Hamas, Hezbollah flags fly at anti-Israel protest minutes after Mamdani condemns terror plot against Jews
Several masked demonstrators carried Hamas flags at an anti-Israel protest in Manhattan on Friday, while a Hezbollah flag waved above the crowd, hours after federal authorities charged an alleged Kataib Hezbollah operative of plotting attacks on Jewish community centers and a Manhattan synagogue. The protest drew about 500 demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags to Washington Square Park, where chants of “globalize the intifada” rang out as one speaker declared Israel has no right to exist and said Palestinians would take over Israel “by any means necessary.” Just as the protest was kicking off at around 4:30 p.m., New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the alleged terror plot by Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander in the Kataeb Hezbollah terrorist operation in Iraq. “Let me be clear: antisemitism, violent extremism, and terrorism have no place in our city. This kind of hate is despicable,” Mamdani said. ISRAEL, JEWS TARGETED WORLDWIDE AS WELL-FUNDED LEFTIST, ISLAMIST GROUPS JOIN FOR ‘NAKBA 78’ PROTESTS Two minutes later, a starkly different scene unfolded in Lower Manhattan off W. 4th Street. The activists descended on the busy Washington Square Park with Palestinian flags, pre-printed signs and banners, transforming a corner of the park into a rally staging ground to protest the existence of the state of Israel and demand its dismantling and replacement with a state called Palestine. Among them, a young anti-Israel demonstrator arrived, draped in the flag of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades — Hamas’s military wing — wearing it like a cape. The flag depicted a masked armed fighter beside the Dome of the Rock beneath green script in Arabic, declaring the shahada, or Muslim proclamation of faith. He also carried a flag featuring an image of Abu Obaida, the spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, who became one of the terror group’s most recognizable figures after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Israeli forces killed him in 2025. Others followed wearing the green headbands of Hamas and carrying similar flags. Nearby, a protester carried Hezbollah’s bright yellow flag, featuring the organization’s recognizable green insignia of a stylized assault rifle incorporated into Arabic calligraphy. The demonstration was organized by anti-Israel groups including the Muslim American Society — a powerful nonprofit whose leaders supported Mamdani’s election — and Within Our Lifetime, another local group. Protesters arrived carrying pre-made banners over their shoulders, stacks of professionally printed signs and a North Face bag filled with protest gear. These same groups led protests at a Jewish synagogue and community center in New York City this past week, resulting in viral clashes with Jewish community members. Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., next to an NYPD precinct, Muslim American Society of New York is a 501(c)(3) sister nonprofit of Muslim American Society. It had $782,644 in revenue in 2024, according to its last tax filing. Within Our Lifetime isn’t a nonprofit but accepts donations. FIRST ON FOX: NEW STUDY REVEALS ‘PRO-PALESTINIAN’ GROUPS PROMOTE VIOLENCE AND ANTI-AMERICANISM ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS CLASH WITH NYPD OFFICERS NEAR SYNAGOGUE By about 5:06 p.m., Within Our Lifetime’s polarizing co-founder, Nerdeen Kiswani, emerged from the crowd at the Washington Square Arch and led chants of “Globalize the intifada! From New York to Gaza! Globalize the intifada!” “We do not mince words here,” Kiswani told the crowd. “Yes, that also means necessarily that the state of Israel and Zionism must be abolished. I do not and will never recognize Israel’s so-called right to exist. It has no right to exist.” Minutes later, at about 5:14 p.m., Abdullah Akl, a leader at the Muslim American Society Youth Center in Brooklyn, stood in front of a large black banner that read “GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA” in white and gold letters. “From the river to the sea,” Akl shouted, invoking a slogan widely interpreted as calling for the elimination of Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. “Palestine will be free.” As demonstrators readied to march north through Manhattan, several participants openly waved Hamas flags above the crowd. When asked about the displays, Kiswani told Fox News Digital: “We only bring Palestinian flags.” But the Hamas flags remained visible throughout the march, including directly behind Kiswani and Akl as demonstrators moved uptown in a tightly coordinated procession. Kiswani told Fox News Digital, “We only bring Palestinian flags.” The Manhattan protest was one of about 736 “Nakba Day” events that 425 organizations with about $1 billion in collective revenue held across 39 cities in recent days, according to a Fox News Digital investigation. “Nakba,” the Arabic word for “catastrophe,” refers to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Chants throughout the evening rejected the idea of a two-state solution. “We don’t want your two states,” demonstrators shouted, following Kiswani’s cue, as organizers moved the march route through Manhattan, past Sephora, the makeup store, on E. 14th Street. Protesters beat drums decorated with stickers reading, “By Any Means Necessary,” while marchers carried a banner declaring, “From Gaza to Jenin. Revolution Until Victory.” In the crowd, activists from Islamist and communist groups marched together, including Al-Awda, which advocates for the so-called “right of return” of diaspora Palestinians to Israel, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-declared Marxist group, and the Workers World Party, which describes itself as a “revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party inside the belly of the imperialist beast.” A group of Orthodox Jewish demonstrators also marched beside pro-Palestinian activists carrying signs reading “Judaism condemns the state of Israel” and “Torah demands all Palestine.” Rabbi David Feldman told Fox News Digital he believed “the state of Israel may not exist at all” under Jewish law and said Palestinians should regain “every inch” of land taken from them. About Hamas, he said, “They don’t target against Jewish people, so I don’t think that they are a terrorist group. They’re just fighting for the land, what people stole from them, that’s all. So that’s what I believe, so I don’t say anything in politics, that is all.” But the Hamas supporters went undisturbed as they flew a flag of the terrorist group
How Democratic leadership sank $40 million meant to defend key seats on a gamble that backfired
Democrats, already lagging behind Republicans in midterm campaign fundraising, relied heavily on a House Democratic-aligned dark-money group in an attempt to redraw Virginia’s congressional map in their favor, campaign finance records show. Before voters cast their ballots in Virginia’s April redistricting referendum, the 10 wealthiest Republican-aligned political committees had close to twice as much cash on hand as their Democratic counterparts, according to Federal Election Commission records. Despite this, Democratic-aligned groups poured more than $64 million into their attempt to net four congressional seats by redrawing Virginia’s congressional map, a bet that ultimately failed to pay off after the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the redistricting process due to a procedural constitutional violation. “House Democratic candidates are pulling in massive fundraising hauls, outraising their GOP opponents last quarter, and the DCCC just had its best quarter of fundraising for the cycle,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. DARK MONEY FLOODS VIRGINIA AHEAD OF REDISTRICTING VOTE THAT COULD HAND DEMOCRATS HOUSE EDGE “While Republicans brag about their billionaire backers, Democrats are focused on building support amongst the people – and by every measure, we are poised to take back the majority and make Hakeem Jeffries the next Speaker of the People’s House,” Shelton added. Of the total Democratic spending on the Virginia redistricting election, roughly $40 million in contributions came from House Majority Forward, a Democratic-aligned 501(c)(4) nonprofit affiliated with House Majority PAC, the super PAC backing House Democrats. Some Democratic strategists have argued the political environment remains favorable, but party insiders have warned that the GOP’s cash advantage could blunt those gains. “I don’t think it has broken through, the level of money that Donald Trump and Republicans are sitting on as it compares to Democrats,” Mike Smith, who leads House Majority Forward and the affiliated House Majority PAC, told NOTUS in April. “I don’t think there’s a comprehensive understanding of both the level of disparity and what that could mean in terms of us being able to win the House.” Smith did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday. At the end of March, the 10 biggest Republican political committees had nearly $1 billion in cash on hand, compared to the approximately $550 million held by their 10 richest Democratic counterparts, per FEC data. The wealthiest GOP committees included President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. and the Senate Leadership Fund, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. Democrats, meanwhile, were led by the Soros family’s Democracy PACs and the Senate Majority PAC. “So-called ‘Leader’ Hakeem Jeffries lit well north of $55 million on fire chasing illegal redistricting fantasies, only to fall flat on his face in spectacular fashion,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital. “National Democrats are already drowning in a massive cash deficit against Republicans while the NRCC and our battle-tested candidates continue shattering fundraising records and building momentum for 2026.” The “well north of $55 million” Marinella referred to included the $17 million House Majority PAC spent on the successful redistricting effort in California. Aside from the financial role the Democrat-aligned committee played in Virginia’s redistricting effort, the House minority leader was a leading surrogate for the campaign. He delivered speeches in favor of redistricting, characterizing the effort as a response to GOP map changes and raising the stakes by declaring Virginia the “crown jewel” of a national battle over congressional maps. REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISING OUTPACES DEMOCRATS BY NEARLY DOUBLE, JUNE NUMBERS SHOW “Jeffries is proving he’s no Nancy Pelosi, and Democrats are getting an expensive lesson in the difference between media hype and actual leadership,” Marinella continued. Pelosi was one of her party’s most prolific fundraisers, raising over $1 billion for the party between her appointment as House Minority Whip in 2002 and her resignation from Democratic leadership in 2022, according to CBS News. Sources have told the New York Post that Pelosi retains considerable influence over the operations of House Democrats, which has allegedly irritated Jeffries. “Speaker Emerita Pelosi is exceptionally proud of Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his masterful strategy to fight fire with fire on the path to retaking the House in November,” a spokesman for the former speaker told Fox News Digital. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’, D-N.Y, office did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday. House Majority Forward has historically been one of the primary sources of funds for the House Majority PAC, a major Democratic committee affiliated with Democrat leaders, that itself is one of the top sources of cash for congressional Democrats, according to FEC filings. House Majority Forward and House Majority PAC are sister organizations. “HMF’s support matched the $40 million Republicans invested in the recent redistricting election, and once again their pro-war, costs-raising, toxic agenda was soundly rejected by Virginians,” House Majority Forward communications director CJ Warnke told Fox News Digital. “No amount of GOP money will prevent Leader Hakeem Jeffries from becoming the next Speaker of the House.” LEFT-WING BILLIONAIRES BANKROLL DEM SUPER PAC PLOTTING TO WIN BACK WORKING-CLASS VOTERS: ‘THIS IS A PRIORITY’ House Majority Forward is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that is not required to publicly disclose its donors. Its contributions allow money from undisclosed donors to move into the political process through publicly reported donations to House Majority PAC. While Republicans are financially dominant across major committees, Democrats have built considerable leads at the campaign level in some key congressional races. Democratic candidates have raised more than their GOP opponents in closely watched Senate races in Georgia, Alaska, Ohio, Michigan and Maine, according to campaign finance data analyzed by NPR. Thirteen Republicans running in hotly contested House races have been out raised by Democratic challengers, compared to just four Democrats defending competitive seats who were out raised, Roll Call reported. Republican members of Congress in toss-up seats, however, raised more on average than Democrats defending similarly competitive seats during the first three months of 2026,
Trump blasts Sen Bill Cassidy as ‘disloyal disaster,’ pushes challenger Julia Letlow in Louisiana GOP primary
President Donald Trump bashed Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who is running for reelection, in a Saturday morning Truth Social Post, calling him a “sleazebag” and “a terrible guy.” Trump originally endorsed Cassidy’s leading primary challenger, Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., in January, and renewed his support for her in his Saturday message. “VOTE TODAY FOR JULIA L. She Is a winner who will NEVER let you down,” Trump wrote. Trump’s criticisms of Cassidy centered on the Senator’s vote to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment. “Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a disloyal disaster. His entire past campaign for the Senate was about ‘TRUMP,’ how he’s with me all the way, and then, after winning, he turned around and voted to IMPEACH me for something that has now proven to be total ‘bull—-!’” Trump wrote. “He knew that at the time, but didn’t care.” Cassidy voted yes to convict Trump on a single article of impeachment which accused Trump of inciting insurrection in 2021. “Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty,” Cassidy said at the time. TRUMP PICK JULIA LETLOW FIRES BACK AT CASSIDY BY CLAIMING HER PAST DEI WORK WAS HIJACKED BY LEFT He has been mired in an adversarial relationship with Trump ever since. As chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Cassidy was instrumental in advancing the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary. But he did so only after extracting a number of concessions from Kennedy Jr. and heavily criticized Kennedy’s past stances on vaccine safety. Trump then blasted Cassidy in April, blaming him for the failed nomination of Kennedy Jr. ally Casey Means as Surgeon General. “For months, Senator Bill Cassidy (of the GREAT State of Louisiana!), a very disloyal person whose ‘TRUMP’ Endorsement got him elected, but later voted to impeach ‘President Trump’ on what has now proven to be a total Hoax and Scam, has stood in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Nominee, Casey Means, for the important position of U.S. Surgeon General,” Trump wrote in an April 30 post on Truth Social. TRUMP TURNS SIGHTS ON BILL CASSIDY, THOMAS MASSIE AFTER DECISIVE INDIANA PRIMARY VICTORIES He has ramped up his attacks on Cassidy ahead of Saturday’s GOP primary in Louisiana while continuing to boost Letlow, who he endorsed before she even officially entered the race. “Not only did he encourage me to get into this race, but also to have his complete and total endorsement has been, wow, the honor of a lifetime,” Letlow previously told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Luke Trevisan contributed to this report.
Exiled Muslim scholar warns far-left–Islamist alliance behind anti-Israel protests echoes Iran’s rise
A Muslim scholar who was forced to flee Egypt after criticizing Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks is warning America’s far left that its alliance with Islamist extremism could end the same way Iran’s did in 1979 — with an Islamic regime seizing power after partnering with leftist factions. Dalia Ziada, a Middle East scholar and Washington, D.C.-based coordinator at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, later relocated to the United States and said she is now seeing similar and troubling dynamics take shape here. Her warning comes as a global network of anti-Israel activist groups is mobilizing coordinated “Nakba 78” protests across the United States and around the world this weekend, with organizers using the anniversary of Israel’s founding to stage demonstrations that critics say challenge the Jewish state’s legitimacy, and, in some cases, call for its dismantling “For five or seven years now, we have been seeing some kind of a ‘sinful marriage’ between the radical left and the radical Islamism, the groups that hate Western liberal democracies and desire to destroy them,” she told Fox News Digital. SCATHING REPORT CALLS ON US TO LABEL ISLAMIST GROUP INFILTRATING ALL ASPECTS OF AMERICAN LIFE AS TERRORIST ORG Ziada said Islamist movements, including groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, have for years sought to use the Palestinian cause as a way to mobilize support and build alliances with other activist movements in the West, a phenomenon some analysts have described as a “red–green alliance. She also argued that Islamist movements have increasingly targeted Jewish communities in the West, which she described as a “pillar” supporting liberal democratic systems. “They agree on one thing, that they need to destroy the West as we know it today and replace it with something else. For the radicalists, they want to replace it with the Marxist system. For the Islamists, they want to replace it with an Islamist system, which they think is the ideal system,” she said. Global protest network A Fox News Digital investigation found that approximately 425 organizations — including communist groups, Muslim advocacy organizations and anti-Israel activist coalitions — are operating within a coordinated transnational protest network with a combined funding footprint of roughly $1 billion in annual revenues. The groups have organized an estimated 736 events across 39 countries this weekend. Ziada said the alliance reflects what she described as a shared hostility toward Western liberal democracies and has intensified in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. She argued the war in Gaza has provided what she described as a “moral umbrella” for the movement. “They used that to give themselves some moral legitimacy to go on and accelerate the process of destroying the West,” she said. Lessons from Iran Ziada pointed to the 1979 Iranian Revolution as a cautionary example. “We saw this exactly happening in Iran in the 1970s. The Islamists used the left because the legitimacy of the left is stronger, because they don’t come from a religious background,” she said. “They allied the communists there, made them believe that we all are going to change Iran and make it a better place. And how it ended in 1979, the Islamic Revolution happened. The Islamists took over the country and the first group they sacrificed … was the communists, the leftists in Iran.” Ziada warned that similar dynamics could emerge in the United States if ideological alliances continue to deepen, arguing that movements built around shared opposition can fracture once power shifts. She said that while the groups involved may appear aligned in the short term, their long-term goals are fundamentally incompatible — a pattern she said has played out repeatedly in the Middle East. She said such alliances are often temporary, warning that once power is secured, more extreme factions tend to dominate. ASRA NOMANI: I WATCHED HATE CONSUME DEMOCRATS’ ‘NON-VIOLENT’ #NOKINGS RALLIES She said the protests themselves are expected to follow a familiar pattern of anti-Israel demonstrations that she described as “very well organized worldwide.” “I don’t think this time it would be any different in the general sense of demonizing Israel, trying to blame Israel for everything,” she said. Ziada said protesters are likely to frame Israel using terms such as “apartheid” and “genocide,” language she argued points to a broader, coordinated alignment of groups operating with similar messaging and goals. Ziada said the term “Nakba,” meaning “catastrophe,” has been reframed over time, arguing it was originally used in part to criticize Arab leaders for rejecting a proposed Palestinian state — a context she said is largely absent from modern protests. “I wouldn’t say it’s kind of a bureau… but they all agree on one thing, which is destroying the United States or weakening the Western world,” she said. Ziada said she has already seen the consequences of such alliances firsthand in the Middle East. “I have seen my native Egypt being destroyed by these groups, by these people, and I’ve seen the entire Middle East actually falling under this. And I don’t want to see the United States, the country that has given me my education, has given my career, has given me a refuge when these radicals tried to kill me — I don’t want to see being destroyed by the same bad guys.”
Harris labeled ‘institutional arsonist’ for plan to fundamentally transform SCOTUS and Electoral College
Former Vice President Kamala Harris faced swift Republican backlash after calling on Democrats to consider expanding the Supreme Court and gutting the Electoral College the next time they are in power. “Let’s invite ideas, for example, that are about Supreme Court reform, including the notion of expanding the court,” Harris said on a call with the left-wing nonprofit Emerge. “Let’s invite a discussion about how do we push for statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C.; how are we thinking about the Electoral College.” “We’ve got to neutralize this red state cheating,” she continued. “There’s a brutality at play on the other side, and a ruthlessness. And we need to play to win.” Harris’ plea for “bold” reforms came after Democrats suffered two major setbacks in the redistricting wars, as both parties scramble to draw new congressional seats ahead of November’s midterm elections. HARRIS’ ‘NO BAD IDEA BRAINSTORM’ FOR DEMS INCLUDES PACKING SCOTUS, ELIMINATING ELECTORAL COLLEGE In late April, the Supreme Court moved to curb the use of race in the drawing of electoral districts, effectively gutting Black-majority districts held by Democrats across the South. Democrats were dealt another blow at the Virginia Supreme Court earlier in May when a Democratic-friendly gerrymander was struck down over a procedural concern. “What they have done with this decision, by saying that the politics of redistricting is okay, is they are back-dooring racism through politics,” Harris also said on the call. “What they are doing is intentionally about trying to suppress the voice of the people.” The 2024 presidential candidate’s ideas drew a sharp rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who accused Democrats of being “institutional arsonists.” “It’s a dangerous thing, a dangerous gambit,” the speaker said. “You don’t just blow up the system when you lose.” “For the former vice president of the United States and a candidate for president to suggest that you should pack the Supreme Court or destroy these institutions because they lost is I just think outrageous,” he added. LIZ PEEK: WHAT KAMALA HARRIS BUZZ IS TELLING US. READ BETWEEN THE LINES, AMERICA Conservative Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., also criticized Harris’ comments, calling them “totally insane” in an interview with Fox News. “That’s why we can’t let her become president,” he said. “People … rejected her before; they’ll reject her again.” Not all Democrats are in agreement with Harris. “I think that’s putting the cart before the horse,” Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., told Fox News. “Right now I’m focusing on lowering costs, health care, ending a runaway war that’s costing Americans tens of billions of dollars. Those are the things that my constituents are talking to me about.” Harris’ calls for Democratic retaliation come as Republicans are emerging as the clear winners in the redistricting battle ahead of the midterms. The GOP could pick up more than a dozen seats after a bevy of GOP-led states have drawn new congressional maps while Democratic gains have so far been limited to California and Utah. Earlier in May, Tennessee carved up its lone Black-majority district, represented for decades by a white Democrat, allowing Republicans to pick up a seat that had long eluded them. Louisiana and South Carolina are conducting similar efforts to erase several Democratic-held seats following the Supreme Court’s ruling. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has vowed to respond with his own gerrymander push in a swath of blue and purple states, including New York, New Jersey, Colorado and Oregon. But those states are not likely to move forward with new maps until 2028, making it a moot point ahead of November.
Inside the teen takeovers threatening to explode this summer as cities remain on edge: ‘Very worried’
A wave of social media-fueled teen takeovers in cities from Chicago to Washington, D.C., is putting officials on alert for a potentially volatile summer as experts warn the large youth gatherings could strain police, fuel violence and threaten recent public-safety gains. “It usually increases during the summer,” Zack Smith, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital of crime trends. “I think anyone who has looked at crime data and some kind of criminological studies recognized that that will increase and I think that is something that the city should be very worried about.” The warning comes after a wave of spring incidents across the country, where large teen crowds organized or amplified online have led to arrests, fights, weapons charges and emergency curfew debates. “So many of these incidents are fueled by two things: social media and boredom. That’s it,” Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital. GOP SENATOR TARGETS DC ‘YOUTH OFFENDER’ LAW AS TRUMP DEMANDS TOUGHER SENTENCES FOR VIOLENT TEENS “There is potential for this to escalate, and to really damage some really good progress that we’ve made in cutting back on that post-COVID violent crime spike,” Swearer added. Violent crime surged nationally during the pandemic, with homicides rising sharply in 2020 as cities were also rocked by protests and riots following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Social media has contributed to “under-the-radar” meetups, Swearer said, explaining that many teens are working to boost their “clout” online with outrageous videos. “There are massive accounts that are just dedicated to showing the chaos and the carnage and the street takeover events, where it’s almost like a social media clout thing,” she said. A Chicago teen takeover erupted Wednesday night when a car rammed a police cruiser as teen mobs cheered and filmed. In a similar incident last week, 22 people were arrested, ages 12 to 21, in Tampa, Florida, after a “teen takeover” at Curtis Hixon Park erupted into fights and disruptions, resulting in charges of affray, drug possession, resisting arrest and unlawful weapon possession. In March, about 200 teens swarmed D.C.’s Navy Yard, where fights broke out and a 15-year-old was arrested after allegedly firing a gun, days after a temporary curfew was imposed. Nearly a dozen more juveniles were arrested a month later after street brawls in Southwest D.C., prompting a push to extend emergency powers. A large crowd returned to Navy Yard a week later, where police reported no major incidents or arrests. The D.C. Council approved a long-term youth curfew earlier in May in an 8-5 vote after weeks of debate. The legislation still needs the mayor’s signature and congressional review before taking effect. PROGRESSIVE PROSECUTORS LIT THE FUSE, AND TEEN MOBS ARE THE EXPLOSION Chicago was also hit with more chaos in March and April. Hundreds of teens flooded streets, filled intersections and broke out into fights, resulting in multiple arrests and curfew violations. Mayor Brandon Johnson warned parents about the “teen trends” following the incidents, saying they “are dangerous and can often turn violent.” Johnson avoided using the term “takeover.” Struggles among teens, like poverty and mental health, could be fueling the “chaos,” Swearer said. “There’s a huge overlap between juvenile delinquency and poverty and mental health issues, and even delinquencies from school, truancy,” she said. Despite those broader challenges, she said the takeovers are not justified. “None of that is an excuse for allowing this type of large-scale chaotic disruption in this planned way,” she said. Authorities have made multiple arrests nationwide this year tied to the meetups, with several in the nation’s capital. President Trump, who campaigned on lowering crime and has warned criminals will face prosecution, has carried that message into efforts such as the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The incidents have also created a political and public-safety test in Trump’s backyard, where the president has made D.C. crime a signature issue and deployed federal muscle to back it up. Trump’s Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force has made more than 10,000 arrests and recovered more than 1,000 illegal firearms since its launch, but the continued teen takeovers show how juvenile disorder remains a stubborn challenge even amid the broader crackdown. WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES FEDERAL SECURITY BLITZ AS PRESIDENT VOWS TO END DC ‘CRIME PLAGUE’ However, the concern over an escalation in teen takeovers persists. The White House told Fox News Digital that the administration is ready to tackle potential rising crime “head on” when asked about concerns the teen takeover trends could spike in the warm summer months. “President Trump’s Safe and Beautiful Task Force has yielded tremendous results in a very short period of time – driving down crime rates in all categories and making the city safer for residents and visitors alike,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. “As new law enforcement challenges arise, the Task Force remains committed to addressing them head on.” CHICAGO TEEN TAKEOVER MOB RAMS POLICE CRUISER BACKWARD, SWARMS CAR AS ONLOOKERS CHEER: VIDEO The D.C. incidents have revived a broader fight over juvenile accountability in the capital. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Friday that parents who let kids take part in violent D.C. teen takeovers could now face fines and up to six months in jail under the city’s curfew law. “As we grapple with this problem, there is one area that hasn’t been discussed,” Pirro said. “Parent involvement has been a noted gap in any discussion, and I am here to say, as the United States attorney in the District of Columbia, that ends today.” “If the evidence shows the parent knew or should have known, permitted or failed to prevent participation, we’re gonna charge them,” she added. She criticized the city’s response to teen takeovers in April, saying the disorder falls largely outside her office’s jurisdiction because most juvenile cases in D.C. are handled by the local attorney general. “These alleged social gatherings turn into
Senators agree to forgo shutdown paychecks — but many won’t feel the pain
Senators will now go without pay during future government shutdowns, but for many, they don’t need the paycheck. The Senate unanimously agreed to forgo their paychecks during future shutdowns, with the money being withheld until a deal is struck to reopen the government. But much of the upper chamber is populated with lawmakers who are already wealthy before their time in office. “There are some members who are very independently wealthy that their congressional paycheck is a rounding error to their investments,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. “Fine, I’m not pejorative of that at all. But we need to actually end government shutdowns.” SENATORS AGREE TO GO WITHOUT PAY DURING SHUTDOWNS AFTER HISTORIC CLOSURES LEFT WORKERS UNPAID In the last year, Congress has been unable to keep the government open twice. The first time for 43 days, and the most recent for 76 days. Republicans worry that before the midterm elections, and before the rule change becomes official, that Senate Democrats may again try to shutter the government to gain a political edge. They hope that the rule change, pushed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is at least enough to convince some lawmakers not to do it. However, nearly three-quarters of the Senate are millionaires, according to an analysis of financial disclosure data reviewed by Fox News Digital and first reported by NOTUS, meaning the fear of missing a paycheck may not be enough to quell the desire to score political points. SENATE WEIGHS NEW, PAINFUL LEVERAGE TACTIC AS FEARS OF ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GROW “It certainly doesn’t stop future shutdowns,” Lankford said. “It just says, ‘Hey, people are not being paid, we’re not being paid either.’” Others were more optimistic that by installing the new guardrails on themselves, it could open the door to future legislation that may take shutdowns off the table entirely — like Lankford’s bill that would automatically extend government funding on a temporary, two-week basis if lawmakers miss the mark. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who is one of the wealthier members of the Senate, believed that the success of Kennedy’s resolution could open the valve to his legislation that would dock members’ pay during shutdowns. “It’s about brick by brick, rebuilding confidence in the institution,” Moreno told Fox News Digital. GOP CAN’T AGREE ON KEY PART OF TRUMP’S HOUSING AFFORDABILITY PUSH AS INFIGHTING CONTINUES Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., another of the Senate’s wealthiest members, contended that lawmakers shouldn’t hold federal workers “hostage based on what we’re doing.” Over the past several months, hundreds of thousands of federal employees went without pay. And in the case of workers under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they went without paychecks twice. “Hopefully it’ll get people to focus on getting [appropriations] done, because, you know, we don’t have a process to get this stuff done,” Scott told Fox News Digital. Meanwhile, Kennedy, who successfully pushed Senate Republican leadership to put the bill on the floor, viewed its success as progress. But it’s not as far as he wanted to go. “Look, if I were king for a day, I would pass a bill that doesn’t suspend member pay, it forfeits member pay during a shutdown,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital. “And I will also include in the bill a prohibition against members leaving Washington while we’re in a shutdown. But I don’t have the votes to do that. So I’m doing as much as I can.”
Hunter Biden resurfaces in LA, reacts to questions about Biden tapes, UFO files
EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden was spotted by paparazzi in West Los Angeles this week, where the former first son briefly reacted to questions about ongoing litigation surrounding former President Joe Biden’s interview tapes and alleged government UFO files. “Hunter, what do you think of the DOJ when they release your father’s interview tapes from the biography that he did?” a reporter asked as he approached Biden near Wilshire Boulevard. “What are you talking about?” Hunter Biden said. BIDEN SEEKS TO BLOCK DOJ RELEASE OF 2017 AUDIO, COURT FILING SAYS The exchange comes amid ongoing litigation seeking the release of audio tied to former President Joe Biden’s classified-documents probe, which fueled scrutiny over the elder Biden’s memory and fitness while in office. The probe examined Joe Biden’s handling and discussion of classified material during conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer. Special Counsel Rob Hur said the author had deleted the files, but the Justice Department was able to recover them. BIDEN INTERVIEW AUDIO REVEALS WHO BROUGHT UP BEAU’S DEATH — AND IT WASN’T HUR The conservative watchdog Oversight Project sued the DOJ seeking release of audio recordings from Joe Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur. Biden has denied wrongdoing and said he cooperated fully with the probe. “I don’t know, man — I hadn’t heard that one,” Hunter Biden later said. ASHLEY BIDEN SLAMS REPORTING ABOUT HER DAD’S MENTAL ACUITY AS ‘DISRESPECTFUL AND UNTRUE’ The reporter also asked about the recently released UFO Files. “It’s crazy right?” Hunter Biden replied, but did not elaborate. Hunter Biden was also one of several recent individuals whose Secret Service protection was rescinded by the Trump administration. TRUMP REVOKES SECURITY CLEARANCES OF FORMER OPPONENTS KAMALA HARRIS, HILLARY CLINTON Trump announced in March 2025 that Hunter Biden and his half-sister Ashley Blazer Biden — child of Jill and Joe — would cease to have such protection. The president criticized the fact that Hunter had “as many as 18 people” on his USSS detail. Hunter Biden’s appearance marked a rare public sighting for the former first son, who has largely stayed out of public view in recent months.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Bishop Barron to address ‘true threat to democracy’ at Trump prayer event
EXCLUSIVE: At President Donald Trump’s “Rededicate 250” prayer event on the National Mall this weekend, Bishop Robert Barron will address the “marginalization of God” and religion in society, which he said he considers a “true threat to democracy.” Rededicate 250 is a major prayer event set for Sunday as a way of “rededicating” the nation as “One Nation Under God” ahead of America’s 250th anniversary. The event, which is being organized by the Trump-aligned “Freedom 250” nonprofit, is expected to include the president, White House Cabinet members and major faith leaders. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Barron, perhaps America’s most well-known and beloved Catholic bishop, revealed that his address at the event will emphasize his belief that “if you marginalize and privatize religion, democracy is in danger.” “God is essential to the very foundations of American democracy,” he asserted. “There’s a lot of talk today about the threats to democracy, that is a true threat to democracy, the marginalization of God.” TRUMP LAUNCHES MASSIVE ‘FREEDOM 250’ PUSH TO IGNITE AMERICA’S 250TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Barron explained that many of the societal ills seen today are due to this cultural separation from God. “Take God out of the equation, what are you left with? Radical self-choice. Welcome to wokeism. Welcome to the culture of self-invention. ‘I make myself up, values is up to me, my gender, it’s up to the whole structure of my life, it’s my choice,’” he said. “That’s deadly to our democracy.” “Religion belongs to the very fabric of our democracy, that’s the theme of my talk,” he said. Barron said he will begin his speech by invoking Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. “We know from the early written versions [that] Lincoln didn’t have the phrase ‘under God’ when he said that this nation might have a new birth of freedom. But when he delivered the speech, he said this nation ‘Under God might have a new birth of freedom.’ So, what prompted Lincoln, as he was giving the Gettysburg Address, to add that phrase?” he said. “You could say, ‘Oh, it’s just a little pious declaration.’ No, no, no, I think that’s born of a very, very deep and correct intuition, America is a nation that’s conditioned by these great values, moral values, spiritual values that come finally from God.” Barron argued that one of America’s most foundational ideas — that all men are created equal — is a novel concept made possible only by Christianity. “We’re not equal in any way. Look at the classical political philosophers; they would never affirm the equality of all people. We’re not equal in intelligence or moral virtue or beauty or courage or anything. We’re radically unequal. So where does this come from?” he asked. “Why would you go from we’re not equal at all to it’s ‘self-evident that we’re equal’? And the answer is in that little word, ‘created,’ that ‘all men are created equal.’ So, despite all our differences, we are all equally children of God and then endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.” BIBLE PODCAST CRACKS APPLE TOP 10 FOR THIRD YEAR AS HOST CELEBRATES: ‘PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY FOR GOD’S WORD’ This second concept of all possessing inalienable rights, Barron argued, is a uniquely Christian idea imbued in America’s values. “No one in the classical world believed that. Aristotle didn’t, Plato didn’t. Cicero didn’t, none of them,” he explained. “Look in societies more recent that don’t believe in God. Go to Soviet Russia, go to communist China, everyone has rights? No way.” “Where do they come from?” he said. “Well, Jefferson gives away the game. They’re endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Take the creator out of the equation, rights will go out in a minute. So, Lincoln’s intuition to say that this nation under God would have a new birth of freedom, God is essential to the very foundations of American democracy. If you marginalize and privatize religion, democracy is in danger.” Barron said he will also address the nature of freedom itself. “It’s a very modern sense of freedom that it means spontaneous choice, I’m free if I could just do whatever I want,’” he said. “But see, the founding fathers were trained both biblically and classically; they did not understand freedom that way.” TRUMP CHAMPIONS JESUS’ ‘MIRACULOUS RESURRECTION’ IN PALM SUNDAY MESSAGE VOWING TO ‘DEFEND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH’ “Freedom is more like this, it’s an ordering of desire toward the good, so as to make the achievement of the good first possible and then effortless.” He pointed to mastering a new language or the piano as examples. “Think of the way you become a free speaker of a language, not by talking any old way you want, but rather internalizing the laws of the language. How do you become a free player with the piano? Not by doing whatever you want, but by internalizing the structure of music.” “That’s the kind of freedom we’re talking about,” he said. “It’s the moral freedom to become the person you’re meant to be, that you can now effortlessly achieve the good, that this nation under God might have a new birth of freedom.”
After Indiana purge, Trump sets sights on Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy
BATON ROUGE, La. — After taking out five Indiana state senators who opposed his push for congressional redistricting, President Donald Trump‘s next target is Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy, who voted five and a half years ago to convict Trump in his impeachment trial, is fighting for his political life in a competitive race against two major challengers, including one backed by the president, in Saturday’s GOP Senate primary in the solidly red southern state. The president on Saturday morning took aim at Cassidy, arguing the senator is “a disloyal disaster” and “a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA.” Trump and his allies, including Republican Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, are backing GOP Rep. Julia Letlow in the Senate primary. Also in the race is former Rep. John Fleming, who is the state treasurer. If no candidate cracks 50% of the primary vote, the top two finishers will face off for the nomination in a June 27 runoff election. The primary is the latest test of Trump’s endorsements in GOP nomination races and of the president’s immense grip over the Republican Party. DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB After cruising to re-election six years ago, Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate. But since the start of Trump’s second term, Cassidy has been supportive of the president’s agenda and his nominees, including voting to approve Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement are out for revenge. That’s because Cassidy, a doctor, has been a skeptic of Kennedy’s push to reform the nation’s health policies, including Kennedy’s efforts to cut back on vaccine recommendations. And Kennedy allies blamed Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for helping sink the surgeon general nomination of Casey Means, a close Kennedy ally and top MAHA advocate, after Cassidy did not bring it to a committee vote. Meanwhile, Trump has blasted the senator as a “very disloyal person.” And on the eve of the primary, the president took to social media to praise Letlow as a “Highly Respected America First Congresswoman.” Making Cassidy’s climb to renomination even tougher, Louisiana will now run separate party primaries in the Senate race, which replaces a system where all candidates appeared in one single jungle primary. That guarantees a more conservative and pro-Trump electorate for the GOP nomination. Cassidy is highlighting his record over two terms in the Senate in delivering for Louisiana, which is one of the nation’s poorest states. And he’s showcased his support for Louisiana’s large oil and gas industry, which accounts for roughly 15% of the state’s workforce. “When people ask things such as, can you work with President Trump, I point out that he has signed into law four bills that I wrote or negotiated,” the senator said in a primary eve interview with Fox News Digital. “We continue to work together, by the way.” And Cassidy touted that he’s “a conservative senator who delivers.” In trying to avert becoming the first elected Republican senator in nearly a decade and a half to be ousted in a primary, Cassidy and an allied super PAC have dished out more than $20 million on ads, according to AdImpact, a national ad tracking firm. That total is more than Letlow and Fleming, combined, have spent. Some of those ads have knocked Letlow over her past support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs during her tenure at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Cassidy argued that Republican voters are “concerned about her shifting position on DEI. She was all in for DEI.” LETLOW EXPLAINS HER PAST SUPPORT FOR DIVERSITY PROGRAMS Defending her record, Letlow explained in a Fox News Digital interview on Friday that “back in 2020 whenever DEI was introduced to us, we had no idea what it was back then, and I quickly witnessed it. I was in higher education at the time. I quickly witnessed the left completely hijack it, turn it into this Marxist leftist indoctrination of our children. And so, when I got to Congress for the last five years, I’ve been fighting against it. And she charged that the criticism of her from Cassidy and Fleming over DEI is “all baseless attacks, desperate attacks.” Letlow won her congressional seat in 2021, after her husband, Luke Letlow, died six days after being sworn into the U.S. House after his 2020 election victory for the seat she now holds. She was backed by Trump even before she entered the race. “Not only did he encourage me to get into this race, but also to have his complete and total endorsement has been, wow, the honor of a lifetime,” Letlow said. Letlow has taken aim at Cassidy for his bipartisan efforts in the Senate, including his vote for the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law that was a signature domestic achievement for then-President Joe Biden. Asked about her criticism, Cassidy said the “people want someone who can deliver for Louisiana. The Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act has brought $13.5 billion to Louisiana for roads and bridges and high-speed internet, and along the way creating a lot of good paying jobs. My opponent opposed that bill.” Fleming, who served as a White House deputy chief of staff during Trump’s first term, has argued that he’s the most conservative candidate in the GOP Senate primary. ‘They see me clearly MAGA,” Fleming told Fox News Digital, as he referred to Louisiana Republicans. “I served in his entire first administration at various capacities. I was one of the first congressmen that endorsed him in 2016.” Fleming claimed that Letlow is “not the prototype for a Trump