in 2023 with opinions from thousands of individuals, including AI developers, actors and country singers.

The Copyright Office clarified its approach in January, as one based on the “centrality of human creativity” in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections. The Copyright Office takes in about a half a million copyright applications each year, covering millions of creative works.

“Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine… would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”

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Perlmutter, who holds a law degree, was previously a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and worked on copyright and other areas of intellectual property. 

She also previously worked at the Copyright Office in the late 1990s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump announced he plans to sign an executive order on Monday that will reduce the cost of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals “almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.”

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social Sunday.

“For many years the World has wondered why Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceuticals in the United States States of America were SO MUCH HIGHER IN PRICE THAN THEY WERE IN ANY OTHER NATION, SOMETIMES BEING FIVE TO TEN TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE SAME DRUG, MANUFACTURED IN THE EXACT SAME LABORATORY OR PLANT, BY THE SAME COMPANY???” Trump wrote. “It was always difficult to explain and very embarrassing because, in fact, there was no correct or rightful answer. 

MAHA CAUCUS MEMBER PLEDGES HEARINGS INTO ‘CORRUPTION’ OF A PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR ‘CAPTURED BY BIG PHARMA’

“The Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE. Campaign Contributions can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party,” the president continued.

“We are going to do the right thing, something that the Democrats have fought for many years,” Trump added. “Therefore, I am pleased to announce that Tomorrow morning, in the White House, at 9:00 A.M., I will be signing one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history. Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%. 

Trump noted that the cost of drugs will rise throughout the World, but for the first time in many years, he added, it will “bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”

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“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” Trump said. “Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before. Additionally, on top of everything else, the United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said a Worcester, Massachusetts city council member “incited chaos” when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a violent criminal illegal alien on Thursday.

“District Councilor for the City of Worcester [Etel] Haxhiaj pulled a political stunt and incited chaos by trying to obstruct law enforcement. ICE officers and local police regained control of the situation and ICE arrested Ferreira de Oliveira,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “The previous administration’s open border policies allowed this criminal to illegally enter our country in August of 2022. Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem this criminal is off our streets.”

DHS went on to describe Oliveira as a “violent criminal alien.” The agency said she was arrested by local police for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a pregnant woman.

Tense video emerged over the weekend of Oliveira’s arrest. A rowdy crowd of about 25 people gathered and disrupted the operation. Police called it a “chaotic incident.”

CHAOTIC VIDEO SHOWS MASSACHUSETTS ICE ARREST BEING DISRUPTED BY ‘UNRULY’ CROWD, LEADING TO 2 ARRESTS

The video showed a group of residents chanting “don’t take the mother” and “no warrant” after a woman was led into an SUV by uniformed ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. Before the vehicle pulled away, other women are seen placing their hands on the front hood of an SUV and screaming in protest.

The Worcester Police Patrol Officers’ Union said in a press release that the incident happened at about 11:15 a.m. on Thursday and that police were dispatched for a call from federal law enforcement officers who needed assistance due to a hostile and uncooperative crowd.

“Officers arriving on scene continued to call for more officers as the scene continued to escalate rapidly,” the union said. “Police officers respond to a variety of highly emotional calls daily and there is nothing that can be more emotional or difficult to deal with than a call that involves times when families are separated or arrested or taken into custody in front of other family members. These types of calls for assistance can be extremely dangerous and place officers at a high risk of injury due to the high emotions people feel at the time.”

DHS DEFENDS ICE DETAINMENT OF GEORGIA COLLEGE STUDENT WHO VIOLATED TRAFFIC LAWS 

All available police officers from Worcester were dispatched to the scene, the union continued, and “for obvious reasons” the officers became concerned for their safety.

Federal and local authorities were “threatened, abused and even assaulted” at the scene, the union said.

“Such conduct cannot be tolerated or condoned. Because some protesters threatened officers’ safety, police had to make additional arrests,” the union said. “Of particular concern in this case, one of our elected policy makers and someone who has created this difficult task for the police, District 5 City Councilor, Etel Haxhiaj, incited aggression towards the police during the incident.

“This councilor participated in the conduct of the unruly crowd and eventually assaulted both Worcester police and federal law enforcement officers on scene. Her behavior also emboldened others to act in this manner,” the union added. “The conduct of this anti-police activist councilor is deplorable and unacceptable. Regardless of political opinions or views, city officials should never condone the assault of an officer and flat-out disregard to the point of violent opposition, the authority of police to maintain safety and public order.”

FOX NEWS RIDES ALONG AS FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL BEGINS ENFORCING FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS ON STATE ROADS 

As a result, the union said it is calling for an ethics investigation into Haxhiaj’s behavior, adding it will hold her and others who assaulted their officers accountable.

“No one has the right to act in such a reckless manner towards police officers, and we demand accountability for all criminal and ethically deplorable behavior,” the union said.

Haxhiaj did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

MASSACHUSETTS JUDGE CHARGES ICE AGENT WITH CONTEMPT OF COURT

The Worcester Police Department said that during the chaotic events on Thursday, 38-year-old Ashley Spring of Worcester was also arrested after she “pushed multiple officers” and “threw an unknown liquid substance on them.”

Spring was charged with Assault and Battery on a Police Officer, Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon (unknown liquid), Disorderly Conduct, and Interfering with a Police Officer. 

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The Worcester Police Department said the “chaotic incident is still under investigation” and further charges may be forthcoming. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.

A Canadian free speech advocate who was fined by Australian authorities spoke out after the U.S. State Department appeared to come to his defense.

“It’s phenomenal. The Trump administration has been tremendous on this issue,” Chris Elston, popularly known as “Billboard Chris” for his custom of wearing sandwich boards with slogans on them, said.

In the Australian case, Elston had been fined $806 for “obstructing public movement” in response to displaying his billboard reading “children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”

Elston said he was peacefully conversing with members of the public and was issued a police “move on” order before being sent away.

MUSK, CANADIAN MAN SUE AUSTRALIAN AUTHORITIES FOR CENSORING X POST

That incident was separate from a legal challenge Elston launched in April against the country’s eSafety commission after the government had his tweet of a Daily Mail article about a transgender activist seated on an Australian board.

“It’s such a zealous overuse of authority,” Elston said. “We don’t elect [officials] to decide what we can say.”

After he was censored, the case was included in a tweet from a State Department bureau decrying government censorship and their coercion of tech companies into targeting individuals.

BILLBOARD CHRIS REFLECTS ON VIOLENCE HE’S MET WITH PROTESTING GENDER SURGERIES FOR CHILDREN

“Freedom of expression must be protected – online and offline,” it tweeted.

“Examples of this conduct are troublingly numerous. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened X for hosting political speech; Türkiye fined Meta for refusing to restrict content about protests; and Australia required X to remove a post criticizing an individual for promoting gender ideology.”

“The United States opposes efforts to undermine freedom of expression.”

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Lois McLatchie Miller of Alliance Defending Freedom International, which has been defending Elston, said the group believes “everybody has the right to live and speak their truth, and Chris is a great example of that.”

“[W]e stood up with Chris alongside the Human Rights Law Alliance in Australia to defend free speech there, but we also see in my own country in the U.K., where people are having censorship thrust upon them, even being arrested for expressing their views.”