‘Squad’ Dem dishes out campaign cash to anti-Israel nonprofit tied to ‘Terrorist University’
FIRST ON FOX: The campaign for “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar recently sent over a thousand dollars to a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that partnered with a Palestinian university with alleged terrorist ties, according to new Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by Fox News Digital. The Palestine House of Freedom, also known by its Arabic name, “Dar Alhurriya,” is a nonprofit headquartered just blocks from the U.S. Capitol building. According to a video on the group’s website, it is “dedicated to the liberation of Palestine” and “the dismantling of apartheid in Palestine and the establishment of a free, democratic state from the river to the sea.” The group’s website emphasizes that Israel is “operating as an apartheid state.” The website further states that its mission is to “embark on an aggressive educational campaign targeting everyone from lawmakers, staffers, the media, to the general public” to “show how dismantling apartheid and establishing a free democratic Palestine from the River to the Sea with equal rights, is the path to peace and will benefit all parties involved.” PRO-PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE PANELIST CALLS US ‘EVIL,’ URGES ‘DESTROYING THE IDEA OF AMERICA’ The filings show that Omar’s campaign, Ilhan for Congress, sent $1,559.25 to the anti-Israel Palestine House of Freedom for “event tickets” in September. However, it is unclear which event the payments were for. The Palestine House of Freedom made headlines earlier this year for hosting a fundraiser in June for the Palestinian Birzeit University, a school that has alleged terrorist ties and has seen its student council elections favor the pro-Hamas wing of student council members, according to The Washington Reporter. The university’s student council has long been dominated by the Hamas-affiliated Al-Wafaa bloc and has been previously dubbed, “Terrorist University.” Student campus parades have also reportedly included people marching with mock suicide bomb vests and rockets, as reported by Memri TV. A Fox News Digital review found that the Hamas-affiliated Al-Wafaa bloc has won several student council elections at Birzeit dating back to the 1990’s, including victories in 2022 and 2023. After the 2023 victory, a top Hamas operative reportedly told the Middle East Monitor the victory represents an “extension” of the movement. “The second message is that the bloc has proven its ability to adapt to changes, overcome complexities, and fill the void created by arrests, martyrdom, or deportation,” Ismail Haniyeh, who was head of Hamas’ Political Bureau until he was assassinated by Israel Defense Forces last year in Tehran, told the Middle East Monitor. He added that Hamas is “unbreakable” in its homeland and that it will confront the “occupier, oppression and terrorism.” This wasn’t the first time a top Hamas operative praised the Al-Wafaa bloc’s victory at Birzeit. In 2017, a top Hamas spokesperson reportedly congratulated the student body on the election results. REP. ELISE STEFANIK LABELS NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI A ‘JIHADIST’ Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., sent a letter Sept. 29 to Harvard University, expressing concern about the university’s failure to issue a public decision on its prior partnership with Birzeit. In the letter, the lawmakers called Birzeit “an institution whose student body overwhelmingly supports Hamas” and a school that “explicitly endorses a U.S. designated terrorist organization.” Harvard announced this spring it would not renew its cooperation agreement with Birzeit and would issue a permanent decision about the partnership after an internal review, according to The Harvard Crimson. According to the June event’s flyer, all the proceeds from the Palestine House of Freedom fundraiser, “From Birzeit and Beyond: How academia shapes resistance and resilience,” went to Birzeit. DEMS SILENT ON PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE’S NAZI-STYLE TATTOO AFTER KNOCKING HEGSETH FOR CHRISTIAN SYMBOL Omar was one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. She has taken heavy criticism for making anti-American and antisemitic comments over the years, including saying that “some people did something” in reference to the 9/11 attacks and saying that “Israel has hypnotized the world.” She later apologized for the comment about Israel. In September, a vote to censure Omar over comments she made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk narrowly failed to pass the House of Representatives. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard, the Palestinian House of Freedom, Omar’s office and Ilhan for Congress for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Democratic congressional candidate indicted in anti-ICE protest that turned violent in Illinois
A Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois has been indicted on federal charges relating to an incident in which protesters allegedly attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle outside a Chicago suburb facility last month. Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, 26, who has branded herself a “Gen Z influencer” running for Congress in Illinois’s 9th District, is accused of conspiracy to impede or injure an ICE officer while on duty in Broadview, Illinois, Sept. 26, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. Abughazaleh had been expected to win the Democratic nomination to succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., 81, who is retiring. Five other protesters were also indicted with Abughazaleh, including one of her associates and two other political candidates. DHS RIPS ‘DISHONEST, DESPERATE’ GEN Z CANDIDATE WHO RAGED AGAINST KRISTI NOEM’S ‘CRIMES’ AT ANTI-ICE PROTEST The defendants include Andre Martin, described in the indictment as an associate who worked for or with her; Michael Rabbit, a Democratic committee person in Chicago’s 45th Ward; Catherine Sharp, a candidate for the Cook County Board of Commissioners; and Brian Straw and Joselyn Walsh, who are listed as Illinois residents. According to the indictment, a group of individuals surrounded a government vehicle with “intent to hinder or impede” operations by “aggressively” banging and pushing the car. The protesters allegedly etched derogatory messages including the word “PIG” into the car, broke a side mirror and damaged a rear windshield wiper. The indictment also alleges that Abughazaleh moved to the front of the government vehicle during the confrontation, pressing her hands against the hood and using her body to block its path. “No one is above the law, and no one has the right to obstruct it,” Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, said in a statement Wednesday. “The Department of Justice will never tolerate such conduct and will continue to hold accountable anyone who seeks to impede lawful federal operations.” “All federal officials must be able to discharge the duties of their office without confronting force, intimidation or threats,” Andrew S. Boutros, United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, added in a statement Wednesday. “As we have warned repeatedly, we will seek to hold accountable those who cross the line from peaceful protests to unlawful actions or conspiracies that interrupt, hinder or impede the due administration of Justice.” ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED AFTER RAMMING BORDER PATROL IN CHICAGO AMID VIOLENT CLASH WITH PROTESTERS Abughazaleh responded to the charges in a post on X Wednesday, claiming she is being targeted for exercising her First Amendment rights. “This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt at silencing dissent, a right protected under the First Amendment,” Abughazaleh said. “This case is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak up. That’s why I’m going to fight these unjust charges.” The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge April Perry, who is also presiding over a separate case involving President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. Perry had previously blocked the deployment of troops, saying there was no evidence of a “danger of rebellion” in the state after the Trump administration had requested an emergency stay. ARCHITECT OF LA ICE RAIDS REPORTEDLY ARRIVES IN CHICAGO AS FOCUS SHIFTS TO WINDY CITY, AGENT’S HISTORY Protests at the ICE facility have recently thrust Abughazaleh into the spotlight, including an incident last month when an agent reportedly threw her to the ground, a moment that went viral on social media. The “Gen Z influencer” is a former video producer at the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, which has developed a large TikTok following. Abughazaleh’s indictment comes shortly after another Democratic politician, Rep. LaMonica McIver D-N.J., was charged with assaulting ICE agents, underscoring an increase in cases involving political figures allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement. Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
Senate Republicans defect, reject Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods
A small contingent of Senate Republicans again joined with Senate Democrats to reject President Donald Trump’s tariffs — this time on Canadian goods. The Senate advanced a resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on a bipartisan basis to terminate the emergency powers Trump used to declare retaliatory tariffs against Canada earlier this year. Roughly the same core group of Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Senate Democrats to reject the duties. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., opted to vote against this latest attempt to reject Trump’s tariffs. SENATE REPUBLICANS DEFY VANCE’S WARNING, VOTE TO BLOCK TRUMP’S BRAZIL TARIFFS AMID SHUTDOWN “The vice president came up yesterday to try to corral Republicans at their lunch,” Kaine said before the lunch. “That shows the White House is worried about defectors on this.” Indeed, their votes against Trump’s tariffs on Canada came after Vice President JD Vance warned Republicans that it would be a “huge mistake” to break with the White House on the president’s tariff strategy, and he argued that using duties on countries across the globe offered leverage to generate better trade deals in return. Paul, one of the co-sponsors of Kaine’s resolution, has consistently rejected Trump’s usage of tariffs and argued that it was a tax on consumers in the U.S. rather than on foreign countries. SCHUMER, DEMS CALL ‘BULL—-‘ ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER FOOD STAMP SHUTDOWN THREAT He noted that the message it would send to the White House, despite pressure from Vance to support Trump’s duties, was “that a rule by emergency is not what the Constitution intended, that taxes are supposed to originate in the House of Representatives.” The resolution was in response to Trump’s usage of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in July to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. The tariffs on the country vary, with Trump initially placing 35% duties on the country earlier this year, along with a blanket 50% tariff on steel from other countries. However, he recently cranked up the tariffs on Canada by 10% following an ad that ran last week that featured former President Ronald Reagan, which used audio from the former president’s 1987 “Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.” TRUMP SLAPS CANADA WITH EXTRA 10% TARIFF OVER ‘FRAUDULENT’ REAGAN ADVERTISEMENT: ‘HOSTILE ACT’ Trump railed against the ad, which was run by the government of Ontario, Canada, and declared, “ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” in a post on Truth Social. The latest tariff vote is the second in a trio of resolutions from Kaine and several Senate Democrats. Despite the resolution terminating Trump’s emergency powers on tariffs in Brazil and Canada both advancing in the Senate, they will likely stall in the House. McConnell staked his position against the tariffs in a statement, where he argued that retaliatory tariffs have negatively affected Kentucky farmers and distillers. “Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise,” he said. “This week, I will vote in favor of resolutions to end emergency tariff authorities.”
Trial begins over Trump’s fight to deploy National Guard troops to Oregon
The Trump administration will face off with Oregon state leaders in court on Wednesday over whether the president can federalize National Guard troops and deploy them to Portland, a city President Donald Trump has said is “war ravaged” and in need of military reinforcements. Judge Karin Immergut will preside over the trial, which will begin at 9 a.m. local time and is expected to stretch through the rest of the week. The trial comes as the administration has faced a string of setbacks in Oregon, where it has wanted to deploy 200 National Guard soldiers as added protection for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and other federal officers but has been unable to because of repeated court orders. TRUMP TEAM URGES OREGON JUDGE TO END RESTRAINING ORDER BLOCKING NATIONAL GUARD Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued two of those orders blocking Trump from deploying both in-state and out-of-state troops, and on appeal, the 9th Circuit briefly ruled in Trump’s favor but reversed course this week. All the orders related to Oregon in the lower court and 9th Circuit have been issued on an emergency basis, and Immergut’s three-day trial is expected to produce a more permanent decision, though it will likely be appealed by either party right away. Trump has faced obstacles to deploying National Guard soldiers in numerous blue cities, where the administration claims illegal immigration and street crime are rampant. In court papers filed ahead of the trial, DOJ lawyers said the deployment to Portland was “amply justified.” WHITE HOUSE REBUKES ‘EGREGIOUS’ COURT ORDER BLOCKING TROOP DEPLOYMENTS AMID PORTLAND UNREST “In the weeks and months preceding the President’s decision, agitators assaulted federal officers and damaged federal property in numerous ways, spray-painted violent threats, blockaded the vehicle entrance to the Portland ICE facility, trapped officers in their cars, followed them when they attempted to leave the facility, threatened them at the facility, menaced them at their homes, doxed them online, and threatened to kill them on social media,” the DOJ lawyers wrote. They added that law enforcement officers assigned to handle immigration-related tasks had been diverted to managing the local unrest, which they said took them away from officers’ regular job duties. “The record is replete with evidence of the [Portland Police Bureau] failing to provide assistance when federal officials have requested it,” they wrote. State lawyers, meanwhile, claimed Congress’ laws governing National Guard deployment allow the president to federalize the reserved troops against the will of state governors only as a last resort. “The ordinary challenges of governing cannot justify the extraordinary measure Defendants employed here,” Oregon’s lawyers wrote. Also looming in the background is a related case pending before the Supreme Court. The high court is weighing whether to take up Trump’s National Guard deployment in Chicago, and that case could have far-reaching effects on the president’s similar fights in other states, including Oregon and California. Fox News’ Lee Ross contributed to this report.
Democrats poured more than $1M into Jay Jones’ campaign since dueling scandals broke, disclosures show
Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones’ campaign continued to take in major donations from Democrats and Democratic-aligned PACs even after it was revealed he had envisioned the murder of a Republican leader and his family — while his reckless driving case remains under further investigation. The Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), which painstakingly publishes donor names, amounts, lawmakers’ biographies, bills, district maps and more, printed data from Jones’ latest campaign finance disclosures this week. Since the murder text scandal broke on October 3, Jones received more than $1 million in donations. Fox News Digital pored through some of the higher-dollar amounts, focusing on donors who contributed $5,000 or more since then. DAGA PAC, the political action committee supporting Democratic attorneys general, dumped nearly 75% of that million-dollar-figure in three tranches in the last two weeks: two gifts of $250,000 and another expenditure of $230,000. SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTOR DOWNPLAYS DEM AG NOMINEE’S VIOLENT RHETORIC AS ‘FALSE OUTRAGE’ The next highest donor was the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. The group, chaired by Del. Luke Torian, D-Montclair, and Del. Joshua Cole, D-Fredericksburg, contributed $50,000 on October 20, and had given another $50,000 one day before Jones’ murder texts scandal broke. The Virginia Eighth District Democratic Committee – a party organization comprised of people from Rep. Don Beyer’s heavily blue Alexandria-Fairfax congressional district, but not connected to the congressman himself – gave $30,000 to Jones’ campaign on October 21, according to VPAP. JAY JONES MURDER TEXTS LATEST CASE OF DEMOCRATS CIRCLING THE SCANDAL WAGONS The largest individual donor in the timeframe was Norfolk attorney and executive Adam Casagrande, the vice president of a Virginia Beach diving supply company that sells equipment and provides logistics to the Pentagon. Casagrande gave Jones $25,000, according to VPAP, and has given substantive sums to Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe and several Norfolk Democrats. Another $25,000 came from an individual named Scott Shenker, who appears in VPAP records as a top donor from Berkeley, California, with similar contributions to McAuliffe, Spanberger and former House Democratic Leader Eileen Filler-Corn. The next highest donor was Karen Waldron, identified by VPAP as a Botetourt County real estate developer, who gave $15,000 to Jones on October 17, and also gave to Lily Franklin – a Democrat battling Del. Chris Obenshain, R-Roanoke, in what is likely to be one of the closest races in the state House sweeps. Shahir Kassam-Adams of Lovingston made the next-largest contribution since Jones’ scandals surfaced, donating $10,000. One notable donor who gave $5,000 a few days prior to the scandals rocking the news cycle was Jonathan Soros, the younger son of left-wing Hungarian American billionaire George Soros.
Biden autopen investigation ‘has heated up’ as DOJ looks at Delaware, DC: source
An investigation into the autopen controversy involving former President Joe Biden is gaining momentum in Delaware and Washington, D.C., Fox News has learned. A source familiar with the situation told Fox News on Wednesday morning, “It looks like the investigation has heated up in recent weeks and it appears there’s a focus in Delaware as well as Washington, D.C.” On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a post on X that her “team is reviewing the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons.” Bondi’s post came as the House Oversight Committee released a 100-page report on Tuesday morning detailing findings from its monthslong probe into Biden’s White House, specifically whether his inner circle covered up signs of mental decline in the ex-president, and if that alleged cover-up extended to executive actions signed via autopen without Biden’s full awareness. PRESIDENT WHO GOT MOST VOTES IN US HISTORY NOW POLITICAL ‘KRYPTONITE’ AS 2025 CAMPAIGNS DODGE BIDEN AND HARRIS The report also detailed a “haphazard documentation process” for pardons made by Biden, which the committee argued left room for doubt over whether the former president made those decisions himself. “In the absence of sufficient contemporaneous documentation indicating that cognitively deteriorating President Biden himself made a given executive decision, such decisions do not carry the force of law and should be considered void,” the GOP report said. A Biden spokesperson pushed back on the committee’s conclusions in a statement to Fox News Digital made Tuesday morning, however. JOHNSON ARGUES BIDEN PARDONS ‘INVALID’ AFTER BOMBSHELL AUTOPEN REPORT “This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing. Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown,” the spokesperson said. In an interview with The New York Times in July, Biden affirmed he “made every decision” on his own. Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. This is a developing news story; check back for updates.
States sue Trump admin over billions in looming cuts to SNAP, food stamps
A coalition of 25 Democratic governors and attorneys general on Tuesday sued the Trump administration over its refusal to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the ongoing government shutdown — arguing that a suspension of the aid threatens to disproportionately harm millions of vulnerable and low-income Americans. The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts, asks a federal judge to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release a portion of the $9.2 billion in SNAP benefits allocated for the month of November. The Trump administration said Friday that it would not use the Agriculture Department’s roughly $5 billion contingency fund to cover the food stamp benefits provided by SNAP for the month of November. Instead, they said, the agency is planning to keep it on hand to respond to natural disasters. SENATE GOP DIVIDED AS MILLIONS RISK LOSING FOOD AID IN SHUTDOWN STANDOFF States warned in the lawsuit Tuesday that halting the SNAP payments, even in the near-term, threatens disproportionate harm for the roughly 42 million Americans that currently receive SNAP aid beginning on Nov. 1, when the food assistance is slated to expire. “Shutting off SNAP benefits will cause deterioration of public health and well-being,” state leaders said in the lawsuit. “Ultimately, states will bear costs associated with many of these harms,” they added. “The loss of SNAP benefits leads to food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, which are associated with numerous negative health outcomes in children, such as poor concentration, decreased cognitive function, fatigue, depression, and behavioral problems.” NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES ENTERS PLEA IN FEDERAL MORTGAGE FRAUD CASE The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of attorneys general and governors from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. In the near-term, the states asked U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, the federal judge in Massachusetts assigned to the case, to order the Trump administration to release the USDA contingency funds to help ensure there is not a lapse in SNAP program benefits beginning Nov. 1. Judge Talwani will hear from both parties during an emergency status hearing Wednesday, during which she will weigh the states’ request for an emergency order to force USDA to release a portion of its emergency funds to SNAP recipients. SCHUMER AGAIN BLOCKS GOP BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS GO UNPAID The USDA, for its part, has not yet shared details on the policy decision or decision not to funnel the contingency funds to SNAP beneficiaries. A note on its website states simply that, “[T]he well has run dry.” “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01,” the agency said.
President who got most votes in US history now political ‘kryptonite’ as 2025 campaigns dodge Biden and Harris
Former President Joe Biden, who holds the record for most popular votes in a presidential election in U.S. history, and former Vice President Kamala Harris were both at the top of the Democratic Party in 2024, but they overwhelmingly have been absent from the 2025 off-season election cycle as other big-name Democrats have been hitting various campaign trails to rally support. According to political pundits and lawmakers who spoke to Fox News Digital, their presence on the campaign trail likely would not generate warm welcomes following the fallout of the 2024 race. “The one thing you could probably get progressives and moderates inside the Democratic Party to agree on is that the Biden/Harris administration did not score very high marks,” former chief counsel to House Judiciary Committee Democrats Julian Epstein told Fox Digital Monday. “I’m not sure why any candidate would want to go to either of them who voters rejected in one way or another and to who are widely seen that leading the party into the wilderness.” The nation is facing only a handful of big-ticket races in 2025, with four most notably garnering national attention: the Virginia gubernatorial race, the New Jersey gubernatorial race, the New York City mayoral race, and California’s special election to vote on a ballot measure that would redistrict the state’s congressional lines. THE ONLY GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES RUNNING IN 2025 ELECTIONS LEAN INTO TRUMP’S MAGA CAMPAIGN TACTICS The trio of elections in New Jersey, New York City and Virginia have especially attracted a handful of high-profile Democrats offering official endorsements of the candidates or traveling to those jurisdictions to help rally support among locals. Former President Barack Obama, for example, offered official video endorsements of New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Virginia Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger earlier in October, and is scheduled to attend two separate rallies for the individual candidates Saturday. Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others also have joined the gubernatorial candidates at various campaign fundraisers and events. Biden and Harris have meanwhile been largely absent from the 2025 campaign fray. “Of course Democrats are running away from the disasters they created with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Republican Rep. Andy Barr, who is running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, told Fox News Digital. “It will take years to undo the damage they inflicted on our economy, our border, and our national security. Every Democrat on the ballot owns that record. Kentuckians will reject it and stand with us to fully advance President Trump’s America First agenda.” Biden has not joined campaign events, with Fox News Digital also unable to find any public endorsements of 2025 political candidates as of Tuesday. Biden, notably, revealed in May that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones. Biden has taken a step back from the public spotlight since his administration ended, but he did attend an event Sunday, when he received a lifetime achievement award for inspired leadership from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. TRUMP’S SHADOW LOOMS LARGE OVER HEATED RACES ONE MONTH BEFORE ELECTION DAY “Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” Biden said during the event, adding that “our very democracy is at stake in my view.” Biden received the most votes in U.S. history during the 2020 race, at 81,283,501 votes, beating Obama’s 2008 record of about 69,498,516 votes, and President Donald Trump‘s 2024 election that delivered him 77,302,580 votes. Harris, meanwhile, is in the midst of an book tour to promote her new memoir, “107 Days,” which recounts her experiences on the 2024 campaign trail, including when Biden decided to drop out of the race July 21, 2024, and the party’s mad dash to rally around Harris as his replacement with just more than 100 days until Election Day. In New York City, socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is building endorsements and support from Democrats and left-wing members of the party, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Harris did offer support for Mamdani’s nomination to lead New York City while on her book tour, but has not offered endorsement campaign videos, joined rallies or taken part in other official campaign events like her party colleagues, Fox Digital found. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee, and he should be supported,” Harris told MSNBC of Mamdani’s candidacy in a September interview, before offering stronger support days later while recounting a phone conversation she shared with the candidate. OBAMA, PELOSI, OTHER TOP DEMS RESISTED INSTANT HARRIS ENDORSEMENT CITING NEED TO ‘EARN IT,’ ‘HIKING’ EXCUSE When asked about Harris not having officially endorsed candidates in the three major 2025 elections, a spokesperson contended, “This isn’t true at all. I would do more research and come back to me when you’ve got the facts sorted out.” When it was noted that Harris has made some favorable comments about Mamdani but has yet to offer him a more formal endorsement or appear with him, Spanberger or Sherrill, Harris’ team was similarly dismissive, pointing to fundraising emails and “events for senate candidates,” although there are no candidates for U.S. Senate in the 2025 race. Harris did take part in a roughly two-minute prerecorded video message to young voters in July, as reported by the New York Post, rallying young voters to get involved in politics and stay committed to the “fight,” but did not cite specific campaigns. “Keep building your political power, keep building community, keep building coalitions, keep challenging the status quo,” Harris said in the prerecorded video. “And born out of our love for our country, keep fighting to build a country and a nation that works for everyone,” she said. “And I look forward to continuing in the fight alongside you. You take care.” Gen Z conservative podcast host and political commentator Brilyn Hollyhand told Fox News Digital, when asked about
‘Unprecedented’ antisemitism panel tackles surging national issue
EXCLUSIVE: Federal judges will tackle antisemitism at an annual convention next week, joining a rare multi-judge panel in a forum typically reserved for one-person lectures, Fox News Digital has learned. U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, who will moderate the discussion, said the panel is “unprecedented” and a needed change to address what he said was a rise in antisemitism in the aftermath of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel in 2023. The panel is part of the Federalist Society’s annual National Lawyers Convention. “This conversation on faith, understanding, and moral responsibility could not be more timely,” Altman said. “It reflects the importance of the moment, the endurance of Western values, and Judge [Robert] Bork’s abiding belief in moral clarity and in the strength that comes from open dialogue.” NYU BLOCKS OCT. 7 CAMPUS TALK BY JEWISH CONSERVATIVE, CITING SECURITY CONCERNS The event has for years been named after the late Bork, who, incidentally, once helped break a law firm’s avoidance of hiring Jewish lawyers, according to Senate testimony by his peers in 1987. The judges who will participate in the discussion include seven Trump appointees, including Altman, one appointee of former President George Bush, and a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Altman, a vocal Jewish judge who is based in the Southern District of Florida, said he has also arranged numerous trips for federal judges of varying faiths to visit Israel after the Oct. 7 attack. He said that although his personal conversations about Israel had largely been centered on campuses, “it became clear” to him that the judiciary needed to chime in because heated discourse surrounding the topic involved legal questions. The deadly attack in Israel reignited conflict in Gaza and led to nationwide anti-Israel protests, especially on U.S. college campuses. Protesters claimed Israel was killing thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza indiscriminately, while the Israeli government said it gave fair warning about its offensive and that its targets were Hamas terrorists. “Those claims, is Israel violating the laws of war? Is it an apartheid state? Does it occupy land that doesn’t belong to it?” Altman said. “Those are just legal questions with legal answers, and I thought, who better than federal judges to understand what the applicable legal rule is, to adduce and find out what the relevant facts are, and then to apply the facts to the law and issue a judgment, than a federal judge.” Some of the judges who will participate on the panel have been on Altman’s Israel trips. The Federalist Society indicated that the judges plan to speak about their personal experiences talking with people of other faiths about anti-Jewish sentiments. They also plan to address First Amendment concerns surrounding antisemitism. FEDERAL JUDGE LAUNCHES SCATHING BROADSIDE OF TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO DEPORT PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS The discussion comes as the Trump administration has aggressively targeted noncitizens for speech that it has claimed in court is at odds with its national security posture because it is too critical of Israel and potentially supportive of Hamas. Free speech proponents have warned that offensive and politically charged speech is protected under the Constitution. In the case of Mahmoud Khalil, which has become a flashpoint in these discussions, the courts have been examining the extent to which noncitizens enjoy First Amendment protections. Altman said he has observed a one-sidedness in the opposite direction on campuses and that pro-Israel expression has been suppressed. Just this year, New York University canceled Jewish legal scholar Ilya Shaprio’s talk there because of what it said were security risks from protesters. “I was shocked, honestly, to discover that so many young people in our country, especially on our college campuses, had a totally incorrect view about the one Jewish state in the world and its role in the Middle East and its history and how it came to be, and it also became clear that the sort of debate that was taking place on campus wasn’t really a debate, because only one side of the story was being told,” Altman said.
Beijing is quietly dictating the trade war’s next moves as Trump and Xi prepare to meet
The U.S.-China trade war is shifting from a tariff fight to a contest of leverage – and Beijing is quietly setting the tempo. As President Donald Trump raises the volume, Beijing is adjusting the dials, fine-tuning export controls, critical minerals and supply chains. The move leaves Washington reacting to Beijing’s playbook instead of writing the next move, a dynamic that will hang over Trump’s next encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Thursday, the two leaders of the world’s largest economies are set to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Busan, South Korea. It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Trump’s return to office. CHINA BLASTS NEW US TRADE CURBS, AS TREASURY SECRETARY NOTES TALKS BACK ON TRACK For Trump, the visit is more than diplomatic choreography, it’s a stage for his economic doctrine. He’s anchored his Washington comeback on the idea of U.S. economic firepower, framing his battle cry around restoring American dominance in global trade and emerging technologies. In doing so, his administration has pressed allies and rivals alike to revisit trade terms, wielding tariffs as both weapon and warning. “There are a lot of arrows in the Chinese quiver,” Bryan Burack, a senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “The fact of the matter is that they can literally make more moves than we can. They have more coercive tools to use against us, and they can deploy them easier,” Burack added, pointing to U.S. industrial dependencies. “China has been decoupling from us for a long time,” Burack said. “So a lot of these moves that look like retaliation are really part of Xi Jinping’s long-standing effort to sever dependence on the United States and build self-reliance on critical technologies. Unfortunately, the only way for us to respond is to do the same and that process is painful and excruciating,” he added. Clark Packard, a research fellow at the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, said the perception that China now holds the upper hand is misplaced. TRUMP’S FOCUS TURNS TO JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA AS ASIA TRIP CONTINUES “It is the most important bilateral relationship. It’s the most important geopolitical relationship,” Packard said. “But policymakers in the United States are overestimating China’s economic strength. Beijing believes global power is tilting its way, but that kind of defeatism in Washington is overdone. China’s economy isn’t nearly as strong as many people think.” He pointed to deep imbalances within China’s economy as evidence. “It’s focused far too heavily on manufacturing and not enough on domestic consumption,” he said. “The country is increasingly dependent on exports and much of the world is growing uneasy with China’s outsized share of global trade,” Packard added. Henrietta Levin, a senior fellow on China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, said Trump and Xi will likely try to cool tensions on Thursday, at least for now. “Both sides are seeking a period of stability in the relationship,” said Levin, a former deputy China coordinator at the State Department. “They may reach a limited arrangement, but on whose terms remain to be seen. China is confident it has the upper hand in the trade war and the broader relationship, so Beijing will be reluctant to make meaningful concessions without getting much more in return.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Levin said that confidence stems from Beijing’s belief that the U.S. can’t absorb economic pain as deeply or as patiently as China can, betting that any trade war will hurt Washington faster and harder. “What would really strengthen the U.S. hand is deepening partnerships, especially in Asia. Creating a common front against Chinese aggression and unfair trade practices, rather than trying to confront China and its allies at the same time.” Levin added that Washington must also regain control of the diplomatic narrative. “The U.S. would be better off setting the terms of the relationship rather than merely reacting,” she said. “It feels like we may have lost the plot in our diplomacy with China and have lost sight of the structural economic issues the trade war was originally meant to address.”