LGBTQ group reveals which Dem nominee is sponsoring Halloween event featuring drag shows
As the Trump administration’s efforts have choked off federal funding for LGBTQ groups, Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of Atlanta and Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, is sponsoring an upcoming Halloween event open to children that will include drag shows. “From 5-8, the little monsters roam free trick-or-treating through spooky trails and glowing Halloween worlds, and when night falls, the hallo queen show explodes with music, costumes and pure Halloween spectacle,” ColGay Pride, an LGBTQ+ group based in Columbus, Georgia, said in a video. Notably, the group’s programming states that the “adults-only” portion of the night, which includes the drag shows, will begin after 9 p.m. Even so, Lance Bottoms’ support of the Halloween event, which includes a haunted walk, s’mores, an adult-and-kids costume contest — all centered around gender expression — adds to her record of supporting LGBTQ-related content around children. POWERFUL LGBTQ+ GROUP’S ENDORSEMENTS COULD TANK VULNERABLE DEMS OVER RADICAL YOUTH TRANS AGENDA ColGay Pride describes its goal as “promoting diversity, inclusion and equality for the LGBTQ community in Columbus and the surrounding areas and create a supportive and affirming environment through our programs and events.” The group, which is throwing its final Halloween celebration after 13 years, said President Donald Trump’s federal funding cuts had made it dependent on individual contributions. “We are closing our doors next year,” the group wrote. “It has become far too difficult to raise money when our financial aid was cut off completely under Trump, when our own citizens — the very people we have served for twenty years — do not donate. Sometimes you simply reach a point where enough is enough.” The group thanked Lance Bottoms for her support in a post to Facebook with a “digital sponsorship certificate.” It’s unclear how much she contributed to the event. Bottoms’ gubernatorial bid has been complicated by political liabilities. The Campaign Finance Commission fined her $37,000 in 2021 for accepting over $60,000 in contributions that exceeded legal limits and $110,000 that exceeded debt caps. She also announced that she would not pursue re-election as mayor of Atlanta amid a COVID-19 crime during which homicides spiked by 58% over levels from the year before. In addition to those controversies, Bottoms has received criticism from conservatives for her stances on gender policy. GOP FRONTRUNNER IN KEY GUBERNATORIAL RACE FORCED TO ANSWER ABOUT HIRING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: ‘I DON’T KNOW’ Recently, in a gubernatorial debate, the former mayor said she would have vetoed the Riley Gaines Act, a piece of legislation that banned biological men from competing in women’s sports. “I believe that decisions about who competes and how people compete shouldn’t be happening at the state Capitol. I don’t support the government making decisions about who should compete in athletics. I believe that decision should be left to respective athletic associations,” Bottoms said. That comment, in particular, has become a key campaign quote for her opponent, Rick Jackson, a businessman and the Republican nominee to replace outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, as they set out to attack Bottoms’ far-left positions on issues of gender and sexuality. “Keisha Bottoms and the other Democrats said they’d have vetoed the Riley Gaines Act. They won’t protect girls’ sports, but they will open the floodgates for woke ideology in our schools. We’re going to make sure they don’t get the chance,” the campaign said in a post to X, highlighting the debate moment. Bottoms’ sponsorship of the upcoming Halloween event isn’t the first time she has supported drag-themed activities. In 2019, as mayor, she invited Ms. Terra Cotta Sugarbaker, a drag queen, to host a story hour after the Fulton County library system removed a scheduled “drag queen story time” from its events. “Ms. Terra Cotta Sugarbaker and all our LGBTQ friends are always welcome at Atlanta City Hall. How about we host your next story hour? Let’s make it happen!” she wrote in a post to X. RILEY GAINES AND MYKAYLA SKINNER SEND MESSAGE TO SIMONE BILES ON WOMEN’S SPORTS DEBATE AFTER SCOTUS RULING The Bottoms campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the upcoming event, what was included in her sponsorship or whether it was appropriate to have children present for events centered around sexuality and gender expression. Having cleared her primary, Bottoms will face off against Jackson in the state’s Nov. 3, 2025, general election.
Woman accused of defacing WWII Memorial with spray paint indicted by federal grand jury
The woman accused of vandalizing the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., was formally indicted Friday, Fox News Digital has learned. Melissa Farris was charged on two counts, including destruction of a veterans’ memorial and destruction of government property. The Kentucky woman allegedly spray-painted the words “Clean hands, dirty money” in bright pink paint and dumped bubble soap into the fountain at the center of the memorial, according to authorities. WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL ON NATIONAL MALL VANDALIZED WITH PINK SPRAY; FOUNTAIN OVERFLOWING WITH BUBBLES Federal prosecutors allege that cleanup and restoration costs already exceeded $1,000. Farris did a Facebook live before turning herself in and her arrest Aug. 14, in which she admitted to the alleged vandalism the day before. “It’s me. I am going to turn myself in,” she said. “I’m outside district federal court. I am just trying to do the right thing. … I was trying to get people to listen. … I tried to reach the media. I tried to fight back. I tried to ignore it.” Farris claimed she lived in a paper-thin camper that she “boarded up with cardboard in the winter to feel a little bit warmer.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for comment. WWII MEMORIAL VANDALISM SUSPECT IN CUSTODY, CHARGED WITH TWO FELONIES, PIRRO SAYS “Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in a statement after Farris was charged. “Those Americans include my father and grandfather.” Pirro said the charges carry penalties of up to ten years in prison. “Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” President Donald Trump wrote earlier this month on Truth Social. “THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR II. First the Reflecting Pool, now this. We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from???” Several people, including Olympic canoeist David Hearn, were arrested in June for allegedly vandalizing the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but the charges were dropped earlier this month. TRUMP BLAMES VANDALS FOR DEAD GRASS ON NATIONAL MALL WHERE HE HOSTED 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION Prosecutors cited evidence indicating the damage may have stemmed from a botched renovation rather than vandalism. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Aug. 16 said he “absolutely” supported Pirro’s decision to drop the charges, “as does President Trump,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Trump has spoken out against the decision this month, saying he “disagrees 100%” with Pirro’s decision. Fox News’ Robert McGreevy, Bonny Chu and Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.
Reagan-era official warns ‘red-green alliance’ has shared goal of ‘destroying’ America
A former Reagan administration national security official is sounding the alarm over what he calls a growing “red-green alliance” between radical Islamists and far-left socialists, warning the unlikely ideological partners are joining forces around a shared anti-American agenda. Frank Gaffney sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the growing influence of the Democratic Socialists of America and what he believes are the true intentions and potential threats to U.S. national security. “One can argue that the Sharia supremacists are pursuing communism with a God, or at least a patina, a veneer of religiosity to it,” Gaffney explained. “Fundamentally, they’re at the hip in totalitarianism. Yes, with different outcomes in mind, but still perfectly willing to make common cause for the immediate shared objective of destroying the United States, which stands in the way of either of their ambitions.” DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS SEIZE THE MOMENT WITH EXTREME, ANTI-AMERICAN VIEWS THAT BADLY TARNISH THE PARTY “So that’s where we find ourselves at the moment — with a red-green axis that seeks the destruction of our country and is making that a goal being pursued now in the Democratic Party.” Gaffney served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy under former President Ronald Reagan and graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Arts in international studies from Johns Hopkins University. He founded the Center for Security Policy think tank in Washington, D.C., in 1988 and currently serves as the president of the Institute for the American Future. The “red-green alliance” describes the political cooperation between far-left movements, represented by the color red, and Islamist movements, represented by green. ISRAEL, JEWS TARGETED WORLDWIDE AS WELL-FUNDED LEFTIST, ISLAMIST GROUPS JOIN FOR ‘NAKBA 78’ PROTESTS The Reagan-era official argued that while the far left and Islamists have different ultimate goals, they share a common adversary in the American constitutional system, which he said stands in the way of both movements’ ambitions. These concepts were recently debated during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Confronting the Muslim Brotherhood Network in America” that took place earlier this month. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, questioned Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, about whether the Muslim Brotherhood partners with groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and characterized that relationship as the “Red-Green Alliance.” COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT WARNS ABDUL EL-SAYED SENATE BID RAISES HOMELAND SECURITY CONCERNS Shideler agreed with Cruz’s characterization and said he has seen evidence that the “red-green alliance” shares a “revolutionary objective” to squash Americanism, including the Constitution. “This threat cannot be ignored because it is politically inconvenient,” Cruz posted to X. “A counterterrorism expert testified that the Muslim Brotherhood and the DSA are united by a shared hatred of America — and a revolutionary objective to overthrow the U.S. Constitution.” AGITATORS UNITED BY CHINESE MONEY, HATE FOR AMERICA TARGET DATA CENTERS, EXPERTS WARN Gaffney agreed with the sentiment during his interview with Fox News Digital, taking it one step further to say the two movements are “perfectly willing to make common cause” around what he described as an “immediate shared objective of destroying the United States.” TRUMP ADMIN ACCUSES HAMAS OF BACKING GAZA FLOTILLA, SANCTIONS ACTIVIST AND MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD NETWORKS “What they have in common is much more important than their differences,” Gaffney explained. The “red-green alliance” has also been scrutinized by some Muslim critics of radical Islamism. In May, Fox News Digital spoke with Dalia Ziada, a Muslim scholar who was forced to flee Egypt after criticizing Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. She said that the nexus of radical Islamism with the radical left in the “red-green alliance” threatened the U.S., American politics and Western society. “For five or seven years now, we have been seeing some kind of a ‘sinful marriage’ between the radical left and radical Islamism, the groups that hate Western liberal democracies and desire to destroy them,” she told Fox News Digital. A Fox News Digital investigation found roughly 425 organizations spanning communist groups, Muslim advocacy organizations and anti-Israel activist coalitions are part of a coordinated transnational protest network that collectively brings in about $1 billion in annual revenue.
Antifa-linked sites go dark after State Department terror designation of tech collective
Websites tied to Portland’s Rose City Antifa and the militant abortion-rights group Jane’s Revenge began going dark in the days after the State Department designated their Italy-based technology provider a global terrorist entity. Fox News Digital first reported this week that the State Department had designated Autistici/Inventati, known as the A/I Collective, as a specially designated global terrorist over its alleged support for violent far-left networks. “Today’s news demonstrates the extent to which the A/I Collective was the digital infrastructure of the global Antifa terror network,” a State Department official told Fox News Digital. RUBIO PUTS ENTIRE WORLD ON NOTICE AGAINST RISE OF ‘POISONOUS’ FAR-LEFT TERROR ‘MASKED AS EQUALITY’ “Just one day after the extremist collective was designated as a specially designated global terrorist, an untold number of servers and websites — used by far-left extremists to plot violent attacks, target federal agents, and conceal their crimes from law enforcement — have been shut down,” the official said. Among them was Rose City Counter-Info, a Portland-based website the State Department says Rose City Antifa used to publish personal information about Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and organize violent activity against federal agents. 15 ANTIFA RADICALS INDICTED, 12 ARRESTED IN SWEEPING FEDERAL PROBE INTO MINNEAPOLIS ANTI-ICE OPERATIONS The State Department said the group used the site to distribute an online flyer urging supporters to use laser pointers against Customs and Border Protection helicopters. Federal records show one man later pleaded guilty to aiming a laser at a CBP helicopter, forcing the aircraft to abort a planned landing. Jane’s Revenge also used A/I services to publish communiqués claiming responsibility for attacks on pregnancy centers and to incite copycat violence, according to the State Department. The group claimed responsibility for the May 2022 firebombing of a crisis pregnancy center in Madison, Wisconsin. The NoBlogs platform, which is hosted by A/I and contains thousands of sites, was intermittently unavailable Friday. Some individual pages remained accessible while others returned errors or timed out. The State Department has not said whether any U.S. agency directly disabled A/I infrastructure or whether the outages resulted from decisions by the collective, its vendors or its users after the designation. FBI SAYS NEW MISSION CENTER HAS IDENTIFIED ‘NEFARIOUS’ PROTEST FUNDING AND SUBJECTS The sanctions action blocks Americans and U.S. financial institutions from doing business with A/I and freezes any assets it holds under U.S. jurisdiction. The State Department says A/I provided encrypted chat and email services, web hosting, secure video tools and anonymity services to violent left-wing groups in the United States and Europe. The department also said a media organization using A/I services disseminated material from Hamas, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah and other designated terrorist groups. A/I denied the allegations in a statement posted on a NoBlogs-hosted page. The collective described itself as “a small, volunteer-run, technology collective from Italy” that provides tools for “digital self-defense.” SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “We will not back down,” the group said. “Antifascism and anticapitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism. “The terror designation of the A/I Collective dealt a devastating blow to the transnational far-left networks that have plagued America and our allies for years,” the State Department official said.
Trump calls ISS crew from Houston to praise space pioneers and offer ‘Oval Office time’
President Donald Trump on Friday spoke with American astronauts aboard the International Space Station from Houston, where he honored the Artemis II crew moments earlier. Trump joked at the beginning of the phone call that many Americans would love to travel to space. “I wouldn’t do it,” he said from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “I hate to admit it. I would not want to do it. But some people love it more than anything.” TRUMP TO TRANSFORM SPACEFLIGHT FROM SPECTACLE TO STATUS QUO TARGETING 3 LAUNCHES PER DAY The astronauts said they were “thrilled” to speak with Trump and that they were “in the middle of several spacewalks,” with another one planned for next week. Trump called the crew a group of “pioneers” for their efforts in space exploration. He welcomed other officials to speak to the ISS crew and offered to welcome the astronauts to the White House when they return. ‘WOKE’ MILITARY ACADEMIES TARGETED IN NEW BLUEPRINT FOR SWEEPING WARFIGHTING OVERHAUL “We’re going to see you when you get back,” he said. “In fact, if you want Oval Office time, right?” A short time earlier, Trump honored the crew of the Artemis II with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and signed an executive order establishing the U.S. Space Force Academy. “It will be at that same level when you serve West Point, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, Annapolis,” Trump said, comparing it to the other U.S. military academies. “It’s going to be at that level.”
Illegal immigrant tuition perks put 4 states in Trump DOJ crosshairs
The Trump administration filed lawsuits against four states Thursday over laws allowing illegal immigrants to receive financial benefits offered to state residents, including in-state tuition, state grants and state-funded student loans. The Justice Department argued that laws in Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona allowing illegal immigrants to receive benefits are in violation of a federal law that states an illegal immigrant is ineligible to receive higher education in-state benefits unless those same benefits are available to every U.S. student. “This is a simple matter of federal law: Colleges cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.” DOJ SUES NEW JERSEY OVER LAWS GIVING ILLEGAL ALIENS IN-STATE TUITION, SAYS CITIZENS TREATED AS ‘SECOND-CLASS’ The latest lawsuits bring the number of states facing legal challenges over laws granting illegal immigrant students the same benefits as lawful residents to 21. The Justice Department has won its cases in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois. “Our efforts will not cease until President Trump’s promise is fulfilled: Illegal aliens will not receive benefits denied to American citizens,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said in a statement. The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition costs at public universities in the four states is significant. The complaint showed that for the 2026-2027 school year, Washington residents would pay $13,406, compared with $44,460 for out-of-state students at the University of Washington. This means illegal immigrants could receive a $31,054 discount if they earned a high school diploma or equivalent in the state, lived there for at least one year for reasons other than attending college and signed an affidavit saying they would seek permanent residency when eligible. TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES NEW YORK, OTHER BLUE STATES OVER TUITION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Arizona also showed a significant difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition costs, with the largest gap at Arizona State University totaling $24,448. The lawsuit alleged that in fall 2025, 432 illegal immigrants received in-state tuition benefits at Arizona State University amounting to $10.5 million in reduced tuition. The lawsuit also cites a report from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting that estimates more than 3,600 illegal aliens per year could qualify for in-state tuition under Arizona’s law. A spokesperson for the Arizona Board of Regents, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the school system follows state law. “We are reviewing the lawsuit and will work closely with Arizona leaders on the appropriate next steps,” a spokesperson said. The benefits extend beyond tuition costs. COURT CHECKS PRITZKER AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SCORES ANOTHER IMMIGRATION WIN In Oregon, only in-state students enrolled at Oregon Health & Science University can receive a Rural Nurse Scholars Scholarship, which covers the full cost of tuition and a $1,500 travel stipend. The Justice Department alleges that illegal immigrants are eligible for the scholarship under state law. In Washington, not only do illegal immigrants qualify for in-state tuition and grants, but the state also created a financial aid program for illegal immigrants living in the state who are unable to obtain federal financial aid. The program is known as the Undocumented Student Support Loan Program, and it was created under a bill passed in 2020. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he stands by the state’s laws. “Washington state won’t be bullied into changing how we provide opportunities for young people in our state,” Ferguson said. “We’ll see them in court, and we expect to win.” A June 2024 report estimated that roughly 408,000 illegal immigrants were enrolled in higher education, with 29.1% arriving in the United States at age 17 or older. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Lawsuits are pending in Minnesota, Virginia, California, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, Colorado, New York, Connecticut and Vermont. Fox News Digital reached out to Oregon, New Mexico and Arizona’s governors’ offices for comment.
El-Sayed dragged over ‘weird’ fixation on ‘talking about other people’s wives’ after latest Trump attack
The Abdul-El Sayed campaign on Thursday launched an attack aimed at White House aide Natalie Harp just a week after attacking second lady Usha Vance in a similarly vicious manner. After President Donald Trump’s edict renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America during a heated trade battle with Canada the El-Sayed campaign waded into the fray on X. “If we’re just renaming everything now… When are we making this official?” the campaign said in its post, adding a doctored image of the official White House webpage for first lady Melania Trump, crossing out her name and replacing it with Harp’s. The post was quickly criticized by conservatives on social media. HOUSE DEM’S ‘LAKE NATALIE’ JAB AT TRUMP AIDE SETS SOCIAL MEDIA ABLAZE: ‘STAY CLASSY’ “This is just such a weak, phoned-in effort,” GOP communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X. “My four year-old could come up with better burns than this. “Weird how much time this campaign spends talking about other people‘s wives. When Abdul’s not talking about (and clearly thinking a lot about) the vice president and his wife, apparently he’s thinking about President Trump and his wife?” “That boy Abdul is drowning, and his team keeps throwing him bricks,” journalist James David Dickson posted on X. “So this is just gross, right?” Conservative advocacy group Michigan Forward posted on X. SECOND LADY USHA VANCE FIRES BACK AT POINTED JAB FROM DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINEE ABDUL EL-SAYED “A lil more sexism and misogyny from the Left,” political commentator Melik Abdul posted on X. “This time, it’s from the Guy who plays foootsie with Hasan Piker.” Harp is a longtime Trump supporter who credited his first-term “right to try” order for saving her life after a serious battle with bone cancer. She then joined the second Trump administration as an aide to the president. In recent weeks, Harp has become the subject of intense media scrutiny and online speculation about the nature of her relationship with Trump. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER In a post over the weekend responding to Vice President JD Vance’s comments that his grandfather, whom he called Pawpaw, would be shocked to know that El-Sayed is a serious U.S. Senate contender, the socialist-aligned candidate from Michigan responded by invoking second lady Usha Vance, who is of Indian descent. “So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no…,” El-Sayed wrote on X. Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign. “Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, who wants to massively raise taxes and defund the police, was just recently exposed for saying American football is ‘toxic masculinity’ and trashing Thanksgiving,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital. “Everything this radical says is moronic.”
Trump election fraud crackdown lands first arrest, putting longtime critics in White House crosshairs
The first arrest in what a Trump administration prosecutor says will be a broader election fraud crackdown was announced Friday in Los Angeles, and the White House seized on the case to hit back at longtime critics. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced a Honduran national was charged with two felony counts and could face deportation if convicted, while criticizing California’s current voter registration safeguards and renewing DOJ demands for a voter roll audit. “Today’s arrest is the first of many to come. Unfortunately, because states like California allow non-citizens to easily register to vote and receive a ballot by mail, there’s no telling how many non-citizens are currently registered to vote,” Essayli said in a statement announcing the capture of Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores. CALIFORNIA ACCUSED OF BLOCKING FEDERAL VOTER ROLL AUDIT AS DOJ ESCALATES PROBE OF ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS “We again renew our request that California immediately comply with our requests to audit their voter rolls so that all voters can have confidence in our elections.” Fox News Digital reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom for comment. Rivera Flores, of the Winnetka neighborhood west of Van Nuys, was charged with fraudulent voter registration and false claim of U.S. citizenship. He did not vote in an election, according to the DOJ. Rivera Flores entered the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration and was a green card holder, but was not a U.S. citizen, according to an affidavit. FOUR NONCITIZENS CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2020, 2022 AND 2024 FEDERAL ELECTIONS IN NEW JERSEY He was previously charged with a misdemeanor for “disrupting immigration law enforcement operations” at a federal building in Camarillo, California, and sentenced to one year of probation. Rivera Flores also allegedly sent a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent a slew of taunting text messages, calling the officer “not the good guy” and saying he could not “wait until the midterms” because he believed the agent would not have qualified immunity, legal protection that can shield law enforcement officers from certain civil claims arising from their official conduct. Text messages between Rivera Flores and the agent reviewed by Fox News show several profane jabs directed at the officer, including, “How you f—ing treat people … that’s not f—ing protecting, you’re hurting these people,” and, “Chris, you know you’re a b—-, right.” CLICK BELOW TO READ THE AFFIDAVIT Rivera Flores obtained the agent’s number after the agent unblocked it on his government-issued phone to contact him during an investigation, according to the affidavit. The White House said Rivera Flores’ case indicates mainstream media and political critics are off base in their countervailing reporting and allegations about the existence of voter fraud. “Despite the media and Democrats claiming it never happens, the evidence of noncitizens registering to vote in our elections continues to pile up,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital. “Any non-citizens found registering to vote and voting in our elections will be held accountable. Only Americans should be electing American leaders.” WATCH: TRUMP DOJ VOWS TO PURSUE ‘EVERY SINGLE’ VOTING VIOLATION AFTER NJ ROLL SHOCKER CNN HOST ADMITS HE WAS WRONG TO SAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT VOTING ‘NEVER HAPPENS’ AFTER NEW JERSEY ERROR Essayli said the case bolsters the DOJ’s demand that California comply with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s request for a comprehensive voter roll audit. Dhillon said in a statement that noncitizens who “commit fraud so they can vote in American elections” violate federal law and should expect to be prosecuted. “Let this criminal complaint serve as a reminder that the Justice Department stands ready to enforce the laws Congress enacted to ensure only American citizens vote in federal elections.” SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Californians will decide in November whether to impose additional voter ID and citizenship-verification requirements. Under current law, people registering to vote must state, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens and provide identifying information. The initiative is being led by state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego. Fox News’ Matt Finn contributed to this report.
Trump border wall construction kicks off in Arizona amid clash with Native American tribe
The Trump administration has started construction of a section of a border wall in Arizona despite objections from a Native American tribe. The wall is part of a $46 billion effort to shore up the southern border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and technology designed to stop illegal immigration and smuggling. However, the Tohono O’odham Nation has said the construction will damage land sacred to the tribe, The Associated Press reported. MULLIN TELLS CONGRESS PRIMARY BORDER WALL WILL BE DONE BY JUNE 2027, SECONDARY WALL BY SUMMER 2028 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the desert spanning the Tohono O’odham Nation, which sits on both sides of the border, is a major corridor for drug smuggling. “The project will close one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border — remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths and cartel activity,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. TRUMP TO SHRINK 2 UTAH NATIONAL MONUMENTS BY 90% The tribe, which has 37,000 members, including many who live in Mexico, sued the federal government in June in an attempt to halt the project. The lawsuit argued the construction would cause “significant devastation” on the reservation, including the destruction of mountain peaks sacred to the tribe. TRUMP SCORES MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORY AS JUDGE CLEARS WAY TO END TPS PROTECTIONS FOR THOUSANDS OF SOMALIS A federal judge rejected the argument, siding with the government and noting that the border wall would be built on a 60-foot-wide buffer zone of federally owned land called the Roosevelt Reservation. “Defendants have not yet articulated plans to construct outside the Roosevelt Reservation,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., wrote in his opinion. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NAMES ROSARIO ‘PETE’ VASQUEZ TO SERVE AS NEXT US BORDER PATROL CHIEF The tribe said the construction still constitutes trespassing, even if the project is contained to the Roosevelt Reservation. The tribe set up “No Trespassing” signs this week and said masked CBP agents set up a vehicle blockade to stop tribal police from removing the contractors. “The contractors, who are on the Nation illegally, were accompanied by agents as they worked on three separate locations near the border with drill trucks to conduct soil sampling and other activities,” tribal officials said in a statement. The tribe said it was exploring other legal means to remove the contractors. Fox News Digital has reached out to CBP and the Tohono O’odham Nation for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump signs order creating new Space Academy akin to West Point; its location will be determined
President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to establish the U.S. Space Academy. Trump said the location of the academy was yet to be determined but compared its significance to that of the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. The U.S. Space Academy will be for students looking to enter the U.S. Space Force, a new branch of the military Trump created during his first term. The president said it will also serve NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry. OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD FIX FOR DATA CENTER BACKLASH COULD BE ON NASA’S HORIZON “We’re going to have an academy for what the people in this room love the most. That’s exciting. That’s really exciting. And I’m going to be choosing a location very shortly,” Trump said during remarks at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The other purpose of the event was to award the four Artemis II astronauts with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. More than a dozen astronauts stood behind Trump throughout his remarks. After signing the executive order, Trump presented the vaunted award, which was first given to Neil Armstrong in 1978, to all four members of the Artemis II crew. The crew consists of NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, the mission commander; NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the pilot; NASA astronaut Christina Koch, a mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist. “We gather here on these storied grounds to celebrate the immense courage and service of four intrepid space heroes whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth and anyone has ever traveled before. Incredible,” Trump said. Trump called the crew members “great people,” also thanking the engineers and scientists who worked on the Artemis II mission. “Mr. President, it means a lot that you are here at the Johnson Space Center. It underscores the important work that is going on here in Mission Control, in furthering human exploration,” Wiseman said when he was called up to speak. “Thank you for coming here today.” NASA MOON BASE: ADMINISTRATOR JARED ISAACMAN DETAILS PLANS FOR LONG-TERM PRESENCE The Artemis II astronauts launched aboard the Orion spacecraft April 1, 2026, and spent nearly 10 days traveling around the moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean April 10. Their trajectory took them as far as 252,756 miles from Earth, farther than any humans had traveled before. Unlike past missions to the moon, the Artemis II team did not touch down on the lunar surface. Its mission was to fly around the moon while testing the spacecraft and systems NASA plans to use for future lunar landings. NASA says the mission served as a stepping stone for Artemis III, which is scheduled for 2027 and will involve a series of challenging tests in Earth’s orbit. Artemis IV, slated for early 2028, is then expected to send astronauts to the lunar South Pole for the first time. The Artemis program’s overall goal is to establish a long-term human presence on the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars. NASA OPENS FIRST MAJOR NEW WIND TUNNEL IN MORE THAN 40 YEARS AT VIRGINIA FACILITY “America has always been a frontier nation, and space is the highest of all the frontiers. Our manifest destiny is to explore and settle this great unknown,” Trump said. “Americans were the first in flight, the first to the moon and will certainly be the first in space, no matter where it is. And I know we’re going to be looking at Mars very shortly.” Trump also revealed NASA has begun to work on the first ever nuclear-powered “interplanetary spacecraft” that the space agency will use for the planned 2028 mission to Mars. “They have to go nuclear because they have essentially unlimited fuel. You don’t have to fill up the tanks,” he said. “This ship will be among the first of what will ultimately be a massive American Star fleet, making space travel almost as common as ocean travel today and bringing our military to a new level of excellence.” Throughout his speech, Trump blamed his predecessors for letting U.S. space programs languish. “In particular, the Obama administration, we even lost our ability to send astronauts into orbit at all. We had no ability in space whatsoever. We totally lost it with everything we spent, with all of the talent and all of the genius and all of the money, we had nothing,” the president said. “Before the end of my term, American astronauts will return to the lunar surface,” he said. “And when we do, they’ll plant this very important flag to mark the site of the first permanent American settlement on the moon.”