The one line from JD Vance’s GOP keynote that reveals his vision for America
Vice President JD Vance used his keynote address at the Republican midterm convention Thursday to frame the November elections as a fight over America’s future, arguing that every child is entitled to inherit the country’s opportunities regardless of background. The speech also gave Vance one of his most prominent national platforms since becoming vice president to define his own political vision, as he emerges as a central figure in the GOP’s post-Trump future and speculation continues about a potential 2028 presidential campaign. “Every American child is born an heir, born with the right to inherit the blessings of the greatest country on Earth — not because of who their parents are, what they look like or where they come from, but because they are Americans and this is our country,” Vance said in Dallas. “And that birthright, ladies and gentlemen, is what this November is all about,” he added. VANCE, CRUZ, HEAD TO IOWA ON 2026 MISSIONS AS 2028 GOP RACE TO SUCCEED TRUMP HEATS UP Vance tied that idea to his own family, speaking about the birth of his fourth child, Alec, six weeks ago. He said he wants his son and all American children to grow up with access to clean water, healthy food, a quality education, safe communities and the opportunity to afford a home and raise a family. He also connected that vision to the legacy of his late friend Charlie Kirk, who was killed one year ago. Vance said Kirk encouraged young men to fall in love, start families and become fathers. The speech marked a shift from the personal story of Vance’s Appalachian upbringing that he emphasized during the 2024 Republican convention. Instead, Vance presented himself as a father focused on the country his children will inherit, while using the platform to preview the issues and themes that could define his future in the Republican Party. TRUMP DANGLES $5,000 CHECKS AS DEBT SURGES — BUT ONLY IF GOP CAN CLEAR MAJOR MIDTERM HURDLE Vance then pivoted from his family-focused message to a sweeping attack on the Democratic Party. He accused Democrats of abandoning working-class Americans and becoming increasingly hostile toward the country’s traditional values. “The Democrats are the party of hatred,” Vance said. “They’re the party that despises America and the people who built it.” FOLLOW FOX NEWS DIGITAL’S COVERAGE OF THE GOP’S 2026 MIDTERM CONVENTION He urged Republicans to view the November election as more than a traditional partisan contest. “This November is so much more than red team versus blue team,” Vance said. “It’s about fighting for our fellow citizens, for their dreams, and for the inheritance of a great nation that all of us are going to leave behind.” The speech placed family, faith and national identity at the center of Vance’s midterm message while offering a glimpse of how he could define himself within the Republican Party beyond President Donald Trump.
Abdul El-Sayed touts ‘whole a–’ medical credentials while defending sex changes for children
Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed said the government should not restrict sex changes, arguing that “whole a–” doctors like himself should be allowed to make their own determinations for patients’ treatment plans. The remarks came during El-Sayed’s Friday rally held at Michigan State University, during which the former Detroit Health Department head responded to a student’s question about protecting sex changes. Since launching his campaign, El-Sayed has flaunted that he is a “physician” and, if elected, he would be the first doctor to serve as a Democratic senator in 50 years. However, Fox News Digital previously reported El-Sayed has never held a medical license in Michigan or New York. “I went to a whole a– medical school, everybody I graduated with also went to whole a– medical school,” El-Sayed said. “And then… they went to whole a– residency. Right? And some of them went to whole a– fellowship. They took whole a– exams to provide whole a– healthcare.” DEM SENATE HOPEFUL’S ‘PHYSICIAN’ CAMPAIGN PITCH UNDER FIRE AFTER LICENSE RECORDS REVEAL KEY GAPS “They are the experts that a patient wants to see when they seek care,” El-Sayed continued. “And the decision about what healthcare is necessary ought to be held between a patient — and or their parents if they’re under the age of 18 — and their doctor. That’s it.” The remarks come as the Trump administration has made major strides in restricting minors’ access to “sex-rejecting” procedures, which include hormone therapy and surgeries. Earlier this week, the Justice Department announced that Mount Sinai had joined other hospitals, like Texas Children’s Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Connecticut Children’s Hospital, to halt sex change procedures for children after reaching an agreement with the Trump administration. MEDICAID ENDS FUNDING FOR CHILD SEX-CHANGE PROCEDURES AS TRUMP ADMIN SLAMS ‘EXPERIMENTAL’ TREATMENTS El-Sayed has made the promise of “Medicare-for-all” — government-run healthcare — as the major selling point of his campaign; he said that even though the government will be covering the bill, it needs to stay out of the doctor’s decisions about a patient’s treatment plan. “I don’t think the government gets to have a say about what healthcare is provided in what circumstances and why,” El-Sayed said. “And to me, that is the standard on which we decide how we make healthcare decisions.” THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN’T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS “Not what the government says you can or can’t do, but what a patient and/or their parent, if they’re under 18, and their provider to decide. That’s the most important thing,” El-Sayed continued. “And there’s a lot of disinformation about us, what we’re talking about, when we talk about reproductive rights and when we’re talking about healthcare for the trans folks. But, in the end, the place where the rubber meets the rope is in that clinical room between a patient and a provider, and that to me is the center we should engage on.” El-Sayed argued that Republicans agree with his belief that treatment decisions should be between a patient and their doctor, pointing to the Right to Try Act, which allows terminally ill patients to try experimental drug treatments that aren’t yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration after they have exhausted all other treatment options. “Because conservatives fought for a very long time for this legislation called ‘Right to Try’ legislation, which is the idea that the government couldn’t tell you [that] you couldn’t have a certain medication,” El-Sayed said. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROBE COULD UPEND WIDELY USED TRANSGENDER YOUTH TREATMENT GUIDELINES “So they agree that the decision about healthcare ought to be between the person and their provider. That’s it. So let’s use that standard, and keep to that standard, and make sure the government doesn’t have the ability to tell you what you can or cannot do with your own life,” El-Sayed said. However, the research on the efficacy of treating individuals with gender dysphoria by allowing them to change sexes with “cross-sex” hormones and puberty blockers is limited. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, whose guidelines are used by leading medical associations like the American Academy of Peditatrics, is currently facing a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission stemming from allegations that its guidelines misled parents about the “medical consensus and medical necessity, as well as the safety and effectiveness” of sex change procedures. The FTC has accused WPATH of failing to disclose the side effects associated with some procedures, such as patients experiencing incontinence, erectile pain, mood disturbances, pelvic pain and vaginal pain stemming from “cross-sex” hormones. Meanwhile, countries that have socialized medicine have put restrictions in place for minors seeking sex changes. In England, the National Health Service put a pause on “cross-sex” hormones for 16- and 17-year-olds in March after finding research was “really weak” to support it. The country already had a ban in place restricting children under 16 years old from taking sex-change hormones. El-Sayed’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment regarding his medical credentials.
White House unloads on violent ‘criminal alien’ nabbed after investigators uncover election offense
A Bahamian national who arrived in the U.S. during President Gerald Ford’s administration and was living with a green card racked up a violent rap sheet before investigators found he voted illegally in the 2020 election, sparking the deportation process, officials say. The case of Anthony Tyrone Higgs is only the latest in a slew of arrests connected to illegal votes cast in recent elections, as the Trump administration engages in a broader crackdown on election integrity-related crimes. “This alien was a guest in our country who forfeited his right to be in the U.S. when he committed these violent crimes and voted in the 2020 election,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis exclusively told Fox News Digital on Friday. ICE ARRESTS PERUVIAN NATIONAL ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2024 ELECTION AS DHS CITES SIMILAR CASES “Any noncitizens who vote illegally in our elections will be arrested and removed. American elections are only for Americans.” Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of DHS, confirmed in a statement that Higgs had illegally voted in the 2020 election. FORMER KANSAS MAYOR WHO PLEADED GUILTY TO ILLEGAL VOTING TURNS HIMSELF IN TO ICE HSI’s Atlanta office arrested Higgs in Decatur, Georgia on Sept. 3, and he is currently in the custody of ERO, the ICE subdivision that handles migrant removal operations. Higgs was admitted into the U.S. in October 1976 as a lawful permanent resident – commonly dubbed a green card holder. The Trump DHS has since placed him in proceedings to revoke his immigration status due to his lengthy rap sheet. TRUMP DOJ UNLEASHES LARGEST DENATURALIZATION EFFORT IN DEPARTMENT HISTORY — AND SAYS IT’S ‘ONLY THE BEGINNING’ “This criminal alien from the Bahamas has a rap sheet for multiple violent crimes, including armed robbery, domestic violence, and assault on a police officer,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. “On top of all of that, he illegally voted in the 2020 election,” he added. MORE THAN A QUARTER-MILLION NONCITIZENS MAY BE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN 4 KEY STATES, DHS ALLEGES Higgs’ record also includes resisting arrest, two counts of grand larceny and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Of the voting-related charge, Mullin said just one noncitizen casting a ballot is enough to cancel out an American citizen’s vote. “Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again,” he continued. DHS also provided several other recent cases of illegal immigrants or ineligible voters committing or being charged with election-related crimes. In August, Colombian illegal immigrant Carlos Jaramillo-Grajales was sentenced to three years in prison following an ICE investigation that led to a guilty plea in a case where he was found to have committed identity theft to illegally vote in elections for more than 20 years, according to the agency. “Federal immigration laws serve to safeguard our nation’s borders and protect the integrity of our government,” said Gregory Kehoe, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida. “Those who seek to circumvent, exploit, or break these laws will be prosecuted fully,” he said in an August statement. In New Jersey, a Slovakian national was found to have illegally voted in the 2022 midterms, according to HSI – which also cited the case of an Australian national accused of illegally casting ballots in both 2022 and 2024 in Louisiana. Mauritanian national Mahady Sacko was busted by an ICE and FBI partnership in Democrat-run Philadelphia, and charged with voter fraud. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Sacko allegedly voted illegally multiple times going back to 2008. He was already under an order of removal, DHS said in a statement, stating that he “exhausted all appeals” and an immigration board upheld his removal order as of 2002 but he remained in the country. Returning to the case of Higgs, Mullin added in a statement: “Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be removed from our country and can never interfere in our elections again.”
What does ‘Never Forget’ mean for a generation with no memory of 9/11?
Twenty-five years after a generation promised to “Never Forget,” that pledge now relies on education for the more than 100 million Americans with no memory of 9/11. The Pentagon is preparing to help address that challenge by breaking ground this weekend on a long-awaited Visitor Education Center at the only one of the three 9/11 attack sites still without a dedicated museum or education center. The new center is intended to fill the gap that has grown more pronounced with each passing year by helping Americans who never experienced the attacks understand not only what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but why it continues to matter. Joseph Kornhoff, executive director of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, told Fox News Digital that nearly one-third of the country was either not alive that day or has no recollection of it and therefore lacks the “personal connection” shared by those who watched the attacks unfold. NEW 9/11 MUSEUM EXHIBIT AIMS TO CONNECT YOUNGER AMERICANS TO THE ATTACKS THROUGH POWERFUL ARTIFACTS “That’s what we’re trying to provide with the visitor education center experience,” Kornhoff said in an interview with Fox News Digital, explaining that the goal is to give visitors a personal connection that allows them to “start to understand the gravity of that day.” Nearly 230 miles north, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York is confronting the same generational divide. Beth Hillman, president and CEO of the museum, said the passage of time has only made the annual vow to “Never Forget” more important as the number of Americans with firsthand memories of the attacks declines. “Many in my generation remember exactly where we were on that horrific day,” Hillman said during an Aug. 31 press preview outlining the museum’s plans for the 25th anniversary. “Yet, 100 million Americans were not even born or are too young to remember that day for themselves today.” BROOKLYN TEACHERS WHO WITNESSED 9/11 AS CHILDREN REVEAL WHAT THEY WANT THE NEXT GENERATION TO REMEMBER Noah Rauch, the museum’s senior vice president for education and public programs, said he has watched that transition unfold firsthand through the museum’s work with students and teachers. “I’ve seen this line creeping up between memory and history, between those who remembered the attacks and those who didn’t,” Rauch said during the Aug. 31 press event. That transition from memory to history also raises a more modern challenge. Americans too young to remember the attacks are increasingly learning about an event they never experienced firsthand, while conspiracy theories and false narratives about 9/11 run rampant online. Kornhoff said that makes factual education increasingly important, pointing specifically to conspiracy theories surrounding the attack on the Pentagon and narratives suggesting that America “deserved 9/11.” “That’s the need for the education center,” Kornhoff told Fox News Digital. “As a nation, we need to really take a step back, look at how we’re educating our young children to make sure that we’re providing them with the facts of the situation… and not these conspiracy theories and entertaining wild ideas that just simply are not true.” REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: 9/11 IS JUST A HISTORY CHAPTER FOR A NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS The Pentagon center will include 10 exhibits telling the human stories of the attack, including the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77, the first responders who rushed to the scene and the military and civilian personnel who aided the wounded. “We are going to address the facts of the day,” Kornhoff said. “We are going to address the entire Pentagon story.” The renewed focus on 9/11 education has also reached Capitol Hill. Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., introduced bipartisan legislation ahead of the 25-year anniversary, which aims to direct the Department of Education to examine how 9/11 is taught in schools nationwide and identify gaps in instruction. Kornhoff praised the effort during his interview with Fox News Digital, saying the legislation reflects a growing recognition of the need to educate generations with no firsthand connection to the attacks. The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Visitor Education Center is expected to open by the end of 2029 near the existing Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The project received $12 million in federal funding this year, along with $1 million from Virginia and additional private donations raised by the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Once completed, the center is expected to include interactive exhibits, historic artifacts and firsthand accounts from survivors and victims’ families while providing visitors with additional context about the attack and its aftermath.
Trump says he would ‘love’ to see Ireland unified as one nation
President Donald Trump said Saturday during a trip to Ireland that he would love to see the country unified. The Republic of Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922, while Northern Ireland, established in 1921, has remained part of the U.K. “I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see it unified. I have friends on both sides, great people. They’re Irish people. How can they be bad, right?” Trump said in Dublin while on stage with Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin. “I’d like to see a unified country. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.” He added that the U.K. “will have something to say about it obviously,” but reiterated that unification would be a “great thing.” TRUMP SAYS IRAN CONFLICT COULD END AFTER MIDTERMS In response to Trump’s comments, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a statement that the U.K. government’s stance on reunification remains unchanged. “I am not aware that there is majority public support for another referendum, and until that changes, there will not be one,” Burnham told reporters in Parliament, according to Reuters. Later Saturday, Trump addressed a crowd at the Deerfield Residence, the official home of the U.S. ambassador to Ireland. U.S. Ambassador Edward S. Walsh introduced the president, who took the stage to the sound of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” Early in his remarks, Trump revisited the question a reporter had asked during his meeting with Martin about the prospect of Irish reunification. “That’s one of those questions where no matter what you say, no matter how well you say it, there’s no good answer, right?” he said, before saying reunification would be a “cool thing.” IRISH AUTHORITIES SEEK EXTRADITION WARRANT FOR SUSPECT IN MURDER OF AMERICAN MOM JAMEY CARNEY: REPORT The debate over whether Ireland should be one country has been one of the island’s most divisive political issues for decades. At times, it was far more than a war of words. From the late 1960s through the late 1990s, Northern Ireland was gripped by decades of sectarian violence known as “the Troubles.” Irish nationalists and republicans — drawn largely from Northern Ireland’s Catholic minority — sought to reunite the island under a single Irish state. Unionists and loyalists, who mostly belonged to the Protestant majority, wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the U.K. Throughout the conflict, more than 3,500 people were killed in violence involving Irish republican and loyalist paramilitary groups, as well as British security forces. The fighting largely ceased with a peace deal in 1998, but in the decades since, tensions remain between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. A 2024 U.K. Parliament report found that 90% of students in Northern Ireland attend schools that “are effectively segregated along religious lines.” The peace deal signed in 1998 — known as the Good Friday Agreement or the Belfast Agreement — set up a new government that had representation for both nationalists and unionists. It also established that Northern Ireland will remain part of the U.K. unless a majority of citizens vote to leave through a referendum. Brexit reignited debate over Ireland’s future, with Northern Ireland voting to remain in the European Union even as the U.K. as a whole voted to leave. Still, no referendum has been proposed or scheduled on whether Northern Ireland should leave the United Kingdom. Reuters contributed to this report.
Pennsylvania lawmaker suggests Trump should rename Lake Erie to ‘Lake Pennsylvania’
Pennsylvania state Rep. David Maloney, a Republican, is asking President Donald Trump to rename Lake Erie to “Lake Pennsylvania” following similar renaming efforts by the president. Maloney is preparing a resolution calling on Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take steps to rename Lake Erie to “Lake Pennsylvania,” arguing that the change is needed to reflect the lake’s modern identity. “This is Pennsylvania’s only Great Lake. Its modern economy and identity are increasingly tied to the boaters, anglers, families and tourists who come to enjoy it,” Maloney said in a statement. “Ohio has plenty of shoreline. New York already has two Great Lakes. Canada has four others.” NEW YORK GOV HOCHUL REJECTS TRUMP’S ‘LAKE AMERICA’ RENAMING WITH BLUNT MESSAGE “Pennsylvania has one. Let’s call it Lake Pennsylvania!” he added. Lake Erie is the smallest of the Great Lakes by volume as well as the shallowest, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The lake has about 12 million people in its watershed, with 10.5 million people in the U.S. and 1.9 million people in Canada. This comes after Trump signed an executive order last month to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” a rebranding that Canada does not recognize and has firmly rejected. “We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement. SOUTH PARK CREATORS MOCK TRUMP’S LAKE ONTARIO RENAME AND COMPANY COMPLIANCE IN MOCK STATEMENT The renaming only applies to the U.S. federal government, meaning Canada, other international bodies and U.S. states are not forced to acknowledge the change. But both Apple Maps and Google Maps changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for U.S. users following Trump’s executive order. The president has also suggested renaming New Mexico to “New America,” prompting several of the state’s Democratic lawmakers to call on Apple and Google to publicly commit to keeping the state’s current name on their respective maps applications. Trump has also floated the idea of renaming the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” but, similar to the Lake Ontario rebranding, the order only applies to the U.S. federal government and does not bind Mexico, other international bodies or private entities. Apple Maps and Google Maps also adopted this change for users in the U.S., implementing the update using a region-based approach tailored to the location of the user’s device.
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
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
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
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.