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President Donald Trump said Saturday that 25,000 people were killed last month and another 32,000 the month before in the war between Ukraine and Russia

“Last month, 25,000 people died in the Ukraine-Russia war, okay? 25,000,” he told reporters on the White House lawn Saturday.

“The month before that, 32,000 people died … mostly soldiers, 97% soldiers. But whether they’re soldiers or civilians, think of it: 32,000. Two months ago, 33,000 people; this month, 25,000 people died. What a shame,” he added.

PUTIN UNLEASHES NEW FURY ON UKRAINE AS REPORT EXPOSES FEAR HANGING OVER WAR’S END

Russia alone has lost as many as 450,000 soldiers since invading Ukraine in 2022, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Trump also told reporters he wants to see an end to the war soon, revealing he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently.

KUSHNER, WITKOFF SET FOR KYIV TALKS AFTER PUTIN MEETING IN US PUSH FOR PEACE

“I spoke to him a lot, and he’s going along and Putin’s going along. And someday, hopefully in the not too distant future, maybe before the heavy winter, they’ll make a deal,” he told reporters.

He claimed that he pushed Zelenskyy to try to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

TRUMP NEGOTIATORS WITKOFF, KUSHNER MEET WITH PUTIN IN MOSCOW AS US PUSHES FOR END TO RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

“I agreed with Zelenskyy that we talked about a lot of different subjects, and many of those subjects, very strong agreement. But you know what I want him to do? Make a deal. I want him to settle with Putin, and I want Putin to settle with him.

Zelenskyy announced Friday that Trump had agreed to give approval to Ukraine to license and produce U.S. Patriot missile interceptors.

TRUMP SAYS US WILL LET UKRAINE MAKE PATRIOT MISSILES IN MAJOR POLICY SHIFT

“There are concrete agreements regarding Patriot licenses. At our meeting, President Trump stressed that he had made his final decision: Ukraine will receive licenses to produce Patriot missiles,'” Zelenskyy posted Friday.

President Trump had previously hesitated to grant Ukraine the licenses.

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Fox News Digital contacted the White House for comment.

Palm Beach County — home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago — passed a one-year moratoriam on the planning and construction of data centers as commissioners seek to conduct a thorough review of data centers’ impacts on the environment, noise pollution, and electric bills.

The moratorium, passed on Thursday, comes just weeks after Trump said that communities that reject data centers would “end up being backwards and poor.” Among the wealthiest counties in the country, Palm Beach County includes the town of Palm Beach, home to 65 billionaires.

“If you want to go through poverty, crime and squalor, I would say don’t approve of data centers,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Sep. 4.

The Palm Beach County Commissioners’ 6-0 vote doesn’t put a permanent ban on data centers. Instead, it gives county leadership time to conduct environmental impact reviews before updating zoning rules for where data centers can be built.

TRUMP’S DATA CENTER PUSH FRACTURES CONGRESS AS LOCAL ANGER EXPLODES: ‘GRASPING AT STRAWS’

The moratorium applies to all new applications for data centers with an anticipated peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts.

“Many communities want the economic benefits a data center brings, but we all fear the higher power bills, the negative environmental impact, disruptive noise, the depletion of water resources,” a Palm Beach County resident shared during Thursday’s meeting.

Trump has made expanding data centers and accelerating artificial intelligence a cornerstone of his agenda, arguing that the United States cannot afford to lose the AI race to China and warning that opposition to data centers only benefits Beijing.

Data centers are the physical backbone of artificial intelligence, housing thousands of powerful computers that store and process digital information while providing the computing power needed to train and run AI systems.

Palm Beach County has already approved in 2016 the construction of “Project Tango” — a proposed 202-acre AI data center, which is located 20 miles from Mar-a-Lago. The data center will also be built near an elementary school and homes.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS QUESTION WHETHER AI’S PROMISE OUTWEIGHS ITS RISKS

In July, commissioners voted 6-1 to reject a proposal to expand Project Tango by roughly 1.67 million square feet. But existing approvals for two 100,000-square-foot data center buildings remain in place.

Residents at the Thursday meeting said Project Tango was the driving factor behind the push to hit pause on data center project approvals, with several residents advocating for no data centers to be built.

“I think the best good neighbor data center is no data center,” resident Sergei Kelly said. “We have the Everglades to our South and to our West. The coast to our East. I don’t think data centers, especially large data centers they want to build desperately should be here at all.”

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Fox News Digital reached to the White House and Palm Beach County Commissioners for comment.

America’s AI race against China, which has become a major point of debate as midterms approach, is a race filled with “coordinated” propaganda, warned Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In recent months, data centers and AI policy have been debated in Congress and at the kitchen tables of American families. But Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, told Fox News Digital that much of the new opposition to data centers is being manipulated by a well-funded and coordinated campaign.

“It’s the same reason we saw Middle Eastern countries paying for anti-fracking movements,” Cruz said. “Because if they can convince America, ‘Don’t develop your oil and gas, just buy it from us,’ well, that’s great for them and terrible for us. The same is true on data centers. If they can convince Americans, ‘You don’t want data centers here, you want to just rely on the Chinese for AI,’ that’s great for China, and it’s terrible for America.”

CHINA EXPERT WARNS BEIJING WANTS AMERICANS — NOT THE CCP — TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

Direct funding from the Chinese government into the U.S. on data center policies has not been revealed. However, in June, OpenAI announced it had banned ChatGPT accounts believed to have originated in China, and said that the accounts were generating social media comments and images alleging that data centers are raising electricity costs for Americans.

OpenAI said in a statement that it shut down “two clusters of ChatGPT accounts likely originating from China that [OpenAI] banned after they used our models in support of apparent covert influence operations that promoted narratives in an attempt to manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and wider tech policies.”

Cruz called the effort to craft policy to ensure the U.S. wins the AI race is “the single most important economic question facing America today.”

INSIDE THE FAR-LEFT’S ANTI-DATA CENTER PUSH AND WHAT EXPERTS SAY IS DRIVING IT: ‘PLAYBOOK WE’VE SEEN BEFORE’

“If China wins, AI will be focused on espionage and propaganda and control and surveillance, because that’s the Chinese Communist Party,” Cruz said. “It will be their values. They will use AI to try to control you. If America wins, I want American values to be reflected in AI. I want free speech and individualism and free enterprise and privacy to be reflected in AI, not control and power.”

Cruz called opposition to AI advancement and data centers the “dominant position on the Democratic side.” The third-term Republican said the Democrats’ position is aligned with that of big industry players including Anthropic that he said want exemption from antitrust laws and to “get in bed with government” to control AI development.

THE HIDDEN LEFT-WING NETWORK POWERING A ‘CONSERVATIVE’ REBELLION AGAINST A MAJOR TRUMP PRIORITY

Cruz associated this position with leftist ideology and the emerging tech philosophy known as “effective altruism.”

“These folks from effective altruism are all hardcore leftists, and they want to use AI to push their leftist ideology,” Cruz said. “Part of what we’re seeing is a money grab, where there’s an old concept in economics called rent seeking, which is big companies typically go to government and say, ‘Give me a benefit, entrench me.’ We’re seeing the giant AI companies going to government saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you put us in charge of government and let’s set the rules so no one could compete with us.'”

Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital last week that effective altruism is associated with what he called the “AI doomerism movement.”

Facebook co-founder and billionaire Democratic mega-donor Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna have been leading financial backers of organizations associated with the effective altruism movement. Moskovitz left Facebook in 2008.

The couple founded Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, and remains its “main funders,” according to the organization. Tuna serves as its president.

Coefficient Giving says its artificial intelligence work has expanded rapidly, with $168 million committed to AI safety, security and field-building in 2024 and $351 million in 2025. The organization says it is on track to commit more than $1 billion to AI policy advocacy in 2026.

In a 2021 grant application description, the organization said it seeks “to fund programs and events in a variety of areas of interest to Coefficient Giving — including effective altruism, global catastrophic risks, biosecurity, AI for epistemics, forecasting, and other areas.”

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In 2015, Coefficient Giving launched “Project Tailwind,” an initiative where the Moskovitz-funded organization issued a “call for founders to launch ambitious AI safety initiatives.”

The United States and China agreed to lower tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods traded between the two countries following a three-day summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C.

According to the White House, the $30 billion in reciprocal tariff reductions apply to “non-sensitive goods.”

U.S. exports including agricultural products, fish and seafood, logs and wood products, cosmetics and medical devices will receive favorable tariff treatment in China. Meanwhile, U.S. imports of Chinese-made small appliances, toys, holiday decorations and children’s car seats will also receive preferential treatment.

The agreement was reached through the U.S.-China Board of Trade, a body first proposed during Trump’s visit to China in May and formally established during Xi’s visit to Washington this week.

XI PRAISES US STATE VISIT ‘PERFECTION’ AS TRUMP CALLS MEETINGS ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE’

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Friday that “a lot more details” about the new trade agreement will be released on Monday.

Greer said the tariff terms were hammered out after weeks of negotiations. Neither country has released the final tariff rates or all the products that will receive favored status going forward.

This marks one of the most significant cooldowns in the trade war Trump launched against China in February 2025, when he levied a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports, citing Beijing’s alleged role in the fentanyl crisis and illegal immigration. China hit back with levies on U.S. coal, liquefied natural gas, crude oil and cars.

BESSENT REVEALS EXTENSION TO BUSAN AGREEMENT WITH CHINA UNTIL JANUARY

At their peak, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods reached a staggering 145% in April 2025, shortly after Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs. China responded with tariffs of up to 125% on U.S. goods.

U.S. and Chinese negotiators met in Geneva in May 2025 and agreed to a 90-day truce that lowered U.S. tariffs to 30% and China’s to 10%. The agreement was extended for another 90 days in August.

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Trump and Xi reached another tentative agreement during talks in South Korea in October 2025. Under the deal, China agreed to crack down on fentanyl precursors, resume purchases of U.S. soybeans and ease restrictions on rare-earth exports, while the United States agreed to further ease tariffs.

The two countries will now use the Board of Trade to negotiate additional tariff reductions and other trade disputes, leaving open the possibility of broader agreements in the months ahead.

NEW YORK — Russia is trying to scare Europe into backing off its defense in the region, claims European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who warns it will only lead to Moscow becoming more aggressive if it succeeds.

“Their goal is to intimidate us from not supporting Ukraine, from refraining to support them and pressuring Russia,” Kallas told Fox News Digital in an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“What is important for us is that we are not afraid,” she continued. “Because otherwise this kind of intimidation actually pays off, and then we will see more of it across the world.”

For Kallas, Russia’s attempts to intimidate its European neighbors carry a history that reaches well beyond the war in Ukraine.

Her mother, Kristi, was just six months old in 1949 when Soviet authorities deported her — along with her mother and her grandmother — to Siberia during Stalin’s mass deportations from the Baltic states. Kallas’ maternal grandfather was separately sent to a Siberian prison camp.

Kallas has recounted how her mother was transported east in a cattle car, with fellow deportees drying the infant’s diapers against their own bodies during the freezing journey. The family spent roughly a decade in Siberia before they were allowed to return to Soviet-occupied Estonia in 1959.

Kallas was born in Tallinn in 1977 and spent the first 14 years of her life under Soviet rule. Estonia restored its independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union collapsed.

FRONTLINE NATO ALLY SHARES SHOCKING TAKE ON RUSSIAN INVASION THREAT

Her family would go on to become deeply entwined with the new democratic Estonia. Her father, Siim Kallas, became the first president of the Bank of Estonia after gaining its independence, later serving as foreign minister and prime minister before moving to Brussels as a European commissioner.

Kaja Kallas followed her own path from lawyer to member of Estonia’s parliament and then the European Parliament.

In 2021, she became Estonia’s first female prime minister and three years later was chosen as the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. It was a historic moment — putting a politician who grew up under Soviet occupation at the center of Europe’s response to Russian aggression on the continent.

That history has made Kallas one of Europe’s most prominent voices on Moscow — even as officials in her native Estonia and elsewhere along NATO’s eastern flank now caution against interpreting Russia’s recent provocations as preparations for a conventional invasion.

Russia invaded Ukraine more than four-and-a-half years ago and shows no signs of backing off despite repeated promises that negotiations for an end of war are ongoing.

Asked whether she agreed with Estonian and other Baltic officials who say they do not currently see Russia preparing for such an attack, Kallas instead pointed to Moscow’s growing use of sabotage and the importance of deterrence.

“We see that Russia is actually increasing their sabotage acts in Europe,” Kallas said. “But of course how far they will go depends very much on us and whether we are investing enough in defense so that it acts as a deterrent.”

The debate comes as NATO countries confront a string of Russian aircraft and drone incursions, along with suspected sabotage and other hybrid activity across Europe. The incidents have fueled warnings in some European capitals that Moscow is probing the alliance for weaknesses, while officials closer to Russia have cautioned against equating those provocations with preparations for an invasion.

US ALLIES NEED TO SHOOT DOWN RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT TESTING NATO BOUNDARIES, CZECH PRESIDENT WARNS

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Fox News Digital in a separate interview this week that his country’s intelligence services see no indication Russia is preparing for a full-scale attack on NATO.

“We have more and more this kind of panic in Europe that Russia will invade and will be full-scale aggressive against NATO and Europe and the Baltic states, Poland, but we don’t see it,” Tsahkna said. “Our intelligence, we see very, very deep into Russia, we don’t see any change.”

Kallas, however, argued that Moscow’s actions are designed to weaken Western support for Ukraine rather than simply test NATO’s defenses.

“Their goal is to intimidate us from not supporting Ukraine, from refraining to support them and pressuring Russia,” she said.

The pressure campaign comes as Washington continues its push for a negotiated end to the war. Kallas said Moscow has yet to demonstrate that it is serious about reaching one.

“They should start with stopping bombing the civilians,” she said, pointing to recent Russian attacks on Kyiv. “If they are serious about this, they should agree to a ceasefire, sit down at the negotiation table and talk to the Ukrainians.”

Kallas said Ukraine has already agreed to an unconditional ceasefire while “Russia is just playing games,” arguing that coordinated pressure from Washington and its European allies could change Moscow’s calculations.

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“If America, Europe, UK, other strong players are all acting together in the same way to put in the sanctions, then actually we could have the effect that Russia understands that this is serious and they will sit down and negotiate,” she said.

The Trump administration announced Friday that it was canceling $810 million in congressionally approved spending for programs serving illegal immigrants, diversity initiatives and other efforts the administration argued do not benefit American citizens.

To claw back the funds, President Donald Trump used a “pocket rescission,” a budget maneuver the executive branch contends is within its authority but that Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) say exceeds the president’s authority.

The vast majority of the cuts, some $567 million, were aimed at Health and Human Services programs that provided funding to non-government organizations supporting refugees, asylees and other non-citizens.

The White House is also seeking to rescind $25 million for education programs for migrant students, claiming they supported things such as “an LGBT youth summit” and “Therapy for Latinx workshops.”

TRUMP ADMIN AXES TIES TO DOZENS OF PROGRESSIVE GROUPS IN ‘DIRECT OPPOSITION’ TO MISSION: ‘DECISIVE ACTION’

Programs the administration labeled “Woke International Education” were also selected for $70 million in cuts. The White House said the funding supports bringing foreign students and faculty to the United States and, in some cases, has funded doctoral dissertations on “queer and trans community building in foreign countries.”

Other programs receiving the axe included a Justice Department office focused on reducing racial tensions, a business development initiative for minority entrepreneurs, Housing and Urban Development Department counseling services, and a series of Health and Human Services grants the administration described as “outright harmful and blatantly ideological.”

The White House’s announcement about the rescissions noted that several of the organizations are led by former officials in President Barack Obama’s administration.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who faces a tough re-election campaign, condemned Trump’s cuts and called it “the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress’s Constitutional power of the purse.”

WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE MAP TRACKING BILLIONS IN SUSPECTED FRAUD

Under the most recent pocket rescission, the White House proposed canceling the funding near the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Collins argued that this was intentional on the part of the Trump administration, because if the money remains unspent until Sept. 30, it expires before Congress’ 45-day review period can be completed.

On top of that, the House of Representatives will be out of session through the November election, making it essentially impossible for Congress to respond.

“The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act,” Collins said in a statement. “I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.”

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The OMB under Trump has argued that the Impoundment Control Act does not explicitly forbid the president from rescinding funds near the end of a fiscal year, according to a summary from the Congressional Research Service (CRS). OMB Director Russ Vought has repeatedly said the same.

That same CRS summary said the GAO has likened pocket rescissions to a line-item veto, which would allow a president to strike portions of legislation without congressional approval — a power the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional.

A year ago, Trump issued the first pocket rescission in nearly 50 years, seeking to cancel $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid. The Supreme Court declined to block the move, citing the president’s authority over foreign affairs as it allowed litigation to continue.

The last pocket rescission took place under former President Jimmy Carter, who proposed it well before the 45-day congressional review deadline.

A bipartisan team of senators is proposing legislation that they say will broaden the pool of qualified judges available to serve on two powerful federal courts with nationwide jurisdiction.

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, and Ashley Moody, R-Florida, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would remove the requirement that judges sitting on the Court of Federal Claims and the Federal Circuit live within 50 miles of Washington, D.C.

Both courts have nationwide jurisdiction, though their specialized dockets differ. The Court of Federal Claims primarily handles claims against the federal government, while the Federal Circuit hears appeals involving patents, trademarks, government contracts and other areas.

A decision from either court, for example, could affect Coons’ constituents in Delaware or Moody’s in Florida. The claims court hears arguments from entities seeking money or other relief from the federal government whereas the circuit court, which is a feeder for Supreme Court justices, reviews decisions from lower courts and agencies in relation to the federal government.

MIKE DAVIS: FEDERAL COURT SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT AGAINST 99-YEAR-OLD JUDGE

“Americans deserve the best, most qualified judges, especially in areas like intellectual property law where expertise is key to understanding complex cases and fairly deciding the future of many entrepreneurs’ businesses,” Coons said of the legislation. “For too long, we have limited the pool of judges available to take on the toughest IP and federal contract cases to those willing to uproot their lives and move to Washington, D.C. No longer. This bipartisan bill ensures that courts of national jurisdiction can draw from a pool of national talent.”

Legal scholars who spoke with Fox News Digital saw merit in the senators’ proposal.

“It’s often difficult to recruit top-level talent from across the country to relocate to the District of Columbia for these judgeships,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zach Smith told Fox News Digital, noting that the Court of International Trade in New York City has a similarly broad geographic jurisdiction and lacks a residency requirement for judges.

“Many other circuit courts of appeal cover multiple states and often the judges on those courts sit throughout the states that that court covers and then they often come together to meet and hear cases and hear oral arguments in a specific location. This type of geographic dispersal it’s not an unusual arrangement.”

Thomas Berry, the director of the libertarian-aligned Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies largely agreed.

‘UNPRECEDENTED’: JUDGES REVEAL BEHIND-THE-SCENES COORDINATION ON TRUMP IMMIGRATION CASES

“These courts have jurisdiction based on the issue involved, so potentially if this meant that the judges were able not just to live elsewhere, but even hear oral arguments elsewhere, that could potentially be more convenient for some types of cases if they’re, say, involved parties on the opposite side of the country,” Berry told Fox News Digital.

Critics may argue that the proposed legislation could increase travel costs to taxpayers by requiring frequent travel for judges to and from D.C. Legal experts may also feel that the ability of judges to regularly meet face to face could lead to a loss of judicial collegiality.

Berry noted that some studies show that, during the Coronavirus pandemic, court decisions saw less dissents as judges spent less time in person with one another, but qualified possible concerns by stating that “all of the other regional courts of appeals have been basically working under such a system for over 100 years, and clearly it hasn’t gotten in the way from them doing the work that they’re meant to do.”

SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE PINPOINTS WHAT AMERICANS MISUNDERSTAND ABOUT HIM AND HIS COLLEAGUES

Neither expert felt that travel costs would be an issue in implementing this proposal.

“For a court that covers the entire country, we should be considering nominating judges from everywhere in America based on merit — not their proximity to the D.C. bubble,” Moody, herself a former Florida circuit judge and federal prosecutor, said of the legislation. “My Better Bench Act removes an outdated residency requirement to expand the pool of qualified Americans who can serve and allows our courts to be a better reflection of the nation as a whole.”

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The offices of Coons and Moody did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Thursday.

President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington this week, one day after signing a Greenland security agreement that, once in force, would bar non-NATO states such as China from establishing a military presence there, sharpening the Arctic-security backdrop to their face-to-face talks.

Xi’s three-day state visit unfolded against that backdrop, with Trump hosting a formal White House arrival ceremony, holding high-stakes talks, joining Xi for a tour of the National Archives and presiding over a state dinner attended by some of America’s most prominent technology executives.

A senior U.S. official told Fox News Digital that Trump and Xi discussed the economy, trade, “Super Intelligence” and cooperation on a range of shared priorities, though it remained unclear what concrete agreements emerged from behind closed doors.

TRUMP-XI REUNION COMES WITH UNFINISHED BUSINESS — AND A BIGGER BATTLE LOOMING

Trump has so far stopped short of announcing a concrete agreement from Xi’s Washington visit, a contrast to his May trip to Beijing.

Trump was already telling reporters before leaving China that the two countries had made “some fantastic trade deals,” even though the White House did not release its full economic deal package until two days after the summit.

Thursday’s state dinner drew 134 guests, including the two leaders and prominent technology figures such as Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Lisa Su of AMD, Tim Cook of Apple, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sundar Pichai of Google.

Christine Balling, senior vice president for professional affiliations at The Institute of World Politics, told Fox News Digital that inviting America’s top AI tycoons to Thursday night’s state dinner was a strategic move to show Xi that the United States is the world’s top dog in the AI race.

‘RED CARPET FOR A DESPOT’: TRUMP’S LAVISH XI WELCOME COLLIDES WITH GOP ANTI-COMMUNISM MESSAGE

“I think the significance of the timing of this meeting, whether it’s intentional or not, shows that the Trump administration is taking The future of AI and the world very, very seriously,” she said. “I think that is the most significant takeaway. But the bottom line is, I think the most important images were those of all of the AI techs who were invited to that state dinner.”

Greenland has emerged as a backdrop to Trump’s two meetings with Xi this year. Negotiations over an expanded U.S. security role there began months before Trump traveled to Beijing in May, while Trump renewed his public pressure over Greenland during the summer as his administration continued negotiations aimed in part at limiting Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic.

Five days before Xi arrived in Washington, Trump announced a Greenland security agreement that was formally signed Sept. 22 and, once in force, would expand the U.S. military position while restricting Chinese military presence and certain sensitive investments in the territory.

China has had its eye on Greenland for years, especially as it looks to expand its role in the Arctic. Beijing has shown interest in Greenland’s infrastructure and natural resources, including its valuable rare earth and critical mineral deposits. U.S. officials have also pointed to past Chinese efforts involving a former U.S. naval base and airport projects as signs of Beijing’s broader ambitions in the region.

Balling is an expert in foreign policy, particularly in the Western hemisphere, and says Trump’s historic deal with Greenland struck a massive blow to China.

TRUMP DECLARES VICTORY IN HISTORIC DEAL WITH GREENLAND AS HE SECURES ‘PERMANENT’ US MILITARY RIGHTS

“Number one, that is a tremendous victory for the United States and frankly, the free world,” she said. “It means that the United States has the ability to establish two more bases at present. So we have a Space Force base … and now secured land, air, and sea rights across Greenland. We have the ability to screen out any other country who expresses interest in either establishing any sort of military presence and or investment.”

“That means that the United States and NATO allies are going to have first right of refusal when it comes to mining, and not only for rare elements, but also oil and gas and data centers.”

SECURITY EXPERT HAILS TRUMP’S GREENLAND PACT AS A ‘BIG DEAL’ ON PAR WITH ALASKA PURCHASE

China has long sought a larger Arctic role, declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” and promoting a “Polar Silk Road” encompassing commerce, research and resource development.

Balling argued that Beijing had reason to oppose the U.S.-Denmark-Greenland agreement because the United States remains heavily reliant on China for several critical-mineral supply chains.

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“I also have to say for all of those who were mocking the Trump administration and President Trump’s talk about buying or invading Greenland, they have an egg on their faces now,” she said. “I never for a moment thought that President Trump was serious about this. I think that what he was serious about, was exactly what was achieved in the agreement that was just signed.”

EXCLUSIVE: Black bishop and author Earl Walker Jackson blasted Democrats and the left over what he called the “deeply insulting” and “deeply offensive” claim that minorities and African Americans cannot get I.D.s to vote.

Debate erupted this week over voter I.D. requirements after Reuters reported that an investigation found 30,000 noncitizens were “erroneously” registered to vote in 11 states. Jackson, a nondenominational Christian leader and descendant of enslaved ancestors, said the findings underscored what he described as a growing problem of noncitizen voting that disenfranchises American citizens.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Jackson charged, “Why the Democrats are so committed to this can only be explained one way: they think it empowers people who shouldn’t vote to vote, and they believe those people are going to vote for them.”

“This is nothing but a power grab,” he posited, emphasizing that “every vote by a noncitizen does in fact cancel out the vote of an American citizen, or it amplifies it in a way that’s illegal or inappropriate.”

BOMBSHELL VOTING SCANDAL ADDS TO PATTERN OF NONCITIZEN VOTERS AS TRUMP WARNS OF THREAT TO ‘HEART’ OF DEMOCRACY

Reuters reported on Wednesday that more than 30,000 self-declared noncitizens were added to U.S. voter rolls since 2000.

The outlet attributed the erroneous registrations to “software glitches and clerical errors” and said its review suggested “inadvertent bureaucratic failures, ‌rather than organized efforts to register immigrants illegally.” Reuters said it was unable to determine how many noncitizens actually cast ballots.

The errors occurred in California, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

Don Palmer, the senior legal fellow for election integrity with the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that due to legal loopholes and loose reporting requirements, he believes the 30,000 number “is actually quite low.”

“I think it’s undercounting it. I think those are the identified non-citizens that have been accidentally or erroneously placed on the voter rolls through the mistake of the driver’s license agency. I think it’s much more because we don’t know in a lot of states, either they have not conducted the audits or they’re not using tools to find noncitizens that may have accidentally been placed on the rolls,” he said.

Palmer said “the answer really is that there needs to be more care taken to developing a system of verifying citizenship and you just don’t see that in most states.”

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION GRANTED WOMAN GREEN CARD MONTHS BEFORE SHE ILLEGALLY VOTED IN 2024 ELECTION: DHS

“If they’re going to do voter registration, they need to make sure that there’s a verification in place for identity and for citizenship, just as if you come into an agency and you’re getting a driver’s license or identification card, you’ve got to show that I.D., you’ve got to make sure that your identity is confirmed, similarly, if you’re going to register someone to vote at the driver’s license agency, there needs to be a verification process or a documentation process to ensure that you are a citizen,” he said.

Meanwhile, after hearing the 30,000 figure, Jackson told Fox News Digital that “the sad reality is I’m not shocked.”

“I wonder if it’s more,” he said, adding, “We’ve been told, particularly by Democrats, that that’s not happening, that there’s nothing to see here, and yet we hear again and again documentation that it is happening.”

With this in mind, he decried efforts to resist more stringent voter eligibility verification and identification. He took particular issue with those equating voter I.D. requirements as anti-Black and a new form of Jim Crow.

“Forgive me for being personal about this for a moment, but I just find this deeply insulting and deeply offensive because the implication is that somehow if you are black, no matter how wealthy, educated, well-to-do, somehow getting an ID is a problem for you,” he said.

“But on the other hand, if you’re white, no matter how poor, no matter how uneducated, no matter what your circumstances are, somehow you can get an I.D., that’s not a problem, I mean, it’s preposterous.”

DESCENDANT OF SLAVES SHAMES SMITHSONIAN’S WOKE ‘INDOCTRINATION’ AGAINST THE ‘GREATEST NATION ON EARTH’

He pointed to the hotel where he was staying as an example.

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“Look, I’m in a hotel right now … What was the first thing they asked me for when I walked up to the counter? May we see your I.D., please? Should I say, ‘Wait a minute, oh, you’re discriminating against me. You know Black people can’t get I.D.s; how dare you ask?’ he said. “I mean, it’s ridiculous.”

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“I don’t hate illegal aliens, I don’t want to see them harmed or hurt, but they don’t have a right to vote in our elections, and they shouldn’t be permitted to do so,” he concluded. “Anybody who wants to say, well, ‘You’re a bigot, you are a hater,’ I mean, they’re going to say that. But I think most Americans are people of goodwill and don’t feel that way at all; we’re simply trying to preserve the integrity of our electoral system.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris used yellow and pink flowers to explain how social media algorithms can repeatedly feed users similar content, arguing that the technology can influence what people see online.

Harris made the remarks during an appearance on “Off Air with Big Boy” after host Big Boy asked about AI, TikTok, Instagram and the role personalized algorithms could play in shaping how Americans consume information, including ahead of the midterm elections.

“There is a part of this that is about understanding that, you know, if you keep seeing the same thing over and over again, know that you are being targeted,” Harris said.

“Because you looked at it the first time, they’re just going to keep sending it to you, which means they’re trying to dumb people down with the assumption that people don’t have any interest beyond what they’ve already seen,” she continued.

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Harris, who previously played a leading role in the Biden administration’s work on artificial intelligence, continued with a colorful example.

“The algorithm’s suggesting I have no more interest — because I’m looking at this yellow flower, I’m only interested in yellow flowers, as though my brain can’t handle the fact that there may be a pink flower that I might be interested in looking at,” Harris said.

“Part of it is understanding how the algorithm is manipulating us and figuring out how we’re going to psych it out a bit,” she added.

Harris’ explanation drew a mocking response from Fox News hosts, including Sean Hannity.

“What was that?” Hannity said while reacting to the soundbite.

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Hannity’s guest, Fox News host Jimmy Failla, joked that Harris thinks “AI is Allen Iverson from the Philadelphia 76ers.”

Harris, the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, has not said whether she will seek the White House again in 2028.

She has faced criticism in the past over her explanations of artificial intelligence, including remarks she made while serving as vice president in 2023.

“AI is kind of a fancy thing,” Harris said at the time. “First of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence, but ultimately what it is is it’s about machine learning.”

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Harris’ latest comments come after she called on President Donald Trump earlier this month to pursue an international agreement – including with China – aimed at limiting dangerous uses of AI and establishing global testing standards.

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

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans are being given a new playbook on an issue that is all but certain to be the biggest political lightning rod of the November midterms.

Conservative group Club for Growth is sending a memo to Capitol Hill lawmakers on Friday arguing that Americans’ struggle with high living costs cannot be ignored — and that the fault lies with an expanding federal government.

“Americans are not asking whether the inflation rate has slowed; they are asking why the same basket of goods is permanently more expensive,” the information packets being distributed to Republican lawmakers read. “[G]overnment made core costs higher through deficit spending, subsidies, mandates, and restrictions on supply.”

It’s an argument that could be a lifeline for the GOP as it fights an uphill battle to keep control of the House and Senate. While Democrats attack Republicans for how Americans feel about prices today, Club for Growth’s memo is urging Republicans to point to the rapid federal expansion the Biden administration presided over during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The materials, a two-page memo for lawmakers and a more in-depth 76-page policy packet, also urge Republicans to push policies that Club for Growth says will actually lower those costs.

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The strategy would be a gamble, given the midterms are traditionally a referendum on how people feel about how they are doing under the party currently in power. But it gives Republicans a potential economic platform and a roadmap to pitch for lowering costs if they keep the majority for the next two years.

“The free-market answer is structural cost relief: spend less, build more, produce more energy, make healthcare compete, let workers earn, and let families choose,” the memo said.

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It urged Republicans to resist calling for subsidies for areas of the economy where prices are skyrocketing, arguing that handing out taxpayer money would only increase costs in the longer-term. An example the memo used is Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which Republicans have long blamed for skyrocketing healthcare costs before the COVID-era subsidy expired at the beginning of this year.

“Subsidies and regulation function as a back door for government control and involvement in private industry,” the memo argued. “The only way to address the affordability crisis properly is to undo misguided government intervention and stop pretending more of the same will suddenly work.”

But it could put GOP lawmakers at odds with President Donald Trump and his promise to give each American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. Several GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital last week were hesitant to embrace the idea.

Among the solutions offered are reforming Social Security, which fiscal hawks have long warned will soon run out of cash if changes are not made to current age requirements and other guidelines.

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On high housing costs, the memo urges lawmakers to increase supply by targeting land use and building regulations rather than offering subsidies to make existing housing more affordable.

Energy costs, which were a flashpoint in the 2025 off-year elections as well, could be brought down by furthering the Trump administration’s goals to unleash U.S. energy sources rather than Democrats’ push for net-zero carbon emissions, the memo said.

A focus on nuclear energy policies could also help drive down energy costs, which will be at the forefront of most Americans’ minds during the November election.

And while Democrats have pushed free early childcare as a solution for struggling families, the Club for Growth memo is urging Republicans to find a more lasting solution in reforming regulations surrounding the industry.

“Health and safety training in specific areas, adherence to building, fire, and health codes, and comprehensive background checks, including fingerprinting, are reasonable,” the memo said. “However, strict and complex rules about work-child ratios, rigid staffing mandates, and regulations on facility specifications, including equipment requirements and zoning classifications, increase operating costs without demonstrable improvements in child wellbeing.”

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The election is less than 50 days away, and both sides are working overtime to prove they are best positioned to help ease rising costs.

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to revive a major immigration fight over whether criminal aliens can be held without bond throughout removal proceedings or are entitled to a hearing when their detention drags on.

Solicitor General John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on Monday to take up Genalo v. D.C., reviving a constitutional fight the justices had been set to hear this term in Genalo v. Black before New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pardon rendered that case moot.

At the center of the dispute is D.C., a Dominican national who is facing removal after a criminal history that includes drug trafficking and domestic violence charges. He had previously been removed from the United States on six occasions, according to ICE.

Federal law requires certain criminal aliens to remain in custody while their deportation cases play out. But the Second Circuit has ruled that if they are detained for too long, they are entitled to a bond hearing at which the government must make the case for keeping them in custody.

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Other appeals courts have taken different approaches, leaving the Supreme Court with a nationwide split over what constitutional protections apply.

“So the rights of these criminal aliens who were being detained, whether or not they’re entitled to a bond hearing as of right now depends on which jurisdiction they happen to fall in,” Michael Morley, a Florida State University law professor, told Fox News Digital. “And so the government is asking the Supreme Court to set one uniform interpretation for the entire country.”

The Trump administration’s petition is procedurally unusual because Genalo v. D.C. is still pending before the Second Circuit. Sauer is asking the Supreme Court to intervene before the appeals court issues its decision.

“Rather than making the court go through those motions, you just hear this case now, hear this case directly, even before the Second Circuit has had the opportunity to rule,” Morley told Fox News Digital.

The legal dispute could also determine who carries the burden when a bond hearing is required.

Under the Second Circuit’s approach, the government must show that a detainee poses a flight risk or danger to the community. The administration argued that if the Constitution requires such hearings, the burden should instead fall on the detainee seeking release.

Lawyers supporting the administration argue that some detainees could delay their removal cases, then use the length of their detention to seek release on bond.

“The biggest issue that happens here is gamemanship,” Chad Mizelle, chair of litigation at the America First Policy Institute and a former acting associate attorney general, told Fox News Digital.

“A lot of times these aliens will file multiple applications for asylum, withholding removal. They’ll get new attorneys, switch out attorneys, ask for continuances, ask for delays,” Mizelle said. “So all of a sudden they’ve been in detention now, six, seven, eight months, completely of their own making.”

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DEALS BLOW TO TRUMP DEPORTATION AGENDA

Mizelle argued that if prolonged detention eventually gives a detainee the right to seek bond, it could create an incentive to stretch proceedings long enough to reach that point.

“They would switch out attorneys. They would make frivolous filings regarding asylum, regarding withholding of removal. They would ask for delays and continuances upon delays and continuances,” Mizelle said. “They’ll do everything they can to try to stretch this out, six months, seven months, eight months, file a habeas petition, say that they’re entitled to a bond hearing, and then if they are released, abscond.”

Carrie Severino, president of JCN, similarly described the additional litigation as “a foot dragging, sand in the gears exercise.”

“This is attempting to stall, attempting to run out the clock or just, you know, the question is whether there even is a clock,” Severino told Fox News Digital.

She pointed to cases such as Demore v. Kim, in which detainees themselves sought additional time during proceedings before later challenging the length of their detention.

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“So, it’s often a situation where people are playing both sides of it,” Severino said. “But they’re asking for more time on different things, but then at the same time complaining that the whole process is taking too long.”

However, Severino cautioned that she could not speak to the motivations of every detainee.

The Supreme Court has previously upheld mandatory detention during removal proceedings, but Morley said the high court has left open the constitutional question now at the center of the administration’s petition.

“This is a question that the [Supreme Court] itself went out of its way, you can say, to leave open for adjudication in a future case,” Morley said.

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The administration is now asking the justices not to wait for another one.

“You wanted to resolve this case. Here’s another case that presents the same exact question that lets you resolve the circuit split this term,” Morley said. “So basically, substitute this case for the moot case.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed once called for repealing a Michigan law that made it a felony for people who knew they had HIV to have sex without first informing their partner — a position he is standing by eight years later as he campaigns in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races

As he unsuccessfully ran for Michigan governor in 2018, El-Sayed repeatedly took aim at the law. The law carried a prison sentence of up to four years for people who knew they were HIV-positive and engaged in sexual penetration without first informing their partner of their HIV status.

“You should not be criminalized for a disease. That is absolutely wrong. It’s hateful. It’s discriminatory, and we can, as a state, do better. You can count on me for that,” El-Sayed said as he ran for governor.

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Fast-forward eight years and El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and a former health director for Detroit-anchored Wayne County, is battling former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in the midterm race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The showdown in Michigan is a must hold for the Democrats as they try to win back control of the Senate from the GOP.

As he ran for the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nomination — a contest he lost to now-two-term Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — El-Sayed’s campaign website stated, “Repeal HIV/AIDS criminalization laws and the exclusion of transgender Michiganders from state Medicaid.”

When asked in 2018 if he supported the decriminalization of HIV through legislation that would create two levels of misdemeanors, El-Sayed said at the time, “One of the big things that we have to recognize about HIV is that no disease can be illegal. The continuing forward of these laws on the books stigmatize people with the disease.”

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Whitmer also supported changing the law, which dated to 1988, saying as she ran for governor, “It’s wrong to criminalize sickness, which is what this law has effectively done. It absolutely should be revisited.”

The law was reformed in early 2019, after passing a GOP-controlled legislature with broad bipartisan support. The revised statute limited the felony provisions to vaginal and anal intercourse involving an intent to transmit HIV or cases in which HIV was actually transmitted, reduced certain non-transmission offenses to misdemeanors and protected medically suppressed people from prosecution under the law’s reckless-disregard provision.

“Abdul supports the bipartisan reform bill that passed in 2019 through a Republican legislature that eliminated the discriminatory laws on the books,” campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital. “As a public health professional, Abdul has fought to support programs that stem the spread of diseases, including HIV.”

Richner added that “the Trump administration has completely exacerbated this crisis by defunding the organizations and programs that do frontline care to prevent transmission and exposure in the first place. In the US Senate, Abdul will fight back against Donald Trump and RFK Jr’s attempts to dismantle our public health infrastructure and ensure all Americans have access to the care they need.”

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El-Sayed also stands by his past comments on fighting discrimination aimed at those with HIV.

Last week, as he landed an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBTQ advocacy group, El-Sayed highlighted that if elected to the Senate, “I’ll fight to ensure every Michigander can live without discrimination and never have to wonder whether their rights will still be there tomorrow.”

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El-Sayed, who narrowly edged more moderate Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens in August in a contentious primary that further exposed the rift between the party’s left-wing and establishment factions, would become the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected.

He has made support for “Medicare for all” a major component of his campaign. El-Sayed has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been a vocal critic of Israel during its war against Hamas, characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians.

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration is officially entering the artificial intelligence (AI) space with a new tool is says will provide much-needed relief for Americans interacting with the federal government, Fox News Digital has learned.

At an all-day event beginning Tuesday morning and featuring President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, officials will launch and showcase on stage America.gov, a new website designed to enhance “the citizen experience.”

Also attending are Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz and Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder who now heads the National Design Studio (NDS) and who is the first-ever U.S. Chief Design Officer.

The event will be held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., and will also feature appearances from industry titans like Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. NASA administrator Jared Isaacson is also a confirmed attendee.

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A White House official described the new AI tool as “a new front door for the federal government that will provide a one-stop shop for Americans looking for information and resources from the federal government that are currently spread over a maze of various agency websites.”

“Next week is really about the golden age of America, and really getting to showcase how it’s not just a statement, it’s actually being built,” Gebbia told Fox News Digital.

“What we’re really excited about is that one of the things that we’ve been building is the golden age of the citizen experience.”

Gebbia, who added that the day will mark a “new chapter of usability for the country,” said the new AI tool is built to solve a simple problem faced by Americans who have for decades dealt with clunky, often inefficient and overly complex government systems: “How do you make it easy to just access government?”

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“You can imagine all the things that people try to get done or want to get done in the federal government, [and] just having a brand-new way to access and actually get to the things that people are trying to get to in the federal government,” he said.

The day will include panel discussions with other senior administration officials and top industry leaders on artificial intelligence, energy dominance, health, space and agriculture.

“This is really an incredible collection of people that are working in service to the nation and really showcasing what the future of America is, where we’re headed,” said Gebbia.

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Gebbia says Americans shouldn’t have to accept that their interactions with the federal government are going to be negative or difficult to navigate.

“What if people didn’t say that? What if people have had a different sentiment? It’s entirely possible they can. It takes a president who cares about this, it takes an administration who wants to invest in it, and it takes the right talent to build it.”

“President Trump has those three things.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation for 100,000 young Americans to visit China over the next five years is raising concerns among critics who warn Beijing could use the exchange program to spread propaganda and influence a new generation of Americans.

Xi made the announcement Thursday during a White House arrival ceremony, as he visited Washington this week for talks with President Donald Trump on artificial intelligence, intellectual property, trade practices and rare-earth minerals.

Xi said China will invite 100,000 young Americans over the next five years for exchanges and study, building on existing programs that have included university visits, summer programs, youth forums and other educational and cultural exchanges.

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China created its Young Envoys Scholarship program, administered by the China Education Association for International Exchange, to carry out Xi’s earlier 2023 pledge to invite 50,000 young Americans for exchanges and study. Some trips are fully funded, while others require participants to cover expenses, with the stated goal of strengthening ties between Chinese and American youth.

While some supported the program, many critics slammed the idea over propaganda and safety concerns.

“This is clearly intended to indoctrinate young Americans in China,” Manhattan Institute fellow Daniel Di Martino posted to X. “But if some people should go, let the DSA members and let them see the Uyghur concentration camps and poor rural villages. Let them speak to the political prisoners. And let them visit and meet Hong Kongers.”

“100,000 more Timmy Walz’s. What could go wrong,” said one user, referencing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who taught English and U.S. history in Foshan in 1989 after graduating from Chadron State College.

“They’ll come back as Governor of Minnesota,” another user added.

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“No! They will brainwash them while over there,” said one person.

“I welcome Xi Jinping’s invitation for 100,000 American students to visit and study in China. As Co-Chair of the Congressional International Exchanges Caucus, I believe educational and cultural exchanges are an important way to build mutual understanding and expertise,” said Democratic California Rep. Ami Bera.

“But those exchanges depend on trust and the ability to study, speak, and engage without fear of harassment or arbitrary detention,” Bera continued. “Right now, American scholar Min Zin remains wrongfully detained in China, and Beijing continues to target scholars, human rights advocates, and diaspora communities whose work or speech it finds unwelcome.”

“I’m one of the Americans who spent years living and studying in China. I majored in Chinese literature in college. Sadly, I cannot recommend young Americans do the same thing today,” said Atlantic Council visiting fellow Isaac Stone Fish.

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Fish said that China has grown more repressive and less welcoming to foreigners.

“If tensions worsen between the United States and China, those students could effectively function as hostages,” Fish added.

“Are they coming back as Communists,” asked one user.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I WANT 100,000 impressionable American students sent off to some CCP-controlled propaganda tour,” said conservative commentator Nick Sortor.

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The Department of Education referred Fox News Digital to the White House when asked for comment.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

U.S. authorities have separately warned that American students abroad can become targets for foreign intelligence recruitment, citing past cases involving China.

Glenn Duffie Shriver, a Michigan student who studied abroad in Shanghai in 2002–2003, returned to China after graduating in 2004 and was recruited there by Chinese intelligence officers.

Shriver was paid to apply for positions with the State Department and CIA to access classified information for the Chinese.

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He was caught before obtaining a government position and pleaded guilty in 2010 to conspiring to provide national-defense information to Chinese intelligence officers. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2011.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen drew tens of millions of Americans to their TV sets with little more than a chalkboard, a cape and a message about Christianity, morality and the threat of communism.

More than seven decades later, conservative commentator Michael Knowles said that he believes the legendary Catholic broadcaster could deliver essentially the same message and immediately find himself branded a “far-right extremist.”

“I think he would be taking his first breath to utter the first syllable of the very first sentence just when someone called him a far-right extremist,” Knowles told Fox News Digital. “He wouldn’t need to change his message.”

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Sheen was formally beatified, or formally “blessed” by the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday in St. Louis, marking a major step toward possible sainthood for one of the most recognizable religious figures of 20th century America.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump joined Catholics celebrating Sheen’s life, with the White House calling him the first American-born bishop to be beatified by the Catholic Church.

Long before podcasts and social media gave religious figures direct access to enormous audiences, Sheen became one of America’s most successful religious broadcasters.

His radio program, “The Catholic Hour,” reached more than 4 million people, according to Vatican News. 

He later made the leap to television, where “Life Is Worth Living” eventually captivated an estimated 30 million viewers. The format was strikingly simple.

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Wearing his clerical robes and standing before a chalkboard, Sheen spoke directly to viewers about faith, morality, suffering and the dignity of the human person, weaving theology with stories and humor.

“He was the very first televangelist,” said Knowles, who argued Sheen understood something about mass communication that remains true in the digital age. “He went where the people were.”

Sheen’s reach extended far beyond a conventional religious audience.

The White House also noted that he competed with entertainment giants Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra in weekly ratings, appeared on the cover of Time magazine and won an Emmy for outstanding television personality.

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Among the millions of Americans who encountered Sheen through television was a boy who would eventually become the first American pope. Pope Leo XIV has recalled encountering Sheen’s evangelization while growing up. Decades later, Leo approved Sheen’s beatification in St. Louis.

Knowles said Sheen would likely have embraced podcasts, social media and other modern platforms with the same enthusiasm. But the message delivered through those platforms, Knowles argued, could put Sheen at odds with parts of modern American culture.

Asked what would get the bishop “canceled” first in 2026, his Catholicism, his anti-communism or his refusal to apologize for either, Knowles said the three were difficult to separate.

“His absolutely unapologetic apologetics,” Knowles said.

Knowles argued that Sheen’s traditional Catholic teachings about sex, marriage and human nature would draw particularly fierce criticism today.

“They would have tried to cancel him,” Knowles said, before adding that Sheen would ultimately have “the last laugh in heaven.”

Sheen’s opposition to communism was central to his public ministry and was emphasized by the White House as Americans marked his beatification. The presidential message described Sheen as bringing Christian teaching to a world “threatened by the titanic forces of communism.”

The White House also recalled Sheen warning in the 1960s about what he described as a destructive impulse sweeping American society.

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“Our Nation is too full of those that are crying, ‘Down,'” Sheen said in the remarks shared by the White House, before listing schools, churches, teachers, government and police. “Can you build anything down?” he asked.

Knowles said Sheen’s warnings continue to resonate because the underlying debate about human nature has not disappeared in modern times.

He tied the recurring appeal of communist and utopian political movements to the Christian doctrine of original sin, arguing that political systems fail when they begin from a mistaken conception of human nature.

“When their policies are implemented, they fail,” Knowles said.

Yet Sheen’s journey to Thursday’s beatification ultimately rests not on his television ratings or political commentary, but on the Catholic Church’s assessment of his religious life and a miracle attributed to his intercession.

His cause for sainthood opened in Peoria, Illinois, in 2002. The miracle accepted for Sheen’s beatification centered on a child born in 2010 without a heartbeat or respiration, according to an account published by Vatican News. After 61 minutes, the child revived and ultimately recovered to full health.

Pope Francis approved the miracle in 2019, clearing a major hurdle in Sheen’s path toward beatification. The Catholic Church’s recognition of Sheen was not presented merely as a celebration of his TV celebrity.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who represented Pope Leo at Thursday’s beatification Mass, emphasized Sheen’s relationship with Christ and missionary work rather than his fame. In an apostolic letter read during the ceremony, Leo described Sheen as an evangelist who used modern communications to proclaim the Gospel.

Sheen’s connections to the modern papacy stretch much further back. He participated in the Second Vatican Council, where, according to a biography published by Vatican News, he encountered two clerics who would eventually become popes: Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, and Father Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.

Shortly before Sheen’s death, his path crossed John Paul II’s again. During the pope’s 1979 visit to New York, a physically weakened Sheen approached John Paul at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and attempted to kneel before him. John Paul lifted him up and embraced him, according to the Vatican account.

“You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ,” John Paul told him. “You are a loyal son of the Church.”

Sheen died just two months later, on Dec. 9, 1979.

For Knowles, however, Sheen’s ability to draw an enormous audience wasn’t simply a product of theology or the novelty of television.

“He took life seriously, he just didn’t take himself seriously,” Knowles said.

That combination allowed Sheen to tackle weighty subjects without becoming ponderous, Knowles argued, and helped make complex religious and philosophical arguments accessible to an audience far beyond practicing Catholics.

People might discover Sheen through his anti-communism, cultural traditionalism or even, Knowles joked, an appreciation for formal dress among people tired of seeing “sweatpants at the airport.”

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But beneath the television celebrity and political commentary was a priest who maintained a daily Holy Hour before the Eucharist throughout his ministry, a practice Sheen called “the hour that makes my day,” according to the Vatican News biography.

Admiring Sheen is one thing, Knowles suggested, but following his example is another.

“It would be far better for you and for all of us to follow his example,” Knowles said.

FIRST ON FOX: Former New Jersey Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell insisted on camera Friday that he resigned “to make a difference” rather than impede Gov. Mikie Sherrill, while directly disputing the findings of a sexual harassment and ethics probe that forced him from office.

Caldwell’s departure came just one day after Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill publicly called for his resignation following a months-long independent ethics investigation. The 61-page report described repeated ethics violations, including a substantiated finding of sexual harassment and repeated improper efforts to secure a state job promotion for a woman with whom he was romantically involved.

Speaking on camera for the first time following his resignation, to a reporter outside his home, Caldwell slammed the state’s investigative report as “specious,” “ridiculous” and “poorly done,” adding that he resigned to keep any “distraction” away from the Sherrill administration.

“I’m not resigning because of that ridiculous report,” Caldwell said on camera. “I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction to the Mikie Sherrill Administration.”

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“If I’m going to impede anybody else’s ability to be successful, then I can move on to something else,” Caldwell added, citing his history as a university president and working at the Deloitte consulting firm.

When pressed about the allegations in the report, Caldwell encouraged people to go read it for themselves but said he was only providing specifics through his attorney for now.

“I just think it was poorly done. It was poorly done. I mean, I just think that there are ways that they could have done better. And, I was just disappointed in the legal, the legal work in that,” Caldwell added.

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Meanwhile, the former Lt. Gov. mentioned that he spoke with Gov. Sherrill via text message on Friday, noting “she’s a wonderful person” and “she really means well” but did not provide anymore specifics on that conversation.

“This is one of those things that happens. And as I said, I’m going to continue to work as a private citizen. I’m freed up to do a lot more things. So I’m looking forward to supporting the administration and really supporting folks.”

According to the probe into Caldwell’s behavior, conducted by an independent law firm hired by the state, now-former Lt. Gov. Caldwell violated ethics rules after telling a female staffer that “you young women are looking for young sperm” after she told him her younger friend was not interested in a romantic relationship with him. Investigators concluded the remark constituted sexual harassment and found Caldwell’s denial that he made it was not credible.

Other findings from the probe included violations of the code of conduct and ethics around bringing guests to ticketed events without reimbursement, and seeking a promotion for a state employee with whom he had a romantic relationship with.

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Lawyers for Caldwell said Thursday that they “strongly disputed the three findings in the investigation,” as its conclusions “go further than the evidence supports,” according to NBC News.

But Sherrill pushed back on the criticism from Thomas Calcagni, Caldwell’s lawyer, of the investigation, saying she thought it was “very thorough,” adding it “lays out exactly what the investigation looked into, who they contacted and spoke to, and i think lays out a pattern and practice of long-term concerning behavior.” She also called the claims of sexual harassment “substantiated” and said Caldwell continued to violate standards despite “multiple” violations and ethics trainings.

Caldwell was also serving as New Jersey’s Secretary of State, which is part of an office that oversees elections. Sherrill said Friday that the state’s acting comptroller, Shirley Emehelu, would become acting Secretary of State with just weeks to go until the midterm elections.

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Under the New Jersey State Constitution, a vacancy in the office of the lieutenant governor must be permanently filled by the governor within 45 days. Addressing the transition, Sherrill confirmed she will appoint a permanent successor within that constitutionally mandated 45-day window, but stated she does not plan to name an acting lieutenant governor in the interim.

Without an interim lieutenant governor in place, the line of gubernatorial succession falls to Senate President Nicholas Scutari in the event of an emergency or if Sherrill leaves the state before a permanent appointment is made.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — A network funded by Neville Roy Singham, a communist tech tycoon living in Shanghai, mounted a coordinated anti-Israel protest through Midtown Manhattan Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations, deploying field marshals, pre-made signs, banners, megaphones, drums, portable sound equipment and a stage for a four-hour demonstration.

At 3:40 p.m. Thursday, field marshals and foot soldiers from the People’s Forum Inc. connected to their “comrades” in the Singham network at the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. Fox News Digital watched the operation unfold from setup to breakdown.

At the center of the protest was Jodie Evans, Singham’s wife, a longtime leader at the People’s Forum and the co-founder of CodePink — a nonprofit that has operated within the broader pro-communist activist network funded by her husband. As Fox News Digital first reported, the Justice Department’s U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York opened a grand jury investigation into alleged money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud by Singham and his network. Singham and the organizations he has funded haven’t been charged with any crimes.

As the march moved through Manhattan, self-declared “comrades” of the Revolutionary Communists of America chanted, “Long live the intifada,” while Evans and activists from other organizations within the Singham network marched alongside members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

“Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada!” the crowd shouted, chanting the term used by Palestinian militants to violently oppose the existence of the state of Israel.

FROM AUSTIN TO NEW YORK, PRO-CHINA NETWORK FUELS WEEK OF ANTI-US PROTESTS AS XI MEETS TRUMP

Earlier, police arrested actress Susan Sarandon, a regular speaker at People’s Forum events and protests, after demonstrators blocked First Avenue in an anti-Israel sit-in. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and actress Cynthia Nixon were also among the protesters. The demonstration included activists from Jewish Voice for Peace, another partner of the Singham network whose leaders have advocated replacing Israel with a state called “Palestine.”

By the end of the evening, at 8:08 p.m., Fox News Digital observed the protesters rolling their carts back to the People’s Forum Inc., the network’s Midtown headquarters on W. 37th Street and a key organizing hub for the Singham network’s street demonstrations on issues from Israel to anti-American tech. Congressional lawmakers, the Justice Department and federal, state and local policymakers have criticized the groups as antisemitic, anti-American and “Trojan horses” for the Chinese Communist Party.

WATCH: Revolutionary Communists of America march at anti-Netanyahu protest in NYC

The protest machine

The day’s events, documented in real time by a Fox News Digital investigative team, provided a rare, on-the-ground view of the infrastructure behind the network’s protests. The operation involved assigned marshals, paid nonprofit staff, pre-made signs, portable sound equipment, rolling wagons, a stage, coordinated slogans and a media team producing content for online distribution.

While not every group participating in the demonstration was directly funded by Singham, the personnel and logistics showed how organizations with overlapping leadership, funding and messaging can operate together to turn a political flashpoint into a professionally-managed street campaign.

WATCH: Singham-linked Party for Socialism and Liberation activists roll in stacks of protest signs at Bryant Park

SOCIALIST, COMMUNIST GROUPS COORDINATE, PROMOTE ‘SPONTANEOUS’ ANTI-ICE PROTESTS IN AUSTIN

The appearance of Singham’s wife alongside leaders and activists from the People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Palestinian Youth Movement and a “Shut It Down for Palestine” campaign provides visible evidence of the Singham network’s central role in organizing and promoting anti-Israel protests, particularly in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

The coordinated signage and equipment revealed an organizing and logistics infrastructure that moved people, messaging and materials through the city for three hours. Fox News Digital has observed the same materials at a number of separate protests, targeting not only Israel but rallying support for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the communist regimes of Venezuela and Cuba, and fighting data centers and American AI. That infrastructure helps explain how the same network has repeatedly transformed breaking news and political flashpoints into large, highly-coordinated anti-Israel protests across the country.

The protest’s visible organization reflected the scale of the financial network behind some of its leading participants. After his wedding to Evans in 2017 and the sale of ThoughtWorks, the technology company he founded, Singham directed $285 million to nonprofits and media organizations, according to a Fox News Digital investigation. The People’s Forum received $22.4 million from Singham, while CodePink received $1.33 million. BreakThrough BT Media Inc., which operates BreakThrough News, received $1.098 million, according to tax filings.

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

DOJ LAUNCHES GRAND JURY PROBE INTO MARXIST MOGUL NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S FUNDING OF LEFTIST GROUPS

In his United Nations address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the demonstrators “phony human rights protesters” who have been silent in speaking out against atrocities by the Islamic Republic of Iran against its citizens.

Evans’ presence also offered an unusually direct view of the people behind the anti-Israel protest machine that has mobilized repeatedly across New York and other American cities against Israel.

The Singham network

At about 4 p.m., Manolo De Los Santos, executive director at the People’s Forum, arrived and moved near the anti-Israel signs his foot soldiers had rolled onto the steps of the New York Public Library. A lieutenant handed out signs calling for sanctions against Israel and declaring, “WAR CRIMINALS NOT WELCOME” and “NEW YORK REJECTS ZIONISM.” At the bottom, the signs carried the branding of a communist group that the People’s Forum works with closely: the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which doesn’t publicly disclose its finances.

Beside De Los Santos stood Layan Fuleihan, a controversial fixture in anti-Israel protests. Fuleihan, a Palestinian American, spoke at an Oct. 8, 2023, protest that the People’s Forum organized, supporting the Hamas attack on Israel and saying, “Yesterday, the world woke up to incredible news. The media will tell you that yesterday, terrorists invaded Israel. But we know that actually what happened is that the oppressed people of Palestine broke out of the open-air prison they have been subjected to.”

People’s Forum posted the video on its own X account. In the same video, De Los Santos declared, “If you listen to the media in this country, you will think the war started 48 hours ago. We know this war started 75 years ago,” with the birth of the state of Israel. Fuleihan didn’t reply to questions from Fox News Digital.

REPORT: CHINESE PROPAGANDA, SINGHAM NETWORK, FOREIGN DARK MONEY LINKED TO CAMPAIGNS AGAINST DATA CENTERS

The demonstration also showed the role of paid personnel in the network’s street protest operations. Fuleihan was paid $78,649 as the People’s Forum’s education director, while David Chung, the organization’s organizing director, earned $76,249, according to the nonprofit’s latest IRS filings. Their presence alongside field marshals, volunteer coordinators and campaign organizers showed an operation with designated personnel responsible for recruitment, messaging, crowd movement and event logistics.

Nearby, towering over many of the protesters, Taher Dahleh, an organizer with another partner of the People’s Forum — the Palestinian Youth Movement — moved through the crowd, grabbing a Winstone Blue cigarette from another activist, directing demonstrators and coordinating the march. He has been a familiar presence at anti-Israel demonstrations since Oct. 7, 2023, regularly hosting volunteer meetings on Monday nights at the People’s Forum for a campaign called “Shut It Down For Palestine.” During the “March on Washington to Let Gaza Live!” that People’s Forum co-organized in November 2025, Dahleh slammed “tech companies” for allegedly contributing to the “slaughter” of Palestinians by selling services to the government of Israel.

Between late 2023 and late 2024, far-left nonprofit WesPac Foundation Inc. gave Palestinian Youth Movement $1 million through its nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Honor the Earth, according to tax filings. Records show it’s received funds from several other sources over the years. The Palestinian Youth Movement still shares a post on its Facebook page from years ago, quoting a young Palestinian killed after murdering three Israelis: “You who possess arms and bullets, remember that there is an enemy so that you may put your bullets in their bodies, not the bodies of your own people.” Dahleh didn’t respond to a request for comment.

HOUSE PANEL SUBPOENAS 3 LEFT-WING GROUPS IN PROBE OF $39M TIED TO MARXIST TYCOON NEVILLE SINGHAM

The protest followed a familiar playbook that Evans, De Los Santos, Fuleihan, Dahleh, Chung, the People’s Forum and the Singham network have used since Oct. 7, 2023, to mobilize students at Columbia University, launch a campus encampment and storm Grand Central Terminal. Since then, the same constellation of communist, socialist and anti-war groups has repeatedly turned out for protests over Israel, ICE, the Trump administration, the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and other political flashpoints — including protests against U.S. data centers, American AI, and U.S. technology companies like Palantir Technologies, Microsoft and Google.

This time, Dahleh and People’s Forum field marshals led the activists from the steps of the public library on Fifth Avenue to E. 42nd Street, where they headed eastbound toward the United Nations past Grand Central Station. Inside the crowd, the network’s social media operation made the march seem like a spontaneous display of mass public anger. At 5:20 p.m., with the march still in force, People’s Forum posted a tightly-cropped video on X, showing demonstrators streaming below flapping American flags with a caption celebrating a “massive crowd of protesters taking to the streets demanding war criminal Netanyahu be brought to justice! Free Palestine!”

However, outside the limited mile-long path of the march, New Yorkers went about their ordinary days. The repeated appearance of the same organizations, leaders, signs, sound systems, wagons and protest infrastructure rolling through the streets of New York City revealed the professional organizing system operating behind the scenes, not a “massive crowd.”

WATCH: Neville Roy Singham’s wife Jodie Evans appears at anti-Israel protest, denies he funds protest efforts

Jodie Evans takes center stage

On E. 42nd Street, Evans — Singham’s wife and a central figure in the network surrounding the People’s Forum and other Singham-funded organizations — smiled widely as she kept step with the activists, marching behind the bright yellow-and-black signs marked “Party for Socialism and Liberation.”

Evans marched with CodePink activists behind a large “STOP ARMING ISRAEL” banner and carried a poster depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “WANTED” for “GENOCIDE.”

Evans stood out in trademark CodePink colors, wearing an oversized fuchsia hat, pink peace-sign earrings, dark glasses, a pink-and-white keffiyeh and a shirt reading “I ♥ Palestinian Human Rights.”

Her appearance placed a member of the financier’s immediate family directly in the middle of the protest activity his money has helped sustain.

When Fox News Digital asked her about her husband’s funding for nonprofits leading anti-Israel protests, she didn’t answer the question directly and responded, “He’s not been in the United States for six-and-a-half years.”

When asked about his position on the protests, she answered: “He supports stopping a genocide, you bet.”

Evans laughed off questions about Singham backing the Chinese Communist Party. In a video that Fox News Digital unearthed, Singham stood at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Shanghai during a November 2025 conference and expressed support for “a new world order that is based on multilateralism that President Xi and the CPC [Communist Party of China] and China have proposed.”

LAWMAKERS THROW OUT ‘TROJAN HORSE’ ACTIVISTS THEY SAY ARE ENGAGED IN AMERICAN SUBVERSION

Evans denied allegations from lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Singham network acts as a “Trojan horse” for the Chinese Communist Party, calling them “a lot of lies.”

“We’re not doing anything wrong. So it’s a lot of ‘alleging,’ and we’re very honest about what we do: protesting every day,” she said. “That’s what we do. And that’s what I’ve done for 55 years.”

She got visibly agitated on the topic of China. “China is not our enemy!” she said. “That’s the message. You know what? I’ve been going to China for six and a half years. I can’t talk about China. It’s complex. I don’t understand it. I’m just trying to learn about it. So it’s not about China. It’s about the United States not using our tax dollars to go to war on China. There’s never an excuse to go to war on people.”

The protest was also packaged for online amplification. During the march, Zoe Alexandra, news editor of BreakThrough News, moved through the crowd conducting interviews, pulling Danaka Katovich, national co-director of CodePink, away from Evans’ CodePink contingent for a chat. BreakThrough later posted a branded one-minute, 21-second video on X under the headline: “Thousands protest…” Singham gave $1.098 million to Breakthrough BT Media Inc., which operates BreakThrough News, according to tax filings.

SINGHAM-LINKED NONPROFITS FIGHT HOUSE SUBPOENAS, ACCUSE LAWMAKERS OF MCCARTHY-ERA ‘WITCH HUNT’

The protest featured black-and-white keffiyehs, a torched effigy of Netanyahu, bloodied cardboard imagery of Netanyahu and Arabic chants declaring that “Israel will be Arab.” Critics say the slogans and imagery go beyond criticism of Israeli policy, invoking violent resistance and portraying the elimination of Israel as a political objective.

To close out the protest near the United Nations, a leader from the Singham network manned the pop-up stage with a black-and-white keffiyeh over his shoulders, his arms tightly crossed, as speakers blasted the U.S. and Israel. As their last speaker, organizers returned to another leader from the People’s Forum, Tajee Bounds, who serves as membership, events and volunteer coordinator.

A graduate of Columbia University, Bounds was in the middle of the campus’s first encampment in April 2024 with People’s Forum organizers when he stood, holding a banner and yelling along with a chant: “Up, up with liberation! Down, down with occupation!” The Columbia Spectator posted a video with his proclamation.

Packing up the protest

“Glory, glory to our martyrs,” an activist chanted, before Bounds took the microphone at 6:31 p.m. to lead the crowd in a chant: “Gaza! Gaza! You will rise!”

At 7:01 p.m., People’s Forum activists began rolling away their wagon full of yellow-and-black signs, set upside down, declaring, “ARREST WAR CRIMINAL BENJAMIN NETANYAHU!” Bounds and others began breaking down their stage and speaker system.

HOW CODEPINK CO-FOUNDER MEDEA BENJAMIN’S FAMILY FOUNDATION BECAME A MAJOR FUNDER OF LEFT-WING ACTIVIST GROUPS

For a dramatic backdrop, the protest moved west on 42nd Street to Times Square, like so many protests have ended before. There, CodePink’s Benjamin, Evans’ fellow co-founder and a guest at Singham and Evans’ wedding in 2017, created a video for Instagram with herself standing in front of the protesters wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh scarf and narrating to the camera the day’s events: “These protests against Netanyahu and the Israeli regime have been going on since 10 a.m. All day long! Now it’s nighttime!”

CodePink’s message throughout the video repeated the mantra of the day’s protest: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.”

The videos presented the demonstration as a spontaneous eruption of grassroots anger. But the footage was the product of the same operation it portrayed: professional organizers supplied the signs, sound equipment, rolling carts, stage and coordinated messaging, while BreakThrough News, People’s Forum and CodePink activists recorded and distributed footage from the event. The sequence created a feedback loop in which organizers built the spectacle, captured it on video and circulated the images as evidence of the movement’s scale and momentum.

After the Times Square theater, foot soldiers for the People’s Forum rolled their wagon back onto W. 42nd Street, past the Port Authority and a McDonald’s on Eighth Avenue, with their trademark bright yellow-and-black signs. Others carried the bloodied cardboard imagery of Netanyahu and other protest paraphernalia.

They ended up at the hub of the anti-Israel activist, the headquarters of the People’s Forum on W. 34th Street, carrying signs past books by communist leader Karl Marx and other ideologues.

Inside the People’s Forum’s large meeting hall, Chung, organizing director of the People’s Forum, awaited the returning protesters.

De Los Santos greeted them at the door, stepping outside to tell Fox News Digital that he was proud of the group’s work leading the anti-Israel protests for the past three years.

“We organize protests. What is wrong or illegal about that?” De Los Santos said, as his workers drew the shades on the People’s Forum.

He also declared proudly, “Yeah, I am a communist.”

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Calling out federal waste and foreign aid subsidies while pointing to his own record of bucking party leadership in Tallahassee, GOP 14th congressional district nominee Mike Beltran promises to bring a sharp litigator’s cross-examination to Washington’s budget crisis. 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital detailing his bid to unseat 20-year Democratic incumbent Kathy Castor, the former Florida state representative laid out a case rooted in strict fiscal accountability, pledged to challenge even Republican leadership on bloated federal budgets, and warned of the Democrats’ embrace of socialism.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES UNLEASH MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR MIDTERM BLITZ AGAINST DEM ‘SOCIALIST’ INSURGENCY

Beltran argues that despite her lengthy tenure on Capitol Hill, the people of Tampa Bay have not been served well by Kathy Castor.

“People in Tampa Bay have precious little to show for Kathy Castor’s two decades of incumbency. She’s had no major legislative initiatives. All she’s really done is rename post offices. And all that’s likely to happen if we reelect her is for her to rename every post office from Tampa to Timbuktu. 

“She votes with her party over 90% of the time, including radical socialists. She voted in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and she’s poised to elect the Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. And Speaker Hakeem Jeffries would appoint a Chair Raskin, a Chair Omar, a Chair Cortez, and those folks would push radical policies in Congress that are completely out of line with what Tampa families need.”

Beltran argues that in the Florida Legislature he served as an independent conservative voice, not automatically beholden to party leadership, and pledges to continue that approach in Washington.

“I’ve had the courage to vote against special interests even when my own party had lost its way. I’ve voted against insurance companies, home builders, trial lawyers, I voted against various special interests…whenever somebody was doing something that wasn’t good for Tampa families.

“And I had that bipartisan record throughout my time, starting in 2019 and continuing through to 2024, unlike my opponent who discovered bipartisanship merely weeks ago. So I’m always going to do what’s best for the communities that I represent, regardless of party, regardless of special interests, regardless of pressure. And that’s what I’m proud of, having that independent voting record.”

Beltran argues that the United States needs to reexamine its military and geopolitical relationships, with an eye to fiscal prudence:

“It cannot be a one-sided exchange. You cannot have a wealthy country like Germany spend under 2% of GDP on their military when we’re spending over 5% of our GDP on our military budgets, about a trillion dollars. And a lot of that is spent overseas protecting other wealthy countries.

“You see Ukraine and Israel, they’re defending themselves from their adversaries. They’re doing a good job of that. But we are borrowing $2 trillion a year from countries like China. And that’s causing inflation. And what that says is that we don’t have money to be sending, particularly to wealthy allies like Germany and Spain. 

“These are countries where we have bases, where we’ve had trouble getting basing privileges or overflight rights for the conflicts that we do need to engage in. And we shouldn’t be subsidizing them anymore. 

“You see Israel spends over 10% of GDP on defense, as does South Korea. Those countries are carrying the weight of their own defense, but we don’t see that from all of our NATO allies. And they’re a lot closer to these rogue states, to these conflict regions than we are. They should be doing more, and they’re doing less, and that’s unacceptable.”

As an attorney, Beltran makes the case that he will bring a strong skill-set to Capitol Hill, to do away with business as usual and to fight for the citizens of Hillsborough County:

“My legal skills are quite good. I’m a good cross examiner. I’ll be good at scrutinizing witnesses who come before committees that I serve on. I’ve litigated in the federal courts, so I know the federal statutes. I know issues that need to be redressed. I know how to write statutes so that they can be easily applied by judges, so that attorneys can counsel their clients on what the law is and what they need to do to comply with that. 

“I’m proud to be a practicing attorney. I’ve helped a lot of businesses and individuals throughout Tampa Bay for almost 20 years. 

FIRST DATA CENTER BILL CLEARS HOUSE AS BOTH PARTIES SCRAMBLE FOR ANSWERS ON AFFORDABILITY

“And my opponent is also an attorney, but she hasn’t practiced in a very long time. She was, I think, a land use attorney, she says, before she was a county commissioner. But I don’t think she brings that same skill-set. I’ve never seen her cross-examine a witness to any effect. And I haven’t seen her apply her legal skills to any legislative initiative. In fact, it’s kind of difficult to identify anything that she’s enacted that’s of any particular value to Tampa or otherwise.”

Kathy Castor has repeatedly voted against the interests of ordinary Americans in Florida’s 14th district, Beltran argues:

“Well, she opposed tax cuts for the middle class and working class and retirees. She opposed removing taxes on tips, removing taxes on Social Security, removing taxes on overtime. 

“And she wanted to pay, through taxpayer funds, for trans surgeries for children. And that was a very recent vote. That wasn’t something that we have to reach into ancient history to find. And I opposed that. 

“I see no reason why a single mother here in Hillsborough County should be paying taxes to pay for trans surgeries for minors while she actually is being taxed on her overtime or her tips.”

Beltran pledges to confront the leadership of his own party if he disagrees with their policies, but also notes he will work with Democrats:

“Obviously, we’ve had Republicans who have also spent too much money. And so I’m going to go to Washington. I’m going to work with my party, and I’ll work across the aisle, and I’ll work with any administration that’s in power to identify waste, fraud, and abuse, identify unnecessary government programs, identify savings, and identify cost controls, and make sure that we are the fiscal conservatives that we say we are. 

“That’s what’s necessary to save this country because we need to balance the budget and we need pay down the debt and we need to live within our means, because if we don’t balance our budget, then the budget will be balanced for us and it will be done when somebody cuts off our credit and people stop lending to us.”

Finally, as democratic socialist candidates have won Democratic primaries across the nation and in Florida, Beltran notes that Castor has consistently refused to condemn socialist ideology, or candidates with such views in her own party.

“We see Kathy Castor, who’s embraced Angie Nixon, who is one of those avowed socialist candidates. She said that her party was a big tent party, and that needs to be a very big tent to accommodate Angie Nixon…I’m not sure I’d like to be in a tent of any size with her, but my opponent welcomes her with open arms. 

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“And she’s going to vote in lockstep with these socialists, first to elect Hakeem Jeffries and then to appoint these socialists to committee chairmanships. She’s done very little to distance herself from the radicals within her party. Even as she masquerades recently as a moderate, she will empower the socialists. 

“And that’s really what’s at stake in November. It’s not just me, it’s not just Kathy Castor, it is the direction of the country and whether we’re going to embrace these radical policies, or whether we are going to have economic growth and prosperity and safety here in the United States.”

The Department of Homeland Security issued a stark warning after more than 300 cartel drones were detected along the southern border in just over a month.

According to the Department of War, 378 cartel drones were detected at the southern border between Aug. 22 and Thursday. Of those, 75 drones were turned back, 15 were engaged and one was captured. Fox News Digital previously reported that the War Department’s Joint Task Force – Southern Border took down “approximately” 100 suspected cartel drones in August alone.

In response to the threat, the Department of War and DHS are increasing their use of drone detection and interception tools along the southern border. The agencies are also working with private companies to develop technology to counter the increased presence of cartel drones.

In a statement posted on X, DHS wrote that “hostile surveillance of American personnel ends here.”

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“To the Cartels,” DHS wrote, “Your drones are failing, your tactics are being exposed, and you have no advantage. @CBP and @DeptofWar will keep taking them down.”

In an interview with Fox News, Jeffrey Stalnaker, deputy chief patrol agent for Border Patrol, said cartels primarily use drones for reconnaissance during drug and human smuggling operations rather than for smuggling.

Cartels previously sent lookouts to monitor Border Patrol agents and other U.S. personnel but now use drones to watch from overhead.

“They’re watching when our soldiers and our agents are coming into the field, where they’re working, and then that allows them to plan how they’re going to send individuals north from Mexico into the United States illegally, trying to circumvent us between the ports of entry,” he explained.

Federal officials told Fox News that U.S. anti-drone measures at the southern border have succeeded so far, but cartel drone tactics are rapidly evolving. Some cartel drones are known to be used for lethal purposes, but officials said those have not yet been encountered at the border. For the past three weeks, the U.S. military has been conducting exercises in the desert outside Yuma, Arizona, testing new anti-drone gear ranging from guns and unmanned aerial vehicles to drone-capturing technology.

FBI WARNS BATTLEFIELD-STYLE DRONE ATTACKS COULD REACH US: ‘ONLY A MATTER OF TIME’

Brigadier General Jason Rueschhoff, director of operations for U.S. Northern Command, told Fox News, “We are developing capability at a pace that is keeping ahead of our enemy, and that’s really important. And that’s what happens here.”

Fox News Digital reported at the start of the month that Joint Task Force – Southern Border was carrying out drone takedowns using specialized counter-drone equipment provided and integrated by other military units, according to a senior War Department official.

The official said each operation was planned and closely coordinated with the Mexican military and border authorities to prevent interference or unintended conflicts between forces operating on either side of the border.

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At the time, senior administration officials praised President Donald Trump‘s use of military force during a press call, saying, “The president directed, (and) the Department of War executed the first-ever plan and strategy to use direct military force to defend the homeland from this threat.

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“The effects have been spectacular, and we’ve seen the largest and steepest reduction in U.S. casualties inflicted by the cartels in American history.”

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.