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Trump signs proclamation commemorating Abbey Gate attack anniversary with Gold Star families

Trump signs proclamation commemorating Abbey Gate attack anniversary with Gold Star families

President Donald Trump on Monday signed a proclamation commemorating the anniversary of the Abbey Gate attack during the Afghanistan withdrawal that took the lives of 13 military service members. Trump was surrounded by Gold Star families as he signed the proclamation in the White House.  “We remember these great 13 souls, but we also remember the people that were so badly injured, our soldiers, 32 of them approximately,” he said. “We understand that it should’ve never happened, should have never been allowed to have happened.” MORNING GLORY: TRUMP’S SIGNATURE QUOTE ON IRAN CEMENTS A DECISIVE SUCCESS Vice President JD Vance, who served in the Marines, said Monday’s event was a “rectification of a wrong.” “The fact that the President of the United States lost your loved ones through incompetence, but never acknowledged it in your government, never actually put pen to paper to say we’re grateful for your sacrifice,” he said of former President Joe Biden.  The Biden administration was heavily criticized for the attack and the way the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan was executed.  In 2021, Biden removed U.S. troops from Afghanistan, following up on existing plans from the first Trump administration in 2020 with Taliban leaders to end the war in the region. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed during the withdrawal process from a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, outside the then-Hamid Karzai International Airport, as the Taliban quickly seized control of Kabul. WATCH: CROWD SINGS ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ TO TRUMP AT US ARMY’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY PARADE Biden faced scrutiny after the withdrawal as the Taliban quickly took over Afghanistan again and more than a dozen U.S. service members died supporting evacuation efforts.  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Abbey Gate bombing convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin to start his war with Ukraine.   “Because he saw how incompetent our military was under Biden,” he said. “The military needs to answer for what happened in Afghanistan.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, an Afghanistan veteran, is leading a deep dive into what happened at Abbey Gate. 

Epstein estate hit with new House subpoena for ‘client list,’ call logs

Epstein estate hit with new House subpoena for ‘client list,’ call logs

The House Oversight Committee took significant steps to widen its probe into Jeffrey Epstein on Monday, including subpoenaing the late pedophile’s estate. Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to attorneys representing Epstein’s estate, requesting a slew of documents by Sept. 8. “The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials,” Comer wrote. “It is our understanding that the Estate of Jeffrey Epstein is in custody and control of documents that may further the Committee’s investigation and legislative goals. Further, it is our understanding the Estate is ready and willing to provide these documents to the Committee pursuant to a subpoena.” MAXWELL SAYS SHE NEVER SAW TRUMP DO ANYTHING INAPPROPRIATE, NEW DOJ DOCS REVEAL Comer also announced that the committee would hear from Alexander Acosta, a former Trump administration labor secretary who also served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida when Epstein entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the federal government in 2008. Acosta is appearing before the committee for a closed-door transcribed interview on Sept. 19. He was not compelled via subpoena.  The controversial agreement, which Acosta signed off on, was concealed from more than 30 of Epstein’s underaged victims, according to The Miami Herald. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to two state charges in Florida of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution, avoiding more severe federal charges. He ended up serving 13 months in county jail with the benefit of a work-release program, made confidential settlements with some victims, and registered as a sex offender.  It also allowed co-conspirators to avoid charges – a major point of contention during his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal trial in late 2021. It’s also the basis of Maxwell’s appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn her guilty verdict. Documents subpoenaed by Comer include all entries in a book compiled by Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday, Epstein’s will, and information on the non-prosecution agreement. GHISLAINE MAXWELL SAYS NO JEFFREY EPSTEIN CLIENT LIST EXISTS AS DOJ RELEASES INTERVIEW RECORDINGS Information is being sought on Epstein’s financial transactions, call and visitor logs, and “any document or record that could reasonably be construed to be a potential list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr. Jeffrey Epstein,” according to a copy of the subpoena viewed by Fox News Digital. An attorney for the executors of Epstein’s estate told Fox News Digital they were reviewing the subpoena. “As the Co-Executors have always said, they will comply with all lawful process in this matter, and that includes the Committee’s subpoena,” the attorney said. The House Oversight Committee sent a flurry of subpoenas regarding Epstein earlier this month, kicking off a bipartisan investigation into the late pedophile. Comer sought depositions from former FBI directors Robert Mueller and James Comey, ex-attorneys general Bill Barr and Loretta Lynch, as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Barr testified last week. The subpoenas were directed via a bipartisan vote during an unrelated House Oversight subcommittee hearing on illegal immigrant children in late July. Renewed interest in Epstein’s case has gripped Capitol Hill after the DOJ’s handling of the matter spurred a GOP revolt by far-right figures. The DOJ effectively declared the case closed after an “exhaustive review,” revealing Epstein had no “client list,” did not blackmail “prominent individuals,” and confirmed he did die by suicide in a New York City jail while awaiting prosecution. Democrats seized on the discord with newfound calls for transparency in Epstein’s case, spurring accusations of hypocrisy from their Republican colleagues. Indeed, the bipartisan unity that the investigation was kicked off with quickly disintegrated after the first witness, Barr, was deposed last week. Reps. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who attended part of Barr’s deposition, left the room roughly halfway through the sit-down and accused Republicans of insufficiently probing questions during their allotted time to depose Barr. Comer, who argued those accusations were baseless, implored Democrats not to politicize a bipartisan investigation. Divisions deepened after Comer said Barr had no knowledge of, nor did he believe, any implications of wrongdoing on President Donald Trump’s part related to Epstein. House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who was not in the room, released a statement after the deposition, claiming Barr did not clear Trump.

DNC chair demands Dems stop ‘bringing a pencil to a knife fight’ at fiery summer meeting

DNC chair demands Dems stop ‘bringing a pencil to a knife fight’ at fiery summer meeting

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – As Democrats hunger for more forceful pushback against sweeping and controversial moves by President Donald Trump and Republicans, the party’s national chair stressed that it’s time to “stand up and fight.” And in a fiery speech Monday, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin argued that the president is acting as “a dictator-in-chief” and that Trump’s second administration is “facism dressed in a red tie.” “We are the only thing standing in his way,” Martin emphasized as he addressed the more than 400 elected party officials from all 50 states and seven territories, as the summer meeting kicked off at a downtown hotel in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. “Are you ready to take back our country from the wannabe-king in the White House,” he asked the audience, to loud cheers. AMID PLUNGING POLLS, ANEMIC FUNDRAISING, DEMOCRATS LOOK TO REBOUND AT PARTY’S SUMMER MEETING Martin, pointing to the forceful response by Democrats to moves this summer by Trump and Republicans to create more right-leaning U.S. House seats in states across the country through rare mid-decade congressional redistricting ahead of next year’s midterm elections, said that he’s “sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight.” “We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore,” he urged. Democratic Party leaders and officials face a multitude of problems as they try to escape the political wilderness. The party is trying to escape the political wilderness after last year’s elections, when Democrats lost control of the White House and the Senate and fell short in their bid to win back the House majority. And Republicans made gains with voters who make up key parts of the Democratic Party’s base. DNC CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS PARTY HAS HIT ‘ROCK BOTTOM’ But the situation has only worsened for the Democrats in the 10 months since last year’s election setbacks. The Democrats’ brand is deeply unpopular, especially with younger voters, as the party’s poll numbers continue to drop to all-time lows in national surveys.  The DNC faces a massive fundraising deficit at the hands of the rival Republican National Committee (RNC), fueled in part by major party donors cutting back their contributions as they express their frustrations with the national party committee. New voter data first reported last week by the New York Times showed Democratic Party registration plunging while GOP sign-ups were on the rise in the 30 states that register voters by party. “There’s no doubt that … we have work to do,” Martin acknowledged in a sit-down interview this summer with Fox News Digital. But seeing a silver lining, he added that “when you hit rock bottom, there’s only one direction to go, and that’s up, and that’s what we’re doing.” On Monday, amid talk that Democrats remain divided over a slew of policy and political issues, Martin highlighted that “in this big tent party of ours, we are unified towards one single goal, to stop Donald Trump and put this country back on track.” LONGTIME TRUMP ALLY TAKES OVER CHAIRING REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota took aim at talk of the party’s divisions. Klobuchar rejected the “we suck club” label and said “we’re not getting into it when they try to divide us on every single issue online. Complaining about each other to each other – it isn’t how we win again.”  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took aim at media reports of the party’s divisions, saying “it boggles my damn mind that in the midst of a military takeover of our cities and the attempt to go into others, the flaunting of the rule of law, the coolness and the unconstitutional nature of the way they’re attacking our neighbors, that the press finds the need to talk about, ‘oh, there’s a division in the Democratic Party.’” “There’s a division in my damn house, and we’re still married, and things are good,” Walz said. “That’s life. That’s life. We are strong. We are strong because we challenge each other.” Walz, who served as then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democrats national ticket last summer and autumn, slammed Trump as “petty as hell.”  And he said Americans wake each morning to “a man child crying about whatever’s wrong with him.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told the audience that he and fellow Democratic state attorneys general who’ve fought the Trump administration in court have “sued this dude 44 times and we’ll sue him 44 more and 44 more after that.” “We have sued Trump for gender-affirming care. We are not going to scapegoat the transgender community.” Ellison highlighted. While the 2024 election has faded in the rearview mirror, Republicans have been relentless in characterizing Democrats as extreme leftists. Former RNC chair Michael Whatley, who formally stepped down last week as he runs for the Senate, argued in a Fox News Digital interview last week that the Democrats “are moving further and further and farther to the left. They are walking away from Main Street right now. They are beholden to left-wing radical woke policies.” “They haven’t learned a single thing from their election losses in 2024,” Whatley claimed. RNC communications director Zach Parkinson, responding to Monday’s DNC session, told Fox News that “under Ken Martin’s leadership, Democrats have sunk to their lowest approval rating in 35 years, the DNC is still paying off millions in debt from Kamala Harris’ failed campaign, and Martin himself is actively supporting a communist for mayor of New York City. As Republicans, we think he is doing a fantastic job, and we fully endorse him to stay on as DNC Chair.” The “communist” reference points to Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democrats’ nominee in this year’s New York City mayoral election. But despite all the problems and setbacks facing the Democrats, they have enjoyed some victories of late. Democrats have scored a slew of off-year and special election wins, ahead of next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its

Federal judge temporarily bars Abrego Garcia from deportation to Uganda

Federal judge temporarily bars Abrego Garcia from deportation to Uganda

A federal judge in Maryland blocked the Trump administration on Monday from immediately deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials hours earlier, delivering a temporary blow to the government’s efforts to remove the Salvadorian migrant at the center of a months-long court fight.  Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, said Monday that he filed the emergency motion after his client was taken into immigration custody at the ICE Field Office in Baltimore, after he appeared there as a condition of his pretrial release from criminal custody. The new filing asks a judge to block Abrego Garcia’s removal from the U.S. until his immigration case can play out via the proper channels, ensuring due process protections — including the right to a reasonable fear interview before being removed to a third country. Judge Paula Xinis said that she planned to move quickly in weighing the emergency request, telling both Justice Department lawyers and attorneys for Abrego Garcia to confer privately to hash out a proposed briefing schedule, with an eye towards Friday as a possible date for an evidentiary hearing. The judge said she would hold off on any decisions until after the hearing. ABREGO GARCIA RELEASED FROM JAIL, WILL RETURN TO MARYLAND TO AWAIT TRIAL Xinis noted at the outset that she believed an extension of her current temporary restraining order might be “necessary,” in light of the administration’s stated plans to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, even as she acknowledged that the information before her was preliminary. She also cited the daylight between the plea offer offered to Abrego Garcia late last week —  which would allow him to be sent to Costa Rica as a free individual in exchange for pleading guilty to criminal charges against him —  and the lack of stated assurances from Uganda, the East African nation agreed to accept migrants deported from the U.S. just days earlier.  She noted there is not a known proffer from Uganda detailing what protections Abreo Garcia would have in the country, including the ability to travel freely throughout its borders,  compared to what Costa Rica provided, which included assurances that he would live in the country freely, and would have residency papers or refugee status. Crucially, Uganda has not provided any known assurances that Abrego Garcia would not be befouled, or sent back to El Salvador, after being deported to the country. “There’s just nothing right now on the record in that regard,” Xinis said, noting that the silence from Uganda “is certainly taken in contrast” as to what Costa Rica has offered. JUDGE PRESSES TRUMP DOJ ON ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION; ANSWERS LEAVE COURTROOM IN STUNNED SILENCE Though Xinis stressed the information before her was preliminary, and that the Trump administration “can certainly right the ship” by providing evidence to the contrary, she said, “the contrast is significant,” at least for now. Before adjourning the court, she also ordered the Trump administration to keep Abrego Garcia in the same ICE detention center in Virginia, where he was moved after his arrest on Monday, after his attorneys cited concerns ICE would remove him again tonight.  Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign did not immediately rule out that possibility, prompting her to order him to be kept there. She also reiterated, several times, that the government must comply with the court. “Your clients are absolutely forbidden at this juncture to remove Mr. Abrego Garcia from the continental United States,” she noted pointedly to Ensign, who agreed. “I’m going to take it from you, as an officer of the court, and on behalf of your clients, that there is the fullest intent to abide by those orders,” Xinis said, before following up again. “Is that accurate?” “That is accurate, Your Honor,” Ensign said.