NationalWatch

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is aiming to block the sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel.

“This week, I will be forcing a vote on legislation to block the sale of nearly half a billion dollars worth of bombs and bulldozers to the Israeli military,” he said in a Monday post on X.

The left-wing lawmaker accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of perpetrating “genocide.”

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER SEVERELY DISFIGURED BY US STRIKES: REPORT

“The extremist Netanyahu government that has committed genocide in Gaza does not need more military support from American taxpayers,” Sanders said in the post.

In a Tuesday post on another X account, Sanders asserted, “This week, I will be forcing a vote to block nearly $500 million in bombs and bulldozers to Israel.  Enough is enough.”

IDF UNCOVERS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS STASH INSIDE HOSPITAL IN LEBANON

“U.S. taxpayers must not keep funding the Netanyahu government’s mass killing and displacement of civilians in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon,” he added.

Sanders introduced joint resolutions last month to prohibit the sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel.

IRAN’S ‘GODFATHER OF PROPAGANDA’ TACTICS RESURFACE IN WAR WITH US AND ISRAEL

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The U.S. and Israel recently worked together to bombard the Islamic Republic of Iran for over a month.

It may have been possible to bequeath this as “expulsion week.”

Instead, this might be “resignation week.”

The House has only expelled six Members in the history of the republic. But it was possible as recently as Monday that the House was primed to wrestle with a mind-boggling four expulsions.

It takes a two-thirds vote to expel a Member. The House last expelled one of its own in late 2023: former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). Before that, you have to go back to 2002 when the House kicked out late Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio).

5TH ACCUSER COMES FORWARD AGAINST REP ERIC SWALWELL AHEAD OF EXPECTED RESIGNATION

Here was the chopping block:

Calls to expel former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) piled up after reports surfaced that he sexually assaulted a former aide and several other women. Swalwell initially said he would fight the allegations. Then he dropped his bid to become governor of California after a host of once close allies abandoned their support. Swalwell has now resigned, avoiding the ignominious scene of an expulsion.

Then there was former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). At first, Gonzales denied an affair with an aide who committed suicide by setting herself on fire. Gonzales was locked in a tough primary runoff against Republican Congressional candidate Brandon Herrera. But after pressure, Gonzales finally dropped out of the runoff and isn’t standing for re-election. However, Gonzales intended to stay on until his term expired on January 3 next year. But now Gonzales is out the door, too.

TWO DEMOCRATIC REPS CALL FOR SWALWELL TO EXIT CONGRESS AS CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND HIS BID FOR CA GOVERNOR

So two down, two to go.

This is where things grow complicated.

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) could face expulsion soon. In late March, the House Ethics Committee held a rare “trial,” declaring she improperly obtained an astonishing $5 million in COVID relief funds. The Ethics panel will likely recommend a punishment for Cherfilus-McCormick next week. The full House doesn’t have to consider or adhere to the prescribed discipline. The congresswoman proclaims her innocence. She faces a criminal trial in Florida in February 2027.

WHY ERIC SWALWELL WAS FORCED TO QUIT CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S RACE AFTER SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS

“The facts are indisputable at this point and so I believe it will be the consensus of this body that she should be expelled,” forecast House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Rep. Greg Stuebe (R-Fla.) filed a resolution to bounce Cherfilus-McCormick from the body a few months ago. 

And for the Republicans, there’s Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.). Mills is accused of “stolen valor” and exaggeration of his military record. But what triggered the current expulsion push is an allegation that the congressman struck his girlfriend in early 2025. A judge imposed a restraining order against Mills. However, police never charged the congressman. The Ethics Committee is also investigating whether he violated federal campaign rules. But the formal ethics probe of the Florida Republican isn’t as far along as the Cherfilus-McCormick inquiry.

SWALWELL RESIGNATION COLLIDES WITH CHINA-LINKED SCANDAL AS CRITICS DEMAND FILE RELEASE

Johnson is mindful of that fact.

“With regard to Mills, I’m not sure the status of the Ethics Committee investigation and that’s one of the things I’ll be looking into today,” said Johnson.

Four troubled Members. Two Democrats and two Republicans. It was that parity which may have primed the House to take the unprecedented step of expelling those four Members before Swalwell and Gonzales announced their resignations. But a push to expel Cherfiulus-McCormick and not Mills creates a host of problems in the House.

GONZALES HIT WITH EXPULSION VOTE THREAT AHEAD OF EXPECTED RESIGNATION

It’s about the math.

The House swore-in Rep. Clay Fuller (R-Ga.) on Monday night. Fuller won a special election last week to succeed former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who resigned. That GOP gain is likely offset by an anticipated victory by Democratic Congressional candidate Analilia Mejia in a Thursday special election in New Jersey. This is a Democratic seat which has been vacant since New Jersey Gov. and former Congresswoman Mikie Sherill (D) resigned from the House last fall.

With Swalwell and Gonzales out and Fuller in, the current breakdown is 431 Members: 217 Republicans and 213 Democrats. Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) dropped his affiliation with the GOP. The addition of Fuller and presumed win by Meija would make the breakdown 217 to 214 and one independent – with one vacancy, covering 432 Members. After the Swalwell and Gonzales resignations, the remaining open seat is a solidly Republican district in northern California, long held by late Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.). He died in January.

ERIC SWALWELL WAS CABLE NEWS STAR FOR YEARS BEFORE RAPID FALL FROM GRACE

But what happens if the House moves against Cherfilus-McCormick and not Mills? That creates an imbalance between the parties – something which was lost when the potential expulsion of four Members was on the table.

“What about this issue of parity,” yours truly asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

“The issue of parity hasn’t been something that we’ve had a conversation about. We’ve been working through what’s in front of us today and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” replied Jeffries.

LAWMAKERS PUT EXPULSION THREATS ATOP HOUSE AGENDA AS RETURN SETS UP HIGH-STAKES WEEK

I followed up.

“But isn’t that a concern, though, if they take action against Cherfilus-McCormick? Her ethics process is further along than Mr. Mills,” I asked.

“The ethics process is still incomplete and we’ll see what the Ethics Committee has to recommend next week,” replied Jeffries.

‘SMART DECISION’: SWALWELL’S RESIGNATION SPURS PRAISE FROM BOTH PARTIES AFTER BOMBSHELL ALLEGATIONS EMERGE

That’s in reference to the upcoming ethics panel meeting, recommending punishment for the Florida Democrat.

It was one thing if the House may have bounced four Members, two Republicans and two Democrats, all at once. But it’s dicier now that Gonzales and Swalwell stepped aside. It’s further complicated considering the uneven status of the ethics inquiries regarding Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills.

It seems that Congress is now in a period of establishing new precedents on a regular basis. A record-breaking government shutdown – only superseded by another record-breaking government shutdown. In addition, the House is experiencing a dramatic increase in the raw number of “censures” which it doles out to Members. Censure is the second-highest mode of punishment in the House, just below expulsion.

JONATHAN TURLEY: ERIC SWALWELL’S ENABLERS KNEW THE TRUTH — AND PROTECTED HIM ANYWAY

The House censured late Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) in late 2010. Prior to that, the House last reprimanded late Reps. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) and Daniel Crane (R-Ill.) in 1983. But since 2021, the House has censured five Members: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) – when he served in the House – Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Al Green (D-Texas).

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) recently characterized the censure explosion as the “political” weaponization of the ethics process.

It’s possible the House might not take any immediate action regarding Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills. Lawmakers from both sides may be more willing to expel one of their own – and maybe take one for the team on their side – if a similar outcome is guaranteed across the aisle.

SWALWELL’S FALL FROM GRACE SPARKS DEMOCRAT RUSH TO RETURN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AMID SCRUTINY

With such a tight majority, Republicans may not want to cede power to Democrats if the House expels a GOP Member as they try to cling to the majority. By the same token, it’s doubtful Democrats are willing to absorb a hit when they are within sneezing distance of the majority – if they don’t see a political equilibrium and document consequences for the Republican majority.

Moreover, tracking where the votes lie for disciplinary action is nearly impossible. What further complicates this is whether any expulsion motion actually comes to a true, up/down vote. There are often motions “to table” or kill any resolution to impose discipline against a Member. The same with motions “to refer” or dispatch allegations against a Member to the Ethics Committee for additional scrutiny. For instance, the Ethics panel is all but done probing Cherfilus-McCormick and is investigating Mills. So it’s unclear what would happen with any possible motion “to refer.”

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And let’s be frank: some lawmakers either really want to be on the record voting to discipline one of their colleagues or want no part of it at all. Resolutions to sit in judgment of a colleague is one of the hardest votes lawmakers take. Right up with a vote to go to war. That’s why some prefer the political fig leaf of a “motion to refer” or “motion to table” to an actual up/down vote to punish one of their own.

So this could have been “expulsion week” on Capitol Hill. It’s certainly “resignation week.” And if there’s no other disciplinary action, some lawmakers will be resigned to that outcome.

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to end his contempt inquiry into senior Trump administration officials after they deported more than 130 Venezuelan migrants — capping a protracted and bitterly disputed legal fight.

Judges for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Boasberg’s inquiry overstepped the court’s authority and represented an “unwarranted impairment” of the executive branch. Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker, two Trump appointees, authored the majority, which ordered Boasberg, the chief district judge for the District of Columbia, to terminate the contempt inquiry roughly 12 months after it began. 

At issue was the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last March — migrants that the administration alleged were in the U.S. illegally and in some cases had ties to the violent gang Tren de Aragua — and whether senior Trump officials had willfully defied an emergency court order issued by the district court judge in allowing the deportation flights to continue.  

FEDERAL JUDGE JAMES BOASBERG FINDS PROBABLE CAUSE TO HOLD TRUMP IN CONTEMPT OVER DEPORTATION FLIGHTS

Rao and Walker said Tuesday that the March 15 emergency order that Boasberg issued last year, which sought to halt the administration from immediately deporting the Venezuelan migrants, was too ambiguous to justify what they ruled was an “intrusive” investigation into high-level executive matters.

“The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy,” Rao and Walker said Tuesday. “These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion.”

J. Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, authored a sharp, 80-page dissent.

“Contempt of court is a public offense, and the fate of our democratic republic will depend on whether we treat it as such,” she said, adding: “Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands.”

TOP US COURT HANDS TRUMP A WIN ON DEPORTATIONS AS SCOTUS CHALLENGE LOOMS

The ruling is a significant victory for the Justice Department, which had asked the appeals court several times to halt the contempt inquiry into the Alien Enemies Act removals. Short of that, they asked the higher court to intervene and block the scheduled testimony of key government witnesses.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche praised the 2-1 ruling Tuesday afternoon on social media, signaling the outsize importance that the administration has placed on the inquiry, and on efforts to end the contempt probe.

“Today’s decision by the DC Circuit should finally end Judge Boasberg’s year-long campaign against the hardworking Department attorneys doing their jobs fighting illegal immigration,” he said on X.

Lawyers for the Trump administration argued last year that the contempt inquiry is an “idiosyncratic and misguided inquiry,” which they said falls outside the jurisdiction of the district court. The 2-1 majority ruling from the appeals court appears to support that contention. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE
 

Boasberg, for his part, has staunchly defended his efforts. “This inquiry is not some academic exercise,” he said in a ruling of his own last year. 

“The opinion is a blow to the rule of law,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, the lead counsel for plaintiffs, said Tuesday in response to the circuit court’s ruling. 

“Our system is built on the executive branch, including the president, respecting court orders,” he said. “In this case there is no longer any question that the Trump administration willfully violated the court’s order.”

The ACLU did not immediately indicate whether it planned to appeal the ruling to the full bench or the to the Supreme Court.

The newly blocked contempt inquiry had been expected to bring to the fore long-simmering tension between the Trump administration and the chief judge for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., whose oversight of the Alien Enemies Act case has put him squarely in Trump’s crosshairs. 

Trump’s remarks about Boasberg, including calls for his impeachment, prompted Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to issue a rare, public warning last year. 

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It is unclear if lawyers representing the class of Alien Enemies Act plaintiffs will challenge the D.C. Circuit’s ruling, though they do have options to do so. Lawyers can either seek review “en banc,” or from the full bench of appeals court judges, or kick the case back to the Supreme Court for review.

Residents in Fairfax County, Virginia expressed frustrations with a slew of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens in recent months while at the same time voicing skepticism over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“I’m not team ICE, but I do agree that if you’re out here committing crimes, then you don’t want to be here,” one respondent said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency at the heart of Trump’s detention and deportation efforts.

“So, I think they should leave the people that are just chilling alone, but if you’re out here committing crimes, yeah, you might have to go.”

In particular, residents raised alarm about cases like the murder of Stephanie Minter — a woman stabbed to death at a bus stop in February allegedly at the hands of an illegal alien from Sierra Leone — a repeat offender with a lengthy criminal history.

DHS SLAMS ‘INSANE’ 5-YEAR PLEA DEAL FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO ADMITTED FATAL STABBING IN VIRGINIA

Abdul Jalloh, 32, had been arrested more than 30 times, according to the Department of Homeland Security, but was still released by Virginia authorities.

To some, Minter’s death is a clear indicator of a need for reform.

“I’ll tell you this. Someone that’s been arrested 30 times and has been let back out and can commit a crime like this? Something has to change. Something is not working,” one Fairfax resident told Fox News Digital.

ICE PRESSURES SPANBERGER AS FAIRFAX MURDER SUSPECTS TRIGGER NEW DETAINERS IN ‘SANCTUARY’ CLASH

“If it’s the 30th time, I don’t know what justification they have for why they’re not sent back or given some sort of harsher punishment,” another said.

Fairfax County has made headlines for a string of murders similar to Minter’s case.

Earlier this month, authorities charged 28-year-old Guatemala native Misael Lopez Gomez with the murder of his 3-month-old daughter. His arrest comes on the heels of a separate attack by Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, 38, another Guatemalan man charged with fatally stabbing a man in his home.

ANGEL MOM RIPS SANCTUARY STATE AFTER DAUGHTER’S ALLEGED KILLER WALKED FREE

According to the Department of Homeland Security, three out of every four suspects charged with murder in Fairfax County are illegal aliens.

Other Fairfax residents approached by Fox News Digital said they believed the state needed to coordinate its law enforcement efforts more tightly.

“The new governor — she needs to do better to work with the Fairfax police department. It’s up to her too. She’s a new one,” a commentator said, referring to Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who assumed office in November.

DEM SENATOR WARNS DEPORTATION COULD LET VIRGINIA WOMAN’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLER ‘ESCAPE ACCOUNTABILITY’

While Spanberger has repeatedly said Virginia is not a sanctuary state, a state that prevents local law enforcement from partnering with federal immigration enforcement efforts, Spanberger rescinded local-federal coordination requirements as one of her first actions as governor.

She argued that Virginia’s resources would be better spent enforcing its own laws.

“Virginians have been deprived of critical public safety and local law enforcement to divert their limited resources for use in enforcing federal civil immigration laws,” Spanberger said in a press release.

MEET THE FAIRFAX KILLERS: TOP VIOLENT ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMINALS WREAKING HAVOC ON MAJOR AMERICAN SUBURB

“Federal authorities should enforce federal civil immigration laws — law enforcement in the Commonwealth should prioritize the safety and security of all residents in Virginia, the enforcement of local and state laws and coordination with federal entities on criminal matters,” she added.

Spanberger signed her executive order on Jan. 17 — the same day she took office.

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Although some residents said they had reservations about federal immigration policies, they suggested illegal aliens with criminal histories probably shouldn’t raise controversy.

“I do think that’s a good place to start. People that are committing crimes actively now, who are not supposed to be here? I mean, yeah. That’s reasonable,” another resident said.

A memo released by the Trump administration on Tuesday detailed a goal of having a nuclear reactor on the moon’s surface by 2030, a move that furthers the United States’ quest for supremacy in space over China and Russia.

In the six-page document, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy wrote that incorporating nuclear energy in space will be essential to advancing U.S. efforts in “space exploration, commerce, and defense applications.”

“Nuclear power in space will give us the sustained electricity, heating, and propulsion essential to a permanent presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy wrote on X.

SEN CYNTHIA LUMMIS: DON’T HAND CHINA THE NUCLEAR FUTURE — BUILD IT HERE AT HOME

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman celebrated the memo, which outlined how nuclear reactors will be crucial for eventual deep-space exploration to Mars.

“The time has come for America to get underway on nuclear power in space,” Isaacman wrote on X.

The memo cited President Donald Trump’s December 2025 executive order titled “Ensuring American Space Superiority.”

TRUMP WANTS A MOON LANDING BY 2028, SO WHY IS NASA ALREADY HEDGING?

It was signed just months after then-acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said on “Sean Hannity” that he wanted the U.S. to build a nuclear reactor on the moon before China does.

Last May, China and Russia agreed to work together to build a nuclear reactor on the moon’s surface by 2036.

The Department of War, Department of Energy, NASA and the Office of Science and Technology Policy have all been tasked with meeting the White House’s goals of deploying nuclear reactors on the moon’s surface and in the moon’s orbit.

TRUMP UNLEASHES NUCLEAR BOOM, POWERING AMERICA BACK TO ENERGY DOMINANCE

The memo outlines the Trump administration’s plan to deploy mid-power nuclear reactors in the moon’s orbit by 2028. Each nuclear power reactor will be designed to provide 20 kilowatts of energy, roughly the same amount used by an average American household.

The reactors will be designed to generate power for at least three years in orbit, and lunar surface-based nuclear reactors will provide energy for at least five years.

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The memo’s publication comes just two weeks after NASA launched Artemis II, the first lunar flyby in more than 50 years. The mission was designed to test the Orion spacecraft’s deep-space navigation, manual piloting capabilities and life-support systems.

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

One of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., closest friends in Congress said their tight-knit relationship “clouded his judgment” regarding rumors that swirled about the ex-lawmaker for years in Washington, D.C.

“Eric Swalwell lied to all of us,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said at an impromptu press conference in his office. “He lied to the most powerful people in this country and they trusted him. They trusted him with some of the most sensitive spots in our government, whether it was on Judiciary Committee, Intel Committee, impeaching Donald Trump.”

“And that clouded my judgment, my friendship with him,” he continued. “Our family’s friendship together with him clouded my judgment. And I was wrong. I deeply, deeply regret that.”

SWALWELL OUT AMID SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS AFTER 13 YEARS IN CONGRESS

It’s a sharp pivot for Gallego, given that the two had a familial-like relationship. Just last week, Gallego defended Swalwell online against allegations of misconduct, which he later said he regretted.

Their kids went to baseball camp together, they babysat one another’s children, and Gallego even jumped on board as national chair for Swalwell’s failed 2020 presidential bid.

But after a bombshell report from the San Francisco Chronicle alleged that Swalwell sexually assaulted a former staffer, his former friend is no longer sticking up for him.

SWALWELL’S ‘BEST FRIEND’ IN CONGRESS TURNS ON HIM AFTER BOMBSHELL ALLEGATIONS TORPEDO HIS POLITICAL CAREER

In the days since that report surfaced, five people in total have accused Swalwell of sexual misconduct or rape.

Gallego, while heaping blame on Swalwell and apologizing to his alleged victims, maintained that he had no knowledge of the alleged behavior. He noted, however, that rumors had circulated about Swalwell — and other past lawmakers — in the nation’s capital for years.

When pressed on the nature of those rumors, Gallego said Swalwell was “flirty,” but nothing along the lines of the allegations that sank his gubernatorial bid and congressional career — nor activity that “I would say would rise to the occasion that I would be able to, you know, not talk to his wife the next day and be able to look her in the eye.”

When allegations began to surface online at the onset of Swalwell’s gubernatorial run, Gallego said Swalwell “manipulated” him into believing it was a smear campaign similar to the one used against him during his 2024 Senate race against Kari Lake.

PELOSI, CALIFORNIA DEMS SLAM SWALWELL OVER BOMBSHELL SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS: ‘INDEFENSIBLE’

“He knew I came off a horrible race where I had to answer to my family. I have to answer accusations to best friends, to my kids. And he fed into that,” Gallego said. “He fed into it and I fell for it like everyone else. I fell for the lies. I regret it, but that’s what happened.”

The two spent significant time together — on official and private trips, on each other’s campaigns, and within the halls of Congress.

When asked how it was possible that neither he nor other lawmakers who had known Swalwell for years — including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — were aware, Gallego said “he became very good at being a predator.”

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“And he clearly preyed on these women in different positions. And he became extremely proficient at lying to us, lying to his family, lying to his community,” Gallego said. “You know, the nature of his job allowed him to travel. And we just did not fully understand … There’s just no way we could have seen any of this.”

Facing expulsion and a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of his conduct, Swalwell officially resigned from Congress on Tuesday.

While he apologized to his family and constituents, he doubled down against the accusations leveled against him.

“I will fight the serious false allegations made against me,” Swalwell wrote in his resignation letter. “However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

The Trump administration has fired multiple prosecutors who handled cases that resulted in prison sentences for pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, as the Justice Department moves to overhaul enforcement of the law.

The Justice Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that four prosecutors tied to those cases were dismissed, following a CBS News report on the firings.

The department’s rapid response account on X said the Justice Department “has terminated the employment of personnel responsible for weaponizing the FACE Act who still remained at the department.”

The personnel moves come after the Justice Department released a report Tuesday alleging the Biden administration “weaponized” federal law by selectively prosecuting pro-life activists under the FACE Act, which was designed to protect access to abortion clinics and pregnancy resource centers.

BIDEN PUSH TO REVIVE TED KENNEDY-ERA LAW NOW HAUNTS DEMOCRATS AS CHARGES LOOM IN MINNESOTA CHURCH RIOT

According to the report, based on a review of more than 700,000 internal records, prosecutors coordinated with abortion-rights groups to identify activists, sought harsher sentences for pro-life defendants and, in some cases, withheld evidence from defense attorneys.

“This department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs. The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”

The report also alleged prosecutors attempted to screen out jurors based on religious beliefs and, in some cases, pursued aggressive arrest tactics rather than allowing defendants to voluntarily surrender.

FINAL CHARGE DROPPED IN YEARSLONG HARRIS-ERA CASE AGAINST PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST

For instance, the report cited a case involving pro-life activist Mark Houck in which prosecutors declined a request for him to self-surrender and instead authorized an FBI arrest at his home.

Justice Department officials said sentencing recommendations for pro-life defendants averaged 26.8 months in prison, compared to 12.3 months for individuals accused of attacks on pro-life organizations.

The report argued FACE Act enforcement under the Biden administration was uneven, with authorities prioritizing cases involving abortion clinics while failing to adequately pursue attacks on pregnancy resource centers and churches.

MINNESOTA AG KEITH ELLISON DENIES DON LEMON, ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS VIOLATED FACE ACT AS DOJ MULLS CHARGES

Assistant Attorney General Daniel Burrows said the findings raised serious concerns about department attorneys.

“The behavior unearthed in this report is shameful,” Burrows said, adding that some prosecutors “withheld evidence” and worked to exclude religious jurors.

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The Trump administration has already taken steps to reverse course, including issuing pardons for pro-life activists convicted under the prior administration, dismissing several civil cases and limiting future FACE Act prosecutions to “extraordinary circumstances.”

The FACE Act, passed in 1994, prohibits the use of force, threats or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health services.

Erika Kirk canceled her planned appearance at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia on Tuesday after receiving what organizers described as “very serious threats.”

JUDGE DISMISSES DEFENSE PUSH TO REMOVE PROSECUTORS FROM CHARLIE KIRK MURDER CASE

Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said Erika Kirk, wife of late conservative icon Charlie Kirk, received “some very serious threats in her direction,” prompting her absence from the event in Athens, Georgia.

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Vice President JD Vance said he had been concerned the event might be canceled and spoke with the Secret Service, adding he told Kirk to “do what she needs to do for her and her family.”

News that now-former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., would abandon his California gubernatorial bid in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations on Sunday didn’t prevent Senate lawmakers on Monday from demanding that the embattled congressman go one step further and resign.

“I do,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., said plainly when asked if Swalwell should step down from the House of Representatives.

“Yes,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., answered.

But even as lawmakers began weighing in, Swalwell said he had decided to yield to the pressure. He announced plans to leave office, even while pushing back on claims of abuse, harassment and even rape.

ERIC SWALWELL FACES MANHATTAN SEX ASSAULT PROBE AFTER ENDING CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN AMID ALLEGATIONS

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make,” Swalwell said in a statement.

To Sen. Jeane Shaheen, D-N.H., the deciding pressure point likely came from his district.

“I think he must have heard from his constituents and he responded to that,” Sen. Jeane Shaheen, D-N.H., said.

Bombshell reporting from CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle last Friday recounted allegations from several women, providing detailed accounts of how Swalwell had pursued intoxicated women, pressured employees into intimate situations and asked for explicit images from female contacts.

SWALWELL’S FALL FROM GRACE SPARKS DEMOCRAT RUSH TO RETURN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AMID SCRUTINY

The story prompted several lawmakers across both chambers to demand Swalwell’s resignation.

In the hours ahead of Swalwell’s resignation announcement, senators voiced alarm at the detailed accounts and their sources.

“They sound extraordinarily serious and I think — I don’t know Mr. Swalwell, but I do think when you have this many people who know him well, [making accusations] he should go,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said.

Ahead of his resignation, Swalwell had faced a potential expulsion resolution, a vote that, if successful, would have stripped him of his seat.

Despite his ultimate decision to step away, Swalwell condemned the effort.

PELOSI DISTANCES HERSELF FROM ALLY SWALWELL AMID SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS

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“I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress,” Swalwell said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom must announce a special election to fill Swalwell’s seat within 14 days, according to California state law. Once announced, the election must be held within 140 days.

One of the Democratic Party’s rising star governors, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, is being slammed for signing a bill to award the state’s presidential electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.

The bill signed by Spanberger adds Virginia to the National Popular Vote Compact, an interstate agreement between states to award the entirety of their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. Virginia Republicans railed against the bill, arguing it makes the state’s votes “NULL AND VOID.”

This comes as Spanberger, who was recently selected to deliver the Democrats’ response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, has seen her approval ratings plummet. Critics have accused her of abandoning her centrist campaign message to advance far-left policies.

Criticisms of Spanberger erupted anew after news broke that Spanberger had approved the bill. The Virginia Republican Party posted on X that “fake Moderate Spanberger just signed a bill to render Virginians’ vote for president NULL AND VOID!”

SOROS-BACKED GROUP AMONG LIBERAL ORGS PUMPING EYE-POPPING CASH INTO VIRGINIA GERRYMANDERING EFFORT

The GOP said that under the bill, “all of Virginia’s Electoral College votes will go to the winner of the national popular vote — no matter who wins the popular vote in our Commonwealth.”

The party called the move “an unconstitutional assault on our democracy.”

However, Spanberger won praise from groups that oppose the Electoral College. Stand Up America, a progressive voting rights organization, hailed the move, with Executive Director Christina Harvey calling it “an important step forward for representative democracy.”

“Virginia has set another powerful example for other states of how to stand up for representative democracy even as they come under increasing pressure from the Trump administration,” said Harvey, adding, “The presidency should be won by the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide—not just the right combination of battleground states.”

She said, “this brings us one step closer to a system where Americans’ votes for President and Vice President count equally, no matter where they live.”

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact operates on a conditional trigger that keeps the law dormant until it can guarantee a victory for the national popular vote winner. While member states pass the legislation individually, the compact only activates when the total electoral weight of all participating states reaches a majority of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes.

With Virginia officially joining, the compact currently sits at 222 electoral votes, meaning it remains 48 votes short of the threshold.

SPANBERGER DENIES ‘DEAL’ WITH SWING-DISTRICT DEMOCRAT AS GERRYMANDERING CLAIMS ABOUND STATEWIDE

Until that 270-vote mark is met, the law has no effect, and member states continue to award their electors based on their own internal state results.

National Popular Vote, the organization advancing the compact, also celebrated Virginia being added, saying in a statement that the compact “will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

Patrick Rosenstiel, a spokesperson for National Popular Vote, told Fox News Digital he is “grateful” to Spanberger and the Virginia Legislature, saying “their support builds critical momentum for our movement to give 63 percent of American voters what they want, a national popular vote for President.”

“With Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, the National Popular Vote Compact is 48 electoral votes short of reaching the 270 required to activate it,” Rosenstiel noted, adding, “We’ll continue our state-by-state work until the candidate who wins the most popular votes is elected president and every voter is treated equally in every presidential election.”

The group noted that similar bills have been introduced in Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, no voter will have their vote cancelled out at the state-level because their choice differed from plurality sentiment in their state. Instead, every voter’s vote will be added directly—without distortion—into the national count for the candidate of their choice. This will ensure that every Virginia voter is relevant in presidential elections moving forward.

Spanberger has also recently been accused by former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin of “illegal and unconstitutional” gerrymandering amid her push to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps.

Virginians will vote April 21 on Spanberger’s redistricting referendum, a move that Youngkin said would give Democrats 10 of the state’s 11 congressional seats.

Spanberger signed hundreds of bills passed by the majority-Democratic legislature on Monday. She also vetoed a few bills relating to unregulated skill-gaming machines and a proposed Fairfax County casino and sent back dozens with proposed amendments.

VIRGINIA DEM ADMITS REDISTRICTING PUSH AIMS TO ‘STOP TRUMP’, NOT ABOUT ‘FAIRNESS’

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Among the bills that Spanberger signaled support for with proposed amendments was a slate of new restrictions on gun ownership, including a ban on “assault weapons,” as well as restricting law enforcement from assisting with immigration enforcement.

Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger’s office for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer request for an illegal migrant in Oklahoma who is charged with murder for allegedly strangling his wife to death and dumping her body near a highway. 

Willie Ricardo Merida‑Escobar, 40, was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, Karla Gramajo-Cabrera, in Tulsa County, on April 10. Merida-Escobar, a Guatemalan national, entered the country illegally in September 2016 and was issued a final order of removal in 2023, according to DHS. 

“Willie Ricardo Merida‑Escobar, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, strangled his wife and dumped her body under a highway in Oklahoma. This monster should have never been in our country,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

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“ICE lodged an arrest detainer with our law enforcement partners in Tulsa County to ensure this sick individual is not released from custody. 7 of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE,” Bis added. “Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the U.S.”

According to NewsOn6, Gramajo-Cabrera was reported missing by her sister, prompting an investigation into her disappearance. 

Police noted a pattern of suspicious activity and domestic violence from her husband, Merida-Escobar, and after Escobar was taken into custody, the Guatemalan national confessed to the murder of his wife.

Local police told NewsOn6 that the couple’s 17-year-old son was asleep in the home during the time when Merida-Escobar allegedly strangled his wife on April 8.

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Merida-Escobar also told police he couldn’t pinpoint the location where he dumped his wife’s body, though she eventually was located under a mattress near a highway after further investigation using phone data and further questioning, according to NewsOn6.
According to DHS, an argument took place between the two where Merida-Escobar’s wife insulted him before he allegedly strangled her to death.

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Oklahoma, unlike some “sanctuary” states and jurisdictions, has the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to work with ICE and federal immigration officers to refer illegal migrant criminals to the agency for deportation proceedings. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on whether Merida-Escobar would be considered under the program to be processed for removal but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

A 110-foot Ferris wheel, state pavilions and patriotic festivities are coming to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as part of a 16-day “Great American State Fair” marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.

“As our nation prepares to celebrate 250 years of freedom and opportunity, the National Mall will once again serve as the stage for telling our nation’s story. Thanks to President Donald J. Trump’s leadership,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a release. “The Great American State Fair will bring all 50 states and six territories together in one place, showcasing the people, landscapes, and traditions that define this country,” he said.

Organizers announced the event Tuesday, saying the fair will bring together all 50 states and six U.S. territories for a national celebration stretching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

Freedom250, the nonpartisan group helping coordinate the broader America250 effort, said the fair will feature food, games, exhibits and themed attractions designed to showcase the country’s culture, history and innovation.

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A newly released rendering offered a bird’s-eye view of the planned fairgrounds, including the Ferris wheel, while organizers also said the refurbished Smithsonian carousel will be part of the celebration.

Every state and the six territories of the U.S. were extended an invitation by the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

“Bound together by a shared promise, our nation is a union of diverse states and territories — distinct in character, united in purpose, and driven by the enduring pursuit of freedom,” said Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach.

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Krach added, “this summer, the Great American State Fair will bring that spirit to life on the National Mall, celebrating the ingenuity, perseverance, and pride that define America as we come together to mark the nation’s 250th.”

The World’s Fair-scale event will have pavilions touching on five national themes: Made in America, American Heartland, American Innovates, The American Canvas, and Faith & Family.

There will also be celebrations for Military Appreciation Day, Wings of Freedom, The Next 250, and more.

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The U.S. has hosted over two dozen variations of the World’s Fair since first hosted in Philadelphia in 1876, according to the State Department.

The fair will kick off on Thursday, June 25 for “The American Canon: Opening Day” which will launch the event as a national exposition.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, who announced he will resign from Congress on Monday, is facing mounting criticism over a series of sexual misconduct allegations, but another, decade-old scandal over the California Democrat’s ties to a suspected Chinese spy has also been revived amid reports the FBI is weighing whether to release documents on the matter.

The sexual misconduct claims, including from a former Swalwell staffer, have renewed scrutiny of the congressman’s past ties to suspected Chinese operative Christine Fang as critics and social media commentators demand the FBI release files related to Fang.

Article III Project President Mike Davis, a vocal Trump ally, said Congress must vote to release the investigative files — similar to how it voted to release Jeffrey Epstein’s case files — saying the FBI was legally barred from doing it without the legislative branch’s approval.

“It’s time for Congress to vote to release Eric Swalwell’s FBI file, which we must presume exists after his affair with a Chinese spy,” Davis wrote on X. “His counter-intelligence risks must be staggering.”

CALIFORNIA REPORTER CLAIMS ERIC SWALWELL’S CONDUCT ‘WAS KNOWN,’ RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT LOCAL SUPPORT

ERIC SWALWELL ACCUSED OF PAYING NANNY WITH CAMPAIGN FUNDS WHILE SHE LACKED WORK AUTHORIZATION

Right-wing social media influencers with large followings have also piled on in the wake of the new misconduct claims against Swalwell.

“He needs to face legal consequences,” wrote Eric Daugherty. “Removal from public office is the bare minimum. And release the Fang Fang files. Don’t hold back.”

“Release the Fang Fang Files !!!” wrote influencer Catturd.

DEM SENATOR RIPPED FOR ‘SMEAR’ OF FEMALE ACTIVIST ADVOCATING FOR SWALWELL’S ACCUSERS: ‘VERY BAD LOOK’

Swalwell has denied the new sexual misconduct allegations, calling them “absolutely false” in a video statement.

The claims against Swalwell, who was one of the leading Democratic California gubernatorial candidates before ending his campaign, came on the heels of The Washington Post reporting in March that the FBI was mulling releasing redacted investigative files related to Swalwell’s prior ties to Fang. 

Axios reported in 2020 that Fang, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, aimed to develop ties with California politicians, including Swalwell. Fang fled the country and never faced charges.

Swalwell sent a cease-and-desist letter to FBI Director Kash Patel upon news that the FBI was weighing a file release, suggesting it would violate his First Amendment rights, a federal statute about records releases and a Department of Justice internal policy. In response to the legal threat, the FBI said in a statement to Fox News Digital that file reviews were normal.

“This FBI, being the most transparent in history, prepares documents for numerous different reasons, including for release to different agencies and departments to further review investigations that may have been opened under previous administrations,” an FBI spokesperson said.

After Swalwell announced he would resign from Congress, Patel, his longtime political foe, called on the public to submit tips to the bureau about Swalwell and invited the California Democrat to meet for an interview.

Erica Knight, a Patel spokeswoman, suggested Swalwell had a hypocritical view of federal investigative files, alluding to Democrats’ demands for documents related to Epstein’s sex trafficking cases.

“Democrats said releasing files = transparency and accountability. Now Democrats say releasing files = weaponization and smear campaigns,” Knight wrote on X. “The only variable that changed is whose name is in the file.”

SENATE DEMOCRAT AVOIDS ANSWERING WHETHER SWALWELL SHOULD RESIGN FROM CONGRESS

Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for an update on the status of the Fang files and reached out to the DOJ about Swalwell’s legal threat.

Swalwell has been dogged by his past ties with Fang for years despite never facing charges over the matter. Swalwell cut ties with Fang in 2015 after he was alerted by the FBI about her, he has previously said. 

The DOJ brought no charges against him and the House Ethics Committee found no evidence of wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part, according to a published letter the panel wrote to Swalwell in 2023 saying it had concluded a two-year investigation.

The committee announced Monday it opened a new investigation into Swalwell based on what it said were “allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision.”

Swalwell suspended his gubernatorial campaign on Sunday and announced he would resign from Congress on Monday following a San Francisco Chronicle report detailing allegations from a former staffer who accused him of assaulting her twice while she was allegedly too intoxicated to consent to relations with him. 

When news broke of his alleged misconduct with women, some immediately raised Swalwell’s ties to Fang.

“Wait is this the Fang Fang guy?” asked Barstool Sports President David Portnoy.

Swalwell has defended his association with Fang, saying in a CNN interview in 2020 that he was “shocked” when authorities told him about her. He said he offered to cooperate with the FBI at the time.

In response to the report last month that the FBI was considering releasing the investigative files, Swalwell also put out a public statement accusing the bureau of attempting to interfere with his now-terminated gubernatorial campaign.

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“Through great reporting, we now know the outrageous ends the White House will go to target political opponents,” Swalwell had said. “The reason Trump is so desperately trying to stop me is not because I’m running for Governor of California but because now I’m the favorite.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell’s office for comment.

A two-month legal battle over an iconic symbol of the LGBTQ+ movement has ended, with a settlement approving its restoration and New York City’s mayor hailing the decision as a “victory.”

The Trump administration agreed under a settlement on Monday to restore the Pride flag to Stonewall National Monument’s federal flagpole within seven days and maintain it there, removing it only for maintenance or other practical purposes. A judge approved the agreement, resolving the dispute over the flag’s removal.

The Stonewall National Monument was first designated by President Barack Obama in 2016, protecting the Stonewall Inn in New York City as a historic site – becoming the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ history. 

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The ruling reins in the Trump administration’s push to eliminate diversity-related programs across national parks, after the flag’s removal in February sparked protests from Democratic leaders and activists and escalated into a broader political flashpoint.

“This is a victory for the LGBTQ+ community and for our entire city,” wrote Mayor Zohran Mamdani in an X on Monday. “It’s a reminder that New Yorkers won’t let our history be rewritten.”

He added that, “Our administration will keep working to ensure LGBTQ+ New Yorkers can live safely and with dignity in our city.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office for comment on Tuesday. 

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At the time of the flag removal, Mamdani said he was “outraged,” calling for the country to live up to the legacy the Stonewall Inn represents, while a Department of Interior spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that “city leaders seem more focused on theatrics than solutions.”

“Hundreds of families in New York City went without power during this year’s severe cold weather, people are being found dead on the streets, and trash has piled up so high it towers over city residents. This is Mayor Mamdani and city officials’ New York City,” the spokesperson said at the time.

They added, “it would be a better use of their time to get the trash buildup off city streets, ensure there are no more avoidable deaths, and work to keep the power on for the people of New York City.”

The Washington Litigation Group (WLG), which initiated legal proceedings, announced the agreement through a press release, writing, the decision “confirms that the Pride flag falls within the law and NPS policy.”

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“The government has acknowledged what we argued from day one: the Pride flag belongs at Stonewall,” wrote WLG lead counsel Alexander Kristofcak. “The flag will be restored and it will fly officially and permanently. And we will remain vigilant to ensure that the government sticks to the deal.”

Fox News Digital reached out to WLG for additional comment. 

“The removal of the Pride flag from Stonewall was an attempt to erase LGBTQ+ history and undermine the rule of law,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation. “This settlement restores both.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated the decision on X, writing, “the administration was forced to settle and heed our demands that the pride flag at Stonewall National Monument will always fly freely and proudly.”

In December, National Park Service (NPS) units were instructed to purge gift stores at parks, removing any items that promote DEI and gender ideological extremism.

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Many NPS gift shops are located in visitor centers, which are common in major parks. Some can be found in smaller or remote parks.

Most shops are run by nonprofit partners of the NPS, with funds benefiting visitors and the parks.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday invited Rep. Eric Swalwell to sit down with the bureau for an interview after the California Democrat resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations, escalating the pair’s long-running feud.

Patel’s offer came as Swalwell said he planned to resign from Congress while facing mounting scrutiny following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including a claim from a former aide who said he assaulted her. Swalwell has denied the allegations, while separate ethics and criminal probes are underway.

Patel also urged anyone with relevant information to come forward.

“@EricSwalwell has maintained that none of the allegations against him are true, and now that he’s resigned, we would welcome him to sit down with the FBI and share any information he has,” Patel wrote on X. “We also encourage and welcome any person with relevant information to any of these matters to speak with us. Door is open to all.”

‘SMART DECISION’: SWALWELL’S RESIGNATION SPURS PRAISE FROM BOTH PARTIES AFTER BOMBSHELL ALLEGATIONS EMERGE

Patel introducing potential federal exposure for Swalwell, a seven-term congressman and a leading California gubernatorial candidate before he dropped out of the race, comes after the pair served on opposite sides of the House Intelligence Committee during the height of the probes into whether President Donald Trump‘s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

ERIC SWALWELL FACES MANHATTAN SEX ASSAULT PROBE AFTER ENDING CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN AMID ALLEGATIONS

Patel, formerly a senior aide on the committee, wrote a book titled “Government Gangsters” in which he listed out dozens of members of the so-called deep state. He noted in the book that the list was not exhaustive and omitted “corrupt actors of the first order such as Congressmen Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell.”

Patel spokeswoman Erica Knight revived remarks from a viral spat between Swalwell and Patel last year during a congressional hearing.

“Director Patel: ‘I’m gonna borrow your terminology and call bull—- on your entire career in Congress. It has been a disgrace to the American people.’ [2013-2026],” Knight wrote, quoting Patel’s exchange with Swalwell.

SWALWELL ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION FROM CONGRESS AFTER SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS TORPEDOED GUBERNATORIAL BID

Patel last month ordered a review of decade-old FBI files concerning Swalwell’s past association with accused Chinese spy Christine Fang, a move Swalwell’s lawyers characterized in a letter as an “extraordinary use of FBI resources to target a political enemy.”

Swalwell has had hostile relationships with many Republicans. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stripped Swalwell of his intel committee seat in 2023, saying at the time that he was untrustworthy and so “we’re not going to provide him with the secrets to America.”

Swalwell suspended his gubernatorial campaign over the weekend following a San Francisco Chronicle report detailing allegations from a former staffer who accused him of assaulting her on two occasions while she was allegedly too intoxicated to consent to relations with him. 

The House Ethics Committee announced Monday it opened an investigation into Swalwell, while the Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed it had opened a criminal investigation into him.

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Swalwell has denied what he said are the “serious, false allegations” against him but has still also apologized in recent statements for unspecified “mistakes” he has made.

Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell’s office and the FBI for comment.

Republicans are escalating attacks on Iowa Democratic candidate Sarah Trone Garriott by pointing to her past op-eds — including her defense of a Wiccan-led statehouse prayer in which she argued “Jesus engaged with Pagans” — in a high-stakes race for a GOP-held district.

Democratic congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran minister who is vying for the battleground seat held by Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, penned an op-ed in the Des Moines Register in 2015 criticizing Christian lawmakers who boycotted a Wiccan-led statehouse prayer. This writing and others, including another op-ed in which she shared how the 9/11 terrorist attacks made her “more aware of the rising anti-Muslim bigotry and its harm,” have become the target of GOP attacks as the Republicans ramp up efforts to defend their House majority.

“Sarah Trone Garriott is once again wagging her finger at Iowans for not being woke enough and embracing her coastal elite Harvard values,” RNC spokesman Zachary Kraft said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Trone Garriott better hope those spells and potions work if her campaign strategy is to oppose men in women’s sports and embrace neopagan witchcraft.” 

Garriott’s 2015 opinion piece titled, ‘Look closely at scripture before acting in faith,’ blasted Iowa lawmakers for skipping the prayer led by a self-described “cabot witch,” saying they didn’t “look closely and honestly” at Christian Holy Scriptures when deciding to boycott.

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A spokesperson for Garriott shared in a statement to Fox News Digital that the message behind her opinion piece was to call on her fellow Christians to love everyone, including Pagans.

“As Sarah said, her faith in God calls her to follow Jesus’ example of loving one’s neighbor and spreading His grace to everyone, including those whose belief systems are fundamentally different from her own Christianity,” a spokesperson for Garriott said. “Scripture teaches Jesus’ unconditional grace, and that’s the belief that grounds Sarah’s life and ministry.” 

Wicca is a modern pagan tradition in which members worship a Goddess and God and engage in witchcraft and rituals. One Iowa House member who boycotted told the Des Moines Register at the time that he felt uncomfortable “seeking guidance from the occult.”

Another lawmaker told the Des Moines Register he attended the invocation but turned his back in protest, saying he asked himself what Jesus would do and felt compelled to act in that way.

“Clearly, Christian elected officials should be asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ when it comes to matters of budget and public safety,” Garriott wrote. “But at the least, as a Christian, I would appreciate it if they would actually consult the recorded witness of Jesus’ life and teaching before claiming to act in his name.”

WARNOCK LIKENS PRO-TRUMP CHRISTIAN LEADERS TO THOSE WHO USED SCRIPTURE TO DEFEND SLAVERY

Garriott wrote that “Christians specifically” should be aware that Jesus interacted with pagans throughout the New Testament, noting that Jesus always acted from “a place of kindness and compassion,” and that he “did not turn his back” on the pagans he met.

She listed Mark 7:24-30, Luke 8:26-39, Matthew 15:21-28 and John 4:5-38 as examples of Jesus interacting with pagans. In those passages, Jesus is depicted interacting with non-Jews but not participating in their religious practices.

Garriott next suggested that Jesus Christ was more concerned with the behavior of Christians than with pagans.

“Instead, it was the hypocrisy of those of his own religious community that Jesus protested — and not silently,” Garriott wrote.

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Nunn’s spokesperson Mark Matava weighed in, arguing the opinion piece is just another example of Garriott’s “preachy” radical views.

“Sarah Trone Garriott has been lecturing Iowans for over a decade,” Matava said. “Choose a Christian school for your kids and she calls it segregation. Stand up for your daughter in sports and she calls it sexism. Walk out of a witchcraft invocation and she calls it bigotry.”

Garriott has previously criticized the display of Christian symbols in political spaces, arguing America is “not a Christian nation,” but “it’s a nation for all of us,” in remarks before her congregation.

In early April, RNC Research posted on X a clip of Garriott speaking in which she shared the “uncomfortable ways” in which Christianity was showing up in politics. She argued that the conflation of the American flag and cross is an example of how Christianity has become “threatening.”

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In another clip posted by RNC Research, Garriott talked about how Iowa has “a long way to go” to ensure that Iowans are truly represented.

“It’s mostly white, mostly Christian, mostly older men,” Garriott said. “We have tremendous opportunities to get different kinds of people who represent our community into those leadership positions.”

Democrats are ramping up their battle against President Donald Trump’s planned installation of the Memorial Circle arch, pairing heated attacks with a legal push to stop the project in court.

“Democrats are opposed to anything that celebrates the greatness of our Country because they are America last losers,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday. “The Triumphal Arch in Memorial Circle is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world.”

Democratic lawmakers are ramping up opposition to President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot arch, questioning its cost and symbolism after the design’s unveiling Friday, as legal challenges to presidential authority continue to play out. 

“While you worry about healthcare and the price of gas [because] of Trump’s war, he’s busy designing a 250-foot arch he’s calling the ‘Arc d’Trump’ #allabouthim,” Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed posted on X.

WHITE HOUSE FIRES BACK AT CRITICS CALLING TRUMP’S MASSIVE ARCH ‘TOO BIG’

“Your taxes might be going up. But don’t worry — at least $15 million of it is going toward Trump’s arch project,” posted California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Press Office on X. 

Meanwhile, California’s long-troubled high-speed rail project was approved in 2008 at an initial $33 billion price tag before ballooning to $126 billion in expected costs this year. The Department of Transportation canceled billions of dollars in federal grants for the project in the summer of 2025, citing it did not have a viable path forward for completion. 

“A gold inscription reading ‘One Nation Under God’? That phrase came from Cold War propaganda, not our Founders,” California representative Jared Huffman wrote on X. “They built this country on freedom FROM religious tyranny. They wrote the First Amendment to keep religion out of the government.”

He added, “Trump stamping it in gold on his vanity arch tells you everything about what this project is: a Christian Nationalist monument, paid for with your tax dollars.”

FEDERAL JUDGE QUESTIONS TRUMP AUTHORITY ON WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT

Huffman, along with other Democrat lawmakers, filed a court brief challenging the project last month, arguing that the president cannot erect the monument on federal land without congressional approval. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Huffman’s office for comment.

“Permitting that Arch to be built without appropriate congressional authorization and review could lead to the unchecked proliferation of monuments, the erosion of public space, and serious constraints on future generations’ ability to memorialize their own losses and achievements,” the amicus brief reads.

TRUMP SAYS IT ‘IS TOO LATE’ TO STOP THE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION AMID LAWSUIT

President Trump has been on a mission to fulfill last year’s Executive Order titled, “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.”

“I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN! Before the tents, squalor, filth, and crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the world. It will soon be that again,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in August.

The released designs show a golden, winged Lady Liberty-style figure atop the arch flanked by two bald eagles crowning the monument. Underneath the sculptures across the top of the arch, “ONE NATION UNDER GOD
 is written in gold. The back of the arch has a matching emblem, saying “LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.”

The arch is proposed to sit near the Lincoln Memorial at a roundabout between Memorial Bridge and Memorial Avenue near the Arlington Cemetery Metro Stop.

“It will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike, serving as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by so many American heroes throughout our 250 year history so we can enjoy our freedoms today,” Ingle continued in his comment to Fox News Digital.  

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The legal threats and fiery rhetoric aimed at the upcoming arch echos a broader wave of Democratic backlash to recent Trump-linked cultural and construction moves.

In December, Democrats erupted in outrage over the renaming of the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

Ohio representative Joyce Beatty, along with other plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit to reverse the rebranding of “The Trump-Kennedy Center” and prevent the planned two-year closure.

The $400 million White House ballroom is navigating a legal battle after the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in December claiming Trump exceeded his authority when he demolished the dated East Wing. 

An appeals court ruled on Saturday that the renovation can continue until Friday, giving the President time to seek a Supreme Court review.

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to slash six figures from the cost of a new home by rooting out cumbersome regulations at the state and local level, which he said will make homeownership more affordable for Americans.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., wants to gut the so-called “bureaucrat tax,” which piles on regulations that amount to nearly $100,000 in added costs when building single-family homes, in order to expand the housing supply in the country and lower the barrier to entry for buying a home.

He’s introducing the Freedom to Build Act, which would create a designation of the same name that would open up a flow of federal grants to builders and communities that would offset construction costs and incentivize deregulation along the way.

TRUMP-BACKED AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERHAUL CLEARS SENATE, WHILE HOUSE GOP RAISES RED FLAGS

But it’s not a federal mandate to spur deregulation. Instead, communities could opt into the Freedom to Build designation, which would, in turn, put those locales at the front of the line for federal grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“For many Americans, the dream of owning a home is increasingly out of reach, and excessive regulations have made new homes too costly for many American families,” Hagerty said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “My Freedom to Build Act streamlines costly and often redundant regulations to reduce the cost of a new home in our country.”

Hagerty’s legislation follows the newly released Economic Report of the President, which lamented the so-called bureaucrat tax and its effect on the construction of single-family homes. It described the bureaucrat tax as a barrier to building and homeownership because of the addition of “California-style fees, mandates, regulations, and red tape in many states and localities.”

BIPARTISAN HOUSING PUSH ADVANCES, BUT TRUMP-BACKED INVESTOR BAN FACES RESISTANCE

The report contended that home prices rose sharply during a period of low interest rates between 2012 and 2021 because of “strong demand running up against a wall of tight supply due to bureaucratic costs and delays that function like a six-figure ‘bureaucrat tax’ on the cost of building a new home.”

The report also found that the bureaucrat tax constituted between 24% and 29% of the cost of a new home, and that the cumbersome regulations not only add to the cost of building a new home but also slow down the construction of a single-family home.

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“Put even more concretely, the bureaucrat tax adds over $100,000 to the cost of a new single-family home,” according to the Economic Report of the President.

“Reform at the state and local levels to tackle the sources of the six-figure bureaucrat tax would greatly enhance the ability of supply to keep up with stronger demand,” the report continued.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed a massive affordable housing package backed by President Donald Trump last month.

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The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which easily sailed through the upper chamber on a bipartisan vote, is geared toward helping first-time homebuyers and lower-income Americans enter the housing market or gain access to more affordable housing options.

It also includes Trump’s push for a ban on institutional investors buying up homes. Still, the bill has not moved in the lower chamber, where lawmakers are frustrated with some of the tweaks made in the Senate, including the institutional investor ban.

Abdul El-Sayed’s refusal to distance himself from controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker has intensified claims that the Michigan Senate candidate is an extremist.

As El-Sayed’s campaign continues, Fox News Digital uncovered even more ties to radical socialist activists, such as a pro-Maduro organizer and other far-left figures, whose support is now becoming a political liability. 

For example, El-Sayed recently touted an endorsement from Tom Burke, the longtime executive leader of a group that hopes to build a new Communist Party in America and a publicly pro-Nicolas Maduro activist who regularly travels to Venezuela. He was just in New York protesting Maduro’s imprisonment on narco-terroism charges, visited Caracas in 2022 to attend the party convention of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, the ruling party of Venezuela at the time led by Maduro, and, in 2020, he met with top officials from the country’s elections agency that has been accused of rigging elections under Maduro. 

Meanwhile, El-Sayed just held a fundraiser with Anas ‘Andy’ Shallal as well. Shallal has publicly praised Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Assata Shakur, of the Black Liberation Movement, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey State Trooper during a shootout with fellow activists. El-Sayed has also received donations from Marxisim expert Robert Meister and Brooklyn professor, Nancy Romer, who has lambasted the United States’ “savage capitalism.” 

MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ABDUL EL-SAYED TAKES HEAT FOR KHAMENEI COMMENTS, HASAN PIKER EVENT

Fox News Digital reported last month that El-Sayed was among a slew of Michigan candidates and politicians who had received donations and were pictured with a radical Michigan-based Imam on his social media pages who eulogized and held formal events honoring the death of Ayatollah Khamenei after he was taken out by U.S. forces in February.

“Abdul El-Sayed cannot win a general election in Michigan, full stop,” a longtime Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital in response to this reporting. “This is a candidate who spent years calling police ‘standing armies we deploy against our own people,’ posted more than a dozen times in support of defunding the police, and then deleted his entire social media history the moment he decided to run statewide, hoping Michigan voters wouldn’t notice. They will notice. And so will Mike Rogers.”

As a gubernatorial candidate in Michigan in 2018, El-Sayed said that he “share[s] a lot of ideals” with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and, since 2019, El-Sayed has spoken at, or attended, at least five DSA-organized or sponsored events, according to public reporting and social media posts.

El-Sayed’s remarks came after he was asked whether he had sought out any endorsements from the country’s national socialist movement – DSA – while running for governor. El-Sayed responded that he doesn’t like labels but shares a lot of “ideals” with the group.

“We’ve had great conversations, and we share a lot of ideals, [but] I don’t like labels,” El-Sayed responded to the question. “I come from that world, where we pick our words very carefully and very thoughtfully. And I think that the term ‘socialism’ is too slippery of a word right now, and it evokes too many different things to too many different people.”

“I think for a millennial the word ‘socialism’ is spelled with a lower-case ‘s,’ and it implies an engagement of government in some of the most important aspects of our lives to ensure and address a level of equity that we have not had,” he continued. “And then, I think for people who are over the age of sixty, it implies a history that was some of the most fearful in their lives. And I think because it evokes different meanings politically, it’s just not a useful term.”

Last month, El-Sayed touted an endorsement from IATSE Local 26, with Burke quoted as the union president. Burke, a decades-long socialist leader, is the organizational secretary at the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which describes itself as aiming to start a new Communist Party in the United States. Burke has also proven himself to be a loyal supporter of Venezuela’s Maduro and his political party. Maduro was recently captured by the Trump administration and sent to court on narco-terrorism charges, which Burke has described as “disgraceful” acts by the military at Trump’s direction. 

Burke has slammed the U.S. efforts in Venezuela as amounting to the same sort of regime change efforts seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Meanwhile, Burke travels to Venezuela frequently, according to publicly posted summaries and photos of his trips, including in 2022 when he attended the political convention for Maduro’s ruling party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, and in 2020, when he met with the president of Venezuela’s elections agency, which has been accused of interfering in the country’s elections. 

Burke can be seen in photos alongside other individuals who met with the Maduro-backing Bolivarian Militia, and photos Fox News could not independently verify showed Burke at a 2020 protest in Caracas next to Bolivarian militiamen that involved both pro-government and anti-government forces and ultimately became violent. 

Despite Maduro’s fall from grace and praise following his departure, Burke said during a radio interview in 2023 that Maduro was “very popular with people.”

“We want social change that builds upon the civil rights movement and the women’s liberation movement, the LGBTQ movements of the 70s and 80s, and especially the labor movement,” Burke recently said in an interview with Fight Back! Radio several weeks ago. “We want to build up those movements to create a new society from the ashes of the one that the billionaires are destroying.”

El-Sayed also campaigned just recently alongside Shallal, a wealthy Iraqi-American business owner and entrepreneur, according to a web page advertising the event that included a domain belonging to the Democratic Party’s ActBlue fundraising arm. Shallal has praised and commemorated radical far-left individuals, like communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro and radical American activist Assata Shakur, known for killing a state trooper in a gunfight with other activists, being sentenced to life, and then fleeing to Cuba.

“Fidel Castro was a bigger than life figure whose impact reached far beyond his beloved country, Cuba,” he wrote on Instagram in November. In February, Shallal also posted a letter from American activist Alice Walker praising Castro. Shallal visited the Cuban embassy as recently as last year, posting about it on social media in front of a statue at the embassy of Cuban political figure Jose Marti. 

In addition to Burke and Shallal, El-Sayed accepted support from radical socialist professor Nancy Romer and Marxism philosopher Robert Meister, who both have donated to his campaign. 

Romer has lambasted America’s “savage capitalism,” and claims she helped bring about a statewide Michigan chapter of the Human Rights Party decades ago, which historical reports show was often far-left of traditional Democrats and circumvented orthodox Democratic Party priorities. 

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Meister, who has donated thousands to El-Sayed, is a Marxism expert who has posited that the Soviet Empire helped prevent anti-Imperialist movements from being squelched during the Cold War era and has written books on how to apply Marxism in the current political environment. Meister previously served as director of The Bruce Initiative on Rethinking Capitalism, and his published works include “Political Identity: Thinking Through Marx” and “Critique Of The Global Discourse Of Humanitarian That Followed The Fall Of Communism.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Michigan Senate candidate about his comments and his ties to publicly avowed socialists, other radicals and their ideals, but did not receive a response. 

However, according to Republican strategists who spoke with Fox News Digital, whether El-Sayed calls himself a socialist or not, Democrats running against him should be aware of the company he keeps and use it to their advantage. Fox News Digital reported last month that El-Sayed accepted money as a political candidate and has been seen as recently as 2023 rubbing elbows with Michigan-based Muslim Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, who complained in a eulogy following Khamanei’s death that the Iranian Supreme Leader was killed by “the most wretched hands on Earth.”

Ali Elahi, whose social media pages were a who’s who of Michigan and national level Democratic politicians until the photos were deleted after Fox News Digital inquired about the connections, showed him regularly meeting with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and the Imam also showed himself taking trips to Iran as well. 

At the latest gathering on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, pictures from the meeting showed it was also attended by the co-founder of the left-wing activist group CODEPINK, which has been accused of having close ties to China, and former U.S. intelligence official and U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, whose house was raided by the FBI for what Ritter himself described as violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

“Abdul El-Sayed is campaigning with, and for, extremists. If his recent comments weren’t bad enough, El-Sayed’s ties to the DSA, Maduro cronies, and Iranian regime sympathizers check all the boxes of radical leftism that has become all too commonplace in the Democrat Party,” said Jessica Anderson, President of the conservative Sentinel Action Fund. “Michiganders are tired of the chaos and extremism. That’s why we see support growing for commonsense leaders like Mike Rogers.”

While El-Sayed did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiries, he did go on Fox News channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” during which anchor Bill Hemmer pressed him on his plans to hold a campaign event with controversial, communist-sympathizing podcaster Hasan Piker. Hemmer also gave El-Sayed a chance to respond to criticism about his comments, suggesting he was worried about upsetting people “sad” about the Iranian Supreme Leader’s death at the hands of U.S. military forces with any statement about the matter. El-Sayed said in the recording he preferred to stay silent about it.

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“I just want to remind you that most people in the city of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights are not Arab-American. They are white. And they’re worried, just like I am, they’re saddened by the fact that their tax prices go up and they are watching their gas prices go up with it all to fight a war that we shouldn’t really be a part of,” El-Sayed said, trashing the war as “illegal,” “immoral” and described what was going on in Iran as a “regime change war.”

Hemmer also gave El-Sayed a chance to respond to his decision to campaign with Piker, which has earned him immense criticism. Piker has been slammed for justifying Hamas’ attacks and slaughter, including rapes, on innocent Israelis, was forced to walk back comments about how Americans deserved 9/11, and recently told his followers that “you really don’t need suicide bombing anymore,” because cheap Chinese-made drones can be bought online for anyone who is interested in performing a terror strike.

Piker sympathizes with communist ideals, but has labeled himself a socialist and Marxist while rejecting communist labels. However, Piker has also described communism as the “honorable end goal” of socialism.

“It’s an active decision to reach out to people who feel locked out of their politics to have a conversation, just like I’m making an active decision as somebody who is running in the Democratic primary to have a conversation on Fox News,” El-Sayed said of his decision to campaign with Piker. “Just because you invite somebody to campaign with you, or you’re engaging with them, does not mean that you agree with them.”

Long-time GOP strategist Collin Reed agreed with other sources Fox News spoke to who said that, even though El-Sayed may be brushing off his ties to radical folks, if other Democrats in the upcoming primary want to win they should be zeroing in on his affiliations. 

“Welcoming the support from open and avowed socialist sympathizers will no doubt make Mr. El-Sayed the belle of the ball at No Kings rallies and other left-wing resistance movements, but it’s a tough sell in a battleground state like Michigan,” Reed said. “You are the company you keep, and the other Democrats competing in this primary would be wise to use these revelations to disqualify Mr. El-Sayed in the eyes of their voters. If they don’t, it will be another sign that the tail is wagging the dog and the far left driving the debate in these primary contests, which is poised to shape the overall contours of the midterm elections.”

A recent webinar hosted by some of the top teachers’ unions in the United States that pushed a curriculum focused on the upcoming May Day protests is prompting education experts and watchdogs to sound the alarm about alleged political indoctrination inside classrooms.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union and the National Education Association collaborated with the Zinn Education Project on an April 2nd seminar referred to as a “curriculum build” to “bring “social justice into the classroom” ahead of May Day, the traditional May 1st holiday that has long been embraced by communist and socialist movements as a day of mass political action.

“There’s probably gonna be a lot worse things that Trump does, and so May Day is a dress rehearsal for maybe there’s a random day in, you know, June that we all are, like, no work, no school, no shopping, because of something Pete just did, right?” Dave Stieber, a history teacher in Chicago Public Schools, said during the presentation. 

“So this is a continuation and a buildup of that.”

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The webinar also included guidance on how educators could bring activism into the classroom, including with very young students, with speakers who encouraged lessons centered on activism for children as young as three, presenting such engagement as a way to build early awareness and participation. 

“I did want to say I really encourage teachers of young children not to feel like this is stuff that’s way beyond their students, not to be afraid of raising up social justice issues, including workers’ rights, anti-racism, pro LGBT, LGBTQIA plus issues, immigration and immigrants rights,” Kirstin Roberts, a pre-school teacher in Chicago Public Schools, says in the seminar. 

The North American Values Institute (NAVI), who first posted the seminar online, argues that the unions are attempting to “groom” students to push social justice platforms in protests across the United States including on May Day.

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“The webinar demonstrates clearly that our teacher unions view students as foot soldiers in their political and ideological battles and the classroom as an appropriate venue to wage their war,” Mika Hackner, director of research at NAVI, told Fox News Digital. 

During the seminar, one of the lessons on “May Day curriculum building” focuses on making the upcoming protest look less “scary” to children. 

“In this lesson, we really want to introduce the idea that there’s going to be marches and protests on Mayday,” Roberts says.

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“Sometimes those are made to look really scary on the news and so we, or in social media, and so we want to share images with our children of protests that lifts up the beauty and the humanity of the people involved.”

The Chicago Teachers’ Union, which has been pushing for schools to be closed on May Day, has long faced criticism for pushing far-left political agenda items in the classroom and encouraging teachers to take to the streets in opposition to the Trump administration. 

Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported that CTU appears poised to spend a substantial amount of money on “political activities” to the tune of $3.1 million dollars.

In January, CTU members filmed themselves protesting federal immigration enforcement and anti-DEI measures at a local Target, sparking criticism both online and from experts.

“It’s very clear that teachers unions seek to destroy our country by turning our students against it,” Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO Ryan Walters told Fox News Digital.

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 “The Chicago Teachers Union is one of the worst. The fact that they are targeting students as young as 3 years old with this anti-American propaganda should be criminal. The teachers unions will continue to use students as Marxist pawns until we have driven them out of our schools.” 

The NEA has found itself facing criticism over political activism in recent months as well which Fox News Digital has extensively reported on, including federal labor filings in January that showed the nation’s largest teacher’s union funneling millions to far-left activist groups, ballot initiatives and social justice organizations.

“They don’t care about the students, they care about pushing these leftist, liberal Democrat people [politicians] so that they can get more money and just fund all these stupid initiatives,” an NEA whistleblower told Fox News Digital in January.

Fox News Digital reached out to the NEA, CTU, Chicago Public Schools, and Zinn Project for comment.