Former Trump official warns Mamdani victory would mark ‘Marxist shift’ for New York City
America’s most populous city is days away from possibly electing a self-defined socialist as its mayor. A former Trump administration official told Fox News Digital a win for Zohran Mamdani could mark a shift toward Marxism in New York City. “I could never fathom the thought of having a Marxist leading my city, the crown jewel city of the United States, of the world, of the free world,” Gene Hamilton, America First Legal co-founder and president, told Fox News Digital. The heated New York City mayoral race has garnered national attention as former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now running as an independent, Mamdani and Republican Curtis Sliwa face off in an all-out battle to govern the city. Hamilton, who formerly served as White House deputy counsel, noted some polls have shown a divide between U.S. and foreign-born voters, with those coming from outside the country leaning more toward the young socialist. Hamilton said he sees this as evidence of long-failed immigration policies and a shift away from promoting assimilation and toward pushing integration. NEW JERSEY DEMS SNUB ENDORSING SOCIALIST CANDIDATE MAMDANI AS GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION LOOMS “One of the things we’ve seen over the last several decades is an emphasis amongst many social organizations, nonprofits, the government itself, on this concept of pushing integration and not assimilation. ‘Assimilation’ was treated as a dirty word,” Hamilton said, highlighting resistance against pushing for immigrants to adopt American culture. He said the difference is that integration now means that “we’re integrating you from whatever background you have, whatever political ideology you have, and we’re just integrating you into society and everyone else has to deal with it.” While Hamilton acknowledges that immigration can create appreciation for cultures, he asserted that this does not mean that those coming to the U.S. can ignore the existing culture they’re moving into. He also emphasized the importance of upholding existing immigration laws, arguing that enforcement is not just about border control but about protecting American values. “There are prohibitions, there are restrictions from the admission of individuals for many, many reasons,” he told Fox News Digital. “You can’t admit somebody to the United States who’s been a member of a totalitarian party or communist party. There are people that you can’t submit because they’re going to engage in certain types of activity. ZOHRAN MAMDANI LAUNCHES ANTI-TRUMP TOUR ACROSS FIVE BOROUGHS IN NEW YORK CITY “There is an oath that every naturalized citizen has to take as part of becoming a citizen. They are promising to the United States government that they are renouncing any existing foreign ties and obligations, and, instead, they’re embracing this new American identity. And so all of this wraps together to this devaluation of the value of an American, the American identity, the quintessential American identity that dominated perceptions across the world for decades and decades,” Hamilton added. When it comes to the contentious New York City race, Hamilton said that it shows that the U.S. has brought in “a lot of people” and has failed to teach the importance of Western values, of the U.S. Constitution and what the founders fought for. He said he believes the sacrifices of those who built the country are being “shunted aside towards this belief, this ideological suicide in some ways, that we can just bring anyone from anywhere across the world.” He said the belief that as long as immigrants “provide some kind of economic enhancement to the country of any kind — whether that’s as an Uber driver or whether it’s as a nuclear scientist — that we should just welcome it all the same, treat them all the same and we’re all greatly enriched because of it just (defies) common sense.” During last year’s presidential election, immigration took center stage as many saw the Biden administration’s handling of the border as a failure. This heavily affected then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was, at one point, tapped to be the country’s border czar. MAMDANI TAKES COMMANDING 22-POINT LEAD OVER CUOMO IN NEW POLL Hamilton reflected on how the American people “outright rejected the open borders mentality of the Biden administration,” adding that it went beyond the rejection of open land borders and also the bringing in of people from all across the world. “Things take time. It takes years for things to change, but we are now dealing with the consequences of years of failure up until now. We have a real chance to fix it now. Donald Trump is fixing things on the national level. The people of New York still have a chance to make this right. But things are looking really bad,” Hamilton said. Hamilton also touched on the mentality New York Republicans should have while heading to the polls. Despite there being a Republican candidate in the race, there are those who believe that voting for Cuomo would hurt Mamdani, while voting for Sliwa would help him. NYC OFFICIAL EXPOSES MAMDANI’S ‘MARXIST PLAYBOOK’ IN REVEALING NEW FOX NATION SPECIAL “I think it’s really hard,” Hamilton said. “Ultimately, I know a lot of people like Sliwa. He seems like a wonderful man. I don’t know him personally. And so you can stand proud and support on principle, voting for a Republican. But, at the end of the day, you also have to accept and recognize reality sometimes. And whatever it takes to ensure that you do get a Marxist in office is a reasonable decision to make. And, so, if that means holding your nose and voting for Cuomo, that’s a personal decision to make.” Even with the national election long over and the 2025 races just days away, there are those who are thinking about next year’s midterms and how a Mamdani win could shift the tides. “Certainly, I think you’ll see the Democratic Party rally around him and the energy behind his election as a means to try to turn out the vote in 2026 for their preferred candidates, to get this kind of more Marxist message out there and
Sharpton blasts ‘ugly Islamophobia’ in NYC mayoral race as Mamdani attacks Trump on welfare cuts
The Rev. Al Sharpton on Saturday slammed what he called “ugly Islamophobia” sweeping New York City’s mayoral race, accusing some of labeling every Muslim a terrorist to attack Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. Sharpton, an MSNBC host and progressive activist, was speaking at an event he was hosting for Mamdani in Harlem, and the mayoral candidate was throwing jabs too, accusing President Donald Trump of smearing and gutting welfare programs. The democratic socialist drew parallels to the Reconstruction-era agency created to help newly freed slaves to hammer home his point. The pair were joined by Pastor Miles Travis Boyd, whose mother died on 9/11, as well as other faith leaders. “I am outraged at the ugly Islamophobia that has been used in this campaign to act as though every Muslim is a terrorist and to act like something ugly, as what happened to us on 9/11 is an insult to the intelligence of all New Yorkers,” Sharpton told a lively crowd at the House of Justice, his National Action Network headquarters. FBI AGENTS FROM ’93 WTC ATTACK BLAST MAMDANI FOR EMBRACING RADICAL IMAM “If you can’t get a vote on your record, don’t play us against each other.” Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced criticism from Mamdani after Cuomo’s exchange with radio host Sid Rosenberg, who claimed Mamdani would be “cheering” if another 9/11 happened. Cuomo had argued during the segment that Mamdani was unprepared to lead the city in a time of crisis. After Sharpton’s remarks on Saturday, Cuomo denied accusations of Islamophobia and said comments from Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov — who has endorsed him and has been accused of making inflammatory statements — were hers alone. Cuomo, in turn, accused Mamdani of fueling division and antisemitism for allegedly refusing to denounce calls for an “intifada” and for making past statements he described as offensive toward Jews. Sharpton also argued Saturday that just showing up at someone’s campaign or shaking their hand doesn’t mean you share blame for whatever they’ve been accused of. Sharpton was likely referencing a meeting Mamdani had last week with Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn imam who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and who has been linked to other terrorist activity in the United States. Sharpton said he denounced both the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. “I’m against Islamophobia. But to bring it into the politics of the biggest city in the world should not be allowed to go unchecked,” Sharpton said. “We are not going to sit by silently while they do this. We are Christian. I’m a born-again Baptist, but I embrace the Muslim community to come from the shadows. The Jewish community to come from the shadows. And let’s walk down Broadway together.” OBAMA’S CALL TO MAMDANI ‘NORMALIZES’ THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST CANDIDATE, SHARPTON SAYS He then pitched his flag in Mamdani’s corner after telling the audience that Mamdani was the only candidate who turned up to their events. “For fairness, for affordability, for those who’ve been victimized, I bring you the candidate who showed up, Zohran Mamdani,” Sharpton said, shaking Mamdani’s hand as the crowd cheered and clapped in approval. Mamdani followed Sharpton’s remarks with a speech invoking America’s Reconstruction era, accusing Trump of gutting modern welfare programs, saying they represented today’s version of the Freedmen’s Bureau. The agency provided relief and education and helped reunite families of enslaved people and poor Whites in the post-Civil War South. “If the Freedmen’s Bureau existed today, Donald Trump would pilfer its coffers and smear it as socialist overreach,” Mamdani said. “He would do to it what he has done to SNAP, Medicare and Medicaid, to any program that dares to uplift the poor rather than comfort the wealthy.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately hear back. Mamdani said his campaign was rooted in moral and economic renewal stretching from Harlem to Queens to Bay Ridge. “Over the past 12 months, my friends, we have built a movement around creating a society we would all like to see, a society where the poor receive aid, where those who work long nights are set free in the day, where injustice is banished from our city and where faith is restored in City Hall,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani’s God Squad: The clerics, activists and political operatives who have his back
When New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani stepped to the microphone outside the Islamic Cultural Center of the Bronx last week near Yankee Stadium, his voice broke as he spoke about “the memory of my aunt who stopped taking the subway after Sept. 11 because she did not feel safe.” Behind him, a Yemeni-American educator in sunglasses named Debbie Almontaser nodded. Almost two decades ago, in 2007, she was forced to resign as principal of a city school after defending a T-shirt with the slogan “Intifada NYC.” City officials viewed it as a call to violence. She said it was benign. Her case became a rallying cry for Muslim American activists who cast her as a victim of “Islamophobia.” FBI AGENTS FROM ’93 WTC ATTACK BLAST MAMDANI FOR EMBRACING RADICAL IMAM Now, Almontaser was back, this time as a senior advisor to Emgage Action and a board member of Yemeni American Merchants Association Action, two of 110 political nonprofits, community groups and political action committees backing Mamdani as he alleges “Islamophobia” against him. Recently, when critics questioned Mamdani’s ties to hardline Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj, she sprang to action, helping to organize a protest to defend Wahhaj. That rapid, coordinated response captured the modus operandi of a network of political operatives and clerics intertwined with the shared mission of catapulting Mamdani into the mayor’s office. Mamdani’s background diverges from many of his co-religionists. In an interview, he said he is a Khoja Shia Muslim, part of a small, relatively liberal sect with roots in India. Many of his New York-area allies are religiously strict Sunni Muslims who practice more conservative interpretations of the faith. But they find common ground in politics. “It’s a sophisticated fusion of religion, politics and identity,” said Mansour Al-Hadj, a Washington-based researcher on Muslim political movements and extremism. “The same networks that once focused on community services are now mobilizing voters and producing candidates. This is how political Islam adapts inside democracy.” Mamdani’s God Squad includes about a few dozen key players who specialize in painting any critique as an attack on their faith, accusing critics of Islamophobia even as many of them have engaged in strident rhetoric against the U.S., Israel and capitalism. The Original Imam: America is “filthy and sick” Mamdani set off a firestorm Oct. 7 when he walked into Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn and later posted a photo of himself beaming beside the mosque’s imam, or prayer leader, Wahhaj. The imam’s checkered past goes back decades. In a 1992 talk, he said American Muslims should elect an “emir” rather than choose between George Bush and Bill Clinton. Soon after, he served as a character witness in the trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called “Blind Sheikh” convicted for plotting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people. “You know what this country is?” Wahhaj said in 1995. “It’s a garbage can. Filthy. Filthy and sick.” In 2018, three of Wahhaj’s children were arrested after authorities found 11 malnourished children in a New Mexico compound tied to his family; a grandchild had died in what authorities described as an attempted exorcism. He told local news reporters, “Whatever they did wrong … it’s not acceptable to us.” The Youth Imam: Resist “by any means necessary” In New York, the Muslim American Society recently signed on to a letter to challenge “unmistakably Islamophobic, anti-Black, and xenophobic” attacks on Mamdani. Signatories included CAIR National, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New York chapter, Islamic Circle of North America’s New York chapter, the Islamic Center of Five Towns, Muslim American Society of New York, Muslim Community Network, Rockaway Islamic Center and a “Syosset Muslim Community.” Members of the Muslim American Society have long been quick to accuse others of Islamophobia even as they unabashedly call for violence against their perceived enemies. At an Eid celebration earlier this year, a cleric at the Muslim American Society cast Muslims as victims worldwide. Mohammad Badawi, youth director at the Muslim American Society, declared the local community’s joy would only be complete when Muslims are “victorious worldwide,” adding they would celebrate “after the destruction of the illegitimate Zionist occupiers,” Israel. He regularly organizes anti-Israel protests in a campaign against “injustice and oppression.” At one protest, Badawi urged youth to “fight back” against injustices “by any means necessary.” Abdullah Akl, a charismatic organizer with the Muslim American Society Youth Center, leads many protests under the banner of “Within Our Lifetime,” with founder Nerdeen Kiswani. Mamdani joined them before his run for mayor. Akl calls the street protests “sacred activism,” a mix of faith and resistance that will “free Palestine.” Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, the Muslim American Society Youth Center has organized prayer protests on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange and street protests for “Nakba Day,” calling the day Israel was created a “catastrophe,” and youth-led demonstrations outside BlackRock. Akl turned a subway car into a protest zone with chants of “Globalize the intifada… There is only one solution: intifada revolution.” When the New York Police Department arrested Akl and other activists, the Council on American-Islamic Relation’s New York chapter sent out a press release demanding their release. During the Oct. 7 protests this year against Israel, Akl shouted, “We did not act enough! We will show up, stronger than we did the first Oct. 7.” In response to criticism, he posted a message on social media, doubling down and saying, “Saying we didn’t act enough to stop a full blown genocide against palestinians [sic] is incitement?? Saying we need to be louder and protest more and continue to speak up for gaza [sic] is a crime? Zionist tears once again for the most documented genocide in modern history.” For decades, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has served as an aggressive and litigious watchdog for a host of Muslim figures and causes, often at the forefront of fighting legitimate bigotry. But CAIR has also courted controversy. Federal prosecutors named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal terrorism-financing case against the
Sherrill insists NJ a Dem stronghold ahead of Obama visit, rejecting GOP momentum: ‘Not a purple state’
New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill insisted Saturday that her state is a Democratic stronghold ahead of a campaign event with former President Barack Obama, in an apparent rejection of Republican momentum there. “New Jersey is not a red state. I love you guys, but New Jersey is not a red state,” Sherrill told supporters Saturday as she remains in a close contest with Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli heading into Election Day. “I’ve got some even better news, guys. New Jersey is not a purple state. . . . New Jersey is a blue state! That’s right. That is right. I have seen the polling numbers, guys. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. So when we vote, we win,” Sherrill added. “Let’s get out every vote and let’s show them the power of labor!” A recent Fox News poll of New Jersey likely voters put Sherill ahead of Ciattarelli 52% to 45% heading into the last few days of the campaign. Her seven-point lead is just outside the poll’s margin of sampling error. Earlier this month, Sherrill was ahead by five points, and in September she was up by eight points. FOX NEWS POLL: SHERRILL LEADS CIATTARELLI IN NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S RACE Among those who say they are extremely enthusiastic about voting this year, Ciattarelli is ahead by five points — but among those either extremely or very enthusiastic, it’s Sherrill by four. That’s because more Republicans feel extremely enthusiastic (52%) than Democrats (40%). Obama is expected in Norfolk, Virginia, earlier Saturday afternoon to campaign for Abigal Spanberger, a former House Democrat who is facing off against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the governor’s race there. The former president is then heading to Newark, New Jersey, for an event with Sherrill later Saturday. Obama has endorsed both candidates. OBAMA THE ‘CAMPAIGN CLOSER’ FOR DEMOCRATS IN TOP 2025 ELECTIONS AS PARTY AIMS TO REBOUND Sherrill also criticized President Donald Trump at her campaign event Saturday morning in New Jersey, saying, “We’re looking at a president of the United States that’s destroying jobs, who’s destroying our economy, who’s running a worldwide extortion racket so he can charge us all more money while he pockets billions of dollars.” “That’s not the way we want to run New Jersey. That’s not — we don’t want no king. That’s right. That is right. So that’s why I’m running for governor,” Sherrill added. “It’s not too much to ask to invest in workers. It’s not too much to ask to get a good wage. And so I have to tell you, it’s all on the line here. There are only two states in the nation with these races. New Jersey and Virginia,” Sherrill said. Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.
Rap star Nicki Minaj thanks Trump for addressing persecution of Christians in Nigeria
Rap superstar Nicki Minaj recently thanked President Donald Trump for shedding light on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday. “The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world!” TRUMP DESIGNATES NIGERIA AS ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’ OVER WIDESPREAD CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION, KILLINGS Minaj is open about her Christian faith and said the president’s statement made her “feel a deep sense of gratitude.” “Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God. No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other,” Minaj wrote. “Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror [and] it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice. Thank you to the president [and] his team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer.” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz thanked Minaj for “using your platform to speak out in defense of the Christians being persecuted in Nigeria.” “We cannot allow this to continue,” Waltz added. “Every brother and sister of Christ must band together and say, ‘Enough!’” The situation for Christians in Nigeria has become dire as entire villages have been burned to the ground, worshippers have been murdered at Sunday services and thousands have been displaced by Islamist groups sweeping through the country. CRUZ CLASHES WITH NIGERIA OVER HIS CLAIMS 50,000 CHRISTIANS KILLED SINCE 2009 IN RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE “Even being conservative, it’s probably 4,000 to 8,000 Christians killed annually,” Mark Walker, Trump’s ambassador-designate for International Religious Freedom, told Fox News Digital. “This has been going on for years — from ISWAP to Islamist Fulani ethnic militias — and the Nigerian government has to be much more proactive.” Trump said he has directed Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and members of the House Appropriations Committee to investigate the situation and report their findings to him. The president also said he would designate Nigeria a “country of particular concern” (CPC). According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), in countries with that designation, the government has “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” which is defined as “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.” This comes from the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. JIHADISTS MASSACRE 89 CHRISTIANS IN AFRICAN NATION, MANY SLAIN AT FUNERAL SERVICE “Nigeria is the most dangerous nation on Earth to follow Christ,” the House Appropriations Committee said in a statement. “For simply practicing their faith, Christians are actively being kidnapped, attacked and slaughtered. “With President Trump announcing he will be redesignating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, the United States is making clear in one resolute voice: Religious persecution will not be tolerated. The scourge of anti-Christian violence and oppression of other religious minorities by radical Islamic terrorists is an affront to religious freedom. This is a critical step in mobilizing leadership and attention to confront evil extremism.” The committee vowed that once the government shutdown is over, its members will “continue moving full-year appropriations across the finish line to uphold your priorities. We know you’ll be ready at your desk with a pen in hand.” Fox News Digital reached out to Minaj’s representative for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital’s Efrat Lachter and Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
Former Miss Venezuela blames ‘socialism and open borders’ for her country’s devastating collapse
Americans unfamiliar with Venezuela may not know that in the not-so-distant past the nation was rich with oil and opportunity. Congressional candidate Carmen Maria Montiel remembers a Venezuela that brimmed with optimism — before decades of political and economic turmoil turned it into one of the hemisphere’s poorest nations. “Socialism and open borders,” Montiel told Fox News Digital in an interview, are what sent her country into decline. The Houston-area Republican won the Miss Venezuela title at age 19 in 1984 and later finished as a runner-up for Miss Universe. But long before her pageant fame, she says, Venezuela’s political foundations were already beginning to crack. CHINA CONDEMNS US MILITARY BUILDUP OFF VENEZUELA COAST AS FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN REGIONAL AFFAIRS While the nation remained a democracy for decades, two socialist parties dominated power. “We got the influx of illegal immigrants, crime went up, drugs started to be a problem,” she said. “The first thing they destroyed was the healthcare system. Venezuela used to have one of the most wonderful healthcare systems — it was paid for, it was our social security. Because the country was so rich, it provided so many services to the Venezuelan people. And of course, no country has the infrastructure for a vertical growth of the population.” Montiel came to the U.S. for college in 1988, hoping the unrest at home would ease. Instead, she watched from abroad as Hugo Chávez led two coup attempts in 1992, and the country erupted in riots and looting. IS TRUMP’S ‘HEAT’ ON VENEZUELA THE START OF A WIDER CAMPAIGN FOR REGIME CHANGE? “I decided I’m gonna stay a little longer, see if things get better,” she said. “But they never did.” From Chávez’s failed coup to Nicolás Maduro’s current hold on power, Montiel sees a straight line — one she says runs through corruption, cartel influence and foreign alliances with Russia and Iran. “Communism always runs out of money,” Montiel said. “Even in a rich country like Venezuela, oil production collapsed, and what was left for them was crime. That’s why they joined the cartels — it’s a criminal communist regime.” ALLIANCE WITH US ‘DISMANTLED’ BY LEFTIST PETRO REGIME, COLOMBIA’S FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS U.S. officials have long accused members of Maduro’s inner circle of involvement in narcotics trafficking, particularly through the Cartel de los Soles — a network of Venezuelan military officers implicated in smuggling cocaine to North America and Europe. Washington has also sanctioned dozens of Venezuelan officials for corruption and ties to terrorist groups, though Caracas denies the charges. Montiel supports the recent U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking networks off Venezuela’s coast and believes they are justified given the threat she says the regime poses to the United States. “Venezuela presents a very high risk to the United States,” she said. “It’s the drug trafficking, the Tren de Aragua trafficking … the problems that many Venezuelan people escaped, now we’re facing in the United States.” WASHINGTON’S SHADOW WAR: HOW STRIKES ON CARTELS THREATEN TO COLLAPSE MADURO’S REGIME The Department of War has conducted 14 lethal strikes on vessels allegedly smuggling narcotics toward U.S. shores over the past two months. In Montiel’s view, dismantling cartel networks and exposing the Venezuelan military’s complicity are essential steps toward toppling the regime. “This is a criminal communist regime and we should never remove the word ‘communist,’” she said. At the same time, the U.S. has intensified pressure on Maduro, whom it does not recognize as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. The Justice Department is offering a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest. Analysts have questioned whether the widening military campaign may have a deeper objective: pushing Venezuela’s socialist leader from power. A U.S. intervention aimed at removing Maduro would likely divide Americans still wary of foreign entanglements. But Montiel insists Venezuelans themselves would welcome it. “The people that are still in Venezuela are supporters of President Donald Trump because they’re screaming for freedom,” she said. “They’re screaming to get out of the situation.” Still, she acknowledges that removing the regime alone won’t rebuild the country. “The country is pretty much destroyed,” she said. “It’s worse than any third world country. It’s going to take probably 30 years to get Venezuela back to what it used to be.” Montiel is running in the Nov. 4, 2025, special election for Texas’ 18th Congressional district, a heavily Democratic Houston seat left vacant after the death of Sylvester Turner.
Trump touts ‘12 out of 10’ meeting with Xi, downplays reports of Venezuela strikes
President Donald Trump spent the week in Asia meeting with other global leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, while his administration ramped up its attacks against alleged drug boats in Latin America. Trump met with Xi Thursday in South Korea, where the two hashed out a series of agreements concerning trade. Specifically, Trump said he agreed to cut tariffs on Chinese imports by 10% — reducing the rate to from 57% to 47% — because China said it would cooperate with the U.S. on addressing the fentanyl crisis. Additionally, Trump said that he would not move forward with imposing an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods that were expected to kick in Saturday. Trump threatened the steep hike after China announced in October it would impose export controls on rare earth magnets, which he said China had agreed to postpone by a year. Afterward, Trump described the meeting as a massive success, and signaled that a broader trade deal between the two countries would be signed shortly. TRUMP, XI MEET IN EFFORT TO RESOLVE TRADE TENSIONS SPARKED BY US TARIFFS “Zero, to 10, with 10 being the best, I’d say the meeting was a 12,” Trump told reporters after meeting with Xi. “A lot of decisions were made … and we’ve come to a conclusion on very many important points.” From China’s point of view, Xi said afterward the two countries should work together and complete outstanding tasks from the summit for the “peace of mind” of China, the U.S., and the rest of the world. “Both sides should take the long-term perspective into account, focusing on the benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation,” Xi said, according to a state media report on the meeting. TRUMP ANNOUNCES MEETING WITH XI JINPING AT SOUTH KOREA APEC SUMMIT SCHEDULED FOR NEXT MONTH Additionally, Trump announced on the Asia trip, which also included stops in Malaysia and Japan, that he would instruct the U.S. to revive nuclear weapons testing —upending decades of precedent on nuclear policy, as the U.S. has not conducted nuclear weapons testing since 1992. The announcement also left lawmakers, experts and military personnel wondering what he meant since no other country has conducted a known nuclear test since North Korea in 2017. China’s and Russia’s last known tests go back to the 1990s, when Russia was still the Soviet Union. The White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment. TRUMP CLAIMS ASIA TOUR RETURNED ‘TRILLIONS’ TO US AHEAD OF CRITICAL MEETING WITH CHINA’S XI However, experts are aligned that Trump likely meant he would instruct the U.S. to either increase its testing of nuclear-powered weapons systems or conduct tests of low-yield nuclear weapons. Vice President JD Vance told reporters Thursday that Trump would continue to work on nuclear proliferation, but said testing would be done to guarantee weapons are working at optimal capability. “It’s an important part of American national security to make sure that this nuclear arsenal we have actually functions properly,” Vance said. “And that’s part of a testing regime. To be clear, we know that it does work properly, but you got to keep on top of it over time. And the president just wants to make sure that we do that with his nation.” TRUMP THREATENS ‘MASSIVE’ CHINA TARIFFS, SEES ‘NO REASON’ TO MEET WITH XI The Trump administration also stepped up its campaign against drug cartels in Latin America, totaling at least 14 strikes against alleged drug boats in the region. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the U.S. had conducted three strikes against four vessels in the Eastern Pacific, and Hegseth announced Wednesday another strike had also been conducted in those waters. But the White House dismissed reports Friday that the Trump administration had identified and was poised to strike military targets within Venezuela imminently. Trump later told reporters that he hadn’t determined whether he would conduct strikes within Venezuela. Lawmakers — including some Republicans — have pressed for more answers on the strikes, and have questioned if they are even legal. For example, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., spearheaded a war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. armed forces from engaging in “hostilities” against Venezuela. “The Trump administration has made it clear they may launch military action inside Venezuela’s borders and won’t stop at boat strikes in the Caribbean,” Schiff said in an Oct. 17 statement. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump’s ‘nuclear’ demand not landing for Senate Republicans amid shutdown
President Donald Trump wants Senate Republicans to gut the Senate filibuster, but it’s a request that puts his quick-fix desire to end the shutdown at odds with the GOP’s long-held defense of the filibuster. The Senate filibuster is the 60-vote threshold that applies to most bills in the upper chamber, and given the nature of the thin majorities that either party has commanded in recent years, that means that legislation typically has to be bipartisan to advance. It has also proven to be the main roadblock in reopening the government. Despite Republicans controlling the upper chamber, they have routinely come up a handful of votes short in their 13 attempts to end the shutdown. JOHNSON WARNS AGAINST TRUMP’S DEMAND FOR SENATE TO GO ‘NUCLEAR’ TO END SHUTDOWN Three members of the Democratic caucus have broken from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and their colleagues to reopen the government, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., needs five more to hit the magic number. Trump, in a late-night Truth Social post, said that on his return trip from Asia, he ruminated heavily over why the government had shut down despite Republicans being in control. His solution was for Senate Republicans “to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option.” “Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW,” Trump said. Senate Republicans have already gone nuclear this year to unilaterally change the rules to blast through Schumer’s and Democrats’ blockade of Trump’s nominees. But for many Senate Republicans, including Thune and his leadership team, nuking the filibuster is a proverbial third rail. TRUMP URGES GOP TO ‘END THE SHUTDOWN’ BY GOING NUCLEAR ON SENATE FILIBUSTER “There’s always a lot of swirl out there, as you know from, you know, social media, etc., but no, we’re not having that conversation,” Thune said earlier this month when asked about pressure to go nuclear on the filibuster. And there isn’t much daylight between his sentiments from earlier in October to now. “Leader Thune’s position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged,” Thune’s spokesperson Ryan Wrasse said in a statement. Earlier this month during an appearance on Fox & Friends, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., shared a similar outlook as Thune when asked if the filibuster was under consideration to be on the chopping block. “No, that’s not going to be the case,” he said. “There aren’t the Republicans that would want to support it.” SENATE GOP RESISTS ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ AS DEM SHUTDOWN STANDOFF DEEPENS The filibuster has come under fire in the last decade from Senate Democrats, a point that Trump noted in his lengthy post. The last time the filibuster was put to the test was when Democrats controlled the Senate in 2022. Schumer, who was majority leader at the time, tried to change the rules for a “talking filibuster” in order to pass voting rights legislation. But the effort was thwarted when then-Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., joined Republicans to block the change. Both have since retired from the Senate and become independents. Still, the stalemate in the Senate has shown no signs of shattering as the shutdown heads into November, though bipartisan talks among rank-and-file members have been on the rise as federal food benefits career toward a weekend funding cliff. Across the building, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also warned against turning to the nuclear option for the filibuster, even as a handful of House Republicans have demanded that the safeguard be erased. “Look, I’ll just say this in general, as I’ve said many times about the filibuster, it’s not my call. I don’t have a say in this. It’s a Senate chamber issue,” Johnson said. “But the filibuster has traditionally been viewed as a very important safeguard. If the shoe was on the other foot, I don’t think our team would like it.”
North Carolina Democrat lawmaker resigns after being hit with child sex charges
A North Carolina Democratic state lawmaker resigned from his position after being charged with felonies tied to alleged sexual conduct with a minor. The move from Rep. Cecil Brockman of High Point comes after he faced bipartisan calls to resign and a potential committee investigation, announced by North Carolina’s House speaker, into his alleged misconduct. “I am currently facing criminal charges brought against me in Guilford County. Due to the seriousness of these accusations, I need to focus on my defense of these allegations,” Brockman, 41, said in a statement obtained by WXII. “As a result, I am unable to fulfill my duty and service to my constituents in Guilford County. As a result, I am resigning my position from the NC House of Representatives effective immediately.” TRUMP-BACKED NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE MAP APPROVED BY LAWMAKERS AS REPUBLICANS AIM TO PICK UP SEAT North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall said Brockman’s decision “is the right thing to do for his constituents and for the North Carolina House of Representatives.” “His departure spares the House from a difficult expulsion process and brings closure to this troubling chapter,” Hall added, according to WXII. Brockman is facing two counts of statutory rape of a child between the ages of 13 and 15 and two counts of indecent liberties with a child, according to court records obtained by Fox News Digital. A magistrate’s order said Brockman is accused of engaging in sex acts with a 15-year-old in August and is twice alleged to have committed and attempted to commit “a lewd and lascivious act” upon the juvenile, The Associated Press reported. Court documents cited by WRAL indicate that Brockman attempted to contact the alleged victim while they were hospitalized and sought to “use his status to gain information on the whereabouts of the victim.” TEXAS MEGACHURCH FOUNDER TO SPEND 6 MONTHS IN JAIL FOR SEXUALLY ABUSING GIRL Brockman, who was first elected to the state House in 2014 and has served since 2015, represents portions of the High Point and Guilford County area. He has served on committees related to education and appropriations. State House leaders from both parties and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein had called on Brockman to resign since his arrest three weeks ago. The House clerk’s office on Friday received a letter signed by Brockman to resign effective immediately. Records show Brockman remained in jail Friday on a bond of just over $1 million. A court hearing on a request by Brockman’s attorney to reduce the bond is scheduled for Monday. Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Food stamp benefits for 42 million Americans in jeopardy today amid shutdown
With no deal in place to reopen the government and no action from the administration to make up for a funding shortfall in federal benefits, millions of Americans are at risk of losing food benefits starting on Saturday. The argument raging in the Senate mirrors the same argument that has so far seen the government shutdown for 32 days. Senate Democrats contend that with the stroke of a pen — like on expiring Obamacare subsidies — President Donald Trump could easily see the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps, funded as the shutdown drags on. SENATE GOP DIVIDED AS MILLIONS RISK LOSING FOOD AID IN SHUTDOWN STANDOFF “We don’t want to pit healthcare and food, [Republicans] do,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “We think you can have both.” But congressional Republicans and the administration argue that food stamp benefits, and numerous other government programs, could be fully funded if Schumer and his caucus would unlock the votes to reopen the government. Democrats are suing the Trump administration in part over its refusal to use the SNAP emergency fund, which they contend has about $5 billion, to fund the program. But a recent memo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) argued there was no legal standing to use the fund and that federal SNAP funds would run dry by Nov. 1 if Democrats did not vote to end the shutdown. A pair of federal judges ruled on Friday that the administration would have to pay out the food stamp benefits for November, either in full or partially. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins affirmed the memo during a Friday press conference, “There is a contingency fund at USDA, but that contingency fund, by the way, doesn’t even cover, I think, half of the $9.2 billion that would be required for November SNAP. But it is only allowed to flow if the underlying program is funded.” USDA CHIEF WARNS ‘WE’RE RIGHT AT THE CLIFF’ AS 40 MILLION AMERICANS BRACE FOR FOOD STAMP CUTOFF Nothing typified the dysfunction over the benefits, which 42 million Americans rely on, more than an explosion on the Senate floor this week between Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. Luján tried to force a vote on his bill that would fund both food stamps and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), but was promptly blocked by an angry Thune, who argued that Democrats have had 13 chances to fund the program through the shutdown. “This isn’t a political game, these are real people’s lives we’re talking about,” Thune said. “And you all have just figured out, 29 days in, that, oh, there might be some consequences.” Democrats contend that Trump and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, are actively choosing not to fund the program, given that there is roughly $5 billion in an emergency contingency fund that the administration could dip into. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., charged that it was “Trump’s choice.” “He’s got $5 billion that he could be using right now to help people, to help people feed their kids, and he’s choosing not to do that,” he said. “What he’s doing is sick, deliberately making this shutdown more painful as a means to try to get Democrats to sign on to an immoral, corrupt budget.” The argument has been much the same in the House of Representatives, which passed the GOP’s federal funding bill on Sept. 19. Both Republicans and Democrats appear worried, however. SCHUMER, DEMS CALL ‘BULL—-‘ ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER FOOD STAMP SHUTDOWN THREAT “I just left the local food pantry in my district and was speaking with seniors there, and they’re all very concerned,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., whose district is home to more than 120,000 SNAP recipients, told Fox News Digital. “They agree with me that the Senate, beginning with their own senator, Senator Schumer, should vote to continue the existing funding levels that they previously voted for four times and prevent this unnecessary pain.” There is a desire among both sides of the aisle to fund the program before the government reopens, but the likelihood of piecemeal bills, or “rifle-shots,” making it to the floor was squashed by Thune during the week. Both Luján and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., have bills that would fund food stamps, with Hawley’s bill having 29 bipartisan co-sponsors, including Schumer. One of the co-sponsors, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital that the administration’s argument, in part, was because the $5 billion in the contingency fund was not enough to cover a month’s worth of food stamp benefits. “It’s hurricane season, and that’s what it’s really satisfying,” he said. “But it’s not enough, either way. We’ve tried 14 times to be able to fully fund SNAP — once with an actual appropriation bill … to say, ‘let’s just fund it for the entire year,’ 13 times to do short term. It’s a little frustrating. Some of my Democratic colleagues are saying, ‘Well, find some way to fund it for a week or so, move things around.’” But on the House side, it’s not clear if Democrats nor Republicans have the appetite for piecemeal bills during the shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has consistently said he will only call the House back into session if Senate Democrats vote to reopen the government. Meanwhile, Fox News Digital asked Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., during a press conference on SNAP this week whether he was discussing food stamp legislation with his Senate counterparts. “I’m familiar with the proposals, and I know that many of my colleagues … have proposed legislation here in the House as well. Those conversations will continue,” Neguse said. But, “ultimately,” he added, “legislation doesn’t need to be passed in order for these funds to be released. It is the law.”