AAP leader Sanjay Singh walks out of Tihar jail after nearly 6 months
He was arrested by ED in connection with Delhi excise policy in October 2023.
Federal judge orders Iran, Syria to pay $191M for Hamas-supported slaying of American Israeli activist
A U.S. court has ordered Iran and Syria to pay $191 million over the 2018 Hamas killing of an American citizen living in Israel. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found on Thursday that the family and estate of Ari Fuld are entitled to compensation due to Iran and Syria’s support for terrorism. Neither Iran nor Syria sent lawyers to represent them in the case, resulting in a default judgment. “The stabbing that killed Mr. Fuld was a tragic event, and money cannot fully account for the harm that these defendants have inflicted,” Senior Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in the ruling. “Iran and Syria have, once again, provided material support to Hamas and thereby facilitated the savage murder of a husband, father, son and brother to these plaintiffs.” “The court’s ruling today cannot erase plaintiffs’ pain, but it can begin the process of affording them due compensation for their loss,” he added. ISRAELI TROOPS WITHDRAW FROM SHIFA HOSPITAL IN GAZA, IDF SAYS Fuld, who was 45 at the time, was outside a mall in the Jewish West Bank area of Gush Etzion in 2018 when 17-year-old Palestinian Khalil Jabarin fatally stabbed him. Fuld, a father of four, chased his assailant after the stabbing before succumbing to injury, Israeli Ynet News reported. A bystander shot Jabarin, stopping him before he was apprehended. Jabarin was convicted in 2020 of intentionally causing Fuld’s death and attempting to kill three others, and also ordered to pay the equivalent of $365,128 to his family, according to The Times of Israel. Hamas praised the stabbing after it happened. “The attack makes it clear that our people wish to continue the Jerusalem intifada. To resist the occupation, by using all means necessary, is our legitimate right,” the terrorist organization said, according to Ynet. Fuld was a known activist who supported Israel and was known to deliver care packages to the Israeli military. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to him as “an advocate for Israel who fought to spread the truth,” and then-U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Fuld was “a passionate defender of Israel & an American patriot.” WHO IS MOHAMMAD REZA ZAHEDI, THE IRANIAN MILITARY COMMANDER REPORTEDLY KILLED IN SYRIA? While Fuld’s family and estate are unlikely to succeed in forcing Iran and Syria to actually pay the damages, the U.S. does have various methods by which they may receive compensation. The most likely route is through the Justice Department’s U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund. The program seeks to distribute funds seized from state sponsors of terrorism across the globe to victims of terrorism in the U.S. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Lawyer Richard Heideman, whose firm represented Fuld’s family and estate, said the case could be a precursor for victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre. SENIOR LEADER OF IRAN’S ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS REPORTEDLY KILLED IN SYRIA STRIKE “It is important, we believe, to stand against terror in every way that we can,” Heideman told the Jewish News Syndicate in an interview. “We and other law firms are indeed busily standing up on behalf of victims and their families as a result of these acts of terror.” “Our firm has been engaged to represent a number of families and we’ve drafted complaints that will be strategically filed in the near future,” he added. “It’s not a military act, but it’s an act of defiance that is essential.” Read the full district court ruling below:
Trump rakes in hefty March fundraising haul as campaign aims to close cash gap with Biden
Former President Trump and the Republican National Committee raked in a substantial amount of cash in March, possibly assuaging concerns from some that the campaign was trailing the money brought in by President Biden. Fox News Digital confirmed Trump and the RNC brought in $65.6 million in March and ended the month with $93.1 million in cash on hand in news that was first reported by Politico. “President Donald J. Trump has again created a fundraising juggernaut among Republicans. While he has been the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for less than a month, the RNC and Trump campaign are one unified operation and focused on victory,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. “We’re raising funds and making strategic investments to get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to win BIG in just 31 weeks.” TRUMP AIMS TO LEVEL PLAYING FIELD IN FUNDRAISING BATTLE WITH BIDEN AS GOP BILLIONAIRES COME TO THE RESCUE “Our campaign, working together with the RNC, has been steadily ramping up our fundraising efforts, and our March numbers are a testament to the overwhelming support for President Trump by voters all across the spectrum,” Susie Wiles, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, added. “Republicans may not be beneficiaries of the self interested largess from Hollywood and Silicon Valley elites, but President Trump is proud to be supported by donations from voters who are the backbone of this nation, which will fuel Republicans up and down the ballot.” BIDEN RIPPED IN NEW AD SPOTLIGHTING HIS IMMIGRATION RECORD AS BORDER CRISIS ESCALATES: ‘TRUMP WAS RIGHT’ The figure is significantly more than the $62 million that Trump raised in March 2020 when he was running for re-election. February FEC filings showed Biden’s re-election campaign outraised the Trump campaign by a two-to-one margin in February and enjoyed a $71 million to $34 million cash-on-hand advantage at the end of that month. The Biden campaign has not yet announced its March fundraising haul but said it raised $53 million in February, ending the month with $155 million on hand. Trump has been attempting to close the fundraising gap with Biden as the former president also struggles to pay his mounting legal bills, with just seven months to go until the November election. Trump is set to hold a major fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday in a push to both close the fundraising gap and trounce a record $26 million haul that Biden brought in during a recent Radio City Music Hall event featuring former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
House Republicans demand Lloyd Austin investigate ‘left-wing extremism’ in military
A group of House Republicans is demanding that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin investigate “left-wing extremism” in the U.S. military. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., himself a veteran, led five other GOP lawmakers in raising concerns related to the recent self-immolation of an active-duty Air Force member outside of the Israeli embassy. “We write you today as members of Congress, many of us having served our country honorably, in our commitment to the security and integrity of our nation’s armed forces. Your dedication to rooting out extremist behavior within our ranks has been well documented and demonstrates a commitment to maintaining the honor and cohesion of our armed forces,” the Republicans wrote. PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR ABOARD THE USS ARIZONA REMEMBERS ATTACK 79 YEARS LATER “It is with this shared commitment in mind that we urge your attention toward the equally pressing issue of left-wing extremism among active-duty service members and veterans.” Their letter pointed out that the airman who lit himself on fire in February to protest Israel’s invasion of Gaza, Aaron Bushnell, was a self-declared “anarchist.” They argued that his world view was “incompatible with that of our constitutional republic and entirely inappropriate for a member of the United States Military who had taken an oath to defend it at all costs.” HEZBOLLAH FIRES HEAVY ROCKETS AT NORTHERN ISRAEL AFTER DEADLIEST DAY OF ISRAELI STRIKES ON LEBANON “This act, motivated by his stated desire to protest Israel in what he described as complicity in injustice, demonstrates the potential for ideologically driven behaviors to undermine the values, discipline, and safety of our military community, irrespective of the political orientation of those ideologies,” Van Orden’s letter said. The lawmakers pointed out multiple times that Austin has made combating extremism in the military a priority of his leadership. In 2021, Austin established a working group on extremism in the military. He announced in April 2021 that it would be led by Bishop Garrison, the senior adviser to the secretary of defense on human capital and diversity, equity and inclusion. TAIWAN STANDS AS MAJOR LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST GLOBAL WAR WITH CHINA, CRITICAL FOR US SECURITY “Given your prior work in confronting extremism within the ranks, we are confident that you recognize the importance of a comprehensive approach to this challenge,” they wrote. “It is imperative that our efforts to identify and mitigate extremist influences encompass all forms of ideology that threaten the cohesion and effectiveness of our armed forces.” A Pentagon spokesperson told Fox News Digital when asked for comment on the letter, “As with all congressional correspondence, the Department will respond directly to the Members.”
Americans agree on most core values, think our democracy functions poorly, poll finds
Despite the country’s deep political polarization, most Americans share many core beliefs about what it means to be an American, according to a new poll. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 9 in 10 U.S. adults say the right to vote, the right to equal protection under the law and the right to privacy are extremely important or very important to the United States’ identity as a nation. The survey also found that 84% feel the same way about the freedom of religion. The results, which included perspectives on a number of different freedoms and rights, have only small variances between Republicans and Democrats except on the right to bear arms, which Republicans are more likely to see as core to the nation’s identity. The overall findings are striking because they come at a time of extreme partisanship when political agreements seem rare and concerns are heightened over the potential for violence during a volatile presidential election year. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, TERRORISM CONCERNS INCREASE AMONG US CITIZENS: GALLUP “If you get a bunch of normal people at random and put them in a room together and chat about issues, there’s a lot more convergence than you might imagine,” said Michael Albertus, a political science professor at the University of Chicago. A more pessimistic assessment of the country was reflected in another finding — that only about 3 in 10 Americans believe the nation’s democracy is functioning well. About half say the U.S. is a poorly functioning democracy, while 14% say the U.S. is not a democracy. The tension between the broad consensus on the country’s fundamental values and discontent with how well its form of government is working is not a surprise, experts say. “Part of it is really our leaders are not reflecting the electorate, and they behave in a way that’s much more polarized than what the electorate is,” said Lilliana Mason, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Most Americans, she said, “are pretty moderate, but they’ve been riled up to hate people of the other party for being different from them culturally, racially and religiously.” The AP-NORC poll also found broad agreement on the importance of some key values for the U.S.’s identity as a country. About three-quarters of U.S. adults agree that a democratically elected government is extremely or very important, and about 8 in 10 think the same about the ability of people living in the U.S. to get good jobs and achieve the American dream. But what achieving that dream means — and which values are most fundamental to American culture — isn’t something all Americans agree on. AMERICAN VALUES: WHAT SMALL TOWN AMERICA IS SAYING ABOUT THE AMERICAN DREAM, ‘GETTING TOO HARD’ Democrats are more likely than Republicans — 71% to 38% — to believe that the ability to come to the U.S. from elsewhere in the world to escape violence or find economic opportunities is core to the country’s identity. A majority of Republicans, 58%, think a culture grounded in Christian values and beliefs is an essential characteristic, compared to only 18% of Democrats. Juan Sierra, 51, a naturalized citizen whose family immigrated from the Dominican Republic after a hurricane destroyed his father’s cement business, said it is very important to him that the U.S. be seen as a place of opportunity. The industrial technician in Port St. Lucie, Florida, said he believes democracy is working and will continue to do so “as long as there are good people in government.” Sierra also said it was extremely important that people have freedom of religion, although he had concerns over the nation’s identity being tied to Christianity. “We’re seeing what happens right now when laws are passed and decisions are made based on someone’s religion,” he said, citing the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February that frozen embryos can be considered children and be afforded legal protections, a decision that temporarily halted IVF procedures in the state. Susan Johnson, a 76-year-old Republican living in the Dallas suburbs, said the nation’s standing as a beacon to others who need refuge is very important, but said that could not override concerns about border security. “We need people working,” she said. “We just need them to come the right way.” Johnson also said she believes it’s extremely important that the nation’s identity be grounded in spirituality. “Whether or not you’re Mormon or a Muslim or a Christian, they just have to have some higher power to reach up to,” she said. “The country is going to fall apart if we don’t believe in God.” The poll found few divisions on democracy as a system in theory, but it identified one notable gap: younger Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 were less likely than those 60 and older to say the U.S. is a well-functioning democracy. They’re also less likely than older Americans to believe that some characteristics are essential to the U.S.’s character as a nation, including having a democratically elected government. About 6 in 10 younger adults see this as important, compared to about 9 in 10 older adults. Palakjot Singh, a 21-year-old college student in Fresno, California, identified himself as a Republican and said he had a better quality of life when Donald Trump was president. He said the U.S. is not a well-functioning democracy in part because people are not open to debating different points of view compared to previous generations. “There is not good communication,” he said. “Nobody is sitting together trying to get to one point.” Howard Lavine, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, said the generational split is understandable. Many younger people don’t remember a time when those with opposing views and from different political backgrounds could get together and “come over to your house.” Their frame of reference is the hyper partisanship of the Trump years, he said. Joe Lagle, 55, a retired Air Force veteran in Colorado Springs who said he has not voted
Delhi HC reserves order on plea by CM Arvind Kejriwal challenging ED arrest in excise policy case
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, currently in judicial custody, was represented by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi.
The Ultimate Guide to Wealth Management in 2024
It is useful whether you’re a seasoned investor or just beginning your journey towards financial independence.
House GOP chair demands Trump hush-money judge recuse himself after latest gag order, claims ‘judicial bias’
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., in a statement to Fox News Digital, called on a New York City judge to rescue himself from former President Trump’s upcoming April 15 hush-money criminal trial, while also hammering the judge’s “Democrat political operative” daughter, who the third top-ranking House Republican accuses of financially benefiting from the case. “Democrat Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan, who donated to Biden’s campaign and another anti-Trump cause in 2020, has a clear judicial bias against President Trump,” Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair, said late Tuesday. “Merchan’s adult daughter is a Democrat political operative who has financially benefited from her father’s unprecedented trial of President Trump.” “When Trump raised this additional evidence of Judge Merchan’s bias, Merchan retaliated by expanding his unconstitutional gag order on Trump,” Stefanik added. “The law and common sense absolutely requires Judge Merchan’s recusal from President Trump’s trial. We cannot allow a biased, far-left activist judge to strip the American people of our constitutional right to select [our] own leaders.” Merchan on Monday amended a week-old gag order banning Trump from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and others connected with the case after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee lashed out at Merchan’s adult daughter, Democratic political consultant Loren Merchan, in several posts on his Truth Social platform last week. NEW YORK COURT EXPANDS GAG ORDER AGAINST TRUMP DAYS AFTER FIERY RANT THAT NAMED JUDGE’S DAUGHTER Trump’s lawyers fought the gag order and its expansion, citing constitutional concerns about restricting Trump’s speech further while he’s campaigning for president and fighting criminal charges. In a pre-motion letter on Monday, Trump’s attorneys said they would soon ask again for Merchan to step aside from the case – promising a court filing in the coming days seeking his recusal based on what they said were “changed circumstances and newly discovered evidence.” The letter states that the judge’s daughter is an executive and partner at Authentic Campaigns, Inc., which as recently as February and March 2024, “has used social media to market its connections to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris while deriding President Trump.” “Authentic and Your Honor’s daughter are making money by supporting the creation and dissemination of campaign advocacy for President Trump’s opponent, political rivals, and the Democratic party,” it says. Fox News Digital reached out to Authentic Campaigns for comment on the claims made regarding Loren Merchan, but they did not immediately respond. Under the revised gag order, the judge declared his own family and the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg off limits, though Trump is still free to criticize Juan Merchan and Bragg. “This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Merchan wrote. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game,’ for Defendant’s vitriol.” The judge continued, “It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings…. The threat is very real. Admonitions are not enough, nor is reliance on self-restraint.” A violation could result in Trump being held in contempt of court, fined or even jailed, according to The Associated Press. The day after the original gag order was issued last week, Trump suggested on Truth Social that Merchan’s rulings were swayed by his daughter’s political consulting interests. Trump wrote that the judge was “wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement” by Democratic rivals and that Loren Merchan “makes money by working to ‘Get Trump.’” In the posts, President Biden’s predecessor also claimed that Loren Merchan had posted a photo on social media showing him behind bars. MSNBC HOST ANGRILY THROWS HER SCRIPT DURING SHOW IN REACTION TO TRUMP CALLING OUT JUDGE’S DAUGHTER Trump did not link to the purported photo, but an X account under the name “LM” showed a photo illustration of an imprisoned Trump as its profile picture last week, according to the AP. It was later changed to an image of Vice President Kamala Harris as a child. Loren Merchan’s consulting firm had linked to that account in its social media posts in past years, but it is now private with no posts displayed and states that it joined the platform in April 2023. Al Baker, a spokesperson for New York’s state court system, said Loren Merchan later deleted the account and that it no longer belongs to her. Usernames on X can be taken over by other users after they’re deleted. Trump’s hush-money case, one of four criminal cases against him and the first scheduled to go to trial during the 2024 election cycle, centers on allegations that he falsely logged payments to his former lawyer Michael Cohen as legal fees when they were for Cohen’s work covering up negative stories about Trump during the 2016 campaign. That allegedly included $130,000 Cohen paid porn actor Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf so that she wouldn’t publicize her claim of a sexual encounter with him years earlier. Trump pleaded not guilty last April to 34 counts of falsifying business records, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, though there is no guarantee that a conviction would result in jail time. He denies having sex with Daniels and his lawyers have said that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses, not part of any cover-up. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Biden ripped in new ad spotlighting his immigration record as border crisis escalates: ‘Trump was right’
FIRST ON FOX: President Biden was blasted by a fresh ad campaign highlighting the differences between him and former President Trump on immigration that was released as Trump was campaigning on the issue throughout the Midwest. The conservative nonprofit Building America’s Future launched a six-figure digital ad buy on Tuesday in the Midwest battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin hammering Biden’s immigration policies as Trump was set to deliver two speeches on immigration. “Donald Trump was right,” the one-minute ad opens followed by a soundbite of Trump saying in a 2015 speech, “They’re not sending their best. They’re bringing drugs.” The ad then plays audio from a news report discussing the dangerous drugs being smuggled across the border before quoting Trump also saying that illegal immigration is bringing “crime and rapists,” along with news reports backing up that claim. BORDER PATROL HAS ARRESTED 6,400 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS, 178 GANG MEMBERS IN FY24 The ad then shifts to an attack on the current president, saying, “Joe Biden is wrong.” “You use the word illegal when talking about the man who allegedly killed Laken Riley,” a reporter asks Biden in a video clip. “Undocumented,” Biden answers. “Uh-undocumented person. I shouldn’t have used illegal. I’m not going to treat any any, any, of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country.” “Who do you trust more to protect your family?” The ad then asks. “Donald Trump or Joe Biden?” ‘SHOCKING’ CALIFORNIA BILL TO PROTECT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM DEPORTATION DRAWS FIERCE BACKLASH The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The ad from Building America’s Future, which previously blasted Biden in a State of the Union ad over the death of Laken Riley that CNN refused to air, came as Trump addressed immigration in speeches in Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday. In Michigan, Trump fired numerous salvos at his successor in the White House, arguing that “under Crooked Joe Biden, every state is now a border state.” The former president’s stop in Michigan came in the wake of the March 22 murder of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old woman allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant who had been deported to Mexico in 2020 but returned to the United States. Garcia’s death – her body was discovered alongside a road in Grand Rapids – is dominating local conservative talk radio and social media. HOUSE REPUBLICANS HAMMER BIDEN AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IS LINKED TO MICHIGAN WOMAN’S MURDER Pointing to Garcia’s death, Trump said “a beautiful young woman was savagely murdered by an illegal alien criminal. Under the Trump administration, this monster had been deported, thrown out of the country.” “It’s going to end on the day that I take office, which will be Jan. 20,” said Trump, who has pledged to launch the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history if elected in November. Before Trump arrived in Michigan, the Republican National Committee fired up a new website, BidenBloodbath.com, which it says is dedicated to “highlighting the horrors of Biden Migrant Crime.” In Wisconsin, Trump mentioned Garcia again as well as victims of other crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, including the alleged rape of a mentally incapacitated 14-year-old girl in Alabama. “I’m here tonight to declare that Joe Biden’s border bloodbath… this is a border bloodbath, ends the day I take the oath of office,” Trump told the Green Bay crowd. “With your vote, I will seal the border. I will stop the invasion. I will end the carnage, bloodshed and killing and we will crush the human traffickers.” Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
White House pressing Congress to approve F-15 sale to Israel despite criticism over airstrike accident
The White House is urging Congress to approve an $18 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel this week, even as the Biden administration has ramped up criticism of Israeli airstrikes. Biden’s State Department delivered notices to two Congressional committees asking them to begin the review process for the deal. In addition to selling more than 50 planes, the deal would also include munitions and training services, according to the New York Times. U.S. officials, however, clarified to the outlet that the F-15s would not be delivered for at least another five years. F-15 fighter jets already serve as the backbone of Israel’s air force. Israeli Defense Forces rely on them as a key deterrent against regional powers like Iran, and have also used them to carry out airstrikes in Gaza. STATE DEPT. REACTS TO STAFFER’S PUBLIC RESIGNATION OVER ISRAEL OFFENSIVE IN GAZA The deal comes as the Biden administration is growing increasingly critical of Israel’s airstrike campaign in Gaza. White House officials have urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties, and while Israel insists it is doing all it can, dissatisfaction from the White House continues. HAMAS, IRAN LEADERS DELIGHT IN CEASE-FIRE CALL, US NO-VOTE: ‘FATEFUL TURNING POINT’ Those concerns surged earlier this week when an Israeli airstrike mistakenly killed seven aid workers in Gaza. The aid workers were there with the World Central Kitchen, an international group that works to address food crises. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “tragic” in a statement on Tuesday, adding that Israel was investigating the mistaken strike. WHY MIDEAST NEIGHBORS WON’T OFFER REFUGE TO PALESTINIANS STUCK IN GAZA WAR ZONE National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had harsh words regarding the Israeli strike during a White House press briefing on Tuesday, saying the administration was “outraged.” “We expect a broader investigation to be conducted and to be done so in a swift and comprehensive manner. We hope those findings will be made public and that there is appropriate accountability,” Kirby told reporters. “More than 200 aid workers have been killed in this conflict, making it one of the worst for aid workers in recent history,” he continued. “This incident is emblematic of a larger problem and evidence of why distribution of aid in Gaza has been so challenging. But beyond the strike, what is clear is that the IDF must do much more to improve deconfliction processes so civilians and humanitarian aid workers are protected.” Still, Kirby stressed the need to continue supporting Israel in the war. “They’re still under a viable threat of Hamas,” he said. “We’re still going to make sure they can defend themselves and the 7th of October doesn’t happen again. That doesn’t mean that it’s a free pass that we look the other way when something like this happens.”