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Year: 2025

SCOOP: Top Hegseth aide resigns from Pentagon after 6 months of service: ‘Incredibly inspiring’

SCOOP: Top Hegseth aide resigns from Pentagon after 6 months of service: ‘Incredibly inspiring’

A top advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has left the Pentagon after six months of service, the Department of Defense (DoD) confirmed to Fox News Digital on Saturday. Justin Fulcher told Fox News Digital he formally resigned on Thursday evening, describing the decision as entirely his own. Fulcher said he had originally planned to serve six months in government and, having reached that point, chose to move on “amicably.” He also emphasized what he described as the “great work” being done by Hegseth “for our troops and country.” “The Department of Defense is grateful to Justin Fulcher for his work on behalf of President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Hegseth. We wish him well in his future endeavors,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. HEGSETH VOWS TO RESTORE WARRIOR MENTALITY AND RAISE STANDARDS IN SWEEPING MILITARY TRANSFORMATION In addition to advising Hegseth on personnel and policy, Fulcher played a role in several defense initiatives during his tenure, he told Fox News Digital. Fulcher said he contributed to reviews of major acquisition programs aimed at strengthening lethality and the U.S. industrial base, and helped streamline software procurement timelines “from years to months,” modernizing key IT systems across the department. He also said he supported Hegseth in high-level meetings across the Indo-Pacific, including the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, and participated in efforts that redirected nearly $50 billion from non-lethal line items into readiness and more impactful defense programs. Fulcher praised the “dedicated men and women of the Department of Defense,” cited progress in “revitalizing the warrior ethos” and “rebuilding the military,” and thanked both Hegseth and Trump for their leadership. “Still, this is just the beginning,” Fulcher added. Fulcher, who had served as a senior advisor to Hegseth since April, announced his departure Saturday afternoon in a message posted to X.  “As planned, I’ve completed 6 months of service in government to my country,” he wrote, calling the experience “incredibly inspiring.” WALTZ DOUBLES DOWN ON HEGSETH PRAISE AMID ONGOING PENTAGON CONTROVERSY “None of this could have happened without Secretary Hegseth’s decisive leadership or President Trump’s continued confidence in our team,” he wrote. “I will continue to champion American warfighters in all future endeavors.” Fulcher joined the DoD earlier this year as part of Hegseth’s inner circle, a cohort of loyal advisers appointed after Hegseth took the helm at the Pentagon in Trump’s second term. His departure comes amid a broader reshuffling of senior personnel inside Hegseth’s office. At least six aides have left since January, though defense officials have downplayed the moves as standard transitions. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP It’s unclear what Fulcher’s next step will be, though his statement suggests he intends to remain active in national security circles. The Pentagon has not yet named a replacement.

Minnesota state lawmaker convicted of felony burglary after breaking into stepmom’s home

Minnesota state lawmaker convicted of felony burglary after breaking into stepmom’s home

Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell was convicted of felony burglary Friday, more than a year after she was arrested while breaking into her stepmother’s home.  Mitchell faced pressure to resign from both sides of the aisle since her arrest but had some defenders who said she deserved her day in court. One of them was Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, who, like Mitchell, is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). “Senator Mitchell has been afforded due process, a trial by a jury of her peers, and that jury has delivered a verdict. I am relieved to see the end of Senator Mitchell’s trial. The case’s resolution brings clarity to the situation,” Murphy said in a statement issued by the DFL after the verdict.  “Senator Mitchell has told colleagues that she intended to resign if found guilty of this crime, and I expect her to follow through on that pledge. Our caucus remains focused on the issues that matter to Minnesotan families and communities.” DEM STATE SENATOR CAUGHT ON BODYCAM ADMITS ‘I’M NOT GOOD AT THIS’ DURING ALLEGED HOME BREAK-IN The state lawmaker was arrested in April 2024 on suspicion of breaking into her stepmother’s home. Mitchell said she went to the home of her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, to retrieve her late father’s items. The state senator claimed her stepmother was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Mitchell testified she trespassed at her stepmother’s home and admitted lying to police about why she was there but that it was done out of concern for her stepmother, according to Axios.  MURDERED DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER’S HOME BROKEN INTO JUST DAYS AFTER FATAL SHOOTING Footage of Mitchell inside a police cruiser handcuffed and being questioned was shown at her trial. In the video, she told an officer she was “just trying to get some of my dad’s things,” adding, “Clearly, I’m not good at this.” Mitchell told police her stepmom “wouldn’t talk to me anymore,” which is why she resorted to breaking into the Detroit Lakes home. Among the items Mitchell said she wanted to retrieve were her father’s ashes, pictures, clothes and other sentimental items. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP When she was arrested, officers found a flashlight covered with a black sock on her. Additionally, officers said they searched a black backpack and found two laptops, a cellphone, a driver’s license, Senate identification and Tupperware products. While no sentencing date has been set, Mitchell faces a minimum of six months in jail and a maximum of 20 years, according to Axios, citing her attorney.

Cuomo quips ‘even I will move to Florida’ if Mamdani wins NYC mayoral bid

Cuomo quips ‘even I will move to Florida’ if Mamdani wins NYC mayoral bid

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared to be joking Saturday when he said he would move to Florida if Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani wins the New York City mayor’s race. Cuomo lost to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, but is planning to challenge him as an independent in the general election. The line, delivered at a Hamptons breakfast with political insiders, sparked laughter but also highlighted growing unease over the city’s political direction. “It’s all or nothing. We either win or even I will move to Florida. God forbid,” Cuomo said, according to attendees at the event. The remark came during a private gathering hosted by businessman John Catsimatidis at 75 Main in Southampton. Catsimatidis, a GOP donor and radio host, is also the owner of the Gristedes and D’Agostino supermarket chains, which could be directly affected by Mamdani’s proposal to create government-run grocery stores. The guest list included RXR Realty Chairman Bruce Mosler, Ambassador George Tsunis, and former top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa. One attendee described the line as a “wow” moment. Multiple guests said it got the room’s attention. TRUMP SAYS CUOMO’S GOT A ‘GOOD SHOT’ OF BEATING MAMDANI IN NYC MAYOR ELECTION Cuomo’s senior adviser, Rich Azzopardi, defended the comment to the New York Post. “Governor Cuomo would never give up on New York,” he said. “The line underscored the stakes in this election and the risk of electing a dangerously inexperienced, hate-spewing 33-year-old socialist to lead the city.” Cuomo repeatedly referred to Mamdani as “the kid” during the event. He called Mamdani’s rent freeze proposal a “death sentence” for landlords and housing supply, and dismissed his platform as “unrealistic bumper sticker slogans.” Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. ANDREW CUOMO TALKS REMATCH WITH MAMDANI, SAYS SOCIALIST’S POLICIES WILL CAUSE ‘DEATH’ OF NYC Cuomo also took aim at Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, saying, “We haven’t had a competent mayor since Bloomberg.” He accused Adams of being unable to focus, citing ongoing investigations and ethics concerns. Asked about the criticism by the New York Post, Adams responded, “If he’s serious about moving to Florida, he should go ahead. He’s already spent three weekends in the Hamptons.” The race, which also features Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, has become one of the most unconventional mayoral contests in recent memory. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP  Cuomo’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

DOJ investigating George Mason University’s hiring practices over alleged discrimination

DOJ investigating George Mason University’s hiring practices over alleged discrimination

The Justice Department is investigating whether George Mason University (GMU) engaged in discriminatory hiring practices. According to the department, it is focused on determining whether GMU violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. “It is unlawful and un-American to deny equal access to employment opportunities on the basis of race and sex,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “When employers screen out qualified candidates from the hiring process, they not only erode trust in our public institutions—they violate the law, and the Justice Department will investigate accordingly.” DOJ INVESTIGATING MINNESOTA HIRING PRACTICES IN LATEST CLASH WITH WALZ In a letter to GMU Board of Visitors Rector Charles “Cully” Stimson, Dhillon wrote that the DOJ has “reason to believe” that race and sex were used as “motivating factors in faculty hiring decisions” under GMU President Gregory Washington. Dhillon stated that on July 23, 2020, Washington emailed a GMU faculty listserv in which he said he planned to create a process for “renewal promotion and tenure” that would benefit “faculty of color and women.” Furthermore, Washington allegedly also said in the email that he aimed to “develop specific mechanisms in the promotion and tenure process that recognize the invisible and uncredited emotional labor that people of color expend to learn, teach, discover, and work on campus.” “I have authorized a full investigation to determine whether GMU is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above. We have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation,” Dhillon wrote. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA PRESIDENT RESIGNS AMID PRESSURE FROM TRUMP ADMIN OVER DEI INITIATIVES The investigation into GMU comes just weeks after University of Virginia President James Ryan resigned due to pressure from the Trump administration. “To make a long story short, I am inclined to fight for what I believe in, and I believe deeply in this University. But I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job. To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld,” Ryan wrote in a statement. The Trump administration has made tacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, particularly in government and educational institutions, a priority. As part of the DEI crackdown, the Education Department launched the “End DEI” Portal in February 2025. It allows parents, students, teachers and even concerned citizens to submit reports on what they believe to be DEI in publicly funded K-12 schools. President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at ending DEI. This includes “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” Fox News Digital contacted Mike Fragoso of Torridon Law PLLC, who is handling inquiries on behalf of George Mason University, but did not get a response in time for publication.

Fact check: Does ICE have higher detention standards than prisons in US?

Fact check: Does ICE have higher detention standards than prisons in US?

Democratic members of Congress who saw Florida’s new immigration detention centre, Alligator Alcatraz, said they witnessed dozens of people in metal enclosures, bugs and mosquitos in bunk areas, indoor temperatures above 80 degrees and people screaming for help. Republicans who also toured the facility tell a different story, describing the space as safe, clean and well-run. The federal Homeland Security Department, which oversees immigration detention, has called characterisations of inadequate conditions at the state-run Alligator Alcatraz “false”. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem was asked about Democrats’ accounts during a July 13 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. She said the Florida-run facility is “held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities”. “Our detention centres at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centres and even federal prisons,” Noem said. “The standards are extremely high.” White House border tsar Tom Homan also touted the nation’s immigration detention standards as being a cut above those for prisons and jails. When a reporter asked Homan about a 75-year-old Cuban man who had been living in the US for 60 years before he died in detention in Miami in June, Homan defended federal facilities. “People die in ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] custody,” he said, before saying ICE has “the highest detention standards in the industry. I’ll compare an ICE detention facility against any state prison against any federal facility. I’ll go head-to-head with any of them. … People say, ‘The detention centres are horrendous.’ Go look for yourself then come back and talk to me.” Advertisement Isidro Perez was the 11th person to die in ICE custody, almost six months into Trump’s second term. Twelve people died during former President Joe Biden’s last fiscal year in office. ICE detention centres have standards akin to prisons. But it’s difficult to assess blanket statements about the standards of immigration detention compared with state, local or other federal facilities for a few reasons. ICE detention standards aren’t codified into law, so it’s difficult to enforce them. Different ICE detention centres are upheld to different standards based on the terms of their individual contracts. There isn’t one set of standards for local, state and federal prisons and jails. Some standards are mandatory or codified into law, others aren’t. Several government watchdog agencies, advocacy organisations and news reports have long documented inadequate conditions at immigration detention centres. In May, human rights group Amnesty International reported “physical abuse by guards, use of solitary confinement, unsanitary and overcrowded living spaces including dysfunctional toilets, inadequate medical care and poor-quality, expired food” at an El Paso detention centre. Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, a Duke University associate professor who studies the health impacts of the criminal legal system, called Homan’s statement “very misleading”. “In most respects, ICE facilities operate with less consistent oversight and legal accountability than state or federal prisons or local jails,” Brinkley-Rubinstein said. “ICE detention facilities and people that run them tend to be much less transparent about their operations.” ICE has detention standards, but they aren’t set in law or universally applied Several federal agencies and private companies run immigration detention facilities. ICE, the main agency tasked with immigration detention, has standards that all its detention centres are supposed to abide by. For example, facilities have to be sanitary and have potable water. Detainees must have access to medical and mental healthcare, including getting prescription medications. Physical force should only be used when “necessary and reasonable” and not as a punishment. And detainees must be able to meet with their attorneys confidentially. There are different sets of standards for facilities that hold immigrant detainees and other non-immigration-related detainees, such as local prisons, and for facilities that exclusively hold immigrants. The standards for centres that also hold non-immigrant detainees “were based on jail standards in use by many jails”, University of Michigan law professor Margo Schlanger said, describing them as “the most stripped down version of jail standards”. Advertisement It’s unclear what standards Alligator Alcatraz is held to. The centre is state-run even though courts have repeatedly held that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. However, in a court declaration, Thomas P Giles, an ICE official, said the agency had toured the facility “to ensure compliance with ICE detention standards”. Both sets of immigration standards are periodically updated, but there’s no timing coordination between ICE standards’ updates and other facilities’ updates. Standards are individually negotiated and implemented in separate contracts leading “to varying degrees of protection across detention facilities”, a 2021 Harvard Law Review article about immigration detention said. Additionally, detention standards aren’t codified into law, making their enforcement difficult. Detainees’ complaints about the facilities’ conditions have little legal support to stand on because the industry is largely self-regulated, one immigration scholar argued. “Standards are often merely guidelines and largely unenforceable. They are pliable and weak,” David Hernández, a professor at Mount Holyoke College who specialises in detention and deportation policy, said. “Very few facilities lose their contracts due to failing standards, or even deaths of detainees.” Government watchdogs, nonprofit organisation, news reports detail inadequate conditions at detention centres The Homeland Security Department is largely responsible for conducting inspections to ensure detention centres are meeting ICE’s standards. However, for years, government watchdog agencies and advocacy organisations have questioned the efficacy of these investigations, pointing to several instances of facilities not complying with ICE standards. In 2020, Congress created the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman to conduct unauthorised investigations of detention centres and to allow immigrants to file individual complaints for the office to review. In March, the Trump administration tried to close the office. A civil rights group sued the administration. In response, DHS said in a declaration that the office would stay open but with a smaller staff. Immigration experts said this decision has severely limited oversight of detention centres. News outlets and advocacy organisations have warned of inadequate immigration detention conditions, including overcrowding. The Trump administration is currently detaining about 60,000 people – that’s 20,000 more people than it has congressional

Bus crash in southern Iran kills at least 21, injures 34

Bus crash in southern Iran kills at least 21, injures 34

Rescue operations are ongoing south of Shiraz, in Fars province. At least 21 people have been killed after a bus overturned in the south of Iran, state media has reported. Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, said 34 other people were injured in the accident on Saturday south of Shiraz, the province’s capital. Abed said rescue operations are ongoing, and additional information and final figures will be released to the public after the operation is complete and detailed investigations have been carried out. The cause of the incident is under investigation. With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is among the countries most affected by road and street accidents. The high toll is attributed to lax application of safety measures, the widespread use of old vehicles and depleted emergency services. Adblock test (Why?)

The Epstein Crisis: A MAGA mess of Trump’s making

The Epstein Crisis: A MAGA mess of Trump’s making

The Epstein saga has flipped the script within the MAGA movement. Having spent years accusing the Democrats of an establishment cover-up, many right-wing influencers are now turning against their idol, President Trump, as he resists calls to release the files. Contributors:Joan Donovan – Director, CriticalNetMehdi Hasan – Editor-in-chief, Zeteo NewsMiles Klee – Culture writer, Rolling StoneDanielle Moodie – Host, The Danielle Moodie Show On our radar: For 21 months, mainstream media outlets have avoided calling Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide. But this past week has seen a notable shift – prompted not by Palestinian voices, but by an Israeli scholar. Tariq Nafi reports on The New York Times, the breaking of a media taboo, and why, for many, it’s too little, too late. Mass surveillance, a crackdown on protest, and a media unwilling to question power: In Germany, pro-Palestinian voices are being silenced. Nicholas Muirhead reports from Berlin on the mounting assault on free expression. Featuring:Wael Eskander – Berlin-based journalistMartin Gak – Former Deutsche Welle journalistSabine Schiffer – Director, Media Responsibility Institute Adblock test (Why?)