NationalWatch

New York Attorney General Letitia James has drawn a Trump-backed challenger, with President Donald Trump throwing his “complete and total endorsement” behind Republican Saritha Komatireddy in a bid to oust his longtime political foe.

“It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot, Saritha Komatireddy, who is running to be the next Attorney General of the once wonderful State of New York,” Trump wrote in a Friday Truth Social post. “Between Kathy Hochul and the Most Corrupt Attorney General in the Country, Letitia James, it has gone to HELL!”

Trump’s endorsement of Komatireddy, who he nominated to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2020, comes as he continues pressing for James to be prosecuted over mortgage fraud allegations, adding another front to his years-long feud with the Democratic attorney general who once took him to court.

TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES NEW YORK, OTHER BLUE STATES OVER TUITION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Trump did not mince his words in his criticism of James, who successfully sued Trump and The Trump Organization in 2022, accusing them of fraudulently inflating the value of assets on financial statements to obtain more favorable loans.

An appeals court later wiped out the nearly $465 million financial penalty against Trump, ruling the massive disgorgement award violated the Constitution’s prohibition on excessive fines.

“Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, is considered by many to be the WORST Attorney General in our Country. She is a Complete and Total Disaster, who tried running against Kathy Hochul for Governor, and got less than 1% of the Vote in the Polls, and QUIT, taking many innocent suckers down with her,” Trump wrote. “She then went back to her WITCH HUNT against your favorite President, (ME!), and others, yet Murder and other Violent Crime is RAGING OUT OF CONTROL in New York, as People and Businesses flee, in Record Numbers, to other States!”

He contrasted James to Komatireddy, touting her qualifications as Drug Enforcement Administration chief of staff, a former federal prosecutor, and that she clerked for Brett Kavanaugh, who went on to become a Supreme Court justice.

“On the other hand, as your next Attorney General, Saritha Komatireddy will fight tirelessly to Ensure LAW AND ORDER, Grow our Economy, Champion our Law Enforcement and First Responders, Support our Military/Veterans, Advance Election Integrity, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Uphold our Constitution, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump wrote.

TRUMP MAY HAVE ENDORSED DARLINE GRAHAM, BUT GOP SENATE HOPEFULS AREN’T BACKING DOWN

Komatireddy, who has been outspoken against James’ handling of the state’s fraud investigations, thanked Trump for his endorsement.

“I was honored to be nominated to be a federal judge by the President in 2020 and I’m honored to receive his endorsement today. I’m working hard to win the support of all New Yorkers and defeat Letitia James this November,” Komatireddy wrote on X.

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Fox News Digital reached out to James’ campaign for comment.

A Bernie Sanders-backed California congressional candidate who touts his career as an educator has used the classroom and academia to push diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and activist groups, according to his own writings and reports on his work with students.

Randy Villegas is taking on Republican Rep. David Valadao in California’s 22nd Congressional District in a high-stakes Central Valley showdown that could help determine control of the House.

Democrats have made the seat a top pickup target as the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district a “toss-up” and gives the district a razor-thin D+1 partisan lean.

Villegas, a political science professor at College of the Sequoias and Visalia school board trustee, co-authored a 2022 academic paper arguing that DEI is central to the mission of community college educators and describing it as a “social justice-driven duty.”

The paper, titled “A Commitment to Teaching, Learning, and Student Advocacy: Community College Careers,” was published by the American Political Science Association as a chapter in Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond.

“At the heart of community college teaching is diversity, equity, and inclusion, and culturally responsive teaching,” Villegas wrote. “Community colleges commit to teaching excellence and to a social justice-driven duty to accessibility. Most community colleges have similar institutional characteristics as a result. For example, community colleges are open access institutions. This means that all students are accepted.”

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Villegas and his co-authors framed diversity and inclusion as a responsibility that extended beyond campus, writing that “a commitment to diversity and inclusion expands from the classroom to the communities in which students live” and arguing that students’ “social and economic realities” should also shape course design.

While the paper pre-dates President Donald Trump’s push to eliminate DEI mandates across the federal government and education system, it sheds light on Villegas’ views on DEI and social justice in higher education.

In his dissertation, “Voices from the Valley of Vulnerability,” written for the University of California, Santa Cruz, Villegas identifies himself as a “former community organizer and scholar activist” and makes the case that activism can be part of his scholarly work.

He bats away concerns that activism could affect academic objectivity, arguing that his activism gave him access to information and that his identity and life experiences made his research stronger. He cites scholar Zepeda-Millán, who argued that researchers’ “biases can actually be assets.”

MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED DODGES QUESTION ON WHETHER HE STILL SUPPORTS DEFUNDING THE POLICE

Throughout the paper, Villegas described taking part in grassroots activism that included organizing May Day demonstrations, protesting outside an immigrant detention center and working with community groups to advocate for far-left causes.

He argued that schools often failed to sufficiently engage students in politics, describing educational institutions as “anti-political” while praising community organizations for “actively politicizing and socializing youth” and empowering them to become “agents of change.”

That push to turn students into political activists went beyond his academia research. In 2018, Villegas helped lead the Central Valley Freedom Summer (CVFS), a program that connected students with community organizations for voter outreach, civic engagement and grassroots organizing. Participants worked on issues including LGBTQ rights, immigration, environmental justice and racial inequality while conducting voter-registration and turnout efforts. Among those groups that teamed up with CVFS was Jakara Movement. In 2020, the group launched a campaign seeking the removal of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, citing what it described as Gandhi’s “history of anti-Blackness and racism,” Breitbart reported.

Some CVFS graduates went on to launch activist groups of their own, including LOUD for Tomorrow, a self-described “queer and trans BIPOC youth-led” organization that has hosted youth drag events across the Central Valley.

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“Randy Villegas was cooked up in a lab to be the radical left’s perfect woke freak. The only thing he cares about is political power and his far-left agenda,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Nick Poche told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, Villegas did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about his statements that educators also wear the hat of a “social activist.” Instead, a spokesperson made remarks about incumbent Valadao.

“David Valadao ripped away healthcare and food assistance from Valley families to hand his billionaire buddies a tax break,” the spokesperson said in an email. “These desperate attacks won’t hide his toxic record, or the domestic abusers bankrolling his campaign.”

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The comments appear to refer to Valadao voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”, a sweeping tax and spending package that included roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Democrats have argued the cuts could cause tens of thousands of people in Valadao’s heavily Medi-Cal-dependent district to lose coverage.

Fox News Digital reached out to Valadao’s chief of staff and communications director for comment, as well as Villegas’ campaign for clarification on the allegation that “domestic abusers” are financing Valadao’s campaign.

Kieran Ramsey, the chief investigative officer for Global Reach, detailed the horrific conditions U.S. Marine veteran Robert Gilman experienced while wrongfully detained by Russia and urged the immediate release of five other Americans held in Russia in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Ramsey, who worked with U.S. authorities to secure Gilman’s release after 1,666 days in a Russian prison, praised President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure Gilman’s return on humanitarian grounds.

“Mr. Gilman’s home, no doubt, because of the leadership from President Trump. He made a full court press with his senior most team requesting that the Russians release him on a humanitarian basis, which is exactly what happened. And no doubt it was the work of some good, quiet diplomacy on the part of people like Steve Witkoff, his special envoy and Secretary Rubio, and even the CIA director was involved,” Ramsey told Fox News Digital.

Gilman was released to U.S. authorities on Tuesday after Russian police arrested him in the city of Voronezh in 2022 after he made an unplanned diversion to Russia on his way to a new teaching job in Moldova. Ramsey detailed the circumstances that led to his arrest.

MARINE VETERAN ROBERT GILMAN RETURNS TO US SOIL AS TRUMP ADMIN FULFILLS REQUEST: ‘NO AMERICAN LEFT BEHIND’

“The start of this horrific nightmare comes from the fact that he was actually transiting Moscow. He never intended to stay or visit Russia. He was en route to a new teaching job in Moldova. And while en route, he became really sick. He had to stay and recuperate. And he does have some extended family in Russia. His father had immigrated from Russia years ago. So after he recuperated to where at least he thought he was well enough, he decided to go to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to renew his passport. But again, en route to the embassy, he became violently ill and that’s where Russian police came upon him, thought he was drunk, assaulted him, said that he assaulted them, and then it just snowballed from there,” Ramsey revealed.

Ramsey also revealed the treatment Gilman received while in a Russian prison, which included an extensive campaign of beatings and apparent psychological torture.

“Never have we seen the treatment that Mr. Gilman suffered as bad as anybody else. He was provoked in prison. He was beaten in prison, He was forced to exercise, he was forced to fight, and then he was told just some crazy things like, you know, there was a hit team to go assault his father in Boston. And things like that, when they’re all together and you’re cut off from the outside world and you have no idea if there’s any hope, you can imagine how that compounds on somebody,” Ramsey explained.

AMERICAN EX-MARINE FEARED NEAR DEATH AFTER WEEKS IN CATATONIC STATE IN RUSSIAN PRISON

When asked if there was any legitimacy to the Boston hit team, Ramsey said “totally psychological mumbo-jumbo disinformation campaign to make him feel awful.”

Gilman, Ramsey told Fox News Digital, is now recuperating in a U.S. hospital alongside family, and while he “still has a long road to go,” was able to receive immediate medical care thanks, in part, to the State Department designating him as a wrongful detainee.

But Global Reach is representing five other Americans detained in Russia who Ramsey argues also deserve that status and have yet to receive it.

“All five of those we would assert are wrongfully detained do meet the criteria under the Robert Levinson Hostage-Taking and Accountability Act,” Ramsey told Fox News Digital, referencing the 2020 bill that grants the president “visa- and property-blocking sanctions against any foreign person responsible for or complicit in the unlawful or wrongful detention of a U.S. national abroad.”

FREED MARINE RETURNS HOME ‘VERY FRAIL’ AFTER RUSSIAN ‘NIGHTMARE’ AS FAMILY ADVOCATE URGES TRUMP TO FREE OTHERS

But Ramsey also detailed the political hurdles that may prevent the U.S. from immediately recognizing the detainees as wrongfully detained.

“There’s been a policy debate inside the State Department as to whether classifying them or categorizing them as wrongfully-detained will raise the price in that diplomacy or that hostage diplomacy negotiations with the Russians to get their release,” he explained.

Ramsey then told the stories of his five clients, each facing debilitating health conditions in their imprisonment.

Alexander Antonov, the first of Ramsey’s clients he described to Fox News Digital, is an international businessman from California. “He’s a proud husband and father. He’s an international businessman. He had business interests in Russian-occupied Crimea and Ukraine,” Ramsey explained.

Antonov was on his way home from a business trip from Ukraine and transited through Russia “which obviously is a risky venture,” Ramsey said.

Russian authorities stopped him and found his U.S. passport and “immediately he became a target for them,” Ramsey also said.

Antonov is now sitting in a Russian prison and was recently violently assaulted by another inmate, Ramsey said, adding that he continues to hear reports that Antonov’s being harassed simply for being an American.

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Antonov was detained just over a year ago, Ramsey told Fox News Digital.

He then detailed the case of David Barnes, a Texas native who traveled to Russia to retrieve his children after his Russian ex-wife fled and took them to Russia.

Barnes was embattled in a contentious custody battle with his ex-wife, Ramsey explained, in which she allegedly made unsubstantiated claims about him.

“Mr. Barnes went to Russia to recover his children and his ex-wife yet again made claims of criminality against him and the Russians acted upon it. And he’s been sitting in a prison now for over four years, and he’s got his own health issues,” Ramsey explained.

Olga Jezler, a 36-year-old green card holder who lived in New York, is another detainee Ramsey represents who was taken after flying to Russia to take care of her sick sister.

AMERICAN MISSIONARY KEVIN RIDEOUT RELEASED AFTER MORE THAN 9 MONTHS IN CAPTIVITY IN NIGER

After flying to Russia to take care of her sister with cancer, Russian authorities detained her because she was carrying CBD oil, which Ramsey said was legal in Russia.

“Nevertheless, the Russians saw an opportunity and they charged her with drug trafficking. And today she still sits in a Russian prison,” he told Fox News Digital.

Jezler has significant health issues and is at risk of losing her ability to have children, Ramsey said. The condition she has is easily treatable in the U.S., he explained.

Andre Khachatoorian is, Ramsey said, yet another case of somebody who was not supposed to be in Russia.

Khachatoorian was transiting through Russia to reach Armenia while transporting a rifle, Gilman said. He allegedly had all the proper paperwork.

Khachatoorian also has an autoimmune disease that continues to get worse while he been sitting in a Russian prison for more than four years, Ramsey said.

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Ramsey also named Chuck Zimmerman, who Russian authorities nabbed in international waters.

“Chuck Zimmerman is originally from Virginia. He set sail on his lifelong dream with his life savings to sail around the world and end up in New Zealand where he was planning to be a master electrician,” Ramsey detailed.

Zimmerman, Ramsey told Fox News Digital, had planned to travel through the Red Sea to reach his final destination, but he rerouted after the war in Iran began.

“He could even hear the bombs from his sailboat where he was at the time. So he decided to divert to the Black Sea. While in the Black Sea, in international waters, the Russian Navy approached him and told him, under threat of force, you will follow us to the Russian port of Sochi or we will sink you,” Ramsey told Fox News Digital

Zimmerman had a firearm on board his vessel, leading Russia to charge him with international arms trafficking, Ramsey told Fox News Digital.

He has been in a Russian prison for over a year.

“He has very serious medical issues. We’ve consulted medical authorities even recently who have told us he either needs to be treated for a bleeding gastric ulcer or perhaps something worse. But at this time, as we sit here, He’s unable to eat without having to throw up immediately after. He’s losing weight at a very rapid pace. And quite honestly, he’s losing hope that he’s ever gonna make it out of there,” Ramsey said.

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Ramsey again iterated the urgent need for the U.S. to designate his five clients as wrongful detainees.

“We don’t want to lose momentum right now,” he said.

“Seeing Mr. Gilman come home was fantastic. And I’ve been asked, ‘well, you guys should be, you know patting yourselves on the back or people should be celebrating.’ Well, no. It’s fantastic. Mr. Gilman’s in a hospital in the US with his family right now, but…. We alone have five other families that are going, ‘when can we expect the same for our loved one?’ And we have to keep the pressure up everywhere we can to make sure people know these folks’ names and have an expectation that the U.S. Government is going to do everything they can to convince the Russians to let these people go,” he said.

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Fox News Digital contacted the U.S. State Department for further comment.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., an outspoken critic of Israel, was set to headline a rally in South Florida boosting three progressive Democratic candidates before the Jewish-owned venue hosting the event backed out a day before.

The “Chomp the Oligarchy” rally to support two U.S. House candidates and one Senate candidate was scheduled for Friday night at The Venue in Fort Lauderdale, just four days before Florida’s primary election.

State Rep. Michael Gottlieb, a Democrat, posted Thursday morning calling the event “anti-Jew,” while also accusing House candidates Elijah Manley and Oliver Larkin, along with state Rep. Angie Nixon — who is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate — of being part of an “Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionism coalition.”

Gottlieb then said Tlaib “has by far the deepest record of antisemitic allegations and is being brought here to help these candidates raise funds for their campaigns.”

JEWISH CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE SAYS HARASSMENT FROM GAZA AGITATORS WENT ‘BEYOND FREE SPEECH’

Following Gottlieb’s post, The Venue posted a statement Thursday night indicating that the event was canceled, citing “increased security concerns.”

The statement did not mention Tlaib by name but said management pulled out after becoming aware of the “full scope” of the event and reviewing promotional materials.

“Due to the increased security concerns as well as the welfare of attendees and staff, the decision was then made that the event would not proceed at our property,” the statement said. “The Venue Fort Lauderdale is Jewish-owned and operated and our values and commitment to the Jewish community are deeply important to us.”

Fox News Digital reached out to The Venue for additional comment. Tlaib’s representatives did not immediately return a request for comment.

DEMOCRATS SPLIT OVER TLAIB’S LEBANON MEASURE AS REPUBLICANS SEIZE ON HEZBOLLAH OMISSION

Prior to the event being canceled, The Venue reached out to Gottlieb asking him to take down his post, something he refused to do, The New York Times reported.

Cameron Driggers, a lead organizer for the rally, told the Times that the Venue reached out to the rally organizers saying it would only host the event if Tlaib was uninvited, but the organizers refused.

Manley, who has been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, is facing off against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., while Larkin, a self-identified DSA member, is challenging incumbent Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

Nixon is running against Alexander Vindman, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel known for testifying during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.

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The “Chomp the Oligarchy” event’s organizers said on Instagram that they “will not be silenced by racist right-wing agitators and conservative Democrats,” adding that they will “keep fighting to deliver for working-class Floridians.”

The rally ended up taking place at an alternate outdoor location reportedly with about 300 supporters in attendance.

In his speech, Larkin addressed the tumult surrounding the event.

“What we’ve seen in the last 36 hours is a mobilization campaign to try to intimidate and harass us with a campaign of Islamophobia. A campaign that seeks to excuse AIPAC’s corrupting influence over our elections,” Larkin said to a chorus of boos from the crowd.

DEMOCRATS SPLIT OVER TLAIB’S LEBANON MEASURE AS REPUBLICANS SEIZE ON HEZBOLLAH OMISSION

Tlaib also appeared at the rally as planned, introducing Nixon before she delivered her remarks.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday “it’s no coincidence” Tlaib would be appearing at an event supporting candidates seeking to defeat Jewish Democrats.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman in Congress, has faced bipartisan criticism for her comments on Israel and Jewish people. The Michigan congresswoman has denied accusations of antisemitism.

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Congress censured Tlaib in 2023 for her embrace of the slogan “from the river to the sea,” which she says is an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence” from Palestinians. Many Jews view the slogan as a veiled call for genocide against Israelis.

The sweeping policy shift announced Tuesday to end Medicaid funding for youth sex-change treatments is being hailed by at least one veteran pediatrician, who argued that the procedures were never “compassionate” approaches for children facing gender dysphoria.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Quentin Van Meter, the immediate past president of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), reflected on the new restrictions issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

“I’m really congratulating HHS and CMS for… taking the step to block the medical and surgical interventions or funding for those in those healthcare systems… primarily because it’s not an appropriate kind of intervention,” Van Meter said.

Despite claims that children will be left to suffer under the policy change, Van Meter, a pediatric endocrinologist, asserted that government intervention is not meant to strip them of the care they need, arguing instead for ongoing mental health treatment to address the underlying issues driving their distress.

MEDICAID ENDS FUNDING FOR CHILD SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES AS TRUMP ADMIN SLAMS ‘EXPERIMENTAL’ TREATMENTS

“This is not denial of care. This is not lack of compassion. This is not denial that these patients exist, as we are told that we are doing this,” he added. “This is actually very compassionate, very appropriate, and has been scientifically proven to be of benefit to these children.”

Van Meter, who has 42 years of experience in the field dating back to his fellowship at Johns Hopkins in the late 1970s, further argued that “puberty is not a disease” and that interventions intended to alter its course under sex-change procedures can instead exacerbate the mental health problems children are facing.

Tuesday’s policy shift also comes against the backdrop of what Van Meter described as a collapsing medical framework behind the youth transgender movement, citing mounting evidence and a series of disturbing findings.

This includes a federally funded study researchers allegedly tried to bury after multiple transitioning children reportedly died by suicide, federal allegations challenging a prominent transgender medical authority, the shocking rise in potentially thousands of detransitioners, and the irreversible damage caused by sex changes, including sterilization.

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One of the examples Van Meter pointed to dates back to 2015, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded a five-year study to examine the outcomes of sex-change hormones in children. By the second year, three participants had died by suicide.

Not only did researchers fail to immediately halt the study after the first death, they also attempted to bury the results by refusing to publish the data, according to Van Meter. The study’s chief investigators reportedly had a significant conflict of interest, having been “very proactive in the transgender arena” and often asserting that “these treatments are very beneficial and should be continued.”

The multimillion-dollar study, titled “The Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth,” was later scrutinized by a GOP-led Senate committee in 2024. The committee accused the researchers involved of having “intentionally withheld scientific data from the American public showing that puberty blockers do not improve the mental health of children.”

The Republican lawmakers involved added that the study also found 11 participants with suicidal thoughts.

DETRANSITIONER CHLOE COLE SHARES COMPLICATIONS AFTER GENDER PROCEDURES: ‘I AM GRIEVING’

Separately, a major transgender medical authority known for spearheading the pediatric sex-change guidelines that major medical groups relied on, has been accused of promoting ideological opinion instead of evidence-based medicine.

The criticism centers on the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which is being challenged in a Texas court case involving the Federal Trade Commission.

“None of this is a standard of care, none of it is rigorous. It’s just their specific opinion based on their ideology,” Van Meter said.

Van Meter added that there has been a significant increase in the number of people seeking to detransition, citing online support resources that reportedly receive an estimated 600 to 700 hits per month from patients seeking help.

During a conference last March, Van Meter said he encountered roughly 85 individuals from around the world who wanted to detransition, indicating that “there clearly is a population for which this has been a detriment.”

HHS OFFICIAL WARNS OF IRREVERSIBLE RISKS AS TRUMP ADMIN RESTRICTS FUNDING FOR YOUTH GENDER PROCEDURES

However, detransitioning is reportedly a highly complex process that involves reconstructive surgeries, gradual medication weaning and extensive mental health support.

Sex-change treatments can ultimately result in severe and irreversible physical harms, Van Meter said. 

Pediatric interventions can result in permanent sterilization, profound sexual dysfunction, permanently diminished bone density, impaired brain development, a heightened risk of early dementia and lifelong health conditions requiring continuous medical management.

The desire to undergo sex-change procedures can often emerge among vulnerable children “when their life is falling apart,” as they seek an escape from underlying problems such as divorced parents, parental incarceration, alcoholism, drug abuse or the death of a family member, Van Meter said.

Impressionable children may then encounter online communities that frame undergoing a sex change as a cure-all or claim that their gender is the root of their problems.

FTC ALLEGES INFLUENTIAL TRANSGENDER HEALTH ORGANIZATION MISLED PARENTS ABOUT SAFETY OF YOUTH TREATMENTS

Beyond the need for better mental health access for children, Van Meter said more should be changed systemically across transgender policies.

Van Meter proposed cutting federal funding from medical schools that promote research into sex-change treatments or teach such procedures as the standard of care in their curricula.

He said doctors and pediatricians often uncritically promote transitions because they can easily be labeled a “bigot” or “hater” otherwise. 

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Health care workers who disagree are also denied a voice in medical literature, academic departments and professional associations, he said.

Additionally, he added, the statute of limitations should be extended to give detransitioners ample time to sue healthcare providers for facilitating such treatments, while clinics should be audited for scientific transparency.

President Donald Trump scored a major legal victory Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for his administration to terminate temporary legal protections for thousands of Somali nationals living in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston lifted a stay that had prevented the Department of Homeland Security from terminating Somalia’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, citing a June Supreme Court ruling that sharply limited judicial review of similar administration actions.

The decision allows the Trump administration to move forward with ending TPS for Somalia, potentially exposing affected migrants who lack another lawful basis to remain in the U.S. to deportation.

SUPREME COURT’S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO ‘DIE AND SUFFER’ ATTORNEY WARNS

Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had previously blocked the termination from taking effect in a lawsuit brought by four Somali nationals and two advocacy groups, including African Communities Together.

The Trump administration announced in January that it planned to terminate Somalia’s TPS designation, with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arguing that conditions in the country had improved enough to end the humanitarian protections.

The Supreme Court ruled in June in Mullin v. Doe that the TPS statute bars judicial review of certain non-constitutional decisions by the administration to terminate TPS designations. The court also found that the plaintiffs’ equal protection challenge in that case was unlikely to succeed.

The ruling curtailed lower courts’ ability to review Trump administration efforts to terminate TPS designations for nationals of multiple countries.

SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTS

Plaintiffs challenging the termination of Somalia’s designation argued that the administration’s decision was motivated by bias against non-White immigrants, pointing to Trump’s previous descriptions of Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people.”

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint raising new constitutional claims and sought emergency relief in another effort to prevent Somalia’s TPS protections from ending.

Burroughs issued an administrative stay earlier this month after African Communities Together and other plaintiffs alleged that the administration violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia’s TPS designation based on racial and national-origin discrimination.

In Friday’s ruling, Burroughs said the plaintiffs had presented a compelling case but concluded that the Supreme Court’s decision constrained her ability to continue blocking the administration’s action.

BIDEN JUDGE OVERRULED ON KEY TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY

Burroughs wrote that she was “bound … to view things through the Mullin prism,” referring to the Supreme Court case.

“Plaintiffs have made a convincing showing that they will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is withheld … and the balance of hardships and the public interest also favor Plaintiffs, given that the government has made no showing that maintaining TPS status for the duration of this litigation would impose an undue burden,” she wrote.

Despite those findings, Burroughs lifted the stay, allowing the administration’s termination of Somalia’s TPS designation to move forward.

The Trump administration’s decision affects several thousand Somali nationals currently living in the United States.

Sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services previously told Fox News Digital that 2,471 Somali nationals in the U.S. currently have TPS, while another 1,383 have pending TPS applications.

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Fox News Digital’s Preston Mizell and Elaine Mallon, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.

Florida socialist congressional candidate Oliver Larkin repeatedly declined to say how much he would raise taxes on high earners while defending his call to tax billionaires “out of existence” during a contentious interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Larkin, who volunteered for then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in 2008 and led a New Hampshire presidential campaign field office for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2016, sparred with Hannity over his Democratic Socialists of America-aligned platform as Florida voters prepare to vote Tuesday.

When asked about the idea of an economy based on the promise of “to each American based on their needs from each American based on their ability,” Larkin replied, “I think that’s a fine concept.”

EXPERT WHO FLED CUBA WARNS OF ‘VICIOUS CYCLE’ THAT WILL LEAD TO ‘COMMUNISTS IN DOUBLE DIGITS’ IN CONGRESS

The axiom was popularized in 1875 by German political theorist Karl Marx in his “Critique of the Gotha Programme.”

Larkin, who is challenging moderate Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., in a district considered a prime Republican target in November’s general election, said he was less concerned with ideological labels than with meeting his potential new constituents every day.

“I’m coming at the race from a pragmatic point of view of what the American people and the people of South Florida need, and that is Medicare-for-all, that is universal child care, that is the policy proposals that you just articulated on your show,” Larkin told Hannity.

Before introducing Larkin, Hannity listed a series of policies he said the millennial left-winger supported, including abolishing the Electoral College, automatic same-day voter registration, shunning fossil fuels, abolishing ICE and prosecuting its agents, free public college, an end to sanctions on Iran and Cuba and a “passionate hatred of Israel,” in the conservative host’s words.

THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN’T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS

Hannity challenged Larkin to go beyond the proposals and explain how he would achieve each of his policy objectives, starting with higher federal taxes

“Out of every dollar these so-called ‘evil rich people’ make, how much should they be able to keep…?” he asked.

Instead of offering a figure, Larkin praised former Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower for presiding over extremely high top marginal tax rates.

“Give me a number,” Hannity demanded.

PROGRESSIVES WANT TO TAX BILLIONAIRES FIRST, AND YOU’RE NEXT ON THE LIST

“What percentage of every dollar should every American be able to keep after they pay the government, local, state, federal [taxes]?”

Larkin replied that the figure depends on income, but did not specify any income ranges except to say that “billionaires should be taxed out of existence.”

Hannity countered that most billionaires are among the “most brilliant” people and argued that it is wrong to take money from the most creative Americans through higher taxes.

Larkin replied that X CEO Elon Musk — the world’s richest person — has received billions in government subsidies that helped build his wealth, arguing that billionaires should therefore face higher taxes and calling the South African immigrant a “vulture” for buying Tesla and presiding over its largesse himself.

Hannity returned to pressing the candidate for specifics about his plans, including what tax rates Americans at different income levels should pay under a socialist system:

“How much are you willing to let the government take? How much? Give us a number,” he said, asking for an example with an American making $100,000 per annum.

“I want to see a return on our taxpayer investment,” Larkin replied without offering a specific figure.

“I’m not interested in changing the tax rate on middle-class Americans on people making a hundred grand,” he later added, prompting Hannity to ask what tax rate should apply to people making $500,000.

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“Give me a number,” he insisted. “The DSA people talk a lot about fairness. What is fair for a guy that makes a half a million dollars a year out of every dollar — how much should the government get? Answer the question.”

“It’s not that simple,” Larkin argued. After crosstalk, the candidate said the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes should be raised, but did not specify an amount.

Moskowitz’ and Larkin’s district — which has changed numbers several times — has been represented by Democrats for most of the modern era.

Over the past two decades, including when it was numbered the 22nd District, Col. Allen West has been the only Republican to represent the district. West served one term.

From its inception in 1993 through the early years of George W. Bush’s presidency, the district was represented by Republican Rep. Eugene Clay Shaw Jr.

After socialist candidates lost in Wisconsin but won in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota, Florida Democrats will decide Tuesday whether to follow the same trend.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Larkin for comment.

Gun rights advocates are cheering a recent ruling that will make it easier for people to obtain firearm suppressors and certain weapons, with a business founder-turned-lawmaker calling it “the greatest restoration” of Second Amendment rights in almost a century.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who founded Clyde Armory in his home state of Georgia before he was elected to Congress, argued that the regulatory barrier was wrong in the first place because it taxed a constitutional right.

“If you can tax something legitimately, then you can actually destroy it through increased taxation. You might, quote, ‘have a right on paper,’ but you don’t really have a right because you can’t afford the right. Is that really a right? It’s not,” Clyde told Fox News Digital.

“So here we are removing the taxation on a constitutional right from a bill that was passed in 1934. And once you remove the tax aspect of it, then you remove the constitutionality of the registration aspect.”

GUN RIGHTS GROUPS CAPITALIZE AFTER JUDGE REVERSES DECADES-OLD RESTRICTIONS: ‘MONUMENTAL’

Clyde led the charge last year to roll back part of the National Firearms Act of 1934, a push that was ultimately successful in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

Under the 92-year-old law, a $200 tax was established on silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and other firearms that also required additional federal registration to obtain.

Republicans reduced that tax to $0 in the OBBBA, which gun rights groups then used to successfully argue that the added registration was unconstitutional. The ruling affects the parties that brought the lawsuit and is not a national injunction on the law, however, according to the Associated Press.

But Clyde said it was an “incredible win for the Second Amendment,” adding he hoped “more wins” would come in the future.

INSIDE TRUMP’S UNPRECEDENTED BATTLE PLAN TO EXPAND SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS THROUGH JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

“When you protect the Second Amendment, which protects every other amendment in the entire Constitution — I think that’s the teeth behind the Constitution,” Clyde said.

“The right to free assembly, the right to freedom of religion, the rights of freedom of speech, the right of the free press, and the right to take your grievances to the government without fear of persecution or prosecution — that’s the First Amendment, and that’s what the Second Amendment protects,” he added.

Clyde later led 47 Republican lawmakers in a letter urging Attorney General Todd Blanche not to appeal the ruling.

The letter reads: “An appeal would prolong regulatory uncertainty for law-abiding gun owners and businesses and would consume DOJ resources defending a position that this Congress and now a federal district court has said cannot stand.”

CLARENCE THOMAS’ CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT AGAINST FEDERAL GUN LAW GETS FIRST MAJOR COURT TEST

Gun right activists’ celebrations were compounded on Thursday when the Trump administration did not file an appeal to the judge’s ruling, meaning the order could go into effect without pause.

Gun violence prevention groups panned the inaction, however.

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“Today, our government is failing us. At midnight, uniquely lethal weapons and devices — including silencers, short-barreled rifles, and shotguns — were deregulated for the first time in nearly a century,” Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Department of Justice had the opportunity to act to protect our safety, but it failed to do so…Today, the gun industry and silencer dealers are celebrating, while Americans are left less safe.”

High profile Democrats aren’t backing off their support for Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson following reports he fathered children with his cousin.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile was among the chorus of party voices throwing cold water on the claims about Jackson in a scandal-plagued Senate race that was already upended after former far-left candidate Graham Platner was forced to drop out earlier this summer following a series of controversies that culminated in a rape allegation.

And now, Jackson is facing even more turmoil with the most recent revelations of a 1988 police report accusing him of assault.

“There’s a lot of people who are doing a lot of gossip as news, and I don’t want to break news that might not be true — especially on something so personal — that’s not what I do,” Brazile told Fox News Digital when asked about the report Jackson had two children with his cousin and longtime partner Lana Pelletier.

INTERNET ERUPTS OVER REPORT THAT PLATNER’S REPLACEMENT IN KEY SENATE RACE FATHERED CHILDREN WITH SECOND COUSIN

Jackson became the Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine despite Platner winning the June 9 primary race. Platner formally dropped out on July 10 — just in time for the Democratic Party to select a replacement for the November general election ballot.

But just weeks after being nominated to step into the race, Jackson came under fire when a shocking report hit the internet claiming his longtime partner, with whom he shares two children, is his cousin.

Brazile, a veteran Democrat and longtime operative for the party, told Fox News Digital she doesn’t “know anything about Mr. Jackson,” when asked about the relationship with his cousin.

“I wish him the best of luck. I don’t know many… some of the nominees, but I wish them the best luck,” Brazile said, remaining agnostic to those particular claims.

“There are so many lies,” Brazile went on. “I don’t really want to comment on salacious gossip — innuendos.”

“All I know is that that’s going to be one of the most competitive races, and we’ll all be watching in the fall,” she concluded.

The bombshell report introduces another threat to the already tumultuous race where Democrats are trying to flip the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

FOX NEWS POLL: NEW MATCHUP, SAME RESULT: MAINE SENATE RACE STAYS LOCKED

The Maine Wire editor Steven Robinson reported that Jackson shares two children with his second cousin “by blood” and alleged high school sweetheart, Lana Pelletier. In posting the genealogical findings, the independent journalist claimed Pelletier’s father is a cousin of Jackson’s mother.

“I think it’s important to get the facts,” Brazile said about the report.

A longtime political strategist, Brazile served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and again in 2016. She has remained an influential voice within Democratic politics through multiple midterm election cycles and has often weighed in on candidates and the party’s overall direction following major electoral setbacks.

Shortly after Brazile and other Democrats refused to abandon their support for Jackson in the Maine Senate race, a police report from 1988 resurfaced accusing Jackson of assaulting a man in an altercation over Pelletier.

The same report states that Pelletier told the police that Jackson “pushed her around.”

Jackson said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital said, “I took responsibility for [the fight] then, and I take responsibility for it now.”

Pelletier, for her part, claimed the statements attributed to her in the report are “not accurate,” and defended Jackson in a separate statement to Fox News Digital.

“I do not remember making the statements attributed to me and they are not accurate,” she said. “This is the first time I have seen this report from 40 years ago. Troy and I have built a life and family together and I know the person he has been through the decades since, both as a caring partner and father.”

EMBATTLED MAINE DEMOCRAT DEADLOCKED WITH COLLINS DESPITE CONTROVERSIES IN KEY SENATE RACE, NEW POLL SHOWS

Jackson is up against Collins, who has held her Senate seat since 1997. The Democrat candidate accused Collins’ team of being responsible for the accusation that he fathered his second cousin’s children as a “shameful and desperate” attempt to bruise his campaign.

But he has never directly denied in previous statements to Fox News Digital the claims that Pelletier, the mother of his two children, is his cousin.

“Susan Collins will do anything to distract from the fact that she votes with Trump 96% of the time and has sold out working people in Maine. Personal attacks on Troy’s family are shameful and desperate,” Jackson’s campaign said in the statement.

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Jackson’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s most recent requests for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

A combustible and divisive Democratic Senate primary in battleground Michigan is giving Republicans an early edge as they aim to flip a crucial Democrat-held seat in the midterm elections.

A Fox News poll conducted after this month’s primary showdown, in which left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged more moderate Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens to capture the party’s nomination in the race to defend the seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters, indicates El-Sayed is having difficulty unifying the Democratic base.

That appears to be giving Republican nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers more ammunition to court Democrats uncomfortable with some of El-Sayed’s controversial past comments and far-left policy positions. Democrats must hold the swing state seat as part of their uphill climb to win back the Senate majority from the GOP.

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According to a Fox News survey of Michigan registered voters conducted Aug. 6-10 and released this week, Rogers held a 51%-47% edge over El-Sayed, within the survey’s margin of sampling error.

Rogers’ edge is fueled largely by stronger party unity among Republicans. Nearly all Republicans (96%), including both MAGA (99%) and non-MAGA Republicans (89%), backed Rogers, the poll indicates.

El-Sayed’s support among Democrats is slightly lower, at 91%. While 98% of self-described Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) supporters backed El-Sayed, that number dropped to 69% of non-DSA Democrats and independents.

WHO’S UP AND WHO’S DOWN: CHECK OUT THE FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS ON THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Meanwhile, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the more moderate Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, grabbed 81% support among non-DSA Democrats and independents. That helped fuel Benson’s overall 52%-47% advantage over Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. John James.

“El-Sayed is clearly underperforming in some groups…There is damage done from the primary,” veteran pollster and strategist Chris Anderson, the Democratic partner on the Fox News Poll, said.

Anderson told Fox News Digital that El-Sayed “needs to bring home Democrats…He has his work cut out for him and he needs to convince some folks, but I think there’s favorable ground for him to be playing on despite the concerns that a lot of voters hold.”

Rogers, in an interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the primary, said “we’ve unified the Republican Party in a way I haven’t seen in decades here on this particular race.”

“We’re building our team, our resources, and ready for the fight…in a way I don’t think Democrats are expecting,” Rogers, who is backed by President Donald Trump as he runs for the Senate for a second straight cycle, touted.

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A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator. He is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for “Medicare-for-all” a major component of his campaign.

He has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is a vocal critic of Israel during its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians. El-Sayed, who was endorsed and joined on the campaign trail by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has also vowed not to accept PAC donations.

Republicans argue that El-Sayed is too far to the left and too radical for the Great Lakes swing state.

Rogers, in his Fox News Digital interview, called El-Sayed “way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy.”

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In a campaign video released last week, Rogers reached out to Democrats he called “hopeless, because the person who won [their party’s primary] does not represent your values, well, just know, there is still hope” and said they have a “home” with his campaign.

El-Sayed, speaking to Fox News Digital on the eve of the primary, was confident that he would be able to unite Democrats.

“I think we all understand the risk of Donald Trump. We all understand the risk of Mike Rogers,” El-Sayed said.

Referring to voters who supported Stevens, he emphasized, “I think everybody understands what the stakes are. So I’m looking forward to welcoming everybody who might have voted differently in the primary.”

Anderson, the veteran Democratic pollster, said he expects El-Sayed to better unify the Democratic base as Election Day nears.

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“These are folks who in highly partisan environment are going to be faced with do they vote for a Democrat or a Republican,” Anderson said.

A legal expert is calling for a leadership overhaul at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH), arguing the museum has embraced a negative, “self-loathing” portrayal of the nation’s past.

“I think this is part of a broader effort by radicals on the left to redefine the history of the United States and reframe it in an oppressor-versus-oppressed narrative,” Cully Stimson, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital.

“Instead of looking at American history chronologically with all the triumphs and tragedies, including slavery, and then the things that our country did to eradicate the vestiges of slavery, and then passing the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Acts and getting rid of various other laws that were discriminatory in practice or in spirit. They take a very pro-reparations, ‘we’re a bad country,’ oppressor-versus-oppressed narrative.”

The comments come after a July 2026 White House report accused the Smithsonian of advancing DEI and left-wing agendas, prompting a pair of heated congressional hearings that put National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig under the national spotlight.

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

Lawmakers accused museum leaders of allowing political activism to seep into exhibits and influence how history is presented, while Hartig maintained that the museum is nonpartisan and “does not take sides in America’s political debates.”

Stimson said the hearings are exposing “bile that they’re trying to pass off as history,” saying “sunlight’s a good disinfectant.”

“If the head of the Smithsonian had any shame whatsoever, she would have resigned in disgrace already and she doesn’t have any shame because she’s perfectly happy with what she’s done,” Stimson said. “She’s just the pointy end of the radical spear that’s out there trying to force this thing down the throats of Americans.”

Stimson said Hartig should have been fired “the minute after the hearing” for what he called “smug and self-righteous” behavior during her testimony and for failing to take accountability.

“Her little writing the question down and her smugness was really evincing of what she really thinks of the American people and congressional oversight,” he said.

REP GILL CHALLENGES ‘GENUINELY INSANE AND OBJECTIVELY OFFENSIVE’ DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS AFTER VIRAL HEARING

Looking back to America’s 250th anniversary celebrations in July, when hundreds of thousands of people came to D.C. to celebrate the milestone, Stimson said families and children were instead greeted with “all sorts of disgusting things, bondage, and all sorts of other nasty things” at the museum.

Some of the controversial exhibits highlighted in the report and hearings featured sexually explicit material, focused on race, gender and sexuality, and portrayed the Founding Fathers through their ties to slavery rather than their roles in building America.

“There should be an entire section dedicated toward the Founding Fathers and the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the Reconstruction Amendments and all the things that happened, the Civil War, but no,” he said.

Stimson said America has gone through many ups and downs “to get beyond the ugly parts of our history,” giving Americans reason to celebrate the country today.

“We should not have a museum dedicated to flagellation and self-loathing,” he said. “That is not how you celebrate your country.”

Many Democrats have also accused Republicans of trying to “whitewash” history, a claim Stimson rejected, saying that celebrating America does not mean ignoring the darker parts of its past.

MIKE ROWE SAYS HISTORY SHOWS WHY AMERICANS KEEP REJECTING SOCIALISM

“Celebrating doesn’t mean whitewashing history,” he said. “Every civilization throughout mankind has had slavery. That doesn’t make it right, it makes it reality.”

But Stimson said this approach to teaching history goes further than the museums and that the concern is “something you need to be aware of.”

“You see this in higher ed, you see this unfortunately in high school and even below in lower schools, and unfortunately at our premier national museums, including the American History Museum,” he said.

Stimson said people should take away the same lessons that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when parents isolated at home got a firsthand look at what their children were being taught.

“That’s why you saw more and more homeschoolers, more and more people in the school choice movement just explode across the country,” he said.

He added “parents are the first educators of their children” and it’s up to them “to present American history” the right way.

A complete reset could be what the museum needs, according to Stimson.

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“That’s all it is,” he said. “It’s bile. It needs to be ripped out, root and branch, and redone.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

The suspect accused of vandalizing the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., has been charged with two federal offenses for injuring/depredating U.S. property and the destruction of a veterans’ memorial, according to court documents.

The DOJ is accusing Kentucky woman Melissa L. Farris of an act of vandalism which occurred Thursday. The words “Clean hands, dirty money,” were spray-painted on the memorial in bright pink paint along with dumping bubble soap into the fountain at the center of the memorial, according to authorities.

Federal prosecutors allege that cleanup and restoration costs already exceeded $1,000.

Fox News Digital scanned Farris’ social media pages, which were cited in the court documents, and found she posted to Facebook Friday morning in a video. 

“It’s me. I am going to turn myself in … I’m outside district federal court,” she said in a Facebook live. 

PROSECUTORS MOVE TO DISMISS FELONY VANDALISM CASE AGAINST OLYMPIAN DAVID HEARN OVER REFLECTING POOL

“I am just trying to do the right thing … I was trying to get people to listen… I tried to reach the media, I tried to fight back. I tried to ignore it,” she said in tears. 

Farris claimed she lived in a paper-thin camper that she “boarded up with cardboard in the winter to feel a little bit warmer.”

Fox News Digital reached out to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for comment.

“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom. Those Americans include my father and grandfather. This morning, we are filing two felony charges, Depredation Against Property of the United States and Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials, in Federal District Court against Melissa L. Farris, offenses that carry penalties of up to ten years in prison. She is now in custody,” United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced earlier Friday morning.

President Donald Trump reacted strongly to the memorial’s defacement. 

“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals. THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR II. First the Reflecting Pool, now this. We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from???” he wrote in a Friday post on Truth Social.

The memorial is the latest D.C. monument targeted this year.

TRUMP DOUBLES DOWN ON REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM ALLEGATIONS, CITES NEW WITNESS ACCOUNT 

Trump continues to seek the prosecution of a former Olympian accused of ripping the Lincoln Monument Memorial Reflecting Pool’s coating.

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In June, U.S. Park Police also launched an investigation after the numbers “8647” were burned into the grass near the Washington Monument.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed compared President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to Osama bin Laden’s role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a 2021 blog post that argued America has an obligation to hold the president accountable and “send the same message” it did after 9/11.

The post, which appeared on a blog El-Sayed has since made private, is titled “Why aren’t we treating Donald Trump like we treat other terrorists?” El-Sayed argued that racism explained what he described as a double standard in how the country responded to the terrorists behind 9/11 and Trump and his supporters after Jan. 6.

“I was a junior in high school 20 years ago when I watched the second plane hit the Twin Towers from my chemistry classroom,” he wrote in 2021.

“Then nearly 20 years later, on January 6th, 2021, I watched terrorists attack the symbol of my country and the Democracy my parents came here to partake in decades ago. And 36 year-old me was taken back to the pain of that high school chemistry classroom,” he continued.

AS AMERICAN PRIDE HITS A 25-YEAR LOW, A NEW 9/11 EDUCATION PLATFORM URGES THE NATION TO NEVER FORGET

He went on to say that Trump “recruited, radicalized and reassured” the Jan. 6 rioters in the same way bin Laden “recruited, radicalized and reassured” the “nineteen hijackers who attacked our country on 9/11.”

He also described Trump’s conduct as “terrorism,” arguing that lawmakers had both a constitutional and “moral” obligation to convict him and bar him from seeking office again.

“So, yes, Donald Trump deserved his impeachment just like he deserves to be convicted and removed from the right to ever run for office again. Of course. Every single member of Congress who believes in an America true to the ideals we claim for her has a constitutional—a moral—obligation to hold Donald Trump accountable for his terrorism,” El-Sayed wrote.

On May 1, 2011, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs shot and killed bin Laden during an early morning raid in Pakistan.

“Holding Osama bin Laden accountable is something we got right,” El-Sayed wrote in his blog post. “It sent a message—attacking our country comes at a cost.”

Campaign spokeswoman Roxie Richner pushed back on any suggestion that El-Sayed was calling for Trump to face the death penalty over Jan. 6, saying he was advocating legal accountability. 

“That’s an absurd and false interpretation of what he said,” Richner told Fox News Digital. “Abdul believes no one is above the law and that includes the president.”

“As Abdul said: He believes that if anyone attacks American democracy, they must be held accountable,” Richner said. 

El-Sayed’s past statements and current associations came under a microscope during his contentious primary battle with Rep. Haley Stevens. For instance, he drew considerable backlash for campaigning with streamer Hasan Piker, who once said that “America deserved 9/11.”

El-Sayed has disavowed Piker’s notorious remark, but he has declined to renounce Piker himself, framing pressure to do so as “cancel culture.” With El-Sayed now the Democratic nominee, Republicans are seizing on his controversies in attack ads as GOP-aligned groups pour millions into the Michigan Senate race.

ABDUL EL-SAYED SAYS RALLYING WITH HASAN PIKER DOESN’T MEAN HE ENDORSES ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ REMARK

Referring to Trump and Jan. 6, El-Sayed stated that “we have to send the same message we did after 9/11: If you attack our democracy, we will hold you accountable.”

El-Sayed also accused lawmakers who opposed conviction of engaging in “hypocrisy rooted in racism” and said Trump and those who helped him deserved to be held accountable “for their crimes to the fullest extent of the law.”

UNEARTHED INTERVIEW REVEALS EL-SAYED’S SHARIA ‘OBLIGATION’

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Critics have accused El-Sayed of attempting to mislead voters by scrubbing large quantities of his content off the internet before launching his 2026 Senate bid, including YouTube videos where he floated replacing the Second Amendment and railed against 4th of July fireworks.

KITTERY, Maine – Republican Sen. Susan Collins says her Democratic challenger in Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race apparently “struggles to control his temper.”

Collins broke her silence about Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson on Friday after a newly resurfaced 1988 police record detailed accusations that Jackson assaulted a man and pushed his longtime partner during a late-night confrontation in Fort Kent, Maine.

Jackson, a one-time logger and a former state Senate president, was chosen a couple of weeks ago by Maine Democrats to replace embattled oysterman Graham Platner, who won the June Democratic Senate nomination in a landslide before imploding and dropping out of the race last month amid rape allegations that he denied.

WHAT THE NEW FOX NEWS POLL IN MAINE’S CRUCIAL SENATE RACE SHOWS

Jackson is challenging Collins in a crucial race that’s among a dozen that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority.

Asked by Fox News Digital about recent reports regarding Jackson, Collins said, “He’s the one that needs to respond to the reports. I’m not going to comment on them. But I will say that, based on widespread reporting, it appears that he struggles to control his temper.”

Collins spoke with reporters after kicking off a statewide bus tour on Friday in Kittery, Maine. The longtime senator is the only GOP incumbent running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost in the 2024 election. A Fox News poll in Maine released on Wednesday indicated Jackson holding a slight two-point edge over Collins, which was within the survey’s sampling error.

RESURFACED ASSAULT REPORT PUTS DEM SENATE NOMINEE IN GOP CROSSHAIRS: ‘GRAHAM PLATNER 2.0’

The Bangor Daily News reported this week that the police report accused Jackson of assaulting another man during a late-night brawl on March 12, 1988.

The brawl was over Jackson’s longtime partner Lana Pelletier, who, according to records, is also his second cousin. Jackson and Pelletier share two adult children.

The police report indicates that Pelletier told officers at the time that Jackson “pushed her around,” a statement she now denies making.

According to the report, the then-19-year-old Jackson went to a home in Fort Kent, Maine, around 2 a.m.

After the occupant of the house told Jackson to go away, the report says the future state lawmaker “kicked the door in” and grabbed his rival by the throat before punching him in the face, causing the victim’s glasses to leave a cut. The report added that a friend broke up the ensuing fight.

“Troy Jackson is Graham Platner 2.0: Violent and unhinged,” the Republican National Committee charged in a social media post after the initial report went viral.

DEMOCRATS STAND BY JACKSON AFTER LATEST CONTROVERSY

Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, referring to Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, wrote on X, “Is this incredibly disturbing report of violence and abuse not enough for you to drop Troy Jackson?”

Jackson said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, “Nearly forty years ago, when I was 19 years old, I got into a fight with another man. I took responsibility for it then, and I take responsibility for it now.”

“But let me be clear: I have never been violent with my partner Lana, or any other woman. This happened nearly four decades ago, and I assure Mainers this incident in no way reflects the man I am today or the life I’ve led in the years since,” the Democratic Senate nominee added.

Pelletier told Fox News Digital in a statement, “I do not remember making the statements attributed to me and they are not accurate. This is the first time I have seen this report from 40 years ago. Troy and I have built a life and family together and I know the person he has been through the decades since, both as a caring partner and father.”

WHO’S UP AND WHO’S DOWN: CHECK OUT THE FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS ON THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS

“I understand Maine voters want to learn about Troy as he seeks to represent them but personal attacks on my family are unacceptable,” she added. “In the 40 years since he made a mistake as a 19-year-old kid, Troy has grown to be a passionate advocate for Mainers and dedicated his life to making things better for our state while Susan Collins has been in Washington enriching herself at our expense.”

Meanwhile, the Jackson campaign told Fox News Digital that Troy “acknowledges going to the residence and getting into a physical confrontation with another man. The case was resolved with a $50 fine.”

On Thursday, the conservative-leaning Maine Wire reported that a man from Allagash, Maine, who says he’s known Jackson for decades alleged that he witnessed Jackson strike Pelletier in a separate incident years ago.

Jackson, who hails from the remote northern tip of Maine, is a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago.

As he quickly became the frontrunner in the abbreviated race to replace Platner, he faced a slew of reports over his alleged temper and workplace conduct, as well as reported claims of mortgage improprieties and other potential liabilities, including his past strict anti-abortion stance.

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Asked by Fox News Digital last month about any vetting concerns, Jackson said, “I think a lot of this obviously is Sen. Collins trying to make sure she can win the election on a really bad record. But, for me, I’ve been in the legislature for 20 years. I do believe I’ve been vetted, I’ve been tested. People know exactly what I’m fighting for. I have their back. And they know they can trust me.”

The scrutiny and negative reports are raising concerns by some in the party that Democrats landed another unvetted nominee after the Platner implosion.

INSIDE THE SLAPDASH PLATNER VETTING JOB THAT IGNORED WARNINGS BEFORE BID BLEW UP: SOURCE

“This is a bit of a rocket vetting process,” a Democratic strategist who works on Senate races who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News Digital. “Maine Democrats have made their choice, and they’re just going to have to ride with it.”

Asked about the Democrats’ vetting of Jackson, Collins told reporters on Friday, “From my perspective, it seems that vetting is very important. We learned the failure of vetting with Graham Platner. But that’s really up to the Democrats.”

The NRSC, in a series of social media posts directed at Democratic senators and Senate nominees who have endorsed Jackson since he landed the nomination, asked if those politicians will “call on Troy Jackson to drop out?”

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Jackson, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, campaigned alongside Platner during the primary. And he quickly made the case that he was the best equipped candidate to grab the mantle of the progressive and populist movement that had backed Platner.

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

Controversial socialist Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is facing fresh scrutiny after it was revealed that his close relative is a far-left professor who was arrested on a felony charge last year for her role in an anti-ICE riot.

Eman Abdelhadi is a polarizing figure. She works as an associate professor at the University of Chicago‘s Department of Comparative Human Development, and has a years-long history of landing in the national spotlight for radical activism and inflammatory statements.

She’s also El-Sayed’s half sister.

MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED DODGES QUESTION ON WHETHER HE STILL SUPPORTS DEFUNDING THE POLICE

Last fall, as leftist zealots spent months protesting, sometimes violently, outside an ICE detention facility in suburban Chicago, Abdelhadi was booked after allegedly spitting on an Illinois state trooper. She was charged on Oct. 3 with two counts of aggravated battery to a government employee, a Class 3 felony, and two counts of resisting/obstructing peace, a Class A misdemeanor.

A day before her arrest, she appeared on a podcast called “Movement Memos,” which is affiliated with the far-left publication Truthout. During that interview, she recalled her previous experiences at the riots at the Broadview facility. 

“These people are terrorizing our communities and they’re setting up shop,” she said, referring to federal immigration officials. “I mean, in Broadview, ICE has been setting up shop in our backyard. Just brazenly taking up community resources to terrorize this very same community.”

“And so it felt really important to join protesters out there to say, not in our city, not in our name, not in our backyard,” she added.

PROGRESSIVE MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE’S STAFFER RAGED AT WHITE WOMEN IN UNEARTHED POSTS

Abdelhadi later expressed her frustration at establishment Democrats and claimed there is no wiggle room to accept centrist liberals in the left-wing.

“There’s no center left,” she said. “You’re either resisting or you’re complicit.”

On April 17, 2025, Abdelhadi celebrated on X El-Sayed’s announcement that he would seek elected office in his bid for Senate in Michigan.

“The feeling when you think you’ve accomplished a lot but then your older brother runs for senate!!! In all seriousness—Abdul is fighting for healthcare, housing, and an economy that serves people over oligarchs. I am a proud little sister,” she posted at the time to social media.

The pair share a mother — Fatten Elkomy — who works as a psychiatric nurse practitioner and lives in Missouri. That’s where Abelhadi was raised, while El-Sayed was raised by his Egyptian-born father and American stepmother in the Detroit suburbs.

A profile of the candidate confirms Elkomy is El-Sayed’s mother.

Abdelhadi’s familial relationship with Elkomy is the subject of an independent film which explores her journey of coming out as queer in her traditionally Muslim family.

ABDUL EL-SAYED SAYS RALLYING WITH HASAN PIKER DOESN’T MEAN HE ENDORSES ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ REMARK

Fox News Digital reached out to Abdelhadi and El-Sayed’s campaign, but did not hear back by time of publication.

Before her high-profile arrest, in July 2025, Abdelhadi made headlines for cursing out her employer at the Socialism 2025 conference. That conference is the largest annual gathering of collectivist leftists and describes itself as bringing thousands of “radical activists from around the country to take part in discussions about social movements, abolition, Marxism, decolonization, working-class history, and the debates and strategies for organizing today.” 

“F— the University of Chicago, it’s evil, you know it’s a colonial landlord. Like, why would I put any of my political energy into this space? I kind of had a little bit of disdain for people who spent their time doing that,” she said.

However, Abdelhadi reasoned that teaching there was her only chance to have any power.

MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALIST PRIMARY WINNER FOUNDED GROUP WHOSE GOAL IS TO ‘ERADICATE’ WESTERN CIVILIZATION

“Turns out, I work at one of the biggest employers in the city of Chicago. I work at a place that is a landlord, a healthcare provider, a police force, f— that s—, but, they are, and a place where I have access to thousands of people that I could potentially organize… actually, this is where I need to build power. That’s possible structural leverage,” she said.

Despite her rant against the school and her subsequent criminal charges, the University of Chicago still employs Abdelhadi.

Abdelhadi also has a history of anti-White social media posts.

“Someday I’m going to make a twitter account called profoundwhiteguy and it will be the wisdoms of a basic white boy who thinks he’s wise,” she said in a 2017 post.

“Yesterday at the airport, 2 white women sat at the gate then boarded our plane without masks. No one intervened. I kept thinking about how Muslims have been thrown off planes for speaking Arabic or ‘looking scary’. But these women actually risking our lives were left alone,” she said in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“It never ceases to amaze me that white people, statistically the safest members of our society, are also the most fearful,” she said in 2023.

“Abdul loves his sister and also disagrees with her on a number of political positions and the rhetoric she’s chosen to use, including on foreign policy,” campaign spokesperson Sophoie Pollok told Fox News Digital. “But Abdul is the one on the ballot and his record of public service and his platform is what matters to voters here in Michigan. His campaign has always been about his love for America and Michigan.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Cook County Clerk of Court, but a status update on Abdelhadi’s case was not immediately available and is reportedly still pending.

FIRST ON FOX — The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees wants to name the famed arts institution’s grounds the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” one of several new ways the board is seeking to honor the president as the center moves ahead with a sweeping renovation, Fox News Digital has learned.

The board also wants the words “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund” inscribed on the building once the fund reaches a $100 million endowment, according to information obtained by Fox News Digital.

The previously unreported moves come after the board voted Thursday to add an inscription crediting Trump with restoring and renovating America’s cultural center, and approved a partial closure of the complex for renovations.

KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MEMBER KNOCKS SEN WHITEHOUSE FOR IGNORING INVITES AS DEM FEUDS WITH TRUMP-RUN LANDMARK

The resolution recognizing Trump’s contributions passed by a 20-3 supermajority vote, while the partial-closure resolution passed 23-3, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Democratic Reps. Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Rick Larsen of Washington voted “no” on both resolutions, the source said.

The board’s resolution calls for an inscription below the name of the center reading, “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”

The board said it wants to recognize Trump’s contributions to the Kennedy Center after the president secured $257 million from Congress to address decades of deferred maintenance.

VIDEO EXPOSES DISREPAIR LURKING BENEATH TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER AS $257M RENOVATION LOOMS

The board also approved a partial closure following an independent analysis conducted in accordance with Judge Cooper’s orders. The Kennedy Center said the plan would leave a $3.4 million surplus, compared with a projected $78 million deficit under an alternative involving four years of revolving closures.

The massive renovation will address water infiltration, damaged electrical rooms, hundreds of structural failure points in the parking garage and 2,000-plus-pound soffit panels that have reached “end-of-life” status and present a public safety risk.

“The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to the responsible stewardship of America’s Cultural Center. With the confidence of the Board and Chairman President Trump’s unprecedented support, this historic revitalization project can commence, ensuring the Kennedy Center emerges from this next chapter as a stronger, more resilient home for the arts — one that will serve audiences and artists for generations to come,” a Kennedy Center spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST’: JUDGE WHO AXED TRUMP NAME FROM DC LANDMARK TIED TO ANTI-TRUMP CONSPIRACY THEORY

Free Millennium Stage programs, film events, educational programming and the JFK memorial exhibit will remain available at the REACH during the partial closure.

The National Symphony Orchestra will perform its 2026-2027 Classical Season at venues around the Washington, D.C., area and across the country.

The latest moves come after a federal judge blocked an earlier effort to rename the center after Trump, along with an earlier closure plan.

“Under President Trump’s bold leadership, the Kennedy Center is on its way to becoming the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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The JFK Library and Jack Schlossberg — Kennedy’s grandson, who has been outspoken about the center — did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

President Donald Trump stepped off the stage on Friday while making a speech in New York to comfort the family of a 12-year-old boy who was killed by a stray bullet in the Bronx.

Trump was speaking to the Nassau County Police Academy when he mentioned Jacob Freytes, a boy who was killed late last month by a stray bullet while sitting on his bike outside a bodega.

“In a beautiful impromptu moment, President Trump exits the stage in the middle of his speech to embrace Migdalia Martinez and retired NYPD Sergeant Jesus Freytes, whose 12-year-old son Jacob was tragically killed by a stray bullet in the Bronx,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on social media after capturing the moment on video.

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Before leaving the stage to meet his parents, Trump mentioned Freytes while talking about his administration’s effort to lower crime.

“Two weeks ago, a 12-year-old boy named Jacob Freytes — You read about this one? — was tragically shot and killed by a stray bullet fired by a repeat offender in a gun battle.”

He added: “Jacob was the son of a loving mom and a retired New York City police detective, and they are incredible people, and I think I heard that they may be with us today. Are you with us?”

He then left the stage and hugged Freytes’ teary-eyed mom, Migdalia Martinez, and his father, retired NYPD Sgt. Jesus Freytes, saying a few private words to both of them.

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“Incredible. Horrible story. What a horrible thing,” he said when he returned to the stage. “But we’re going after them. These are bad, sick people.”

Freytes’ death has prompted Republicans to introduce “Jacob’s Law” in the New York Legislature that would put harsher penalties on criminals whose reckless actions result in the death of a child.

“I gave him a kiss, and I walked out, and we always do a little dolphin kiss. And I walked out and went to work,” Martinez told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday.

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“Around five o’clock, they called me and said that he had gotten shot. And all I could do was try to think of different ways to get here faster,” she added. “When I got there, I just seen my boy gone.”

Police said William Ferrer, 45, was arrested and faces multiple charges, including second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Ferrer has an arrest record dating back more than 25 years, including prior charges for drunk driving, drug possession, menacing and criminal contempt, according to the New York Post.

Fox News’ Madison Colombo contributed to this report.

A new radar system has been installed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area after a 2025 midair collision that killed 67 people due to multiple systemic failures.

The airport has received the Surface Movement Radar, known as SMR-4, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday. The technology will help air traffic controllers identify aircraft and vehicles moving along runways and taxiways, even in bad weather and low-visibility conditions.

“This new radar is our latest reinforcement tool to equip our controllers as they safeguard our air travel. We’re working at the speed of Trump to deliver the world-class air traffic control system America deserves,” Duffy said.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO CAPTURES TENSE MOMENT TWO PLANES NEARLY COLLIDED AT BOSTON LOGAN AIRPORT

He said the new radar system will give air traffic controllers a “clearer portrait” of airport activity.

Reagan Airport is the fifth airport to install the system. Newark Liberty International Airport received the technology earlier this week.

Over the next three years, $30.5 million will be invested in safety and technology upgrades at Reagan National, the Transportation Department said.

The new upgrades came after the Jan. 29, 2025, midair collision between American Airlines Flight 5342, a regional jet operated by PSA Airlines, and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near the airport.

FAA INVESTIGATES SOUTHWEST NEAR MISS AFTER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SENDS JETS ON COLLISION COURSE

All 64 people aboard the American Eagle flight and three aboard the military helicopter were killed.

The federal government admitted liability for the deadly collision. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said systemic failures in airspace design, safety oversight and risk management by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army contributed to what happened.

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“This complex and comprehensive one-year investigation identified serious and long-standing safety gaps in the airspace over our nation’s capital,” Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the NTSB, said in a January 2026 report. 

“Sadly, the conditions for this tragedy were in place long before the night of Jan. 29.”

University of Chicago professor Eman Abdelhadi, who is the half sister of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, delivered an “October 7th blessing” one year after Hamas militants killed approximately 1,200 people in widespread terrorist attacks.

“I want to say, Allahu Akbar,” Abdelhadi said, opening her blessing in a video posted to Instagram on Oct. 7, 2024. “That phrase means God is greater, and it’s an important phrase in the Muslim tradition. It’s one that I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last year, because it’s a phrase that reminds us that no matter how great the brutality, the oppression, the intensity of what we’re going through. The horizon of justice is just around the corner.”

Throughout her video commemorating the anniversary of terrorist attacks, Abdelhadi makes no mention of the Jews killed by Hamas. She filmed her blessing wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional cloth associated with Palestinian militant movements.

“Abdul loves his sister and also disagrees with her on a number of political positions and the rhetoric she’s chosen to use, including on foreign policy,” a campaign spokeswoman told Fox News Digital when asked about the video. “But Abdul is the one on the ballot and his record of public service and his platform is what matters to voters here in Michigan. His campaign has always been about his love for America and Michigan.”

EL-SAYED’S HALF SISTER REVEALED AS RADICAL PROFESSOR ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTING A COP AT ANTI-ICE RIOT

“There is something greater than even the strongest armies and for me that’s God,” Abdelhadi continued in the video. “Reflecting on that reaffirms my commitment to justice, my commitment not to get caught up in the narratives that colonial powers enforce on us … I hope you know that we have a lot of work ahead of us and that we need each other to do that work. We have an imperative to not just imagine a better future, but to build one together.”

“I’ll see you on the streets,” she said, concluding her statement.

The video was posted on Instagram on Oct. 7, 2024, in a collaborative post by “Rabbis4Ceasefire” and Abdelhadi’s account. Rabbis4Ceasefire described it in a caption on the post as an “October 7th blessing from Eman Abdelhadi, Scholar, Writer & Organizer.”

In a new comment added Friday, Abdelhadi said Rabbis4Ceasefire had organized and named the event as “a moment of grief for lives lost between 10/7/23 and 10/7/2024,” asked her to participate and described the video as her “offering” to the gathering.

The resurfaced video drew sharp criticism on X. 

“Jewish Michiganders are proudly putting country over party and rejecting Abdul El-Sayed’s extremism. We must put country over party and elect Mike Rogers,” Democrats for Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s GOP challenger, posted in response. 

“Abdul El-Sayed’s Sister, Eman Abdelhadi, recorded a celebration video in reaction to October 7th,” commentator Eyal Yakoby wrote.

Abdelhadi has previously faced legal trouble over her activism, including an October 2025 arrest after she allegedly spat on an Illinois state trooper during protests outside a suburban Chicago ICE detention facility. She was charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery to a government employee and two misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

UNEARTHED EL-SAYED ESSAY DRAWS EXPLOSIVE TRUMP-BIN LADEN PARALLEL

Abdelhadi’s half brother has engendered ample controversy over his statements on the Israel-Palestine conflict while on the campaign trail.

El-Sayed, for instance, sent a fundraising email on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks where he criticized the Israeli government’s military operations, but said nothing of Hamas’ initial killings. The Michigan Democrat has equated Hamas and the Israeli government, calling both evil.

ABDUL EL-SAYED SAYS RALLYING WITH HASAN PIKER DOESN’T MEAN HE ENDORSES ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ REMARK

He has also received criticism for his continued association and campaign appearances with streamer Hasan Piker, who once said that America “deserved 9/11.” Though El-Sayed has called the streamer’s statement “dumb,” he has declined to disavow Piker, accusing critics of engaging in cancel culture.

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Abdelhadi did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday. 

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday dismissed as moot a challenge to President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members, leaving the legality of his invocation of the 18th-century law unresolved.

The New Orleans-based court said the case became moot after all three Venezuelan plaintiffs, whom the administration alleged were members of Tren de Aragua, had already been removed from the United States under other immigration authorities.

While the Alien Enemies Act dates back hundreds of years, prior to Trump, it was most recently invoked by President Harry Truman in 1946. The law allows the president, under specified wartime or invasion circumstances involving a foreign nation or government, to detain and remove certain non-naturalized individuals of that hostile power.

The Trump administration has argued that Tren de Aragua’s gang activity amounts to an “invasion or predatory incursion” under the law and has sought to use the authority as part of its broader immigration agenda, including efforts to speed the removal of suspected gang members.

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The Supreme Court previously blocked the administration from removing the detainees under the Alien Enemies Act while the case proceeded, but stopped short of deciding whether Trump had lawfully invoked the statute, sending the dispute back to the Fifth Circuit.

Advancing American Freedom senior legal fellow Bryce Poole described the ruling as a mixed result for the Trump administration.

“The Fifth Circuit’s en banc decision in W.M.M. v. Trump represents one step forward, one step sideways for the Trump Administration,” Advancing American Freedom senior legal fellow Bryce Poole told Fox News Digital. “Last year, in A.A.R.P. v. Trump, the Supreme Court blocked the removals but declined to decide whether President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was lawful, sending that question back to the Fifth Circuit.”

Advancing American Freedom is a conservative public policy advocacy organization founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.

“It’s a step forward because it vacates the prior ruling that said Trump’s invocation was unlawful, leaving the President’s AEA powers intact,” Poole explained. “It’s a step sideways because the court dodged the merits, so the AEA’s legality remains a live question the Supreme Court will likely decide — probably in a different case like J.A.V. v. Trump, which has a certified class, so mootness won’t apply.”

BIDEN JUDGE OVERRULED ON KEY TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY

Even though the court declined to rule on the merits, two judges signaled their belief that the president’s use of the law was appropriate in their concurring opinions.

“I agree that this case is moot,” Judge James Ho wrote. “But I also agree with the United States that we should address the merits questions directed to us by the Supreme Court — and affirm the President’s actions under the Alien Enemies Act and the Due Process Clause.”

“As I’ve also noted, judges are supposed to defer to a President’s declaration of a state of invasion — including the ones issued on January 20, 2025.” Ho, a Trump appointee, added. “And if courts must defer when the President treats illegal immigration as an invasion, see id., then a fortiori we must defer when it comes to the narrower question of an invasion by Tren de Aragua.”

Ilya Somin, a George Mason law professor and scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, disagreed strongly with Ho’s rationale.

“If the president could create an ‘invasion’ simply by claiming that it exists, it would convert dangerous emergency powers that can only be used in extreme circumstances into blank checks the president can invoke any time he wants” he wrote. “That’s contrary to the text of the AEA (which limits its use to situations where these circumstances actually exist) and to the text and original meaning of the Constitution.”

SUPREME COURT’S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO ‘DIE AND SUFFER’ ATTORNEY WARNS

Judge Andrew Oldham, another Trump appointee, also agreed that the president’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was legally sound.

With all 17 active Fifth Circuit judges participating, the court refused a request from the plaintiffs’ lawyers to substitute in new plaintiffs for the men who the Trump administration deported.

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Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act remains legally unresolved following the dismissal, with the court’s actions likely delaying a possible final decision at the Supreme Court.