Obama-era inspection flaws in Iran could persist as experts warn of nuclear blind spots
Iran has agreed to let nuclear inspectors back into the country, Vice President JD Vance said Monday, as nuclear experts warned President Donald Trump’s new Tehran framework will only work if inspectors get the kind of unfettered access they say was missing from the Obama-era Iran deal. The news, which Vance described as “a major milestone,” comes as Trump’s new Iran framework drew warnings from nuclear experts who told Fox News Digital the deal could leave Tehran too much control over its uranium stockpile unless inspectors first locate, secure and verify the material. The IAEA has not been able to resume full in-field verification of Iran’s declared nuclear program since last year’s strikes, apart from a June inspection at a single Iranian nuclear power plant. The verification gap concern centers on language in the reported U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) saying the two sides will resolve the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile through a still-to-be-negotiated process. The MOU identifies onsite “downblending,” which means diluting enriched uranium so it is less usable for a nuclear weapon, under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision as the minimum acceptable method for dealing with the material. The MOU does not explicitly say Iran will retain a civilian nuclear program, but it says the two sides will discuss enrichment and other matters related to Iran’s “nuclear needs” in a final deal. “Unfettered verification is everything,” Chuck DeVore, Chief National Initiatives Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “There can be no denial for teams to inspect on the ground. Remote, technological means can achieve a lot, but nothing beats in-person inspections.” TRUMP NUCLEAR TALKS FACE DEFINING QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENS TO IRAN’S URANIUM STOCKPILE? IAEA supervision would only be meaningful if inspectors first regain enough access to fully account for Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and ensure Tehran does not retain unchecked control of the material, experts warned Fox News Digital. Meanwhile, a recent IAEA report released this month underscored the agency’s limited visibility into Iran’s declared nuclear program after last year’s military strikes, saying that aside from a single inspection at an Iranian nuclear power plant, the agency “has not received information from Iran” about the status of its other declared nuclear facilities or associated nuclear material. “Nor has the Agency had access” to those sites for in-field verification, the report noted. A senior administration official told Fox News Digital on background that the MOU required Iran’s regime to reaffirm that it will not procure or develop nuclear weapons, calling that a critical first step under Iran’s new Supreme Leader. The official said the U.S. has reached understandings with Iran when it comes to its uranium stockpile, and the new deal is the first step of turning these understandings into real results, which include progress on enriched uranium stockpiles, dismantlement of nuclear sites, an enrichment ban and inspection access. The official added that the U.S. has already had productive discussions with Iran on those issues and, now that the MOU is formally in place, negotiators will work to make quick progress. US-IRAN TALKS POSTPONED IN SWITZERLAND AMID ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS; HORMUZ REMAINS A KEY ISSUE The official also referred Fox News Digital to comments Vice President JD Vance made Thursday, when he said the deal’s benefits depend on Iran following through on its promises. “They have promised not to enrich. They have promised that they would allow inspectors in to destroy that highly enriched stockpile. And then, of course, it’s not usable anymore. You take it somewhere else,” Vance said. “They promised a number of things, and that’s why the deal contemplates a number of benefits if they do those things. But it doesn’t do anything if they don’t actually meet those promises.” “The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people, and the first step in permanently denuclearize, easing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran,” Vance added Monday after negotiations in Switzerland resumed. “And that’s exactly what we wanted to do. That’s exactly what we asked to happen.” The Vice President said that the technical negotiations will continue over the next weeks and days, even in his absence. He said a framework for “proper political oversight” of these negotiations has been established as well. Vance simultaneously highlighted that “a lot of great progress on other nuclear talks” has already been made in the early days. Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Nonproliferation Program, told Fox News Digital that any credible agreement must begin with recovering and safeguarding Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, and not allowing Tehran to keep control of the material while it is diluted inside the country. “Without verifiably dismantling and destroying all of Iran’s fundamental nuclear capabilities — nuclear material, facilities, centrifuges, manufacturing capabilities, equipment, documentation, and weaponization capacities, and ensuring scientists are redirected to civilian work — Iran’s pledge on paper is meaningless,” she told Fox News Digital, noting that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile could, if recovered and further enriched, provide enough weapons-grade material for roughly 22 nuclear weapons. HOW DOES TRUMP SOLVE KEY ‘NUCLEAR DUST’ HANG-UP IN NEGOTIATIONS TO END IRAN WAR? DeVore was more cautious about assigning a single number to Iran’s potential weapons capacity, saying the estimate depends heavily on the sophistication of the weapon design. He said the same stockpile could translate into fewer basic weapons or be stretched further by a more advanced nuclear program. He said onsite downblending, if properly verified, would be aimed at making Iran’s roughly 1,000 pounds of 60% enriched uranium unavailable for further enrichment. DeVore cautioned that the material would still need additional processing to be turned into weapons-grade uranium and said he does not believe Tehran can currently do that because key facilities were destroyed in last year’s strikes. Asked what would be needed to make any Iran deal enforceable, DeVore told Fox News Digital the U.S. must avoid repeating what he described as a key
Tim Walz’s jab at Trump over Reflecting Pool draws fraud scandal backlash: ‘Sit this one out’
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s viral jab at President Donald Trump over the troubled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool cleanup drew swift blowback from critics online, who pointed to the massive fraud scandal that unfolded in Minnesota under Walz’s watch. “Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went,” Walz wrote on Friday in a post on X with over 3.5 million views. “The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.” Walz was reacting to a news report about the issues the Trump administration has had cleaning up the historic reflecting pool next to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., which has recently become fodder for Democrats in response to peeling paint and algae growth just weeks after a $14.8 million restoration project was completed. Walz’s post, which was received well by some of his supporters, was widely criticized by conservatives, who suggested that Walz’s inability to stop the scammers involved in the massive fraud scandal that unfolded under his watch makes his opinion on the Reflecting Pool less convincing. TIM WALZ FIRES BACK AT TRUMP ACCUSATION OF ‘INCOMPETENCE,’ DODGES ON RESPONSIBILITY FOR FRAUD IN MINNESOTA “I’m sorry, TIM WALZ is accusing someone else of enabling grifting?” journalist Mark Hemingway posted on X. “From the dude who gave us all those ‘Learing Centers,’” Fox Business senior correspondent Charles Gasparino posted on X. “Tim Walz: Are you describing yourself?” Minnesota Staff Fraud Reporting Commentary, an account representing more than 480 Minnesota state staff members who have sounded the alarm on fraud in the state, posted on X. WALZ APPROVAL RATING CRATERS TO LOWEST LEVEL EVER AND TRAILS TRUMP AMID MASSIVE FRAUD SCANDAL: ‘TIRED OF IT’ “Ya might want to sit this one out…,” Sal Nuzzo, executive director of Consumers Defense, posted on X. “Actually, the problems were very real: 9% inflation, an open border with 20M+ illegal crossings, fentanyl killing 100K Americans a year, factories shipped overseas, energy dependence, and cities that couldn’t keep the lights on,” former Trump White House spokesman Harrison Fields posted on X. “Voters didn’t imagine those — they lived them. That’s why you’re a retiring governor and failed VP nominee.” Conservative influencer account Gunther Eagleman accused Walz of presiding over Minnesota’s fraud scandal, posting on X, “Says the biggest fraudster in Minnesota.” “Crazy, you found an imaginary war record,” Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden posted on X in response to questions about Walz’s recollection of his military service while running for vice president in 2024. Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment. “Of the MANY Statues and Fountains that we rebuilt, renovated, cleaned, and fixed, the only one that was Vandalized was the Reflecting Pool, which is being taken care of, ASAP!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday after alleging vandalism at the Reflecting Pool, where law enforcement activity and cleanup efforts have drawn national attention. “It has been given a 300 foot long gash, chemicals have been illegally placed in the water, and the beautiful new grass field has been destroyed with a gigantic 86 47 chemically carved into it (Probably inspired by Dirty Cop, James Comey!). Please remember that there is a 10 year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”
Two new defendants charged in alleged White House UFC mass-casualty attack plot
The FBI has identified two additional suspects in the alleged plot targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event in Washington, D.C., bringing the total number of publicly identified defendants to seven. Newly unsealed court records identify Missouri resident Jordan W. Rincker and Washington state resident William Lee Spartacus Falkner as alleged members of the conspiracy. Prosecutors say Rincker allegedly helped fund and facilitate the operation, while Falkner allegedly discussed procuring and operating drones intended for use in the attack. Five suspects previously were charged in the case in recent days. Investigators allege the group planned to use explosive-laden drones to trigger a mass evacuation of the June 14 event before directing fleeing crowds toward prepositioned shooters. FBI officials previously told Fox News Digital that a “second wave” was then expected to target the White House gate. Falkner allegedly joined a Telegram chat devoted to drone operations June 7 and communicated with other alleged conspirators about drone procurement, tactics and the use of explosives, according to the Washington state complaint. 5 CHILLING DETAILS FROM THE ALLEGED WHITE HOUSE ATTACK PLOT TIED TO UFC EVENT Prosecutors allege Falkner discussed obtaining multiple drones through a network of contacts and argued that “the more drones the better.” Court records also allege he exchanged messages about drone payloads, anti-jamming measures, fiber optics controls and the number of drones needed to carry out the attack. The complaint alleges Falkner claimed he could obtain drones capable of carrying heavy explosive payloads and discussed coordinating their acquisition with other members of the group. According to the complaint, Falkner allegedly participated in a Telegram channel known as “D Ops” dedicated to the conspiracy’s alleged drone operation. In one exchange cited by prosecutors, a co-conspirator allegedly wrote that the group was “down to 7 days” before the attack and discussed obtaining multiple drones for the operation. Images of the new suspects were not immediately available. The newly unsealed affidavit also suggests investigators were examining whether members of the group discussed a potential future attack targeting a FIFA World Cup match scheduled for July 3 in Kansas City, Missouri. In the filing, an FBI agent wrote that he believed messages exchanged by alleged ringleader Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez referenced the event and encouraged co-conspirators to prepare to travel to Missouri around the July 4 holiday. Prosecutors said the plotters met around March through a TikTok community known as “Vanguard of the Old” where participants shared workout videos and tactical content before moving to encrypted Signal chats. According to the newly unsealed complaint, members of the conspiracy allegedly agreed to commit murder on the White House grounds and surrounding area during the UFC Freedom 250 event. The complaint alleges the conspiracy operated from approximately March through June 21. Federal investigators allege members acquired firearms, ammunition, ballistic gear and other tactical equipment in preparation for the attack. The complaint claims Tycen Proper allegedly acquired several boxes of ammunition, plate carriers, rifles and tactical clothing, while Daniel Eskridge allegedly obtained multiple firearms, a helmet and a ballistic vest. ‘SOMETHING BIG’: FEDS REVEAL HOW RELATIVES OF SUSPECTS IN FOILED WHITE HOUSE UFC PLOT SAW WARNING SIGNS The newly unsealed filing also says that Eskridge allegedly shared a photograph of tactical equipment, including a rifle, helmet and ballistic vest, with co-conspirators on the encrypted messaging platform SimpleX in May. Prosecutors allege Rincker played a logistical role in the conspiracy. He allegedly accepted a $1,200 cash payment from co-defendant Alvarez, allegedly sent Bryan Omar Roa $100 to help fund Roa’s drive from California to Washington and allegedly transferred a pump-action shotgun to Alvarez during an in-person meeting, according to the complaint. The complaint further claims that Roa allegedly began driving from California to Washington on June 11 to participate in the attack. The plot was allegedly disrupted after the mother of Proper, a 19-year-old Ohio defendant in the case, called in a tip to the FBI. A seizure of Proper’s phone helped investigators identify other members of the alleged network. Investigators say the network extended well beyond the five men initially charged. Proper’s phone contained a primary Signal chat with approximately 19 alleged participants, according to court records, along with smaller operational chat groups organized by role and location. Tensions reportedly boiled over between federal agencies over the decision to make the case public. FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia told Fox News Digital Monday that the initial five arrests targeted the individuals investigators viewed as the most dangerous members of the alleged conspiracy and that any additional arrests would likely involve suspects who played lesser roles in the plot. “We made a bunch of probable cause arrests before the (UFC) event, we assured the event was safe,” Raia said. “We were watching a whole bunch of others to ensure that nobody had come to nobody had come to DC. But we’re continuing to make those cases. And so that’s why you’re seeing folks get kind of picked off.” Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
Cops could be forced into race-based guessing game after Supreme Court move, Thomas joins dissent
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas on Monday dissented from the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up a case that they said forces police officers to create a separate set of rules for racial minorities. “It is dangerous to allow an individual to be treated differently based on statistics, studies, or expert testimony that purports to show that members of the racial or ethnic group to which he belongs are more likely to act in a certain way than are members of other groups,” Alito wrote on behalf of himself and Thomas. “Here, the special treatment helped the individual; in other situations it will not.” The case, U.S. v. Donte J. Carter, involved a Black man whose firearm and theft convictions were vacated after the D.C. Court of Appeals held that police seized him before they had reasonable suspicion. Officers later recovered a .40-caliber pistol from Carter’s pants and the government said the gun had been stolen from an FBI agent’s vehicle. According to the D.C. court, “black Americans like [Carter] are ‘especially distrustful of law enforcement’” and therefore “‘less likely’ than other people ‘to terminate a police encounter’ due to skepticism that any attempt to exercise their constitutional rights will be respected.” SUPREME COURT REJECTS BOSTON PARENTS’ APPEAL CLAIMING RACIAL BIAS IN AN ADMISSIONS POLICY The D.C. court reasoned that Carter’s race was relevant to whether a reasonable person in his position would have felt free to end the police encounter. It ruled that the encounter effectively became a seizure, and that such an action was unlawful because police officers hadn’t established reasonable suspicion before subjecting him to it. Alito and Thomas argued that the D.C. ruling effectively forces law enforcement to treat people differently based on their race, something precedent established by the Supreme Court prohibits. “Under the test, officers will need to quickly assess a person’s race, and if officers and courts must craft special rules for black persons, what about dark-skinned Latinos, other Latinos, and members of other minority groups?” Alito continued. “We have said that our ’Constitution is color-blind.’ It ‘almost never’ allows government actors to treat persons differently based on their race.” SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR To support his claims, Alito cited Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Louisiana v. Callais and Shaw v. Reno. “And we have rejected the proposition that the Constitution permits an individual to be treated differently based on a ‘perception that members of the same racial group — regardless of their age, education, economic status, or the community in which they live — think alike,’” Alito wrote, citing Shaw v. Reno. This appears to be a direct challenge to the D.C. Court of Appeals, which lawyers representing the United States argued forced police officers to assume that all black people have the same attitudes toward police officers and would therefore feel uncomfortable exercising constitutional rights in their presence. TRUMP’S FIRING POWER FACES TWIN SUPREME COURT TESTS, BUT ONE AGENCY MAY GET SPECIAL TREATMENT Carter, the individual Alito noted was helped by the case, initially lied to officers by answering in the negative when approached and asked if he was carrying a weapon. The police then asked Carter to pull his pants up, at which point they noticed an L-shaped bulge which was later identified as a .40-caliber pistol that had been stolen from a federal agent’s vehicle.
Chicago’s deadly Juneteenth weekend leaves 7 dead as Trump shames Dem gov for inaction
The city of Chicago was rocked by a spate of shootings over the weekend, including a drive-by mass shooting on Juneteenth, leaving six dead and 39 injured in the Windy City. The shootings, which took place in a three day period between Friday evening and Sunday, prompted President Donald Trump to call on Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker to take action by requesting federal assistance. Chicago police reported that two dozen shooting incidents took place over the weekend, with victims who died ranging in age from 18 to 50, according to the Associated Press. On Friday night, two unidentified individuals fired into a crowd in Princeton Park on Chicago’s South Side, resulting in 12 people — eight males and four females — being hospitalized, according to the AP. That same night, a 29-year-old man named Mario Price was killed in a drive-by shooting in which he was shot in the body and face, according to Fox 32 Chicago. A 70-year-old man who was standing nearby was also shot in the leg but survived. Shootings continued on Saturday and Sunday, resulting in additional deaths and injuries. Besides these, on Thursday, a 14-year-old boy was shot multiple times, resulting in his death, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The outlet reported that the Midwest Hawks youth football team, of which the boy was a member, mourned his passing, saying in a statement that “there are no words that can ease the pain of a loss like this.” AG BLANCHE SLAMS PRITZKER FOR REFUSING HELP AS CHICAGO CRIME SURGES In response to the shootings, Trump shamed Pritzker for not taking action. “Lots of Killing going on in Chicago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!” The president pointed to his crime crackdown in the nation’s capital, writing, “D.C. went from one of the worst to one of the safest cities in the U.S.” Besides Washington, D.C., Trump has also deployed National Guard troops and federal authorities to Portland, Los Angeles and Memphis. After extensive legal challenges, Trump sent several hundred troops to the Chicago area late last year. However, the deployment remained tied up in court, and the troops were demobilized in January. TRUMP’S DC CRIME SUCCESS PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON CHICAGO’S DEADLY ‘WAR ZONE’ Pritzker, one of the country’s most prominent Democrats and a rumored 2028 presidential frontrunner, has repeatedly declined Trump’s offers to send the National Guard and federal authorities to crack down on crime in Chicago. In a news conference last year, Pritzker stated emphatically, “Mr. President, do not come to Chicago,” adding, “You are neither wanted here nor needed here.” Pritzker said, “If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is — a dangerous power grab.” ILLINOIS DEMOCRAT LEADERS BLAST TRUMP PUSH TO SEND NATIONAL GUARD TO CHICAGO In October, Pritzker mocked the notion that Chicago was undergoing a surge in violence during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. Dressed in a Kevlar vest and standing in downtown Chicago, the governor quipped, “This is JB Pritzker, reporting from war-torn Chicago. As you can see, there’s utter mayhem and chaos on the ground. It’s quite disturbing.” “We’ve seen people being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup on them, and our deep dish pizza, well, has gone shallow. So, it’s a challenge to survive here in the city of Chicago, but there’s no hellscape that I’d rather be in,” said Pritzker. Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker for comment.
Chicago resident living in shadows of Obama Presidential Center reveal chaos caused by years-long construction
CHICAGO – A man who has lived on Chicago’s South Side for 18 years and now lives in the shadow of the newly opened Barack Obama Presidential Center described to Fox News Digital the havoc he says the years-long construction project wreaked on his housing complex. Akoma Amanze is a local cab driver who lives in Jackson Park Terrace, a low-income housing community directly across the street from the 19.3 acre campus dedicated to the 44th president. Over the weekend, while thousands of people from across the country — celebrities and ordinary folks alike — swarmed the area to visit Obama’s new campus that features a museum, library, gardens and recreational activities, Amanze and other residents took in the spectacle. But Amanze told Fox News Digital the buzz across the street was nothing new. While he made it very clear that he supports Obama, and described living at Jackson Park Terrace as a “very good experience,” Amanze and others in his complex dealt with massive headaches caused by the construction. OBAMA CENTER EMBEDS ‘INDIGENOUS’ LAND MESSAGE ON CONTROVERSIAL SITE He described the construction process, which began in 2021, as “sometimes very, very disturbing.” SUBCONTRACTORS SAY THEY’RE OWED MILLIONS, FACE FINANCIAL RUIN, AFTER HELPING BUILD OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER “He’s my man, and I’m excited that this site is here” said Amanze, referring to Obama, “but as a resident, there has been a lot of things [that] have stopped us here.” “On two occasions, my apartment flooded while they were digging the lower level of that project,” he said. “Two times. And I had to deal with the ramifications of that twice. Those ramifications were that all my apartment was flooded, and I had to throw away everything on the floor. Boxes, papers, clothes, I had to throw them away.” BUREAUCRATS HIDE TRUE PRICE OF OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AS TAXPAYERS HIT WITH INFRASTRUCTURE BILL He said he had to suck the water out of his home himself, and then clean the entire mess up himself. Despite the destruction, according to Amanze, neither the complex’s management nor representatives from the Obama Center offered to help deal with the fallout, financially or otherwise. Then there was the reverberation from the digging, he said. “Sometimes, you stay in bed or in the apartment, [and] the digging — sometimes when they were digging deep— [it] would be shaking your bed,” he said. “I had that experience all through the construction.” OBAMA’S LEGACY PROJECT OFFERS LITTLE HOPE FOR CHICAGO’S SOUTH SIDE RESIDENTS Across the street used to be a community park where Amanze said he “more or less raised all [his] children.” “In fact, my last child, that is 14 today, there used to be a favorite swing on that park where I took him every time he starts crying or he starts showing signs of stress,” Amanze said. “I take him there, and I put him on that swing, and I swing him up and down, and then he will fall asleep, and then I bring him back home.” The park is gone now, but Amanze is not bitter. “When things are happening that you do not have the power to stop, you just have to learn to live with it,” he said. “I just learned to live with it. I’m not upset. I’m excited that my brother Obama was able to establish something this big in my neighborhood. At least in my mind, I’m a part of the history.”
Pence says Iran agreement ‘smacks of the kind of appeasement’ Trump rejected in prior term
Former Vice President Mike Pence said that the Iran Memorandum of Understanding President Donald Trump signed last week “smacks of the kind of appeasement” Trump rejected in his first White House term. “The president deserves tremendous credit for taking the fight directly to Tehran, and every American should welcome the prospect of peace. No one wants another prolonged war in the Middle East, despite the flippant accusations from isolationists on the populist right,” Pence asserted in a Wall Street Journal piece. Pence, however, characterized the agreement as nothing more than “a plan to make a plan.” TRUMP’S IRAN GAMBLE DIVIDES GOP HAWKS AND ‘AMERICA FIRST’ CONSERVATIVES OVER WHAT VICTORY LOOKS LIKE “But the memorandum of understanding with Iran signed last week falls well short of what is required to end the Iranian threat. It smacks of the kind of appeasement the president rightly rejected during our first term. It isn’t the deal a defeated Iran should be getting. It isn’t even a deal—it’s a plan to make a plan,” he asserted. “Maximum pressure worked. America’s military strength worked. The blockade worked. Iran came to the table because the regime’s existence teetered on a knife’s edge,” Pence wrote. VANCE, IRANIAN OFFICIALS END FIRST ROUND OF TALKS IN SWITZERLAND, MOVE TO NEXT PHASE “This 60-day period should be used to secure what this agreement doesn’t yet provide: an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, an end to Iranian-backed terror, and an end to its half-century of warfare against the U.S. and Israel. If those reasonable goals cannot be achieved, Mr. Trump should let the armed forces finish the job,” Pence wrote. ISRAELI AMBASSADOR WARNS IRAN’S GRIP ON LEBANON IS A ‘WARNING SIGN’ FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Obama Center isn’t a traditional presidential library. Critics say it’s an activism center.
Don’t call it a library. The $1 billion Obama Presidential Center opened with huge fanfare last week in a park near the shore of Lake Michigan, but critics say what the public thinks is a library will function as the headquarters of Barack Obama’s private foundation, promoting the 44th president’s left-wing worldview to future generations. While every other modern presidential library houses that former commander-in-chief’s papers for public viewing, the Obama Presidential Center has no such component. Instead, Obama’s presidential records are being stored elsewhere, though digital versions may one day be available there. SUBCONTRACTORS SAY THEY’RE OWED MILLIONS, FACE FINANCIAL RUIN, AFTER HELPING BUILD OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER At its core, the center serves two purposes: a museum dedicated to Obama’s presidency and the headquarters of the Obama Foundation, Obama’s private nonprofit organization. The sprawling 19.3-acre campus will host various leadership programs, while spaces there include a “Democracy in Action Lab,” conference facilities, foundation offices and a major athletic complex designed for youth sports and community programs — features not typically associated with a presidential library. Signs reading “Bring Change Home” and “A Home For Action” surround the perimeter of the campus. The messaging mirrors how the Obama Foundation has described the center in its annual reports — not as a traditional presidential library, but as a “campus” and “living institution.” “We are building more than a campus. We are creating a living institution that will inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of leaders,” the foundation’s 2024 annual report reads. The center, which as of 2021 had cost well over $800 million and is believed to have eclipsed the $1 billion mark, is a departure from presidential libraries, in both scale and purpose. “Usually, these libraries are a monument to a presidency and the presidency is in the past, it’s in the rear-view mirror,” Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former George W. Bush administration aide, told Fox News Digital. “It looks like Obama wants to use it as some kind of activism center, something that continues to promote his ideas and his political views.” Troy said the direction did not surprise him. “Obama was a community organizer. He’s an activist. That’s how he came up, and it doesn’t surprise me that he wants to go in this direction,” Troy said. Obama himself offered a glimpse into how he views the center’s mission during Thursday’s opening ceremony. “We designed the center not to be some lifeless mausoleum,” Obama said, while highlighting Obama Foundation leaders from around the world. Among them was a Polish human-rights lawyer behind more than 30 lawsuits involving refugees, climate policy, LGBTQ rights and anti-discrimination litigation. “This center is devoted to lifting up their stories, giving them the tools and support they need to expand their impact,” Obama said. Obama later underscored that mission in his speech. “While we are non-partisan, we are not value-neutral. We have a point of view,” he said OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER WANTS 100 UNPAID VOLUNTEERS AS VALERIE JARRETT EARNS $740K Critics say Thursday’s ceremony confirmed what they feared all along: The center seems designed not just to preserve Obama’s presidency, but to carry his vision into the future. The center’s opening has reignited debate over whether the project evolved far beyond the traditional presidential library model for which many Chicagoans originally believed they were handing over their historic parkland. The public land fight The distinction matters because the center occupies roughly 19 acres of Jackson Park — Chicago’s equivalent of New York’s Central Park — under a controversial 99-year agreement city leaders approved for a one-time $10 payment. Opponents argue that transferring public parkland to a private foundation violated the public trust doctrine, a legal principle intended to preserve public assets for the public benefit. Those challenges were ultimately unsuccessful in court, although critics note that the central public trust arguments were never fully tested on the merits. “When we were defeated, we weren’t told that we were wrong on the merits,” Richard Epstein, a New York University law professor and one of the nation’s foremost experts on the public trust doctrine, who represented the local Protect Out Parks group. “We were told that we had no right to bring the complaint at all.” The Chicago City Council approved the deal with Obama, but Epstein said lawmakers were not free to simply set aside the public trust doctrine. “The public trust doctrine is meant to be a restraint on the legislature,” Epstein told Fox News Digital. “This has been an epic frustration.” Epstein said his concerns extend beyond the use of public land. Courts never fully examined whether the foundation had sufficient financial safeguards in place before receiving control of the site, including a long-promised $470 million reserve fund intended to shield taxpayers from future liabilities, Epstein said. A Fox News Digital investigation found that just $1 million has been deposited into the fund. Epstein warned that handing over public land without fully vetting the foundation’s finances could expose taxpayers to future risks if the center encounters financial trouble down the road. WATCH: NYU law professor Richard Epstein says courts never ruled on key Obama Center claims Those concerns resurfaced after a Fox News Digital investigation found minority-owned and local subcontractors who worked on the center say they were stiffed for millions of dollars. Critics also point out that the public land transfer was only part of the taxpayer contribution. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were spent on surrounding road, utility and transportation improvements tied to the project. Supporters say those upgrades modernized the area, but opponents argue they were done to serve a privately run institution. Bait and switch? Bob Grogan, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, said the project was initially promoted as a presidential library to win public support and secure the land, but then morphed into something very different. “This isn’t a presidential library. It’s a Democratic headquarters on the South Side,” Grogan told Fox News Digital outside the facility. Grogan described the shift as
Ex-Dem insider reveals she will expose Democrats who covered up Biden’s cognitive decline in new book
Lindy Li, a former Democratic fundraiser who switched party affiliation over unheeded warning signs about President Joe Biden’s decline in the 2024 election, is revealing new details about the red flags the party blew by. “Whatever was out there, it wasn’t the truth. They wanted him to go, and also in my book, I will be telling people exactly who was aware of Biden’s cognitive decline but pretended otherwise,” Li told Fox News Digital during a phone interview. Li, who is publishing a new book titled “Unburdened” later this year, adds to the picture of the internal discussions, the research, and the panic behind the scenes of the Democratic Party, indicating that Biden enjoyed only shaky support even among his own camp long before he ultimately dropped out of the 2024 election. Above all, Li said she was shocked by some of the party’s leading figures who expressed reservations behind the scenes about Biden’s decline, but remained staunch defenders of the president in public. BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE LIVED IN ‘STUNNING’ DENIAL ABOUT HIS DECLINE, SAYS AUTHOR WHO INTERVIEWED TOP AIDE “I remember getting a text from Schiff,” Li said, referring to Adam Schiff, D-Calif., then a Democratic candidate for Senate and top Democrat in the House of Representatives. “I have it in my book. Basically, Adam Schiff was — I can’t remember what he said on TV, but I’m telling you right now that behind the scenes he very much wanted [Biden] to go.” A spokesperson for Schiff responded to Li’s claims, noting that the Senator had made his doubts about Biden known publicly after a 2024 debate where the president stumbled over his words, lost his train of thought and spoke in a whispery voice that, at times, was difficult to understand. He eventually called for Biden to step aside that July “The Senator’s concerns and call on President Biden to not run was very public, so none of this is news,” the spokesperson said. But even beyond Schiff, Li, who ran a formidable fundraising operation for the party and was connected with a wide swath of its figures, said that many figures who were hesitant about Biden’s cognitive abilities were afraid of putting themselves in the path of his political momentum. BIDEN AIDES WARNED DONORS DROPPING OUT AND RUNNING KAMALA HARRIS WOULD BE A MISTAKE: BOOK “They didn’t want to get ostracized by the party. It’s like the axiom: you come at the king; you better not miss. Everyone would have missed,” Li said. Li said that fear was bolstered by internal research the party had done, indicating that no one else in the party had the capital to challenge Biden. “There are many candidates who polled themselves against Biden and then realized that they couldn’t beat him in a primary. It wasn’t a matter so much of anti-Trumpism. It was self-interest,” Li said. “I’ve seen the polling data, and I also include that in my book — polling no one has seen before.” Li said that internal discussion had also revealed that Harris wasn’t considered a particularly strong candidate to take on Biden’s mantle. “She was the weakest candidate in the field,” Li said. “I also have polling data right before Kamala ascended. We stacked her against Buttigieg, Newsom, Shapiro, Whitmer — all of them,” Li said, referring to a handful of other key figures in the Democratic Party. Along with fears about going after Biden and coming up short, Li said she believes the Bidens — particularly Joe Biden — inspired a sense of loyalty in the people around him that was hard to shake. MORNING GLORY: JUST HOW BAD WERE THE BIDEN AND HARRIS CAMPAIGNS? “He had decades of loyalty — his bond with people like James Clyburn,” Li explained, referring to the chief Biden ally who had helped steer the party for decades. “There’s something about Joe Biden. He was incredibly kind,” Li said.
Trump’s Iran gamble divides GOP hawks and ‘America First’ conservatives over what victory looks like
President Donald Trump may have united Republicans behind military action against Iran, but his push to formalize peace is proving far more divisive. As details of a memorandum of understanding emerge, GOP hawks are questioning whether the administration gave up too much, while Trump allies argue the president achieved a historic objective that crippled Iran’s military capabilities without dragging the U.S. into another prolonged war. The disagreement is about more than Iran. It has exposed a growing divide inside the GOP over what Trump’s “America First” foreign policy should look like in practice — and what victory should mean once a military campaign ends. At its core, the debate centers on competing visions of American power. One camp views military success as leverage to extract maximum concessions from adversaries and secure lasting strategic gains. The other sees it as a tool to neutralize threats and end conflicts before they become another Iraq or Afghanistan. Trump’s Iran agreement has forced those competing philosophies into a rare public collision. That divide is already playing out among some of the party’s most prominent national security voices. TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN RIPS INTO TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL, SAYS $300 BILLION MAKES OBAMA DEAL LOOK LIKE ‘A PITTANCE’ The deal’s fiercest Republican critics argue Trump is giving away leverage at the very moment Iran is most vulnerable. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., has blasted the agreement on X as the “worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” while Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has warned it appears “out of step” with the goals of the military campaign. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has questioned the concessions offered to Tehran and former U.N. Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has criticized proposals that could help rebuild Iran. Former Vice President Mike Pence has gone even further, calling the agreement a potential “lifeline” for the regime and warning it “smacks of appeasement.” VANCE SAYS ‘UNITED STATES WINS EITHER WAY’ AS HE DEFENDS TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL AGAINST GOP SKEPTICS Trump’s allies, however, argue critics are overlooking the sweeping military campaign that preceded the agreement. Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials contend the president achieved his core objective after U.S. and allied forces struck key Iranian military and nuclear sites, eliminated senior commanders and inflicted significant damage on Tehran’s military infrastructure. Supporters say those operations crippled Iran’s ability to project power, restored deterrence and ultimately brought the regime to the negotiating table without requiring a large-scale deployment of American ground troops. They argue victory is defined by achieving U.S. objectives and ending the conflict on favorable terms — not by risking another prolonged war in the Middle East. The clash highlights a foreign policy debate that has been simmering inside the Republican Party for years. NEW SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW FIRES, NAVAL BASE DAMAGE ACROSS IRAN AFTER US-ISRAELI STRIKES While Republicans have largely rallied around Trump’s use of military force against Iran, the disagreement over what comes next reflects a deeper tension inside the party. For traditional hawks, military victories create opportunities to reshape adversaries and secure lasting concessions. For many America First conservatives, the objective is narrower: neutralize threats, avoid nation-building and keep U.S. troops out of prolonged conflicts. As lawmakers and conservative leaders continue debating the memorandum of understanding’s merits, the fight may ultimately be less about the details of the Iran deal than about the future direction of Republican foreign policy — and what victory should mean in the Middle East.