Winners and losers from the Texas House speaker’s race
The new speaker’s power over the budget and committee assignments is expected to bolster established Republican leaders and some Democrats who supported the winner.
Secretary Austin’s secret hospitalizations ‘unnecessarily’ increased US national security risks, report finds
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s secret hospitalizations “unnecessarily” increased America’s national security risk, according to a new report from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG). The Pentagon watchdog’s scathing 188-page review scrutinizes the secretary’s hospitalizations in December 2023, January 2024 and February 2024 and puts the blame on Austin’s team for communication lapses and failures to transfer authority. OIG noted the main role Austin’s “strong desire for privacy about his medical condition” played in the breakdown of communications within the Pentagon, as well as between Defense Department and the White House and Congress. Neither Austin’s chief of staff nor Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks knew of his cancer diagnosis or the procedure he underwent in December 2023. In fact, OIG notes that “nearly all of his staff” were unaware of Austin’s medical condition and treatments. DR. MARC SIEGEL: PATIENT PRIVACY DOESN’T COVER LLOYD AUSTIN’S SECRET HOSPITALIZATION Evidence also allegedly indicates that, on Jan. 1, 2024, when he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for “severe” pain, Austin requested the ambulance not use lights or sirens. Additionally, according to the report, Austin told his personal security officer not to notify anyone about the incident. “No one on Secretary Austin’s staff knew the seriousness of his condition, including when his condition became worse and he was transferred to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit on January 2,” OIG noted in its report. On Jan. 3, 2024, Austin’s chief of staff, Kelly Magsamen, texted the secretary’s junior military assistant, who was in the hospital with the secretary at the time. In her message, Magsamen urged the secretary to be more forthcoming about his condition. “I wish [Secretary Austin] were a normal person but he’s the [Secretary of Defense]. We have a big institutional responsibility. He can’t just go totally dark on his staff. … Please pass to him that we can’t keep his hospitalization a secret forever. It’s kind of big deal for him to be in the [SICU]. And I’m worried sick,” Magsamen wrote, according to the OIG report. The OIG also found that on Feb. 11, 2024, when Austin was once again unexpectedly hospitalized, his authorities were not transferred “until several hours later.” In reference to this incident, the OIG noted that “given the seriousness of his condition,” Austin’s authorities should have been transferred “hours earlier than ultimately occurred.” After its review, the OIG gave the DOD 20 recommendations to “improve processes” and advised the department to act on them promptly. PENTAGON RELEASES SUMMARY OF AUSTIN HOSPITAL REVIEW Inspector General Robert Storch said in a statement that “while the DoD has taken some important steps to address these concerns, additional improvements are required to ensure the DoD’s readiness, transparency, and the fulfillment of its mission. These improvements are not just an administrative necessity; they are an operational and national security imperative.” Ultimately, the report found that the Department of Defense lacked a “comprehensive” plan for handing off duties in the event of the secretary’s absence. After the report’s release, a senior defense official admitted to reporters that Austin “made a mistake,” insisting “there was no scandal” and “there was no cover up.” The official also noted that “at every moment, either the Secretary of Defense or the Deputy Secretary of Defense was fully prepared to support the president.” Austin acknowledged his office’s shortcomings in a February 2024 press conference shortly after the hospitalizations became public. “I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right, and I did not handle this right,” Austin said at the time regarding his previous hospitalization. “I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.” Liz Friden contributed to this report.
Mike Johnson replaces powerful Intelligence Committee chairman after Russian nuclear threat warning
Speaker Mike Johnson is replacing Rep. Mike Turner as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee after a debacle that started with a warning about Russian space nuclear technology last year, a source familiar with the decision confirmed to Fox News Digital. Johnson was unhappy with Turner after a seemingly unexpected warning he issued about the need to declassify information about Russian anti-satellite technology. A hawk by nature, Turner sometimes went up against the Trumpist wing of his Republican Party on matters like his support for Ukraine aid and Section 702 of FISA. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Criminal appeals court to rehear election wrongdoing case involving Washington County Republican
The Court of Criminal Appeals will rehear a case it threw out last year. Three of the judges became targets of Attorney General Ken Paxton over another ruling and lost reelection.
Stacey Abrams-founded groups slapped with historic fine for campaign finance violations
A pair of voting advocacy groups founded by failed Democrat Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams were hit with a historic fine by the Georgia Ethics Commission for violating campaign finance laws to bolster Abram’s 2018 election. “Today the State Ethics Commission entered into a consent agreement with the New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund for a total of $300,000,” the Georgia State Ethics Commission posted in a statement on Wednesday. “This certainly represents the largest fine imposed in the history of Georgia’s Ethics Commission, but it also appears to be the largest ethics fine ever imposed by any state ethics commission in the country related to an election and campaign finance case.” Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2013 as part of an effort to register more minority voters and young voters. The organization was founded as a charity that can accept tax-deductible donations, while the New Georgia Project Action Fund worked as the organization’s fundraising arm. The groups admitted to failing to disclose about $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures that were used during Abram’s election efforts in 2018, according to the commission’s consent order. The groups were hit with a total of 16 violations, including failing to register as a political committee and failure to disclose millions of dollars in political contributions. STACEY ABRAMS SAYS TRUMP RE-ELECTION WAS NOT A ‘SEISMIC SHIFT’ OR ‘LANDSLIDE’ The groups were accused of carrying out similar activity in 2019, when they reportedly failed to disclose $646,000 in contributions and $174,000 while advocating for a ballot initiative. STACEY ABRAMS ACCUSES CNN HOST OF ‘REPEATING DISINFORMATION’ ABOUT HER CASTING DOUBT ON 2018 ELECTION RESULTS “This represents the largest and most significant instance of an organization illegally influencing our statewide elections in Georgia that we have ever discovered, and I believe this sends a clear message to both the public and potential bad actors moving forward that we will hold you accountable,” the ethics commission continued in its statement Wednesday. STACEY ABRAMS PRAISED ON ‘THE VIEW’ FOR NOT CONCEDING ELECTION, DEFENDS SAYING SHE ‘WON’ GEORGIA RACE IN 2018 Abrams stepped down from the group in 2017, with Sen. Raphael Warnock taking the reins as the New Georgia Project’s CEO from 2017 to 2019, the Associated Press reported. Warnock was elected as a U.S. senator from Georgia in 2020. A spokesperson for Warnock’s Senate office told the AP that he was working “as a longtime champion for voting rights” and that he was not aware of campaign violations. The spokesperson added that “compliance decisions were not a part of that work.” Fox Digital also reached out to Warnock’s office for additional comment but did not immediately receive a reply. Abrams ran for governor of Georgia in 2018 and 2022, but lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in both races. Abrams drew national attention after the 2018 race when she refused to concede to the Republican despite losing by 60,000 votes. STACEY ABRAMS ON NOT CONCEDING GEORGIA LOSS: WE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO ‘LEGITIMATELY QUESTION’ SYSTEMS Amid the 2018 race, she touted the New Georgia Project on her X account, which was called Twitter at the time. “When Abrams sees a problem, she doesn’t wait for someone else to step up – she does it herself. So when she saw that 800,000 people of color in Georgia weren’t registered to vote, Abrams immediately set out to fix the problem & founded The New GA Project,” she tweeted. The New Georgia Project said in a comment provided to Fox News Digital that they are “glad to finally put this matter behind us” so the group can “fully devote its time and attention to its efforts to civically engage and register black, brown, and young voters in Georgia.” “While we remain disappointed that the federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act was overturned on entirely procedural grounds, we accept this outcome and are eager to turn the page on activities that took place more than five years ago,” the group continued.
‘Sinking the Democratic Party’: Biden’s Cuba move spurs rare bipartisan condemnation in key electoral state
President Biden’s proclamation removing Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terror caused an uproar in Florida, notably among the president’s fellow Democrats. The rare political unity in the Sunshine State was pronounced after Biden certified on Tuesday that Havana’s Miguel Diaz-Canel regime has “not provided any support for international terrorism” during the preceding six-month period. Biden’s declaration also claimed Havana provided Washington with assurances it will not support terrorism in the future, and that the U.S. maintains its “core objective” of “more freedom and democracy” for the Cuban people. However, Democratic Floridians were up in arms at the development. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, in heavily-blue Broward County, told Axios on Tuesday that the outgoing president is doing lasting political damage. “This is Joe Biden literally sinking the Democratic Party in the state of Florida,” he said. “Big time.” CUBA’S REPORTED RETURN TO MEDDLING IN US ELECTIONS A ‘BADGE OF HONOR’ FOR TARGETED CRITICS Once the most notable “swing state” — rife with ballot “hanging chads” and the “Brooks Brothers Riot” of the 2000 election — Florida has seen a major rightward lurch in recent years. State Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated an electoral blowout of Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist in 2022, and President-elect Trump shocked the state by flipping Miami-Dade County red in 2024. Trump lost Miami-Dade by 30 points in 2020, but won by 11 points in November. The county has a sizable Latino and specifically Cuban-American population — highlighted by its famed “Little Havana” neighborhood along U.S. Highway 41. “Just as we try to patch the hole in the boat, Biden punches another hole in it,” Moskowitz told the outlet. “Florida is a red state, and Biden just waved the white flag of surrender.” Meanwhile, Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried said she is “disappointed” at the decision. “We condemn in the strongest terms Cuba’s removal from this list, as well as any possible lifting of economic sanctions, and call on the Biden Administration to reverse course immediately.” Fried said in a statement that generations of Floridian Cuban-Americans have shared stories of the Castro regime’s oppression, and that Diaz-Canel is Raul Castro’s “hand-picked successor” as the first non-Castro to lead Cuba since Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by the Castro brothers in 1959. Following the terror-sponsored designation change, Havana officials reportedly pledged to release more than 500 political prisoners — for which the Catholic Church had been negotiating for some time. As the news fell just ahead of Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing to be Trump’s secretary of state, a spokesperson for Biden told Axios the timing is strictly coincidental. Rubio is one of several lawmakers — and residents — of South Florida whose parents or grandparents fled the Communist nation. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. — the only Cuban-born member of Congress — called Biden a “pathetic coward” for his decision to drop Cuba’s terror-sponsor designation. ‘BLOODIED’ LITTLE HAVANA DEMONSTRATOR SLAMS BIDEN: ‘CUBANS DON’T WANT VACCINES, THEY WANT FREEDOM’ Gimenez added that Rubio will “pulverize the [Castro/Diaz-Canel] regime once and for all.” He told Fox News Digital that Biden’s decision is “morally bankrupt” and geopolitically “treacherous,” for a malign regime that sits less than 90 miles from the edge of his own congressional district’s Monroe County boundary. Gimenez went on to warn that the decision ignores Cuba’s coziness with the Chinese Communist Party, and intelligence sharing with Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro and Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega. “The [Cuban] dictatorship must be confronted and isolated — never appeased.” He praised Florida leaders from Biden’s side of the aisle for being willing to speak out at such an important time. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican whose Miami-Dade district abuts Gimenez’, said he is “disgusted but not surprised” by what he called Biden’s “final acts of betrayal to the security interests of the United States.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP As Moskowitz and other Democrats warn of the damage being done to the Democratic Party by moves such as the removal of Cuba’s terror-sponsor designation, several Florida Democrats have fled the party and praised Trump in recent weeks. Maureen Porras, the vice-mayor of Doral, Florida — the tony Miami suburb where Trump owns a golf club and resort — told The Floridian her now-former party “prioritized minority opinions” and “neglected to… address the real issues affecting our community.” Meanwhile, State Reps. Susan Valdes of Tampa and Hillary Cassel of Hallandale Beach, Florida, recently changed their affiliation from Democratic to Republican.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Bondi’s Masterclass
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… –President Biden releases farewell letter, says it’s been ‘privilege of my life to serve this nation’ -CIA nominee John Ratcliffe says US faces ‘most challenging security environment’ ever in confirmation hearing -Why some Trump nominees could be confirmed with a voice vote – and why some could not Conservatives on social media celebrated President-elect Trump’s attorney general nominee Pam Bondi’s response to a question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “It would not be appropriate for a prosecutor to start with a name and look for a crime?” Whitehouse said during his line of questioning. “It’s a prosecutor’s job to start with a crime and look for a name. Correct?” Bondi responded by highlighting the federal government’s investigations into Trump…Read more ‘HARMFUL’: Biden offshore drilling ban may have reverse effect on environment, set back conservation by decades: experts…Read more ‘STRONGER’ AMERICA’: President Biden set to deliver farewell speech to the nation…Read more WORST PRESIDENT EVER?: Majority say Biden will be remembered poorly as president says farewell to the nation…Read more ‘IS THAT A JOKE?’: Biden balks when asked if Trump deserves credit for Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal: ‘Is that a joke?’…Read more DEEPLY UNDERWATER: Biden leaving office with approval ratings still buried deep in negative territory…Read more ‘BETRAYED THE CUBANS!’: Democrats and Republicans criticize Biden admin’s Cuba detente…Read more ‘WILL NOT BOW DOWN’: Puerto Rico governor asks Trump to intervene after Venezuela’s Maduro threatened to invade the US territory…Read more ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE’: Trump Energy Sec pick to share American ‘energy dominance’ vision at confirmation hearing: ‘Agent for change’…Read more TIME CRUNCH: Confirmation delays stack up for Trump nominees as paperwork lags in federal offices…Read more FULL-STAFF: DeSantis orders flags at full-staff for Trump’s inauguration despite 30-day mourning period for Jimmy Carter…Read more DOUBLING DOWN: Dem senator who bashed Hegseth’s qualifications stands by DOD sec who oversaw botched Afghan withdrawal…Read more ‘BILINGUAL PROTESTERS’: Rubio brushes off demonstrators who erupted in Senate hearing: ‘I get bilingual protesters’…Read more NEW HIRE: Former Trump HHS official tapped to be RFK Jr’s chief of staff…Read more SMOOTH SAILING: Duffy confirmation hearing marked by bipartisanship, pledge to visit Helene-devastated states…Read more ‘POTENTIAL TARGET’: Government agencies concerned Trump inauguration ‘potential target’ for extremists…Read more ‘THIS WAS SPECTACULAR’: Bondi claps back at Hirono amid questions about political prosecutions: ‘Refused to meet with me’…Read more ‘EXCUSE ME’: Bondi shuts down Dem senator’s questioning attacking another Trump nominee…Read more RETURN TO WORK: House Oversight report says telework is ‘wasting billions’ in taxpayer cash ahead of 1st hearing…Read more ‘RIGHT ON’: Freshman GOP senator sets social media ablaze with ‘best’ response to Hegseth’s answer on gender question…Read more ‘GREEN ENERGY SCAM’: House GOP resolution would overturn Biden’s gas water heater ban…Read more ‘VIBE SHIFT’: Tennessee AG optimistic about SCOTUS case after ‘radical gender ideology’ reversal in lower court…Read more COLLEGE NIGHTMARE: Family attorney of fraternity pledge left debilitated from hazing cheers new law as good start but not enough…Read more ‘UNACCEPTABLE’: New GOP bill seeks to hold private elite universities to same tax standard as corporations…Read more ‘IS IT FAIR’?: Florida proposal would bar illegal migrants in the US from attending some colleges…Read more WILL SHE RUN?: Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn eyes gubernatorial bid…Read more FREE TUITION: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul unveils plan to offer free tuition at city, state colleges…Read more STOCKPILE: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says state will stockpile abortion pills ahead of Trump’s return to White House…Read more SPECIAL SESSION: Tennessee to call special session fast-tracking Trump agenda on immigration, school choice and disaster relief…Read more Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com
Stephen Miller preps House Republicans for Trump’s immigration overhaul in closed-door meeting
President-elect Trump’s top aide on immigration and the border spoke with House Republicans during a roughly hour-long meeting Wednesday. Lawmakers who left the room hailed Stephen Miller, who was tapped to be U.S. Homeland Security adviser in the new Trump administration, as a brilliant policy mind. Two sources present for the discussions told Fox News Digital Miller talked about the need to scale up the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workforce, which is noteworthy given Trump’s promise to execute mass deportations when he returns to office. Miller also discussed ways to cut federal funds going toward sanctuary cities and states, a cash flow that Republicans had previously promised to target if they were to control the levers of power in Washington. COLORADO MAYOR SPEAKS OUT AFTER VIDEO OF ARMED VENEZUELAN GANG IN APARTMENT GOES VIRAL: ‘FAILED POLICY’ The strategy meeting comes as congressional Republicans are preparing for a massive conservative policy overhaul through the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 votes to 51, reconciliation allows the party controlling Congress and the White House to pass broad policy changes — provided they deal with budgetary and other fiscal matters. The sources told Fox News Digital Miller’s portion of the meeting partly focused on what border and immigration policies could go into a reconciliation package and what kind of funding Congress would need to appropriate. 1.4 MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN US HAVE BEEN ORDERED DEPORTED, BUT HAVE YET TO BE REMOVED: OFFICIAL The sources said Miller told Republicans the incoming Trump administration understood the president-elect’s border and immigration goals were “probably not going to get a lot” of Democratic votes and that “those more controversial things would need to be in reconciliation.” More bipartisan initiatives could be passed during the regular process, the sources added. A House GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital of an understanding that Congress would follow Trump’s lead. “I think we’re going to see a slew of executive orders early, and that is going to be helpful to separate from what we have to do legislatively,” the lawmaker said. One source in the room said Miller emphasized the importance of messaging, adding that “nothing matters if we don’t get our message out to the American people.” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital Miller discussed “low-hanging fruit” that Trump could tackle by executive order, mentioning “deportation” as a possibility. “Tax stuff, that’s going to take some time,” Norman said. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., declined to go into specifics about the meeting but told Fox News Digital the discussion focused on “illegal immigration and how that’s going to be curbed … to bring commonsense solutions to the program.” HOUSE DOGE CAUCUS EYES FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS IN NEW GOAL-SETTING MEMO “I had a couple of questions about the cost to American taxpayers if we don’t repatriate some 12 million illegal aliens who the Biden administration has let into our country,” Alford said. Miller declined to answer reporters’ questions when he left the room. He was invited to address the Republican Study Committee led by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the House GOP’s largest caucus, which acts as a conservative think tank of sorts for the rest of the House Republican Conference. House GOP leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., were not in attendance, nor were they expected. Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the group’s previous chairman, said there was “nothing new” said during the meeting, adding it was an opportunity for Trump’s aides to address the House GOP. Trump and his aides have already paid heavy attention to congressional Republicans. Several of his incoming White House aides are in regular contact with top GOP lawmakers. Trump personally invited several groups of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago last weekend.
New York to open massive new 2,200-bed migrant shelter for single men in the Bronx
After New York Mayor Eric Adams announced the planned opening of a massive, 2,000-bed migrant shelter in the South Bronx, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres slammed the decision, accusing Adams of treating the borough as an immigrant “dumping ground.” The mayor’s office announced the new shelter last week while simultaneously claiming that the ongoing migrant crisis in New York City is waning. This comes as New York is set to close its sprawling tent shelter on Randalls Island and dozens of other shelters in the next few months. New York is a migrant sanctuary city and has a “right to shelter” law that requires the city to accommodate anyone seeking shelter who has no other option. However, in recent months, Adams has taken a different tone toward immigrants in the city and announced the closure of a string of migrant shelters. In last week’s statement, Adams said the closures are part of the city’s efforts to find “more opportunities to save taxpayer money and turn the page on this unprecedented humanitarian crisis.” “Thanks to the administration’s successful asylum seeker management strategies and federal border policy changes the city advocated for that have continued to drive down the number of people in the city’s care for 27 straight weeks and reduce costs by nearly $2.8 billion over three fiscal years,” the mayor’s office said. TRUMP BORDER CZAR MEETING WITH NYC MAYOR ADAMS DESPITE SANCTUARY CITY STATUS Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that it will cost the city between $250,000 and $340,000 to retrofit and prepare a 275,000-square-foot former office building in the Bronx to accommodate the expected thousands of men who will live in the new migrant shelter. The shelter’s location – 825 E. 141st St. – was renovated in 2017 and is near an infamous section of the Bronx called “the Hub,” which is known for having a high volume of open drug use and activity, including the use of heroin and fentanyl. The building is owned by SoBro Local Development Corp., a nonprofit that’s stated mission is to “enhance the quality of life in the South Bronx by strengthening businesses and creating and implementing innovative economic, housing, educational, and career development programs for youth and adults.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Adams’ announcement was not taken well by many Bronx residents. Many of the migrant shelters in the city have earned reputations as centers for violence, crime and gang activity from the likes of the international criminal group Tren de Aragua. The New York Post reported one 21-year-old Bronx resident named Serene Bilal saying: “Wrong move!… You need to work with the people already here. We have issues going on. Why the Bronx? Why pick on the Bronx? “It’s going to be dangerous,” Bilal told the outlet. “We don’t know who these people are. We are not talking about 10 people. We’re talking about thousands. That’s a lot.” ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS MAKE UP 75% OF ARRESTS IN MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, SAY POLICE: REPORT Torres, who is rumored to be considering a run for New York governor, also slammed the decision to place the new shelter in the Bronx. “Instead of decisively dismantling open-air drug markets in the Hub, the City is treating the South Bronx as a dumping ground for an endless stream of shelters,” Torres told Fox News Digital. “The Bronx is treated differently from the rest of the city,” he went on. “We are treated as the second-class borough of New York City.” Fox News Digital reached out to Adams’ office for comment but did not receive a response. Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Trump inauguration will reportedly include Muslim cleric who refused to condemn Hezbollah as terror org
A Muslim cleric who has praised Iran and refused to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization was reportedly tapped to deliver a benediction at President-elect Trump’s inauguration. Husham Al-Husainy is a well-known Iraqi-American imam in Michigan, overseeing the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn. Al-Husainy was among a swath of Muslim voters in Michigan who indicated ahead of Election Day that they would support Trump instead of the Democratic Party’s ticket in November. “I lean towards Mr. Trump because I found him closer to the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran. Because I support peace, no war,” he said back in October, Fox News Digital reported at the time. He added that the country “deserves to have a strong leader where he can bring peace in this world.” Before he indicated support for the former and upcoming president, Al-Husainy reportedly made a series of questionable comments. A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, the Middle East Media and Research Institute, for example, reported this week that the Muslim cleric praised Iran in a 2022 interview. TRADITIONALLY DEM LEADERS IN KEY MICHIGAN VOTING BLOC DITCH HARRIS, ENDORSE TRUMP “Thank God We Have the Islamic Republic of Iran; Its Light Goes to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and All Over,” he said in the interview, the nonprofit posted on X. The conservative nonprofit The Middle East Forum described the cleric as a “radical antisemitic, pro-Hezbollah Shia imam,” who reportedly hosted a 2015 rally in Dearborn where he “wished death upon Saudi Arabia” amid the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war. ABANDON BIDEN CAMPAIGN RELAUNCHES, TARGETS HARRIS IN KEY SWING STATES In 2007, Al-Husainy joined Fox News’ Sean Hannity on the “Hannity & Colmes” program, where he was pressed on whether he considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The cleric joined the program following his invitation to the DNC’s winter meeting that year to deliver the invocation. “I’ll ask you again. Is Hezbollah – this is a yes or no question. Is Hezbollah a terrorist organization? Yes or no?” Hannity asked the imam. “Now if – I give you a time to ask me a question. Now give me time to answer it, please,” Al-Husainy said. “Yes or no?” Hannity continued. “First of all – first of all, Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization. And I’ve got nothing to do with that. But there is a biblical meaning of Hezbollah. It is in Judaism and Christianity and Islam meaning people of God and that means yes,” the imam responded. WALZ PICK DOES LITTLE TO PERSUADE DEARBORN’S ANTI-BIDEN/HARRIS VOTERS Later in the segment, Hannity again asked if Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. “This is – your idea of a political or… you know what Hezbollah means? I support the people of God,” Al-Husainy said. The State Department has recognized Hezbollah as a terrorist organization since 1997. Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team regarding the invitation and Al-Husainy’s previous comments, but did not receive a reply. Matt Foldi, the former congressional candidate and current editor-in-chief of the Washington Reporter, shared a photo on X this week reportedly showing the official program of Inauguration Day, including that Al-Husainy, a Catholic priest, the Rev. Frank Mann, Rabbi Ari Berman and a Detroit pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, are slated to deliver benedictions. IMAM AL-HUSAINY REACTS TO DNC FLAP Fox News Digital also attempted to reach Al-Husainy via the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, but did not immediately receive a reply. Dearborn, Michigan, is home to the proportionally largest Muslim population in the U.S. and became the birthplace of the “Abandon Biden” movement last year as Arab voters spoke out about the administration’s handling of the conflict in Gaza. The movement morphed into “abandoning” Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out of the race in July, and ultimately endorsed Trump on Election Day. Muslim voters overall favored Harris by 32 percentage points in the 2024 election. Trump won 32% of their vote, while Harris won 63%. In 2020, Biden had won 64% of the Muslim vote, and Trump had won 35%. Trump faced mixed support from Muslim and Arab American voters, but in swing states like Michigan, their support became especially crucial. Arab American voters in Dearborn said following the election that they voted for Trump over Harris in protest of her stance on the Israel-Hamas war. “They didn’t vote for Trump because they believe Trump is the best candidate,” Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani told Politico in November. “No, they voted for Trump because they want to punish the Democrats and Harris.” Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report.