GOP speaker claps back after Booker stumps against bid to eradicate red state’s Democrat-held districts
EXCLUSIVE: Alabama Republicans are moving to force through a new congressional map that could reduce Democratic representation amid a narrow national GOP House majority, while rebuking Yankee Democrats traveling to the Yellowhammer State to gin up opposition. State leaders argue the new Supreme Court ruling limiting the use of race in redistricting has changed the legal landscape, giving Alabama grounds to revisit and undo a court-imposed map that recently reshaped its congressional districts to help minority voters. As attention shifted from Louisiana to Alabama after the high bench tossed the Pelican State’s map last week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., traveled south to stump in Birmingham with fellow Democrats bemoaning legislators’ attempts to force the high bench to reconsider a partially conflicting order from three years prior. “Well, I’m probably guessing that’s first time Cory Booker’s ever been in Alabama,” Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainville, told Fox News Digital. BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES “The thing about it is the people that we represent have lived here most of all of their lives and they’re the ones that ask us to do something for them — not the Cory Bookers,” Ledbetter said. “And he can nationalize it all he wants to, but it’s not going to change facts.” Booker joined Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham, the state’s lone Democrat, until the court-mandated redraw produced a Democratic flip by Rep. Shomari Figures of Mobile. “We are in a storm right now — the question is, where will you stand, will you hold up your light,” Booker addressed a redistricting town hall in Birmingham, where he declared voting rights are on the ballot, according to the Alabama Reporter. The Yankee Democrat said he came south out of obligation to recognize that the Supreme Court upended decades of progress made by Alabamians, according to the city’s NBC affiliate. Late last month, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s 2-Democrat congressional map, in which Reps. Cleo Fields and Troy Carter’s Democratic districts were drawn with race as a significant factor. Alabama faced a similar fight after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan forced the state to redraw its map, leading to a court-imposed plan that shifted its delegation from a 6-1 Republican split to 5-2 after Republicans created but were rebuked for the so-called “Livingston map” that gave minorities districts with 55% and 40% representation respectively. SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR The interceding Livingston map, so named for Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, should be revisited and upheld by the Supreme Court in line with its more recent ruling, Ledbetter argued. In passing the map, Ledbetter said he expects the Supreme Court will be forced to weigh in, via a new legal challenge or otherwise, and that the Louisiana ruling gives Alabama the precedent it needs to undo the high court’s prior ruling and imposed map. “Once that happens, it gives the governor opportunity to call a special election.” While any action taken by Ledbetter’s legislature would likely spur court action, he suggested quick passage is needed as Alabama’s primaries approach on May 19. “If we did nothing, we had no shot, and doing this gives us the opportunity to have a ball in the air in case they do overturn [Milligan].” Gov. Kay Ivey called the legislature to special session Monday to create plans for potential adjustment of upcoming primary elections, if the state is able to force the redistricting issue upon the Supreme Court. Ledbetter said the Livingston map was fair, and attempted to follow the will of the court originally — adding that he plans to force the issue this week during the special session. “Our goal is to pass the Livingston map and give the governor the opportunity if the 14th Amendment [provision] is removed; that gives us the opportunity to go forward with it,” he said, arguing the earlier ruling relied on legal standards that may now be affected by the court’s more recent decision. “That’s really the only shot we got to be able to do this before the November elections is that map that’s existing,” he said. SUPREME COURT JUST GAVE BLACK VOTERS A SHOT AT REAL POWER BEYOND SAFE SEATS Pushing back again on Booker and critics of Alabama’s prior attempt to redraw, Ledbetter said the Livingston map, under today’s population footprint, actually gives all voting blocs a better shot. “When that was redistricted that was a 50-50 seat,” he said of one of the Democrat-friendly districts on the map. “It gives everybody a shot and it’s got all seven seats open.” He criticized national Democrats for descending on other states like Virginia to try to tip the scale of their own redistricting, noting that Alabamians elected a Republican supermajority in Montgomery and want to reflect that in Congress. DEMS CIRCLE THE WAGONS BY BLAMING GOP FOR THEIR REDISTRICTING RESPONSE AHEAD OF MIDTERMS: ‘VERY DESPERATE’ “I don’t think it’s right for the courts to overstep their boundary and try to do legislation.” Ivey said in a statement the state has been battling “federal courts and activist groups who think they know Alabama better than Alabama” since the 2020 census. “By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state Senate maps to be used during this election cycle,” she said. With Ledbetter and his partners on the Senate side primed to repass the Livingston map, the Supreme Court would have about a week to step in ahead of the May 19 primary, while Secretary of State Wes Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser that no matter the result of the special session, that date is set in stone — setting up a reason for national attention to turn toward the Yellowhammer State. Fox News Digital reached out to Booker and Ivey for additional comment.
NYC business owner kickstarts million dollar campaign to combat Mamdani-driven business exodus
New York’s political and financial leaders have launched efforts to combat Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies that they say have driven multiple billionaires to look elsewhere for their business homes. After Mamdani named Citadel LLC CEO and owner Ken Griffin in an advertisement for a new tax on second homes in the city, Griffin publicly rebuked him as “creepy.” The COO of Citadel then indicated in a letter to employees that the company may not move forward with plans to continue a $6 billion renovation of a new Midtown Manhattan office skyscraper. “What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners… and principally my New York partners… is that we need to double down on our bet in Miami, because we want to be in a state that embraces business, that embraces education, that embraces personal freedom and liberty, and that embraces people having an opportunity to live the American Dream,” Griffin said during the Milken Institute Global Conference in New York City on Tuesday. ‘WE’RE TAXING THE RICH’: NYC MAYOR MAMDANI TOUTS NEW $500M-A-YEAR TAX ON LUXURY SECOND HOMES Now, local business leaders are pledging time and money into a campaign hoping to keep business in the Big Apple. Andrew Murstein, founder of Medallion Financial Corp., launched Operation Boomerang in an effort to lure defectors back to New York. Murstein pledged $1 million of his own money into the effort, which will see him sending New York hot dogs, bagels and Katz’s Deli to businesses that fled to Florida, he told the New York Post. “The last 10 years with mayors and governors, those things pass, and they should be in it for the long run,” he told the Post. “I’m trying to convince them not to abandon ship. Whatever it takes.” MAMDANI’S CLASS WARFARE AGAINST NEW YORK BUSINESSES IS ‘ECONOMIC VANDALISM’ Murstein also added that he’s going to leverage his initial contribution into the campaign to raise more money, which he anticipates will net the project between $20 million and $30 million, according to the Post. Former Mayor Eric Adams also lent his voice to re-luring efforts, imploring Griffin to “stand your ground,” in a post on X. Mamdani’s attacks on the rich have even spooked his own employees, according to the Post’s sources. “The mayor’s office is feeling pressure around this, and they are looking for ways to change the narrative around business,” an anonymous local business leader reportedly told the Post. “They’re in a pickle because he’s hearing all the business leaders are looking for exit strategies now and Mamdani needs money and needs to keep his base happy,” the source allegedly continued. “This might be an inflection point because NYC is already a welfare state supported by very few people at the top who can leave,” the source concluded, per the Post.
Jack Smith escalates Trump DOJ clash with blistering private-event rebuke
Former special counsel Jack Smith unleashed on the Department of Justice in an unusually fiery speech to a few hundred people during a private event, accusing the department of being “corrupted” and targeting President Donald Trump’s enemies. Smith’s remarks, given during a private dinner in D.C. in April and reported by the New York Times this week, zeroed in on the DOJ’s decisions to investigate and prosecute some of Trump’s top political rivals, such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The former special counsel accused the department of weaponizing its authority, the very same accusation that Republicans have widely leveled against Smith for bringing two criminal cases against Trump during the Biden administration. “We have a Department of Justice today that targets people for criminal prosecution simply because the president doesn’t like them,” Smith said. CONSERVATIVES ACCUSE JACK SMITH OF IMPROPER TIES WITH JUDGES IN TRUMP CASES AFTER NEW DOCUMENT DUMP A DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital the department expected “nothing less from Jack Smith whose sole mission was to politically prosecute a former president in an attempt to stop him from assuming office again.” “This DOJ has ended the weaponization perpetrated by the Biden Administration and will continue to ensure no one is above the law,” the spokesperson said. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called Smith a “lying hack” who prosecuted Trump “to try and benefit his Democrat cronies.” “Jack Smith was specifically hired to spend years on a witch hunt to compile lies against the President, and it’s laughable that he would try and criticize this Administration for restoring integrity to the Justice Department,” Jackson told Fox News Digital. Smith brought indictments against Trump alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election and that he retained classified national defense information. Smith faced significant hurdles in the election case, while the classified documents case was tossed out by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, who said he was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith’s office was appealing Cannon’s ruling when Trump won the 2024 election. Weeks later, Smith moved to dismiss both federal cases, citing the Justice Department’s longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Trump raged at Smith repeatedly, calling him a corrupt “thug” who belonged in jail. In January, Trump said on Truth Social that Smith was a “deranged animal” who should lose his law license. Smith is a longtime attorney who prosecuted war crimes in the Hague and led the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section during the Obama administration. JACK SMITH PUSHES FOR PUBLIC TESTIMONY TO CONFRONT ‘MISCHARACTERIZATIONS’ OF TRUMP PROBES Trump said he hoped the DOJ was investigating Smith, “including some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses that he was attempting to use in his case against me. The whole thing was a Democrat SCAM — A big price should be paid by them for what they have put our Country through!” The president’s remarks directly clash with Smith’s rare, heated commentary at the private event, as both accuse the other of weaponization and as Smith faces threats of federal prosecution for targeting Trump, despite the DOJ and congressional investigators yet to uncover criminal wrongdoing by Smith. HOUSE DEMOCRATS DEMAND ANSWERS ON DOJ’S MOVE TO FIRE FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL OFFICIALS Smith said the DOJ has “been corrupted” over the past year but that he believed the department would “ultimately come through this better.” Smith also accused the DOJ of turning a blind eye to cases that might reveal “inconvenient” facts that would contradict “narratives the president would like to press.” Smith praised career prosecutors, saying a “central component” of the current DOJ’s strategy was to punish those like the several Minnesota attorneys who resigned in protest over internal disputes with how to handle an investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killing Renee Good, a 37-year-old anti-ICE activist. “To erode the rule of law in this country you need to attack these people, and that is what we have seen since January 2025,” Smith said. Smith’s comments were not all negative, however, according to the New York Times. He praised the DOJ for being more vocal than it was under Biden, a comment that comes as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who replaced Pam Bondi a month ago, has taken on an aggressive, proactive media strategy. Blanche has held a series of press conferences where he has taken rounds of off-topic questions while also doing numerous wide-ranging interviews with friendly and tough media outlets. A Smith representative had no comment.
Trump ally Nigel Farage deals major blow to Starmer in local UK elections as resignation calls mount
The United Kingdom’s ruling Labour Party is on track to suffer a major defeat in Thursday’s local elections as Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK surges in support, prompting calls for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign. British local elections are widely viewed as a functional referendum on the popularity of the ruling party and its head. With Labour having already suffered a net loss of nearly 500 local council seats with just over half of the councils called, multiple Labour MPs are saying that Starmer must agree to a timeline for his exit from office. “Many, many Labour voters that I represent, I guess, in the north of England and elsewhere that the direction the government [has] taken has not delivered the change that they thought they voted for,” Labour MP Jon Trickett said of the results. “They’re angry, they’re upset, they feel let down, they’ve sent us a clear message: The party, the leadership, must change with immediate effect if we want to recover.” Starmer, for his part, has accepted responsibility for the losses but resisted calls to immediately resign in the wake of the local election results, stating that he was “not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.” He has not, however, explicitly ruled out a managed exit. AS EPSTEIN-LINKED APPOINTMENT SPARKS BACKLASH, UK PM STARMER FACES PARTY REVOLT AMID RESIGNATION CALLS Farage, an ally and friend of President Trump, told supporters: “Personally, I’ll be very sad to see the Prime Minister go. I will be very, very sad indeed. He’s the greatest asset we’ve got.” English local elections span over 5,000 seats across 163 local councils and six mayorships. The semi-autonomous parliaments in Scotland and Wales also held elections on Thursday. Labour’s losses were driven by defections both to the right and the left. Reform UK, which has seen a net increase of about 650 seats as of writing, picked up considerable ground in post-industrial parts of northern and central England. Many of those seats are described as part of the country’s “Red Wall,” a mass of constituencies that have historically supported the Labour Party. ENGLAND FLAG DISPLAYS POWERFUL SYMBOL IN IMMIGRATION FIGHT AS TRUMP-STYLE POPULISM SWEEPS THROUGH UK Farage’s party sought to appeal to voters by promising to take a hard-line stance on immigration policy, cut taxes and repeal environmental policies they believed were hampering economic growth. Labour also saw losses in urban cores and areas near universities to the far-left-wing Green Party and candidates running independent of established parties, many of whom were Muslim. Green Party leaders made the center-left Labour government’s approach to the war in Gaza, which they view as too closely aligned with Israel, a focal point in their campaign for local control. MARK LEVIN TORCHES UK LEADER STARMER, DETAILS WHY HE’S ‘SICK AND TIRED’ OF EUROPE’S LECTURES TO ISRAEL Zach Polanski, the head of the party, declared on election day that “Palestine is one of the elements on the ballot.” A poll conducted ahead of Thursday’s elections found that roughly 60% of Muslim voters would consider backing a pro-Palestinian independent candidate to prevent Labour from winning locally. About half said they would consider voting for the Green Party to do so. The same poll found that Muslim voters saw support for Palestinians as more important than the economy when determining who they would vote for. Independent and Green Party candidates have so far won a net increase of approximately 90 seats. The Conservatives, Labour’s historic rival, are also on track to see considerable losses as a result of Thursday’s elections. As of writing, the party has so far suffered a net loss of roughly 300 local seats. Farage called the results, which academic observers say could mark a shift away from the United Kingdom’s functionally two-party system, a “historic change in British politics.”
Virginia Supreme Court rules on new congressional map
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a new, voter-approved redistricting map, delivering a significant victory for Republicans in the state ahead of the fast-approaching 2026 midterm elections. “We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,” the Virginia Supreme Court said in the ruling. “This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy.” The Virginia Supreme Court heard oral arguments last month over the newly passed congressional map, which voters in the state approved by a narrow 51% to 49% margin. The ballot measure would have given the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature — rather than the state’s current nonpartisan commission — temporary redistricting power through 2030. It was also expected to yield a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation, up from their current 6-5 edge. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Omar camp breaks silence on fraud probe, blames Walz, Trump as new claims clash with earlier statements
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has not publicly or privately responded to a top investigative committee in Minnesota’s request for information on her possible ties to the massive fraud scandal, but a recent email from one of her former top staffers to the committee sheds light on how her camp may view the situation and who they blame. “As the District Director for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from 2019-2022, I read with interest your comments in Session Daily regarding H.R.6187 – MEALS Act,” former Omar District Director Kendal Killian wrote in an email, obtained by Fox News Digital, Wednesday afternoon to the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee Chair Kristin Robbins. The email was also sent to Rep. Dave Pinto, the lead Democrat on the committee. Killian wrote, “If the quote is accurate, you said, ‘She passed the MEALS Act in March 2020.’ Given that you were elected in 2018, I find it surprising that I need to explain to you how a bill becomes law, but one person cannot unilaterally pass legislation.” Republicans have long argued that the pandemic-era school meal waivers tied to the MEALS Act, sponsored by Omar, helped create the conditions that enabled the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, which federal prosecutors say totaled roughly $250 million. OMAR ACCUSED BY GOP OPPONENT OF OPENING UP THE DOOR TO MASSIVE MINNEAPOLIS FRAUD: ‘DEEP, DEEP TIES’ Killian went on to explain to Robbins, who has previously served as a legislative director in Congress, that because Republicans controlled the Senate and the White House when the larger bill was passed, that they have “responsibility for implementation” of the legislation. “So your characterization that Rep. Ilhan Omar passed this legislation unilaterally (and oversaw its execution) is off base,” Killian said. Killian went further in his effort to distance Omar from the legislation, claiming that the bill critics have been citing “never even passed.” “Again, it is bizarre to have to explain this to a State Representative, but maybe you need some help,” Killian’s email says. He claimed that Robbins is suffering from “confusion,” because “similar legislative language to that in the MEALS Act was included in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.” ILHAN OMAR PRESSED TO EXPLAIN HOW FRAUD IN MINNESOTA GOT ‘SO OUT OF CONTROL’ “While the original Meals Act (which never passed) was more similar to universal school meals legislation Omar championed and Representative Sydney Jordan in Minnesota later shepherded, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (supported by McConnell and signed by Trump) added waiver authority that facilitated much of the Feeding Our Future fraud,” Killian wrote. “The fraud was not committed under any bill authored by Omar, but rather under broader COVID-19 legislation and by taking advantage of USDA emergency waivers granted by the Trump administration. Those flexibilities, combined with weak oversight and rapid funding expansion, created conditions that were later exploited in the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme.” In bold, Killian wrote that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was not “chiefly sponsored” by Omar and “thus is grossly inaccurate to claim so” and ended the email saying that “perhaps” the committee should subpoena President Trump rather than Omar. While the MEALS Act itself did not pass as a standalone bill, it is listed on Congress.gov as related legislation to the broader Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which became law in 2020 and included similar school meal waiver provisions. Robbins told Fox News Digital the former Omar staffer is “lying” about the impact Omar had, arguing the core purpose of the MEALS Act, expanding USDA waiver authority, was part of the broader legislation. WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MINNESOTA’S ‘FEEDING OUR FUTURE’ FRAUD AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S LATEST CRACKDOWN “I’m talking about the MEALS Act that got incorporated in the larger coronavirus package,” Robbins explained. “In the related bills section it links to the Ilhan bill and lists it as one of the bills included in the Act, the language is identical.” Congress.gov, the official legislative database run by the Library of Congress, lists Omar’s MEALS Act (H.R. 6187) as “related legislation” to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201). Robbins pointed to numerous examples of Omar taking credit in messages to her constituents back in Minneapolis for the legislation that did ultimately pass and citing her MEALS Act. WALZ ACCUSED BY JORDAN OF TRYING TO ‘HIDE BEHIND’ COURT ORDER IN FEEDING OUR FUTURE PAYMENTS In Omar’s own September 2020 press release, she explicitly says she “passed into law this spring” the MEALS Act provisions and describes them as legislation that “directly authorized these school meal waivers.” “Ilhan’s MEALS Act, a bill aimed at protecting students’ access to school meal benefits during school closures, was passed into law as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” Omar’s campaign website reads. Additionally, Omar publicly pushed back after the Trump administration signaled in the summer and fall of 2020, after the legislation passed, that it would begin scaling back or letting some of the waivers expire and return programs closer to their pre-pandemic rules. In August, she again linked the legislation she sponsored in the House to the overall situation, saying in a letter to the Trump administration, “In March, Congress authorized the use of waivers in the MEALS Act and the COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response Act in order to continue to provide school meals for children during the pandemic.” “Absolutely not, it did help feed kids,” Omar said in December when asked if she regreted her support for the MEALS Act. Killian’s email also directly contradicts his own words in a LinkedIn post from a year ago, reviewed by Fox News Digital, in which he characterized the significance of the legislation differently. “When I worked in Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s office during the pandemic, she wrote and passed the MEALS Act, a vital bill funding schools and feeding all kids,” Killian wrote. In the same post, Killian described the bill as laying “the groundwork” for broader school meals policy, a
Tim Walz Minnesota forcing teachers to abide by ‘horribly disgusting,’ ‘crazy’ race standard, says lawmaker
Public school teachers in Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota are required to abide by a “horribly disgusting” and “crazy” race standard that forces them to assess how their “biases, perceptions and academic training” perpetuate oppression, a state lawmaker said. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Republican state Sen. Mark Koran pointed to the requirement as further evidence of how education in Minnesota has “eroded.” According to Minnesota’s guidebook on “Standards of Effective Practice,” public school teachers hoping to be licensed by the state must demonstrate that they have assessed “how their biases, perceptions and academic training may affect their teaching practice and perpetuate oppressive systems.” The requirement, which Minnesota classifies as one of its “professional responsibilities,” further demands teachers use “tools to mitigate their own behavior to disrupt oppressive systems.” Koran said this requirement effectively amounts to forcing teachers to take a “vow of being an oppressor,” which he called “just crazy” and “horribly detrimental.” WALZ HIT WITH LOCAL REVOLT FROM MINNESOTA MAYOR REFUSING ‘UGLY’ NEW FLAG: ‘PEOPLE’S DECISION’ He ripped into Walz over the changes, saying, “He’s tied to the radicals, he’s tied to the teachers’ unions, all the public unions of a really wild, radical agenda.” According to Koran, Minnesota has recently redone all of its teaching licensing standards “under the guise of racism.” Under the new standards, he explained, teachers “have to embed in their curriculum, in their pedagogy, the understanding of the ‘oppressed’ and the ‘oppressor’ environment and overtly include that in their curricula.” “It’s horribly disgusting,” he said. “It is racism. It is instilling the systemic racism that doesn’t exist today.” Another professional responsibility required by Minnesota is that teachers understand “how prejudice, discrimination, and racism operate at the interpersonal, intergroup and institutional levels.” Teachers are required to demonstrate an understanding of “the historical foundations of education in Minnesota, including law, policies, and practices, that have and continue to create inequitable opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for learners.” The guidebook continues that teachers must highlight how the education system has created inequitable opportunities for “Indigenous students and students historically denied access, underserved, or underrepresented on the basis of race, class, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, language, socioeconomic status, or country of origin.” WATCHDOG EXPOSES TAXPAYER-FUNDED TEACHER PROGRAM FOR BANNING WHITE APPLICANTS: ‘LIKELY ILLEGAL’ Further, under the section on student learning, the guidebook requires teachers to demonstrate their understanding of “the diverse impacts of individual and systemic trauma” on learning, including “racism, and micro and macro aggressions.” Teachers are required to know how to support students using “culturally responsive strategies and resources to address these impacts.” Koran asserted that this “wild political ideology” is going to drive out more and more teachers from teaching in public schools. “It’s an offensive statement to assume that somebody’s an oppressor based on who’s the disfavored race of the week,” he said. “We just can’t have that.” Koran said that these race-based changes have been made as academic outcomes in Minnesota have simultaneously been plummeting. “They’ve lowered the standards under the guise of equity,” he said. “Today in Minnesota, half of our children can’t read or write or do math at grade level, 50 percent, and they have high school diplomas.” “Minnesota is bragging about the graduation rates; we hit the highest ever, but fewer people have an education and are set up with a foundation to be successful,” he lamented. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA SITE WARNS OF A ‘WHITENESS PANDEMIC,’ URGES WHITE PARENTS TO ‘RE-EDUCATE’ This comes as Walz and the state of Minnesota are facing increased national scrutiny over one of the largest fraud scandals in U.S. history. Koran said that if there is one message he could communicate to Minnesotans, it is that “the governor matters.” “We’ve got to get Minnesota back on the right track,” he said. “The governor sets the tone, sets the direction, and sets the goals for which we need to work to achieve.” Fox News Digital reached out to Walz and the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board for comment. Fox News Digital also reached out to Education Minnesota, the state’s largest teachers’ union, for comment.
GOP candidate Bianco’s two-word jab at Katie Porter draws gasps from California debate audience
The crowd at a California gubernatorial debate gasped and groaned after Republican candidate Chad Bianco suggested Democratic candidate Katie Porter take his advice on how to be a proper mother during a heated discussion on the state’s sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants. Porter and Bianco were two of seven gubernatorial candidates who took part in NBC LA and Telemundo 52’s Wednesday debate, held just weeks before California’s jungle primary scheduled for June 2, 2026. The scuffle between Porter and Bianco began after the moderator asked Porter for her thoughts on the state’s sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants. Porter said the laws on the books should be enforced to ensure “crazy cowboys” aren’t “taking the law into their own hands.” Bianco interjected, saying, “tell that to a crazy mother who lost her child.” “I don’t need any lectures from you about being a mother,” Porter said. DHS SLAMS CALIFORNIA ‘SANCTUARY’ COUNTY AFTER MOM ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY 2 HONDURAN NATIONALS “You might,” Bianco quipped back, causing the audience to gasp. Both Porter and Bianco’s campaigns have been marked by controversy. A resurfaced video of Porter directing expletives at a staffer, along with details from her divorce, has raised questions about whether the former congresswoman has the temperament to lead California. MSNBC PANEL USES KATIE PORTER BACKLASH TO BLAST ‘DOUBLE STANDARD’ FOR WOMEN IN POLITICS Porter shares three children with her ex-husband Matthew Hoffman. The couple separated in 2013. In his divorce filings, Hoffman accused Porter of being verbally and physically abusive to him, accusing the gubernatorial candidate at one point of pouring a bowl of scalding-hot mashed potatoes on his head. However, despite these abuse allegations, Porter shares custody of their children with her ex-husband. And while Porter’s ex-boyfriend, Julian Willis, had threatened to call Child Protective Services on her, there is no evidence that Porter has ever lost custody of her children. The threats from the ex-boyfriend to call CPS on Porter were among roughly a thousand texts Porter and her family members received over the course of a three-month period. Porter received a temporary restraining order from Willis based on allegations that he was verbally and physically abusive to her. Fox News Digital reached out to Porter for comment. Meanwhile, Bianco — a career law enforcement officer and sitting sheriff — has faced criticism over his past association with the far-right Oath Keepers, though he says his brief membership ended in 2014. Fox News Digital reached out to Bianco for further comment.
Trump admin releases highly anticipated files documenting UFOs, ‘extraterrestrial life’
FIRST ON FOX — The Trump administration on Friday released a batch of “never-before-seen” files and videos on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP) as part of an effort to increase transparency on government knowledge of extraterrestrial phenomena. “The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place – no clearance required. While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files,” the White House said in a statement to Fox News. The release is a function of President Donald Trump’s Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) program. Photos from the initial disclosure, which a White House official told Fox News is the first of a series of releases, show strangely shaped objects captured on film during the Apollo 12 and Apollo 17 space missions. One photo taken from the surface of the moon appears to show a cluster of three tiny dots in the sky. TRUMP SAYS FIRST RELEASES FROM PENTAGON UFO STUDY WILL COME OUT ‘VERY, VERY SOON’ AFTER PHOENIX RALLY TEASE A transcript of communications between Apollo 17 operators released in the disclosure Friday details the operators’ exchange over the unknown phenomenon. “Now we’ve got a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver,” an operator told the command center. “Roger. Understand,” the center replied. UFO COVER USED BY GOVERNMENT TO ‘HIDE A LOT OF THINGS,’ FORMER NASA AGENT SAYS “There’s a whole bunch of big ones on my window down there – just bright. It looks like the Fourth of July out of Ron’s window,” another operator added. “Yes. Now you can see some of them in shape. They’re very jagged, angular fragments that are tumbling,” the first operator said. Another pair of photos from the release come from the FBI and contain images from New Year’s Eve 1999 showing other UAPs in the same image as U.S. aircraft. AIR FORCE F-16 STRUCK BY DRONE DURING TRAINING FLIGHT OVER ARIZONA IN 2023 In February, after former President Barack Obama told a podcaster that aliens were real, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump directly about the existence of aliens. “He gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump said of Obama. “I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that – he made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.” Days later, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he would be declassifying files related to the subject. OBAMA SAYS ALIENS ‘ARE REAL, BUT I HAVEN’T SEEN THEM’ IN RECENT PODCAST INTERVIEW “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” he wrote. Numerous agency heads commented on the release, calling it an unprecedented step in transparency. “The Department of War is in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said. TRUMP, SCHUMER FIND RARE COMMON GROUND ON RELEASING UFO FILES “These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves. This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump Administration’s earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency,” he concluded. “The American people have long sought transparency about the government’s knowledge of unidentified anomalous phenomena,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard added. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is actively coordinating the Intelligence Community’s declassification efforts with the Department of War to ensure a careful, comprehensive, and unprecedented review of our holdings to provide the American people with maximum transparency. Today’s release is the first in what will be an ongoing joint declassification and release effort.” NASA CHIEF JARED ISAACMAN SAYS ARTEMIS II WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE ‘IF IT WASN’T FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’ FBI Director Kash Patel added, “The FBI is proud to stand alongside President Trump and our interagency partners in this landmark release of UAP records. For the first time in history, the American people have unfettered access to declassified government files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon — a level of transparency that no prior administration has delivered. The FBI remains committed to supporting this rolling declassification effort with the same rigorous and integrity we bring to every national security matter. As these files continue to be reviewed and release, the American people can be confident that their security remains our highest priority.” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also weighed in. “I applaud President Trump’s whole-of-government effort to bring greater transparency to the American people on unidentified anomalous phenomena,” Isaacman said. “At NASA, our job is to bring the brightest minds and most advanced scientific instruments to bear, follow the data, and share what we learn. We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered. Exploration and the pursuit of knowledge are core to NASA’s mission as we endeavor to unlock the secrets of the universe,” he concluded. A large batch of UAP files were made available at WAR.GOV/UFO.
Dem governor in the hot seat after testing limits of authority with major move against ICE
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is using her 2027 budget request to push new restrictions targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Empire State, testing the limits of her authority to impose requirements on federal agencies — a test that experts say is doomed from its outset. The Local Cops Local Crimes Act would block local law enforcement from acting on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Alongside a proposed ban on masks and new operational limits in certain settings, Hochul’s efforts continue Democrats’ efforts to use state-level policies to push back on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. “ICE will no longer be able to use our police, our jails and our resources to carry out civil immigration enforcement. Because guess what: Our officers paid for by local taxpayer dollars were hired to protect their communities, to be there to assist with a traffic accident, to go after retail theft, stop domestic violence,” Hochul said at a press event on Thursday. HOCHUL DENOUNCES ICE RAID AS ‘CRUEL,’ DESPITE CHILD ENDANGERMENT AMONG CHARGES “They’re not there to do the federal government’s bidding.” Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, governors in states like Illinois, California and Virginia have thrown up barriers to local-federal immigration cooperation by limiting communication, data sharing and more. In Hochul’s case, the Local Cops Local Crimes Act rescinds and prevents the expansion of any new agreements under the 287(g) program — a federal law that allows local officers to assume authority to conduct immigration-related work that is normally carried out by federal officials. It also comes alongside a slew of separate immigration-related reforms Hochul is pressing for, including establishing a state right to sue ICE for “constitutional violations,” a prohibition on masks for local and federal law enforcement and a restriction that would prevent ICE from entering schools, libraries, polling locations and homes without a judicial warrant. Hans von Spakovsky, a legal scholar with Advancing American Freedom, believes those additional changes won’t survive long — even if they do become law. “If the question is: can she do any of that? The answer is no. This is not an ambiguous issue,” Spakovsky said. JONATHAN TURLEY: WHY BLUE STATES’ NEW ANTI-ICE LAWS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL VIRTUE SIGNALING Spakovsky, pointing to the 1890 Supreme Court case In re Neagle, said states can’t hold federal agents responsible for carrying out federal mandates. The Local Cops Local Crimes Act stipulates that local law enforcement would still have to comply with warrants issued for an immigration-related arrest. “Nothing in this section shall be intended to limit local government law, law enforcement agency, correctional facility, or local correctional facility from enforcing any valid state or federal court-issued warrants or orders, or any other actions as required by law,” the bill reads. Even so, Laurin Bis, acting assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, blasted Hochul’s announcement, calling it a dangerous development for NYC residents. “Governor Hochul’s policies of not cooperating with ICE put New Yorkers in danger. When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” Bis said. Bis said DHS feared that NYC would end up allowing more immigration-law violators back onto the street. “Instead of working with us, Governor Hochul is choosing to release violent criminals from her jails directly back into our communities to perpetrate more crimes and create more victims.” NEW JERSEY GOV SHERRILL SIGNS LAW BARRING ICE AGENTS FROM WEARING FACE COVERINGS TO SHIELD IDENTITIES Hochul’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether New York would refuse to hold suspects in violation of immigration law. The office also did not respond to questions about why the Local Cops Local Crimes Act had been included alongside the 2027 budget request.