Dem, GOP reps defend Netanyahu Gaza plan following Israel trip
A pair of Democratic and Republican representatives appeared to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for Israel to take over Gaza on Sunday. Reps Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., appeared on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream after conducting a joint visit to Israel. Netanyahu’s office has faced some criticism after the nation’s security cabinet voted on Friday to allow the IDF to fully take over Gaza. Crawford argued that such a plan would be safer for the remaining hostages in Hamas custody. “I think they have a greater risk of dying under the current conditions than they would if the IDF takes the action that they’re talking about,” Crawford said of the hostages. “Basically, Hamas is starving them. People talk about the starvation in Gaza. The starvation is taking place at the hands of Hamas, and it’s primarily directed at the hostages that they are holding.” NETANYAHU VOWS TO TAKE FULL CONTROL OF GAZA STRIP, ‘LIBERATE’ PEOPLE FROM HAMAS Meanwhile, Gottheimer said a takeover by Israel is the “right answer,” so long as the IDF involvement is truly temporary. He argued that Hamas must be crushed fully, but another governing structure must be put in place. “The prime minister made it very clear … that there is no intent for long-term occupation or annexation, which I think is the right answer,” he said. “You need to make sure you crush Hamas, you get humanitarian aid in, and then you get a new governing structure in.” ISRAEL SECURITY CABINET APPROVES PLAN TO OCCUPY GAZA CITY Gottheimer added that he expects negotiations to lead to a “multinational Arab force” that keeps the peace in Gaza long-term. Netanyahu and his security cabinet met through the night before announcing on Friday that Israel planned to retake control over the entire Gaza territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. “The Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for defeating Hamas. The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Netanyahu announced on X. The office said the Security Cabinet had adopted, by vote, five principles for concluding the war which include: the disarming of Hamas, the return of all hostages – living and deceased, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. The prospect of a full military occupation of Gaza comes 20 years after Israel’s full disengagement from the enclave when the government forcibly removed around 8,600 Jewish residents from the area. Shortly after, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections and staged a violent coup to overthrow the Palestinian Authority and seize control of the Gaza Strip. Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report
Trump vows to make DC ‘safer’ and ‘beautiful’ as capital battles crime and homelessness
President Donald Trump vowed on Sunday to make Washington, D.C., “safer and more beautiful” as his administration doubles down on efforts to address crime and a growing homeless population in the nation’s capital. “I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN! Before the tents, squalor, filth, and crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the world. It will soon be that again,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Trump also announced that a plan to address homelessness, public safety, and urban cleanliness will be detailed during a press conference at the White House scheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday. TRUMP INCREASES FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PRESENCE IN DC FOLLOWING VIOLENT CRIME SURGE “The Mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive. The American Public is not going to put up with it any longer,” Trump added. Trump wrote in a separate Truth Social post that he wants the homeless to “immediately” move “far from” the nation’s capital. “The criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong,” he wrote in the same post, adding that the new crackdowns on both issues are “going to happen very fast.” “There will be no “MR. NICE GUY.” We want our Capital BACK,” Trump wrote, adding that more details on these efforts will be laid out during a press conference on Monday. WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES FEDERAL SECURITY BLITZ AS PRESIDENT VOWS TO END DC ‘CRIME PLAGUE’ Trump has repeatedly characterized Washington, D.C., as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world.” On Saturday, Trump said his administration will “essentially, stop violent crime” in the nation’s capital. Last week, Trump said he was weighing a federal takeover of D.C.’s police force, including the potential deployment of the National Guard, to confront rising crime in the capital. The renewed focus follows a series of violent incidents in the city, some involving federal staffers, including a high-profile employee from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who was a victim of an attempted carjacking. TRUMP THREATENS TO FEDERALIZE DC AFTER EX‑DOGE EMPLOYEE BEATEN “We have a capital that’s very unsafe, you know, we just almost lost a young man, beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him,” Trump said, referencing former DOGE employee Edward Coristine. The president described crime in D.C. as “out of control,” with young “thugs” and “gang members” who are “randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent citizens.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week in a statement to Fox News that “President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.” “Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” Leavitt added.
Putin ally warns ‘titanic efforts’ are underway to sink Trump summit over Ukraine war
A senior member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle warned that multiple countries are mounting “titanic efforts” to undermine the upcoming summit between the Russian leader and U.S. President Donald Trump. The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15, though Trump’s announcement, made via a Truth Social post on Friday, offered few additional details about the summit. It is also unclear if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be invited to join the talks as the Kremlin’s unprovoked war stretches into its fourth year. ZELENSKYY WON’T CEDE TERRITORY FOR PEACE DEAL AHEAD OF TRUMP‑PUTIN SUMMIT AS TRILATERAL MEETING TEASED “Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump,” wrote Russia’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, in a Telegram post on Saturday, referencing the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine. While Dmitriev did not name specific countries, he warned that critics of the upcoming talks could seek to sabotage the summit through diplomatic maneuvers or media-driven provocations. Several NATO countries in Europe have been openly skeptical of any deal that rewards Russian aggression in the three-year-old war. Dmitriev, who met with Trump administration officials in Washington in April, has been dubbed Putin’s “shadow foreign minister” for his behind-the-scenes role in shaping Russia’s global diplomacy. As head of the Kremlin’s sovereign wealth fund and a recently appointed special envoy, he has often acted as an informal bridge between Moscow and Washington. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that Trump and Putin are expected to “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis.” “This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,” the statement added. Trump has previously said that Putin and Zelenskyy were close to a ceasefire deal but suggested that Kyiv would have to concede significant territory, an outcome that Ukrainians and many European allies oppose.
Trump border wall materials sold by Biden may soon find their way back to the feds, auctioneer claims
FIRST ON FOX: The global government-surplus auction house that listed unused components of President Donald Trump’s border wall under the Biden administration told Fox News Digital on Friday that it plans to coordinate with the Trump administration to return some of the materials to the federal government. In January 2021, President Joe Biden set in motion the chain of events that would eventually lead to the sale of unconstructed border wall components and implements. “Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats. But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” Biden said in an executive order halting construction. Until Friday, the ultimate fate of the unused border wall materials – originally estimated to be worth between $260 million and $350 million – remained largely unclear. A contentious court battle in Texas last December resulted in a 30-day freeze on the auctions, but little has publicly transpired since. BORDER WALL CONSTRUCTION SURGES AHEAD AS ILLEGAL CROSSINGS PLUMMET TO HISTORIC LOWS In a statement to Fox News Digital, GovPlanet – an auction clearinghouse for public-sector and government surplus – announced Friday they have reached a breakthrough deal with the Trump administration. “GovPlanet has reached an agreement, working with the Office of the Border Czar, to return border wall materials that were previously deemed surplus and sourced by the federal government to GovPlanet via existing contracts,” said the company, a subsidiary of an Illinois-founded, British Columbia-based international operation called Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers-RB Global. “A third-party firm that has been contracted for construction of the border wall will take receipt of the materials over the next 90 days,” GovPlanet added. GovPlanet officials said they were pleased to work with the administration to return the materials “at-cost” to the feds and “protect the millions of dollars that U.S. taxpayers had already invested in this initiative.” “We are expediting the transfer of these materials to support the administration’s border protection plans. We value our longstanding partnership with the U.S. government and look forward to continuing to support America’s federal agencies.” TRUMP’S BORDER WALL EXPANSION MOVES FORWARD IN SEVERAL CRITICAL AREAS: ‘CRISIS IS NOT YET OVER’ Asked about the claim from the auction house, a White House official told Fox News Digital the Trump administration is “grateful for all third parties who are interested in helping keep America’s borders safe and secure.” After Biden’s order freezing construction, which ultimately led to the erstwhile auctions, Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said taxpayer money was being spent by the Pentagon to guard the materials as they languished in the New Mexico desert. A 2023 release from Fischer cited a $130,000-per-day figure for the storage and security of the panels in New Mexico and Arizona. A provision in the annual 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the Pentagon to submit a plan for transfer or sale of the materials. About 60% of the border wall components were transferred to southwestern states like Texas and California as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox News at the time that Texas purchased about $12 million from an auction. Tens of thousands of bollards, panels and components, including structural tubing, were later put up for auction on GovPlanet. Dozens of lots of materials were listed for auction by August 2023, according to the New York Post. The paper cited a $154,200 payday for 729 “hollow beams,” in one example. Screenshots on ABC-15 Phoenix’s website showed 33-foot by 8-foot steel wall panels being sold for $1 apiece in sets of five. Ernst lambasted the administration upon the news, saying that materials purchased with hard-earned taxpayer funds were being sold for “pennies on the dollar.” By that time, a total of $498,000 had been paid for the overall materials, according to Newsweek. The outlet cited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in confirming the implements were being marketed in accordance with federal acquisition regulations. REPUBLICAN AGS VISIT US-MEXICO BORDER WALL AS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CLEARS EXPANSION FUNDING But, the trail began to go cold after that hot summer, as Lt. Gov. Patrick informed Hearst Newspapers in December he had been told that any further sales would be frozen until after Trump’s second inauguration. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham argued in court that the Biden administration was ignoring prior court orders by selling off the components, according to the Houston Chronicle. GovPlanet appeared to de-list the items around that time. In a Dec. 27 ruling, Texas federal Judge Drew Tipton barred the selling of wall materials for 30 days, according to Law & Crime. The outlet added, citing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, that Tipton further asked the Biden administration to explain whether it violated a prior ruling in Texas’ favor that required certain funds be spent on border wall construction. Texas had claimed Biden’s auctions were netting buyers wall components at a rate that would have added up to about a half-mile per day, if constructed as Trump originally intended. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP There appeared to have been little movement on the sales since the 30-day moratorium expired in January, until Fox News Digital contacted GovPlanet on Friday. Several reports said the federal government no longer owns the border wall components the Biden administration set for auction, and that GovPlanet/RBGlobal legally possesses them. Art del Cueto, a Border Patrol union official, told ABC-15 that the stock cited in reports on the sales could “pretty much be utilized.” “They could put down footing, pick it back up and use it,” he said. “When you have to start with the new administration, wanting to rebuild it, what are we going to have to do, you’re going to have to use more taxpayer-funded money, which is insane to me,” del Cueto added. Fox News Digital reached out to Patrick’s office and DHS for comment.
Bernie Sanders addresses whether he’ll run in 2028
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., addressed whether he will run for president again in 2028 during an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Let’s not worry about that,” he told host Dana Bash. “I am going to be 84 years of age next month, as a matter of fact. I think that speaks for itself.” Sanders said that “what is more important” is educating, organizing and giving “working-class people an agenda” to understand that “we can, in fact, provide a decent standard of living for all our people.” Bash suggested to Sanders that without leadership, a “very hungry, energized base with an idea of what they want” will not evoke change. SEN BERNIE SANDERS NAMES 2 THINGS TRUMP HAS DONE RIGHT The senator remained steadfast that “strong grassroots movements will bring forth the appropriate leadership.” He did not want to name anyone he supports politically to “take up” what Bash called “the Bernie Sanders mantel.” BERNIE SANDERS GETS UP DURING INTERVIEW AFTER ‘NONSENSE’ QUESTION ABOUT AOC Sanders ran for president during the 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He has been conducting a “Fighting Oligarchy Tour” around the U.S. for much of this year. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP On Sunday, Sanders is in Asheville, North Carolina. The venue for the tour stop had to be changed from one that holds 2,400 to one that seats about 7,200, Blue Ridge Public Radio reported.
Abbott vows indefinite special sessions, says fleeing Dems could face arrest ‘for literally years’
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned state Democrats that the threat of arrest upon returning to Texas will last “for literally years” on Sunday. Abbott made the statement during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream. He argued it is within his authority to keep the Texas legislature in a special session indefinitely, extending the penalties for Democrats who fled the state. “I’m authorized to call a special session every 30 days. It lasts 30 days. And as soon as this one is over, I’m gonna call another one, then another one, then another, then another one,” Abbott said. “If they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol. If they want to evade that arrest, they’re gonna have to stay outside of the state of Texas for literally years,” he added. TEXAS DEMOCRATS FLEE STATE TO BLOCK TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING VOTE IN DRAMATIC LEGISLATIVE MOVE The warning comes as Abbott is seeking to remove delinquent Democrats from office, arguing they have abdicated their roles under the state constitution. “We have a situation where lawmakers are violating the law in Article 3 of the Texas Constitution where they are required to act on bills. Because they’re violating that constitutional mandate, that means they are not fulfilling their oath of office, and they can be removed from office in this legal action that I’m taking,” he said. TRUMP, REPUBLICANS RACE TO REDRAW TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP AS DEMOCRATS THREATEN LEGAL WAR At least 100 members of the 150-member Texas House must be present to conduct business, and approximately 50 of the Democrats have left. Abbott says their commitment to voting as elected state officials is a duty and is “not optional.” COLBERT CONFRONTS JB PRITZKER WITH MAP SHOWING ILLINOIS GERRYMANDERING Most of the Democrats have set up in Illinois and New York, where they have received the backing of Democratic governors J.B. Pritzker and Kathy Hochul, respectively. Alongside Abbott’s extended threat of arrest, the Republican governor has also threatened to increase the redistricting margin for his party if lawmakers don’t return to Austin. “What I’m thinking now is that if they don’t start showing up, I may start expanding,” Abbott said during an appearance on the “Ruthless” podcast. “We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we’re going to be adding on the Republican side.” Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report
Senate Republicans reveal dramatic dealmaking behind Trump’s $3.3T megabill passage
Senate Republicans left Washington this week to sell President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” but the road to creating and passing the legislation began just over a year and a half ago. Trump’s $3.3 trillion megabill, crammed with his legislative priorities on border security, defense and energy, was a product months in the making. And it was the marquee policy in the bill, which was to extend or make permanent many of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that was the driving force behind Republicans’ desire to pass it. But Senate Republicans have had little time to rest on their laurels and celebrate the bill’s passage, spending the month since Trump signed it advancing a $9 billion clawback package and trying to ram through Senate Democrats’ blockade of the president’s nominees. SENATE PASSES TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AFTER MARATHON VOTE-A-RAMA The journey to pass the bill began well before Republicans had a trifecta in Washington in early 2024, when then-Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso, R-Wyo., hosted a policy retreat with Senate Republicans to hash out what the GOP’s agenda could look like should the win out in November. And months later, Trump visited with Senate Republicans to discuss the strategy they had been working on behind-the-scenes. “With President Trump in the White House, we discussed how Republicans will get America back on track,” Barrasso said at the time. “That starts with helping families escape the pain of Democrat high prices, unleashing American energy, stopping Democrat tax increases, and securing the Southern Border. Republicans are united.” The real, nitty-gritty work began in January where concepts were taken and fleshed out into legislation. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., opted to leapfrog the House and move forward with the Senate’s own budget framework, which initially divided the “big, beautiful bill” into two chunks. That added pressure on Republicans in the lower chamber to coalesce behind a plan of their own. For much of the earlier part of this year, however, the Senate was waiting on the House to fine-tune and pass their own version of the bill. Still, Thune and his leadership team, including Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., worked to get a product from one side of the building to the other that the Senate GOP could work with. TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT And when the bill made its way to the upper chamber in early June, the pressure was on to deliver a finished product to Trump by July 4, an artificial deadline used to help corral lawmakers into finishing work on the bill. One of the major disagreements in the upper chamber before the bill ever hit the floor was over the nature of cuts to Medicaid, particularly aimed at the provider tax rate. The issue was eventually smoothed over through the creation of a $50 billion rural hospital fund, but lawmakers who sounded the alarm against it vowed to ensure that the changes to the provider would never take effect. “I think it was a huge mistake,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said at the time. “I think this has been an unhappy episode here in Congress, this effort to cut Medicaid.” “And I think, frankly, my party needs to do some soul-searching,” he continued. “If you want to be a working class party, you’ve got to get delivered for working class people. You cannot take away health care from working people.” And when the bill did finally hit the floor for what would evolve into a multi-day affair of passing through procedural hurdles, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forcing the reading of the entire bill and a marathon vote-a-rama, Senate Republicans were still not entirely on board. At first, a cohort of fiscal hawks led by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., appeared to not support the package — they wanted even deeper cuts to Medicaid by tweaking the percentage that the federal government pays for healthcare in states that opted into Obamacare, which they argued would have saved billions extra. They were offered an amendment that eventually never came to the floor, but was enough for them to back down from tanking the bill. And their resistance began in the first of a handful of huddles inside Thune’s office outside the Senate floor. TAX CUTS, WORK REQUIREMENTS AND ASYLUM FEES: HERE’S WHAT’S INSIDE THE SENATE’S VERSION OF TRUMP’S BILL Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., joined them for the closed-door conversations, and told Fox News Digital that while her vote was not contingent on getting the change added, she wanted to make the case for why it should be. “It saved a lot of money,” she said. “It saved a lot of money, and so I was anxious to see us use the opportunity, since we were able to open up mandatory spending, use the opportunity to really save some money.” And later on, in the wee hours of the night, Republicans were bouncing from Thune’s office to the Senate floor, hashing out deals as they went to get Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to support the bill, knowing that Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., could vote against it. “Sometimes it’s got to be put on a clock, because at some point the argument has to come to an end,” Mullin told Fox News Digital. “And that’s why we had to do some of it on the floor. We had to, we had to force the hand.” And in the end, only three Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Collins and Tillis voted against the bill. From there it went to the House, where Republicans in the lower chamber had their own dramatic rally to pass the legislative behemoth. And now, as Republicans scatter to their home states to sell the bill to their constituents, Tillis said that the “foundational” piece of information that lawmakers can share is that they averted a nationwide tax hike. “The shame of the Medicaid provision
Cuomo supporters look to wealthy enclave to take down Mamdani: report
Andrew Cuomo supporters are reportedly urging New Yorkers with second homes in the Hamptons to switch their voter registrations to the Big Apple to cast their ballots against Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in November. The plan is to target moderate Democrats in the wealthy enclave, including business owners and restaurateurs, “who have deep ties in NYC” and “have an interest in what’s going on,” Steven M. Cohen, chairman of pro-Cuomo political action committee Fix the City, told the New York Post. Cohen reportedly said he’s spoken to dozens of people – some of whom are “very high profile” – who relayed that they were “definitely” switching their voter registrations from Long Island’s East End to one of the five boroughs. “I’ve been trying to get this message out since the primary,” Cohen told the Post. “You don’t win elections because you did one thing right, but by doing one hundred things right, a thousand things right. This might be a few thousand votes, but elections have been won and lost on less than a few thousand votes.” CUOMO QUIPS ‘EVEN I WILL MOVE TO FLORIDA’ IF MAMDANI WINS NYC MAYORAL BID In the opposite direction, New York City Democrats with second homes out east in 2024 were encouraged to switch their voter registrations to the Hamptons to vote against then-first term incumbent Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. LaLota ultimately defeated the Democratic challenger, former CNN anchor John Avlon, by nearly 11 percentage points, earning a second term in New York’s 1st congressional district. This time around, Cohen argued that it is easy to change voter registration as long as interested Hamptonites have a “legitimate, bona fide” second residence in New York City. He acknowledged hearing “initial skepticism” about the tax implications, which he denied would be a concern. He stressed that the state Board of Elections only opposes voting in two locations. ANDREW CUOMO TALKS REMATCH WITH MAMDANI, SAYS SOCIALIST’S POLICIES WILL CAUSE ‘DEATH’ OF NYC “There are no tax implications at all — that’s part of the message,” Cohen said, explaining the strategy is part of a “longer-term play” focused on getting New Yorkers with homes in the Hamptons to “participate in the political process” in New York City. Republican donor and Hamptons metals magnate Andy Sabin opposed the movement. “You open up a can of worms to audits and everything else – you’d be crazy to do it,” he told the Post. Election lawyer, Jerry Goldfeder, said that interested Hamptonites would just have to send a change of address to the Board of Elections using a “new, legitimate registration form.” “I’m trying to switch,” Mitchel Agoos, an 87-year-old resident of East Hampton and New York City, told the Post, deeming Mamdani an “antisemite.” “He’s a disaster – I want to vote in this election. I’d feel great to vote against him,” Agoos, a Curtis Sliwa supporter who has voted in Suffolk County for decades, added. Fox News Digital reached out to Cuomo’s campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.
China’s rare earth tech obsession ensnares US resident as CCP looks to maintain stranglehold
China’s bid to strangle the world’s supply of heavy rare-earth elements was about to hit a wall. Vietnamese entrepreneur Luu Anh Tuan had lined up U.S. backing for a technology that could break Beijing’s chokehold on the critical minerals behind everything from smartphones to missile-guidance systems. Tuan and his family had fled Vietnam for the U.S. to escape Beijing’s tightening grip over Hanoi, where the Chinese Communist Party exerts a heavy influence on domestic governance. In July 2023, he signed a technology transfer agreement, seen by Fox News Digital, to bring the heavy rare earth separation technology he was using at his Vietnam-based company, Vietnam Rare Earth (VTRE) to VTRU Corporation, a company registered in Nevada. VTRE had also signed a series of memoranda of understanding (MOU) agreements with Western companies. “He had a bad sense of insecurity about being in Vietnam. He was determined to transfer his technology to the US as quickly as possible,” a source familiar with the rare earth industry, granted anonymity to speak without fear of retribution, told Fox News Digital. CHINESE CITIZEN ADMITS STEALING US TRADE SECRETS FOR NEXT-GENERATION NATIONAL SECURITY TECH At the time, the world was entirely dependent on Chinese companies to separate their heavy rare earth metals. “China has been really working for the better part of over 20 years now on building this dominance,” Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview. And while companies like U.S.-based MP Materials and Australia-based Lynas are in the process of developing their own separation technologies, China still controls up to 90% of the rare earths separation and refining capacity and over half of mining output. In October 2023, Tuan, then a U.S. permanent resident and green card holder in the process of becoming a citizen, was back in his Hanoi office when Vietnamese authorities raided the building, seizing all laptops and records. Seventeen employees were arrested, according to Tuan’s American business partner, Richard Dunham, and all but one, Do Hanh Huong, Tuan’s sister-in-law and COO of VTRE, have since been released. The arrest came shortly after President Joe Biden visited Vietnam and signed cooperation agreements on rare earth minerals. CHINA CONTROLS OVER 80% OF BATTERY MATERIALS CRUCIAL TO US DEFENSE EQUIPMENT, UNSETTLING REPORT REVEALS In December, China banned rare earth extraction and separation, in what the industry saw as another effort to maintain its monopoly on the market. “When China put in these restrictions, it really made countries like the U.S. and Australia realize that they didn’t actually even have the technical know-how to do it themselves,” said Baskaran. “The process itself is just very labor-intensive and very toxic,” said Josh Birenbaum, a minerals expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adding China cornered the market through state subsidies and lax environmental concerns. While the U.S. has one major rare earths mine, MP Materials’ Mountain Pass, until this year, the company was exporting those rare earths to China for separation. The trade war and export controls that followed prompted the U.S. to stockpile its rare earths until separation capacity was up to scale at home. Tuan was accused of forging a value-added tax receipt while trading rare earths with Thai Duong Group, which operates a mine in the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai. VTRE had partnered with Australian mining companies Australian Strategic Materials and Blackstone Minerals Ltd. Tuan and Dunham had also met with officials from the state of Nevada and the Department of Energy to discuss plans to bring the separation technology to the U.S. through VTRE. Both were “enthusiastic” about the proposal, which ultimately led to the signing of the transfer agreement, according to Dunham. The arrest also came as Vietnam prepared to auction the Dong Pao mine. VTRE, backed by Western partners, was the only qualified bidder, according to Dunham. This year, Tuan pleaded guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. He’ll spend 16 years in prison with a fine of $10 million, but his advocates say he was “coerced.” Huong was sentenced to six years in prison. “We believe these charges to be manipulated, charges that were founded by Vietnamese state actors who have realigned themselves with China,” said Dunham. “He was tortured to obtain a guilty plea.” SENATE REPUBLICAN MOVES TO GIVE US AN EDGE ON CHINA IN HARVESTING MINERALS FOR WEAPONS SYSTEMS Fox News Digital could not independently verify this claim. The State Department documents credible reports of arbitrary arrests, torture and inhumane treatment by authorities, affecting both political detainees and others in custody. Medical neglect and forced confessions are frequently reported. Tuan’s advocates say the company he was purchasing ore from, Thai Duong, refused to provide invoices at the actual rate VTRE was paying for ore. It only provided invoices that claimed it was selling ore at a lower rate, reducing its taxable income. According to Dunham, Thai Duong refused to issue invoices reflecting the actual sale price to VTRE, allegedly to avoid environmental, natural resource and corporate income taxes, obligations that fell on Thai Duong, not Tuan. Tuan was faced with a choice: accept the lower-rate invoices and make up the tax discrepancies with his own money or allow his state-funded minerals project, and in turn, his business, to collapse, per Dunham. Though Tuan was convicted on criminal charges, Dunham said the violation of accounting regulations lacks evidence of criminal intent. “Even if he were guilty of an accounting issue, it’s not something that is criminally liable for what they’re trying to do. No place in Vietnam has there ever been an issue with this type of sentencing. It’s totally unheard of. Typically you would pay a fine and that’s it.” “He is the only individual outside of China that has a fully integrated rare earth company that’s from mining to metallization; in other words, from digging it out of the ground to the manufacturing of magnets.” Tuan was also convicted of smuggling rare earth materials, but customs documents show clearance of 63 shipments of heavy
WATCH: Texas state senator argues redistricting showdown could decide balance of power in future US Congress
GOP Texas state senator Mayes Middleton told Fox News Digital that the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to Republicans’ redistricting fight with Democrats in Texas, arguing that the effort to redraw the maps in Texas could “save America.” Middleton pointed out that if the results of the 2026 mid-term elections lead to another razor-thin majority for Republicans, the Congress “will know” that the Texas redistricting bill was responsible for the GOP maintaining its power. Meanwhile, despite Democrats’ attempts to halt the GOP redistricting effort by fleeing the state, Middleton expressed little concern that these challenges would amount to anything. “Literally, this redistricting bill could save this entire nation. This is why this fight is so important to me,” Middleton said. “I will fight with everything in me to make sure that this map becomes law, and we get those five more Republican seats … It could literally save America.” GOV. GREG ABBOTT THREATENS TO REDISTRICT 8 SEATS FOR GOP IF DEM LAWMAKERS DON’T RETURN TO TEXAS Despite the stakes, according to Middleton, he did not express concern about Democrats’ efforts to challenge the Republican redistricting bill, which has included dozens of Texas House Democrats fleeing the state to prevent the legislature from being able to conduct official business. He called their challenge “meritless,” pointing to litigation stemming from his home county of Galveston that found that “coalition districts” — districts formed by combining multiple minority groups to reach a majority — were in violation of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, Democrats cannot claim an obligation to create such districts to preserve minority voting power, Republicans argue. “Before the Petteway case was decided, basically you could add together various minority groups to get above 50% and then, under [Democrats’] interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, they said that was a protected district,” Middleton explained. “And that actually began when Galveston County Commissioners Court redistricted, and the last Democrat in the Commissioners Court was drawn out of office, and they sued and said that was racist. But yet, not long after, maybe a month after, Harris County redistricted and drew out a Republican, and they said that was fine. So that shows you just the ridiculous hypocrisy of the left in this case.” OBAMA LABELS TEXAS REDISTRICTING PUSH ‘A POWER GRAB THAT UNDERMINES OUR DEMOCRACY’ Civil arrest warrants were issued by the Texas House Republican majority earlier this week in an effort to compel the absent Democrats to return, but they are only enforceable within state lines and do not lead to jail time, since the warrants are not criminal. Still, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has called on a court in Illinois, where a large swath of the Texas House Democrats fled, to enforce the warrants against Democrats. In addition to blocking Texas Republicans’ redistricting bill, the exodus of Texas Democrats is obstructing crucial legislation from making its way through the legislature, Middleton told Fox News Digital. Middleton pointed to one bill being held up, Senate Bill 7, which aims to protect all-female spaces from being used by biological males who identify as transgender females. Others include a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying, an election-crime enforcement bill and critical flood relief legislation. “These are the conservative priorities that we were elected to get done. And the Democrats, of course, are looking for ways to block that are unlawful,” Middleton argued. “Frankly, they’re doing it in a way that will cause their office to be vacated if they don’t come back.”