Pentagon reveals secret space weapons are already in orbit — but won’t say what they do
The U.S. has weapons orbiting Earth that can be used to defend American forces from attacks in space, the Air Force secretary revealed this week in a rare public acknowledgment of capabilities the Pentagon has largely kept secret. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday that the Space Force now has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action,” but declined to say what the weapons are, how they work or when they were deployed. The carefully worded disclosure marks a shift in how openly the U.S. military talks about weapons in orbit as China and Russia develop their own capabilities to disrupt, disable or destroy satellites. TRUMP TO TRANSFORM SPACEFLIGHT FROM SPECTACLE TO STATUS QUO TARGETING 3 LAUNCHES PER DAY “Is there any question in the room, by anybody, about whether or not the Chinese or Russians have been developing these sorts of weapons?” Meink told reporters after his remarks at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland — right outside of Washington, D.C. “For over a decade, we’ve been talking about the fact, and we have expressed concern, that the Chinese and Russians were developing weapons for space,” he continued. “We need to focus on making sure we can protect ourselves operating in that environment.” Exactly what the U.S. has put into orbit remains a mystery. The U.S. has previously discussed placing weapons in space, including plans to deploy space-based interceptors capable of destroying incoming missiles as part of President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system. But Meink’s disclosure goes a step further: The Space Force already has weapons in orbit for “space control,” a mission aimed at protecting U.S. access to space and, if necessary, denying an adversary the ability to use it. The Pentagon has historically revealed little about the weapons developed for that mission, with publicly known U.S. counter-space capabilities largely based on the ground. “What the U.S. is going for is a wow factor here,” Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital. “Wow. The U.S. has never talked about space weapons like this before.” “That’s really what is exceptional and newsworthy about this revelation,” Swope said. “The U.S. is saying we’re putting weapons in space to make sure that our adversaries can’t use space, or to make sure that we can continue to use space.” Meink appeared to make clear that the ambiguity surrounding the weapons is intentional. He told reporters his language was “very well thought out” and declined to say whether the systems are kinetic or non-kinetic. Kinetic weapons physically strike or destroy a target — think bombs, bullets and missile — while non-kinetic systems can disrupt or disable it without blowing it up — like cyber attacks or radio jams. “There are a lot of factors that roll into how we talk about these things,” Meink said, explaining that publicly revealing a capability can contribute to deterrence while disclosing too much about it can undermine that advantage. “We’re not going to talk about the specifics of what we’re doing, whether we’ve tested it, not tested it, or anything else,” he said. That leaves a wide range of possibilities. Fox News Digital did not hear back from the Space Force when reached for details of the weapon. INSIDE AMERICA’S LASER REVOLUTION AS THE MILITARY NEARS BIG BATTLEFIELD BREAKTHROUGH Swope said “space control weapons” could encompass everything from kinetic systems capable of firing missiles or projectiles at another satellite to jammers that interfere with satellite communications or lasers designed to temporarily overwhelm imaging sensors. “We really don’t have enough information to know precisely which one of these types of capabilities we’re talking about,” Swope said. “It’s really anybody’s guess what type of weapon we’re talking about.” FATAL AIR AMBULANCE CRASH EXPOSES GROWING GPS DANGER FACING US FLIGHTS But whatever the Pentagon has deployed, putting a weapon in orbit rather than launching it from Earth could offer one potentially significant advantage: speed and surprise. A weapon launched from Earth toward a satellite could potentially give an adversary warning that an attack was underway. A capability already positioned in orbit could dramatically shorten that window. “Maybe something measured at dozens of minutes could be compressed into just mere minutes,” Swope said. “And you wouldn’t have any indication that maybe a jammer was turned on, on the satellite, other than all of a sudden your signal is being interfered with,” he added. “If you can act fast without your adversary knowing, if you can have surprise, that gives you a strategic or an asymmetric advantage in combat,” Swope said. “And having systems in orbit do just that.” Even observing the spacecraft itself may offer few clues about what it can do. “Space is a very transparent place,” Swope said, noting that governments and civilian observers can track where satellites are, how fast they are moving and what orbits they occupy. “But what you’ll see often is, oh, it’s a satellite,” he said. “It’s a lot of technology with solar panels and antenna on it. And you don’t really know much beyond that.” A satellite equipped to jam another spacecraft’s signals, for example, might look much like an ordinary communications satellite. “Any signal can be a jamming signal,” Swope said. “It just depends on if it’s the one you want to receive, or the one that someone’s trying to use to jam you.” The concept of weapons operating in orbit is not new. Swope pointed to the Soviet Union’s work on co-orbital anti-satellite weapons dating to the 1960s. Russia has continued developing counterspace capabilities, including systems designed to operate in orbit near other satellites. China has also developed and tested technologies that could threaten spacecraft, including satellite-servicing and debris-removal systems that have legitimate civilian uses but could potentially be repurposed to interfere with another satellite. Other forms of interference are already widespread. “When we talk about jamming
WATCH: ‘Lifelong Democrat’ admits she is ‘ashamed’ of party after son killed in illegal immigrant crash
In testimony before Congress this morning, self-identified “lifelong Democrat” Elizabeth Carter admitted that she is “ashamed” of her party’s handling of the immigration issue after her son, William Micah Carter, was killed in a car crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver issued a license by California. Carter’s son and his newlywed wife, Jennifer Lower, along with their cat “Bert,” were killed in a car crash after their vehicle slammed into a jackknifed big rig driven by illegal immigrant Rajinder Kumar in late November. According to Carter, the couple were returning from their wedding reception in her late daughter-in-law’s hometown in Oregon when the crash occurred. “Sixteen days after they were married, Billy, Jenny and her cat Bert were killed. They lost the Russian roulette game our government is forcing them to play,” testified Carter. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF KILLING NEWLYWED COUPLE IN OREGON CRASH ARRESTED BY ICE AFTER JAIL RELEASE While being questioned by Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., Carter criticized Democrats’ resistance to immigration enforcement, saying, “We allowed 10 million people in under Biden. How is there a different suggestion as to how to process them, other than the same way they came into the country en masse, leaving?” She continued, “I have to say, as a lifelong Democrat, I am ashamed of what my party is doing.” To which, Knott responded, “Well, they don’t care.” Knott pressed, “This is the question for the country to consider, is it worth enforcing our laws to protect just one American family?” HOMAN BLASTS DEM HYPOCRISY ON DEPORTATIONS, RECALLS PAST WHEN ‘OBAMA GAVE ME AN AWARD’ FOR ENFORCING BORDER “One party says, ‘Absolutely, if we have to mass deport the problem that they built, so be it,’” he continued. “If it protects one family from having to suffer like you’ve suffered, I think that is a worthwhile endeavor.” Carter responded, “Absolutely.” Pointing to where the Democratic committee members were sitting, Knott exclaimed, “They are still defending it. Not one of them will say, if you’re here illegally, get out.” Licensed illegal immigrant drivers on American roads have become an increasingly significant concern following a series of deadly crashes involving immigrants. OUT OF CONTROL, UNQUALIFIED ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKERS ENDANGERING KIDS ON US ROADS, INSIDER WARNS: ‘JUST MADNESS’ Last week, ICE launched a new tipline for Americans to report suspected commercial driver’s license (CDL) fraud as the Trump administration ramps up its crackdown on unqualified truckers. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER In announcing the tipline, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News Digital that “too many American lives have been lost or permanently changed because illegal aliens who have no business being on our roads have been granted CDLs.” “ICE and our federal partners, including the Department of Transportation, will be cracking down on CDL fraud so that not one more American life is lost to a reckless illegal alien behind the wheel of a semi-truck,” he added.
Trump-backed crypto bill fails to launch as Dems, Republicans unite to block it
A colossal crypto regulatory package backed by President Donald Trump stumbled in the Senate, and another shot is unlikely. The Clarity Act failed to move through a key procedural hurdle on Tuesday, serving proponents of the bill, including major players in the cryptocurrency industry and the White House, a major blow in their pursuit of folding the novel currency into the nation’s web of financial regulations. Democrats dealt the bill a mortal blow, but a handful of Republicans with outstanding concerns, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., were not assuaged, either. And with little time left on the Senate’s calendar and major bills piling up ahead of the midterm elections, the bill’s biggest backers believed that the Clarity Act might end up back on the shelf. REPUBLICANS TARGET TRUMP’S CRYPTO EMPIRE WITH NEW PLAN, DEMS SAY IT FALLS SHORT “I think we’re done. It’s over,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., the bill’s primary architect, said. “Because we’ve been working on this bill for over a year. And we’ve given them over 120 of their requests and that’s enough.” When asked if the bill would come back to the floor, Lummis said, “Nope.” A midnight hour update was made to the bill to try and pull anyone on the fence off to at least let the package move forward. But it wasn’t enough. And negotiations ran until the very end, just before the vote opened. DEMOCRATS HAND TRUMP ONE POWER THEY SPENT YEARS FIGHTING The issues with the package were many and varying among Democrats and Republicans. Several Senate Democrats were not satisfied with the ethics language baked into the Clarity Act that sought to slow the Trump family’s rapidly growing crypto empire. That’s because Trump’s income between 2024 and 2025 erupted by about 250% — from just over $620 million to about $2.2 billion. And much of that increase is attributed to his various holdings and ventures in crypto, which are run by his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, according to the president’s financial disclosure forms reviewed by Fox News Digital. “We could talk a lot about it,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said of his vote against the bill. “But the simple thing is, it allows the corruption of the president to continue.” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who was working with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to strengthen the ethics provision in the package, told Fox News Digital, “We were actually getting very, very close, and at the last minute, the banking staffer from [Sen. Tim] Scott’s office came in and just said, ‘negotiations are over.’” “And so, I don’t know what happened. You know, we were getting to the point where we were probably going to be able to pass, at least get the motion to proceed, move forward, and then, again, an ethics amendment vote,” Gallego said. “But I think they got scared with the fact that they had to take an ethics amendment vote. And that’s why they killed it. They pulled it at that last minute, so it’s bulls—. We were negotiating at the end. At the end of the day, they cared more about protecting the president’s right to grift than trying to get a good bill on digital currency.” Others didn’t believe that the language dealing with foreign money laundering had enough teeth. “I have not seen the kind of engagement yet from the Republican side when it comes to countering terrorist financing and cartel financing that would get me to a yes,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said. “I’m still engaged. I didn’t get on board with the GENIUS Act till the very last vote.” TRUMP’S $5,000 DIVIDEND CHECKS WOULD COME WITH A MAJOR CATCH UNDER GOP SENATOR’S PLAN Still, some lawmakers argued they should at least move forward with the bill to tweak it as needed. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, was still undecided before the vote. He was worried about how bringing crypto into the fold could affect deposit yields at community banks and guardrails on the currency being “diverted for criminal purposes,” but he argued the bill could be strengthened if they moved forward. “What we used to do around here is something called legislate,” Cornyn said. “You know where you’d actually vote to get on the bill, but then you amend it, and then you decide whether you’re going to support it on the back end.” The bill’s failure does open up the Senate to speedily move to other legislative priorities, like Sen. Ted Cruz’s, R-Texas, college sports bill to add protections to student-athletes and slow the big money train ripping through collegiate athletics. “We committed to ensure that we got a vote on college sports,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “So we’ll see if we have 60 [votes]. I don’t know the answer for sure to that yet. I hope we do.”
Kennedy Center board votes to immediately close main building over safety, financial concerns
Fox News Digital confirmed Tuesday that the Kennedy Center board voted to immediately close the main building of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., citing safety and funding concerns. President Donald Trump said shortly after the vote that the board agreed “almost unanimously” to close the building for safety reasons and begin the process of reconstruction. Trump said the closure will take effect immediately, but renovation and reconstruction will not begin until the D.C. Circuit rules in the ongoing dispute over the board’s proposed use of his name at the Kennedy Center. He said Justice Department attorneys will seek an expedited appeal. Trump also said $17 million he raised has been deposited into the Kennedy Center’s account “to keep it afloat.” KENNEDY CENTER CEILING PARTIALLY COLLAPSES AS TRUMP-LED BOARD PUSHES FOR 2-YEAR CLOSURE Two additional sources told Fox News the board approved the closure during a special meeting. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked the board from putting Trump’s name on the building or renaming the grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” ruling that such memorials require congressional approval. EXCLUSIVE: KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MOVES TO NAME GROUNDS ‘PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP PLAZA’ Kennedy Center Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi said the board’s decision “reflects sound judgment and a clear prioritization of safety above all else.” TRUMP’S NAME TO BE REMOVED FROM KENNEDY CENTER AS APPEALS COURT DENIES BOARD’S REQUEST FOR ADMINISTRATIVE STAY “As the main building closes for urgent renovations — long overdue and desperately needed to protect the safety of patrons, artists and staff — the Center remains committed to pursuing a safe and efficient renovation through all legal means,” Daravi said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We intend to appeal today’s Court ruling and move forward with recognizing Chairman President Trump’s historic contributions to the revitalization of America’s Cultural Center.” The closure comes less than two weeks after part of the Kennedy Center ceiling collapsed during a rainstorm. Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi told Fox News Digital at the time that the structural failure demonstrated the “urgent need” for renovations and blamed “decades of neglect and deferred maintenance.” Trump said Tuesday morning that a security guard had passed through the area only shortly before the ceiling collapsed, and argued that the incident only demonstrated the building’s safety problems. KENNEDY CENTER DISPUTES ALLEGATIONS ON CONTRACTOR BIDS DESPITE DEMOCRAT SENATOR’S CLAIMS “A security guard had just passed the area, one minute prior to this ceiling collapse,” President Trump said in his Truth post. “He was, therefore, 60 seconds away from certain death.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Grand Foyer slab that fell roughly 60 feet during the recent structural failure weighed more than 150 pounds, according to information obtained by Fox News Digital. It was not immediately clear how long the Kennedy Center will remain closed or how Tuesday’s court ruling could affect the closure. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this reporting.
GOP Rep Thomas Massie introduces 8 articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a resolution to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and read eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on the House floor Tuesday. Massie formally entered a resolution to impeach Hegseth for “high crimes and misdemeanors” on the House floor for, among other things, allegedly violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973 in Iran and for his role in the operation that led to former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s capture and extradition. The first three of the eight articles of impeachment Massie introduced accused Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, arguing that Hegseth’s Department of War is “waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat.” His first article seeks to establish “that the war was unlawful from its inception.” The second article claims that Hegseth disobeyed Congress after both the House and the Senate directed the removal of troops from Iran. The third article claims that Hegseth is “continuing hostilities in Iran after expiration of the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day termination period and any potential 30-day withdrawal period.” 4 HOUSE REPUBLICANS REBEL AGAINST TRUMP, VOTE WITH DEMS TO BLOCK IRAN WAR POWERS The fourth and fifth articles accuse Hegseth of refusing to minimize civilian casualties and engaging in extrajudicial killing, with the latter charge accusing Hegseth of “replacing maritime law enforcement with unauthorized lethal military targeting of suspected drug traffickers” during operations striking suspected narcotraffickers in the Caribbean Sea. REP SETH MOULTON SAYS HEGSETH IS ‘GUILTY’ OF WAR CRIMES, LINKS HIM TO NAZIS TRIED DURING WORLD WAR II Also related to military action in the Caribbean and South America, Massie’s seventh article accuses Hegseth of the “Kidnapping of a Sovereign Foreign Leader” for his role in Operation Absolute Resolve, the January mission in which U.S. Special Forces apprehended and extracted former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from Caracas. Massie’s article condemns Hegseth for doing so “without constitutional or legal authority.” Article six accuses Hegseth of using his authority to suppress the free speech of Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., by retaliating against the senator for his video in which the senator joined a group of other lawmakers in a video which critics claimed encourage active military members to disobey lawful orders. The final article charges Hegseth with carrying out unlawful orders in Yemen. The article “charges Secretary Hegseth with initiating Operation Rough Rider without congressional authorization or an imminent threat to the United States, while also violating war powers reporting requirements. It further addresses extensive civilian deaths and unlawful strikes on civilian objects, rescuers, and other protected persons.” After reading out his articles for over an hour on the House floor, Massie closed out his introduction. “In all of this, Secretary Hegseth abused the powers entrusted to him as Secretary of Defense by subordinating the constitutional limits on the use of military force and the laws governing the conduct of hostilities to his own policy objectives,” Massie said. Massie also added that Hegseth “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to civilians, the lawful conduct of United States military operations, the integrity and credibility of the United States Armed Forces and the Constitution, if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties, and the rule of law. This, Massie said, “warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.” Fox News Digital contacted Massie’s office and the Pentagon for further comment.
Kash Patel reveals FBI’s capture of all 10 members of Most Wanted fugitive’s list during hearing
The FBI has apprehended all 10 members of the FBI’s Most Wanted list during President Donald Trump’s second term, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed during an appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during his opening statements as the committee’s chairman, lauded Patel and the FBI for their work in capturing nine of the 10 most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s top 10 list. Patel, during his opening remarks, corrected Grassley, revealing that his agency had just this past weekend caught the tenth fugitive. “Mr. Chairman, I’m proud to announce today, and I hate to correct you, we haven’t captured nine of the top 10 most [wanted] individuals on our list. We’ve captured 10,” Patel said. FBI CAPTURES TOP TEN MOST WANTED FUGITIVE WITH ALLEGED SINALOA CARTEL TIES, PATEL SAYS “Just this past weekend, we captured a thug down in Venezuela who was on our most wanted list and on the run for years. He has been captured, apprehended and is on his way back to the United States of America. That’s 10 of 10. Nobody in the FBI history has done that,” Patel said. HIGHEST-RANKING TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBER EVER EXTRADITED TO US SET TO APPEAR IN HOUSTON COURTROOM: DOJ “We, the FBI, captured more than two and a half times the number of the top 10 most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s list from the prior administration,” he also said. While Patel did not say the name of the fugitive during the hearing, the FBI earlier revealed exclusively to Fox News Digital that the 10th capture was that of Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, the FBI’s first ever “cyber fugitive.” Aguirre led “a large international conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from financial institutions in support of the Tren de Aragua, through an ATM jackpotting scheme since at least 2024,” the FBI told Fox News Digital. In addition to a clean sweep of the top 10 fugitives, Patel also revealed that his FBI has also captured six of the top 10 most wanted fraudsters on the top 10 fraudsters list, a compilation his FBI created during the current administration. FBI TOUTS 6,000 ARRESTS, 44% HOMICIDE DROP ONE YEAR INTO TRUMP’S DC CRIME CRACKDOWN Patel also outlined the broader progress the Trump administration has made towards making the U.S. safer. “On top of that, we’ve captured six of the most wanted fraudsters around the world, taking the murder rate down 20 points is no easy effort. It requires a team lift, state, local and international partners. This includes results in cities like Baltimore, which reached its lowest mid-year homicide numbers in recorded history,” he said. TRUMP’S LAW-AND-ORDER BLITZ MARKS ONE YEAR WITH EYE-POPPING HAUL OF SUSPECTS, GUNS IN BLUE CITY “This year in Memphis, we accomplished a 50% reduction in homicide for a city that had the highest per capita homicide rate in the country, thanks to the president’s task force. And right here in Washington, D.C., we are on track to have the lowest homicide numbers since 1990,” Patel added. Fox News Digital contacted the FBI for further comment. Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Vance’s intimate Capitol Hill huddle as Republicans confront tough midterm terrain
EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance energized Republicans during a huddle on Capitol Hill Tuesday where he urged lawmakers to “kick a–” in the 49 days before the midterm elections, according to audio obtained by Fox News Digital from a person in the room. He wants members of Congress who are on the campaign trail to tell Americans how Trump administration’s policies benefit them daily. “There’s people out there right now whose lives are going to get better, or their lives are going to get worse based on whether we’re in the majority or whether we’re in the minority,” Vance told the Republican lawmakers in spelling out the stakes of the 2026 midterms. “There are going to be people who are going to be poorer. Who are going to be less able to afford their prescription drugs, who are going to be less safe in the homes in their neighborhoods if the other guys get the majority,” he continued. “And there are people who are going to be able to walk down the street in safety if you guys keep the majority. If we keep the majority together.” Specifically, Vance told incumbents to hammer home the issue of crime, noting that the homicide rate has reached a 126-year low. Vance explained that in a country of 330 million people, that crime stat translates to “thousands of people,” including mothers and fathers, who are coming home to their families instead of being victims of deadly crimes. FBI REPORTS LARGEST DROP IN VIOLENT CRIME AND MURDER SINCE 1937 AS HOMICIDES FALL MORE THAN 18% “There are tens of thousands of children who will come home tonight and work on their homework with mom or dad, rather than a stranger, because of what we’ve been able to do in supporting law enforcement,” Vance said in the closed-door meeting. “This is not an abstraction, ladies and gentlemen,” the vice president continued. “This is not about what you see on CNN or Fox News. This is not whether someone with an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to their name wins. This is about whether the American people in this country that we love have a government that they deserve, that protects them, that fights for them, or whether they have a government that treats them as a means to end.” Fox News Digital caught up with Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., after the meeting. “I think he did a great job,” the congressman said. “He’s very good. He’s very personable.” “He’s got some kind of voodoo thing going on where he remembers everybody’s dadgum name,” Burchett told Fox News Digital. “It kind of freaks me out a little bit. But, I mean, every time I’ve run into him — I remember one time I was waiting in line to go to the bathroom and he walked out of the bathroom. ‘Hey, Tim, what’s going on?’ I invited him to a [University of Tennessee] game.” Vance offered some campaign tips to the lawmakers while ribbing the political consulting class for sometimes being out of touch, and saying “the American people are not dumb.” He said voters understand President Donald Trump and his administration inherited problems, including inflation, massive debt and “a country that was weaker on the national stage.” “They know that Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said. THE ONE LINE FROM JD VANCE’S GOP KEYNOTE THAT REVEALS HIS VISION FOR AMERICA The vice president directed members to “pound the pavement” in their home districts to personally connect with as many voters as possible. Just as importantly, Vance said, Republicans in safe districts who have no real opposition from the left should contribute money to the campaigns of fellow Republicans who are in competitive districts. “So here’s the thing, this is not rocket science. You guys know this better than I do, you know your districts better than I do,” Vance said . “We know that most voters, particularly the voters who are open-minded, who are not hardcore partisans, they don’t really start paying attention to the election until right about now.” THUNE-ALIGNED GROUPS UNLEASH HISTORIC WAR CHEST TO DEFEND SENATE MAJORITY: ‘WINNING MESSAGE’ Vance also spoke fondly of when late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined him in Ohio while he was campaigning for the Senate in 2022. “I’ll never forget this,” said Vance. ” Lindsey Graham comes out — I didn’t know Lindsey Graham at all, and you guys know how the campaign trail is in the final stretches. You wake up in a crappy hotel, you haven’t seen your wife, your kids in a few days, and it’s a lot more fun when you have some company out there.” “You’re telling jokes, you’re enjoying it. That energy — people pick up on it. So, get out there and campaign with your friends.” Vance recalled how Graham told him stories that had him “aching with laughter,” half of which he said he could not repeat.
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’s ‘effective altruism’ network tied to AI regulation push
Concerns about artificial intelligence spelling doom for the human race are being linked to a “cult-like” philanthropy movement known as “effective altruism” supported by billionaire Democratic megadonor and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, according to a policy analyst. In response to former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s resignation announcement on X, Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center in Washington D.C., went viral as he raised questions about whether the resignation was part of a broader network that aims to influence lawmakers and AI policy. “I resigned from Anthropic today,” Coxon’s post read. “I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” RESEARCHER WHO DEPARTED AI ROLE OVER FEARS OF RACING INTO EXTINCTION SAYS PEOPLE ARE ‘BEGGING’ FOR REGULATION Thayer quoted the post in a response that received interaction online with top lawmakers in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “This post looks like the start of a VERY sophisticated and well-funded PR operation to get support for Democrats to regulate AI into oblivion,” Thayer posted. “The post is punchy, quotable, it almost seems professionally written. The first three accounts to quote tweet it all do so within 15 minutes of the initial posting.” Thayer echoed claims made by White House AI advisor David Sacks that AI fears are overblown and potentially based on political motives. “I think this is becoming a panic,” Sacks told CBS News correspondent Jo Ling Kent. “We’re in an election season, and there is an incentive for political actors to try and amplify the fear. And I think this is a moment to really calm down a little bit and look at the issue rationally.” SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: YES, WE MUST HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON ON AI BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE Coxon told Fox News’ Bret Baier last week that we are “on the doorstep of tremendous discoveries,” but are running in too quickly. He emphasized the need for moderation. Baier asked Coxon if the issue could be figured out. “I think definitely. I think if we actually try instead of submitting to the inevitability of a doomed race or a hubristic gamble, then we can solve it,” he said. “The problem is not unsolvable.” TOP MEDIA OUTLETS FAIL TO DISCLOSE WHO IS BANKROLLING THEIR AI REPORTERS Coxon said he was acting alone when deciding to voice his concerns about the direction of AI, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fox News Digital sat down with Thayer to ask about his theories concerning the coordination behind Coxon’s “sophisticated” resignation, which was in turn met with a slew of national television interviews and immediate notoriety. Almost overnight, Coxon’s post became a major point of policy debate spanning across political parties and politicians, including President Donald Trump and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Thayer did not offer a theory for which individuals or groups might have coordinated with Coxon, who has denied such claims. But Thayer said the “AI doomerism movement” is associated with “effective altruism,” a philosophy he described as “cult-like.” OPINION: REP. TED LIEU: AI IS ALREADY TOO POWERFUL. WE NEED A KILL SWITCH BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES According to the Centre for Effective Altruism, the movement is defined as a “project that aims to find the best ways to help others and put them into practice.” But Thayer noted that while the philanthropic movement may sound high-minded, Silicon Valley elites and members who donate and support “effective altruism” may have much more direct political goals in mind. Thayer did not have evidence that any individuals or groups connected to the effective altruism movement provided public relations or other support for Coxon’s post about his resignation. FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SEE AI REGULATION AS URGENT, RANK SAFEGUARDS AHEAD OF INNOVATION Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna have been leading financial backers of organizations associated with the “effective altruism” movement. The couple founded Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, and remain its “main funders,” according to the organization. Tuna serves as its president. Coefficient Giving says its artificial intelligence work has expanded rapidly, with $168 million committed to AI safety, security and field-building in 2024 and $351 million in 2025 — a combined $519 million. The organization says it is on track to commit more than $1 billion to AI policy advocacy in 2026. In a 2021 grant application description, the organization cited that it seeks “to fund programs and events in a variety of areas of interest to Coefficient Giving — including effective altruism, global catastrophic risks, biosecurity, AI for epistemics, forecasting, and other areas.” Moskovitz, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of roughly $10 billion, contributed more than $50 million to support the Biden-Harris campaign from 2020 to 2024, including $46.89 million to the Future Forward PAC, which served as the main fundraising vessel for the failed presidential campaign. TRUMP UNLOADS ON TECH TITANS PUSHING FOR SLOWDOWN ON EMERGING INDUSTRY: ‘WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!’ On Monday, the Department of War Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering posted to X: “Americanism, not effective altruism. The United States will continue to be AI DOMINANT!” As for the reasoning behind “effective altruism’s” commitment to the artificial intelligence policy space, Thayer said the fearmongering technique is comparable to the climate change narrative that has been traditionally peddled by the Democratic Party. “They basically just say kind of in the same vein as climate change activists like Al Gore used to, they kind of just make bombastic doomsday projections without citing really a whole lot of easily discernible evidence and just expect us to trust their expertise,” Thayer explained. “First, they got you scared of the data centers based on a bunch of sketchy arguments about water pollution supposedly, and supposedly raising your electric prices, which don’t seem to actually be true,” he added. “And now they’re getting you scared of the
Kamala Harris viciously mocked with resurfaced bumbling ‘two words’ explanation of AI after desperate call
Former Vice President and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris is being mocked over a resurfaced clip of her “two letters” explanation of artificial intelligence after she posted a call to slow its development. Harris, who previously served as the Biden administration’s AI czar, posted a lengthy statement on AI on Monday. In her post, Harris called for President Donald Trump to “do his job to protect America’s interests by pursuing a treaty with countries like China to stop dangerous uses of AI, limit the speed of its development, and adopt global standards for testing.” In response, social media users recalled Harris’ attempt at explaining AI as vice president in 2023. “I think the first part of this issue that should be articulated is AI is kind of a fancy thing,” Harris said. “First of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence, but ultimately what it is is it’s about machine learning.” WATCH: KAMALA HARRIS TORCHED OVER ‘ZERO SENSE’ WNBA PEP TALK IN LATEST ‘WORD SALAD’ MOMENT She continued, saying, “And so, the machine is taught — and part of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine — and we can predict then, if we think about what information is going in, what then will be produced in terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process.” “So,” she went on even further, “to reduce it down to its most simple point, this is part of the issue that we have here is thinking about what is going into a decision, and then whether that decision is actually legitimate and reflective of the needs and the life experiences of all the people.” After Harris’ X post on Monday, conservative influencer “Western Lensman” reposted the 2023 video of Harris, writing, “Kamala Harris on AI when it’s not a written statement crafted by a team of consultants.” National security and global economics expert Kyle Bass reacted, “There’s not a chance in hell Kamala wrote this. Have you ever heard her say ‘frontier,’ ‘advancing,’ and ‘intelligence’ in the same sentence? Until now, her misfits had never produced anything this un-Kamala and then posted it on social media.” Columnist S.L. Kanthan wrote, “One of the dumbest women now wants America to voluntarily slow down progress in AI.” He posted another video of Harris explaining cloud storage. Harris said, “No longer are you necessarily keeping those private files in some file cabinet that’s locked in the basement of the house. It’s on your laptop, and it’s then, therefore, up here in this cloud, that exists above us, right?” Author and national security expert Sarah Adams commented on Harris’ AI post, writing, “No one is looking for your thoughts on ‘intelligence.’” Another user, influencer Andrew Aziz, and several others suggested that Harris’ post itself was AI-generated. KAMALA HARRIS DIVES INTO MIDTERM FIGHT ONLY TO GET ROASTED FOR NEVER HAVING ‘AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT IN HER LIFE’ In her post, Harris wrote that AI is “advancing at an alarming speed,” emphasizing what she characterized as industry leaders’ call to “responsibly slow the pace of frontier AI development.” She wrote that “a slowdown is critical in order to ensure AI serves the public interest,” saying, “Pacing AI development does not mean giving up on this technology’s potential to produce life-saving benefits in fields like medicine — some of which we are already seeing. Rather, it is about setting up sensible guardrails so that AI does not completely escape human control and endanger our safety and collective future.” Besides action from Trump, Harris called on Congress to “work at an urgent pace” to provide AI oversight, saying, “The United States must continue to lead the world in developing AI technology even as we seek to impose common-sense safety standards.” Harris is not the only prominent Democrat to have called for increased AI regulation recently. Former President Barack Obama urged Democrats during a private fundraiser in New York City on Thursday to place artificial intelligence near the center of their political agenda ahead of the midterms and the 2028 presidential race while warning that the technology could become dangerous without greater oversight as voters increasingly raise concerns about jobs, privacy and data centers. “This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,” Obama said. “If we do get on top of it, I do think it’s beneficial. I genuinely think it’s going to accelerate, for example, drug development in ways that can help us cure diseases. I do think that this can help us figure out pathways for a clean energy future.” ANTHROPIC CEO CALLS ON AI INDUSTRY TO SLOW DOWN TECH RACE, DRAWING SUPPORT FROM ELON MUSK, SAM ALTMAN Meanwhile, Trump on Monday rejected growing calls for safeguards and restrictions on AI, declaring that the technology needs a “STRONG AND SMART” president rather than additional restraints. “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He suggested that “there is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” adding, “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.” Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
‘Still waiting on the DOGE check’: Battleground state voters cast doubt on Trump’s new $5K promise
Voters squeezed by rising costs are skeptical of President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend — with at least one resident pointing to a previous DOGE dividend proposal that never materialized. “I feel like that’s a pitch to get more votes,” Yolanda Lewis told Fox News Digital. “I’m still waiting on the DOGE check that he promised that we never received, so until he gives us a definite date saying when we’re gonna get that and receive it, then I’ll take that into consideration.” Trump suggested in February 2025 that a portion of savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could be returned to taxpayers, while Elon Musk entertained a proposal that envisioned payments of as much as $5,000. Trump later backed the idea of returning 20% of DOGE savings to Americans. DOGE reported $110.3 billion in savings from contracts, grants and leases, though a Government Accountability Office review later found that some of its estimates were inaccurate or lacked sufficient supporting evidence. Now, with affordability a top-of-mind issue for voters across the country, Trump has unveiled a new “Trump dividend” plan at the Midterm GOP Convention last Wednesday that would give $5,000 to American adults if Republicans maintain control of Congress. Several Detroit voters, interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Detroit Health Department’s annual Block Party on Sept. 12, rejected the proposal, with some calling it a “bribe” and others questioning whether the money would ever be paid out. TRUMP MAKES STUNNING FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CASH PROMISE IN BID TO RALLY GOP VOTERS AT DALLAS MIDTERM CONVENTION “I think it’s kind of irresponsible because what is the long-term impact of this money?” Jahdante Smith, the Green Party candidate for the state House of Representatives 9th district, told Fox News Digital. Smith, who supports Medicare for All, pointed to the nation’s roughly $40 trillion debt in questioning how the proposal would be funded. “So where does that money come from? Where do you divert those funds from? Also, I think that it is sort of a bribe,” Smith said. Michigan, which Trump won by 1.4% in 2024, has become a key battleground in the fight for Senate control as Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Saye and Republican Mike Rogers are both vying for Michigan’s open Senate seat. El-Sayed called Trump’s $5,000 proposal “unserious” during a rally in Lansing, Michigan. “Funny thing about it is like there’s no world in which you can pay for it,” El-Sayed said. “So how about you actually do some governing and like solve the Social Security problem. How about we guarantee people health care so they don’t have to pay so much for that.” Rogers’ campaign did not directly comment on the former congressman’s stance on Trump’s $5,000 dividend plan. Instead, it pointed to El-Sayed’s support for implementing a progressive tax plan. “You know what’s not serious? Challenging Mike to a 1:1 football scrimmage, taking money from Designated Terrorist Organizations and advocating to raise taxes for Michiganders while they’re already paying for Democrats’ mismanagement,” said Alyssa Brouillet, communications director for the Rogers campaign. “Funny enough, those are things Abdul does.” Prices are an acute concern in Detroit, where roughly a third of residents live below the federal poverty line. The city’s median household income is below $40,000, according to U.S. census data. “Well, as a city Detroit retiree, affordability is very important, and I think the prices since Trump’s been back in office have gone up on everything, especially gas, diesel, you know, affordabilities went out the window,” William Davis told Fox News Digital. The current cost of gas in Detroit is $4.11 per gallon. Before the Iran war, gas prices hovered between $2.81 and $2.92 per gallon in January. TRUMP FACES RECKONING AS GOP FIGURES LABEL $5K PROMISE A ‘SOCIALIST VOTE-BUYING SCHEME’ Martesha Adams, a young mother and nurse living in Detroit, told Fox News Digital at the Detroit Health Department Block Party that she also viewed the $5,000 proposal as an attempt to win over struggling Americans. “The whole time I feel that he’s been in the office, it’s been a kind of game,” Adams said. “America has been laughed at from everywhere. And the $5K for bribery, that’s nothing. So I hope that people do not go for that bribe, and they really look into the politics.” For Shelby Campbell, a 2023 graduate of Wayne State University, affordability has already forced significant changes. She said she sold her car because she could no longer afford Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance and has struggled to find an affordable rental in Detroit. Campbell called Trump’s $5,000 proposal “disgusting.” “He shouldn’t be able to offer people money if we have one party in office,” Campbell said. “It’s supposed to be about everybody and what we all want and need, so it’s just bribery in my opinion.” Campbell, who said she plans to vote for El-Sayed in the general election, argued that money already plays too large a role in politics. “I think he’s genuinely a good guy, and he wants to get money out of politics, and I am all for that,” Campbell said. “We seriously need that because big corporations buy our elections just like Donald Trump is trying to do.” Other Detroit residents echoed Lewis’ skepticism about whether Trump would actually deliver the proposed payments. BILLIONS SPENT BY KEY FEDERAL AGENCY HASN’T MADE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP ANY EASIER: REPORT Trump also proposed a separate $2,000 dividend last year funded by tariff revenue, though those payments never materialized. “I don’t think it’s realistic to think he’s going to do that,” Davis said of Trump’s latest proposal. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that the $5,000 payments would require congressional approval, while pledging to work toward Trump’s proposal. “I never go out and give big commitments on the front end because I’ve got to work through it, and that’s what we do every single day,” Johnson said. While Trump’s