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El-Sayed ignites firestorm after sharing 9/11 message on social media: ‘Piece of s—‘

El-Sayed ignites firestorm after sharing 9/11 message on social media: ‘Piece of s—‘

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, sparked social media backlash after posting his 9/11 message on his X account. “They didn’t just attack America that day they attacked the idea of America,” El-Sayed said. “The notion of a nation brought together by ideals — a place where freedom and commitment to justice bind us, even if, at times, we struggle to fully realize it,” the controversial far-left candidate continued.  “Today on 9/11 we remember the lives that were taken from us in a terrible act of terrorism.” CBS NEWS TAKES HEAT OVER REPORT ON DEM HOPEFUL ABDUL EL-SAYED’S NOW-DELETED 9/11 POSTS Online viewers quickly reminded El-Sayed of his friendship with Hasan Piker, the progressive streamer who has gone viral multiple times for previously claiming that the U.S. “deserved 9/11.” “Shut up, you FRAUD,” the Libs of TikTok, a conservative X account that focuses on key social and cultural issues, said in a post Friday. Steve Guest, a frequent political commentator and a former staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, echoed the criticism in a post of his own, posting a picture of Piker and El-Sayed standing together. “This you?” Guest wrote. He also included a caption on the photo with another one of Piker’s quotes. “‘I hate America… at least I say it with my f—ing chest,’” the picture’s caption read. “Campaigning with a guy who said we deserved 9/11… his brazen dishonesty makes him all the bigger piece of s—,” GOP consultant Ryan Girdusky posted on X. “You’re a disgrace. You remain unwilling to disavow your chief spokesman who said “America deserved 9/11,” National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Joanna Rodriguez posted on X.  “You belittled the American lives lost year after year while giving excuses and showing sympathy for terrorists.” “Good job reading from that script buddy,” GOP digital strategist Mike Hahn wrote on X. Joey Mannarino, the co-founder of the Overton Institute, a right-wing media group, expressed surprise that El-Sayed had gained any kind of momentum in his campaign for Senate. EL-SAYED TORCHED ONLINE AFTER BRUSHING OFF QUESTIONS ABOUT HASAN PIKER CAMPAIGN TIES: ‘WHAT A PAL’ “How in God’s name is Abdul El-Sayed even close to winning this race? The man campaigns with people who say America deserved 9/11. He is a radical Islamist extremist if I’ve ever seen one. And this is who Michigan wants to put in the Senate?” Mannarino wrote. In the past, El-Sayed has made statements noting he doesn’t share all of Piker’s views. “But I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokesperson,” El-Sayed said after Piker called Israel a “Jewish ISIS.” “And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools and healthcare. Because that’s what Michiganders keep asking about.” Chuck Ross, an investigative reporter with The Washington Free Beacon, noted that El-Sayed’s post didn’t focus on the wars that followed 9/11, a topic El-Sayed has frequently invoked when speaking about the terror attack. “El-Sayed, reading off a teleprompter, gives a statement about 9/11. This time he sticks to just 9/11 and not the ‘War on Terror’ aftermath that he usually mentions in his 9/11 anniversary posts,” Ross wrote. In the past, El-Sayed has held up the war on terror as an example of military aggression, using it as Israel prepared to strike Gaza back in October 2023. ABDUL EL-SAYED SAYS RALLYING WITH HASAN PIKER DOESN’T MEAN HE ENDORSES ‘AMERICA DESERVED 9/11’ REMARK “The President’s visit to Israel as it plans a major escalation & invasion of Gaza is already being held up as an endorsement of the violence being unleashed on innocent Palestinians. I can’t help but hear echoes of 9/11. When do we learn that more violence doesn’t fix violence?” El-Sayed wrote. El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on why he had not made more efforts to disavow Piker.

EXCLUSIVE: Pence group knocks Vance plan to pay stay-at-home parents up to $9K per child

EXCLUSIVE: Pence group knocks Vance plan to pay stay-at-home parents up to K per child

A proposal backed by Vice President JD Vance to subsidize stay-at-home parents with up to $9,000 per child annually would invite government intrusion and undermine the initiative’s original purpose of encouraging work and independence, according to a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence. In a one-page document, Advancing American Freedom (AAF) urged conservatives to oppose the plan, which it said would “expose the sanctity of the family to government intrusion, punish work, and create new avenues for fraud.” Vance is pushing for the expansion of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which was created during the Clinton administration to help low-income and working-class families pay for childcare.  The program provides about $9,000 per child annually, with funds typically paid directly to childcare providers. CONSERVATIVES CAN FIGHT THE RISE OF SOCIALISM BY DEFENDING THE AMERICAN FAMILY Under Vance’s draft plan, families with a stay-at-home parent earning below state income limits could receive up to $9,000 per child annually. To qualify, a married couple must feature one spouse who stays at home while the other works at least 35 hours a week. Unmarried couples and non-working single parents would not be eligible. “Parenting is the most difficult job in the world. Vice President Vance is right to focus on the family,” AAF President Tim Chapman told Fox News Digital.  “Unfortunately, as sympathetic groups around the movement have noted, this particular proposal would do more harm than good, opening up the family to government audits, benefit cliffs, dependency and new disincentives to work.” AAF looks forward to the continued debate about family policy and the future of the conservative movement, Chapman added. EXCLUSIVE: VIDEO SHOWS MICHIGAN LAWMAKER TOURING DAYCARE IN $1.1M TAXPAYER FUNDING PROBE Roughly 870,000 families — 80% of whom are single parents, predominantly mothers — receive up to $9,000 a year per child, the AAF said. Expanding eligibility to stay-at-home parents, the group warned, could create more competition for already limited resources. The CCDF is already stretched thin, with nearly one-third of states having waitlists, according to AAF. Vance’s plan would require an auditable “childcare service,” the group said, and could open the door to fraud if not properly monitored. “We generally like these kinds of different creative proposals. There’s no job that’s more difficult than raising kids,” John Shelton, the vice president of policy at AAF, told Fox News Digital. “And, so, that’s a laudable thing, but the devil’s in the details. “What should be this opportunity for celebration and excitement could actually end up being this huge setback where you get a $1,000, $5,000 bonus, and suddenly you lose out on access to north of $10,000 depending on how many kids you have,” he added.  “That’s a disincentive to work to kind of grow and get promoted. That is not the kind of conservative ideal for how these programs should work.” NEWT GINGRICH: WANT TO REFORM MEDICAID? ACCOUNTABILITY IS THE WAY FORWARD Furthermore, stay-at-home spouses would be penalized for taking on remote, part-time or gig work, and families could take a financial hit for receiving a raise or promotion at work. “Welfare’s goal is to get people into work and off of welfare,” the AAF said. “This proposal would do the opposite.” PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY WAS RIGHT: AMERICA MUST PUT BABIES AND MOTHERS FIRST Supporters argue stay-at-home parents should receive financial support on par with families that use subsidized childcare services. “Parents who hand their kids to commercial day care get subsidy payments, while parents who bear the toil, expense, and opportunity cost of raising their kids at home currently get ZERO,” Roger Severino, vice president of the Heritage Foundation, wrote on X. “It’s illogical and unjust and this proposal would level the playing field.” Shelton praised the Trump administration’s intent but argued the policy’s execution falls short. “I give the administration [an] A for effort, but a C or a D for implementation of what we’ve seen so far,” he said. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment.

Clinton, Bush received multiple warnings on bin Laden hijack plots before 9/11, declassified files show

Clinton, Bush received multiple warnings on bin Laden hijack plots before 9/11, declassified files show

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were given multiple warnings that 9/11 organizer Usama bin Laden and his terror network were planning to hijack large commercial jets in an effort to attack the United States, according to a batch of files released by the Trump administration Friday. The reports, contained in previously classified documents from presidential daily briefs (PDBs) and high-level CIA intelligence memorandums, noted that operatives had already evaded security checks during a trial run at an unidentified New York airport three years before members of al Qaeda took down the World Trade Center. The plotters aimed to leverage hijacked flights to demand the release of imprisoned extremists, including Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Ramzi Yousef. USS COLE COMMANDER RECALLS CHILLING 9/11 WARNING AT CIA JUST 20 MINUTES BEFORE FIRST PLANE HIT “Some members of the bin Ladin network have received hijack training, according to various sources, but no group directly tied to bin Ladin’s al-Qa’ida organization has ever carried out an aircraft hijacking,” a Dec. 4, 1998 presidential daily briefing states. “Bin Ladin could be weighing other types of operations against US aircraft.” Months before the December 1998 briefing, a Sept. 10, 1998, PDB memorandum noted that bin Laden’s preferred option was to strike on U.S. soil in Washington, D.C. That report warned that the terror network responsible for the East Africa embassy bombings could possibly fly a plane packed with explosives into an American city. AMERICA BUILT A FORTRESS AFTER 9/11; THEN THE THREAT STARTED HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT Throughout 1998, U.S. intelligence agencies tracked bin Laden’s movements and support system, while identifying associates and sympathizers operating across several states, including New York, California, Texas, Michigan and Florida, the documents state. The warnings spanned two presidential administrations. An Aug. 6, 2001, PDB delivered to Bush informed him that the FBI uncovered patterns of suspicious activity inside the U.S. consistent with preparations for hijackings or other attacks, as well as recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York. KASH PATEL REVEALS THE CHILLING HOLIDAY TERROR PLOTS FBI FEDERAL AGENTS QUIETLY STOPPED “Al-Qa’ida members — including some who are US citizens — have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks,” that document states. “After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington.” AT GROUND ZERO, 9/11 FAMILIES TURN TO TRUMP AS OBAMA’S OLD DECISION RESURFACES Weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a daily brief for Bush said the FBI was conducting around 70 field investigations throughout the U.S. that it believed were related to bin Laden. The documents were released as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to shed light on what intelligence agencies knew before the attacks. “Today I authorized the release of 71 Presidential Daily Briefs to honor the lives of those killed on 9/11, along with CIA officers who subsequently gave their lives to the fight,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement posted on X. In his second administration, Trump has also released classified files on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

First use of Alien Terrorist Removal Court sends Afghan woman back after Election Day ISIS plot: DOJ

First use of Alien Terrorist Removal Court sends Afghan woman back after Election Day ISIS plot: DOJ

An Afghan woman accused of supporting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day 2024 has been deported to her home country in the first successful use of a specialized federal court established by Congress — the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) — 30 years ago to determine whether a non-citizen is an “alien terrorist.” Nazira Haji Zada, 47, was sent back to Afghanistan after recently admitting to the ATRC that she was an “alien terrorist” and waving an appeal, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). “This landmark case, resulting in the prompt removal of this alien terrorist to her country of origin, is a win for national security and the rule of law,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.  “Those who support and condone terrorism should not be living in the United States, and this first-ever case before the ATRC shows how the [DOJ] will use every tool at its disposal to protect our country.” TRUMP TURNS TO ‘ZOMBIE’ COURT AFTER BOASBERG POINTED TO IT IN DEPORTATION FIGHT Zada’s son and son-in-law, Abdullah Haji Zada and Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were previously convicted for their part in the alleged plot. The men were arrested in October 2024 after allegedly buying guns and ammunition from an undercover FBI agent. They later admitted to buying AK-47 rifles to carry out a mass shooting on behalf of the Islamic State. Zada’s son was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Tawhedi is awaiting sentencing, according to the DOJ.  Zada, who had been living as a permanent resident in Fort Worth, Texas, is not allowed back in the U.S. again. The court had issued an order of removal for Zada on Aug. 20. EXCLUSIVE: 25 YEARS AFTER 9/11, ICE SAYS MORE THAN 2K KNOWN OR SUSPECTED TERRORISTS HAVE BEEN DEPORTED FBI Director Kash Patel called Zada’s deportation a “historic and vitally important step in our work to protect the U.S. homeland from terrorism.” He added, “An individual who supported a plot by ISIS-sympathizing family members to commit an attack in America has paid the price for that. She came to our country, betrayed it, and has now lost the right to live here and enjoy our democratic freedoms. This FBI and our Justice Department partners will protect the American people from the threat of terrorism, using all means necessary.” The family allegedly began selling their possessions to raise money for the attack, and the family bought one-way tickets to Kabul, except for her son and Tawhedi. FBI ARRESTS 3 MEN WHO ALLEGEDLY PLEDGED ALLEGIANCE TO ISIS, FUNDED DRONE ATTACKS TARGETING US TROOPS OVERSEAS Haji Zada’s attorneys said her decision to consent to removal “should not be seen as an endorsement of this court’s legitimacy.” “Dragging lawful permanent residents into court but refusing to show them or their attorneys the evidence that will be used against them is a plain violation of due process,” defense lawyers said in a statement Friday.  “We are confident that the Alien Terrorist Removal Court will be struck down as unconstitutional as soon as a judge is asked to address the issue.” The court’s authority was given by Congress in 1996, but Zada’s deportation is the first time it’s been used. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

‘Open sore’: Families face agonizing wait as 9/11 mastermind’s trial pushed nearly 27 years after attacks

‘Open sore’: Families face agonizing wait as 9/11 mastermind’s trial pushed nearly 27 years after attacks

Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, families waiting to see the accused plotters brought to justice are confronting another extraordinary possibility: They may still never see a verdict. A military judge has scheduled alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants to go on trial June 5, 2028, nearly 27 years after the attacks. But the date remains tentative, and a recent ruling barring prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents has underscored the legal obstacles still threatening the case. “It’s like an open sore, and that sore gets even more hurtful when we get to anniversaries,” John Ryan, former chief of department with the Port Authority Police who spent nine months working on the recovery operation at Ground Zero, told Fox News Digital. JUDGE THROWS OUT KHALID SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S 9/11 CONFESSION IN ALREADY LONG WAIT FOR TRIAL Ryan is among the victims’ families and first responders who have watched the prosecution drag through years of litigation over evidence obtained after the defendants were subjected to torture in CIA custody, a collapsed plea agreement, repeated changes in military judges and a mountain of unresolved pretrial motions. “Here we are 25 years later, and I’m still involved in this aspect of that here because we still have not convicted or taken to justice the five people that are being held at Guantánamo Bay,” Ryan, who later became a commander with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, said. “The planners, KSM and the others that are in custody, are awaiting trial.” Mohammed and three other defendants have been held by the U.S. for years without facing trial for their alleged roles in the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people. A fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, is being handled separately after being found mentally incompetent to stand trial. A military judge recently barred prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents in 2007, finding that the statements were tainted by the coercive treatment he had experienced in U.S. custody. The government chose not to appeal the ruling, saying an appeal could jeopardize the June 5, 2028, trial date. The judge set the trial 18 months after the prosecution’s proposed January 2027 start to give the defense and government time to work through a long list of unresolved legal disputes. He is the fifth military judge to oversee the case since the defendants were arraigned in 2012. For families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, the years of delay have become another part of the trauma. I LOST MY WIFE ON 9/11; PLEASE LET THIS 25TH ANNIVERSARY BELONG TO THE FAMILIES Sean Passananti, whose father was killed on the 100th floor of the North Tower, said the passage of time has made the case feel increasingly detached from the scale of the crime. “It feels really like a twilight zone and unbelievable that we have to fight for justice for the worst terrorist attack that ever happened on our soil,” Passananti said. “It doesn’t feel real. It’s unexplainable.” SON WHO LOST FATHER IN 9/11 ATTACKS SHARES POWERFUL LESSONS 25 YEARS LATER: ‘I’M STILL HERE’ Passananti said he has attended the memorial ceremony every year but one since the attacks. “I wish I wasn’t here, obviously, but I feel like I have to be here every year,” he said. Dennis McGinley, whose older brother Danny worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower, said the delays have kept his family from closing a painful chapter. “President Trump has a unique, historic opportunity here to be a hero, be our champion, finally close the books on this American nightmare, which is now becoming an American embarrassment,” McGinley said. McGinley described the families’ grief as an injury that keeps reopening. “It is like the wound never healed, and every year we get salt poured back into that wound,” he said. Ryan said he lost 37 police officers he had worked with during his career, along with civilian colleagues at the Port Authority. After the recovery operation, he moved into counterterrorism work. He said he expected the 9/11 case to remain part of his professional life, but not for this long. “The fact is that they’ve all admitted their involvement. It’s not a question of guilt. It’s just a question of the process and the fact that the process has taken 25 years,” Ryan said. The case has been moving through the military commissions since the defendants were arraigned in 2012. By then, Mohammed had already spent nearly a decade in U.S. custody. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held for years at CIA “black sites,” where he was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, including repeated waterboarding. Mohammed and the other defendants were transferred to Guantánamo in 2006. The treatment of the defendants in CIA custody has become one of the central obstacles in the prosecution. Defense attorneys have argued that statements obtained after the defendants were tortured cannot be considered voluntary. Prosecutors have argued that later statements made to FBI agents by a “clean team” should be admissible. The recent ruling excluding Mohammed’s 2007 FBI statements dealt another blow to that effort and highlighted a problem that has followed the case for years: whether prosecutors can separate evidence gathered later from the coercive interrogations that came before it. The case has also been disrupted by changes in judges, the coronavirus pandemic and a failed plea agreement. In 2024, the defendants reached plea agreements that would have required them to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences rather than face the death penalty. Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin withdrew the agreements, prompting another round of litigation. A federal appeals court later blocked the defendants from entering guilty pleas under the withdrawn deals. Years earlier, the Obama administration had tried another route. In 2009, the administration announced that Mohammed and four other defendants would be prosecuted in federal court in Manhattan. That plan was abandoned after fierce opposition from New York officials and lawmakers who raised

Inside Trump’s intimate meeting with nation’s bravest soldiers during whirlwind Texas trip

Inside Trump’s intimate meeting with nation’s bravest soldiers during whirlwind Texas trip

ARLINGTON, Texas — During his whirlwind trip to Texas to rally Republican voters ahead of November’s elections, President Donald Trump on Thursday made a pit stop to honor America’s bravest warriors the day before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The intimate gathering was held at the National Medal of Honor Museum, where Trump also met privately with the Medal of Honor recipients who were present. Trump also signed legislation clearing the way for a new monument honoring the award’s recipients on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., before addressing roughly 100 guests, including 16 of the nation’s 65 living Medal of Honor recipients. REPUBLICANS HEAD TO DALLAS WITH ONE MISSION: DEFY HISTORY AND WIN BIG “It’s very special for all of us,” Trump said. “It’s special for me to be here, and it’s an American treasure devoted to the best and bravest warriors of our country. And, frankly, it’s really the best they’ve ever produced.” The event was a stark contrast to the tens of thousands to whom Trump had addressed about 13 hours prior at the GOP midterm convention, a half hour away in Dallas. DAVID MARCUS: IN DALLAS, GOP SEEKS UNITY ON 9/11, KIRK ANNIVERSARIES Charlotte Jones, daughter of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, is the chairman of the museum’s board of directors and served as the event’s emcee. Her father beamed with pride as he sat front and center, which Trump noted from the stage. High-ranking Republican politicians, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, were among the high-profile guests who huddled in the room for the event. Both Jones and Troy Bertram, the CEO of the new center, stressed that the National Medal of Honor Museum (NMOH) is not just a war museum. “We are not a military history museum,” Bertram told Fox News Digital. “We are storytelling around the humans, about their courage, their sacrifice. Who they were before what they became.” Trump’s speech struck a tone of admiration for the men and women honored by the museum. MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT JAMES CAPERS JR. SAYS RECOGNITION IS BITTERSWEET AFTER LOSING ‘SO MUCH’ “They stormed into hellfire and crushed America’s enemies,” the president said. “They had bravery like few people could even think of having. They carried the wounded out of battle and on their own backs and carried them back and forth. … They stood in the way of bullets, purposely just standing just like this and taking bullets, and it’s amazing.” One of those warriors was Army Lt. Col. William Swenson, a man of steely resolve who serves on the museum’s board. DAKOTA MEYER TALKS SERVICE, BLASTS CONTROVERSIAL DESIGN FOR GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR MEMORIAL His heroic 2009 actions in Afghanistan, where he fought during Operation Enduring Freedom, earned him the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. government in 2013, presented by then-President Barack Obama. Pinned down by the enemy during a seven-hour battle in the Ganjgal Valley of the country’s Kunar Province, Swenson saved lives by making multiple trips into active combat zones, pulling wounded soldiers to safety and loading them onto helicopters for evacuation. “The president and our commander-in-chief has been a strong supporter of this project,” Swenson told Fox News Digital. “He continues to be a strong supporter of this project, and having him as involved as he is going to be a great contribution to get the monument done to standard, on time and to start signaling the messaging to the American people what’s important about service.” The 47th president is working with private donors to build the new monument in Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial, in honor of recipients of the nation’s highest military award for heroism in battle. He previously signed the Hershel “Woody” Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act, officially clearing the path for its construction. WWII VET GIVES DIRECT MESSAGE TO YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY: ‘WE GAVE UP OUR YESTERDAYS FOR YOUR TOMORROWS’ “When he died, Woody was the last surviving recipient from World War II. [He] had one of the most dangerous jobs of war, and that’s operating a flamethrower,” Trump said, speaking of the man for whom the bill was named. “In the Battle of Iwo Jima, he carved a path to American victory — literally carved a path so soldiers could get in and win through a deadly gauntlet of enemy strongholds. And back and forth he went. He just kept going back and forth.” Williams was one of about 300 flamethrowers in Iwo Jima, a famed and defining battle in the war’s Pacific theater. The late soldier’s family members were in the audience and were fondly acknowledged by the president. “America will never, ever forget what they did and what they risked and how much they risked [and] what they meant to their families and what they’ve meant to our country,” Trump concluded. “I want to thank you all once again.” Swenson described the importance of remembrance. “What we do to ensure that we have common history, common beliefs, is we have monuments, and we have museums. We have our mythology that tells us who we are as Americans and what we will continue to be in the future,” he said. “Without this mythology, we don’t have that narrative. The fact that the event was held the day before the 25th anniversary of 9/11 wasn’t lost on him, either. He described the tragedy as a “seminal event” for him, which happened just as he was finishing college, that shaped his entire future. Swenson spent 22 years in the Army after the attack. “The United States is forged in fire,” he said. “We’ve had revolutions, we’ve had civil wars, we’ve had global conflicts, we’ve had civil strife. There will always be challenges to our freedom and to our country, and it’s up to us to move forward from those events and create that more perfect union. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “That said, we must always learn