Texas A&M names Mike Elko as new head football coach
The announcement comes after the university spent more than $75 million to fire former football coach Jimbo Fisher. A&M did not immediately say how much it will pay Elko.
Pennsylvania Republican Kat Copeland enters 2024 race for attorney general
Former federal prosecutor Katayoun “Kat” Copeland will run for attorney general of Pennsylvania in 2024, she said this week. Copeland, a Republican, recently left her job in the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia ahead of announcing her candidacy for attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement official. The office has an annual budget of about $140 million and plays a prominent role in arresting drug traffickers, fighting gun trafficking, defending state laws in court and protecting consumers from predatory practices. ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND TESTIFIES AT HOUSE JUDICIARY AMID PROBE DOJ’S ALLEGED POLITICIZATION TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO MEDIA MATTERS FOR ‘POTENTIAL FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY’ It played a key role in defending Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the battleground state, fighting repeated attempts to overturn it in state and federal courts by Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican allies. Copeland, 56, also was a prosecutor for Delaware County in suburban Philadelphia and served for two years as the court-appointed district attorney there. She ran for a full four-year term in 2019 but lost to Democrat Jack Stollsteimer. Between her work for the district attorney’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office, Copeland has spent three decades as a prosecutor. In the U.S. attorney’s office, she rose to become chief of the criminal division and serve in the national security and cybercrimes unit. Copeland has competition for the Republican nomination. York County’s district attorney, Dave Sunday, has announced his candidacy and is endorsed by the Republican Attorneys General Association. Craig Williams, a state House member from Delaware County, also has said he plans to run. Four Democrats have also announced their candidacies: state Rep. Jared Solomon of Philadelphia, former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, former federal prosecutor Joe Kahn and Keir Bradford-Grey, the former head of Philadelphia’s and Montgomery County’s public defense lawyers. Candidates must file paperwork by Feb. 13 to appear on the April 23 primary ballot. Current Attorney General Michelle Henry, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Josh Shapiro’s term as when he became governor, has said she does not plan to run for a full term.
Gov. Greg Abbott jumps out of plane with 106-year-old World War II vet
Abbott visited the San Marcos area to go skydiving with Al Blaschke, a 106-year-old World War II veteran who has already broken records for his own aerial feats.
Attorney General Garland expresses ‘hope’ Hamas will release more American hostages ‘in the days to come’
Attorney General Merrick Garland visited the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York City on Monday, when he shared brief public remarks about his office’s role in securing the safe return of American hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. During his visit, Garland met with U.S. Attorney Damian Williams as well as other federal, state and local law enforcement leaders to discuss the issues in their community. The visit is part of the attorney general’s plan to visit other U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country. “While these kinds of meetings between the Justice Department and our law enforcement partners are always important, the current global threat environment makes this one particularly urgent,” Garland started his remarks. “Over the past several days, over 40 hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th have been released. Among them was Avigail Idan, a 4-year-old American,” he continued. “We welcome Avigail’s return and hope to see the return of more hostages in the days to come.” NEGOTIATORS PUSH FOR EXTENSION OF ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASE-FIRE AS EXCHANGE AGREEMENT REACHES FINAL DAY The attorney general, flanked by Williams, said the department’s Victims Services Office, as well as corresponding victim’s services offices within the FBI, were standing ready to “provide assistance to released Americans and their families.” “We also remain committed to working with our partners across the U.S. government to secure the return of all missing Americans, including those still held hostage. As always, but especially now, the Justice Department is remaining vigilant in the face of the potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism.” Garland also said his department was focused on activity at home that may be influenced by the Israel-Hamas war and the wider tensions across the Middle East. ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: DETAILS BEGIN TO EMERGE OF LIFE IN CAPTIVITY AFTER SOME HOSTAGES ARE FREED “We are closely monitoring the impact that the conflict in the Middle East may have on inspiring Foreign Terrorist Organizations, homegrown violent extremists and domestic violent extremists, both here in the United States and abroad,” he said. “All of us have also seen a sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against Jewish Muslim and Arab communities across our country since October 7.” The attorney general then specifically mentioned the investigation out of Vermont, where three Palestinian men were attacked. “There is understandable fear in communities across the country,” Garland said. “Even as we speak, the ATF and the FBI are investigating the tragic shooting of three men of Palestinian descent and Vermont. That investigation, including whether this is a hate crime, is ongoing.” Authorities arrested a suspect in connection with the attack. BIDEN DOJ UNDER FIRE FOR PROSECUTING 75-YEAR-OLD PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST BUT TAKING NO ACTION ON VIOLENT DNC RIOTERS “No person and no community in this country should have to live in fear of hate fueled violence. fulfilling that promise motivates us every day,” he added. Garland said investigative updates out of Vermont would be “coming soon.” “While we are confronting this elevated global threat environment, we also know we cannot lose sight of many other challenges and includes working closely with our law enforcement partners to combat violent crime,” the attorney general continued. He also provided examples of how his office was continuing to find ways to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. “This office also has an important part of the Justice Department’s broader strategy to disrupt and dismantle fentanyl by attacking every link in the chain of the trafficking networks,” he said.
The final countdown: Trump holds commanding lead over DeSantis, Haley, with 50 days until Iowa caucuses
As he aims for an upset victory in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is days away from reaching his goal of stopping in all 99 counties in the Hawkeye State. The DeSantis campaign says the governor will make his final stop this upcoming Saturday in Jasper County. DeSantis is hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (2008), former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (2012) and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (2016), who stopped in all 99 counties en route to Iowa caucus victories. “We’re going to win here. We have what it takes,” DeSantis pledged in a recent Fox News Digital interview in Des Moines, Iowa. However, DeSantis is currently battling former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for second place in the latest GOP presidential nomination polls in Iowa, far behind former President Trump. The former president remains the commanding Republican front-runner in Iowa, the other early voting states, and in national surveys, as he makes his third straight bid for the White House. “There are ONLY 50 DAYS LEFT until the very first vote is cast in the 2024 election,” Trump wrote in a fundraising email to supporters this past weekend. “If we completely DOMINATE the Iowa Caucus, then we can emerge as the Presumptive Nominee for President on January 15, 2024.” Trump has made history as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments – including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss – have only fueled his support among Republican voters. The former president returns to Iowa this weekend, and his campaign is ramping up their ad buys in the final weeks ahead of the caucuses. GAME ON IN IOWA AS DESANTIS AND HALEY BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE BEHIND TRUMP While Trump has held nearly 20 events in Iowa this year, the Florida governor has made roughly 130 stops, with many of those hosted by the DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down. Additionally, the super PAC has spent millions to put together a formidable ground game in Iowa. DeSantis also grabbed the high-profile endorsement earlier this month of Gov. Kim Reynolds, who remains very popular with Iowa Republicans. Last week, he won the backing of Bob Vander Plaats, the president and CEO of The Family Leader, an influential social conservative organization in a state where evangelical voters play an outsized role in Republican politics. WILL ENDORSEMENT FROM INFLUENTIAL EVANGELICAL LEADER BOOST DESANTIS IN IOWA? “To have so many members of the Iowa legislature, to have the governor, and then to have Bob and his network. That’s going to be a pretty powerful machine,” DeSantis told reporters last week. “I think that these first two states are going to totally upend the conventional wisdom.” However, what once appeared to be a two-candidate fight for the GOP nomination is now a three-way battle. Haley, who has enjoyed momentum in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates, has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire – which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican nominating schedule – and her home state – which holds the first southern contest. DESANTIS, HALEY, RAMASWAMY, GET PERSONAL AS THEY SIT SIDE-BY-SIDE Now, she aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where she is pulling even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls. “The momentum is real. The excitement is there. We’re going to keep working hard to win every Iowan’s vote. We’re not going to give up on Iowa,” Haley touted in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of a recent town hall in Newton, Iowa. Haley returned to Iowa on her most recent swing, showcasing over 70 new Hawkeye State endorsements. She is set to launch a $10 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire on Dec. 1. While it appears to be a three-person race in Iowa, there are other candidates campaigning in the state, who are all registered in the single digits. Multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and first time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is basing his campaign in Iowa for the final stretch, as he barnstorms across the state. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who failed to make the stage at the third GOP presidential primary debate, is also spending plenty of time in Iowa. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is running for the White House a second time, is avoiding Iowa as he once again concentrates much of his firepower in New Hampshire. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who registering at less than 1% in the polls, also remains in the race. As the first contest on the GOP presidential nominating calendar, Iowa always plays a crucial role in winnowing the field. “I think Iowa’s going to be more determinative than ever as to who’s going to have momentum going into New Hampshire and South Carolina,” longtime Republican strategist David Kochel predicted. Kochel, a veteran of numerous presidential and statewide campaigns in Iowa, emphasized that “Trump already has a ticket. There’s maybe two more and maybe one more” coming out of Iowa.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Schumer to send Biden’s $106 billion supplemental package request to Senate floor as early as next week
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will bring the Biden administration’s $106 billion national security funding request to the floor for a vote as early as next week, Schumer said in a Dear Colleague letter Sunday night. “One of the most important tasks we must finish is taking up and passing a funding bill to ensure we as well as our friends and partners in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific region have the necessary military capabilities to confront and deter our adversaries and competitors,” he wrote. The White House’s supplemental request, which was sent to Congress in October, includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel (with $10.6 billion allocated for military aid), $13.6 billion for some border security provisions, and significant investments in Indo-Pacific security assistance, totaling around $7.4 billion. Additionally, there’s $9 billion earmarked for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza. GOP SENATORS INTRODUCE STAND-ALONE BILL TO AID ISRAEL WITHOUT MORE FUNDING TO UKRAINE But GOP lawmakers have thrown a wrench in plans to unanimously pass a supplemental that ties Ukraine and Israel aid together. Instead, they’ve argued for weeks that they should be split up and voted on separately. Republicans in the upper chamber also reject the border provisions, as outlined, and argue its current form does not address much-needed policy changes like stricter asylum standards at the southern border. The supplemental request only proposes more money to speed up processing of migrants, but no policy reforms. On Sunday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on Fox News that “in return for providing additional funding for Ukraine” there needs to be “significant and substantial reforms to our border policy.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have both signaled the GOP will pass more Ukraine funding if a deal is struck for tighter immigration laws. BIDEN ADMIN URGES MAJOR FUNDING INCREASES FOR AID TO UKRAINE, ISRAEL AND GAZA CIVILIANS “The biggest holdup to the national security assistance package right now is the insistence by our Republican colleagues on partisan border policy as a condition for vital Ukraine aid. This has injected a decades old, hyper-partisan issue into overwhelmingly bipartisan priorities,” Schumer said in the letter. Negotiations between Democrat and Republican senators continued over the Thanksgiving recess, Schumer said, and he urged GOP lawmakers to quickly “help push for a bipartisan path forward in the coming weeks.” This week, Schumer also announced a classified all-senators briefing on the Ukraine-Russia war. Schumer also hopes to pass hundreds of military promotions in the coming weeks through a resolution that would change the Senate’s rules to override Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s nine-month objection over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, calling the move “brazen and reckless.” Tuberville, R-Ala., has shown no signs of backing down. “Senators should expect long days and nights, and potentially weekends in December,” he said. Senators also have their work cut out for them in finalizing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), or the federal military spending package for the next fiscal year. CRUZ SAYS BIDEN’S $105 BILLION FUNDING REQUEST ‘DESIGNED’ TO WORSEN BORDER CRISIS Democrats in the upper chamber have a 51-49 majority and any legislation will need at least 60 votes to advance. Then, any agreement will need to pass the GOP-controlled House. Earlier this month, Johnson attempted to push an Israel-only aid bill and deep IRS budget cuts through Congress, but Senate Democrats quickly shot that proposal down.
Pennsylvania Democrat Jack Stollsteimer enters 2024 race for attorney general
Jack Stollsteimer, the top prosecutor in heavily populated Delaware County, will run for Pennsylvania attorney general in 2024, he announced Monday, seeking an office that played a critical role in court defending Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the presidential battleground. Stollsteimer joins a Democratic primary field that is already four-deep in which he will be the only elected prosecutor. However, his competition for the Democratic nomination features veterans of the campaign trail and the courtroom. In his campaign for attorney general, Stollsteimer will lean heavily on his experience as the twice-elected district attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania’s fifth-most populous county sitting between Philadelphia and Delaware. SIX MEN BUSTED IN PENNSYLVANIA DURING UNDERCOVER CHILD SEX STING, AUTHORITIES SAY FETTERMAN HOLDS CAMPAIGN EVENT WITH ANOTHER SOROS-BACKED DA AMID INCREASED SCRUTINY ON CRIME RECORD “I am uniquely qualified because I do that work every single day in the fifth-largest county in Pennsylvania,” Stollsteimer said in an interview. Stollsteimer, 60, has been a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, a top official in the state Treasury Department, the state-appointed safety advocate in Philadelphia’s schools and, before college, a senior aide to state House Democrats. A Philadelphia native, Stollsteimer earned his law degree at Temple University. The attorney general’s office, the state’s top law enforcement office, has a budget of about $140 million annually and plays a prominent role in arresting drug traffickers, fighting gun trafficking, defending state laws in court and protecting consumers from predatory practices. The office also defended the integrity of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election against repeated attempts to overturn it in state and federal courts by Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican allies. Perhaps Stollsteimer’s most-touted achievement is fighting gun violence in the impoverished city of Chester, using a partnership based on a model used successfully elsewhere to connect offenders or known criminals with job training, school or community-building programs. His office says gun homicides are down by 68% since 2020 and there have been 65% fewer shootings. As Philadelphia’s state-appointed safe schools advocate, Stollsteimer clashed with district officials and the state Department of Education over what he described as an unwillingness to report violent incidents. “Things have gotten worse, not better,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2011. “You can’t address the problem until you’re honest about it, and the district is not honest about it.” Stollsteimer mounted a brief campaign for attorney general in 2015 but dropped out before the primary. In 2019, he won his race for district attorney, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office in Delaware County, once a Republican bastion that Democrats now control. Stollsteimer won reelection earlier this month by 22 percentage points, drawing support from unions for building trades and police. PENNSYLVANIA WOMAN CHARGED WITH ‘BRANDING,’ SEXUALLY ABUSING AND USING FOUR CHILDREN TO GET DRUGS: DA Stollsteimer had a busy four years in office. In perhaps the highest-profile case, his office prosecuted three police officers for responding to a shooting outside a high school football game by opening fire at a car, killing an 8-year-old girl, Fanta Bility, and wounding two others. Stollsteimer is now the fifth Democrat to announce his candidacy, after state Rep. Jared Solomon of Philadelphia, former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, former federal prosecutor Joe Kahn and Keir Bradford-Grey, the former head of Philadelphia’s and Montgomery County’s public defense lawyers. On the Republican side, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday and former federal prosecutor Katayoun Copeland have announced their candidacies. Candidates must file paperwork by Feb. 13 to appear on the April 23 primary ballot. Attorney General Michelle Henry does not plan to run to keep the office.
NY official demands resignation of college president who claimed ‘complex history’ after Hamas terror attack
A New York politician is calling for the resignation of a university president who he accused of finding “moral equivalence between Hamas’ terrorist slaughter of innocent women and children with the contested political agenda of the Palestinian people” in the wake of the October 7 attacks. In a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital on Sunday, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Hofstra University President Dr. Susan Poser’s statement last month regarding the Israel-Hamas war is “so misguided and antithetical to good moral values and judgment that it puts into question her ability to lead Nassau County’s largest private university.” “I was shocked by the comments made by Dr. Poser concerning the barbaric and cowardly attack on innocent women and children by Hamas, a vicious terrorist organization,” Blakeman, a Republican whose father and uncle both attended Hofstra after returning home from World War II, wrote. HOCHUL RIPS TIKTOK OVER OSAMA BIN LADEN LETTER, VOWS NY SOCIAL MEDIA ANTI-HATE TEAMS WON’T ‘PENALIZE’ POLITICS Blakeman, who has also taught Business Law at Hofstra and said many of his friends and colleagues are distinguished alumni, went on to say Poser’s “callous and unconscionable statement is completely out of step with the vast majority of Nassau County residents. With no allies for her in business, labor or government, Hofstra would be wise to part ways with Dr. Poser.” Blakeman’s letter, addressed to the Hofstra University Board of Trustees, came in response to Poser’s October 18 message to the Hofstra Community following the school’s fall break. The university president wrote in her message that she wanted “to acknowledge the emails and comments that I and other administrators have received since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th.” NY GOV. HOCHUL BOLSTERS FBI JOINT TERRORISM TASK FORCE STAFFING OVER ‘RISE IN HATE CRIMES,’ HARASSMENT “That event, Israel’s response, and the ongoing conflict are taking the lives of thousands of people, with no end in sight. We mourn the loss of life in Israel and Gaza, which is deeply affecting many members of our community,” Poser said. “There is a complex history and conflicting views about the causal underpinnings of the current crisis. This is one of the reasons that lasting peace in that part of the world has been so elusive and contested. But what is not contested is the tragic loss of life of innocent Israelis, Palestinians, and many others.” “This was not a time for fence sitting and handwringing,” Blakeman said in his letter. “Dr. Poser should have been clear and strong in her condemnation of Hamas without equivocation.” Poser’s message did say the university would hold a “Vigil for Peace” that evening and said, “Hofstra will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on religion or national origin.” “We continue to work with local and federal law enforcement to monitor risk and ensure that our campus is safe,” she added.
Texas fire departments are fighting stigma and pushing to provide firefighters mental health help
Department leaders say they recognize that post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues are among the biggest dangers of the job.
Biden gives interview to radio show that promoted notorious antisemite who compared Jews to ‘termites’
President Biden sat down for an interview this past week with a radio host who has promoted the words of infamous antisemite Louis Farrakhan and whose show wished him “Happy Birthday” on social media earlier this year. “Happy Birthday to the honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, who turned 90 years old today!” Radio host Rickey Smiley’s show posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in May. White House deputy communications director Jennifer Molina announced on X last Tuesday that Biden recently taped three interviews, including one with Smiley, that “will reach 14 million Americans nationwide, across 140 markets.” Smiley’s Twitter accounts contain several posts promoting Farrakhan with links going back to news articles about his speeches on the radio show’s website. JEWISH GROUPS BLAST DC COUNCILMEMBER FOR PRAISING FARRAKHAN: SOUGHT TO ‘HONOR’ AN ‘OUT-AND-OUT BIGOT’ Farrakhan has called Jewish people “termites”, praised Hitler, and has become one of the most controversial religious figures in the United States due to his derogatory comments about Israel. Since taking leadership of the Nation of Islam in the late 1970s, Farrakhan has been accused of antisemitism and homophobia for his comments and sermons. WARNOCK WAS YOUTH PASTOR OF HARLEM CHURCH THAT HOSTED FARRAKHAN TOWN HALL Farrakhan has blamed Jews for, among other things, the slave trade, Jim Crow and black oppression in general. During a speech in Chicago in 1996, Farrakhan denounced Jews as “the synagogue of Satan.” “You are wicked deceivers of the American people,” he said at the time. “You have sucked their blood. You are not real Jews, those of that are not real Jews. You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending the nation to hell.” Biden has been criticized in the past for associating with Farrakhan supporters including Rev. Al Sharpton and Cora Masters Barry, an appointed official serving under D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who have visited the Biden White House multiple times. During an event in September 2022, Barry lavished praise on Farrakhan multiple times, calling him a “friend” and “member of the family” while also telling him “I love you more than words will ever say.” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital in October 2022 that President Biden “denounces any praise” of Farrakhan or his rhetoric, including the praise from Barry, who was invited back to the White House earlier this summer. A representative for Smiley declined to comment. Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz, Houston Keene, and Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this report.