U.S. Supreme Court rejects Texas challenge to abortion pill
In the high court’s first abortion-related ruling since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the justices ruled unanimously to change nothing about mifepristone’s legal status.
Rioter vandalism targeted after DC statues defaced: ‘Long Live Hamas’
FIRST ON FOX: Statue vandalism is being eyed for harsher punishment after a pro-Hamas rally in Washington, D.C., saw statues defaced. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wants to enforce mandatory minimum prison sentences on people who vandalize and deface statues on federal property. The senator introduced the Saving Treasured Artifacts Through Uniform Enforcement (STATUE) Act on Thursday, which would do just that. ‘DESTRUCTION OF DUE PROCESS’: RAND PAUL LEADS DOZENS OF SENATORS CONDEMNING TRUMP ‘SHOW TRIAL’ IN NY “Any protestor who defaces statues of America’s heroes must face the full extent of the law. As Joe Biden seeks to appease the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party, it’s clear his administration won’t do anything to punish the protestors who defaced the area around the White House recently. The Senate should take up my legislation to punish these pro-Hamas lunatics,” Cotton said in a statement to Fox News Digital. DHS CHIEF MAYORKAS QUESTIONED ON REPORTS OF ‘MASS AMNESTY’ FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS If passed, the bill would prohibit anyone from willfully injuring or destroying, or attempting “to injure or destroy, a structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property.” Anyone convicted of doing so would be subject to a fine of at least $1,000 and imprisoned for at least five years, but no more than 10. Cotton’s bill comes after a recent rally in the nation’s capital outside the White House, which included pro-Hamas demonstrators who defaced statues. In Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square, protesters vandalized statues as they protested the Biden administration’s policy towards Israel and the war in Gaza. DURBIN ATTEMPT TO FORCE SUPREME COURT ETHICS VOTE BLOCKED AMID ALITO CONTROVERSY Statues of former President Jackson riding a horse and Comte de Rochambeau, who was a commander in the French army and helped America fend off the British in the Revolutionary War, were among the defaced park infrastructure. Messages scrawled on the statues included, “free Gaza” and “free Palestine,” in addition to “Death to AmeriKKKa” and even statements of support for terrorist group Hamas, such as “Long live Hamas” and “Muslim 4 Hamas.” LINDSEY GRAHAM REQUESTS FULL SENATE BRIEFING ON ISIS BORDER THREAT AFTER TERRORIST BUST Following the weekend rally, Cotton called on the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation into it in the fashion it did for the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. “I expect the Department of Justice to use every technique against them that it used against grandmas in MAGA hats on Jan. 6. And if it doesn’t now, it will next year,” he wrote on X.
Southern Poverty Law Center cuts 60 jobs amid union claims of donation ‘hoarding’
The left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center reportedly laid off more than 60 employees late Wednesday, leading at least one member of its union to assail the Montgomery, Alabama.-based organization on X, formerly Twitter. The organization has long been known for its cataloging of purported “hate groups” and “enabler” groups or individuals, including several evangelical and Catholic entities, conservative members of Congress and the late radio icon Rush Limbaugh – all of which are sprinkled among its monitoring of groups more widely considered racist or misogynist such as the Ku Klux Klan and Proud Boys. Several of the reported layoffs affected top officials in the organization’s union, which was reportedly organized in 2019 to fight “inequitable” practices at the organization. “Today, SPLC – my employer – laid off over 60 of our union members, essentially shuttering multiple departments,” Hannah Gais wrote on X. ASSAULT ON CONSERVATIVE GROUPS: 10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER “Speaking in a personal capacity, I endorse each and every single word of this statement from our union. [A]n organization with this much money has no excuse,” she added. The referenced union statement, also posted to X, said more than 60 union members, including its chairperson and five stewards, were informed their jobs would be cut. “We are devastated for our union and for our colleagues,” the union said. In another tweet, the union said SPLC has nearly $1 billion in reserves and is facing allegations of “hoarding” donations while “gutting its staff by a quarter.” SPLC SLAMMED FOR BLAMING POLICE AFTER STAFFER’S DOMESTIC TERRORISM ARREST Fox News Digital reached out to SPLC for comment on the layoffs and allegations of donation hoarding via multiple avenues but did not immediately receive a response. A person who picked up the phone at the organization directed Fox News Digital to an extension that eventually went to voicemail. In a statement to the Alabama Reflector, the group said it would be taking actions to streamline its activities and operations in order to better advance its cause. “We announced internally the consolidation of certain programs and activities as well as the elimination of others, resulting in staff reductions,” the press team wrote. “This was a difficult but necessary decision to focus and align our work with our programmatic priorities and goals. We deeply value the contributions of all our staff and their commitment to ensuring the promise of equal justice is a reality for all,” the group told the outlet. The Reflector reported the group said the move would allow Deep South communities to be better served. The group has long faced a history of discrimination allegations while simultaneously claiming to be a “catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond.” In the 1980s, the group won several civil suits on behalf of KKK victims. The organization was originally founded in 1971. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In 2022, in response to allegations by union members of an “inequitable” post-COVID reopening plan at its offices, SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang tallied 400 employees at the time, and said less than 10% held positions that required them to be in the office. The SPLC also notably had to apologize after labeling neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson as an “extremist.” Fox News’ Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
Trump rally draws swing state voters angry over ‘sham’ conviction: ‘Biggest scam ever’
Former President Trump’s recent rally in the key swing state of Nevada drew thousands of voters eager to show their support for him, including many angry over his “sham” conviction in a New York City court. Fox News Digital spoke to a number of those waiting hours in the desert heat just to cheer on Trump in his first rally since the guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records. “I have always been a Trump fan. My last four years in the military I saw no wars, and I just think he’s the best pick for the United States,” one supporter told Fox, adding that he “laughed” at the outcome of the trial. “I think it was a witch hunt. I think it was devised to incite rage and divide throughout the country.” TRUMP RILES UP FIERY SWING STATE CROWD IN FIRST RALLY SINCE NEW YORK CONVICTION Another supporter said he was backing Trump because he would provide more opportunity for Black and Hispanic people, who he said struggled more than others to afford necessities in life, such as a home and an automobile. He added that he did not think the trial was fair and that there was no equal justice between Republicans and Democrats. Members of one family said they came to the rally to “show how much they love” Trump, and that they were going to support him regardless of what he was going through. “We need him back,” one said. “We do need him back. He was an amazing president,” another agreed. “Our country needs him, plain and simple. We just need him back.” WATCH: TRUMP RALLYGOERS REVEAL WHO THEY WANT AS VICE PRESIDENT “I really think they’re pulling out all the stops to try and make him not run for president, but in my eyes, I’m still going to vote for him no matter what happens,” one said, while another added the trial was “the biggest scam ever.” One supporter told Fox he came to the rally “because Joe Biden is ruining this country,” and that Trump’s “sham” trial had exposed a “corrupt system.” Another admitted she “wasn’t crazy” about Trump during his first term, but that the changes he made were ones she wanted back after experiencing President Biden. She added that the outcome of the trial was “not correct,” and that the justice system was “the first swamp he needs to clear up again when he gets back into office.” BIDEN CAMP JABS AT TRUMP’S ‘FAILED’ BUSINESS RECORD AS FORMER PRESIDENT LOOKS TO SWAY NATION’S TOP CEOS “That was a fix. Anybody that doesn’t know that is not paying attention. You’ve only got to have a third grade education to know that,” one supporter said. The rally drew thousands of Nevadans to Sunset Park, just miles from the Las Vegas Strip, as polls suggest Trump leads Biden more in Nevada than in any other battleground state won by the president in 2020. The rally also came just days after a new Fox News poll found Trump leading Biden by five points (50%-45%) in an overall head-to-head matchup. That lead holds steady (45%-40%) with the inclusion of independent presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (7%) and Dr. Cornel West (2%) as well as Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein (2%). Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
FBI Director Wray pressed on 8 ISIS-linked border crossers released into US
FIRST ON FOX – Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., penned a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday, demanding answers on how eight Tajikistan nationals – who crossed the border illegally and were later arrested in three major American cities over the past several days amid suspicion they have ties to the terror group ISIS – had been released into the U.S. interior in the first place. Moran called on Wray to elaborate on testimony he gave last week before the Senate Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which has oversight of the FBI. “Last week, during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, we discussed the concerning trend that more known or suspected terrorists are exploiting our southern border to gain access to the United States. Today, we have learned that eight ISIS suspects, nationals of Tajikistan, were finally arrested after crossing the southern border last year, despite being vetted during their initial processing,” Moran wrote in the letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. “The Biden administration’s policies allow those entering our country illegally to move freely about the United States. The FBI, along with its intelligence and law enforcement partners, must act decisively to stop the terrorists who will inevitably exploit this vulnerability.” The senator wrote that he and Wray shared “the same concern about suspected terrorists and watch-list subjects crossing the border.” FBI DIRECTOR WRAY WARNED OF TERROR THREAT POSED BY OPEN BORDER DAYS BEFORE 8 ISIS SUSPECTS ARRESTED ACROSS US Wray testified last week, “The bigger problem, in my view, is twofold. One, individuals who, when they come in, are either armed with fake documents or snuck in some way or – or, and this is very important, individuals for whom there’s not enough derogatory information in the intelligence community to watch list them yet.” Given the eight Tajikistan nationals with ties to ISIS “were allowed to enter the US and later arrested in New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia by Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] in conjunction with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Moran pressed Wray to answer “based on your understanding of this case and our discussion last week, how were these individuals allowed to enter the United States?” “Do either of the two categories of issues you outlined for me apply in this case?” Moran, who serves as vice chair of the subcommittee, asked Wray. “Most importantly, what can the FBI do to ensure that suspected terrorists and watch-list subjects do not make it to our major cities or anywhere else inside the United States?” AUTHORITIES NAB 8 SUSPECTED TERRORISTS WITH TIES TO ISIS IN MULTI-CITY STING OPERATION “I stand ready to work with you to solve this critical issue facing our country,” Moran wrote. “Because of this administration’s immigration and parole polices, the burden will remain on our intelligence and law enforcement communities to address this threat on US soil. We must do everything in our power to ensure the safety of the American people.” The eight Tajikistan nationals crossed the southern border illegally and initially had no derogatory information that was flagged to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially during processing, a federal source told Fox News on Tuesday. They received “full vetting” before they were released into the U.S., the source added. It was afterward that new derogatory information flagged national security concerns – and ISIS ties. READ THE MORAN LETTER – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: “Our adversaries know the our southern border is wide open, putting American lives at risk,” Moran said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Last week, I questioned FBI Director Wray regarding steps the FBI is taking to protect Americans from terrorists illegally crossing the southern border. I appreciate the FBI’s work to track down these eight potential terrorists, but the fact of the matter is, the Biden administration should never have allowed these suspected terrorists onto U.S. soil in the first place. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and a defenseless border has left our country vulnerable to attack.” An FBI spokesperson confirmed the bureau received Moran’s letter and referred Fox News Digital to its original statement about the operation. “Over the last few days, ICE agents arrested several non-citizens pursuant to immigration authorities,” the FBI and DHS said in a joint statement Tuesday. “The actions were carried out in close coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The individuals arrested are detained in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. As the FBI and DHS have recently described in public and partner bulletins, the U.S. has been in a heightened threat environment. The FBI and DHS will continue working around the clock with our partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt potential threats to national security. “ It is unclear if the arrests will result in any terror-related charges. Last week, Wray warned the subcommittee that since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, a “rogue gallery of foreign terrorist organizations” have been calling for attacks on Americans, the U.S. and U.S. allies. “And given those calls for action, our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw a twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home,” Wray said. “But now, on top of that, increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, not unlike the ISIS K attack we saw at the Russian concert hall back in March.”
PM Modi heads to Italy for G7 Summit, first foreign visit after assuming office for third term
It will be India’s 11th participation in the G7 Summit and PM Modi’s fifth consecutive participation at the G7 Summit.
Bengaluru court issues non-bailable arrest warrant against former Karnataka CM Yediyurappa in POCSO case
The POCSO Act deals with sexual assault cases against minors.
NASA administrator describes future projects, partnerships in space
Bill Nelson says he never imagined he would become administrator of the nation’s space agency, NASA. “I had no idea,” Nelson said. “As a matter of fact, I grew up in the shadow of the cape, never thinking I would ever have a chance to fly in space.” Nelson served in both the House and Senate as a Democrat representing Florida. In 1986, Nelson trained and flew with the crew of the space shuttle Columbia and became the second sitting member of Congress to travel to space, after Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah. CRAZY-STRONG ROBOTIC DOGS GEAR UP FOR MOON MISSION “I flew in the space shuttle. We had 135 flights, two that were catastrophic. The first one, Challenger, was 10 days after our flight landed back on Earth,” Nelson said. “It’s an unforgiving environment. And there you are, white-knuckle time when that baby’s going up and when it’s coming back.” The space shuttle completed its final mission in 2011. Since then, NASA has begun working with an increasing number of private companies to travel and conduct research in space. He says the partnerships have helped unite Americans. “Just think how the space history here brought us together. Think when the Soviets beat us, and we were scared because they had the high ground. They had Sputnik, and then they got Yuri Gagarin up first for one orbit,” Nelson said. “But [a few] months later, John Glenn climbed into that Mercury capsule. He shimmied into it, and it’s sitting on top of an Atlas rocket. There was a 20% chance that that thing was going to blow up. And when Glenn was successful for three orbits, that changed everything.” Nelson said space is part of the American spirit and making the impossible possible. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,” President John F. Kennedy said during a speech at Rice University in 1962. Kennedy’s speech has helped inspire decades of research at NASA. When the agency was created in 1958, Congress put into law that any technology created for space must also be practical for earth. “Since 1958, we’ve been spinning off these technologies to the public in the forms of new products and services that make our lives better,” said NASA Technology Transfer Program Executive Daniel Lockney. “[The technologies] enhance the U.S. economy, save lives and in other instances are just really cool things that we get as a result of the nation’s investment in this aerospace research.” POWERFUL WEBB TELESCOPE CAPTURES MOST DISTANT KNOWN GALAXY, SCIENTISTS SAY Lockney has worked to transfer NASA inventions or intellectual property to the public sector. “We get credit for things that we didn’t do, which is a wonderful problem to have,” Lockney said. “Something we did do that we don’t get credit for is, we invented the camera that’s in your cellphone.” In the 1980s, spacecraft imaging helped launch the digital camera industry using charged devices to create pictures in space. By the next decade, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California worked to create image sensors that used less power and were easier to mass-produce. The result was a small digital computer chip. “We didn’t know what to do with it,” Lockney said. “Then, Nokia approached us, and they had this wacky idea of putting a camera in a telephone.” The lightweight, high-resolution camera microchip didn’t require a lot of power and was perfect for spaceflight and handheld personal devices. “Now, we all have the blessing of taking with our camera a photograph, and it’s an absolutely beautiful photograph,” Nelson said. New technology is being developed on Earth to advance space flight, but an increasing amount of research and innovation is being done in space. Nelson says astronauts are experimenting at the International Space Station 24/7. Private companies also have been sending astronauts into space for experimenting. “The additional astronauts coming up are bringing their own [research], many of them sponsored by pharmaceutical companies to do their own. Whenever they want to send it up for much longer, we have our astronauts up there full time,” he said.
Supreme Court rules in abortion medication case, finds group lacked standing to challenge FDA approval
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulatory approval process of the abortion drug mifepristone, in the latest abortion case since the landmark decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade. In a victory for the Biden administration and abortion rights supporters, the high court gave a unanimous decision that challengers to the FDA lacked standing to sue the government. “Under Article III of the Constitution, a plaintiff’s desire to make a drug less available for others does not establish standing to sue. Nor do the plaintiffs’ other standing theories suffice,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, who authored the unanimous opinion. “The plaintiffs have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” he said. “But under Article III of the Constitution, those kinds of objections alone do not establish a justiciable case or controversy in federal court.” KEY STUDY IN FDA ABORTION PILL CASE AT THE SUPREME COURT WAS RETRACTED IN ‘PARTISAN ASSAULT’ AUTHORS SAY “Here, the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that FDA’s relaxed regulatory requirements likely would cause them to suffer an injury in fact. For that reason, the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions,” he said. “The plaintiffs may present their concerns and objections to the President and FDA in the regulatory process, or to Congress and the President in the legislative process. And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes,” he wrote. In March, the justices heard about 90 minutes of arguments about federal government regulations since 2016 that made access to mifepristone easier, including access by mail. In overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion and that the matter may be decided by the states. In the aftermath, 14 states have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions, and two others have banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is at around six weeks of gestation. The restrictions would have included shortening from the current 10 weeks to seven weeks, the time during which mifepristone can be used in pregnancy.
‘Destruction of due process’: Rand Paul leads dozens of senators condemning Trump ‘show trial’ in NY
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., led 28 other Republicans in a scathing rebuke of Attorney General Merrick Garland and the New York “show trial” against former President Trump. “The conviction of President Trump in Manhattan is nothing short of the evisceration of the American judicial process,” the lawmaker wrote in a Wednesday letter. “In their zeal to imprison Donald Trump, Democrat prosecutors successfully dissolved the constitutional protections afforded to defendants and the barriers that protect every American from the abuses of arbitrary rule.” DHS CHIEF MAYORKAS QUESTIONED ON REPORTS OF ‘MASS AMNESTY’ FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS The majority of the Senate Republican conference signed onto the condemnation, including all three contenders for GOP leader in the next Congress, Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records by a New York jury last month in a controversial trial, during which he was subject to a gag order. The lawmakers claimed the former president’s right to due process was violated in the process of his trial. DURBIN ATTEMPT TO FORCE SUPREME COURT ETHICS VOTE BLOCKED AMID ALITO CONTROVERSY “Even if we disregard Judge Juan Merchan’s financial contributions to Democratic candidates and causes, the prosecutors were permitted to convert alleged time-lapsed business records misdemeanors into felonies because the records violations were supposedly in furtherance of a second crime. Yet, even after the jury rendered its verdict, we do not know what constitutes that specific second crime,” Paul wrote. LINDSEY GRAHAM REQUESTS FULL SENATE BRIEFING ON ISIS BORDER THREAT AFTER TERRORIST BUST He further pointed the finger at President Biden’s administration, calling it “complicit in the destruction of due process of law.” The Republicans accused the trial of marking “the attempt to imprison a leader of the loyal opposition,” further condemning it for threatening “the existence of due process of law, without which a constitutional republic dedicated to the protection of individual liberty is not possible.” BIDEN PUSHED TO REVOKE AL JAZEERA CREDENTIALS AFTER ISRAELI HOSTAGE REPORTEDLY FOUND IN JOURNALIST’S HOME Trump is expected to seek an appeal in the case. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention. The former president will be on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to meet with both House and Senate Republicans. The Department of Justice did not provide comment to Fox News Digital.