Civil rights officials probe four US medical schools over antisemitism at 2024 commencement ceremonies
The Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced investigations into four medical schools over alleged antisemitic incidents during their 2024 commencement ceremonies. While HHS did not identify the schools subjected to these investigations, the Wall Street Journal reported that Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Johns Hopkins medical schools were the targets. The investigations will come after a school year riddled with what critics have described as antisemitic incidents after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. “After October 7, we saw Jew-hatred explode not just on college campuses and city streets, but in the medical profession. This has caused a lot of concern that anti-Jewish bias in medicine endangers the lives of Jewish patients – and these concerns have not been conclusively addressed to date,” said Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at The Lawfare Project, which provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil rights of the Jewish community. “The investigations announced by HHS are a crucial first step towards addressing these concerns.” ISRAELI HARVARD STUDENT SPEAKS OUT ON ANTISEMITISM BEHIND LATEST SETTLEMENT Harvard’s 2024 commencement ceremony was ridiculed over the school’s decision to tap media CEO Maria Ressa as the school’s commencement speaker following a year of incidents that included an assault against an Israeli student by pro-Palestinian protesters, scores of alleged antisemitic displays and chants, including some that praised Hamas, and numerous civil rights allegations from Jewish students. In addition, Harvard was accused by its own students of turning a blind eye to antisemitism. Ressa, not long after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, penned an op-ed comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, and during her commencement address complained that she had been attacked over her pro-Palestinain advocacy “by power and money because they want power and money,” which people construed as promoting antisemitic stereotypes. Ressa was also accused of praising pro-Hamas demonstrations happening on campus during her address. JEWISH COMMUNITY RESPONDS TO TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER VOWING TO DEPORT PRO-HAMAS ACTIVISTS WITH STUDENT VISAS The commencement ceremony was allegedly so bad that a campus Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi felt compelled to confront Ressa during the event and subsequently walked offstage. According to media reports, Zarchi later described the ceremony as a “really vile program.” Harvard Medical School spokesperson Ekaterina Pesheva said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the school “condemns antisemitism and remains committed to combating all forms of discrimination and harassment.” Pesheva added that Harvard would “continue to advance our efforts to ensure that all community members feel they belong” and said the school is currently reviewing HHS’s civil rights request and will cooperate to address the agency’s questions regarding the 2024 commencement ceremony. Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Brown similarly faced a slew of complaints over alleged antisemitism on their campuses and the universities’ failure to address them. The environment at these schools was so hostile, reportedly, that some Jewish students who were admitted to these Ivy League schools decided to go somewhere else. A rabbi at Columbia went so far as to tell Jewish students to leave campus for their safety. President Donald Trump has moved quickly to challenge antisemitism in the U.S., with news of the investigations coming the same day the Trump administration’s Department of Justice announced the formation of a multi-agency task force to combat antisemitism. News of the probe also came after Trump signed an executive order several days after taking office seeking to combat antisemitism, particularly on college campuses. “HHS has been so quick to implement President Trump’s Executive Order is tacit recognition of the failure on the part of these universities to address antisemitism, despite several lawsuits and congressional investigations,” Filitti said. “The Biden Administration, for all its rhetoric, failed to do nearly as much as President Trump has in only one week to address Jew-hatred, and we now have a President clearly willing to use the power of the executive branch to take concrete action to stamp out antisemitism and protect the civil rights of Jewish Americans – and all Americans.” PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT LAUNCHING ‘NO REASON TO HATE’ SUPER BOWL AD, COMBATING ANTISEMITISM In addition to facing potential consequences over the school’s failure to address antisemitism on their campuses, Trump has also threatened to withhold millions of federal dollars in research grants if they do not comply with new orders quashing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “Antisemitism has no place in American society, least of all in medical schools,” said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of the nonprofit Do No Harm, which seeks to root out identity politics in medical education. “Medical schools, especially those who push a DEI agenda have become hotbeds of antisemitism, the department of Health and Human Services is right to raise concerns about blatantly antisemitic protests.” On Monday, the Department of Education also launched a slew of additional civil rights investigations into Columbia, Northwestern, the University of California – Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and Portland State universities. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Johns Hopkins for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
First 10 ‘high threat’ illegals to arrive to Guantanamo Bay are all Tren de Aragua members
The Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed the arrival of the first 10 “high threat” illegal migrant criminals to the U.S.’s most secure prison – the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp – in Cuba, all of whom are members of the violent Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua (TdA). TdA is an international criminal group that has been terrorizing U.S. communities from New York City to Colorado. As one of his first actions, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 instructing the State Department and other government agencies to move to designate TdA as a “foreign terrorist organization.” On Thursday, ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies conducted a series of raids in Aurora, Colorado, resulting in the arrest of over 100 TdA members. MEXICAN TROOPS BEGIN ARRIVING AT US-MEXICO BORDER FOLLOWING DEAL MADE TO PAUSE TRUMP-APPROVED TARIFFS The 10 high-threat migrants arrived at Guantánamo Bay on Thursday, the DOD confirmed in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also confirmed the migrants’ arrival and stated that all 10 are members of Tren de Aragua. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE The DOD stated that these migrant criminals are being housed in vacant detention facilities. The DOD said that is only a temporary arrangement being made to “ensure the safe and secure detention of these individuals until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.” DHS clarified that the Guantánamo Bay prison will be used to house only “the worst of the worst” criminals. TRUMP HAS BECOME ‘GAME-CHANGER’ IN CONFRONTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRISIS: TOM HOMAN Commenting on the arrests of the over 100 TdA members on Wednesday, Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society and an expert on TdA, told Fox News Digital that Trump’s latest moves are “tremendously significant” that shows that there is a “new attitude” against TdA in the U.S. “That’s what’s needed to be able to dismantle them and eventually deport them from the United States,” he said. “This is a foreign terrorist organization that has been spreading throughout the United States for the last couple of years and doing it so very rapidly, so I think the impetus is on the United States to use all the elements of our national security to be able to dismantle them from within.”
Trump DOJ slaps Illinois, Chicago with lawsuit over sanctuary laws
The Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago for allegedly interfering with federal immigration enforcement – the latest escalation in the battle between the Trump administration and Democrat-led cities and states on the administration’s mass deportation operation. The lawsuit filed in Illinois, against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others, claimed that several state and local laws are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.” The lawsuit comes a day after Attorney General Pam Bondi signed a directive to limit funding to sanctuary cities. Sanctuary jurisdictions typically limit or forbid state and local law enforcement cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers – requests that illegal immigrants in custody be transferred to ICE. This is a breaking news alert; check back for updates.
Dems delay Patel committee vote, deride Trump FBI pick as danger to US security
Democrats succeeded Thursday in delaying a committee vote to advance the confirmation of FBI director nominee Kash Patel until next week at least. The vote, which was supposed to happen at 10:15 on Thursday, was pushed back after Senate Democrats demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official. In a statement Tuesday night, Grassley said attempts by top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin, Ill., and others to force Patel to testify again were “basesless” as he’d already sat before the committee for more than five hours and disclosed “thousands of pages” of records to the panel, as well as nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
House Republicans push to reroute frozen USAID funding into deporting illegal immigrants
EXCLUSIVE: A group of House Republicans is pushing for Congress to reroute foreign aid funding frozen by President Donald Trump into enhanced deportation efforts of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is unveiling his Restoring American Sovereignty Act on Thursday, backed by fellow House Freedom Caucus members Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Tom Tiffany, R-Wis. “Americans were put last at nearly every turn during the Biden administration. This was evidenced by the criminal crossing crisis at our southern border and the wasteful distribution of taxpayer dollars by agencies like USAID,” Ogles said. SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN He said his bill would “utilize the USAID funding paused by President Trump to deport illegal aliens from the United States.” Tiffany said the bill “ensures our tax dollars fund Americans’ security” and called the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) an “international money laundering scheme.” “America has spent billions of taxpayer dollars funding Democrats’ pet projects in countries that despise us and everything we stand for,” Biggs said. Trump paused most foreign aid for a period of 90 days to give his new administration time to evaluate what money going overseas aligns with his agenda. He and Secretary of State Marco Rubio included carve-outs for emergency needs. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiated a crackdown on USAID earlier this week. As of Friday, Feb. 7, nearly all of USAID’s overseas employees will be put on administrative leave. Republicans have argued that USAID has long been mismanaged and that it was sending U.S. taxpayer dollars to LGBTQ initiatives and other social causes overseas. They have also accused the agency of stonewalling GOP oversight efforts. Democrats have heavily criticized the rollback, attacking Musk as an un-elected bureaucrat whose businesses also rely on government contracts. They’ve also argued that freezing USAID funding imperils critical initiatives like cancer and HIV research in Africa. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS Ogles’ bill is a brief two pages, stating that “funds paused pursuant to” Trump’s executive order on foreign aid “may be made available and used by the President to deport illegal aliens from the United States,” according to legislative text viewed by Fox News Digital. The Tennessee Republican is one of Trump’s most vocal allies in the House of Representatives. Last month, he introduced a bill to authorize Trump to buy Greenland and a constitutional amendment paving the way for him to have a third White House term.
Prince Harry sees court setback on immigration records case in first hearing since Trump took office
A federal judge indicated that he is “likely” to release immigration files on Prince Harry after the first hearing in the royal’s high-profile case since President Donald Trump took office. U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols said Harry’s files should be released “to the maximum extent possible,” during Wednesday’s hearing in Washington, D.C., according to a report from the New York Post, with the judge reasoning that he is “required to make public everything that can be made public” but would take care not to violate any privacy laws. “I’m going to take this in stages,” Nichols said, noting that the government will have the ability to propose potential redactions. The Wednesday hearing marked the first in the case since the inauguration of Trump, who has been pressed in recent weeks to step in and unseal Harry’s immigration records. PRINCE HARRY, MEGHAN MARKLE SLAMMED BY JUSTINE BATEMAN FOR BEING ‘DISASTER TOURISTS’ AMID CALIFORNIA FIRES “I’ll be urging the president to release Prince Harry’s immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that,” Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank behind the lawsuit to unseal Harry’s records, told the New York Post. “It’s important because this is an issue of the rule of law, transparency and accountability. No one should be above the law,” Gardiner added. “Donald Trump is ushering in a new era of strict border control enforcement, and you know, Prince Harry should be held fully to account as he has admitted to extensive illegal drug use.” PRINCE HARRY, MEGHAN MARKLE, VISIT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO SUPPORT WILDFIRE VICTIMS, RECOVERY EFFORTS At issue in the case is whether Harry lied on immigration forms or was provided with special treatment when he initially moved to the U.S. in 2020, a question that arose after the royal admitted to using illegal drugs in his memoir “Spare,” which was released in 2023. The admission by Harry sparked a lawsuit by the Heritage Foundation, which sued the Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to have the royal’s immigration records released. For his part, Trump indicated on the campaign trail that he is open to deporting Harry and has in the past been critical of the royal’s move to the United States. “He has been so disrespectful to the country, and I think he’s an embarrassment,” Trump said in a 2022 interview with Piers Morgan.
Top Arizona lawmaker spotlights ‘adorable moment’ as Trump signed women’s sports executive order
EXCLUSIVE: Arizona’s Senate president, Republican Sen. Warren Petersen, spoke to Fox News Digital after attending President Donald Trump‘s signing of the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order, which Petersen called an “incredible” moment for female athletes nationwide. “I think the impact is huge,” Petersen told Fox News Digital shortly after witnessing Trump sign the highly anticipated executive order to keep biological males out of women’s sports, fulfilling one of his most prominent campaign promises. “We now have a multi-pronged approach to making sure that only girls play in girls sports and boys cannot play in girls sports,” Petersen said. “We’ve passed laws to do this. We’ve been litigating in the courts, and now we have the executive branch issuing an executive order saying that the way they’re interpreting Title IX is just boys and girls. Boys are boys and girls are girls. And if you violate this title, if you allow boys to play in girls sports, then you’re going to lose federal funding, and you’re going to be investigated. I think it’s great news.” Citing recent polling, Petersen pointed out that 70% of Americans “want to see girls’ sports protected.” RILEY GAINES: THE ALL-OUT WAR ON FEMALE ATHLETES ENDS NOW, THANKS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP “I think this is a perfect example of why you’re seeing Democrats with the 31% approval rating,” Petersen said. “I think this is a perfect example of what you saw in Arizona, that we increased our majorities, and we won virtually all of our competitive races. So I’m excited. I mean, President Trump is making girl sports great again and that’s good for America. That’s good for American girls. And girls can now pursue their dreams. It has been absolutely ridiculous that you’ve had girls work their whole lives, set goals, work hard only for some boy to come along and snatch their dreams away from them. In sports, it’s really been unthinkable that we have allowed this to happen to some of our girls and some of the women.” Petersen, who posted a photo at the event with former NCAA swimmer and girls sports activist Riley Gaines, spoke to Fox News Digital about the “disconnect” between the average American voter and Democrat politicians on the issue of girls’ sports. RILEY GAINES TEARS INTO WNBA STAR, WHO GAVE CAITLIN CLARK BLACK EYE, FOR WEARING ANTI-TRUMP SHIRT “They’re totally out of touch with their voters,” Petersen said. “They have this really loud, small faction that’s well-funded and well-organized, but it is by far out of touch with what the vast majority of Americans believe. And quite frankly, it’s out of touch with logic and science. The biggest gaslight that we have had to deal with over the last several years are the Democrats trying to convince the rest of America that boys are girls. I mean, that is total lunacy, totally insane. It flies in the face of just common logic and the voters sent a message loud and clear that they’re not going to have it.” As Trump was signing the executive order, dozens of young female athletes who were in the audience walked up to the table and surrounded Trump after he invited them over in a moment that Petersen called “incredible.” “I think it was just a feeling of relief, I can’t believe this battle is over,” Petersen told Fox News Digital. “The boys playing in girls sports, you know, stolen titles from our girls and women. That time is over. And I thought it was really an adorable moment. We’re you’re just extremely grateful for this president.” “I think this common sense move that he’s making is just, you know, the reason why his his polling is very high right now. And, you know, people are just so sick of politicians making promises saying they’re going to do things…and nobody can say that Trump is not fulfilling his promises because not only is Trump fulfilling his promises, but he’s doing it at a breakneck speed.” Petersen, who has filed paperwork to run for attorney general in Arizona, told Fox News Digital that he will continue to fight for the “right side” of this issue in his home state. “I’m the lead defendant in a case to protect the Save Women’s Sports Act in Arizona,” Petersen explained. “It’s sitting at the Supreme Court right now. We’re going to see that trial all the way through. We have an attorney general who’s completely out of touch with the rest of the Democrats. She wouldn’t defend the law. She thought it was okay for boys to play in girl sports. So I am defending that law. It’s in the Supreme Court. We are going to see that all the way through.”
‘Fulfill the mandate’: New election integrity report calls for critical changes to guarantee secure elections
FIRST ON FOX: A nonpartisan election integrity watchdog has released a detailed report outlining what it says are must-needed reforms to be taken up in states across the country to ensure election integrity. The Honest Elections Project (HEP) released its 2025 “Safeguarding our Elections” report that lists over a dozen “critical” measures, ranging from voter ID to cleaning up voter rolls to banning foreign influence in elections. “Election integrity ballot issues passed with flying colors across the board on election night. Now that state legislative sessions are starting up, lawmakers have a duty to fulfill the mandate the American people gave to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,” HEP Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital. “Honest Elections Project’s 2025 ‘Safeguarding Our Elections’ report gives legislators a roadmap to do exactly that.” SELLING AMERICANS A ‘LIE’: HOW ELECTION INTEGRITY ATTORNEYS BATTLED LEFT-WING EFFORTS TO UPEND VOTING LAWS HEP has been active in recent years advocating against foreign influence in statewide elections via dark money and various loopholes, which the report discusses in the first section and points to polling showing 78% of Americans oppose foreign funding in elections. “It is illegal for foreign nationals to contribute to political candidates, but a legal loophole allows them to contribute both directly and indirectly to ballot measure campaigns,” the report states. STEPHEN A. SMITH ARGUES HE CAN WIN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AFTER DEMOCRATS’ ‘PATHETIC’ 2024 RUN “A single left-wing group, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, has simultaneously accepted approximately $243 million from foreign billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and spent $130 million supporting or opposing ballot issue campaigns in 25 states. Ballot issues can rewrite election laws and change state Constitutions. These campaigns should not be a Trojan Horse for foreign influence, whether from activists like Wyss or hostile foreign powers like China and Russia.” The report also warns against Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which some states have banned but other states, including Alaska, continue to use it. “RCV makes it harder to vote, harder to understand election results, and harder to trust the voting process,” the report explains. “Nevertheless, a small group of left-wing megadonors are pushing RCV as a way to drag politics to the left. In 2024, donors like John and Laura Arnold collectively spent $100 million on ballot measures to bring RCV to six new states. Voters rejected them all, defeating ballot issues in states as diverse as Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Zuck Bucks” became an increasingly controversial aspect of election security after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured $400 million in grants during the 2020 election to fund a variety of work and equipment. HEP’s report urges states to prevent similar instances from occurring in the future. “Elections should be accountable to the public, not to special interest groups and liberal megadonors,” the report says. “In 2020, left-wing nonprofits pumped more than $400 million from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg into thousands of election offices, giving more money to places that ultimately voted for Joe Biden.” Other issues in the report include, requiring transparency and robust post-election audits of election processes and procedures, ensuring that elected lawmakers write election laws, and protecting vulnerable mail ballots.
Senate to vote on key Trump nominee after Democrats hold contentious overnight debate
The Senate is poised to vote on whether to confirm Russell Vought to a top administration role after Democrats held a rare overnight session to oppose his nomination. Vought was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the office that helps create and manage the federal budget. While many Trump nominees have received bipartisan support, Vought’s nomination has been controversial among Democratic lawmakers who are opposed due to his stance on the Impoundment Control Act – a 1974 law that reinforces Congress’ power of the purse. LEADER THUNE BACKS SENATE GOP BID TO SPEED PAST HOUSE ON TRUMP BUDGET PLAN On Wednesday, the Senate voted to advance Vought’s nomination to a final vote on the floor, prompting a 30-hour, overnight debate period that Democrats vowed to use entirely for protest. Democrats scheduled speakers to hold the floor throughout the entire night in an effort to delay Vought’s confirmation. DEMS’ ‘DELAY TACTIC’ TO ‘MALIGN’ PATEL AND STALL FBI CONFIRMATION DISMISSED AS ‘BASELESS’ BY TOP SENATE LEADER However, the Senate is likely to hold a confirmation vote for Vought on Thursday evening once the debate period ends. “We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure he doesn’t get confirmed,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, said in a video posted on X. “We know that Republicans have the votes, but we’re going to fight every step of the way.” Fox News’ Diana Stacey and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
‘Integrity of the Court’: Cruz reintroduces amendment to combat court expansion efforts
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, is reintroducing a constitutional amendment to cap the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine, amid calls to expand the court. Cruz, now joined by 15 cosponsors including Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (LA), Chuck Grassley (IA), Mike Crapo (ID), Thom Tillis (NC) and John Cornyn (TX), previously introduced the amendment in 2021 and in 2023. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cruz said Democrats are seeking to “use the Court to advance policy goals they can’t accomplish electorally.” SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER AN EFFORT TO ESTABLISH THE NATION’S FIRST PUBLICLY FUNDED RELIGIOUS CHARTER SCHOOL “Such a move would be a direct assault on the design of our Constitution, which is designed to ensure the Supreme Court remains a non-partisan guardian of the rule of law,” Cruz said. “This amendment is a badly-needed check on their efforts to undermine the integrity of the Court.” Likewise, Grassley said the amendment would ensure the Court’s independence from political pressures. “Democrats’ radical court packing scheme would erase the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and destroy historic precedent,” Grassley said in a statement. “The Court is a co-equal branch of government, and our Keep Nine Amendment will ensure that it remains independent from political pressure.” The nine-justice court currently has a conservative supermajority. Following various landmark decisions in recent years, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats have re-upped calls to impose court reforms, including expanding and packing the court as well as imposing term limits. TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA In October, then-Vice President Kamala Harris entertained the notion of imposing court reforms during a CNN town hall. Harris was asked if she would support expanding the number of justices from the current nine to 12. “There is no question that the American people increasingly are losing confidence in the Supreme Court and, in large part, because of the behavior of certain members of that court and because of certain rulings, including the Dobbs decision and taking away a precedent that had been in place for 50 years, protecting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body,” Harris said during the event. “So, I do believe that there should be some kind of reform of the court, and we can study what that actually looks like.” PORN CASE IN THE SUPREME COURT THIS WEEK IS ABOUT PROTECTING CHILDREN, SAYS REPUBLICAN AG Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, also called for reforming the Court that same month, saying in social media posts, “We need to radically reform the broken Supreme Court.” Democrats have consistently proposed legislation to expand the Supreme Court to a 13-justice bench. In May 2023, Georgia Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson joined Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York, Cori Bush of Mississippi, and Adam Schiff of California, in reintroducing the Judiciary Act of 2023. “We want to prevent this kind of rot and decay from ever overtaking a Supreme Court again,” Johnson told Fox News Digital in October.