Federal judge blocks Trump administration fines of up to $1.8M for migrants
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to fine migrants up to $1.8 million for failing to leave the country after receiving final deportation orders. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in Boston issued the ruling on Monday in response to a class-action lawsuit filed last year by two of the thousands of migrants who have received civil penalties from the Department of Homeland Security. The judge granted preliminary relief to the plaintiffs, finding that the administration’s process for imposing the fines violated federal law, and that migrants in the “economically precarious position” of addressing the fines could be pushed into “insolvency.” “The plaintiffs live in an economically precarious position even without the imposition of the government’s exorbitant fines,” he wrote. DHS ISSUES $84B IN FINES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS UNDER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION “They face the possible garnishment of their already modest wages, loss of any vehicles and homes, federal collections lawsuits and other adverse collateral consequences,” O’Toole added. “If they were ultimately successful in this suit, there is no indication that simply requiring the government to vacate their fine notices would –– or even could, at that point –– make the plaintiffs whole or return the circumstances to the status quo.” O’Toole, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, described how the plaintiffs worked for low salaries and had come to the U.S. to escape political violence. “Nancy M. was fined over $1.8 million,” O’Toole wrote, referring to one of the plaintiffs. “She is a laborer working over 60 hours a week with two jobs, and she reports feeling serious anxiety affecting her ability to sleep, eat and live a normal life.” The judge also found that the administration’s fine notices violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide specific allegations explaining why an individual’s conduct warranted a penalty. Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment. As recently as July, DHS said it had issued more than 103,000 fines to migrants totaling about $84 billion since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. DHS has defended the penalties, saying people who refuse to leave the country after receiving a final order of removal could face fines of $998 per day. Although Congress authorized civil penalties under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, no administration had attempted to impose the fines until Trump’s first term. Last year, the Trump administration began imposing fines of $998 per day for migrants who did not leave the country following a final order of deportation. The fines have been imposed retroactively for up to five years, with a maximum penalty of $1.8 million. 20 STATES SUE TO BLOCK TRUMP ADMIN RULE THAT WOULD MAKE IT HARDER FOR IMMIGRANTS TO OBTAIN VISAS, GREEN CARDS In July 2025, DHS and the Department of Justice implemented changes aimed at streamlining the assessment of fines by scrapping a 30-day notice period and shortening the process for challenging penalties. The plaintiffs successfully challenged that policy and what they described as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy of issuing fines using boilerplate forms without independently assessing whether a person’s failure to leave was “willful” or “voluntary.” O’Toole also found that the administration had failed to comply with rulemaking processes in implementing its streamlined fine-imposition process because it did not offer the public a chance to first comment on the policy change. Congressional lawmakers have attempted to challenge the administration’s fines against migrants through the Immigration and Nationality Act. Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged DHS and DOJ to pause the “improper application of certain civil penalties” in the law to “law-abiding immigrants.” Reuters contributed to this report.
Trump says Putin call coming ‘very soon’ as US tracks suspected plague death in Russia
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” as his administration closely tracks reports of a suspected pneumonic plague death in Siberia that have prompted a U.S. health alert and heightened health precautions across several countries bordering Russia. Trump revealed the planned call while taking questions from reporters Tuesday. Asked whether he had spoken with Putin about the situation, Trump said he already had a call scheduled. “I have a call scheduled, yup,” Trump said. TRUMP RESPONDS TO CONCERNS OVER SUSPECTED PLAGUE CASE IN RUSSIA, SAYING US ‘WILLING TO HELP’ Asked when the call would take place, the president responded, “Very soon.” Trump said the administration was in “very deep discussions” when asked what U.S. intelligence agencies were saying about the reports. The president’s comments came as the U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a health alert Tuesday saying it was aware of press reports from Russia’s Irkutsk region of “suspected pneumonic plague resulting in the death of an individual,” along with associated quarantine measures and hospital closures. “We continue to track the situation closely,” the embassy said. NEW YORK DECLARES MEASLES DISASTER EMERGENCY AS CASES SURGE IN PENNSYLVANIA A State Department spokesman told Fox News Digital that the department, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other interagency partners, is “closely monitoring the fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague” in Russia’s Irkutsk Oblast. “The Trump Administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans,” the spokesman said. The spokesman cautioned that “many details remain unconfirmed” and called on Moscow to provide greater clarity. “We encourage Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly,” the spokesman said. The alert advised Americans in the area to follow local health guidance, avoid affected medical facilities and seek prompt medical care if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms. Those who have traveled to an area experiencing an outbreak were advised to monitor their health for 14 days. The State Department’s existing Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Russia remains unchanged. The embassy reiterated that Americans currently in Russia should depart and warned that the U.S. government’s ability to assist citizens there is limited, particularly outside Moscow. UKRAINE STRIKES DEEP INTO RUSSIA’S ARCTIC GAS HEARTLAND AS TRUMP PUSHES PUTIN TOWARD PEACE Several countries bordering Russia are also implementing new health precautions in response to the reports. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are moving to implement what their governments have described as “enhanced health and sanitary measures” in response to reports of pneumonic plague in Siberia. A 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week from what Russian authorities described as pneumonia of undetermined origin. Russia has not said the woman died of plague and said testing found no microorganisms in her body linked to her work. Russian officials told the WHO that her contacts tested negative for dangerous infectious pathogens. The WHO has assessed the risk to the general population as low. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also said it is closely monitoring the reports and working across the U.S. government as additional information becomes available. The agency said there is currently no indication of a broader threat to the United States. Pneumonic plague is a serious bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. It can spread between people through respiratory droplets during close contact and can progress rapidly if untreated. The disease can be successfully treated with antibiotics, particularly when identified and treated early. For now, U.S. officials are continuing to seek additional information about what occurred in Irkutsk and whether the incident poses any wider threat. The president suggested his administration could have more to say as soon as Wednesday. “We’ll be able to report about it probably tomorrow,” Trump said. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Foreign adversaries running ‘psyop’ to fuel anti-AI and anti-data center movement, war official says
A top official at the Department of War discussed how artificial intelligence is playing a role in war readiness strategy, and said foreign adversaries are carrying out “psyop” operations to fuel the anti-data center and anti-artificial intelligence movement across the U.S. During an interview with Fox News Digital in the White House, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael warned that the movement to decrease production for artificial intelligence infrastructure is being pushed by America’s adversaries. “It is natural from a propaganda standpoint that your adversary, who doesn’t want you to be developing super intelligence ahead of them, is going to try to psyop your population into believing that. And to some degree, it’s worked. And I think that’s why you see the president push back and say, ‘no, this is a good thing,’” he said. CRUZ SAYS WINNING AI RACE AGAINST CHINA IS ‘SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ECONOMIC QUESTION’ FOR AMERICA Data center production has been at the center of debate ahead of the midterm elections, with lawmakers taking near-partisan stances as to whether developments should continue. Michael referred to data centers as the “electricity that fuels the superintelligence revolution,” and explained that continued production of facilities are a crucial part of ensuring the U.S. maintains the lead in the artificial intelligence race. Protests have popped up across the country against data centers and artificial intelligence advancements in general, with some lawmakers raising questions about the role that foreign influence plays in the demonstrations. DATA CENTERS COULD BE THE SLEEPER ISSUE OF THE 2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS “It’s the same reason we saw Middle Eastern countries paying for anti-fracking movements,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview last month. “Because if they can convince America, ‘Don’t develop your oil and gas, just buy it from us,’ well, that’s great for them and terrible for us. “The same is true on data centers. If they can convince Americans, ‘You don’t want data centers here, you want to just rely on the Chinese for AI,’ that’s great for China, and it’s terrible for America.” CHINA ‘THROWING GASOLINE ON THE FIRE’ IN AI DATA CENTERS RACE, SAY LAWMAKERS Michael echoed some of Cruz’s concerns about foreign influence, though he did not specifically name China as the culprit. Lawmakers have raised questions about hundreds of millions of dollars that American-born communist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham pumped into nonprofits and organizations that are now among the leading organizations fighting data center development throughout the country. Recipients of Singham’s largesse include the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition, both self-described pro-China communist groups. HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE FOREIGN ‘TROJAN HORSES’ AS SINGHAM SCRUTINY WIDENS Last month, activists from both groups carried signs in a Chapel Hill, N.C., protest, merging anti-Trump sentiments with support for communist Cuba and opposition to data centers and AI development, including the message, “SHUT IT DOWN!” Singham, a 72-year-old American who sold his tech company for $785 million in 2017 and now lives in Shanghai, is known to fund pro-Chinese Communist Party groups that operate in the U.S. He has funneled $278 million into the broad network of nonprofits since 2017, according to a Fox News Digital investigation. MARXIST ORGANIZER LEADS CAMPAIGN AGAINST VIRGINIA AI DATA CENTER AS FOREIGN INFLUENCE CONCERNS MOUNT The Party for Socialism and Liberation Boston, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose national chapter regularly partners with and supports the Singham network, posted to social media in July openly opposing data centers, saying the control of AI and data centers is in the hands of billionaires. “Workers are rising up across the country in a growing movement against the tech billionaires – from fights against data centers in hundreds of cities, to labor organizing at the world’s biggest tech corporations,” the post read. As for how the Department of War utilizes artificial intelligence, Michael told Fox News Digital that usage has skyrocketed since Secretary Pete Hegseth assumed the cabinet role, growing from roughly 70,000 users out of a 3.5 million-person workforce to approximately 1.7 million today. He explained that the Department of War is deploying artificial intelligence across three main areas: enterprise operations, warfighting and intelligence. “We have incredible vignettes and stories about how people took 200 hours of work and combined it down to two hours,” he added. “They can see what we have as assets. They can see what the adversary has as assets – they can time things better, they write quicker, they can consolidate orders quicker.”
Veterans of ‘unbearable’ Chinese factory in Ohio detail brutal work conditions amid top Dem’s oversight visit
Former employees of Fuyao Glass America Inc., a Chinese-linked glass manufacturer that moved into an old General Motors plant in Ohio, gathered around one of the most prominent congressmen in the U.S. today to share their stories of misery, pain and neglect they claimed to have suffered while working for the CCP-linked corporation. “My experience at Fuyao was not a good experience,” Tiffany Moore, a woman who identified herself as a three-year veteran of the factory, told a group that gathered at the International Union of Electrical Workers in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday. “The heat in there is unbearable; they don’t care,” she told the group — a group that included Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. WHAT THE GOLF CART INDUSTRY CAN TEACH US ABOUT CHINA’S THREAT TO AMERICAN JOBS Khanna, the ranking member on the House Select Subcommittee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made the trek to Dayton to conduct Congressional oversight on Fuyao. Khanna had previously sent Fuyao a letter asking them to submit a packet of information to his committee, including information on wage suppression, worker conditions and violating U.S. immigration and labor laws. DEMAND TO END ‘SCAM’ VISA PROGRAM REPLACING AMERICAN WORKERS SURGES, WEST VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN REVEALS “Fuyao Glass America Inc. (FGA) has only provided a single supposed reply letter, dated September 23, that answers virtually none of the Committee’s questions in a material way and fails to include any document submissions,” Khanna wrote in an Oct. 1 letter to the company’s leadership. “Thus far, a generous interpretation of your approach toward this investigation would be that Fuyao does not appreciate Congress’s oversight function and the American system of government,” Khanna wrote. “A less generous interpretation of your lack of transparency would be that your companies have something to hide, beyond even what multiple federal investigations, documentaries, and press reports about Fuyao’s conduct have already uncovered,” the letter, shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, read. Khanna, despite requesting permission to visit the Lorraine, Ohio, factory, did not receive express permission from the company to do so. Despite the lack of response, Khanna continued to conduct his business, convening a roundtable that included a wide swath of former Fuyao workers. BLUE STATES SET TO TRIGGER FRESH MINIMUM WAGE HIKES WITH PAY FLOORS MORE THAN DOUBLE FEDERAL RATE Demetria Hodges, who identified herself as having worked at Fuyao for five years, explained how she believed the company went to great lengths to prevent the workers from unionizing. “First they were trying to use scare tactics to get us to not vote for the union,” Hodges said. DAVID MARCUS: WHY JD VANCE’S RESHORING MESSAGE IS A PERFECT FIT FOR STRUGGLING SMALL TOWNS LIKE ST. CLOUD “Then they offered a $2 an hour pay raise … which they have never given again. And that was like 10 years ago,” she added. An attendee named Darrell, who identified themselves as a former employee, also pointed out the company’s failure to cease operations when 57-year-old Ricky Patterson was killed in a grisly industrial accident in the factory. LARGEST-EVER US STEEL PLANT IS COMING TO A KEY RED STATE AS TRUMP UNVEILS $15B INVESTMENT “When that guy got smashed by … glass, we had to work the next day, we were stressed out. He was trying to load up the glass. He was a little shaky because he had just lost his mom,” Darrell told the roundtable. “They made us work,” he told the group, who all expressed shock at the revelation.
Unearthed social media posts contradict El-Sayed’s ‘capitalist’ narrative
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, recently embraced the “capitalist” label and pushed back against being called socialist, but unearthed social media posts contradict that narrative. Recently unearthed social media posts show the Detroit Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter applauding his views on climate advocacy, going so far as to call him a “comrade” in its efforts. “Welcome to the team comrade,” the group’s Detroit chapter wrote in a post in 2019 alongside a picture of El-Sayed, then a recent candidate for Michigan governor. Shortly after El-Sayed endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in his presidential bid, the account again praised his support. MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE ENDORSED BY AOC AND BERNIE SANDERS INSISTS HE’S NOT A SOCIALIST “Thank you to our friend and ally Abdul El-Sayed for endorsing Bernie Sanders. Our movement is unstoppable,” the group wrote. Although the DSA has not officially endorsed El-Sayed in his Senate bid or affirmed his platform, the DSA’s local support for him may raise questions of increased overlap between his platform and the DSA’s official stances. In an interview with The New York Times, El-Sayed described his views on capitalism. “Capitalism is about leveraging the laws of supply and demand to efficiently allocate capital expenditure to maximize value. When capitalism works, it’s because you have free entry and exit into markets,” El-Sayed said. “So if you believe in capitalism, you have to believe in government regulation to protect markets. In fact, right now, we have exactly the opposite. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that you should be taxing billionaires their wealth,” he continued. “In fact, if you are a capitalist, you should believe in that. So, I’m a capitalist who just knows about capitalism. I have a bad habit of reading; I’m so sorry.” Among other stances, El-Sayed has championed policies like Medicare for All, increasing taxes on the country’s top earners and implementing more stringent penalties on businesses that, in his view, abuse natural resources like water supply and air quality. In his 2018 campaign for governor, El-Sayed espoused many of the same views, garnering support from the DSA — especially for his platform on climate. At one point, El-Sayed joined in calls to seize plants owned by General Motors after the company announced it would cut about 14,000 jobs from sites across the country. GREEN NEW DODGE: EL-SAYED RUNS FROM POLICY AS NEWLY SURFACED DELETED POSTS SHOW YEARS OF SUPPORT “Today, Abdul El-Sayed signed onto our bold demand to seize abandoned [General Motors] plants and convert them into green, public use. This is the courage and vision we need from our leaders to make the Green New Deal a reality. Thank you, Dr. El-Sayed! Onward!” The group wrote. El-Sayed was among 140 co-signers for the plan, including figures like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Natasha Fernández-Silber, the co-chair of the Detroit DSA. “These facilities are not just the ‘property’ of a corporation. They belong to the workers who have contributed their labor, and the taxpayers who have provided enormous tax breaks, public subsidies and bailouts to GM,” the resolution read. Between 2017 and 2020, the Michigan Democrat spoke at six events held by Democratic Socialists of America chapters, including a 2019 fundraiser where he served as the keynote speaker. Additionally, DSA officials told Politico in July that they were mobilizing resources to help El-Sayed win his Democratic primary election. “I’m not technically or practically DSA,” El-Sayed told the Wall Street Journal in July. Socialist organizers, however, have called him “a longtime friend of Detroit DSA.” “Our annual fundraiser is going to be [fire] this year. Chaired by the one and only Rashida Tlaib, with guest speaker Abdul El-Sayed,” another post reads. “Our annual Douglas-Debs Dinner is THIS SATURDAY! The one and only Rashida Tlaib will give the keynote, with special guest speaker Abdul El-Sayed. Don’t miss out. Get your tickets today!” another stated. For its own part, the national platform for the DSA goes well beyond the proposals that El-Sayed has made a part of his Senate bid. JONATHAN TURLEY: ABDUL EL-SAYED’S WEALTH-TAX FANTASY COULD WRECK THE MICHIGAN ECONOMY Among other positions, the group has championed abolishing the U.S. Senate, establishing public ownership of the country’s largest corporations and defunding the Department of Defense — stances that El-Sayed has not voiced support for. El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether El-Sayed believes the past support from the Detroit DSA undermines his claims about what he believes about capitalism. Having cleared the Democratic primary, El-Sayed will face off against Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers on Nov. 3. Fox News’ Robert Schmad contributed to this report
Macron trashes American free speech as riots grip France — internet unloads: ‘Enormous fool’
French President Emmanuel Macron is drawing fierce online backlash after criticizing the American conception of free speech and arguing that liberty requires a “common framework” — remarks landing as his government faces mounting pressure from nationwide student protests, school blockades and clashes with riot police across France. “The so-called American ‘free speech’ today, which some people have promoted, is the opposite of free speech,” Macron said at Complutense University in Madrid during a discussion on democracy, youth and the digital age on Sept. 29, according to a translation of his remarks. Macron argued that free speech is not absolute and must be bounded by the rights of others and respect for public order, while also arguing that the flow of information must maintain a relationship to truth. He compared those limits to restrictions against assaulting or insulting others or destroying public property. FRANCE’S TEEN RIOTS TAKE EXPLOSIVE NEW TURN AS GOVERNMENT POINTS FINGER AT HARD LEFT “There is no freedom if there is no limit to my freedom, which begins with the freedom of others and respect for a common framework. I know this when I walk down the street: my freedom cannot mean hitting you, insulting you or trashing the public space we all share,” Macron added, according to a translation to English. The remarks quickly drew backlash online, with critics seizing on the contrast between Macron’s comments on free speech and the unrest unfolding at home, where protests, blockades and clashes with police are testing his government. FRANCE ROCKED BY STUDENT RIOTS AS HUNDREDS ARRESTED, VIOLENCE SPREADS NATIONWIDE “These people are going to cling to power even if it means burning their countries to the ground,” said Federalist senior editor John Daniel Davidson. “Offended by the First Amendment while completely ignoring the fact his own country is literally burning to the ground,” wrote one person. “His country is being destroyed by riots. Does he consider that free speech,” asked another person. “Emmanuel Macron is an enormous fool,” said Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger. “Europeans are so stupid about speech,” said one user. “At this point, bringing back the Bourbons would be more dignified for France,” wrote Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s communication director Billy Gribbin. “The worst president France has ever had, verging on treasonous given his attempts to shut down the nation’s remarkable nuclear industry and expertise,” wrote Institute of Public Affairs senior fellow Adam Creighton. “We are still free in America and @EmmanuelMacron can pound sand,” wrote Dan Gainor. FRANCE’S VIOLENT STUDENT PROTESTS RAISE WARNING FOR AMERICA: ‘A CAUTIONARY TALE’ Macron has previously taken aim at the American conception of free speech, declaring that “free speech is pure bulls—” if people do not know how algorithms are guiding what they see online, while calling for greater transparency and “a sort of public order” to curb racist and hate speech during a Feb. 18, appearance in New Delhi, India. Protests erupted in the Paris suburbs in mid-September over teacher shortages and school resources before rapidly spreading nationwide. Demonstrators have set fires, damaged buildings and clashed with police while France’s Education Ministry said classes were fully or partially suspended at 891 schools Tuesday, while 24 schools have been burned or ransacked since the protests began, according to the Associated Press. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Russian researcher’s mystery death could be ‘far worse’ than the plague, former senior Trump official warns
The unexplained death of a researcher at a Russian anti-plague institute has one former senior U.S. arms official warning it could be ‘far worse’ than the bacteria that caused the Black Death. Marshall Billingslea, who served as President Donald Trump’s special presidential envoy for arms control, said a top Soviet bioweapons defector told him decades ago about secret work on antibiotic-resistant plague at the same facility where the recent plague-related death occurred. “This may not be just ‘the plague.’ It may be far worse,” Billingslea wrote on X. He spent much of the 1990s working on proliferation and arms control issues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — and during that time worked with Ken Alibek, the former No. 2 official in the Soviet biological weapons program who defected to the U.S. BIOWEAPON THREAT EXPOSED AS ANTHROPIC SOUNDS ALARM ON FOREIGN ACTORS PLOTTING VIRUS EXPERIMENTS “He claimed that they had engineered a strain of plague that was antibiotic-resistant & that they had worked on plague chimeras (fusing 2 or more pathogens),” Billingslea wrote of Alibek. “He specifically called out Irkutsk for being involved in the BW program,” he added. Billingslea’s warning comes after a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week from what Russian authorities have described as pneumonia of undetermined origin. Russia has not said the woman died of plague and said testing found no microorganisms in her body linked to her work. The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that Russian officials told the agency no plague or other high-threat pathogen had been detected among her close contacts, though they are still awaiting confirmation of what caused her fatal pneumonia. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SCIENTIST’S ACCIDENTAL DEATH RAISES QUESTIONS AS PROBE INTO MISSING SCIENTISTS GROWS About 60% of the woman’s identified contacts have been tested so far, according to Russian authorities, with two cases of COVID-19 and two rhinovirus infections detected — but no other infectious disease pathogens. Still, the unexplained death at a facility that works with dangerous pathogens has drawn scrutiny from biosecurity experts — including questions about why the cause remains unknown. Kevin Esvelt, an MIT professor who studies biological security and catastrophic pandemic risks, said Russia’s latest explanation suggests the researcher did not die from plague while leaving unanswered what killed her. “If we take the Russian authorities at their word, it is not plague,” Esvelt wrote Tuesday. “But untargeted research-grade sequencing reliably identifies pathogens, and people seldom die of pneumonia without pathogens, let alone 28-year-olds,” he added. “It would be surprising if they did not know the cause.” Esvelt cautioned that more alarming explanations remain hypothetical. “The concerning possibility is still only a possibility,” he wrote. The questions surrounding the death come against the backdrop of the Soviet Union’s documented history of secretly developing biological weapons, including weaponized plague, and U.S. assessments that elements of that program continued after the Soviet collapse. “Russia maintains an offensive biological weapons program and is in violation of its obligations under the BWC,” a State Department official told Fox News Digital, referring to the Biological Weapons program, an international treaty that prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons. “With respect to the situation in Irkutsk, we will not speculate while key facts remain unconfirmed It is important that Russian authorities share clear, factual information about the circumstances of this case.” The department said the program “has continued and evolved” under the Russian Federation and that Moscow continues activities prohibited under the convention. Russia has repeatedly denied maintaining an offensive biological weapons program. The U.S. assessment does not establish any connection between Russia’s biological weapons program and the researcher’s death in Irkutsk, and no such connection has been confirmed. NEW YORK DECLARES MEASLES DISASTER EMERGENCY AS CASES SURGE IN PENNSYLVANIA The Soviet program Billingslea referenced was one of the world’s largest clandestine biological weapons efforts. Alibek, born Kanatjan Alibekov, rose to become the first deputy chief of Biopreparat, the ostensibly civilian network that formed a major part of the Soviet biological weapons apparatus, before defecting to the United States in 1992. After his defection, Alibek provided U.S. officials with extensive information about the scale and capabilities of the Soviet program. He described Soviet scientists working to weaponize pathogens including plague and developing strains designed to withstand antibiotics. His claims about some aspects of the Soviet program have faced scrutiny over the years, making independent documentation particularly important. But the existence and enormous scale of the Soviet biological weapons effort — conducted despite Moscow’s 1975 ratification of the Biological Weapons Convention — is well established. The Irkutsk institute says it was founded in 1934 as a scientific and operational center for combating plague. Its mission later expanded to other highly dangerous diseases, including cholera and anthrax, and it describes itself today as a research and anti-epidemic facility responsible for helping protect the region from infectious disease. The Trump administration has said it is closely monitoring the situation and pressed Moscow for greater transparency about what happened. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that while travel between the U.S. and Russia remains limited, an infectious disease could quickly spread beyond Russia’s borders. “If something like that gets out, it could quickly spread,” Rubio said. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would offer assistance to Russia if needed. “I hate to see them having it,” Trump told reporters Monday. “It’s a rough disease.”
Liberal justices look for ‘escape hatch’ as high-stakes climate case lands at Supreme Court, experts say
Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor’s repeated questions concerning whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear a high-profile climate case that could expose oil companies to lawsuits across the country steered conservative lawyers to believe that the liberal justices are seeking an “off-ramp.” “The fact that they kept going back to trying to create a jurisdictional problem tells me they don’t feel confident that they have the votes in this space,” Carrie Severino, president of JCN, a conservative judicial group, told Fox News Digital. “Jackson and Sotomayor were looking for an escape hatch.” The Supreme Court began its new term Monday, hearing its first oral arguments for Suncor v. Boulder, in which they will rule on whether state tort laws can be used to seek damages from oil companies for climate change, even when the alleged harms are occurring outside the state or continent. The justices will also rule on whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear this case now, as the case is still before the Colorado Supreme Court. The case before the high court is in an unusual procedural posture, meaning the justices could resolve it without ever reaching the blockbuster state-versus-federal power fight at its center. That dispute centers on whether Colorado can use its own laws to seek damages for alleged harms caused by emissions from other states or whether it’s an issue for the federal government and Congress to regulate. SUPREME COURT BEGINS NEW TERM WITH HIGH-PROFILE LOOK AT CLEAN AIR AND FEDERAL AUTHORITY “The questions by Jackson and Sotomayor trying to say it would be premature for the court to issue an opinion are simply the liberal justices trying to find an off-ramp for the case because they are afraid they will be outvoted on the main issue: does federal law such as the Clean Air Act preempt all state claims like those asserted here,” Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow with Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital. While questioning Suncor attorney Kannon Shanmugam, Jackson suggested the dispute may have reached the Supreme Court too soon, calling it “premature from the standpoint of this court exercising its jurisdiction.” She also repeatedly questioned why the court couldn’t wait to hear the case, saying the court doesn’t “have the whole set of facts” and that the court doesn’t “really know enough to be confident” that the theories posed are applicable. “It feels to me like the defendants … are bringing it back to federal court before the state courts have really had a chance to sort out who is the source, what is their allegation with respect to how this causation is happening,” Jackson told Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris, who argued in support of Suncor. Meanwhile, Sotomayor refused to drop her line of questioning on jurisdiction with Shanmugam, proposing that the Supreme Court send the case back to the Colorado Supreme Court. “If we’re unsure of your characterization, because there’s certainly a number of amici brief who disagree with that characterization, shouldn’t we be certifying this question to the Colorado court instead of us deciding it? We have to be sure of our jurisdiction before we take it,” Sotomayor said. Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall told Fox News Digital it was clear that the liberal justices were trying to cast doubt on whether they have jurisdiction. SUPREME COURT CAN RESTORE SANITY AND STOP THE LEFT’S RADICAL CLIMATE AGENDA “Well, I think you saw both Justice Jackson and Justice Sotomayor try to find an out for this court, basically saying the court doesn’t have jurisdiction at this stage of the case to be able to make a final ruling. I think that you saw the advocates on behalf of Suncor be able to distinguish that.” If the Supreme Court declines to reach the federalism issue, the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling allowing Boulder’s state-law claims to proceed would remain in place, leaving the broader question of how far states can use tort law to pursue climate claims against energy companies unresolved. Chief Justice John Roberts pressed Boulder attorney Kevin Russell on whether a Boulder win could trigger similar lawsuits nationwide. Russell said there are legal limits, but acknowledged to Justice Clarence Thomas that Boulder’s theory could allow other fossil-fuel businesses to be sued. “The chief justice and the court do not like issuing rulings with no limiting principles, rulings that could open up unlimited litigation and claims. Kannon Shanmugam, the lawyer for Suncor, emphasized this again at the very end of the oral argument when he pointed out that there are not only 90,000 political jurisdictions that could sue, but individuals could also sue claiming damages from global warming,” von Spakovsky said. “And he also pointed out something the conservative majority frowns upon: that Boulder is trying to resolve a major policy issue in the courts instead of in the legislative branches,” von Spakovsky continued. SUPREME COURT KICKS OFF NEW TERM WITH FRESH QUESTIONS OVER ITS LEGITIMACY AND ITS FUTURE Supporters of Suncor say the lawsuits could “bankrupt” oil companies and cause the price for consumers to go up. “It’s to basically create a carbon tax on both producers and emitters across the country, which would include, by the way, my cattlemen in Alabama producing beef for our country, those that are creating concrete to be able to build structures and be able to grow our economy,” Marshall told Fox News. “They ultimately want to bankrupt that industry to have their preferred climate change policies be in play.” “They’re literally addressing behavior that takes place all over the world,” Utah Attorney General Derek Brown told Fox News Digital. “They want to regulate not just what happens in Colorado, but what happens in my state of Utah or in Saudi Arabia. That’s not the way the system works. So, really, this case comes down to one main issue and that is who gets to decide things like energy policy. And ultimately, under our system, it should be Congress.” Meanwhile, Boulder alleged ExxonMobil
Biden conspicuously absent from campaign trail as Obama, Harris step up for midterm push
Former President Joe Biden has been largely absent from the campaign trail as Democrats fight to win back House and Senate majorities in November, even as former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris step up efforts to boost the party’s candidates. Biden, 83, has kept a limited public schedule while battling advanced, metastatic prostate cancer. He has endorsed candidates and is helping Democrats raise money, according to a source in Biden’s political circle. But the former president has made few political appearances this year. The contrast is increasingly visible with four weeks to go until Election Day. Obama is cutting ads for Senate and gubernatorial candidates, helping the party fundraise and preparing to hit the trail during the closing stretch of the midterm campaign. Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee, is also campaigning across key battleground states, including a recent stop in Michigan with Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. MIDTERM MATH: THE THREE FORCES THAT COULD STOP A DEMOCRATIC BLUE WAVE Biden has appeared at just a handful of political events this year. He spoke in February at a reception honoring his 2020 South Carolina primary victory, which propelled him toward the Democratic nomination and eventually the presidency. In June, he addressed a Maryland Democratic Party event. Longtime Democratic strategist Michael Ceraso told Fox News Digital that some in the party’s elite and fundraising class are concerned that “if Biden were to be pushed out there in any sort of way for virtual or in-person opportunities, he could be a liability.” Veteran Democratic strategist Maria Cardona had a different take, telling Fox News Digital, “There are still a ton of Americans who love Joe Biden.” Biden did weigh in on a handful of Democratic primary showdowns this cycle. The former president endorsed former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor. Bottoms, who served as a senior advisor in the Biden administration, won the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nomination. The former president also backed Dan Koh, another Biden administration veteran, who captured the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON FORMER PRESIDENT BIDEN Biden is also advocating on behalf of efforts to secure democracy. “American democracy begins and ends at the ballot box. There is no more important civic duty nor fundamental right to be defended,” the former president wrote on social media last month, as he cast his ballot in his home state of Delaware’s primary. “Voting defines our freedom and makes everything possible.” But mostly, Biden has served as a foil for President Donald Trump, who Biden ousted from the White House in the 2020 election. Four years later, Biden ended his re-election bid after a disastrous debate performance against Trump in their 2024 rematch. Trump and fellow Republicans are repeatedly blaming Biden for high prices at the gas and diesel pumps, even though public opinion polls indicate most Americans now point fingers at Trump and his administration. Biden left the presidency with poor approval ratings, as he faced high inflation, foreign policy divides, and lingering questions about his ability to serve in office. He stood at 42% approval and 57% disapproval in January 2025, in the final Fox News poll during his White House tenure. Post-presidency, Biden held a 71% favorable rating among Democrats in a CNN poll conducted in May. But Biden’s favorable rating among Democrats was 25 points lower than Obama’s. DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB Meanwhile, some Democrats still blame him for Trump’s 2024 re-election, arguing that Biden did not get out of the race in time to allow Harris to mount a successful campaign. Ceraso, a veteran of two presidential campaigns, pointed to the 2024 election and told Fox News Digital that Biden left a “bad taste with some Democrats, especially within the party’s elite and fundraising class.” He added, “I do not think Biden has the same level of charisma as Vice President Harris and former President Obama, and if I’m organizing an event to get thousands of people to come out, I would not do that around Biden.” Cardona, a Democratic National Committee member, said Biden’s health is stifling requests for campaign trail appearances. “I guarantee you no one would try to bother him to come campaign for them while, at 83 years old, he is battling cancer and in the toughest fight of his life,” Cardona emphasized. Fox News Digital reached out to a Biden spokesman for comment, but did not receive a response at the time this story was published.
Biden-era FBI’s ‘Nixonian’ Trump family surveillance draws scrutiny from unlikely corner
Revelations that the Biden-era FBI tracked Trump family travel and top aide Susie Wiles’ phone records received a blistering rebuke from a former top Democratic official who compared the behavior to Nixon-era abuses of federal power that surfaced amid the Watergate scandal. The FBI investigation codenamed “Plasmic Echo,” later taken over by special counsel Jack Smith, examined Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified and national-defense material and possible obstruction. Records show agents tracked first lady Melania Trump’s and Barron Trump’s travel while planning the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and later logged metadata from now-Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ calls with attorneys, journalists and others.” Julian Epstein, the former chief counsel for the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic bench, compared the situation to the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. JACK SMITH’S PROBE SWEPT UP FOX NEWS, OTHER MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT SOURCES “It’s hard to think of good justifications for this. To me, it feels a little Nixonian,” said Epstein, who also served as staff director to Democrats on a second powerful panel, the House Oversight Committee. “If this report is true, then it’s pretty bad. If true, then those in charge at the time better have some darn good explanations for surveillance of family members and advisors talking privately to lawyers or exercising their free-speech rights with the news media,” he said. Nixon, a California Republican, maintained an “Enemies List” developed by White House aides around top adviser Charles Colson and later formalized by White House counsel John Dean. Dean – now a vocal critic of Republicans like Trump – once described it in a 1971 memo as intended to “use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.” Epstein questioned what legal justification investigators had for monitoring the contacts, particularly those involving lawyers and journalists. VETERAN DEM BREAKS PARTY LINE AS JACK SMITH SPYING SCANDAL GRIPS CAPITOL HILL “[That] seems like a stretch,” he said. Epstein appeared to be among the few prominent Democrats publicly criticizing the newly disclosed investigative tactics Tuesday, including the tracking of Melania and Barron Trump’s travel and the collection of Wiles’ call metadata. SECRET PHONE-RECORD SEIZURE SPARKS PERSONAL LAWSUIT FROM GOP SENATOR Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who just months ago similarly broke party-silence to object to prior revelations from Smith’s probe. Blumenthal told Fox News Digital in July that Republicans were right to be upset that some of their communications were subpoenaed without their notice. “I think we need to have more facts. Look into it. Republicans are rightly concerned about the possible breach of norms and improper access to email,” Blumenthal said at the time. In a separate disclosure on July 14, the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee released records showing that Smith’s 2020-election investigation obtained and reviewed text messages exchanged between Trump White House officials and 44 current and former members of Congress, including Republicans and Democrats. Theo Wold, a former acting assistant U.S. attorney general under Trump who later served as Idaho’s solicitor general, said the new disclosures involving Melania, Barron and Wiles vindicate Republicans who have long warned of a so-called “Deep State.” “But now we know that DOJ, the FBI, and the wider intelligence community have targeted Catholics, homeschool families, pro-life prayer warriors, and even the then-leading Republican Presidential candidate and his family,” Wold said. “The Deep State is real. They have abused their authority for political gain. They have wielded government power against innocent Americans to coordinate their attack on opposition political figures and dissident movements.” The White House also condemned the newly disclosed tracking of Trump family travel and collection of Wiles’ call metadata. “Jack Smith’s surveillance operation was a disgraceful abuse of government power. Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital. “Those responsible must be held accountable.” On one day in March 2023, documents showed investigators logged metadata for 39 calls made or received by Wiles. Calls to and from multiple campaign contacts, a lawyer and an extension associated with Melania Trump were among those logged in Wiles’ phone metadata. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Former RNC official Elizabeth Pipko highlighted Wiles as someone that critics should be emulating, not celebrating the surveillance of. “She managed a historic and victorious presidential campaign and became the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff. Her story should inspire young women. Instead, hatred from President Trump’s opponents teaches young people that if you work for the ‘wrong’ candidate, you and those around you can become targets,” Pipko told Fox News Digital. The revelations come after Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital exclusively that Smith’s probe had also captured communications with dozens of journalists, including some from Fox News. Fox News Digital reached out to counsel for Smith for comment.