NationalWatch

President Donald Trump on Friday touted an agreement with Venezuela that he said would lower gas prices by giving the U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels of oil from the South American country’s proven reserves.

The breakthrough comes as disruptions to global energy markets from the Iran war continue to push up prices at the pump, with Americans now paying an average of $4.08 per gallon for regular gasoline, up from $3.20 a year ago, according to AAA.

The agreement with Venezuela will give the U.S. a 55% effective interest in the output of a new private company formed to manage the reserves, a U.S. official familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

While the U.S. will not immediately gain access to 35.75 billion barrels of oil, the 55% interest applies to the oil ultimately produced by the 17 Venezuelan fields covered by the agreement.

TRUMP PREDICTS GAS PRICES WILL GO DOWN TO $2.50 PER GALLON IF STRAIT OF HORMUZ FULLY OPENS

The agreement also allows the U.S. to purchase Venezuelan oil at cost, a provision that could give American buyers access to cheaper crude once production from the fields increases.

The deal is unlikely to translate into an immediate drop in U.S. gasoline prices, however, because experts have said bringing significantly more Venezuelan crude to market will require years of infrastructure work and billions of dollars in investment, according to the AP.

Rystad Energy, an independent energy research firm, said in July that Venezuelan oil production could jump 17% by 2028, but only if significant advances are made.

According to the firm’s report, Venezuela will need “higher drilling activity, extensive workover campaigns, improved infrastructure and significantly greater rig availability.”

Since much of Venezuela’s crude is extremely heavy and viscous, the country also needs a steady supply of diluents — lighter hydrocarbons blended with the crude to make it thin enough to flow through pipelines and reach refineries and export terminals.

In 2021, S&P Global described Venezuelan oil as having “the viscosity of asphalt.”

TRUMP BLASTS BIG OIL FOR ‘MAKING TOO MUCH MONEY’

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has also previously weighed in on Venezuela’s troubled oil industry.

In October 2023, after the Biden administration lifted most U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, the agency said “years of underinvestment and mismanagement” would limit growth.

The Trump administration, however, is betting that U.S. involvement and a massive influx of private investment can reverse the decline.

Trump said Friday the new agreement would greatly increase the U.S. oil supply and “substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future.”

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly said the deal would bring nearly $100 billion in private investment to Venezuela and lower gas prices in the United States.

U.S. oil companies have been cautious about investing in Venezuela, citing the country’s deteriorated infrastructure and uncertain business environment.

Days after the Trump administration ousted Nicolás Maduro, Trump met with oil executives to discuss potential investment in Venezuela’s energy sector, but several expressed reservations.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said at the time that he viewed Venezuela as “un-investable.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s going to be at the Pentagon to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A reporter on Friday asked the president why he was not planning to be in New York for the somber occasion.

“Because I’m going to the Pentagon,” Trump shouted to the press at Joint Base Andrews.

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that Trump was not planning to attend the ceremony at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers came down, because he wouldn’t be allowed to give a speech. The annual event has banned politicians from speaking since 2012.

I LOST MY WIFE ON 9/11. PLEASE LET THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BELONG TO THE FAMILIES

When asked about the Times report, a White House spokeswoman called Trump a “proud New Yorker.”

“President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001. On the 25th anniversary of this tragic day, the President will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones, and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News.

“The vice president is still traveling to NYC and all three sites will be represented with administration officials in attendance,” a White House official said, referring to the three Sept. 11 attack sites in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.

After TMZ posted on X that Trump was “snubbing” the Ground Zero ceremony, White House communications director Steven Cheung fired back.

“FAKE NEWS,” Cheung wrote.

Trump lambasted the reporter behind in the Times article, writing on Truth Social Friday that she “made up a story that on September 11th, I’m not going to the World Trade Center, in New York City, because they won’t let me make a speech, and I’m going to the Pentagon in D.C., because I’m a featured speaker.”

“This is more Corrupt News, I’ve been to New York many times over the years, and no one ever speaks, it’s a ‘solemn ceremony!'” Trump wrote in part.

Trump said, “I would love not to speak, because I’m speaking all the time, and this is a day to remember the victims, and their beautiful family members.”

Last year, Trump also chose to speak at the Pentagon for the 24th anniversary of 9/11, though he traveled to New York City later in the day to attend a Yankees game.

JUDGE THROWS OUT KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S 9/11 CONFESSION IN ALREADY LONG WAIT FOR TRIAL

The last time he attended the Ground Zero ceremony was in 2024, when he was the Republican presidential nominee. He was there alongside then-President Joe Biden and his election rival, then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump also did not attend the Ground Zero ceremony during his first term. He spoke at the Pentagon in 2017, then alternated in subsequent years between commemorations there and at the site in Pennsylvania.

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Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda hijackers crashed three commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Hijackers also seized United Airlines Flight 93, but passengers fought back before the plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

The 9/11 attacks, which remain the deadliest in the nation’s history, prompted the invasion of Afghanistan and helped usher in the broader War on Terror, which later included the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Fox News’ Patrick Ward contributed to this report.

Conservative legal experts say President Donald Trump’s latest attempts to narrow birthright citizenship and crack down on birth tourism may have stronger legal footing than his first effort.

After the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment, Trump issued two new executive orders taking narrower approaches to citizenship and birth tourism.

The first, signed Aug. 6, directs federal agencies to withhold documents recognizing citizenship from certain children born when neither parent is a U.S. citizen, including some whose parents are members of designated foreign terrorist organizations, foreign-government employees or participants in transactions or fraud intended to obtain birthright citizenship.

Experts from the Manhattan Institute, America First Legal and the America First Policy Institute, all right-of-center organizations, argued that Trump’s new order is narrower than his first and is built around longstanding exceptions to birthright citizenship that they believe could apply here.

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDERS TARGETING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, BIRTH TOURISM AFTER SUPREME COURT SETBACK

“The Supreme Court has long recognized that there are exceptions to the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship clause for the aliens who are considered children of invading armies or the children of ambassadors,” America First Policy Institute senior fellow Chad Mizelle, who previously served as the Justice Department’s chief of staff, told Fox News Digital. “So in a situation where you have a terrorist here contrary to the laws of the United States … who is looking to do harm … That has long been recognized by the Supreme Court, and basically going back to the history of our country, as recognized exceptions to any sort of claim of birthright citizenship.”

United States v. Wong Kim Ark, decided by the Supreme Court in 1898, recognized exceptions to birthright citizenship for children of diplomats and children of alien enemies born during a hostile occupation. Trump’s order argues that members of foreign terrorist organizations can fall within that enemy exception.

TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP FIGHT COMES ROARING BACK WITH ‘INVADERS’ PLAY AFTER KAVANAUGH ROADMAP

“The Supreme Court ruled that you can’t restrict birthright citizenship to kids of people in the country temporarily or illegally,” Manhattan Institute director of constitutional studies Ilya Shapiro told Fox News Digital. “But what the new executive order does is it goes to one of the classic exceptions to birthrights citizenship, two of the classic exceptions, those who owe an allegiance to a foreign government, meaning employed by a foreign governing diplomats otherwise, and those who are invaders of foreign armies and terrorists, members of foreign organizations hostile to America, certainly qualify in that category.”

David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, however, argued that the president’s attempt to redefine what constitutes an alien enemy without going through Congress puts the administration on legally shaky ground.

“Congress ultimately establishes what it means to be subject to U.S. jurisdiction,” Bier told Fox News Digital. “There’s this very limited exception for accredited diplomats and everyone else in the United States is subject to U.S. laws so the idea that the president himself on his own authority can decide who is subject U. S. jurisdiction and U.S. laws is really a radical expansion and assertion of executive power and really would be unprecedented in the history of the United States.”

JACKSON ACCUSES THOMAS OF ECHOING INFAMOUSLY RACIST COURT DECISION IN BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CLASH

“I really do think this case is testing a different proposition from the earlier case,” Bier added, explaining that the issue at hand has more to do with executive power than birthright citizenship. “And I think it’s a lot more questionable as well.”

Amanda Frost, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, pointed out that United States v. Wong Kim Ark specifies that only children of enemies “occupying” some portion of the country are barred from citizenship at birth, meaning that Trump’s order would not apply to terrorists simply residing within the country. She said the Trump administration could potentially expand who is legally defined as a diplomat to preclude more people from birthright citizenship, but explained such a move would make it difficult to prosecute individuals for criminal offenses, a concern shared by Bier.

Frost and Bier both believe the new executive order should be ruled unconstitutional.

Some have floated the issue of standing as a potential problem for those looking to challenge Trump’s order. Legal standing requires plaintiffs to show they suffered or imminently face a concrete injury caused by the defendant that a court can remedy.

“It’s going to be interesting to see who actually does have standing to challenge this order,” America First Legal co-founder and president Gene Hamilton told Fox News Digital. “Is there somebody who thinks that they’re going to swept up in the definition of a foreign terrorist organization? And if so, it would be kind of fun to see them try to sue the government or have someone sue on their behalf.”

Trump’s new order is already facing legal resistance.

TRUMP TO ASK SUPREME COURT TO REHEAR BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CASE AFTER ‘INSANE DECISION’

The same groups who challenged his initial order are now arguing that his new one unlawfully creates exceptions to birthright citizenship that conflict with the Supreme Court’s June ruling. The order remains on the books but is not scheduled to take effect until Sept. 6, with a Maryland judge scheduled to hear an injunction request Aug. 28 and a related motion still pending in New Hampshire.

Issued on the same day as the first new executive order, the second order directed the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to deny travel visas to or pursue removal actions against individuals believed to be in the country for the purposes of birth tourism. Birth tourism is a process through which noncitizens enter the United States while pregnant and give birth in order to secure citizenship for their child.

Hamilton described this second order as being on “sound, solid legal footing.”

“It relies and invokes Section 215(a) of the INA to impose conditions and delegates authority of the Secretary of State … to ensure that we are not granting visas and allowing people to remain on visas who may be engaged in birth tourism,” he explained. “It is the sovereign right and province of all governments across the world, and certainly the United States is no different, to determine who should be able to receive a visa and who shouldn’t. There’s no entitlement to a visa. There’s no constitutional right to a visa.”

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

Critics also argue that the administration already had tools to combat birth tourism. Since 2020, State Department rules have directed consular officers to deny visitor visas when they have reason to believe an applicant’s primary purpose is traveling to the United States to give birth and obtain citizenship for the child.

“No new executive orders are required for the federal government to go after birth tourism operators or deny fraudulent visa applications,” Center for American Progress senior director of immigration policy Debu Gandhi told Fox News Digital. “Americans should take note that from day one, the Trump administration has tried to evade the Constitution’s clear and unequivocal language on citizenship and unilaterally decide who is born an American.”

If the administration’s latest effort fails, supporters of further limits on birthright citizenship could turn to Congress or pursue a constitutional amendment, which would require approval by three-fourths of the states.

Shapiro says that the administration is on “solid ground” but noted that “if they had proceeded originally in this more targeted, narrower way” then the Supreme Court may not have ruled against them originally.

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The White House did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

DETROIT — A Black Christian pastor who went viral online for clashing with the city council in the nearby majority-Arab city of Dearborn issued a stark warning about Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

“Can you imagine him being in the Senate, being able to recommend federal judges to presidents?” Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of 180 Church said during an interview with Fox News Digital. “That’s his goal. His goal is to be able to recommend federal judge to presidents for appointments, and then we’re going to find ourselves in Sharia law all over this land.”

The Democratic nominee for Senate in the Wolverine State said in a 2009 New York Times interview that he was following Sharia law when he took out a special type of loan for an Ann Arbor condo. Sharia Law typically prevents interest on loans, and in some cases, Sharia-compliant Muslims can obtain loans wherein the amount of interest that would be paid over time is instead added to the purchase price of the home.

VANCE UNLOADS ON EL-SAYED OVER SHARIA REMARKS: ‘THAT’S NOT MY GRANDPA’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY’

“Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way,” El-Sayed told the Times. 

El-Sayed’s spokeswoman Roxie Richner told the Washington Free Beacon when the report resurfaced earlier this month that, “While he lives by the rules of his faith, as many Americans of various faiths do, Abdul opposes any effort by any religious community to write their faith laws into the laws of our country.”

In a response to Fox News Digital, Richner characterized Sewell’s comments as “cheap attacks and hateful rhetoric” from an ally of El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.

EL-SAYED’S AGENDA PUTS ‘PERMANENTLY’ CHANGED AMERICA ON THE LINE IN MICHIGAN SENATE RACE, GOP FIREBRAND WARNS

As referenced by Sewell, members of the Senate often recommend political appointees to presidents, and ultimately, in the case of federal courts, the Senate confirms them.

He called El-Sayed a ‘fake doctor,’ referencing criticism of how El-Sayed has described his medical credentials. El-Sayed earned an M.D. from Columbia University but did not complete a residency and has not held a medical license in Michigan or New York.

Sewell also accused prominent Muslim politicians including, El-Sayed, of resisting assimilation into American culture.

“This is the type of conquering religion whereby people like Abdul El-Sayed, people like [Rep.] Rashida Tlaib, you have [Rep. Ilhan] Omar over there in Minnesota — you look at these people that have a desire, not to assimilate to our culture, but to take over our culture,” said Sewell. “They will wave flags to say ‘free Palestine.’ They will say ‘to the river, to the sea,’ all on American soil. I mean, these are the type of people that are not looking to assimilate. They’re looking to conquer.”

He added that if Christian ministers and “patriots” didn’t step up to combat Sharia law, he would be, “preaching out the Quran” and his “church would become a mosque.”

The pastor, who was born and raised on the east side of Detroit and says he was a “student of the streets” and “mentored by murderers,” is no stranger to media attention.

TRUMP INAUGURATION PASTOR SAYS DEARBORN CHRISTIANS ‘AFRAID’ TO SPEAK OUT IN MUSLIM-MAJORITY CITY

Just last week, he was the subject of a viral video from a Dearborn, Michigan, city council meeting.

“We are not a nation of Muslims, we are nation of Christians!” he said in an impassioned speech directed towards the councilors. “America, we have lost this city. This is a city that is no longer up under American laws; we are up under Sharia law. We will not have it anymore.”

DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN

He also hosted then-candidate Donald Trump at his church during Trump’s 2024 campaign, rallying Black voters. He spoke at the RNC that year, too.

Throughout the interview with Fox News Digital, Sewell expressed disdain for Democratic Party politicians, who he says have long oppressed African Americans.

Sewell isn’t a fan of the company El-Sayed keeps, either.

He slammed El-Sayed for campaigning with socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11.” Piker has also praised Mao Zedong and Communist China, and said capitalists should be murdered in the streets and spewed a litany of antisemitic comments.

“I believe that there’s treason for you to say those type of words, that America deserves 9/11,” said Sewell.

He described Piker, who last week mocked the death of Charlie Kirk by singing a viral internet song in front of a crowd of socialists, as the “demonic” version of Kirk.

HASAN PIKER CALLS HAMAS ‘FAR MORE MODERATE,’ DISMISSES TERROR GROUP’S BRUTAL RULE IN GAZA

El-Sayed further distanced himself from Piker Monday after Piker argued on his Twitch show that rhetoric linking American Jews closely to Israel could ultimately provoke attacks against American Jews — comments critics condemned as antisemitic victim-blaming.

EL-SAYED DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM HASAN PIKER AFTER DISTURBING REMARKS ABOUT JEWISH AMERICANS

“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” Piker said on the stream.

El-Sayed said all Americans should be able to advocate for their beliefs without fear of violence, affirmed his commitment to Jewish safety and called antisemitism a “scourge” that must be addressed “in all its forms.” He added that nobody speaks for his campaign except him and his campaign spokespeople.

Sewell concluded that Biblical values are American values.

“This is one nation under the God of the Bible. The reason why America is great — it’s because God is great,” he said. “God gave us victory, [in the] Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, [the] Civil Rights Movement. That happened essentially with Black and White Christians.”

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“And now people come from all over. We’re not saying you’re not welcome here. What we’re saying is assimilate to our culture.”

Omar and Tlaib did not return requests for comment.

The next phase of President Donald Trump’s effort to change America’s mail-in-voting system is taking shape after the Supreme Court issued a largely favorable ruling for the White House in a challenge to Trump’s mail-in ballot restrictions.

Former White House deputy counsel Gene Hamilton said federal agencies such as the Postal Service can now move forward with parts of Trump’s election-integrity order, including new ballot-mail standards and efforts involving state citizenship lists, as opposing states wait to see which concrete federal actions could form the basis of new lawsuits.

“It’s really interesting what the court did [and] it’s actually exactly what you would expect the court to do,” Hamilton told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP SCORES SUPREME COURT WIN ON MAIL-IN VOTING RESTRICTIONS BEFORE MIDTERMS

Hamilton said that when Trump directed USPS, DHS and DOJ to prepare for the new protocols, several states immediately claimed harm, but the court’s majority rejected their challenge.

Originally, a Boston federal judge agreed with them, but the Supreme Court effectively said “you can’t enjoin [the feds] from thinking” — in Hamilton’s words — because no action had taken place yet.

JACKSON RIPS INTO SUPREME COURT COLLEAGUES’ ‘SERIOUS LEGAL ERROR’ ON TRUMP MAIL-IN VOTING ORDER

“It reminds the American people … just because something might happen in the future [it] doesn’t mean that you’re actually harmed today, and that’s really the crux of what the court did.”

Hamilton quipped that if the states challenging the order were proven right — and the possibility of future harm were enough to obtain a legal stay — his organization would “have a field day across the country” trying to head off new policies he and his clients oppose.

In that regard, he added that the district judge ultimately overruled by the Supreme Court made an “egregious” misread of Article III powers and essentially said states can dictate which cases the attorney general and DOJ try to prosecute.

He emphasized that the legal landscape could change quickly once Trump’s actions get underway, but said states challenging executive action must show a concrete or sufficiently imminent injury rather than rely on predictions about what agencies might eventually do.

DHS APPROVES PLAN TO VERIFY VOTER CITIZENSHIP, MONITOR MAIL BALLOTS AS TRUMP PUSH INTENSIFIES

Besides USPS, Trump’s order directs DHS to compile and provide states with lists of adult U.S. citizens, while DOJ was told to prioritize investigations and potential prosecutions involving ballots issued to ineligible voters.

“Let’s see what the departments and agencies actually do. Well, let’s see what they say they’re going to do,” Hamilton told Fox News Digital, as new concrete federal rules will come next.

USPS WOULDN’T DELIVER BALLOTS IN STATES THAT REFUSE TO FORK OVER MAIL-IN VOTER INFO UNDER PROPOSED RULE

The clock is ticking to implement the plan and respond to further legal challenges as states distribute mail ballots progressively earlier than in past decades.

USPS first proposed its ballot-mail rule in June and has since finalized it, requiring standardized ballot envelopes and unique tracking barcodes while directing states to use a federal portal to identify voters receiving mailed federal ballots. States that fail to comply could see outbound federal ballot mail refused or returned.

But the agency signaled at the time that it won’t implement the rule for the midterms unless the litigation is resolved. A separate injunction obtained in litigation by the League of Women Voters currently blocks USPS from implementing the rule.

“Why wouldn’t you take steps like getting a list of eligible voters, like asking the USPS to use standard mail security measures that they use for other things,” Hamilton commented.

Asked which provisions of Trump’s order the administration plans to implement following the ruling, when those actions would begin and how states would be directed to comply, the White House did not provide specifics.

“These are commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans are electing American leaders. This administration will continue to lawfully enact the agenda President Trump was elected on — which includes the safety and security of our elections,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta — who led the plaintiffs from 23 states along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — criticized the Supreme Court for letting Trump “try to make it harder for Americans to vote.”

Shapiro was listed separately because Pennsylvania Republican Attorney General David Sunday had not signed the state onto the suit.

“Not so fast,” the potential 2028 presidential candidate said in a statement. “Donald Trump does not run elections here in Pennsylvania — or in any state.”

“[The] SCOTUS decision does not deal with the substance of Trump’s unconstitutional Executive Order and does not mean his illegal attempt to restrict mail-in voting will go forward.”

On Wednesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes responded to the ruling, declaring, “Over my dead body is that rule going to go into effect. We are going to fight this tooth and nail in the courts.”

Bonta pledged to continue the fight and noted that Obama-appointed Judge Indira Talwani of Boston had originally sided with the plaintiffs.

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Hamilton predicted such disputes would produce another round of litigation as agencies make their next moves.

“We have to get through the arbitrage of lower court proceedings, and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot more fighting to come,” he said.

Shapiro echoed the plaintiffs’ opposition to the ruling, tweeting:

“We’ll see the Trump Administration in court.”

Fox News Digital’s Hannah Brennan and Melissa Chrise contributed to this report.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich. declared that she will introduce legislation targeting President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America.

“The Great Lakes are a shared treasure that generations of Americans and Canadians have worked together to protect. That’s why I’m introducing legislation to keep Lake Ontario as Lake Ontario and block President Trump’s idiotic order,” Dingell declared in a Thursday post on X.

The president’s executive order called for updating “the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) to reflect the renaming of the Lake and remove all references to Lake Ontario from the GNIS, consistent with applicable law.”

The order also stated that, “The Board on Geographic Names shall provide guidance to ensure all Federal Government references to Lake Ontario, including on executive department and agency maps, contracts, and other documents and communications, shall reflect its renaming.”

TRUMP RENAMES LAKE ONTARIO ‘LAKE AMERICA’ AMID INTENSIFYING US-CANADA TRADE DISPUTE

Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday what appeared to be the content of a message from U.S. Geological Survey Director Dr. Ned Mamula.

“As of 4:30 pm today the U.S. Geological Survey has officially designated the former Lake Ontario to be renamed as Lake America in all official USGS electronic documents,” Mamula noted. “The change will begin occurring in printed documents over the next several days. This change has also been made official in the Geographic Names Information System.”

Dingell’s post on X linked to a Politico report, which stated that Dingell noted in an interview that she plans to introduce a measure on Monday to nullify Trump’s move to change the lake’s name.

NEW YORK GOV HOCHUL REJECTS TRUMP’S ‘LAKE AMERICA’ RENAMING WITH BLUNT MESSAGE

The report linked to a copy of Dingell’s proposed “Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act,” which would declare that Trump’s Aug. 27 order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” along with actions taken under it, has “no force or effect.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and to Dingell’s office early on Friday morning.

TRUMP FLOATS RENAMING THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS AFTER REBRANDING HISTORIC LAKE

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared in a Thursday post on X, “The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’. The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always,” Carney said in the post.

FIRST ON FOX: Four years ago, Taif Sami Mohammed was being celebrated by the United States as one of the world’s most courageous women. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the senior Iraqi official as the country’s “Iron Woman,” crediting her with stopping bribes, uncovering schemes that enriched corrupt officials and fighting corruption despite threats against her.

Today, Mohammed is believed to be outside Iraq on the U.S. terrorist watchlist and can no longer enter the United States.

A State Department official told Fox News Digital the department revoked Mohammed’s visa this week, marking a dramatic reversal for an official who received one of the Biden administration’s highest-profile awards for women in 2022.

“While the Biden State Department shamefully celebrated and awarded foreigners who threaten our nation, the Trump State Department revokes their visas and ensures these individuals are removed from our country,” Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP ADMIN EYES HISTORIC MASS VISA REVOCATION TARGETING UP TO 200K ASYLUM SEEKERS: REPORT

“Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio, suspected terrorists will never be allowed to remain in the United States.”

The State Department did not immediately provide details about when Mohammed was placed on the terrorist watchlist or the intelligence that led to that determination.

Mohammed’s fall from Washington’s favor had been building publicly for more than a year.

Republican lawmakers previously accused her of helping facilitate terrorist financing through Iraq’s financial system and urged the Trump administration to take action against her. Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Greg Steube, R-Fla., called Mohammed a “key enabler of terrorist funding in Iraq” and pushed the administration to impose sanctions.

Those allegations stand in stark contrast to how the Biden administration described Mohammed when it selected her for the State Department’s International Women of Courage Award in 2022.

At the time, Mohammed was Iraq’s deputy finance minister and director general of its budget department. The State Department described her as a “frontline leader against corrupt practices” who had been integral to preventing corruption in Iraq’s budget.

Blinken went further during the March 2022 awards ceremony, saying Mohammed had “stopped bribes” and uncovered efforts to inflate government payrolls and enrich corrupt officials.

The ceremony, hosted by Blinken and featuring remarks from then-first lady Jill Biden, honored 12 women the State Department said had shown extraordinary courage and leadership.

Mohammed later rose to become Iraq’s finance minister, overseeing the federal budget, government spending and Baghdad’s financial relationship with Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Her troubles have since spread beyond Washington.

An Iraqi court summoned Mohammed and placed her on a judicial wanted list as authorities widened a corruption investigation into former senior government officials, IraqiNews reported Aug. 9, 2025, citing sources familiar with the proceedings.

FBI BRINGS IRAQI MAN ACCUSED OF COORDINATING NEARLY 20 TERROR ATTACKS IN EUROPE TO FACE TRIAL IN NEW YORK

According to the report, Mohammed is believed to be outside Iraq and has not been detained. The court action is part of an investigation and does not establish that she committed wrongdoing.

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The investigation grew out of a broader corruption probe involving government contracts and large sums of public money and has reached other former Iraqi officials, according to the report.

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Mohammed’s placement on the U.S. terrorist watchlist represents a separate and potentially more serious development. The State Department has not said whether it is connected to the terrorist financing allegations raised by members of Congress, the Iraqi corruption investigation or other intelligence gathered by the U.S. government.

FIRST ON FOX: Federal officials and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud have blocked or clawed back more than $1.6 billion in potentially improper Medicare laboratory payments since President Donald Trump returned to office, including $732 million tied to 157 lab providers booted from the program for alleged fraud.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said the labs were suspected of billing Medicare for tests that were never performed, tests patients did not need and services billed at higher rates than they should have been.

“When laboratories bill Medicare for tests they never performed, it drains the Medicare Trust Fund and diverts resources away from beneficiaries who need them,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said.

DOJ CHARGES 19 DEFENDANTS IN ALLEGED $4M PHILADELPHIA MEDICARE AND MEDICAID FRAUD

In one case, the owner of a consulting company enrolled 14 labs in Medicare and billed the program more than $24 million, even though CMS said none of the labs appeared to be operating.

CMS has since held back $12 million in payments to the labs and recovered another $7 million. Eleven of the 14 labs have been removed from Medicare, while the remaining three are still under investigation.

CMS said it is using artificial intelligence and other technology to sift through Medicare claims and spot unusual billing that could be a sign of fraud.

The technology looks for billing that falls outside normal patterns and can flag suspicious claims for closer scrutiny. CMS can then hold, reject or deny a claim before Medicare pays it.

Of the $1.6 billion cited by the agency, more than $500 million in suspected fraudulent payments were stopped through 185 payment suspensions after CMS investigated 600 labs.

“The previous administration treated our taxpayer-funded programs as piggy banks for fraudsters,” the White House told Fox News Digital. “That is no longer the case, thanks to President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Dr. Oz, who is an anti-fraud superstar.”

TREASURY HAILS SUCCESS OF ANTI-FRAUD PROCESS THAT FLAGGED AND PREVENTED $99 MILLION IN PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE

The agency also recovered more than $276 million in overpayments made to 442 suspect labs and said another $127 million in potentially fraudulent payments was prevented after 85 cases were referred to law enforcement.

CMS pointed to two recent cases in Texas as examples of labs suspected of billing Medicare for services they did not provide.

One lab began billing Medicare in late February. CMS said it caught the suspicious activity early and denied $1.2 million in claims.

The lab then changed the way it billed Medicare in early April in an apparent attempt to get around the agency’s safeguards, according to CMS. Officials continued watching its claims and stopped more than $150,000 in additional payments before removing the provider from Medicare later that month.

DR OZ SAYS 800 HOSPICE PROVIDERS SUSPENDED IN CALIFORNIA OVER ALLEGED $1B MEDICARE FRAUD SCHEME

Another Texas lab began billing heavily in May after submitting test claims two days earlier in the year. CMS denied $1.9 million in claims and captured another $1.7 million in payments. The lab remains under review and could be removed from Medicare.

The lab cases are part of a wider Trump administration push to combat improper Medicare billing involving medical equipment, hospice care, skin treatments and other services.

CMS said its Medicare fraud prevention efforts saved $42 billion in fiscal year 2025. So far in 2026, the agency says it has identified $1.8 billion in Medicare overpayments and recovered $378 million in overpayments from post-payment reviews.

Since Jan. 1, CMS has also frozen more than $371 million in Medicare payments involving 267 providers and suppliers. That includes more than $226 million in suspected improper billing for medical equipment, more than $53 million involving skin treatments and more than $23 million involving hospice providers.

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“We won’t stop until we’ve restored program integrity and ensured that fraudsters have nowhere left to hide,” Oz said.

Critics mocked former Vice President Kamala Harris after she warned Republicans are “trying to cheat” in the midterms while echoing President Donald Trump’s signature “too big to rig” rallying cry in a new video urging Democrats to turn out in force.

“We are two months away from the midterms. Get out and vote. Let’s get everyone out to vote. They are cheating,” said Harris in a recorded video Thursday posted on X.

“They are trying to cheat, and we have got to turn out in big numbers and be too big to rig. I’ll see you out there,” Harris added.

Trump repeatedly used “too big to rig” during the 2024 campaign, after years of casting doubt on U.S. election integrity following his loss in the 2020 election. Harris is using the same phrase while accusing Republicans of trying to cheat in the 2026 midterms.

2026 MIDTERMS STATE OF PLAY: KEY RACES UNFOLD AS STEVENS, EL-SAYED BATTLE IN MICHIGAN

“Kamala Harris has never had an original thought in her life,” wrote TPUSA Spokesman Andrew Kolvet.

“47 seconds. 15 jump cuts. She must be high as a kite,” wrote popular account End Wokeness.

“Nice to know she’s still stealing Trump’s ideas,” said conservative commentator Shawn Farash.

“Sounds familiar,” said Turning Point show host Jobob Taeleifi.

FEDERAL JUDGE AGAIN BLOCKS TRUMP’S MAIL BALLOT ORDER JUST BEFORE MIDTERMS

In her video, Harris pointed to Monday’s Supreme Court ruling allowing parts of Trump’s mail-voting order to move forward while the legal fight continues. The court did not rule on whether the restrictions themselves are legal.

A federal judge on Thursday again temporarily blocked the Postal Service from enforcing the new mail-ballot requirements, setting up another round of litigation over the policy ahead of November’s midterms.

FOX NEWS POLL: AS ECONOMIC PAIN DEEPENS, DISAPPROVAL OF TRUMP HITS NEW HIGH

Harris urged Democrats to turn out in large numbers while arguing that Trump’s mail-voting policies could make it more difficult for some voters to cast ballots.

“By the way, he votes by mail from Mar-A-Lago, but he doesn’t want you to vote by mail. Just this week the U.S. Supreme Court backed up the president’s agenda. He’s trying to make it more difficult for you to vote by mail,” Harris said in the video.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Harris for comment.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul faces new legal and political challenges over a law restricting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE after her Republican gubernatorial opponent warned it was “written in the blood” of crime victims.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, whose county borders sanctuary New York City, warned more New Yorkers will be hurt by Hochul’s move, pointing to recent cases of people maimed by illegal immigrants.

“I want to be very clear about this law: This law is written in the blood of the victims, past, present and future,” Blakeman said.

“This law is completely misguided and will make our communities less safe,” Blakeman said. “We have a governor and a legislature [wherein] every major criminal justice initiative makes it easier for criminals to prey on our communities.”

DEM GOVERNOR IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER TESTING LIMITS OF AUTHORITY WITH MAJOR MOVE AGAINST ICE

Blakeman’s warning came as a coalition of 15 sheriffs representing counties from the shore of Lake Champlain to the Massachusetts line filed a lawsuit challenging the ban on 287(g) ICE agreements.

His campaign referred Fox News Digital to his remarks when asked for additional comment.

In a memo outlining the “Local Cops, Local Crimes Act,” Hochul argued that “current federal immigration efforts have made communities less safe” and that using local officers and assets for federal civil immigration enforcement draws resources away from local public-safety functions.

A Hochul spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Blakeman’s “understanding of New York’s bail and immigration laws is incorrect,” and said the governor’s top priority remains public safety.

BLAKEMAN CUTS INTO HOCHUL’S NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S RACE LEAD IN NEW POLL, AS LIKELY VOTERS GIVE DSA JUDGMENT

“The Local Cops, Local Crimes Act does not tie the hands of our police or stop them from apprehending dangerous criminals, and local law enforcement can and will continue to work with federal authorities on criminal investigations and violent crime just as they always have,” the spokesperson said, adding that the law doesn’t prevent cooperation on “ordinary criminal investigations.”

EXCLUSIVE: LEGAL GROUP TELLS NYPD COPS THEY CAN CONTACT ICE DIRECTLY DESPITE BLUE CITY’S SANCTUARY RULES

Hochul recently signaled she’d enlist Attorney General Letitia James to take action against counties that do not comply with the law, while quipping that police should not be converging on churches and schools to help “Stephen Miller reach his quotas.” Miller is a White House aide credited with crafting much of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.

“We have reviewed this law with the county attorneys and we looked for every possible way not to comply with this law,” Blakeman said in his recent remarks. “However, it was concluded that we would have to abide by the law. I am a law-and-order county executive. I believe in the rule of law, even when it’s a bad law,” he said.

ICE EYES $20M PURCHASE OF ELECTRIC SHOCK GLOVES AS HOCHUL WARNS OF LEGAL CONSEQUENCES

Blakeman said the law makes it harder for police to keep communities safe, pointing to the recent killing of Westchester County resident Sheridan Gorman, which authorities have attributed to an illegal immigrant, while she was attending college in sanctuary Chicago.

Blakeman cited Illinois’ restrictions on state and local participation in federal immigration enforcement as he argued that New York was moving in a similar direction.

Closer to home, Blakeman said an illegal immigrant from Honduras was charged days ago in his county with second-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a 14-year-old.

Rep. Michael Lawler, the Rockland County Republican who has often warred with Hochul, tweeted this latest law shows she is “the worst governor in America” and “doesn’t give a s— about public safety or the rule of law.”

Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin opposed the 287(g) ban before it took effect, calling the agreements “common sense.”

McLaughlin, whose Capital Region county is one of the 15 challenging the law, invited Hochul to follow through:

“We don’t really care what this legislature did, we are not going to let them endanger our citizens,” he told ABC’s Troy affiliate in June. “I dare you to confront me on this, governor. We’re not stopping.”

Late Thursday, Hochul announced a countersuit against Rensselaer County’s sheriff for noncompliance.

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Blakeman said he similarly sought a route to noncompliance, pointing to the recent seizure of dozens of illegal handguns and several kilograms of drugs, as well as one of the “largest gang takedowns” in the U.S., which netted 42 gang members in 2025.

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Blakeman argued Wednesday that ICE involvement allowed authorities to keep some suspects in custody who otherwise might have been released under New York’s cashless bail and other laws. The law-and-order debate is also playing out elsewhere on the statewide GOP ticket, where former Brooklyn federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy, who is vying against James, is in a faceoff over criminal justice policies.

Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to establish the U.S. Space Academy.

Trump said the location of the academy was yet to be determined but compared its significance to that of the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

The U.S. Space Academy will be for students looking to enter the U.S. Space Force, a new branch of the military Trump created during his first term. The president said it will also serve NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry.

OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD FIX FOR DATA CENTER BACKLASH COULD BE ON NASA’S HORIZON

“We’re going to have an academy for what the people in this room love the most. That’s exciting. That’s really exciting. And I’m going to be choosing a location very shortly,” Trump said during remarks at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The other purpose of the event was to award the four Artemis II astronauts with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. More than a dozen astronauts stood behind Trump throughout his remarks.

After signing the executive order, Trump presented the vaunted award, which was first given to Neil Armstrong in 1978, to all four members of the Artemis II crew.

The crew consists of NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, the mission commander; NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the pilot; NASA astronaut Christina Koch, a mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist.

“We gather here on these storied grounds to celebrate the immense courage and service of four intrepid space heroes whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth and anyone has ever traveled before. Incredible,” Trump said.

Trump called the crew members “great people,” also thanking the engineers and scientists who worked on the Artemis II mission.

“Mr. President, it means a lot that you are here at the Johnson Space Center. It underscores the important work that is going on here in Mission Control, in furthering human exploration,” Wiseman said when he was called up to speak. “Thank you for coming here today.”

NASA MOON BASE: ADMINISTRATOR JARED ISAACMAN DETAILS PLANS FOR LONG-TERM PRESENCE

The Artemis II astronauts launched aboard the Orion spacecraft April 1, 2026, and spent nearly 10 days traveling around the moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean April 10. Their trajectory took them as far as 252,756 miles from Earth, farther than any humans had traveled before.

Unlike past missions to the moon, the Artemis II team did not touch down on the lunar surface. Its mission was to fly around the moon while testing the spacecraft and systems NASA plans to use for future lunar landings.

NASA says the mission served as a stepping stone for Artemis III, which is scheduled for 2027 and will involve a series of challenging tests in Earth’s orbit. Artemis IV, slated for early 2028, is then expected to send astronauts to the lunar South Pole for the first time.

The Artemis program’s overall goal is to establish a long-term human presence on the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars.

NASA OPENS FIRST MAJOR NEW WIND TUNNEL IN MORE THAN 40 YEARS AT VIRGINIA FACILITY

“America has always been a frontier nation, and space is the highest of all the frontiers. Our manifest destiny is to explore and settle this great unknown,” Trump said. “Americans were the first in flight, the first to the moon and will certainly be the first in space, no matter where it is. And I know we’re going to be looking at Mars very shortly.”

Trump also revealed NASA has begun to work on the first ever nuclear-powered “interplanetary spacecraft” that the space agency will use for the planned 2028 mission to Mars.

“They have to go nuclear because they have essentially unlimited fuel. You don’t have to fill up the tanks,” he said. “This ship will be among the first of what will ultimately be a massive American Star fleet, making space travel almost as common as ocean travel today and bringing our military to a new level of excellence.”

Throughout his speech, Trump blamed his predecessors for letting U.S. space programs languish.

“In particular, the Obama administration, we even lost our ability to send astronauts into orbit at all. We had no ability in space whatsoever. We totally lost it with everything we spent, with all of the talent and all of the genius and all of the money, we had nothing,” the president said.

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“Before the end of my term, American astronauts will return to the lunar surface,” he said. “And when we do, they’ll plant this very important flag to mark the site of the first permanent American settlement on the moon.”

The first arrest in what a Trump administration prosecutor says will be a broader election fraud crackdown was announced Friday in Los Angeles, and the White House seized on the case to hit back at longtime critics.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced a Honduran national was charged with two felony counts and could face deportation if convicted, while criticizing California’s current voter registration safeguards and renewing DOJ demands for a voter roll audit. 

“Today’s arrest is the first of many to come. Unfortunately, because states like California allow non-citizens to easily register to vote and receive a ballot by mail, there’s no telling how many non-citizens are currently registered to vote,” Essayli said in a statement announcing the capture of Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores.

CALIFORNIA ACCUSED OF BLOCKING FEDERAL VOTER ROLL AUDIT AS DOJ ESCALATES PROBE OF ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS

“We again renew our request that California immediately comply with our requests to audit their voter rolls so that all voters can have confidence in our elections.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom for comment.

Rivera Flores, of the Winnetka neighborhood west of Van Nuys, was charged with fraudulent voter registration and false claim of U.S. citizenship. He did not vote in an election, according to the DOJ. 

Rivera Flores entered the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration and was a green card holder, but was not a U.S. citizen, according to an affidavit.

FOUR NONCITIZENS CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2020, 2022 AND 2024 FEDERAL ELECTIONS IN NEW JERSEY

He was previously charged with a misdemeanor for “disrupting immigration law enforcement operations” at a federal building in Camarillo, California, and sentenced to one year of probation.

Rivera Flores also allegedly sent a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent a slew of taunting text messages, calling the officer “not the good guy” and saying he could not “wait until the midterms” because he believed the agent would not have qualified immunity, legal protection that can shield law enforcement officers from certain civil claims arising from their official conduct.

Text messages between Rivera Flores and the agent reviewed by Fox News show several profane jabs directed at the officer, including, “How you f—ing treat people … that’s not f—ing protecting, you’re hurting these people,” and, “Chris, you know you’re a b—-, right.”

CLICK BELOW TO READ THE AFFIDAVIT

Rivera Flores obtained the agent’s number after the agent unblocked it on his government-issued phone to contact him during an investigation, according to the affidavit.

The White House said Rivera Flores’ case indicates mainstream media and political critics are off base in their countervailing reporting and allegations about the existence of voter fraud.

“Despite the media and Democrats claiming it never happens, the evidence of noncitizens registering to vote in our elections continues to pile up,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

“Any non-citizens found registering to vote and voting in our elections will be held accountable. Only Americans should be electing American leaders.”

WATCH: TRUMP DOJ VOWS TO PURSUE ‘EVERY SINGLE’ VOTING VIOLATION AFTER NJ ROLL SHOCKER

CNN HOST ADMITS HE WAS WRONG TO SAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT VOTING ‘NEVER HAPPENS’ AFTER NEW JERSEY ERROR

Essayli said the case bolsters the DOJ’s demand that California comply with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s request for a comprehensive voter roll audit.

Dhillon said in a statement that noncitizens who “commit fraud so they can vote in American elections” violate federal law and should expect to be prosecuted.

“Let this criminal complaint serve as a reminder that the Justice Department stands ready to enforce the laws Congress enacted to ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections.”

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Californians will decide in November whether to impose additional voter ID and citizenship-verification requirements. Under current law, people registering to vote must state, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens and provide identifying information. 

The initiative is being led by state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego.

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Fox News’ Matt Finn contributed to this report.

The Trump administration filed lawsuits against four states Thursday over laws allowing illegal immigrants to receive financial benefits offered to state residents, including in-state tuition, state grants and state-funded student loans.

The Justice Department argued that laws in Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona allowing illegal immigrants to receive benefits are in violation of a federal law that states an illegal immigrant is ineligible to receive higher education in-state benefits unless those same benefits are available to every U.S. student.

“This is a simple matter of federal law: Colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. 

“This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

DOJ SUES NEW JERSEY OVER LAWS GIVING ILLEGAL ALIENS IN-STATE TUITION, SAYS CITIZENS TREATED AS ‘SECOND-CLASS’

The latest lawsuits bring the number of states facing legal challenges over laws granting illegal immigrant students the same benefits as lawful residents to 21. The Justice Department has won its cases in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois.

“Our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: Illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said in a statement.

The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition costs at public universities in the four states is significant. The complaint showed that for the 2026-2027 school year, Washington residents would pay $13,406, compared with $44,460 for out-of-state students at the University of Washington.

This means illegal immigrants could receive a $31,054 discount if they earned a high school diploma or equivalent in the state, lived there for at least one year for reasons other than attending college and signed an affidavit saying they would seek permanent residency when eligible.

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

The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Arizona also showed a significant difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition costs, with the largest gap at Arizona State University totaling $24,448.

The lawsuit alleged that in fall 2025, 432 illegal immigrants received in-state tuition benefits at Arizona State University amounting to $10.5 million in reduced tuition.

The lawsuit also cites a report from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting that estimates more than 3,600 illegal aliens per year could qualify for in-state tuition under Arizona’s law.

A spokesperson for the Arizona Board of Regents, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the school system follows state law.

“We are reviewing the lawsuit and will work closely with Arizona leaders on the appropriate next steps,” a spokesperson said.

The benefits extend beyond tuition costs.

COURT CHECKS PRITZKER AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SCORES ANOTHER IMMIGRATION WIN

In Oregon, only in-state students enrolled at Oregon Health & Science University can receive a Rural Nurse Scholars Scholarship, which covers the full cost of tuition and a $1,500 travel stipend. The Justice Department alleges that illegal immigrants are eligible for the scholarship under state law.

In Washington, not only do illegal immigrants qualify for in-state tuition and grants, but the state also created a financial aid program for illegal immigrants living in the state who are unable to obtain federal financial aid. The program is known as the Undocumented Student Support Loan Program, and it was created under a bill passed in 2020. 

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he stands by the state’s laws. 

“Washington state won’t be bullied into changing how we provide opportunities for young people in our state,” Ferguson said. “We’ll see them in court, and we expect to win.”

A June 2024 report estimated that roughly 408,000 illegal immigrants were enrolled in higher education, with 29.1% arriving in the United States at age 17 or older.

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Lawsuits are pending in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Oregon, New Mexico and Arizona’s governors’ offices for comment.

President Donald Trump on Friday spoke with American astronauts aboard the International Space Station from Houston, where he honored the Artemis II crew moments earlier.

Trump joked at the beginning of the phone call that many Americans would love to travel to space.

“I wouldn’t do it,” he said from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “I hate to admit it. I would not want to do it. But some people love it more than anything.”

TRUMP TO TRANSFORM SPACEFLIGHT FROM SPECTACLE TO STATUS QUO TARGETING 3 LAUNCHES PER DAY

The astronauts said they were “thrilled” to speak with Trump and that they were “in the middle of several spacewalks,” with another one planned for next week.

Trump called the crew a group of “pioneers” for their efforts in space exploration.

He welcomed other officials to speak to the ISS crew and offered to welcome the astronauts to the White House when they return.

‘WOKE’ MILITARY ACADEMIES TARGETED IN NEW BLUEPRINT FOR SWEEPING WARFIGHTING OVERHAUL

“We’re going to see you when you get back,” he said. “In fact, if you want Oval Office time, right?”

A short time earlier, Trump honored the crew of the Artemis II with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and signed an executive order establishing the U.S. Space Force Academy.

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“It will be at that same level when you serve West Point, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, Annapolis,” Trump said, comparing it to the other U.S. military academies. “It’s going to be at that level.”

As the Trump administration’s efforts have choked off federal funding for LGBTQ groups, Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of Atlanta and Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, is sponsoring an upcoming Halloween event open to children that will include drag shows.

“From 5-8, the little monsters roam free trick-or-treating through spooky trails and glowing Halloween worlds, and when night falls — the hallo queen show explodes with music, costumes and pure Halloween spectacle,” ColGay Pride, an LGBTQ+ group based in Columbus, Georgia, said in a video.

Notably, the group’s programming states that the “adults-only” portion of the night, which includes the drag shows, will begin after 9 p.m.

Even so, Lance Bottoms’ support of the Halloween event, which includes a haunted walk, s’mores, an adult-and-kids costume contest — all centered around gender expression — adds to her record of supporting LGBTQ-related content around children.

POWERFUL LGBTQ+ GROUP’S ENDORSEMENTS COULD TANK VULNERABLE DEMS OVER RADICAL YOUTH TRANS AGENDA

ColGay Pride describes its goal as “promoting diversity, inclusion and equality for the LGBTQ community in Columbus and the surrounding areas and create a supportive and affirming environment through our programs and events.”

The group, which is throwing its final Halloween celebration after 13 years, said that Trump’s federal funding cuts had made it dependent on individual contributions.

“We are closing our doors next year,” the group wrote.

“It has become far too difficult to raise money when our financial aid was cut off completely under Trump, when our own citizens — the very people we have served for twenty years — do not donate. Sometimes you simply reach a point where enough is enough,” the post read.

The group thanked Lance Bottoms for her support in a post to Facebook with a “digital sponsorship certificate.”

It’s unclear how much she contributed to the event.

Bottoms’ gubernatorial bid has been complicated by political liabilities. The Campaign Finance Commission fined her $37,000 in 2021 for accepting over $60,000 in contributions that exceeded legal limits as well as $110,000 that exceeded debt caps. She also announced that she would not pursue re-election as mayor of Atlanta amid a COVID-19 crime wave that spiked homicides by 58% over levels from the year before.

In addition to those controversies, Bottoms has also received criticism from conservatives for her stances on gender policy.

GOP FRONTRUNNER IN KEY GUBERNATORIAL RACE FORCED TO ANSWER ABOUT HIRING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: ‘I DON’T KNOW’

Recently, in a gubernatorial debate, the former mayor said she would have vetoed the Riley Gaines Act — a piece of legislation that banned biological men from competing in women’s sports.

“I believe that decisions about who competes and how people compete shouldn’t be happening at the state capitol. I don’t support the government making decisions about who should compete in athletics. I believe that decision should be left to respective athletic associations,” Bottoms said.

That comment, in particular, has become a key campaign quote for her opponent, Rick Jackson, a businessman and the Republican nominee to replace outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, as they set out to attack Bottoms’ far-left positions on issues of gender and sexuality.

“Keisha Bottoms and the other Democrats said they’d have vetoed the Riley Gaines Act. They won’t protect girls’ sports, but they will open the floodgates for woke ideology in our schools. We’re going to make sure they don’t get the chance,” the campaign said in a post to X, highlighting the debate moment.

Notably, Bottoms’ sponsorship of the upcoming Halloween event isn’t the first time she has supported drag-themed activities.

In 2019, as mayor, she invited Ms. Terra Cotta Sugarbaker, a drag queen, to host a story hour after the Fulton County library system removed a scheduled “drag queen story time” from its events.

“Ms. Terra Cotta Sugarbaker and all our LGBTQ friends are always welcome at Atlanta City Hall. How about we host your next story hour? Let’s make it happen!” she wrote in a post to X.

RILEY GAINES AND MYKAYLA SKINNER SEND MESSAGE TO SIMONE BILES ON WOMEN’S SPORTS DEBATE AFTER SCOTUS RULING

The Bottoms campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the upcoming event, what was included in her sponsorship, or whether it was appropriate to have children present for events centered around sexuality and gender expression.

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Having cleared her primary, Bottoms will face off against Jackson in the state’s Nov. 3, 2025, general election.

Websites tied to Portland’s Rose City Antifa and the militant abortion-rights group Jane’s Revenge began going dark in the days after the State Department designated their Italy-based technology provider a global terrorist entity.

Fox News Digital first reported this week that the State Department had designated Autistici/Inventati, known as the A/I Collective, as a specially designated global terrorist over its alleged support for violent far-left networks.

“Today’s news demonstrates the extent to which the A/I Collective was the digital infrastructure of the global Antifa terror network,” a State Department official told Fox News Digital.

RUBIO PUTS ENTIRE WORLD ON NOTICE AGAINST RISE OF ‘POISONOUS’ FAR-LEFT TERROR ‘MASKED AS EQUALITY’

“Just one day after the extremist collective was designated as a specially designated global terrorist, an untold number of servers and websites — used by far-left extremists to plot violent attacks, target federal agents, and conceal their crimes from law enforcement — have been shut down,” the official said.

Among them was Rose City Counter-Info, a Portland-based website the State Department says Rose City Antifa used to publish personal information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and organize violent activity against federal agents.

15 ANTIFA RADICALS INDICTED, 12 ARRESTED IN SWEEPING FEDERAL PROBE INTO MINNEAPOLIS ANTI-ICE OPERATIONS

The State Department said the group used the site to distribute an online flyer urging supporters to use laser pointers against Customs and Border Protection helicopters. Federal records show one man later pleaded guilty to aiming a laser at a CBP helicopter, forcing the aircraft to abort a planned landing.

Jane’s Revenge also used A/I services to publish communiqués claiming responsibility for attacks on pregnancy centers and to incite copycat violence, according to the State Department. The group claimed responsibility for the May 2022 firebombing of a crisis pregnancy center in Madison, Wisconsin.

The NoBlogs platform, which is hosted by A/I and contains thousands of sites, was intermittently unavailable Friday. Some individual pages remained accessible while others returned errors or timed out.

The State Department has not said whether any U.S. agency directly disabled A/I infrastructure or whether the outages resulted from decisions by the collective, its vendors or its users after the designation.

FBI SAYS NEW MISSION CENTER HAS IDENTIFIED ‘NEFARIOUS’ PROTEST FUNDING AND SUBJECTS

The sanctions action blocks Americans and U.S. financial institutions from doing business with A/I and freezes any assets it holds under U.S. jurisdiction.

The State Department says A/I provided encrypted chat and email services, web hosting, secure video tools and anonymity services to violent left-wing groups in the United States and Europe. The department also said a media organization using A/I services disseminated material from Hamas, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah and other designated terrorist groups.

A/I denied the allegations in a statement posted on a NoBlogs-hosted page.

The collective described itself as “a small, volunteer-run, technology collective from Italy” that provides tools for “digital self-defense.”

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“We will not back down,” the group said. “Antifascism and anticapitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism.

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“The terror designation of the A/I Collective dealt a devastating blow to the transnational far-left networks that have plagued America and our allies for years,” the State Department official said.

The woman accused of vandalizing the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., was formally indicted on Friday, Fox News Digital has learned.

Melissa Farris has been charged on two counts, including destruction of a veterans’ memorial and destruction of government property.

The Kentucky woman allegedly spray-painted the words “Clean hands, dirty money,” in bright-pink paint and dumped bubble soap into the fountain at the center of the memorial, according to authorities.

WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL ON NATIONAL MALL VANDALIZED WITH PINK SPRAY; FOUNTAIN OVERFLOWING WITH BUBBLES

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

Farris did a Facebook live before turning herself in and her arrest on Aug. 14, in which she admitted to the alleged vandalism the day before. 

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

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 has reached out to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for comment.

WWII MEMORIAL VANDALISM SUSPECT IN CUSTODY, CHARGED WITH TWO FELONIES, PIRRO SAYS

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in a statement after Farris was charged: “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.”

Pirro said the charges carry penalties of up to ten years in prison.

“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” President Donald Trum wrote earlier this month on Truth Social. “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???”

Several people, including Olympic canoeist David Hearn, were arrested in June for allegedly vandalzing the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but the charges were dropped earlier this month.

TRUMP BLAMES VANDALS FOR DEAD GRASS ON NATIONAL MALL WHERE HE HOSTED 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION

Prosecutors cited evidence indicating the damage may have stemmed from a botched renovation rather than vandalism.

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U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Aug. 16 said he “absolutely” supported Pirro’s decision to drop the charges, “as does President Trump,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Trump has spoken out against the decision this month, saying he “disagrees 100%” with Pirro’s decision.

Fox News’ Robert McGreevy, Bonny Chu and Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.

A former Reagan administration national security official is sounding the alarm over what he calls a growing “red-green alliance” between radical Islamists and far-left socialists, warning the unlikely ideological partners are joining forces around a shared anti-American agenda.

Frank Gaffney sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the growing influence of the Democratic Socialists of America and what he believes are the true intentions and potential threats to U.S. national security.

“One can argue that the Sharia supremacists are pursuing communism with a God, or at least a patina, a veneer of religiosity to it,” Gaffney explained. “Fundamentally, they’re at the hip in totalitarianism. Yes, with different outcomes in mind, but still perfectly willing to make common cause for the immediate shared objective of destroying the United States, which stands in the way of either of their ambitions.”

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS SEIZE THE MOMENT WITH EXTREME, ANTI-AMERICAN VIEWS THAT BADLY TARNISH THE PARTY

“So that’s where we find ourselves at the moment — with a red-green axis that seeks the destruction of our country and is making that a goal being pursued now in the Democratic Party.”

Gaffney served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under former President Ronald Reagan and graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Arts in international studies from Johns Hopkins University. He founded the Center for Security Policy think tank in Washington, D.C., in 1988 and currently serves as the president of the Institute for the American Future.

The “red-green alliance” describes the political cooperation between far-left movements, represented by the color red, and Islamist movements, represented by green.

ISRAEL, JEWS TARGETED WORLDWIDE AS WELL-FUNDED LEFTIST, ISLAMIST GROUPS JOIN FOR ‘NAKBA 78’ PROTESTS

The Reagan-era official argued that while the far left and Islamists have different ultimate goals, they share a common adversary in the American constitutional system, which he said stands in the way of both movements’ ambitions.

These concepts were recently debated during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America” that took place earlier this month.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, questioned Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, about whether the Muslim Brotherhood partners with groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and characterized that relationship as the “Red-Green Alliance.”

COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT WARNS ABDUL EL-SAYED SENATE BID RAISES HOMELAND SECURITY CONCERNS

Shideler agreed with Cruz’s characterization and said he has seen evidence that the “red-green alliance” shares a “revolutionary objective” to squash Americanism, including the Constitution.

“This threat cannot be ignored because it is politically inconvenient,” Cruz posted to X. “A counterterrorism expert testified that the Muslim Brotherhood and the DSA are united by a shared hatred of America — and a revolutionary objective to overthrow the U.S. Constitution.”

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Gaffney agreed with the sentiment during his interview with Fox News Digital, taking it one step further to say the two movements are “perfectly willing to make common cause” around what he described as an “immediate shared objective of destroying the United States.”

TRUMP ADMIN ACCUSES HAMAS OF BACKING GAZA FLOTILLA, SANCTIONS ACTIVIST AND MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD NETWORKS

“What they have in common is much more important than their differences,” Gaffney explained.

The “red-green alliance” has also been scrutinized by some Muslim critics of radical Islamism.

In May, Fox News Digital spoke with Dalia Ziada, a Muslim scholar who was forced to flee Egypt after criticizing Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. She said that the nexus of radical Islamism with the radical left in the “red-green alliance” threatened the U.S., American politics and Western society.

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“For five or seven years now, we have been seeing some kind of a ‘sinful marriage’ between the radical left and radical Islamism, the groups that hate Western liberal democracies and desire to destroy them,” she told Fox News Digital.

A Fox News Digital investigation found roughly 425 organizations spanning communist groups, Muslim advocacy organizations and anti-Israel activist coalitions are part of a coordinated transnational protest network that collectively brings in about $1 billion in annual revenue.

The Abdul-El Sayed campaign on Thursday launched an attack aimed at White House aide Natalie Harp just a week after attacking second lady Usha Vance in a similarly vicious manner.

After President Donald Trump’s edict renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America during a heated trade battle with Canada the El-Sayed campaign waded into the fray on X.

“If we’re just renaming everything now… When are we making this official?” the campaign said in its post, adding a doctored image of the official White House webpage for first lady Melania Trump, crossing out her name and replacing it with Harp’s.

The post was quickly criticized by conservatives on social media.

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“This is just such a weak, phoned-in effort,” GOP communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X. “My four year-old could come up with better burns than this.

“Weird how much time this campaign spends talking about other people‘s wives. When Abdul’s not talking about (and clearly thinking a lot about) the vice president and his wife, apparently he’s thinking about President Trump and his wife?”

“That boy Abdul is drowning, and his team keeps throwing him bricks,” journalist James David Dickson posted on X.

“So this is just gross, right?” Conservative advocacy group Michigan Forward posted on X.

SECOND LADY USHA VANCE FIRES BACK AT POINTED JAB FROM DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINEE ABDUL EL-SAYED

“A lil more sexism and misogyny from the Left,” political commentator Melik Abdul posted on X. “This time, it’s from the Guy who plays foootsie with Hasan Piker.”

Harp is a longtime Trump supporter who credited his first-term “right to try” order for saving her life after a serious battle with bone cancer. She then joined the second Trump administration as an aide to the president.

In recent weeks, Harp has become the subject of intense media scrutiny and online speculation about the nature of her relationship with Trump.

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In a post over the weekend responding to Vice President JD Vance’s comments that his grandfather, whom he called Pawpaw, would be shocked to know that El-Sayed is a serious U.S. Senate contender, the socialist-aligned candidate from Michigan responded by invoking second lady Usha Vance, who is of Indian descent.

“So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…,” El-Sayed wrote on X.

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Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign.

The Trump administration has started construction of a section of a border wall in Arizona despite objections from a Native American tribe.

The wall is part of a $46 billion effort to shore up the southern border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and technology designed to stop illegal immigration and smuggling.

However, the Tohono O’odham Nation has said the construction will damage land sacred to the tribe, The Associated Press reported.

MULLIN TELLS CONGRESS PRIMARY BORDER WALL WILL BE DONE BY JUNE 2027, SECONDARY WALL BY SUMMER 2028

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the desert spanning the Tohono O’odham Nation, which sits on both sides of the border, is a major corridor for drug smuggling.

“The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border: remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.

TRUMP TO SHRINK 2 UTAH NATIONAL MONUMENTS BY 90%

The tribe, which has 37,000 members, including many who live in Mexico, sued the federal government in June in an attempt to halt the project.

The lawsuit argued the construction would cause “significant devastation” on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the tribe.

TRUMP SCORES MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORY AS JUDGE CLEARS WAY TO END TPS PROTECTIONS FOR THOUSANDS OF SOMALIS

A federal judge rejected the argument, siding with the government and noting that the border wall would be built on a 60-foot-wide buffer zone of federally owned land called the Roosevelt Reservation.

“Defendants have not yet articulated plans to construct outside the Roosevelt Reservation,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., wrote in his opinion.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NAMES ROSARIO ‘PETE’ VASQUEZ TO SERVE AS NEXT US BORDER PATROL CHIEF

The tribe said the construction still constitutes trespassing, even if the project is contained to the Roosevelt Reservation. The tribe set up “No Trespassing” signs this week and said masked CBP agents set up a vehicle blockade to stop tribal police from removing the contractors.

“The contractors, who are on the Nation illegally, were accompanied by agents as they worked on three separate locations near the border with drill trucks to conduct soil sampling and other activities,” tribal officials said in a statement.

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The tribe said it was exploring other legal means to remove the contractors.

Fox News Digital has reached out to CBP and the Tohono O’odham Nation for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.