Donald Trump Poll News

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., were lambasted Friday for appearing to share a moment of levity at the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan during the solemn reading-of-the-names of victims.

Mamdani was already facing criticism from some 9/11 victims’ families over his attendance when a television feed showing the reading of victims’ names cut from a young man sobbing at the memorial to the mayor and congresswoman appearing to grin and laugh as they spoke, though their conversation was inaudible.

“Disgraceful,” said Steve Guest, a former top staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “AOC and Mamdani look happy.”

MAMDANI HEADS TO 9/11 MEMORIAL DESPITE 110,000-SIGNATURE PUSH FROM VICTIMS’ FAMILIES TO STAY AWAY

“They always show us who they really are,” another critic on X said.

Others critics were more direct. 

“Why the f— are these two laughing?” asked Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS’ MESSAGE TO MAMDANI: ‘PLEASE DO NOT COME’ TO MEMORIAL CEREMONY

However, a top member of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s entourage claimed on X the video was taken out of context.

“The videos of [them] laughing are not true. I was standing next to them the whole time,” tweeted Michael Ragusa, reportedly head of Giuliani’s security as of 2025, according to WPIX-11.

“The camera just caught her greeting him hello. Multiple other politicians were laughing and joking behind me. Republicans and Democrats.”

The Pittsburgh Republican Committee suggested on X that the sight was one of the reasons 9/11 victims families didn’t want the mayor there, while former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt also sounded off.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI URGED TO SKIP NEW YORK CITY’S 9/11 MEMORIAL: ‘VILE ANTISEMITE’

“While normal Americans cry, commie Mamdani and AOC laugh it up at the 9/11 memorial in New York,” Pratt said.

“They hate you. They hate your country. They enjoy your misery. We cannot allow these people to have power.”

A New York City lawmaker added that she was outraged to see Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez acting that way.

“After thousands of families of victims of terror beg Mamdani not to show up, he stands there and laughs while families weep,” said Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, R-Brighton Beach. “This is NYC’s Mayor.”

RETIRED PORT AUTHORITY OFFICERS TELL MAMDANI, HOCHUL TO STAY AWAY FROM GROUND ZERO ON 9/11

Richard Sementa, better known as “Mr. Producer” for Mark Levin’s national radio show, tweeted, “Un-freaking believable.”

Juanita Broaddrick called Mamdani and AOC “two disgusting degenerates” on X.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who continues to criticize democratic socialists and opponents of Israel, called the mayor “Jihad Mamdani” and said that he and the congresswoman should not be anywhere near Ground Zero.

“They do not mourn this country, they mock it,” he tweeted. “Have some damn respect.”

“As the names of Americans murdered on September 11th are read aloud at Ground Zero, AOC and Mamdani are laughing and smiling together,” said Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

“There is a time and a place for politics. This isn’t it. Ground Zero is sacred ground.”

“September 11 is not a photo op, it is not a networking event,” said Hunt.

Separately, Mamdani was seen at other points standing somberly between New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and New York First Gentleman William Hochul Jr.

But critics continued pointing out what one called the “jarring split-screen” of the mayor joking around with Ocasio-Cortez a split-second after the mourner was seen sobbing over the shadow “fountain” at the footprint of the Twin Towers.

“What exactly is funny?” asked former Trump White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

Former NYPD cop and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro tweeted what he envisioned the two discussing.

“Zo[hran]: You’re not buying into this ‘never again’ bull— are you? AOC: ‘No, not me,’ Hilarity ensues.”

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

It was not immediately clear what the two politicians were chatting about at the moment.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez for comment.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s presence at Friday’s 9/11 remembrance at Ground Zero drew criticism from some in the city, including one former police officer who said the mayor “probably should have skipped it” and another mourner who called his appearance “disrespectful” and “very offensive.”

Mamdani has faced criticism over his associations with controversial political and online figures, as well as his decision to appoint Ramzi Kassem as his administration’s chief counsel. Kassem previously represented a Guantánamo detainee linked to an al Qaeda terrorist plot. Former New York Republican Gov. George Pataki, 9/11-era FDNY Commissioner Thomas von Essen and others called on Mamdani to skip the ceremony.

“He showed up anyway. It does bother us,” Walter Matuza, whose father Walter was killed that day, told Fox News Digital.

MAMDANI HEADS TO 9/11 MEMORIAL DESPITE 110,000-SIGNATURE PUSH FROM VICTIMS’ FAMILIES TO STAY AWAY

Matuza said he was part of the group of victims’ families that initiated the petition to keep Mamdani away.

He cited Mamdani’s association with streamer Hasan Piker, who once said America “deserved 9/11,” as well as Mamdani’s appointment of Kassem.

MAMDANI UNDER FIRE AFTER SYMBOLIC 9/11 PEN GOES TO FORMER AL QAEDA DEFENSE LAWYER

Matuza, of Staten Island, said his father was one of dozens at Carr Futures brokerage who died after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the north tower just above their 92nd floor offices.

Mike, a former New Jersey police officer, told Fox News Digital he recalled watching the terror unfold on television from across the Hudson – and later came to Manhattan to help relieve exhausted NYPD officers stuck at their posts.

“Based on the rhetoric that he’s used in the past. Yeah, he probably should have skipped it,” Mike said of Mamdani.

He added that Mamdani’s appointment of Kassem also troubled him, saying the mayor could’ve handled the situation in a “whole different way.”

FAMILIES OF 9/11 VICTIMS’ MESSAGE TO MAMDANI: ‘PLEASE DO NOT COME’ TO MEMORIAL CEREMONY

“But, he did it and unfortunately people aren’t going to forget it.”

Another mourner called Mamdani a “communist” when asked about his appearance on Friday, adding that the memorial was “not supposed to be a political event.”

Steven, who traveled all the way to New York from Hobe Sound, Florida, to attend the remembrance, lambasted Mamdani’s presence as “disrespectful” and “offensive.”

ZOHRAN MAMDANI URGED TO SKIP NEW YORK CITY’S 9/11 MEMORIAL: ‘VILE ANTISEMITE’

“I’ve been following that over the past couple weeks and I saw that I think they had upwards of 700,000 New Yorkers requesting him not to be here. I mean, as the mayor, I would assume he has the right to be here…. But who he represents and the people he’s affiliated with… I feel that he should stay away. I don’t feel that his presence here is wanted, and I think he should honor that as a human being.”

The petition had garnered more than 110,000 signatures at the time, according to the petition’s tally.

Steven called Kassem’s appointment “hideous” and added that the youngest generation who does not remember or did not live through 9/11 are suffering from “incorrect information” and do not understand the reality of the terror attack.

He said he will educate his children on 9/11 so that they do not go down the same ideological road.

Attendee John told Fox News Digital that Mamdani does have a right to attend.

John said he lost friends including at now-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Cantor-Fitzgerald firm – which lost more than 650 people; the most of any company in the Twin Towers that day – and that as long as Mamdani is respectful to the fallen Americans being remembered, he is “fine” with the Democrat attending.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani for comment.

In a prior statement, the mayor said he is proud of New York and “love[s] this city [and] country.”

“[W]hat I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11, and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.”

During the ceremony, footage captured Mamdani approaching and greeting his 9/11-era predecessor, Republican Rudolph Giuliani.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

The two could be seen appearing to exchange brief pleasantries before Giuliani turned and sat down and an aide began speaking to the incumbent mayor.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

All living former presidents reportedly attended the ceremony, as President Donald Trump instead visited the Pentagon’s remembrance before departing for County Clare, Ireland from nearby Andrews Air Force Base.

It’s a twofer in the Senate.

Senators return to Washington Monday for the first time since the wee hours of Aug. 8. The Senate’s slated to meet for three weeks before heading home for the midterms – if the session even goes that long.

There are a lot of items senators want to tackle. But only two big ones are lined up for test votes right now.

The first legislative vote is locked in. It’s a procedural vote on a measure to regulate cryptocurrency. That comes Tuesday afternoon. The bill needs 60 votes to be in play.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: SUMMER ENDS, BUT THE SENATE’S FALL CRUNCH BEGINS

There’s no bigger advocate for cryptocurrency than President Trump. He’s pushing for the Senate to move legislation.

“We ended the war on crypto once and for all,” said the President. “Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act.”

Let’s clarify what the Clarity Act does. The measure clarifies federal rules for digital currencies and tokens. The framework would divide oversight between two regulators: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC). Approval of the bill would be the first step toward establishing guardrails for cryptocurrency.

“We passed the Clarity Act in the House last summer with 78 Democratic votes. It’s now time for the Senate to join us,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., on Fox Business.

The package has bipartisan support. But there’s a roadblock coming from the Democrats.

“The one remaining significant issue, I think, is the ethics provision,” said Hill.

President Trump’s own financial disclosure report reveals he earned $1.4 billion on cryptocurrency last year alone. That’s why Democrats want specific rules for the Trump family and crypto.

“It basically exempts the President from any kind of ethical constraints. And that’s just not going to fly in the Democratic caucus,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., says the bill is too closely aligned with what the President and his industry allies want.

“Yes. We need crypto legislation. But not this legislation that has been written by this industry,” said Warren. “I just don’t see how anyone, Democrat or Republican, moves forward on this bill.”

That’s why many doubt the measure can score 60 votes twice to break a filibuster. The naysaying aggravates cryptocurrency advocates.

“This is the right bill at the right time and it’s time to vote,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy.

She argues that crypto supporters bowed to demands to firm up ethics rules.

“In 2023, we added 100 pages with stronger consumer protection provisions. Yet we got feedback from colleagues that they wanted more. So again, we listened. Today, this bill that was under 300 pages is more than 600 pages. That’s hundreds of pages built over 11 months of daily bipartisan negotiations in windowless rooms where colleagues from both parties shared their priorities and we worked diligently to incorporate them,” said an exasperated Lummis.

Warren argues that the bill makes it easier for drug runners and terrorists to fund their operations – without a literal paper trail.

TED CRUZ URGES SENATE TO STAY IN WASHINGTON UNTIL PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT PASSES THIS WEEK

Lummis says if the U.S. doesn’t establish its cryptocurrency blueprint, digital assets could flee overseas.

“These companies can go to Singapore, Switzerland, the UAE and have a well understood clear set of regulations,” said Lummis.

So that test vote is locked in. But it’s rare to pass a major financial regulatory measure this close to the midterms. And if Democrats prevail in November, that could create friction with the White House.

The Senate also expects a test vote before the end of the September on a bill to regulate money in college sports. But there’s no specific agreement on a date for that roll call tally.

You know the old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity? Well, the “bad” publicity surrounding college football could potentially provide this legislation a boost.

President Trump implored senators to stay in Washington to finish the bill last month. But it wasn’t ready. However, controversies over former pro players heading back to college – to say nothing of clock maintenance at the University of Michigan – could prod skeptical senators to give this measure another look.

Let’s start with LSU tight end Dae’Quan Wright. If you can keep up with him.

Last year, Wright played for current LSU head coach Lane Kiffin last year at Ole Miss – before Kiffin abandoned his squad late in the season for the Tigers. Wright decided to go pro. The Philadelphia Eagles picked him in up in the spring. But then waved Wright early last month. The Cleveland Browns then signed Wright. He dressed for a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. Never played a snap. Then the Browns cut him.

So, Wright headed back to school. But this time, at LSU.

“I’m just putting on a college uniform again and going out there and having fun and embracing my opportunity,” said Wright.

A judge then cleared Wright and former Ole Miss defensive lineman Zxavian Harris to play for LSU this fall. But in between, Harris appeared in preseason camp with the New Orleans Saints – before the team waived him.

Drew Rosenhaus is Wright’s agent. He believes his client had no other option after his brief cup of coffee in the pros.

“His contract with the NFL was terminated,” said Rosenhaus. “If he was still able to play in the NFL, he would be there.”

Chaos like this is prodding lawmakers to try to regulate intercollegiate athletics.

“It’s not fair to the high school kids coming out to play college ball if you suddenly have colleges that are going and recruiting from the NFL,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Cruz teamed up with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Commerce panel, to craft the college athletics regulation measure.

One big restriction: the legislation limits athletes to one transfer.

“The transfer portal is out of control. You have athletes transferring two, three, four times. You have essentially no eligibility rules. So you have athletes competing six, seven, eight years. You have 28-year-olds competing against 17-year-old kids,” said Cruz.

The constant darting around from school to school worries the Trump Administration, too.

LAWMAKERS PRAISE BIPARTISAN EFFORTS LED BY TRUMP ADMIN TO ‘PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS’

“It’s a crazy system, man,” said Vice President JD Vance to colleague Lucas Tomlinson. “When I was growing up…you would get some loyalty, between the athletes and the fan bases. You would know the names of the people who played for your team because they were there for three or four years.”

The Cruz/Cantwell package also caps money schools can use for name, image and likeness, or NIL. And, considering the recent contretemps, the legislation bars athletes from going pro. Then reversing field to college.

The White House tapped legendary former Alabama football coach Nick Saban to push for passage of the bill.

“Join the winning team today and help Congress protect this American tradition,” says Saban in the commercial now airing around the country.

But even if the bill gets through the Senate, it faces an unclear path in the House. The House returns to session Monday, too. But it’s unclear how long its Members will stick around with the midterms looming.

“I’ve had coach Saban in my office and we’ve talked about this and he’s right,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “I think Congress is ready to act. But it takes take both chambers.”

In other words, just like there’s a play clock in football, there’s a play clock in Congress, too.

“I appreciate the exuberance of our Senate colleagues,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. “But I don’t know if there’s enough days to to get this done.”

Time may be the enemy of both the cryptocurrency bill and the college athletics bill. Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill with one foot practically out the door, headed back toward the airport.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

It’s a Senate twofer. But if things don’t sail smoothly on either or both bills, there may be little reason to anchor lawmakers to Washington. And if lawmakers don’t address these bills now, potential legislative fixes may evaporate until the new Congress begins in January.

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., warned Friday of “racial terror” and “widespread modern-day lynchings” in the U.S. as she joined dozens of Democrats demanding that the DOJ and FBI investigate hanging deaths of Black Americans.

Multiple official findings in several recent cases show that law enforcement or medical examiners ruled the deaths suicides, while at least one very recent death remains under a homicide investigation.

AOC alleges there is systemic racial bias at the agencies, while fellow progressive lawmaker Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., called the hangings a “national crisis” in a letter to the agencies that she spearheaded.

MS RACHEL SPEAKS OUT ON BLACK HANGING CASES AS RALEIGH DEATH IS DECLARED SUICIDE

“This year, there have already been 10 reported hangings of Black people in the U.S. I’ m proud to have signed onto Rep. Pressley’s letter to address these widespread modern-day lynchings and put a stop to this racial terror,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X in support of the call.

Pressley warned in her letter that “Black folks are being found hanged in America” and insisted: “We cannot stand by while strange fruit hangs from trees across the country.”

The letter, addressed to Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, was signed by Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez and about 50 Democrats. They demanded a “thorough, transparent, and comprehensive federal investigation into every hanging death of a Black individual across the United States,” arguing that federal agencies have failed for decades to adequately investigate such deaths.

FAMILY IDENTIFIES YOUNG WOMAN FOUND FATALLY SHOT IN HOME OWNED BY REP AYANNA PRESSLEY’S HUSBAND

One 2026 case involved the death of a 21-year-old Atlanta man who had gone missing. He was later found hanging from a tree in a Cobb County park, where officials ruled out foul play and deemed the death a suicide, according to Atlanta’s NBC affiliate.

Another 2026 case involved Delta State University student Demartravion Reed in Mississippi. Officials “determined the cause of death to be a hanging and the manner of death as suicide.”

At the time, the case reopened old memories of the murder of Emmett Till, according to reports. Till was a Black teen kidnapped and murdered by White men not far from the site after he was falsely accused of flirting with a White woman in 1955.

15-YEAR-OLD BLACK TEEN’S MURDER REVEALS THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT WHITE GUILT IN AMERICA

A Grio report on Pressley’s letter also referenced the hanging deaths of a 58-year-old man in Albany, N.Y., and a 39-year-old man in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

The Albany Police Department said Earl Smith’s death was “ruled a suicide” and investigators found “no evidence” of criminal activity.

“The Albany Police Department is aware of concerns posted on social media suggesting that criminal activity was involved with this incident, which has understandably caused public concern,” the department said.

A preliminary investigation of the Wisconsin man’s death also indicated suicide, according to Brookfield’s police chief cited by the Waukesha County Freeman.

At least one case remains under homicide investigation, according to reports.

Tasia Fortune was found hanging outside an abandoned house in Jackson, Mississippi, CNN reported Thursday. Authorities later questioned Terence Bernard Anderson, the father of one of her children, and arrested him on unrelated weapons charges, according to several reports.

AOC SLAMS ‘OPPRESSED’ TRUMP STATES WHILE TOUTING NYC SERVICES DESPITE $5B DEFICIT AND TRANSIT CRIME SPIKE

The lawmakers’ characterization also drew criticism on social media.

“Those community notes are stacking up,” one critic said, as X’s crowdsourced correction indicator included several wire reports and media links disputing Ocasio-Cortez’ claims.

“There should be some sort of penalty for willfully lying on social media, especially for a politician,” another claimed.

Former Energy Department official Matt Van Swol posted to X, “In the last ‘lynching’ of a Black woman, the media conveniently left out the prime suspect in the case was her Black boyfriend. Zero White people are lynching Black people in America today.”

WATCH: SQUAD DEMOCRAT SPEAKS OUT AFTER TEEN FOUND SHOT DEAD AT HUSBAND’S BOSTON PROPERTY

Former Senate staffer Matt Whitlock added that “every death is a tragedy, but what do you think ‘widespread’ means if only one of these was actually a homicide. Not sure you’ve landed the point about ‘racial terror’ with this.”

X’s crowdsourced Community Notes feature also pointed readers to law-enforcement and medical-examiner findings in several of the cases, stating that most high-profile hanging deaths it identified in 2025 and 2026 had been ruled suicides and that one remained under homicide investigation.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, the DOJ and the FBI for comment.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., remembers exactly where he was when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was a senior in high school. I was in Mr. Ponzi’s government class. And that’s when the first plane hit. And one of the other teachers came in and was telling Mr. Ponzi about it,” he told Fox News Digital. “We all thought it was a little plane. And then we went to the next class. And then the second plane hit, and everybody realized that stuff was wrong.”

Twenty-five years later, Garbarino leads a congressional committee that oversees a Cabinet department created explicitly after the terror attack. He’s warning that Congress needs to change how it deals with potential threats to avoid another tragedy of that scale.

“Being chairman of the committee, being a New Yorker, it’s one of those things you focus on, and you want to make sure another 9/11 doesn’t happen, and doesn’t ever happen again. And that’s my goal. That’s my priority,” he said.

9/11 IS BECOMING HISTORY. MY GENERATION MUST MAKE SURE AMERICA NEVER FORGETS

“Congress is very good at being reactive… We don’t want another 9/11. So if I could leave my fingerprints on something here, it’s the fact that the focus, Congress’ focus on national security, Congress’ focus on homeland security or safety, is that we address an issue before something happens.”

HOW 9/11 TRANSFORMED SYNAGOGUE SECURITY INTO A NEW REALITY FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

He said Congress needed to get into the habit of passing laws ahead of time, “instead of being like, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe this happened, how did this happen, let’s fix it now.'”

“That’s why 9/11 happened. 9/11 happened because our intelligence agencies, they were siloed, they were not sharing information. I don’t know if it was a complacency or whatever, but there were a lot of problems,” Garbarino said. “I don’t want to fall into that same complacency.”

Garbarino represents New York’s 2nd Congressional District, part of Long Island’s south shore. As a suburb of New York City, its residents are deeply attuned to that tragedy 25 years ago.

“We have people that lost loved ones that day that are still dealing with it 25 years later,” Garbarino said. “So the scar is still there.”

His district and others are also still dealing with illnesses stemming from that day, including first responders who bravely rushed to the collapsing twin towers.

“There are now more people that have died from 9/11-related illnesses than died on the actual day. So it’s a day that keeps taking people away from us,” Garbarino said.

“You have firemen who, 9/11 was their first call. They were 21, 22 years old. They’re now 47… And a lot of these, some of these cancers, they take a while to take hold, and they’re now just getting sick.”

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN 9/11 AND ACCELERATED AGING

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed legislation led by Garbarino and others to address a projected funding shortfall for the World Trade Center Health Program, which helps survivors pay for their medical treatment.

He said nearly all congressional districts across the country have at least one person participating in the program, a testament to how widespread the tragedy’s effects are.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“People moved out of New York, people who came from all over the country after 9/11 to help, they all went back home, they also got sick. So this does affect the entire country,” Garbarino said.

The Trump administration is intensifying its efforts to target of foreign nationals accused of defrauding the U.S. government, as the FBI and other federal agencies pursue suspects operating from overseas.

Last week, the FBI released a “Most Wanted” list highlighting alleged fraud suspects as the administration continues its broader crackdown on fraud. Officials say the involvement of foreign nationals in multiple schemes has heightened concerns about overseas actors exploiting U.S. government programs.

Among those named is Onur Simsek, a Turkish national whom the FBI believes is living in Turkey. Prosecutors accuse Simsek of leading a defense procurement fraud scheme that secured U.S. military contracts by falsely certifying Turkish-made parts as tested and qualified, potentially rendering critical military equipment inoperable.

FBI LAUNCHES ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST AS DOJ CHARGES OHIO DEFENDANTS IN $30M MEDICAID SCHEME FOR KIDS

Federal authorities allege Simsek is one of a number foreign nationals who have infiltrated and exploited U.S. federal funds to obtain taxpayer funds.

In a statement, General Services Administration Administrator Ed Forst pointed to Simsek’s alleged conduct while discussing the administration’s efforts to combat fraud.

“Simsek’s alleged procurement fraud deprived taxpayers of value, denied honest businesses fair opportunity, and diverted critical resources from American warfighters,” Forst said. “Under President Trump and Vice President Vance, GSA will continue working relentlessly to identify and hold accountable those who try to cheat the federal marketplace and steal from the American people.”

The General Services Administration Office of Inspector General has assisted in the investigation, according to the agency.

WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE MAP TRACKING BILLIONS IN SUSPECTED FRAUD

Foreign nationals have become a focus of the administration’s broader fraud investigations, including scrutiny of an alleged Medicaid and child care fraud scheme involving members of Minnesota’s Somali community that sparked clashes between federal agents and protesters earlier this year.

In an interview with Fox News Digital last month, Vice President JD Vance said authorities have observed what he described as a “clear pattern” in some fraud cases involving immigrant communities.

“You definitely see patterns in certain communities,” Vance said. “It’ll start as maybe one Somali person takes advantage of the system, or realizes you don’t even have to have children to get money from these programs. You could just claim that you have children, there’s no verification. Then, word spreads like wildfire, and that program gets tapped into by the same members of that community.”

EXCLUSIVE: FBI ADDS ALLEGED COVID FRAUDSTER ACCUSED OF TAKING $5M FROM KIDS’ MEAL PROGRAM TO MOST WANTED LIST

According to the Justice Department, Simsek and his co-conspirators used a U.S.-based front company between April 2019 and February 2022 to obtain contracts to supply parts for Navy submarines, Marine Corps armored vehicles, Army M-60 tanks and other military equipment. Prosecutors allege the parts were manufactured in Turkey, then repackaged to conceal their country of origin before being sold to the U.S. government.

The “War Dogs” -style scheme was also allegedly in collaboration with Yuksel Senbol, who was sentenced to prison for conspiracy to defraud in 2024. An arrest warrant for Simsek was ordered in Tampa, Florida in October 2023.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to Simsek’s arrest and conviction.

WHITE HOUSE EXPOSES ‘TRANSSHIPMENT SCAM’ COSTING US UP TO $26B, POINTS FINGER AT CHINA

In late July, the FBI arrested Khalid Ahmed Satary, who FBI Director Kash Patel said participated in a conspiracy that fraudulently billed Medicare more than $547 million for medically unnecessary genetic tests between 2016 and 2019.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“The arrest of Khalid Ahmed Satary and return to the U.S. is the third Most Wanted Fraudster capture from this FBI and our partners in just five weeks — continuing the historic run of success for this new initiative,” Patel told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon on Friday, honoring the victims and first responders who lost their lives that day.

“As a proud New Yorker, President Trump has spoken about his own experiences watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001,” White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.

“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,” Kelly added.

TRUMP CONFIRMS PENTAGON PLANS FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACKS, DISPUTES REPORT ON GROUND ZERO ABSENCE

Trump will attend a 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon, while Vice President JD Vance will commemorate the attacks at the World Trade Center site in New York. Other administration officials will gather in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, ensuring the White House has a presence at all three sites tied to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Vance will join former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in New York for a remembrance ceremony.

Last year, Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended a 9/11 commemoration at the Pentagon and issued a Patriot Day proclamation calling for flags to be flown at half-staff.

He later attended a Yankees-Tigers game featuring tributes to the victims in the Bronx, New York City.

FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP’S 9/11 TRIBUTE TO FEATURE MASSIVE PIECE OF GROUND ZERO HISTORY AT WHITE HOUSE’

During his first term, Trump attended the Pentagon for a memorial in 2017 and 2019, then spent 9/11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2020.

Trump was a real-estate developer in New York City at the time of the attacks and watched the tragedy unfold in real time. 

“I have a window that looks directly at the World Trade Center, and I saw this huge explosion. I was with a group of people and I really couldn’t even believe it,” Trump said in a phone interview with WWOR-TV channel 9 on the tragic day.

9/11 TAUGHT US DEADLY LESSONS. 25 YEARS LATER, WE NEED A NEW MODEL TO PREVENT ATTACKS

WHERE TUNNEL TO TOWERS’ STEEL ACROSS AMERICA TOUR WILL STOP AHEAD OF 9/11

On Tuesday, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation brought its “Steel Across America” tour to Trump’s doorstep at the White House, where the 21-foot, 16,900-pound steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center’s South Tower was on display.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The steel beam has served as a traveling memorial to the victims and first responders of 9/11, offering pop-up events across 21 states leading up to the anniversary of the tragic day.

The highest court in Massachusetts has publicly rebuked a district court judge over her role in a case involving an illegal immigrant who evaded arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

For Judge Shelley Joseph, the decision brings to a close a legal saga that began on April 2, 2018, when Jose Medina-Perez left the Newton District Court through a rear courthouse exit all while an ICE officer was waiting in the lobby to take him into custody.

The Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling centered on a sidebar with Medina-Perez’s attorney and the prosecutor during which Joseph instructed her clerk to shut off the courtroom’s recording system.

“The respondent’s statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain Medina-Perez overnight in State custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the courtroom audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties,” according to the Thursday ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court.

FORMER WISCONSIN JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN AVOIDS JAIL TIME FOR OBSTRUCTING ARREST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

The Supreme Judicial Court’s reprimand came after a hearing officer for the Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended such an action.

However, the high court ruled that Joseph was unaware Medina-Perez’s attorney, David Jellinek, had devised a plan to help his client evade ICE by escorting him to the courthouse lockup, where the court officer would release him through a rear sally port exit. The court also found that Joseph neither explicitly nor implicitly approved of that plan.

Medina-Perez, of the Dominican Republic, had been in Joseph’s courtroom to be arraigned on a fugitive-from-justice charge that originated in Pennsylvania.

Joseph found there wasn’t enough evidence to tie Medina-Perez to the Pennsylvania warrant, and prosecutor Shannon Jurgens recommended he be released without bail on two drug charges he was facing.

FEDERAL JUDGE IN NEW YORK TIES TRUMP ADMIN HANDS ON ARRESTS AT IMMIGRATION COURTS

Joseph then released Medina-Perez on his own personal recognizance and set a pre-trial conference date for the drug possession case.

In April 2019, roughly a year later, Joseph and the court officer who let Medina-Perez out through the back door were indicted on charges of obstruction of justice.

That case was dropped in 2022 after Joseph agreed to refer herself to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, the agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by Massachusetts judges.

The commission concluded that Joseph “engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.”

After her federal indictment, Joseph was suspended from the bench and unable to work for three years.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Joseph’s attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, said last year during a commission hearing that the case had been distorted in the media, with many coming to believe that her client “let an illegal immigrant out of the door,” according to The Associated Press.

In a statement to the AP on Thursday, Mulvey said it has been an “incredibly long and difficult eight years for Judge Joseph.”

“We are grateful to the hearing officer who undertook this monumental task and pleased that his efforts have shown that this was a baseless federal prosecution from the beginning and solely the work of the defense lawyer involved,” Mulvey said in a statement. “Judge Joseph is thankful for everyone who stood by her and looks forward to rejoining her colleagues.”

Joseph, who remains a judge, was assigned in December to administrative duties in the Boston Municipal Court.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Thursday that he hopes Republicans in the U.S. lose both the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, suggesting that voters should punish President Donald Trump for his moves to escalate the ongoing trade war with Canada.

“Hopefully, he’s going to lose the Senate. He’s going to lose Congress. I hope so, and hold him accountable,” Ford said.

“But we’ll see how that goes. We aren’t going to interfere in the U.S. election,” he continued.

Ford has become one of Trump’s most outspoken critics in Canada, accusing the president of attempting to move Ontario’s businesses and jobs across the border to the U.S.

CANADIAN PM TELLS TRUMP TO ‘STOP TRYING TO BE TOUGH’ IN TRADE FIGHT

“He’s not reliable at all,” Ford said. “He could make a deal today and then change his mind. And we’ve seen that over and over again.”

Ford said he still believes Trump would like to reach a deal before the midterms and that Canada should return to the negotiation table as soon as possible.

“I truly believe President Trump wants a deal before the midterms,” Ford said. “I could be wrong, but I think it’s best that we sit down and get a deal.”

Ford’s comments come just days after the U.S. escalated the trade dispute by banning some Canadian dairy products and motorcycles as well most alcoholic beverages after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect on about $20 billion in U.S. goods.

Trump also took efforts to remove Canadian products from large, long-term U.S. government contracts.

Last year, Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada after the Ontario government broadcast an anti-tariff TV ad in the U.S., using quotes from former Republican President Ronald Reagan’s criticism of tariffs.

Trump and Ford have repeatedly exchanged personal jabs over the trade war.

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

Ford mocked Trump for keeping a portrait of Reagan near his desk while pushing for tariffs the former president had opposed, telling The Associated Press that Reagan would be “throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on.”

Trump, meanwhile, has criticized Ford as “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.”

The U.S. president further escalated tensions with Canada when he signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” a rebranding that Canada does not recognize.

Canada, other international bodies and U.S. states are not forced to follow the renaming, but the order adds to the ongoing tensions between the two countries.

Ford said on Thursday that Trump had unintentionally strengthened Canada by forcing it to cut its dependence on the U.S.

“The only two good things Donald Trump has ever done for Canada” were that “he woke us up” and “he united the country like I’ve never seen before,” Ford said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested on Thursday that his country may hold off on further retaliation against Trump’s latest trade measures, describing them as “relatively modest” compared to earlier U.S. moves.

He said his government was still studying the U.S. measures and acknowledged they could have significant consequences for companies and industries, but he said that some of the new U.S. tariffs replaced others that the Trump administration had removed.

“We also recognize that, in the context of other things that the U.S. administration has done … that these are relatively modest measures,” Carney said at a cabinet retreat in Banff, Alberta.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ceremonies at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania will take place Friday as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when 19 al-Qaida terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and attacked the United States.

Officials and others with memories of that day reflected on what they witnessed and what they lost in some cases as the nation mourns anew.

Retired Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, who served in senior Army positions at the Pentagon before 9/11, worked as a senior Pentagon official in the time leading up to 9/11 and knew several colleagues who perished that day.

On that Tuesday, Mizusawa said he was watching coverage of the attack on the Twin Towers from his office when reporters broke in to say the Pentagon had been targeted.

FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP’S 9/11 TRIBUTE TO FEATURE MASSIVE PIECE OF GROUND ZERO HISTORY AT WHITE HOUSE

“I looked out my window and was able to observe the plume of smoke rising from the attack on the Pentagon,” Mizusawa said. “My normal commute took me directly past the section that was destroyed, and the smoke lingered for days.”

Mizusawa, the GOP nominee for Senate against Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he also played a role in hiring Army Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude, the highest-ranking military officer killed in the Pentagon attack.

He added he just recently met with the lone survivor of the Pentagon’s staff section that took a direct hit from American Airlines Flight 77 that day.

“I reflected that, as tragic as the attack on the Pentagon was, the low-rise multi-ringed structure saved many lives as it was the virtual opposite form of structure compared to the World Trade Center buildings,” he said.

Warner similarly recalled watching the attacks unfold and seeing smoke rise from the Pentagon that day.

“I vividly remember the September 11 attacks, and I watched the smoke rise above the Pentagon…,” he said. “On the 25th anniversary of these tragic attacks, we remember the lives lost at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, and in New York City, and our brave first responders whose heroic actions saved countless lives.”

Also in Virginia, President Donald Trump is expected to attend the Pentagon’s ceremony. Trump has attended 9/11 observances at each of the three attack sites in different years.

GOP SENATORS RALLY BEHIND 9/11 FAMILIES IN PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY: ‘HE’S A DISGRACE’

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are expected to attend the solemn ceremony and reading-of-names at the World Trade Center site.

Hochul’s opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, told Fox News Digital that that day changed his home state and his family forever.

“The pain has never completely gone away,” Blakeman said. “My nephew Tommy was murdered while he was giving first aid to a severely burned woman. I lost many colleagues and friends on that day. We must never forget the danger facing our country from those with anti-American values.”

Tommy, a New York State Courts officer, was reportedly rendering aid to a victim when Tower Two collapsed on him.

9/11 FAMILIES PUSH TO BAN MAMDANI FROM 25TH ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE OVER ‘HOSTILE’ RECORD

“The terrorist attacks on September 11 forever reshaped our city and state, and every year on the anniversary New Yorkers feel the weight of unimaginable tragedy and honor the lives lost,” Hochul said, reflecting on the day.

“In the aftermath of 9/11, New Yorkers showed the world what courage, sacrifice and bravery looked like,” she added. Fox News Digital also reached out to Mamdani for comment.

Former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are expected to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial in New York.

Hillary Clinton, then a New York senator, is remembered from a photo with then-Gov. George Pataki and then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani walking through the rubble after the attacks.

Additional Trump administration officials will attend the third ceremony in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Last year, Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins represented the administration there.

The memorial is managed by the Department of the Interior, which said it will hold a reading of the names at 10:03 a.m. ET, the time United Flight 93 crashed into a field near U.S. Route 30 after passengers fought back against the hijackers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity – Shapiro’s GOP opponent this fall — for information on their plans for the day and comment on the 25th anniversary remembrance.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Garrity will be in attendance at the Flight 93 Memorial in her official capacity as Pennsylvania State Treasurer, her campaign said.

Speaking as the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, Garrity told Fox News Digital she recalls September 11, 2001, as a bright September morning in the commonwealth that she and others thought would be a run-of-the-mill weekday.

“But in the blink of an eye, in the skies over Lower Manhattan, along the shores of the Potomac, and in the fields of western Pennsylvania, our world was forever changed,” Garrity said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Twenty-five years later, may God bless the heroes of Flight 93, the first responders to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and every American who answered the call to serve that day and in the years to follow: Let’s roll,” Garrity added, quoting Flight 93 victim Todd Beamer of Cranbury, N.J., who was recorded calling out that phrase as he led an unsuccessful effort to retake control of the plane from the terrorists.

FIRST ON FOX: Top Senate Republicans are unleashing millions of dollars into Texas to ensure that the GOP holds on to the seat as the midterm elections close in.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC tied to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to launch the Texas PAC, unlocking a war chest of campaign funds to ensure Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wins out in November.

Paxton is in a tight race against Texas State Rep. James Talarico, who has become a prime target for Republicans who argue that the state lawmaker is too progressive for deep red Texas.

THUNE-ALIGNED GROUPS UNLEASH HISTORIC WAR CHEST TO DEFEND SENATE MAJORITY: ‘WINNING MESSAGE’

“As the Democrat Party gets pulled further to the left, extreme candidates like James Talarico are becoming the norm,” Thune told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Republicans are united in keeping him out of the U.S. Senate, which is why I’m proud of the work the Senate Leadership Fund is doing to ensure Texas stays red.”

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that during the convention’s final day on Thursday, Thune attended a fundraiser for Paxton to help boost his campaign.

The new PAC will launch an initial eight-figure ad buy on Friday, the day after the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas is set to wrap up. The group tells Fox News Digital they plan to run ads continuously through Election Day in Texas, and the first two will paint Paxton in a positive light, with another showing the contrast between the candidates.

LONGTIME GOP AIDE DEFECTS TO DEM RISING STAR AS TEXAS SENATE BATTLE FOR CORNYN’S SEAT HEATS UP

While the convention has been used to energize President Donald Trump’s base to get out and vote in tight contests across the country, the Texas Senate race was of particular emphasis. And the flow of cash to support cash marks a pivot for the Senate Republican leadership, who earlier in the year, threw their full support behind Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

But Trump’s endorsement of Paxton over Cornyn ultimately ended the longtime lawmaker’s bid, and set up a messy period of making amends after the dust settled in their runoff race.

Now, Republicans are showing a unified front and working to help Paxton financially as he tries to stave off Talarico.

Most of the latest public opinion surveys in the Senate showdown indicate Talarico with a slight single-digit edge over Paxton. The most recent Fox News poll, which was conducted at the end of July, indicated Talarico with a 51%-48% margin over Paxton.

The race is one of roughly a dozen that will determine if the GOP holds its Senate majority in the midterms.

The launch of the Texas PAC comes a week after MAGA, Inc., the super PAC linked to President Donald Trump, made its first major midterm buy with $10 million in ad spending to support Paxton.

REPUBLICAN SOUNDS ALARM ON RISING DEM STAR: ‘THIS GUY’S GOING TO BE A PROBLEM’

The support from the Texas PAC and MAGA Inc. is a boost for Paxton, with Talarico’s campaign holding a massive campaign cash advantage over Paxton’s campaign heading into the final stretch leading up to November’s midterms. Talarico has hauled in over $72 million in fundraising since launching his Senate campaign last year, compared to roughly $17 million by Paxton, according to federal filings.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Paxton told Fox News’ Bret Baier he had a “three-month fundraising difference” compared to Talarico thanks to the messy primary battle that dragged into May, months after the insurgent progressive toppled Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas.

“Talarico had three extra months to raise money and not spend it. So he was able to start spending on ads that tried to pivot him from a radical socialist to a moderate Democrat,” Paxton said.

“So he’s been running ads for about two months,” he continued. “My ads have just started. We had to raise some money. But once we’re able to highlight the stark differences between a socialist and a constitutional Republican, he will not win Texas.”

The Trump administration designated an Ecuadorian gang as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Wednesday, extending its list of designated foreign terrorist groups in Latin America and the Caribbean to 21.

The State Department designated Los Tiguerones as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

According to the department, Los Tiguerones is an Ecuador-based gang linked to narcotrafficking and other illicit activity, along with several attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers and journalists, including the live takeover of an Ecuadorian TV station in 2024.

“The Trump administration will continue to use all available tools to protect our nation by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

US FORCES SINK NARCO-REFUELING STATION LINKED TO ECUADORIAN CARTEL IN PACIFIC: SOUTHCOM

“Today’s action taken by the State Department further demonstrates that the Trump administration continues to deliver on its promises to the American people to dismantle cartels and narcoterrorist networks in our region, ensuring the safety of the American people,” he added.

The announcement came during Rubio’s diplomatic tour to South America, where he made stops in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to address U.S. efforts to combat drug trafficking in Latin America.

The label was previously reserved for terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida that use violence for political ambitions and not for financially motivated crime organizations like the ones in Latin America and the Caribbean that have recently been added to the list.

But the administration wants to increase pressure on the crime rings and anyone believed to be assisting them.

The government began using the strategy in February 2025, and it served as a pretext for the U.S. capture of then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, as well as dozens of deadly attacks on boats allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking.

The strategy also prompted Latin American countries, including Guatemala and Argentina, to take similar action against certain groups and led Ecuador to launch joint operations on its own soil.

Rubio said terrorist designations “expose and isolate entities and individuals, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and the resources they need to carry out attacks.” He also said designations can assist law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.

RUBIO DESIGNATES AFGHANISTAN AS ‘STATE SPONSOR OF WRONGFUL DETENTION’: ‘DESPICABLE TACTICS’

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Mexico has the most groups of any country on the U.S. list for designated foreign terrorist organizations with eight. The Mexican government is under intense pressure from the U.S. to prevent President Donald Trump from taking unilateral action against cartels in Mexico.

Trump’s approach has also featured contradictions, as he pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking and accused during his trial of protecting the Sinaloa Cartel. Hernández has since returned to his country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $5,000 checks to American adults if Republicans win both chambers of Congress is forcing Republicans to debate an idea more commonly associated with the Democratic side of the aisle: sending direct government payments to voters.

Called a “socialist vote-buying scheme” by former GOP Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, the so-called Trump Dividend would only be handed down if Republicans keep the House and Senate in November, the president announced at the party’s midterm convention in Dallas.

Good warned that the checks would add to the national debt, which has topped $40 trillion.

The plan could cost more than $1.2 trillion, based on estimates of roughly 240 million eligible adults. The president cannot direct the Treasury to issue the checks without a law providing that authority, so Congress would need to authorize the spending plan.

TRUMP MAKES STUNNING FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CASH PROMISE IN BID TO RALLY GOP VOTERS AT DALLAS MIDTERM CONVENTION

“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them … I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump said during his keynote address Wednesday night.

He compared the payment to a cash distribution from a successful company to its shareholders and said the money would have to be spent domestically. 

“The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America,” Trump said. “We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money.”

“If you keep us in power and allow us to continue to do these things, then you’re going to share in some of the benefit of this incredible wealth that we’re creating in the United States of America,” Vice President JD Vance said after Trump unveiled his new idea.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh called the plan “flagrant bribery” and said Republicans could help working Americans by allowing them to keep more of their own money through tax cuts.

“Holding it as a carrot on the stick for after the election is just shameless,” Walsh wrote.

Vance and Trump both pointed to tariff revenue as a potential funding source for the payments, and questions emerged over where the money would come from to fund the dividends.

“The reason the Democrats can’t do that is because they don’t do tariffs. They don’t take in money. All they know is poverty,” Trump said Wednesday night.

Treasury data show the federal government collected about $154.4 billion in customs duties from Oct. 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026, which would cover roughly 13% of the estimated $1.2 trillion cost of sending $5,000 checks to about 240 million adults.

The administration has not provided an income threshold for the proposed middle-class payments or explained how much tariff revenue would be dedicated to the program. The remaining cost would have to be covered through other federal revenue, spending reductions or additional borrowing.

CONGRESS SPENDS $7 TRILLION; HERE’S HOW THAT MATH WORKS OUT IF YOU THINK OF JUST $100

Vance also suggested in an interview after the president’s speech Wednesday that the proposal could be limited to middle-class Americans rather than every adult citizen, potentially lowering the cost.

The VP defended the idea as “fundamentally a dividend for American workers,” arguing that tariffs have generated revenue from foreign companies and countries that have taken advantage of American workers.

The proposal’s funding and eligibility questions have fueled criticism from fiscal conservatives, who say the plan would create a new government benefit while adding to the national debt.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said the estimated $1.2 trillion cost of the dividend proposal could instead be used to eliminate taxes for married parents with dependents earning up to $200,000.

“Or maybe some of us think dependency is evil & soul-sucking in all its forms,” Roy wrote in a follow-up post.

That criticism from Republicans reflects a broader conservative argument that tax cuts are preferable to direct payments because they reduce the government’s role rather than create a new reason for Americans to rely on it.

James Fishback, a former Florida gubernatorial candidate who previously proposed a $5,000 DOGE dividend, said his plan would have returned savings generated by spending cuts. Meanwhile, he argued Trump’s proposal would add to the debt without a comparable reduction in government spending.

Investor Joe Lonsdale called the idea “bread and circus bribes.” Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson urged Republican leaders to reject it and focus on reducing the debt.

Other Republicans and Trump allies are moving in the opposite direction.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said he would prepare legislation to pass the dividend after the election, while Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., asked voters how they would spend their $5,000.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The reactions show a Republican Party split between treating tariff revenue as money to return to Americans and preserving the party’s traditional emphasis on lower taxes, limited spending and less government dependence.

FIRST ON FOX: Roy Cooper, the former North Carolina governor and a Democratic candidate for the Senate, believes his party should incorporate a big-tent approach to an emerging wave of socialist candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

When asked if he would sign the Promise to America, a repudiation of socialist stances put out by moderate Democrats, Cooper said he wouldn’t.

“I don’t see any need to,” Cooper said in video footage obtained by Fox News Digital.

“I think the party needs a wide spectrum, particularly at a time when the Republican Party is shrinking and having all kinds of loyalty tests. I think we need to have all kinds of folks to be a part of our party.”

FLORIDA BOARD VOTES TO BAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM PUBLIC COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

Cooper’s comment comes as he wages a bid to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and win over a historically Republican-leaning state. It also raises questions of whether moderate Democrats believe their platforms can coexist with the aims of the DSA.

The DSA espouses positions like abolishing the U.S. Senate, establishing public ownership of corporations and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to its website.

The group paints a picture of what those policies could look like in practice on its website.

“You have no debt. You don’t need health insurance. You don’t pay a mortgage or have a landlord, because comfortable housing is a human right. Your retirement is publicly funded. Food, education, energy, medicine and transportation aren’t for-profit businesses; they are common goods and utilities,” the group states.

Cooper is not affiliated with or backed by the DSA and has pitched himself as a candidate with an ability to reach across the aisle. His campaign has highlighted his ability to work with a Republican-controlled legislature during his tenure as governor from 2017 to 2025.

In his own words, Cooper has pushed back on questions about being tied to the DSA.

TRUMP HERALDED AS GOP ‘KINGMAKER’ AFTER LOUISIANA SENATE RESULTS RATTLE PARTY ESTABLISHMENT

“For the record, no,” he told The New York Times about whether he was a communist. “I have a record of working across the aisle. The people of North Carolina know that I can be a senator that puts them first. Before power, before party, before politics. I feel confident that, at the end of the day, they’ll send me to Washington.”

When asked if Cooper’s platform is at odds with the DSA’s views, Cooper’s campaign declined to comment, noting that his commitments are reserved for his constituents.

“The only pledge Roy makes is to the people of North Carolina. Roy is not a socialist, and he will work with anyone, including Republicans, as he has done his entire career to lower costs for hardworking families and fight for North Carolina,” his campaign told Fox News Digital.

Some Republicans are skeptical of that reasoning.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, believes moderates are afraid to challenge their progressive flank as candidates championing the far left have surged in the 2026 midterm primaries.

“That dynamic is dangerous right now because they are terrified of the extreme left. Finding a middle ground on ideological issues right now is … the prospects for success, particularly between now and election day, are not high,” Cruz said at an energy summit hosted by Club for Growth and Arnold Ventures Thursday.

“Schumer is truly terrified right now,” he added, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

In the video interview, Cooper said he believes the party will only weaken itself in its resistance to the administration if it doesn’t band together.

TRAFFIC DRAMA THREATENS TO END DEM GOVERNOR’S TENURE AS VOTERS HEAD TO POLLS IN RHODE ISLAND

“Particularly now when we’re in such difficult straits, and we’re in a foxhole right now. We’ve all got to be together to take our government back,” Cooper said.

“We could fall to the autocracy anytime we don’t stick together. So, I don’t see the need signing something.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Having secured the Democratic nomination, Cooper now heads to the Nov. 3 general election, where he faces Republican nominee Michael Whatley, the former chair of the Republican National Committee.

A socialist “Never Trumpers” protester blamed “conservative provocateurs” for a tense confrontation with police that resulted in multiple arrests just outside the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas.

Videos posted on social media Thursday afternoon showed what appeared to be hundreds of Never Trumpers confronting Dallas police just blocks from where the president was set to deliver his convention-closing speech. Authorities responded with a strong show of force that included officers in apparent riot gear.

The Dallas Police Department confirmed with Fox News Digital that two protesters were arrested on charges related to their actions during the protest. The department said that officers assigned to the area arrested the two protesters after it said they “assaulted a counter-protester” and “obstructed a road.”

The department said the suspects’ names and specific charges will be released after they are booked into jail.

CAN THE ‘BEST SHOWMAN IN POLITICS’ DELIVER AGAIN? GOP BETS ON TRUMP AT HISTORIC MIDTERM CONVENTION

Fox News Digital spoke with a protester named Rick Majumdar, who was wearing a shirt with the initials for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), which, according to its website, is a “national organization of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the United States.”

Majumdar said that the protest was organized by the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition, which, he said, consists of 16 “faith-based organizations, pro-immigrants’ rights groups and labor organizations.”

“We’re here to protest the Republican agenda, the Trump agenda and all its policies that it has enacted over the last few years,” he explained. “The march is an important event, we feel, against this convention that’s happening for the last two days.”

REPUBLICANS HEAD TO DALLAS WITH ONE MISSION: DEFY HISTORY AND WIN BIG

He said that, during the group’s march, “we encountered some street closures by the police” and that officers arrested a couple of protesters who “were at the front of the group.”

Pressed on why the protesters were arrested, Majumdar said, “Those people were trying to draw people away from rioting provocateurs, and I think the police heard something. And they immediately tackled two of them and arrested them, and some of them even pulled out their guns as well.”

The protest came amid heightened concerns over political violence and the targeting of public figures. It also coincided with the first anniversary of the assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.

CHARLIE KIRK CONTINUES TO INSPIRE REPUBLICANS AS PARTY RALLIES FOR MIDTERM BATTLE: ‘HAVE COURAGE’

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

Majumdar did not answer whether the protesters blocked any roads but said the confrontation occurred at the “closest entry point” to the convention.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Asked whether he had any message directly for President Donald Trump, Majumdar paused, smiled and said, “Thank you.”

After publication, Freedom Road Socialist Organization shared an additional statement from Majumdar in response to Fox News Digital’s question on his direct message to Trump. 

The statement said that “today the people of Dallas marched on a near empty RNC, in fact, the people made their decision to stand against the billionaires class— the same class that supports the Republican Agenda, and we are empowering people to find their home in our organization.” 

FIRST ON FOX: Vice President JD Vance argued Thursday that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they no longer resemble the party of past Democratic presidents, branding the modern Democratic Party the “party of hatred” in a fiery convention address first obtained by Fox News Digital.

“They’re not the party of FDR or JFK. Hell, they’re not even the party of Bill Clinton anymore,” Vance said. “The Democrats are the party of hatred. They’re the party that despises America and the people who built it.”

Vance used the closing night of the Republican convention to build that charge across a series of cultural and economic flashpoints, pointing to a Democratic candidate’s attack on the nuclear family, his own clash with Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and what he cast as a broader Democratic message telling American children “who they ought to hate.”

TRUMP DANGLES $5,000 CHECKS AS DEBT SURGES — BUT ONLY IF GOP CAN CLEAR MAJOR MIDTERM HURDLE

The vice president contrasted that portrait with what he called Americans’ “birthright” — the opportunity to build a family, own a home, find meaningful work and pass a better country to their children — while honoring his late friend Charlie Kirk one year after his assassination.

On the anniversary of Turning Point USA’s co-founder Charlie Kirk’s death, Vance honored his friend.

“I was elected Vice President of the United States one year ago today, on September the 10th of last year, that good friend was taken from us when Charlie was assassinated. Now, Charlie left behind two children, two little kids. They were too young to fully understand,” said Vance.

Vance recalled Kirk’s message to young men that few callings are greater than falling in love, starting a family and becoming a father — words that have taken on new meaning for the vice president since he and Second Lady Usha Vance welcomed their son Alec in July.

He used Kirk’s legacy to transition into touting what he called Americans’ “birthright” exceptionalism.

“I believe the Founders built this nation on a promise that echoes our Creator: That every American child is born an heir, born with a birthright,” said Vance. “Born with the right to inherit the blessings of this country. Not because of who their parents are. Not because of what they look like or where they come from. But because they are Americans.”

Vance used the opportunity to outline his vision for rebuilding the nuclear family, while taking shots at Democrats.

“I think about what the Democrats have said about our shared birthright as Americans, or frankly, the lack thereof in Michigan. One Democrat in particular, one candidate has said, and I quote ‘f the nuclear family.’ What are you even talking about?” said Vance.

“They come not from a desire to serve you or our fellow Americans, but they come from a very deep emptiness in the soul,” he added.

CROWD ERUPTS AS VANCE SMACKS DOWN PROTESTER WAVING MEXICAN FLAG: ‘GET YOUR A– OVER THERE’

A protester emerged carrying Mexican and Palestinian flags, prompting Vance to respond, “What the people at home missed is that we just had a protestor interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag.”

“Well. Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket,” the vice president said.

Vance said the protester should have been waving the American flag, adding that it is a symbol of the fight for the American dream.

“This fall, the Democrats are running candidates who will tell your children what they’re allowed to say, how they’re allowed to live, and importantly, who they ought to hate. Because that’s what the Democrat Party is about in 2026. It’s not about you, it’s about foreign fraudsters, and it’s about who they hate,” said Vance. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Vance spoke about the economy former President Joe Biden left, pointing to housing costs and Americans competing against illegal immigrants in the job market.

“Our nation became a place where you had to be rich to enjoy what used to be the birthright of every ordinary middle-class life,” he said. 

Vance touted his wins from leading the White House Task Force on fraud and calling out Democrats for “refus[ing] to prosecute the crime.”

He said the task force has found $250 billion of fraud just since he was appointed fraud czar.

Vance took aim at Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, with whom he has sparred in recent weeks after El-Sayed made comments about the second family.

“He saw me describing what a decent man and my papa was genuinely a decent and good man. He saw me talking about my papa and his work and his history and what he loved and what he cared about. And you know what old Abdul did? He asked mockingly whether I’d be willing to bring Usha back in time to meet Papa,” Vance resurfaced. 

Vance said El-Sayed saw “the color of his skin, sees his background, and decides that he could never have loved my wife.”

“Abdul himself was raised by his own white step-grandparents. He knows exactly that kind of bond and what it looks like in a family, and he chose any way to say that a man like my grandfather couldn’t have love from the bottom of his heart,” Vance added.

Vice President JD Vance blasted a heckler waving foreign flags and yelling at him from the GOP convention floor during his primetime keynote address Thursday night.

The rabble-rouser emerged from the crowd waving Mexican and Palestinian flags, catching Vance’s eye as he delivered his rallying cry to thousands of GOP voters at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The incident wasn’t captured by the convention’s official television feed, but Vance described it for viewers at home.

“What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag.,” he said. “Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your a– over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket.”

JD VANCE TO INVOKE CHARLIE KIRK, FAMILY ‘BIRTHRIGHT’ IN FIERY MIDTERM KEYNOTE SPEECH THRASHING DEMS

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

The crowd erupted into chants of “USA! USA! USA!” as the troublemaker was escorted out of the event.

Vance delivered a deeply nationalistic keynote focused on America First principles.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I believe the Founders built this nation on a promise that echoes our Creator: That every American child is born an heir, born with a birthright,” said Vance. “Born with the right to inherit the blessings of this country. Not because of who their parents are. Not because of what they look like or where they come from. But because they are Americans.”

Throughout his speech, event attendees interrupted with a chorus of “JD! JD! JD!” chants, and the roared as finished and departed the stage. 

DALLAS — As Republicans huddle for a last show of unity before the home stretch of the midterm elections, a top Senate Republican revealed what his Democratic colleagues are predicting about the future of their party.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital that in private, his colleagues across the aisle are wringing their hands over the insurgent progressive wave that has fast become the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party during this election cycle.

“It’s surprising how the energy of the Democrat Party has moved to the far, far left,” Barrasso said during an interview at the Republican National Committee midterm convention.

TOP REPUBLICAN NAMES WHO HE SAYS IS REALLY LEADING DEMOCRATS — AND IT’S NOT SCHUMER OR JEFFRIES

“Those are the people that are driving the party. And the concern that I have, talking to other colleagues in the Senate, who they’ll say that is the future of their party,” he continued.

Republicans are trying to fight against history and anxious voters feeling the crunch on their wallets, and as the war in Iran continues to sputter on without a clear end in sight.

The convention in Dallas is meant to hammer home that while President Donald Trump’s name isn’t on the ballot, his agenda, and the incumbents and fresh candidates that could execute it, are.

TRUMP’S $5,000 DIVIDEND CHECKS WOULD COME WITH A MAJOR CATCH UNDER GOP SENATOR’S PLAN

While that push to energize Trump’s base to hit the polls in November ensues, key races across the Senate map have seen progressive and far-left candidates emerge as the standard-bearers for the party during this cycle.

Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, James Talarico in Texas and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota all bucked expectations, and the Democratic old guard in Washington, D.C., including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to earned the nomination in their respective races.

REPUBLICAN SOUNDS ALARM ON RISING DEM STAR: ‘THIS GUY’S GOING TO BE A PROBLEM’

El-Sayed and Talarico, in particular, have been targeted heavily during the convention, which Trump declared was, in part, dedicated to ensuring Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton would win out and prevent the Lone Star State from turning a shade of purple.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“And we cannot allow that to become the future of our country,” Barrasso said. “So that’s, to me, the reason that we need to win all of these races, why it’s so critical, is that these people that are winning the Democrat primaries, I believe, would be terrible for our nation.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DALLAS, Texas — The 30-minute U.S. military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power has helped clear the way for a sweeping expansion of Venezuela’s battered energy sector, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, sharing that the country’s national energy production will more than double by the end of 2027.

“Chevron is going to more than double their energy production. In fact, that national energy production in Venezuela will more than double by the end of next year from the intervention on Jan. 3 this year,” Wright told Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the RNC Midterm Convention.

Wright said the military actions in Venezuela helped open the door for a major increase in oil production as the administration has increasingly taken an active role in the socialist country as part of a broader push to expand U.S. influence and investment.

U.S. forces entered Venezuela for Operation Absolute Resolve Jan. 3, capturing Maduro and his wife Flores. War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the attack was part of “massive joint military and law enforcement raid” and lasted less than 30 minutes.

TRUMP TOUTS ACCESS TO 65 BILLION BARRELS OF VENEZUELAN OIL IN DEAL HE SAYS WILL SLASH GAS PRICES

“You had 25 years of communist dictatorship. The standard of living has just plummeted in Venezuela. Eight million Venezuelans fled. About a million of them, and not all of them good actors, came to the United States of America. People tried to beg, borrow, bribe, anything they could to change the Venezuelan government. No luck,” Wright said. 

“President Trump is an out-of-the-box, bold foreign policy leader.

“A brief military operation, arrest two criminals and now we have leverage over the government. It’s an existing government. Are they perfect? No. But we have a lot of leverage.”

Chevron scored an investment of more than $7 billion over five years and more than double its Venezuelan oil production to 600,000 barrels per day, according to its press release.

Venezuela controls more than 300 billion barrels of crude reserves, roughly 20% of the world’s total. Despite holding an estimated 17% of the world’s oil reserves, Venezuela produces only about 1% of global output after years of political instability and deteriorating infrastructure undermined its energy industry.

TOP ENERGY TRADER HAILS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA OIL DEAL AS A ‘GENERATIONAL WIN’ FOR GAS PRICES

Wright said shifting the center of global energy production toward the Western Hemisphere will put the U.S. at the center and major producers, including Canada, Guyana and Mexico supplying more of the world’s oil and gas.

Millions of barrels of new Venezuelan production would be processed through U.S. refineries and produced using American rigs and infrastructure, creating thousands of American jobs, according to the White House.

STATE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES ‘TOTAL COMPLIANCE’ FROM VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT IN RELIEF EFFORTS AFTER MADURO ARREST

The administration’s emerging approach to Venezuela could use U.S. leverage with energy investment to prompt political change.

That deal comes with added importance as the war with Iran disrupts oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. The average U.S. price for regular gasoline rose to about $4.22 a gallon Wednesday, according to AAA, up from roughly $3.19 a year earlier.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“We’re solving a 47-year conflict with Iran. We cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran. This is a nation sounding death to America and doing everything they can to implement it. But we’ve massively grown United States natural gas exports, good for our economy, good for the world economy,” Wright said.

A Trump administration policy to detain migrants on bond without a chance for release harkens back to the mass detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, a federal court said Thursday.

In a 2-1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s mass detention policy, a major part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

“Mass detention of marginalized individuals without due process harkens back to some of the darkest moments in our country’s history,” the court wrote.

BIDEN JUDGE OVERRULED ON KEY TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY

Nine federal appeals courts have now separately ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) new mandatory detention policy is illegal, concluding it could apply to recent arrivals at or near the border but not to migrants determined to be living elsewhere within the country.

Two other appeals courts have upheld it, meaning the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to take up the case in its upcoming term.

TRUMP SCORES SCOTUS ASYLUM WIN — BUT LIBERAL JUSTICE WARNS IT COULD BACKFIRE AT BORDER

Immigrant rights groups say basic due process is being violated when longtime residents are denied bond hearings during removal proceedings.

“The courts have resoundingly rejected the administration’s cruel policy and its blatant disrespect for the rule of law,” said My Khanh Ngo, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “We are thrilled for our clients and their families.”

Mass arrests of suspected illegal immigrants during President Donald Trump’s second term have prompted widespread protests, particularly in Democratic-led cities like Chicago. In July 2025, the administration announced it would detain every migrant found anywhere in the U.S. whom ICE determines was not granted permission to enter.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency was disappointed with Thursday’s decision but said it recently sought a Supreme Court review of a similar decision from the 6th Circuit.

FEDERAL JUDGE IN NEW YORK TIES TRUMP ADMIN HANDS ON ARRESTS AT IMMIGRATION COURTS

“Opinions from the Board of Immigration Appeals and two other federal courts of appeals reflect the soundness of DHS’ legal position,” the spokesperson said. “This legal position was the nail in the coffin for Biden’s catch and release policies. That is why the left and their activist proxies on the judiciary are resisting it so vigorously.

“President Trump and Secretary Mullin are now enforcing the law as it was actually written to keep America safe,” the spokesperson added. “As our record in the U.S. Supreme Court demonstrates, the law is on our side.”

Writing for the majority, 4th Circuit Judge Nicole Berner invoked the mass internment of Japanese Americans during World War II as a warning against sweeping executive detention authority without due process.

“The stain of these detentions on our nation — and the judiciary’s abdication of its obligation to protect basic freedoms — continues to haunt us,” Berner wrote.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and ICE.