Boston whistleblower warns of migrant crime spillover as Trump’s crackdown looms
As Democratic leaders in Massachusetts triple down on resistance against federal intervention to clamp down on crime, a migrant shelter whistleblower is sounding the alarm about an increase in crime in neighborhoods across the state and especially in Boston. Jon Fetherston, who ran one of the state-funded migrant shelters in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and blew the whistle about rampant crime and sex abuse taking place in the hotel shelter system. He now says that since Democratic Gov. Maura Healey closed down the shelter system, there has been an uptick in domestic violence, sex trafficking, shoplifting and even auto accidents. “The Healey hotels were well known for having sex trafficking, domestic violence. We’ve reported cases of rape, unfortunately, in there,” Fetherston said. “Now, you’ve opened it up to all of the cities and towns in Massachusetts.” $30K IN MIGRANT HOUSING AID HAS DEM GOV ON HOT SEAT FOR ‘REVOLVING DOOR’ POLICY This comes as Healey has pushed back against the Trump administration’s federal crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., and preemptively criticized any intervention in Boston as “political theater.” “More political power grabs from Donald Trump,” Healey wrote in a statement posted to X, adding, “We don’t need or want his interference here.” In response, Fetherston said, “How the governor just wants the public to believe that all of these things will not happen is extremely naive and extremely dangerous.” “Governor Healey wants you to think she just snaps her fingers and closes all of the hotels and then disperses people into the communities that the thousand incidents that were reported back in 2024, and the state has refused to release the data for 2025, she just thinks that those serious instances aren’t going to happen in the communities that now she’s forced people into.” Referencing the high-profile case of illegal immigrant Harjinder Singh allegedly causing an auto accident in Florida that killed three, Fetherston said, “you’ve seen the national stories of unlicensed or illegals with driver’s licenses and CDLs. I haven’t seen that, but I’ve seen a tremendous uptick in car accidents.” BIKE-RIDING YOUTHS TERRORIZE DEM-RUN CITY AS MOBS SWARM ROADS, WHILE MAYOR STAYS SILENT ON CHAOS Fetherston said that Boston has been particularly impacted by the rise in crime. “Your eyes tell you all you need to know. Crime is on an uptick in Boston. Things are not good in Boston,” he said. “Boston was once a great city. It is no longer a great city. It is a city that with open drug use, the crime rates have spiked.” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, also a Democrat, has rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigrant crime or to send the National Guard to the city. Wu has said, “In Boston, we comply and follow all of the laws, city, state and federal. And we will not back down from communities that have made us the safest major city in the country.” Wu has also commented, “This is a beautiful, diverse, incredible city, and I have said it now very directly, this administration needs to stop attacking cities to hide their own failures.” In response, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has vowed to “flood” Boston with federal agents. MARYLAND GOVERNOR SAYS HE WOULD ‘ABSOLUTELY WELCOME’ FEDERAL SUPPORT IN CRIME CRACKDOWN To Fetherston, an increased ICE presence would be welcome, while Wu’s resistance is indefensible. “How any elected official could not put public safety as the biggest priority of any job that they do, it’s disgusting to me and it’s very concerning,” he said, adding, “Mayor Wu wants to tell you that Boston is one of the safest cities. No, your eyes tell you that Boston has in great decline.” Regarding threats by the Trump administration and Homeland Security to intervene in Boston and Massachusetts, Fetherston said he believes that “anybody who lives in a crime-ridden area, which there are a lot in Massachusetts, will appreciate the effect of it.” “I’ve talked to business owners, I’ve talk to local law enforcement, anybody who wants to have a sensible conversation about fixing crime in their community, they support what the president’s doing and wants to do,” he explained. “Yeah, some people probably don’t like the optics because maybe they don’t understand it. And the media is doing, in my opinion, doing a bad job of describing it. Tanks are not rolling down people’s streets. The National Guard‘s not walking with guns into your backyard and stuff like that. We’re just there to protect and serve, and that’s what your local police does.” “If you don’t want that as an elected official, I don’t want you as my elected official,” he said. PRITZKER SAYS ‘ACTION WILL BE MET WITH A RESPONSE’ AFTER TRUMP THREATENS TO SEND NATIONAL GUARD TO CHICAGO Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Healey and Wu but did not immediately receive a response. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson commented on Healey and Wu’s resistance by saying, “If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer.” “Cracking down on crime should not be a partisan issue, but Democrats suffering from TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] are trying to make it one,” she went on, adding, “They should listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser who recently celebrated the Trump Administration’s success in driving down violent crime in Washington DC.” Bowser’s office declined to comment further, referring Fox News Digital to the mayor’s prior statements.
‘Worst thing I’ve ever seen’: 4 years later, GOP veterans say Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal still haunts them
It has been four years since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year foreign entanglement and leaving the fates of hundreds of thousands of people in the hands of the Taliban. For House Republican lawmakers who served in the Armed Forces, in the Middle East in particular, the frustration and angst is still raw. “I thought the withdrawal was the worst thing I’ve ever seen from any president in my lifetime. It was the most bungled operation I’ve seen,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital. Bacon, a retired brigadier general with nearly 30 years’ experience in the Air Force, said the withdrawal left him and fellow veterans he spoke with feeling depressed. FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SAYS SHE ‘NEVER HAD A CONCERN’ ABOUT BIDEN’S MENTAL STATE AS HOUSE PROBE HEATS UP “Why did our friends have to die there? Because all that [President Joe Biden] did, he pulled us out and it collapsed. We had 3,500 troops there when Biden came in. None of them were in combat. They were in support roles,” he said. “We could have sustained it at a low cost for a long time… And moms and dads wonder, why do we lose our son? I happen to know this to be true. I’ve talked to moms and dads. Why did I lose my son for something that Joe Biden just pulled the plug on and let it collapse?” The Nebraska Republican said he himself knew five people who died serving in Afghanistan. Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., a former Army Special Forces officer who served two tours in Afghanistan, said he cried when the chaos of the withdrawal dawned on him. LONGTIME BIDEN AIDE SAYS HE STOOD TO EARN UP TO $8M HAD PRESIDENT WON RE-ELECTION “I wept,” Harrigan told Fox News Digital. “I knew it was not about losing Afghanistan, right? It wasn’t about the 20 years’ worth of work that we put into that country. It wasn’t about the promises that we made that we didn’t keep. It wasn’t about even the 13 Americans that got killed. The reason I wept is because I believed that that display of strategic weakness on the world stage condemned the next generation of Americans to conflict.” This past Tuesday also marked four years since the deadly suicide attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, which took the lives of dozens of Afghans and 13 U.S. service members. “I would say it was a very, very, you know, cutting morale situation for everyone,” said Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., who served in the military for over 20 years. “I can’t speak for everyone, but personally, I felt like it was complete and total failure of our leadership…We could watch this happen in slow motion. I mean, such terrible decisions that set up the vulnerability that ultimately resulted in that loss of life. And to know that we had troops there who were infants at the time of the attack of 9/11. They couldn’t even, they weren’t even old enough to remember when 9/11 happened.” Bacon pointed out that the ISIS-K terrorist who committed the attack was released from prison at Bagram Air Base following the Taliban’s lightening-fast takeover of Afghanistan. “I cannot think of a more botched operation than that,” he said. Harrigan said, “We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that conflict, and to see it just effectively given away with no plan and absolutely no thought behind the withdrawal process, ultimately culminating in the deaths of 13 young Americans; none of that needed to happen. And I think that’s the most frustrating part of it.” All three veterans said the chaotic withdrawal operation left damaging consequences in its wake. “I think both the previous president and the current president could do better at helping the Afghan interpreters get out of Afghanistan and get into America,” Bacon said. “We have an obligation, in my view, to support these guys. I mean, they literally put their lives on the line to save Americans, and they’ve been hunted down in Afghanistan. They’ve been persecuted. And in some cases you hear stories of the current administration trying to return some of these folks. It’s just not right.” Harrigan said the federal government handled Afghanistan “terribly” after the U.S. exit. “I mean, President Joe Biden was sending $40 million a week to the Taliban, for God knows what reason. And now we have no relationship with them at all, which I also think is a problem,” he said. “I think that Afghanistan has, historically, and will always be a safe haven for terrorism…if we are not constantly keeping a pulse on what’s going on there.” Barrett pointed out that Afghanistan has since fallen under extremist control with Taliban rule and opened a “vacuum” for China and other adversaries to gain influence. “I think we have to have a far more discerning, very realistic and clear-eyed mindset of the challenges that we’re going to face, and what is the second and third order effects of the decisions we make?” he posed. “You go into a country to liberate them. Well, what’s gonna happen the next day and the day after that, the day following?”
CDC official who blasted Trump’s ‘weak science’ led politicized Biden-era monkeypox response
Demetre Daskalakis, an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), resigned this week, claiming the Trump administration’s policies ignore science. However, his own leadership during the Biden-era monkeypox response was criticized for putting optics over public health. Amid the Trump administration’s efforts to push out CDC Director Susan Monarez, a handful of other top CDC officials, including Daskalakis, resigned in protest of the Trump administration’s policies. Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter that was posted to social media that the health policies put forward by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy do not “reflect scientific reality.” He also accused the Trump administration of attempting to “erase transgender populations,” while also using the term “pregnant people” to describe women who are about to give birth. But flashback to 2022 and 2023, after the monkeypox virus had spread across several countries and made its way into the U.S., during which Daskalakis was among the Biden administration’s top advisers who spearheaded the national response to the disease outbreak. BIPARTISAN FURY AT CDC: SENATORS DEMAND PROBE, REJECT VACCINE GUIDANCE AS ILLEGITIMATE Government communications from that time period, uncovered by watchdog group the Oversight Project, show that officials were aware that the disease was spreading among the gay community. However, those communications, and other records, show the administration appeared to be more concerned with protecting the stigma targeting the gay community, than they were with implementing measures that would provide the best mitigation response. “A common theme was public health officials identifying locations where outbreaks occurred, to include bathhouses and saunas,” according to the Oversight Project. “Officials never broached consideration of shutting down these locations. This draws a stark contrast to the public health guidance and shutdowns of gathering places during COVID, to include gyms and skate parks.” In 2023, after the monkeypox outbreak had taken hold in the U.S., Daskalakis went on national television to let the country know that his team was “making sure [they] got the word out in a way that supports people’s joy, as opposed to calling them risky.” “You know, one person’s idea of risk, is another person’s idea of a great festival or Friday night, for that matter. So, we have to sort of embrace that with joy and make sure that folks know how to keep themselves safe,” the Biden monkeypox coordinator added. RFK JR. WARNS CDC ‘IN TROUBLE,’ PROMISES FIXES AS DIRECTOR REFUSES TO STEP DOWN Meanwhile, during the outbreak, Daskalkis posted a tweet from gay sex app Grindr that stated “Dr. Daskalakis could jab me any day,” with a sticker of a flattered cat. In other social media posts from around the same time, Daskalkis can be seen using male models wearing leather bondage straps to make an entrance at an HIV prevention summit. While in his role at the White House leading the monkeypox response, Daskalkis also reportedly ran an STD screening operation from an after-hours sex club in New York City. When asked about the operation in an interview, Daskalakis described it as “exciting” and added there was “not much sleep time.” Later in the interview, he added: “I’d already kind of been the bathhouse HIV testing doctor.” Fox News Digital reached out to Daskalakis about the juxtaposition between his criticism of Kennedy’s policies not reflecting “scientific reality,” and his role in the Biden administration’s approach to monkeypox, but did not receive an immediate response.
Fetterman defends Trump’s ‘tasteful’ $200M White House ballroom makeover amid Dem criticism
While some Democrats have railed against President Donald Trump’s $200 million plan to remodel the White House ballroom, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., defended the investment in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The plans are going to be done in a tasteful and historical kind of way,” Fetterman said. “They’re not putting in a Dave & Buster’s kind of situation here, so I think upgrading some of these facilities seems pretty normal.” But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., described Trump’s latest endeavor as anything but “normal.” “The project at the White House is a gigantic boondoggle,” Blumenthal said. “The important question is not only the damage that it could do to the architecture of the White House, but also what contributors would have over Trump if they are giving to this project.” TRUMP GAVE THE OVAL OFFICE A GILDED MAKEOVER – AND COVERED THE COST HIMSELF White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last month that Trump and private donors will fund the estimated $200 million cost of the new ballroom. TRUMP APPEARS ON WHITE HOUSE ROOF AMID TALKS OF HISTORIC RENOVATIONS “Now, he is gonna be soliciting money from private contributors for this boondoggle, and the question is – what kind of influence and impact will those contributors have?” the Connecticut senator questioned. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Democrats’ criticism is “not surprising to anyone.” “That is the essence of their party,” Cruz said. “They wake up animated by hatred for Trump and hatred for the American people that voted for him.” The Texas senator said he is grateful for the “phenomenal project,” and accused Democrats of hating anything Trump does. “A ballroom in the White House will be used by presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, and it’s being funded without a penny of taxpayer money,” Cruz said. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., however, acknowledged that the White House needs event space. Leavitt said the president is unable to host major functions with world leaders without installing a “large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building’s entrance.” But Coons said that he doesn’t “know whether he actually has the authority to fundamentally alter the shape and scale of the White House without some White House Historical Association or some architect approving it.” “The last time I checked there’s nothing in the law that says that,” Cruz fired back. Coons also raised an issue with the project’s timeline. Leavitt said the renovations will begin in September and will be “completed long before the end of President Trump’s term.” “My concern, given what I’ve heard so far, is that it wouldn’t be completed on his timeline, so that he will be the former president and whoever succeeds him will be stuck with what could be a white elephant,” Coons said. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., added that the ballroom is very “Trumponian,” but affirmed that “he’s gonna do it right.” “I’m glad they’re doing it with private dollars,” Marshall added. “I think it’ll be a great thing to add and put that Trump stamp on the White House.” And Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., agreed, telling Fox News Digital that the new ballroom would be a great addition to the White House and celebrated that there would be “no cost to the taxpayer.” Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
Parents: Virginia boys suspended after questioning transgender locker room policy were ignored by school
A pair of parents from Virginia say their sons, who were suspended and found responsible for sexual harassment after questioning why a biological female was using the boys locker room, were provided no formal way to express discomfort with their school’s transgender locker room policy. Parents Renae Smith and Seth Wolfe say unclear policies and poor communication on the part of the Loudoun County Public Schools District led to the Title IX ruling and 10-day suspension for the boys. They say their kids were never instructed on how to communicate any potential concerns about the district’s transgender locker room or pronoun policy, nor did parents ever get notified about how to help their kids understand them. Earlier this year, the Loudoun County school district launched a sexual harassment investigation into the two boys after they were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys locker room. The video caught them outwardly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a girl using their facilities. VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT VOTES TO KEEP GENDER BATHROOM POLICY, DEFYING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DIRECTIVE Smith, Wolfe and their attorney, Josh Hetzler, said the boys tried to speak to alert administrators about their discomfort with a biological female using their locker room. However, the concerns fell on deaf ears, they recounted. “There was an incident earlier in the year where one of the students involved with this went to another administration and was uncomfortable with it. They were pretty much just told, ‘This is how it is and to accept it,’ and they’re not supposed to say anything about it,” Wolfe relayed to Fox News Digital. “The more we look into it, no adult ever actually told these boys how to communicate with this individual. How to use the pronouns that are appropriate. They never gave us as parents opportunities to even talk to our children about this.” “I specifically asked my son what they did to prepare them for this type of situation and the answer was absolutely nothing,” Smith added. “If you’re going to implement this policy on paper, you better have a strategy for it in the classroom.” In response to accusations that the boys’ complaints fell on deaf ears, the district contested that it has never suspended a student “simply because they expressed some kind of discomfort.” “At no time would LCPS suspend a student simply because they expressed some kind of discomfort,” district spokesperson Dan Adams told Fox News Digital. “A reading of our Title IX resources should make it clear that there is a high bar to launch a Title IX investigation and an even higher bar to determine a student is in violation of Title IX.” Fox News Digital responded with questions about what the district was accusing the boys of beyond expressing discomfort but did not hear back. VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT ACCUSED OF RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM CASE In addition to the confusing nature of the ongoing school controversy, Smith told Fox News Digital she thought the allegations themselves were also confusing. “I think the allegations themselves lend a lot of confusion,” Smith said. “Like, how do we get to sexual harassment based off of somebody asking why there’s a girl in their locker room?” Smith also questioned why the other student, who filmed the boys, was not similarly disciplined. Smith and Wolfe, along with their attorney, are appealing the Loudoun County Public Schools Title IX ruling, which found their kids responsible for sexual harassment and suspended them for 10 days. While Smith has taken her child out-of-state, Wolfe’s son has been able to attend the first several days of school because the appeal put a hold on the boys’ suspensions. The boys’ attorney with the Founding Freedoms Law Center said they are now partnering with another law group, America First Legal,, to take legal action. The families and their attorneys intend to exhaust all avenues in an attempt to overturn the district’s Title IX ruling finding their sons responsible for sexual harassment, which they fear will have long-term impacts on their kids, particularly when it comes to getting into college. However, Hetzler said he is not hopeful their appeal will overturn anything. “I don’t know who the exact person is who’s making the appeal decision. I get the sense that it’s a pretty tight-knit group overall in Loudoun County Public Schools, so I don’t expect a different result,” Hetzler said. “Ultimately, I think we’re going to have to sue them. I think we’re going to have to go into federal court. And if we go into a federal court, then the Department of Justice will have an opportunity to intervene in the case.” Hetzler noted that they would like to avoid going to court but said “the reality is that at every point along the way, when Loudoun County has had the opportunity to do the right thing, they always seem to do the wrong thing.” “We’d love for Loudoun to do the right thing and avoid [court], but we’ve got to stop these boys from being suspended, because once they’re suspended and they miss school, you can’t unring that bell,” Hetzler continued. “So, we’re gonna prevent that, and then we’re trying to make sure that this is scrubbed from their record because they should never have a Title IX sexual harassment on their record for simply complaining about a girl being in their locker room.”
Top Senate Republican ready to ‘roll over’ Democrats with rule change to confirm Trump nominees
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso is ready to go nuclear on Senate Democrats and their blockade of President Donald Trump’s nominees. Before leaving Washington, D.C., to their respective home states, Senate Republicans were on the verge of a deal with their colleagues across the aisle to hammer out a deal to ram through dozens of Trump’s picks for non-controversial positions. But those talks fell apart when Trump nuked any further negotiations over funding demands from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Currently, there are 145 pending nominations on the Senate’s executive calendar, with that number expected to balloon when the upper chamber reopens for business. SENATE GOP READY TO GO NUCLEAR AFTER SCHUMER’S ‘POLITICAL EXTORTION’ OF NOMINEES Lawmakers are set to return on Tuesday, and Barrasso, R-Wyo., wants to immediately tackle the nomination quandary. He’s engaged in a public pressure campaign, writing an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal directly calling out Schumer. Meanwhile, he’s facilitated talks among Senate Republicans on the best path forward, and told Fox News Digital in an interview that, at this point, he’s willing to do anything necessary to see the president’s picks confirmed. “We need to either get a lot of cooperation from the Democrats, or we’re going to have to roll over them with changes of the rules that we’re going to be able to do in a unilateral way, as well as President Trump making recess appointments,” he said. Senate Democrats, under Schumer’s direction, are unlikely to play ball, however. Schumer, in response to Barrasso’s public jab against him and Senate Democrats, contended in a statement that “historically bad nominees deserve a historic level of scrutiny by Senate Democrats.” TRUMP TELLS SCHUMER TO ‘GO TO HELL’ OVER SENATE NOMINEE DEAL FUNDING DEMANDS AFTER NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE “Anybody nominated by President Trump is, in Schumer’s words, ‘historically bad.’ Why? Because they were nominated by President Trump,” Barrasso shot back. “That is his sole criteria for which these people are being gone after and filibustered, each and every one of them, even those that are coming out of committee, many, many of whom are with bipartisan support.” Unilaterally changing the rules, or the nuclear option, would allow Republicans to make tweaks to the confirmation process without help from Democrats, but it could also kneecap further negotiations on key items that would require their support to advance beyond the Senate filibuster. Barrasso was not worried about taking that route, however, and noted that the nominees that he and other Republicans were specifically considering would be “sub-Cabinet level positions” and ambassadors. Up for discussion are changes to the debate time, what kind of nominee could qualify for a speedier process and whether to give the president runway to make recess appointments, which would require the Senate to go into recess and allow Trump to make appointments on a temporary basis. DEMS DIG IN, TRUMP DEMANDS ALL: NOMINEE FIGHT BOILS OVER IN SENATE AS GOP LOOKS FOR A DEAL “When you take a look at this right now, it takes a 30-minute roll-call vote to get on cloture, and then two hours of debate time, and then another 30-minute roll-call vote,” Barrasso said. “Well, that’s three hours, and it’s time when you can’t do legislation, you can’t do any of the other things.” But there is a menu of key items that Congress will have to deal with when they return, particularly the deadline to fund the government by Sept. 30. Barrasso acknowledged that reality, and noted that it was because of the hefty schedule that he wanted a rules change to be put front and center. “There’s not going to be any time to — or there’s going to be limited time, I should say, to actually get people through the nominations process, which is just going to drag on further, and you’ll have more people having hearings and coming out of committees,” he said. “This backlog is going to worsen this traffic jam at the Schumer toll booth. So, we are going to do something, because this cannot stand.”
DOJ staffer fired after flipping off, cursing National Guard in Washington, DC: report
Attorney General Pam Bondi fired another Department of Justice paralegal on Friday, this time for flipping off a member of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., on her way to work earlier this month. Elizabeth Baxter of the department’s environmental division arrived for work just after 8:20 a.m. on Aug. 18 at the DOJ’s “4CON” building in the NoMa district, where she bragged to a security guard that she had just made the gesture at Metro Center Metro Stop and told the guardsman, “F–k the National Guard,” Bondi said, according to the New York Post. “Today, I took action to terminate a DOJ employee for inappropriate conduct towards National Guard service members in DC,” Bondi told the outlet. FORMER DOJ WORKER WHO HURLED SANDWICH AT FEDERAL OFFICER CHARGED WITH MISDEMEANOR “This DOJ remains committed to defending President Trump’s agenda and fighting to make America safe again,” she continued. “If you oppose our mission and disrespect law enforcement — you will NO LONGER work at DOJ.” Later that day, Baxter was seen on DOJ security footage sticking up her middle finger at the National Guard and exclaiming, “F–k you!” the outlet reported. She was also allegedly seen demonstrating to a department security guard how she held up her middle finger. On Aug. 25, she allegedly arrived at work and again boasted to the security guard that she hated the National Guard and that she told them to “F–k off!” BONDI ANNOUNCES NEARLY 200 ARRESTS ‘AND COUNTING’ AS FEDERAL AGENTS SWARM NATION’S CAPITAL “You are removed from your position of Paralegal Specialist, GS-0950-11, Environmental Defense Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and from the federal service, effective immediately,” Bondi wrote in a termination letter to Baxter on Friday following an investigation into her conduct, according to the outlet. The Trump administration moved in recent weeks to boost the presence of federal law enforcement in D.C. in an attempt to reduce crime. Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops have been deployed to the city’s streets as part of the federal takeover of the district. Baxter’s termination comes after Sean Charles Dunn, another DOJ paralegal, was fired after he was accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent earlier this month in Washington, D.C. Dunn, who worked in the criminal division’s international affairs section in the 4CON building, was initially charged with a felony, but a grand jury declined to hand down an indictment. He was subsequently charged with a misdemeanor, which could result in up to one year in jail.
Pentagon backs Under Secretary Anthony Tata amid legal dispute involving astrologer
The Pentagon is standing firmly behind Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata, who is facing a legal dispute in Florida connected to a self-described astrologer. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Fox News that Tata continues to enjoy full confidence from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “Under Secretary Tata has the complete and total confidence of Secretary Hegseth in his role and will continue to have his support,” Parnell said. “Mr. Tata has done a fantastic job delivering on the priorities of this Department and this administration. We strongly stand by him.” According to a 17-page complaint filed in Palm Beach County and obtained by Fox News Digital, John Doe, whose personal details align with Tata, accused Amy Tripp of harassment, defamation and attempted extortion. The suit alleges she threatened his marriage and career while demanding money to remain silent. PENTAGON TAPS CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES TO ASSIST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT The filing states Doe and Tripp met in April 2024 on the dating app Bumble while Doe was working on a book and consulting about “astrological beliefs and related issues.” Their relationship developed into both “a casual sexual relationship as well as a professional relationship regarding the astrology business.” Doe also invested in Tripp’s company, Starheal LLC, in exchange for a 5% equity stake. Court records show that a temporary restraining order was granted against Tripp on Aug. 7, 2025, after the alleged harassment escalated. A summons issued later that month ordered her to respond to the allegations within 20 days. PENTAGON UNVEILS NEW MEDAL FOR TROOPS DEPLOYED IN TRUMP’S SOUTHERN BORDER CRACKDOWN While the Florida case unfolds, Tata’s career spans decades of military and public service. A retired Army brigadier general and novelist, he spent 28 years in uniform, including service in Afghanistan. After retiring, he transitioned into civilian leadership roles, including stints in education and as North Carolina’s transportation secretary. Tata, a graduate of West Point, is also a recipient of the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Combat Action Badge, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, and Ranger Tab. His public career has not been without turbulence. Tata resigned from the transportation post in 2015, following scrutiny from his management, and his nomination for a top Pentagon role in 2020 drew attention to past social media posts as reported by CNN. Tata later apologized for his remarks. Tata’s current responsibilities overseeing personnel and readiness for the U.S. military remain the Pentagon’s priority despite the legal challenge. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Attorneys for John Doe in the Palm Beach County complaint did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Federal judge blocks Trump’s expanded deportation plan over due process concerns for illegal immigrants
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from expanding the expedited removal of illegal immigrants, saying the risk of applying fast-track deportations in the interior of the United States is too great and could impact foreigners who aren’t eligible. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., prevents the Trump administration from using expedited removal for immigrants granted parole status. “The Court does not cast doubt on the constitutionality of the expedited removal statute, nor on its longstanding application at the border,” Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion. BOASBERG CLEARED TO RULE ON CECOT MIGRANT DEPORTATIONS AFTER APPEALS COURT DECISION “It merely holds that in applying the statute to a huge group of people living in the interior of the country who have not previously been subject to expedited removal, the Government must afford them due process. The procedures currently in place fall short.” Earlier this month, Cobb temporarily blocked the Trump administration from efforts to expand fast-track deportations of immigrants who legally entered the U.S. under humanitarian parole. US APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS ORDERED BY BOASBERG Fast-track deportations allow federal authorities to remove someone from the country without seeing a judge first. Expedited removal has been used by the Trump administration to quickly remove illegal immigrants, a major hallmark of President Donald Trump’s campaign. Meanwhile, the administration has pressured immigration authorities to ramp up deportations. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Pro-Palestinian conference panelist calls US ‘evil,’ urges ‘destroying the idea of America’
A panelist speaking at the “People’s Conference for Palestine” in Detroit on Friday called the United States “an evil country” and expressed a need to “destroy the idea of America in Americans’ heads.” Speaking on a panel titled “No Weapons for Genocide: The People Demand an Arms Embargo,” Sachin Peddada, a Ph.D. student in economics and research coordinator at Progressive International, repeatedly ripped on the United States as an “empire” motivated by greed. In response to a question about how Americans can get more involved, Peddada paraphrased a quote by deceased Palestinian author Bassel al-Araj, saying, “The average American will never understand the plight of the Palestinian person because the state of Israel is a carbon copy of the United States. “And, therefore, the thing to do is to destroy the idea of America in Americans’ heads so that they can see the humanity of everybody outside the warping of American exceptionalism and imperialism and all these evil things.” As Peddada said these words, the crowd broke into applause. WHITE HOUSE DEMANDS ALL GAZA HOSTAGES RETURN HOME ‘THIS WEEK’ AMID STALLED TALKS Peddada continued, saying, “We have to dismantle this idea of American exceptionalism, of supremacy, of being beyond reproach. “I think it’s very important that we normalize criticism as a healthy process and learn from our experiments in the world to push the boundaries of what is possible, to continue to fight for more and more and to see how the empire responds to us, to continue to push farther and harder.” At another point during the panel, Peddada declared, “We live in an evil country.” He said that, since Oct. 7, 2023, “We can say with certainty that the U.S. has been the most complicit country — complicit is not even the right word to use — but the most responsible country for what is happening not only in Gaza but also the West Bank and also all over the global south.” Peddada claimed that the U.S. is a country that has “functionally for decades been the sole superpower of the world” and has “an agenda that is driven primarily by the accumulation of profit at the expense of human lives. COLUMBIA PROFESSOR WHO CALLED OCT. 7 HAMAS ATTACKS ‘AWESOME’ TO TEACH COURSE ON ZIONISM “To obfuscate that point or beat around the bush there does not serve us; we live in an evil country, that’s just what’s happening,” he said as the crowd again broke into applause. “That doesn’t mean we’re all evil,” he added. “But it does mean we have a unique responsibility. We have a unique position here in the heart of the empire to act in solidarity with all of our siblings in Gaza and in the West Bank, all around the world.” Commenting on the remarks, one user on X posted, “As an American, I find this galling.” “My culture and history have already been relentlessly attacked — statues of Washington, Jefferson, and other Founders torn down as ‘controversial,’” he said. “Now we have conference speakers openly talking about ‘destroying the idea of America.’” SQUAD MEMBERS SUED FOR ‘INCITING’ COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL ENCAMPMENT The People’s Conference for Palestine, organized by a dozen pro-Palestinian groups, began Friday and will run through Sunday. Even before it started, the gathering drew scrutiny for featuring speakers with extremist views, including two former prisoners of Israel released in a Hamas deal, alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a prominent anti-Israel congresswoman. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The conference opened Friday afternoon with an elaborate opening ceremony, in which a speaker, after leading the crowd in chants, invited attendees to rise for “our national anthem” as a band began playing a song in a foreign language. People wearing keffiyehs proceeded in, holding Palestinian flags. Fox News Digital reached out to Progressive International and the People’s Conference for Palestine for comment but did not immediately receive a response.