DHS brass blasts Chicago mayor for blaming ICE chief as crime rises after ‘safest summer’ claim
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson drew sharp criticism from the Department of Homeland Security after suggesting that a federal immigration operation under Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino disrupted what he said had been the city’s safest summer in decades. Johnson has been touting recent analysis that 2025 was Chicago’s safest summer in 60 years in terms of violent crime, as the city’s NPR affiliate found a total of 123 murders occurred between June and August last year. The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab found that violent crime declined across the country, including in the city throughout 2025, but it still had elevated figures versus other major cities globally. Johnson said last week that those figures were true before DHS kicked off “Operation Midway Blitz” around the first week of September. SANCTUARY POLITICIANS’ RHETORIC LED TO 1,150% SURGE IN VIOLENCE AGAINST ICE AGENTS: DHS Johnson said that once ICE and the Border Patrol showed up, crime increased again. “Chicago had the safest summer since 1965 before Bovino stepped foot in our city,” Johnson said. “Where ICE was most active, crime went up.” When asked for a response, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Johnson is continuing to “demonize our law enforcement, who are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them.” TRUMP SAYS CHICAGO CRIME HAS FALLEN DRAMATICALLY DESPITE ‘EXTRAORDINARY RESISTANCE’ FROM LOCAL DEMOCRATS “The danger and violence our law enforcement has faced in sanctuary cities like Chicago, compared to jurisdictions like Florida, is night and day,” she said, after video surfaced of a woman being promptly detained and arrested after allegedly interfering in a Jacksonville immigration enforcement operation. “He should turn down the rhetoric and work with DHS to prevent more innocent American deaths at the hands of gang members, murderers, drug traffickers, and rapists who have no right to be in this country,” McLaughlin said, noting that DHS arrested more than 4,500 illegal immigrants with criminal records, many of them violent; during the Midway Blitz operation. Johnson had countered that the statistics and timing showed his administration “reduced violence in Chicago in spite of ICE.” TRUMP DECLARES VICTORY IN DEM-RUN CITY DESPITE ‘EXTRAORDINARY RESISTANCE’ FROM SANCTUARY POLITICIANS Johnson pointed to the case of Mexican national Silverio Gonzalez, who was shot and killed by agents last year. An account from the Chicago Sun-Times reported that ICE determined Gonzalez had allegedly resisted arrest and drove his car toward officers, injuring one. Rep. Jesus Garcia, D-Ill., who represents the area, later called for a federal investigation. ICE AGENTS REPORT ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ 3,200% SURGE IN CAR ATTACKS LAST YEAR Johnson himself had been responding on X to comments from Bovino, who in turn was disputing an assertion from Obama confidant David Axelrod. “In Chicago, the trail of misrepresentations by DHS was so long, an exasperated federal judge declared ‘it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything’ they represent as fact. That pattern continues in Minneapolis,” Axelrod wrote, citing and linking to a New York Times report of a man shot and injured by a federal agent in Minneapolis days after Renee Good’s death. In response, Bovino said that “double-digit decreases in violent crime in Chicago speak the truth you’r[e] after.” “Taking violent illegal aliens off the streets by the thousands seems to bother those who choose illegal aliens over American citizens.” That comment led Johnson to cite the 1965 versus 2025 violent crime figures. “Abolish ICE,” Johnson later wrote on Facebook, posting the contents of his prior comments.
Supreme Court prepares for major test of presidential power in Trump efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor
Donald Trump made “you’re fired” a national catchphrase from his TV show “The Apprentice.” Now the power of the president to unilaterally decide who can continue to serve in key government positions will be tested Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court, in another major case over leadership removals from independent agencies. At the center of the latest constitutional showdown is Lisa Cook, who serves precariously on the Federal Reserve’s powerful Board of Governors. Trump claims broad authority to force Cook from her leadership position on the central bank, free from judicial review, with his administration alleging she committed private mortgage fraud. Oral arguments will be conducted by the nine justices, who will hear separately from lawyers representing Cook and the Justice Department. POWELL REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO STEP DOWN FROM THE FED AS PRESSURE MOUNTS As the elected head of the government, Trump believes federal law allows him unqualified discretion to fire “for cause” any officer on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors or member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). But Cook will tell the court the Federal Reserve was created by Congress in 1913 as a wholly independent entity, to insulate it from political influence, and from any one president “stacking the deck” with their own nominees. She claims to be a political pawn in Trump’s very public efforts to dictate the Federal Reserve’s economic policies, by exploiting what she calls “manufactured charges” of wrongdoing. This appeal comes as Trump’s feud with the Fed has expanded, after its chairman, Jerome Powell, disclosed recently the agency was subpoenaed by the Justice Department for allegations he lied to Congress about a controversial multimillion-dollar renovation of the agency’s headquarters. The high court will have at least four opportunities this term to define the limits of Trump’s aggressive view of his authority, including import tariffs and birthright citizenship. “A big fraction of the Supreme Court’s docket will present the question, can President Trump do: fill in the blank? And that could be imposed tariffs. Fire board members. Remove illegal aliens,” said Thomas Dupree, a former top Justice Department attorney and leading appellate attorney. “Trump is pushing at every limit and the Supreme Court this term is going to be telling us whether he’s exceeded those limits. That is, I think, going to the story of so much of what the Supreme Court is deciding this term.” The conservative court has allowed much of President Trump’s challenged executive actions to be enforced at least temporarily – and will now decide whether the Fed’s special mandate statutorily protects its governing members from getting ousted. The justices last month heard arguments in a separate case, on Trump’s efforts to remove Democrat-appointed Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which like the Fed is a congressionally created independent, multi-member regulatory agency. The 6-3 conservative majority in that petition appeared ready to rule for the president when it involves semi-autonomous agencies like the FTC. Justice Sonia Sotomayor at argument accused the administration of trying to “destroy the structure of government.” But Justice Neil Gorsuch countered that when it comes to agencies like the FTC, “there is no such thing in our constitutional order as a fourth branch of government that’s quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative.” SCOTUS TAKES UP TRUMP’S BID TO FIRE FTC COMMISSIONER AT WILL — A SHOWDOWN THAT COULD TOPPLE 90-YEAR PRECEDENT Both Slaughter and Cook were named to their current staggered terms by former President Joe Biden, but Slaughter and another Democratic-appointed member are now not allowed to continue serving while their lawsuits are decided. In the Cook case, lower courts ruled she did not receive due process when the president tried to fire her. The current posture of the case is whether Trump can remove Cook — at least temporarily — while the dispute continues to play out on the merits. The “for cause” removal restriction’s constitutionality is not directly before the justices. A federal judge had issued a preliminary injunction against the administration, which then sought relief from the Supreme Court on the limited enforcement issue. The nine-member bench now has the option of ruling narrowly on the injunction question — which would throw the case back to the district court. Or the high court could go ahead and decide the larger constitutional matters. One key argument topic could center on whether the Federal Reserve has some administrative nexus to the executive branch, which could put it at least under limited Trump control. Though its leaders are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the seven-member board is considered an independent government agency, since its monetary policy decisions do not need presidential or legislative approval. But the agency does provide Congress with regular reports on its work. It also does not receive any federal funding, and the terms of the members of the board of governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. Under law, the Federal Reserve’s leadership has a three-fold mandate: “maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” The 12 Federal Reserve Banks are not part of the federal government, but set up like private corporations, and regionally located across the country. The justices, in an unsigned order in a separate case in 2025, had suggested the Fed operates differently from other independent federal boards, since it is not funded by Congress through normal appropriations, but uses interest on securities the bank owns and acquired through open market operations. “The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States,” said the Supreme Court in May 2025. After paying its expenses, the Federal Reserve hands the rest of its earnings over to the U.S. Treasury. Trump repeatedly has blasted Powell and the Federal Reserve over reluctance to lower benchmark interest rates as aggressively as the president wants, in a fundamental disagreement over prudent ways to stimulate the national economy. Like Cook, Powell in an extraordinary video statement Sunday accused
House Democrats move to block Trump’s Greenland ‘boondoggle’
A group of House Democrats is moving to block President Donald Trump from acquiring Greenland in direct defiance of one of the commander in chief’s main foreign policy goals. Rep. Gabe Amo, D-R.I., announced late Sunday that he introduced a bill to prevent Trump from using federal dollars to buy Greenland. The legislation already has more than 20 House Democratic co-sponsors and is likely to get more as the week progresses. TRUMP’S GREENLAND TAKEOVER WOULD LIKELY ENTAIL ENORMOUS PRICE TAG: REPORT “Greenland is not for sale, no matter what Trump says. That’s why I led 21 [House Democrats] in introducing the NO NATO for Purchase Act to make sure your taxpayer dollars aren’t spent on Trump’s next property boondoggle,” Amo wrote on X. A publicly available summary of his bill stated its purpose as “to prohibit actions or expenditure of funds to purchase a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member country or NATO-protected territory.” It comes as Trump and his allies continue to insist that getting Greenland under U.S. rule is critical to enhancing national security. Trump has pushed to acquire Greenland, a territory of Denmark, since his first White House term. GREENLAND’S PRIME MINISTER SAYS ‘WE CHOOSE DENMARK’ OVER THE US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with officials from Greenland and Denmark last week, but it appears that little progress has been made on either side. “The discussions focused on how to ensure the long-term security in Greenland. And here, our perspectives continue to differ, I must say. The president has made his view clear. And we have a different position,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters afterward. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers — consisting mainly of Democrats — embarked on a congressional delegation trip to Denmark over the weekend to meet with officials there. Trump himself posted on Truth Social on Sunday night, “NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that ‘you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland.’ Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!!” TRUMP’S GREENLAND PUSH ESCALATES AS GOP LAWMAKER MOVES TO MAKE IT AMERICA’S 51ST STATE The Trump administration has made clear that it hopes to purchase Greenland from Denmark, but the president himself has not ruled out using military force either. The idea of a military invasion of Greenland has rattled lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with foreign relations hawks arguing it would be a violation of NATO’s Article V by one of the organization’s own leading members. House Democrats’ bill is not likely to be taken up by the House, however, nor would it be likely to pass if it were. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response to the legislation.
Trump’s energy dominance rewrites the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after Biden drawdowns
America’s rise as a global oil powerhouse has changed how critical the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is to U.S. security and economic stability — even after President Joe Biden’s drawdowns drove stockpiles to modern-era lows, an economist and energy expert explained to Fox News Digital. As the Trump administration works to gradually replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve following record releases under the Biden administration, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and Environment, told Fox News Digital that the decades-old emergency oil stockpile no longer plays the same central role it once did. President Donald Trump‘s policies of “unleashing” energy and his “drill, baby, drill” mantra are key as to why, following the U.S. as domestic supply rose and demand shifted. “I don’t think for the security of the United States, for the economy of the United States, I don’t think the SPR is as important as it was 25, 30 years ago because now we are one of the greatest oil and natural gas producers in the world,” Furchtgott-Roth said. US MILITARY SEIZES ANOTHER FUGITIVE OIL TANKER LINKED TO VENEZUELA The U.S. became the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2011, surpassing Russia, and then the top crude oil producer in 2018, overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia — a surge driven largely by the shale revolution, which took off in the mid-to-late 2000s with the widespread use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in the aftermath of the 1970s oil crisis to protect the United States from foreign supply shocks, at a time when the country relied heavily on imported oil. That dynamic has shifted dramatically as domestic production surged, turning the U.S. into the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas. Furchtgott-Roth said the U.S.’ shift to become an energy producer, combined with Trump’s policies, have opened the floodgates of producing U.S. oil, which lessens the need for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. “We have the potential to produce a lot more, and we have a government that’s supportive of that,” Furchtgott-Roth said of the oil in the U.S. “It’s now possible to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but I just want to say the biggest strategic petroleum reserves we have is right under our feet in places like Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Ohio. We have so much oil and natural gas in this country.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FILES SEIZURE WARRANTS TARGETING SHIPS TIED TO VENEZUELAN OIL TRADE: REPORT Since returning to office, Trump has used executive authority to fast-track domestic energy production, including signing an order titled “Unleashing American Energy” aimed at rolling back regulatory barriers and accelerating permitting for oil and gas projects. The administration also moved to restart and speed reviews of liquefied natural gas export approvals, reversing the Biden-era “pause” approach and positioning U.S. natural gas exports as a centerpiece of its energy strategy. Biden ordered a 50 million–barrel release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 2021, framing it as a move to ease gasoline prices and help relieve pandemic-era supply chain pressures after COVID-19 brought the global economy to a “near economic standstill.” He dramatically expanded the drawdown in March 2022, announcing a plan to release up to 1 million barrels per day for six months as gas prices climbed. The move came weeks after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions targeting Moscow’s energy sector. In total, Biden released roughly 300 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over his four years. GOP EYES VENEZUELA’S UNTAPPED OIL WEALTH AS DEMOCRATS SOUND ALARM OVER TAXPAYER RISK Trump repeatedly criticized Biden’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases between his first and second terms, telling the New York Post in 2021 the reserve should be tapped only for “serious emergencies, like war, and nothing else.” He later pledged in his Jan. 20 inaugural address to “fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top” while driving prices down and expanding U.S. energy exports. Furchtgott-Roth also criticized Biden’s drawdowns, arguing the reserve was never meant to be used as a tool to manage consumer prices. She added that high energy prices during the Biden years were driven by domestic policy decisions. “That’s not what the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is supposed to be useful for,” she said. “It’s supposed to be used for a national security emergency. It’s not supposed to be used because prices are too high. And in this case, it was a self-caused emergency caused by President Biden’s different policies regarding oil and natural gas.” Meanwhile, the U.S. military successfully captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January, with Trump shortly after announcing the U.S. would “run” the South American, oil-rich nation. He announced on social media in January that Venezuelan oil would immediately be turned over to the U.S., including “between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America.” “This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States,” Trump wrote. An administration official told Fox Digital that refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with Venezuelan oil is not currently under consideration. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told FOX Business that the “we’re going to bring more crude onto the marketplace” with Venezuelan oil. “We’re going to bring crude that’s particularly well-suited for American refineries,” he explained Friday. “It helps us build asphalt as well. All of those things, as you drive market prices down, and you drive supply up, that’s helpful for giving us multiple ways to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.” TRUMP ULTIMATUM TO CUBA: ‘MAKE A DEAL, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE’ OR FACE CONSEQUENCES Furchtgott-Roth said Venezuela’s power shift sent a powerful signal
US power crunch looms as OKLO CEO says grid can’t keep up without new investment
The U.S. is running headlong into a power crunch driven by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence — and the nation’s energy grid is not ready for it, an executive behind a major new nuclear partnership warned recently. Jacob DeWitte is CEO of OKLO, a California-based advanced nuclear company focused on helping large energy users add grid power through private investment rather than traditional utilities. He joined Meta executive Joel Kaplan and Energy Secretary Chris Wright for an announcement in Washington. The Meta partnership will go a long way to add much-needed power to a key regional component of the national grid, DeWitte said, citing OKLO’s plans to develop a 1.2 GW installation in Pike County, Ohio, near the Hocking Hills. “I think one of the really exciting things about today is announcing the fact we’re going to be building a lot more power generation capabilities,” he said, quipping that southeastern Ohio used to be an “industrial cathedral” and now can see new commercial rebirth for the digital and AI age. WE’RE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE AISLE. BUT WE KNOW AMERICA MUST WIN THE AI RACE, OR ELSE “Smaller [nuclear] plants can be built more quickly and come online faster – then you shorten the learning curve. You reduce the cost both in time and money of iteration cycles to drive technological progress and bring these technologies that have huge promise forward in terms of cost reduction… energy dominance and energy reliability and energy abundance,” he said. Wright and President Donald Trump have helped companies like OKLO and Meta unleash this new energy potential, to not only increase power capacity and amend structural issues but also greatly reduce the regulatory burdens private companies tend to face from Washington, DeWitte added. With the advent of AI and its power needs, DeWitte said the U.S. energy system as it stands has “absolutely” not been able to keep up. MORNING GLORY: A PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP-BRANDED ENERGY DRINK? DeWitte warned that the U.S. needs to build out the power grid and invest in new installations like the Pike site: “We are going to run out of power capacity in this country in the next several years, especially in critical industrial markets like sort of the Midwest and Northeast. The PJM interconnection [which supports the Mid-Atlantic region] is going to be undersupplied with power generation in just a matter of a few years.” “The steps taken today are going to help alleviate that, but there’s going be a lot more that’s needed.” TRUMP SAYS EVERY AI PLANT BEING BUILT IN US WILL BE SELF-SUSTAINING WITH THEIR OWN ELECTRICITY DeWitte also addressed what he described as a common misconception surrounding the rise of data centers, which have sparked NIMBY backlash in parts of the country. “I think sometimes people conflate [that] building these data centers [will] drive prices up – that’s a scarcity mindset. We’re in a world of an abundance mindset, right?” he said. TRUMP ADMIN’S ENERGY AGENDA HAILED FOR CRUCIAL ‘WINS’ AS GREEN ACTIVISTS LASH OUT He said Meta is committing to a total of 6.6GW of new power, calling it a “huge amount of capacity” to fuel the needs of decades to come, and that nuclear is a very reliable energy source. DeWitte said one of the biggest structural choke points in bringing new energy online, and why the nation is running out of power, leading to price inflation, is the regulatory environment that has stymied growth for many years. That dynamic, he said, has been “fundamentally anti-energy.” BURGUM CALLS CALIFORNIA A ‘NATIONAL SECURITY RISK’ AS ENERGY CHIEF WARNS BLUE STATES ARE SKEWING COST AVERAGES But, DeWitte said, that dynamic is changing: “The unfortunate thing is we have to undo decades of… damage [from] not doing things to then overcome that inertia.” “Look at the states that have the worst energy… They’re largely states that have had the heaviest-handed anti-energy policies, and they’re the ones that are now facing some of the biggest challenges on that point, and they are also responding, which is encouraging.” OKLO, he said, was founded on the idea that nuclear fission can deliver massive amounts of reliable, affordable energy, noting nuclear power has some of the lowest fuel costs per megawatt-hour of any source. “Our view of that, though, is changing a couple of things, including the business model, [and the] deployment model, including how we think about size and technology. We see opportunities to go invest in and build significant generating capacity in areas that need it and have significant development opportunities around it,” he said, noting that brings the conversation full circle regarding its investment in the Ohio site. When asked whether U.S. energy woes are a regulatory or market failure, DeWitte said the issue is in red tape versus demand. “We, as a country, decided that we didn’t need to build new power capacity and instead masked the challenges it imposes on industrial and economic growth by shipping jobs and production overseas,” he said. “Then you’re just having those countries build power plants to power it. We need to bring that capability-set of manufacturing back to the country, but we need the energy to do it, and we don’t have it today.”
White House-backed GOP bill would revoke citizenship after Somali fraud scandal
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to dramatically expand the federal government’s ability to denaturalize a citizen with legislation built to withstand challenges in court. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., introduced his Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation (SCAM) Act to develop a series of wide-ranging legal triggers for the denaturalization process in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal. Schmitt’s legislation is designed to bolster the government’s ability to strip a naturalized person of their citizenship, but it does not stop at targeting just fraudsters. FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO HALT MORE THAN $10B IN FUNDING TO 5 STATES OVER NON-CITIZEN BENEFIT CONCERNS: REPORT The SCAM Act creates a 10-year window, post-naturalization that, if a person were to hit a series of triggers, would lower the threshold for the federal government to strike their citizenship and begin the deportation process. Among the acts that would fall under the scope of Schmitt’s legislation are whether a person defrauded a federal, state, local or tribal government of $10,000 or more, committed espionage, committed an aggravated felony, or is affiliated with a foreign terrorist organization. The lawmaker argued that people who trigger those requisites “must be denaturalized because they have proven they never met the requirements for the great honor of American citizenship in the first place.” SENATE REPUBLICANS EYE RECONCILIATION TO ADDRESS MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL “The rampant fraud uncovered in Minnesota must be a wakeup call,” Schmitt said. “People who commit felony fraud, serious felonies, or join terrorist organizations like drug cartels shortly after taking their citizenship oaths fail to uphold the basic standards of citizenship.” Schmitt’s legislation specifically targets the “good moral character” factor in the naturalization process, which requires a person to engage in moral and ethical conduct for up to five years before applying for citizenship. The bill would automatically and retroactively undermine that key step in the naturalization process and contends that the aforementioned acts committed post-naturalization act as proof that a person never qualified for citizenship in the first place. HOUSE GOP WHIP URGES CITIZENSHIP REVOCATIONS TIED TO MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEMES It also has a built-in mechanism to deal with challenges to the legislation in court, specifically to automatically switch out the 10-year window — if found unconstitutional — with a five-year window. His legislation also has the backing of the White House and was lauded by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security advisor. Prosecutors digging into the sprawling Minnesota fraud scandal estimate upward of $9 billion in stolen funds and have charged several native-Somali residents in connection with the boondoggle. “The Somali fraud scandal is one of the greatest financial scandals in American history,” Miller said. “All Somali refugees, or any other immigrants, who have committed fraud against the United States must be immediately denaturalized and deported.”
Nancy Pelosi faces social media backlash over behavior at Bob Weir tribute event
Former House Speaker and self-proclaimed “Deadhead” Nancy Pelosi drew swift online backlash after appearing at a tribute honoring Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir, with some social media users accusing her of bizarre behavior. Thousands gathered Saturday at San Francisco’s Civic Center to celebrate the life of Weir, who died earlier this month at age 78. The event drew longtime “Deadheads,” musicians and political figures, including Pelosi, according to FOX 2. Pelosi, 85, delivered a speech about Weir and appeared to sing and sway along on stage as musician John Mayer performed the Grateful Dead classic “Ripple.” During portions of her remarks, Pelosi appeared to stumble over her words while reflecting on Weir’s legacy. GRATEFUL DEAD SINGER WHO WORKED WITH ELVIS PRESLEY ON HIT SONG DIES AT 78 AFTER CANCER BATTLE “Bobby Weir was not just a magician, musician – a magician too – he was a force of nature,” Pelosi said at one point. Pelosi also used the moment to deliver a political message, encouraging attendees to vote. “[Weir] gave me this sign, and I’ll show it today, because I said Bobby really loved democracy, he loved our country,” she said, before holding up a sign reading “vote.” “You know what he wanted everybody to do? Vote!” Pelosi’s demeanor quickly drew online criticism. “Is Nancy Pelosi drunk at the Bob Weir Homecoming?” one user wrote on X. NANCY PELOSI WILL NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION, ENDING DECADES-LONG HOUSE CAREER Others criticized her wardrobe choice, noting that she wore a bright magenta suit while nearly everyone else on stage appeared to be dressed in all black. “Nancy Pelosi wearing a very somber magenta on stage at Bob Weir’s funeral,” one user joked on X. Some users also questioned why Pelosi, who announced in November that she will retire from Congress when her current term ends in 2027, was included in the event in the first place. GRATEFUL DEAD LEGEND BOB WEIR DIES AT AGE 78 SURROUNDED BY FAMILY AFTER CANCER BATTLE “Why is [Nancy] Pelosi speaking at this Bob Weir memorial,” one user questioned on X. “My bingo card today didn’t include Nancy Pelosi singing ‘Ripple’ along with John Mayer at the Bobby Weir send off,” another user wrote. The public tribute also featured appearances by folk icon Joan Baez and country singer Wynonna Judd, FOX 2 reported. Weir died on Jan. 10, a statement from his family on his Instagram page confirmed. “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” the statement said, adding that he succumbed to lung problems. Nancy Pelosi could not be immediately reached for comment. Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
Newsom defies Trump administration, declares free parks for MLK Day
A month after President Donald Trump scrapped free national parks entry on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Gov. Gavin Newsom is responding – opening more than 200 California state parks for free to honor Dr. King while calling out Trump’s move. Last month, the Trump administration reshaped when Americans can enter national parks for free, scrapping Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth and National Public Lands Day from the 2026 calendar. In their place, the administration added a slate of historically themed or presidentially themed dates. Flag day – which also happens to be Trump’s birthday – becomes a fee-free day for the first time, along with Constitution Day, the 110th anniversary of the National Park Service and the birthday of Theodore Roosevelt. Newsom announced Friday that, ahead of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, he is directing California State Parks to offer free admission at more than 200 participating parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP SUES TRUMP FOR REPLACING NATIONAL PARK PASS PHOTO WITH HIS OWN IMAGE “While Trump works to erase Dr. King’s legacy, California will honor it,” Newsom said in a press release. “Dr. King taught us that ‘darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.’ While the Trump administration tries to erase his legacy and turn national parks and monuments into places of exclusion and fear, California answers with light.” “That’s why I’m announcing free entry at California State Parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026 – because Dr. King’s legacy deserves to be honored, not erased,” Newsom continued. “I’m encouraging all Californians to get outside on MLK Day, spend time in nature, reflect on Dr. King’s legacy, and reaffirm our commitment to advancing civil rights for all.” Free entry applies to vehicle day-use fees only and is available at more than 200 participating California state parks statewide, according to the governor’s office. NATIONAL PARK GIFT SHOPS ARE ORDERED TO PURGE BIAS-DRIVEN DEI AND WOKE MERCHANDISE Free vehicle entry is being made possible by the California State Parks Foundation rather than taxpayer dollars. The foundation’s investment is intended to keep the state parks running while also planting seeds for a lifetime of connection to the state’s “natural and cultural treasures,” Newsom’s office said. Democratic leaders framed the move as a direct rebuke of the Trump administration’s actions. TRUMP ADDS HIS BIRTHDAY AS FREE NATIONAL PARK DAY WHILE AXING MLK DAY AND JUNETEENTH “As the federal government eliminates fee-free park days for holidays that celebrate Black history, California continues to revel in the glory of our civil rights pioneers,” state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson said. “Opening our parks for everyone to enjoy encourages loved ones to come together, give back, and honor Dr. King’s legacy while enjoying the natural beauty of the Golden State.” Some of the parks offering free entry include Big Basin Redwoods, Half Moon Bay, Sugarloaf Ridge, Doheny, Wildwood Canyon Park Property, Folsom Lake, Bidwell Mansion and Lake Oroville. Some parks will still require a fee, including off-highway vehicle recreation areas, parks with per-person or tour fees such as Hearst Castle and locations operated by partner organizations. A full list of participating parks is available at parks.ca.gov/MLKDay2026.
Wife of former American detainee released after more than a year in Venezuelan prison
The wife of a once-detained American citizen was released this week after being held for more than a year in a Venezuelan prison following their arrest while traveling to the South American nation to meet her family. Renzo Humanchumo Castillo, a Peruvian- American who was detained for close to a year by Venezuelan authorities, told Fox News Digital that his Venezuelan wife, Rosa Carolina Chirino Zambrano, as well as her friend and the taxi driver they were with, were released after being imprisoned and charged with espionage due to their contact with him. He spoke with Zambrano following her release, he said, their first contact since December 2024 when they were confronted by Venezuelan authorities near the country’s border with Colombia. TRUMP PLANS TO MEET WITH VENEZUELA OPPOSITION LEADER MARIA CORINA MACHADO NEXT WEEK “It was surreal,” Castillo recalled of the conversation. “She got teary, you know, but she was like… ‘hey baby, I’m out.’ Now my main concern is how do I get her here with me.” Castillo, who lives in Southern California, was detained after crossing the border into Venezuela, along with his wife and her friend, who were in a taxi. After being questioned at length by Venezuelan authorities, he was charged with terrorism and conspiring to kill Nicolas Maduro, then the country’s president, who was recently captured by U.S. forces in a daring military operation. “They got me as a professional hitman sent by the CIA, and (that) I was there to overthrow the government and kill Maduro and Diosdado (Cabello),” Castillo said. Diosdado Cabello, known as the “octopus,” runs Venezuela’s security apparatus and is considered one of the country’s most feared government figures. The U.S. has accused him of narco-terrorism and several other crimes. The State Department has issued a $25 million reward for his arrest and conviction. “Cabello, he presented me on the news, and then he put me on a chart saying that I came here to overthrow the government,” Castillo said. “Me and some other Americans.” After spending months in Venezuela’s notorious “El Rodeo” prison, Castillo was freed in a prisoner swap in July 2025. However, his wife remained in detention. FROM SANCTIONS TO SEIZURE: WHAT MADURO’S CAPTURE MEANS FOR VENEZUELA’S ECONOMY Castillo said he was initially questioned by Venezuelan authorities who accused him of being a “commando” or some kind of military operator. A search of his cell phone only heightened their suspicions when they found images of him wearing a protective vest and other tactical gear. However, Castillo said he works in private security and executive protection and has never served in the military. The gear was used for work, he said. He was eventually detained and transferred to “El Rodeo” where he endured beatings and other forms of torture, he said. In one instance, he was hung by his arms like a piñata and beaten. “They had me hanging. And like my feet were still kind of touching the floor,” he said. “They just hit me for maybe at least five to eight hours, just hanging… just not even questions anymore. But you can feel the joy, how much they wanted to hit me, hurt me, you know?” Castillo got in trouble several times while at the prison, he said, for speaking out of a window in his cell where he would sometimes get updates on events outside the facility. Stressed about not knowing what happened to his wife, he went on a hunger strike in an effort to write a letter to her, he said. TRUMP TO MEET WITH VENEZUELA’S OPPOSITION LEADER AFTER PRAISING ‘TERRIFIC’ MADURO LOYALIST Castillo met Zambrano during a visit to Peru to reunite with old classmates from grade school. One night, he went to a bar with friends where the pair met and struck up a friendship. That was followed by multiple trips to Peru, where she lived, before they got married. On his last journey, the couple met in Colombia and traveled via road to her home country to meet his in-laws for the first time, Castillo said. After crossing the Colombia-Venezuela border, they were separately detained and their misfortune began. Since Zambrano is a Venezuelan citizen, she was not part of the prisoner swap that freed her husband. Despite now being free, she remains under the watchful eye of the Venezuelan government, Castillo said. In the meantime, Castillo is working to get Zambrano to California. He said he plans to reach out to the State Department. Despite his wife’s citizenship status, his optimism heightened following Maduro’s capture earlier this month. “It was that moment when, inside of me, I felt I was going to be able to see my wife again,” he said. “The chances of me seeing my wife again just went from like, from nothing to like a hundred. It really lifted my spirit.” 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TRUMP’S PUSH TO PUT US OIL FIRMS BACK IN VENEZUELA “It took Americans and it took foreigners to be kidnapped for the world to put eyes on Venezuela,” he said. On Tuesday, Venezuela’s interim government released at least four Americans imprisoned during Maduro’s regime. The release was the first involving U.S. citizens since Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces. “We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela,” a State Department official said Tuesday. “This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.” On Wednesday, Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said she spoke with President Donald Trump by phone during a “long and courteous” conversation. The pair discussed a “bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our peoples, as well as pending matters between our governments.” On Truth Social, Trump said topics of discussion included oil, minerals, trade and national security. “This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL. Venezuela will soon be great and prosperous again, perhaps more so than ever before!” he wrote. Castillo praised the Trump administration for addressing the Maduro regime and his action in Venezuela.
Why Trump zeroed in on Greenland and why it matters in 3 maps
Greenland rarely draws global attention. But as ice melts and great powers inch closer, the world’s largest island has become a strategic prize — one that caught President Donald Trump’s eye long before most Americans were paying attention. A semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, Greenland is home to a key U.S. military base and has become increasingly important to global security and trade as melting ice opens new shipping lanes and access to natural resources. That shift underscores the serious geopolitical calculation behind Trump’s interest in the island’s location, military value and the rapidly changing Arctic. TRUMP’S PUSH TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND SPARKS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA FRENZY ON REMOTE ISLAND Greenland is divided into five municipalities, with most of its roughly 56,000 residents living in small coastal towns, leaving the island’s vast interior largely uninhabited. Put another way, Greenland has roughly one person for every 1,000 soccer fields of land. Greenland’s sparse population is largely a product of its geography. Roughly 80% of the island is covered by an ice sheet formed about 3 million years ago, leaving vast areas of the territory uninhabitable. Despite its small population, Greenland occupies a landmass comparable to global powers. By land area, it ranks among the world’s largest territories — a scale that has drawn attention from countries such as the United States, Russia and China as competition in the Arctic intensifies. It is nearly the size of Alaska and Texas combined. Greenland’s location off Canada’s northeastern coast places it at the heart of Arctic defense planning. The U.S. has maintained a military outpost in northwestern Greenland since 1953 at the Pituffik Space Base, now operated by the U.S. Space Force. Russia also maintains several military installations in the region, while China has sought greater access since declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018. But geography isn’t the only reason Greenland draws global interest. Retreating Arctic ice is opening shipping lanes around the island that could significantly shorten trade routes between North America, Europe and Asia, adding an economic layer to its strategic importance. The changing landscape has also drawn attention to Greenland’s deposits of rare earth elements and other critical minerals essential to modern technology, renewable energy and military systems. TRUMP THREATENS TARIFFS ON COUNTRIES OPPOSING GREENLAND TAKEOVER PLANS Rare earth elements — a group of 17 minerals — sit at the center of modern economies and militaries. They allow electronics to be smaller, more powerful and more efficient and are especially important in high-performance magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, generators and precision guidance systems. Their importance is even more pronounced in defense, where rare earths are used in missile guidance, radar, sonar, satellites and advanced aircraft. Because many of these applications have no easy substitutes, access to rare earths directly affects military readiness and technological advantage. The world’s largest rare earth deposits are found in China, Vietnam, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Greenland and the United States. But China dominates the supply chain, accounting for roughly 60% of global mining and more than 90% of processing capacity. The United States lacks a reliable, end-to-end supply chain for rare earths, leaving it dependent on foreign sources. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE As the U.S. and European Union seek to reduce their reliance on China, Greenland has emerged as a potential counterweight to Beijing’s dominance and a focal point in the competition over critical minerals. Whether the Trump administration is able to strike a deal to take over Greenland remains unclear. But as ice melts and competition in the Arctic intensifies, the island’s strategic importance is only likely to grow.