DHS to soon deport Abrego Garcia to African nation after illegal alien’s return from El Salvador, filing says
The Trump administration said it could soon deport Salvadoran illegal immigrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the African nation of Liberia after reaching an agreement with that country, according to a Department of Homeland Security filing Friday. The court filing said that Abrego Garcia could be sent to the West African nation as soon as Oct. 31 to fulfill a standing deportation order against him. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 protection finding and a court order barring his removal to his home country. His case has become a focal point in the clash between Trump’s hardline deportation agenda and Democratic efforts to block removals. ABREGO GARCIA RELEASED FROM JAIL, WILL RETURN TO MARYLAND TO AWAIT TRIAL The filing noted that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys cited more than 20 countries he allegedly fears would prosecute or torture him if he were removed there and that Liberia is not on that list. “Liberia is a thriving democracy and one of the United States’s closest partners on the African continent,” the filing said. The filing said the country’s national language is English, its constitution “provides robust protections for human rights,” and Liberia is “committed to the humane treatment of refugees.” DHS said in the filing that it has received diplomatic assurances from Liberia about the humane treatment of people removed there. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia blasted the administration’s latest move as political retribution, arguing the latest deportation plan is part of a pattern of punitive deportation tactics. “After failed attempts with Uganda, Eswatini, and Ghana, ICE now seeks to deport our client, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to Liberia, a country with which he has no connection, thousands of miles from his family and home in Maryland,” attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. ABREGO GARCIA RENEWS PUSH FOR ASYLUM IN US, REVEALS NEW COUNTRY WILLING TO ACCEPT HIM “Costa Rica stands ready to accept him as a refugee, a viable and lawful option,” the lawyer added. “Yet the government has chosen a course calculated to inflict maximum hardship. These actions are punitive, cruel and unconstitutional.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a staunch supporter of Abrego Garcia, condemned the latest filing on Friday. Van Hollen flew to El Salvador in April in a publicized visit to meet Abrego Garcia in prison and has led the effort to get him released. “The Trump Administration has been desperately shopping for faraway countries they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to in order to deny his constitutional due process right to defend himself against the charges they have brought,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “Clearly, Trump’s cronies want to avoid answering for the claim that they are engaged in a vindictive prosecution against Abrego Garcia, after a federal judge concluded earlier this month that his prosecution ‘may stem from retaliation by the DOJ and DHS due to Abrego’s successful challenge of his unlawful deportation in Maryland.’ Kilmar must be allowed his day in court to fight for his rights,” the senator said. Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019. Two previous judges found he was likely affiliated with MS-13. Trump administration officials acknowledged in court that his deportation had been an administrative error, although some top Trump officials said he was correctly removed and contended he’s a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. READ THE FILING. APP USERS CLICK HERE One immigration judge in 2019 found that Garcia had not sufficiently refuted evidence of MS-13 affiliation and was thus removable to anywhere other than El Salvador because of a threat from a rival gang. The latest move to deport him comes as Abrego Garcia remains in immigration detention in Pennsylvania. A federal judge in Maryland previously barred his immediate deportation while reviewing claims that the government is retaliating against him for successfully challenging his wrongful removal earlier this year. The same judge wrote in an October order that his prosecution “may stem from retaliation by the DOJ and DHS,” while a separate case in Tennessee over human smuggling charges is still pending. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dems pressed on why they are using working families as ‘leverage’ amid shutdown
When pressed on why Democrats are using working-class Americans as “leverage” amid the ongoing government shutdown, several Democratic senators offered varying responses — but only one rejected the premise that their party is holding Americans hostage. “It’s the only lever we have,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., responded when asked about the matter. “We’re doing this because we’re hearing from so many families concerned about their healthcare,” said Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J. “We’re doing this because we’re hearing from them and wanting to address that.” Kim also blamed President Donald Trump and his allies, arguing that “this administration has been unwilling to actually negotiate.” DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO BUDGE OVER OBAMACARE FIGHT AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON “Schumer and Jefferies have asked yet again to talk to Trump before Trump goes on an international trip,” Kim lamented. “When we have all this problem here at home, for the amount of money that Donald Trump has organized to send over to Argentina, we could have funded the ACA subsidies for another year.” Republicans counter that Democrats are the ones refusing to negotiate, noting the Obamacare subsidies at issue don’t expire until year’s end and can be debated once the government reopens. “The way I see it, 2024 was about one issue above and beyond all else, and that was about lowering costs,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. TOP REPUBLICAN SLAMS KATHERINE CLARK FOR ADMITTING SUFFERING FAMILIES ARE ‘LEVERAGE’ IN SHUTDOWN BATTLE But, it was swing-state Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., who objected to the framing of the question, telling Fox News Digital that “this isn’t a political game.” “I would never say – I’m not going to describe the lives of millions of Americans as a euphemism, as ‘leverage,’” Fetterman shot back in response to the question. “This isn’t a political game. I’m not checking about how it’s polling or who’s going to blink. Millions of Pennsylvanians are going to lose their SNAP benefits and I think we should have them both at the same time.” Fetterman, appearing to side with an argument coming from the GOP that the Obamacare subsidies can be negotiated after the government reopens, said he believes there can be “an honest conversation” between Republicans and Democrats once the government gets to a place where it can turn the lights back on. “I think plenty of [Republicans] are going to want this too – have that conversation – open up this government because that’s not leverage, this is a fail,” Fetterman said.
Trump says he’s ‘open’ to meeting with Kim Jong Un during Asia trip, North Korea is ‘sort of a nuclear power’
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he is “open” to meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) while he is in South Korea during his trip to Asia. “I’d be open to it, 100%. I got along very well with him, Kim Jong Un,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They don’t have a lot of telephone service,” the president said. “They have a lot of nuclear weapons, but not a lot of telephone service.” Trump, who departed for Asia on Friday night, told reporters that they could “put out the word” that he was willing to meet the dictator. The president also responded to a question about recognizing North Korea as a nuclear power. TRUMP AND KIM JONG UN SHOULD MAKE ‘BOLD DECISION’ TO MEET DURING HIS ASIA TRIP, SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIAL SAYS “I think they are sort of a nuclear power,” Trump said. “I mean, I know how many weapons they have. I know everything about them and I have a very good relationship with Kim Jung Un. When you say they have to be recognized as a nuclear power, well, they’ve got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.” South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young urged Trump and Kim to “make a bold decision,” according to Reuters, which reported he made the remark to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. A White House official noted Friday that Trump and the North Korean leader met during his first term in office. “President Trump in his first term, held three historic summits with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un that stabilized the Korean Peninsula,” the official said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “U.S. policy on North Korea has not changed. President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un, but such a meeting is not currently on the schedule for this trip.” Earlier this month, a White House official told Fox News Digital that, “President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un, without any preconditions.” “President Trump in his first term held three historic summits with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un that stabilized the Korean Peninsula. U.S. policy on North Korea has not changed,” the official added. NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILES DAYS BEFORE TRUMP’S VISIT TO THE PENINSULA The week-long trip includes stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. Additionally, the White House said that Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. In 2018, during his first term, Trump and Kim met in what was the first ever U.S.-North Korea summit. The meeting took place in Singapore. A joint statement at the time said that the two leaders “conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations.” A summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019 ended without the two reaching a deal. One year later, in June 2019, Trump met Kim again, this time in the DMZ, making him the first sitting U.S. leader to set foot in North Korea. He took 20 steps into North Korean territory during the visit where he shook hands with Kim. When speaking to reporters in 2019, Trump said he and Kim agreed to revive talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. He said he was not aiming to make a deal fast, but rather to “get it right.”
AG James’s ‘horrible judgement’ backing Mamdani puts New Yorkers in ‘jeopardy’: GOP challenger
The Republican running against New York Democratic attorney general Letitia James took aim at her relationship with socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in an interview with Fox News Digital, arguing that it puts New York voters in jeopardy. “That association is not a surprise, because when she first ran for the New York City Council in New York City, she ran on the Working Family Party line because the Democrat party wouldn’t endorse her, she’s been a supporter of cashless her whole political career,” Michael Henry told Fox News Digital about James’s endorsement and association with Mamdani. James spoke at a rally in front of Mamdani supporters earlier this month, telling the roughly 3,000 people in the crowd after she was indicted for mortgage fraud, “You come for me? You gonna come to all of us!” Henry told Fox News Digital that James’s closeness to Mamdani, who has been labeled a communist by many, shows she’s “out of touch” and suggests that will be a “problem” for her long term. KNICKS SEND CEASE-AND-DESIST TO MAMDANI OVER LOGO USE, SAY THEY ‘WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR’ THEY DON’T ENDORSE HIM “She introduced him on election night, she says it’s her brother, she owns him and, you know something she’s jeopardizing the people of state of New York because, forget about the fact the kids an anti-semite and a communist he’s never had a job he’s never showed up five days a week to a real job, I will tell you, when there’s a blizzard, you’ve got to get the sanitation trucks out, when there is a structural collapse, there’s serious fire, there is civil unrest and the police are dealing with an uprising, maybe with rioters or some kind of confrontation, does anybody think this kid and his practice smile and his word salad is going to be able to handle those situations?” Henry said. “He’s not a serious person. He’s a failed actor.” CURTIS SLIWA VOWS TO BE ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S ‘WORST NIGHTMARE’ IF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST WINS NYC MAYORAL RACE James, who appeared in federal court on Friday to plead not guilty to mortgage fraud charges, has been a staunch advocate of Mamdani in recent months saying he is “the leader New York City needs” as the socialist candidate appears to hold a commanding lead in the polls to be the city’s next mayor. “She’s put the people of the state of New York, all New Yorkers, not political affiliations included, all New Yorkers in jeopardy because of her horrible judgment by embracing this kid,” Henry told Fox News Digital. Henry ran unsuccessfully against James in 2020, but his 45% of the vote was one of the best showings for a Republican in the state in decades. Henry told Fox News Digital New Yorkers need an “outsider” candidate who has “no fear of Letitia James at all.” Henry explained, “Look, let’s be honest, she wakes up every day focused on three things: targeting the President of the United States, weaponizing her office against political opponents, and ignoring the issues that matter most to hardworking families.” “And she’s forgotten that the New York state attorney general is the people’s lawyer, and it’s not the enforcer for the Democrat National Committee.”
America’s ‘BAT’ man unveils tech built to outsmart a Chinese first strike
Analysts say China has developed a chilling strategy for fighting a war with the United States: destroy America’s fighter jets before they ever leave the ground. In nearly every modern conflict, disabling enemy aircraft on the ground has been the first move. When Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year, it began by destroying Iranian runways — grounding Tehran’s air force before it could take off. Russia and Ukraine have done the same throughout their ongoing war, targeting airfields to cripple enemy aircraft. And when India clashed with Pakistan, the opening salvos hit Pakistani air bases. Beijing has taken that lesson to heart. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has spent years building an arsenal of long-range precision missiles — including “carrier killers” like the DF-21D and DF-26 — capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers and striking American airfields across the Pacific. The goal: keep U.S. air power out of range before it can even launch. ISRAEL TO DEPLOY FIRST COMBAT-READY LASER WEAPON SYSTEM FOR OPERATIONAL AIR DEFENSE Now, a U.S. defense technology firm says it has built a way to fight back. Shield AI, based in San Diego, has unveiled a new AI-piloted fighter jet designed to operate without runways, without GPS, and without constant communication links — an aircraft that can think, fly, and fight on its own. Shield AI says the jet, called X-BAT, can take off vertically, reach 50,000 feet, fly more than 2,000 nautical miles, and execute strike or air defense missions using an onboard autonomy system known as Hivemind. It’s designed to operate from ships, small islands, or improvised sites — places where traditional jets can’t. The aircraft’s dash speed remains classified. “China has built this anti-access aerial denial bubble that holds our runways at risk,” said Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft engineering, in an interview with Fox News. “They’ve basically said, ‘We’re not going to compete stealth-on-stealth in the air — we’ll target your aircraft before they even get off the ground.’” The jet launches vertically, and three X-BATs can fit in the space of one legacy fighter or helicopter. According to Harris, the U.S. has spent decades perfecting stealth and survivability in the air while leaving its forces vulnerable on the ground. “The way to solve that problem is mobility,” he said. “You’re always moving around. This is the only VTOL fighter being built today.” X-BAT’s Hivemind autonomy allows it to operate in denied or jammed environments, where traditional aircraft would be blind. The system uses onboard sensors to interpret its surroundings, reroute around threats, and identify targets in real time. “It’s reading and reacting to the situation around it,” Harris said. “It’s not flying a pre-programmed route. If new threats appear, it can reroute itself or identify targets and then ask a human for permission to engage.” That human element, he emphasized, remains essential. “It’s very important to us that a human is always involved in making the use of lethal force decision,” Harris said. “That doesn’t mean the person has to be in the cockpit — it could be remote or delegated through tasking — but there will always be a human decision-maker.” Shield AI says X-BAT will be combat-ready by 2029 and is designed to deliver fifth- or sixth-generation performance at a small fraction of the cost of manned fighters. The aircraft’s compact footprint allows up to three X-BATs to fit in the deck space of a single legacy fighter or helicopter, giving commanders more flexibility in launching sorties from limited space. AMERICA’S NEW STEALTH B-21 RAIDER TAKES NEXT STEP WITH SECOND BOMBER’S FIRST FLIGHT While Shield AI isn’t disclosing specific numbers, the company says X-BAT is priced in the same range as the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the next generation of autonomous wingmen meant to fly alongside — and eventually ahead of — manned fighters. Costs vary depending on mission systems and configurations, but the company’s goal is to scale production to keep the jet affordable and sustainable throughout its lifecycle, breaking what it calls the traditional “fighter cost curve.” The company estimates the aircraft will deliver about a tenfold improvement in cost per effect compared to legacy fifth-generation jets, including the F-35, while remaining “affordable and attritable” enough to be risked in high-end combat. Shield AI is in discussions with both the Air Force and Navy about integrating X-BAT into future combat programs and with several allied militaries exploring joint development opportunities. Harris said the company views X-BAT as part of a generational shift toward distributed airpower — one that mirrors what SpaceX did in space. “Historically, the United States had a small number of extremely capable, extremely expensive satellites,” he said. “Then you had SpaceX come along and put up hundreds of smaller, cheaper ones. The same thing is happening in air power. There’s always going to be a role for manned platforms, but over time, unmanned systems will outnumber them ten-to-one or twenty-to-one.” For Harris, that shift is about restoring deterrence through flexibility. “X-BAT presents an asymmetric dilemma to an adversary like China,” he said. “They don’t know where it’s coming from, and the cost of countering it is high. It’s an important part of a broader joint force that becomes significantly more lethal.
Virginia Giuffre’s memoir recounts rape by former prime minister; Epstein’s ties to Bill Clinton, Trump
In her posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre recounts being groomed as a teenager and sexually exploited by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell — writing that the abuse included rape by an unnamed prime minister and encounters with powerful men such as former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump. The book, “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice,” was released Tuesday and garnered global attention. While it made no explicit allegations against Clinton or Trump, Giuffre did chronicle meetings with both in contexts not related to Epstein’s alleged crimes. The story Giuffre recounts of how she was sucked into Epstein and Maxwell’s high-powered orbit begins when her father helped get her a job at Mar-a-Lago, where he worked as a maintenance worker. Giuffrie’s discussions of Trump in the book largely place him as a background figure during her early days at Mar-a-Lago, where she eventually met Maxwell in the summer of 2000. VIRGINIA GIUFFRE’S MEMOIR REVEALS HOW EPSTEIN, MAXWELL ‘BROKE DOWN’ GIRLS STEP BY STEP IN PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR “It couldn’t have been more than a few days before my dad said he wanted to introduce me to Mr. Trump himself. They weren’t friends, exactly. But Dad worked hard, and Trump liked that—I’d seen photos of them posing together, shaking hands,” Giuffre writes. “Trump couldn’t have been friendlier, telling me it was fantastic that I was there. ‘Do you like kids?’ he asked. ‘Do you babysit at all?’ He explained that he owned several houses next to the resort that he lent to friends, many of whom had children that needed tending.” Giuffre also recounts how Epstein and Trump’s relationship eventually broke down, an explanation for which differs from the one Trump has publicly provided. Giuffre said Trump withdrew Epstein’s membership at Mar-a-Lago after hitting the teenage daughter of another guest, but Trump has publicly said that a spat about Epstein coaxing his Mar-a-Lago spa employees was what led to the end of their relationship. Giuffre, working an entry-level position at the resort’s spa, recounted how Maxwell sought to hire her as a masseuse despite her lack of experience. Before she knew it, Giuffre was traveling alongside Epstein and Maxwell around the world performing sexual favors. According to Giuffre, it was difficult to reconcile the fact that her abusers commanded so much respect from such powerful figures. “This was a man who displayed framed photographs of himself with the Dalai Lama, with the pope, and with members of the British royal family. A photo in his Palm Beach house showed Epstein posing behind the podium of the White House briefing room,” Giuffre writes. “This was a man who’d had former president Bill Clinton over for dinner (I was at the table that night) and who’d hosted Al and Tipper Gore as well (again, I was there).” PRINCE ANDREW VIEWED SEX WITH TEENAGE VIRGINIA GIUFFRE AS HIS ‘BIRTHRIGHT’, NEW MEMOIR CLAIMS “Maxwell was proud of her friendships with famous people, especially men,” Giuffre added in the memoir. “[Maxwell] loved to talk about how easily she could get former president Bill Clinton on the phone.” According to Giuffre, Epstein and Maxwell visited the White House together during Clinton’s tenure in the Oval Office. In the book, Giuffre also recalled how Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane in 2002, but she was not present for that trip. “On September 21, Epstein and Maxwell were leaving New York on an extended trip to Africa. Marcinkova was flying with them on Epstein’s Boeing 727, as were several high-profile guests: the actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey and former president Clinton, not to mention six U.S. Secret Service agents. (Clinton has said the trip was a humanitarian mission that included stops related to the work of his foundation.)” Giuffre wrote. However, despite naming Clinton in the book about her experience being sex trafficked by Epstein, Giuffre lamented the media’s propensity to connect the former president to Epstein’s crimes. “Right away, the article noted that I had never been ‘lent out’ to the former president. But I guess the Mail found it newsworthy simply that I’d witnessed Epstein and Clinton together,” she writes. Among the various trafficking incidents Giuffre talked about in her book, which do directly involve powerful people from Epstein and Maxwell’s orbit, was a brutal rape by an unnamed former prime minister on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2002. According to Giuffre’s account of the incident, she was ordered by Epstein to have sex with the prime minister, who choked her nearly to unconsciousness and mocked her fear of the situation. Giuffre said that upon returning to Epstein after the incident, she begged not to be sent back to the prime minister, but Epstein told her the brutality was just part of the job. According to Giuffre, this horrific incident was a turning point for her. “Before the Prime Minister’s attack, Epstein had me fooled. I thought that Epstein’s predilection for childlike girls was a sickness, but that, in his twisted way, he meant well. After the attack, I couldn’t stay a fool. Having been treated so brutally and then seeing Epstein’s callous reaction to how terrorized I felt, I had to accept that Epstein meted out praise merely as a manipulation to keep me subservient. Epstein cared only about Epstein,” Giuffre writes in her memoir. “At that point, I hit bottom. I now knew I wouldn’t survive. I saw only two possible options: either someone Epstein trafficked me to would kill me or I would take my own life.” Giuffre would eventually die by suicide in April, roughly six months before the release of her memoir.
Schumer accuses Trump of ‘skipping town’ during shutdown as president heads to Asia for trade talks
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday accused President Donald Trump of “skipping town” for a trip to Asia during the ongoing government shutdown. Trump departed for Asia Friday night for a weeklong trip that will include stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. Republicans and Democrats remain divided on negotiations to end the shutdown that began earlier this month, with each side blaming the other as the GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. “In the midst of the longest full government shutdown in American history — a crisis of his own making — President Trump’s priorities are severely misplaced,” Schumer said in a statement. TRUMP SAYS SCHUMER, SENATE DEMOCRATS HOLDING GOVERNMENT ‘HOSTAGE’ WITH SHUTDOWN: ‘WE WILL NOT BE EXTORTED’ “While Americans are struggling to make ends meet, federal workers are going without pay, and millions of families are bracing for soaring health care costs, the President is leaving the country,” he continued. Schumer added: “America is shut down and the President is skipping town.” The senator said Democrats have sought to meet with Trump, but that the president is “abandoning” his responsibilities. “Democrats have asked, again and again, for President Trump to meet with us to negotiate a bipartisan deal that would address the healthcare crisis, and find a path forward to reopen the government. But instead of doing his job, President Trump is abandoning it,” Schumer said. Schumer also called on GOP lawmakers in Congress to work across the aisle to reach a deal to end the shutdown. “With the President out of the country, the responsibility falls squarely on Congressional Republicans to act — to come to the table, to do their jobs, and to deliver an agreement that reopens the government and protects Americans from another health care disaster,” he said. “Americans deserve a government that works as hard as they do— not a leader that flies away from responsibility at the time they need one most,” the top Senate Democrat added. BERNIE SANDERS CLASHES WITH TOWN HALL ATTENDEE OVER SCHUMER LEADERSHIP DURING SHUTDOWN While in Asia, Trump is expected to meet with regional allies about trade, including the trade war with China, as well as Beijing’s tightening of export controls on rare-earth minerals critical for certain technologies. The president is also expected to address security in the region and affirm America’s commitment to supporting its allies.
Newsom bails out Planned Parenthood with $140M to keep 100 clinics open after Trump cuts
California officials are giving Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open and offset the financial strain from cuts imposed by Republicans in Washington, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom announced. Newsom said the move affirms the state’s continued commitment to abortion access for women in the Golden State amid efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to shut down Planned Parenthood. “California is a reproductive freedom state, and this latest investment continues to show our belief in protecting access to essential health care in times of distress,” Newsom said in a statement on Thursday. “Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood put all our communities at risk as people seek basic health care from these community providers.” State lawmakers will also address the issue when the legislature reconvenes in January. APPEALS COURT HEARS MEDICAID FRAUD CASE THAT COULD COST PLANNED PARENTHOOD $1.8 BILLION Planned Parenthood had announced it would eliminate primary care at clinics in Orange and San Bernardino counties starting in December. Five other clinics in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and Central Valley, also shuttered in recent months over federal efforts to defund the organization. Dr. Janet Jacobson, medical director of the Orange and San Bernardino counties clinics, told CalMatters the federal actions are “destroying our primary care program.” “It’s inhumane to take away people’s health care,” Jacobson said. “Folks that have Medi-Cal should be able to see the provider of their choice for primary care.” Planned Parenthood needs about $27 million a month to operate all its local facilities, Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told CalMatters. “The Planned Parenthood affiliates in California are grateful to Governor Newsom and our allies in the Legislature for taking this necessary step to keep Planned Parenthood health centers open and able to provide critical services as they weather the impacts of the federal defund,” Hicks said in a statement. California is the fourth state to allocate public funds to support Planned Parenthood, joining Washington, Colorado and New Mexico. Lawmakers in Oregon and New York are also considering giving public money to the organization. DEMOCRATS ESCALATE ANTI-TRUMP LAWFARE BY TARGETING CONGRESS IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDING FIGHT Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over abortion services. Trump’s spending bill signed over the summer prohibited Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money for its services, including abortions, mammograms, pap smears, birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing. Facilities in GOP-led states with abortion restrictions have also been forced to cease the procedures following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe V. Wade and returned the power to make laws regarding abortion back to the states. Planned Parenthood facilities have been shuttering in various states across the country, including California and New York. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte — which operates 30 health centers along the California coast, Central Valley and Nevada — shuttered five health centers in July after Trump blocked Planned Parenthood’s funding. Mar Monte Chief of Staff Andrew Adams said the organization is working on ways to maintain its financial stability. Adams said the closures helped keep services at the organization’s other clinics until the end of the year but that it could be met with a “financial cliff” in the new year. PRO-LIFE GROUP ‘ELATED’ AFTER PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHUTTERS HOUSTON FACILITIES: ‘TREMENDOUS VICTORY’ “We are planning for an environment where there is no federal funding,” Adams told CalMatters. “What that looks like is having to potentially charge patients some amount of money for services we provide.” The organization has claimed that abortions make up only 3% of its services, but pro-life groups contend that the clinics’ closures in states with abortion bans prove that to be false. “If that were true, they wouldn’t be closing all these facilities in pro-life states where you can’t do abortions. So that’s hardly believable anymore in 2025,” 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney told Fox News Digital in August. Newsom, California lawmakers and Planned Parenthood have spent much of the year searching for a solution to keep the organization afloat without federal dollars, according to CalMatters. But with a multibillion-dollar state deficit, that has been a challenging goal.
Scandal-plagued Virginia AG hopeful’s wife reportedly donated to fund that freed accused criminals, murderers
Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones faced new political fallout Friday after a report revealed his wife had donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a controversial bail organization that used millions to spring violent offenders, including accused rapists and murderers, from jail. In May 2020, during unrest in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death, Mavis Jones posted on Twitter: “I just donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund,” linking to the group’s donation page and urging others to do the same. The account has since gone private. The revelation, first reported by The Washington Free Beacon, comes as Jones, a Democrat, trails Republican incumbent Jason Miyares in a tightening race for Virginia’s top law enforcement post. The state’s attorney general oversees state-level prosecutions and police oversight. JAY JONES TEXT SCANDAL SPARKS DONATION SURGE AS GOP GROUP POURS MILLIONS MORE INTO VA RACE The Minnesota Freedom Fund, promoted at the time by several progressive figures, including Sen. Kamala Harris, raised more than $41 million during the 2020 protests, pledging to support demonstrators arrested during clashes with police. But a FOX 9 investigation later found the group spent most of its money bailing out defendants accused of serious violent crimes rather than low-level protest offenses. Among those bailed out was Christopher Boswell, a twice-convicted rapist facing new kidnapping and assault charges who was freed after the fund posted $350,000 in cash bail. The group also paid $100,000 to release Darnika Floyd, who was charged with second-degree murder, and $75,000 for Jaleel Stallings, who allegedly fired at a Minneapolis SWAT team before being acquitted at trial. Greg Lewin, then the fund’s interim executive director, told FOX 9 that same year, “The last time we were down there, the clerk said, ‘We hate it when you bail out these sex offenders.’ I often don’t even look at a charge when I bail someone out.” JONES AND MIYARES CLASH OVER MURDER TEXTS AS DEM REPEATEDLY INVOKES TRUMP AT HEATED, HIGH-STAKES DEBATE In one case, the fund posted bail for George Howard, a career criminal later charged with fatally shooting a man in a Minneapolis road rage incident just weeks after his release. The news adds to a string of controversies for Jones, 35, who has already apologized for violent text messages directed at Republican leaders. In one exchange, he wrote that then–House Speaker Todd Gilbert gets “two bullets to the head” and that Gilbert’s wife Jennifer should “watch her children die.” Court records also show Jones was convicted of reckless driving in 2022 for traveling 116 mph on a Virginia highway. He was fined $1,500 and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service, but a state ethics review is examining whether hours spent volunteering for his own political committee should count toward the sentence. The latest controversy gives Miyares and Republicans new fodder in the closing weeks of the campaign. A Trafalgar Group poll released Oct. 17 found Miyares leading 49.5% to 44.6%, a reversal from earlier surveys that had Jones up six points before the text scandal broke. As of Friday, Mavis Jones has set her X account to private. The Minnesota Freedom Fund and the Jay Jones campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Vulnerable Dem senator’s ‘grassroots’ campaign powered by out-of-state cash, mostly by coastal elites
FIRST ON FOX: Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, described by CNN as the nation’s “most endangered Senate Democrat,” has touted “an unstoppable grassroots coalition.” But, according to the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings released, his campaign is being propped up by a lot of out-of-state money. Ossoff’s latest quarterly filing shows that more than 80% of the money he raised last period came from out-of-state donors. The report, which details contributions from individuals who have given at least $200 this cycle, also reveals that over half of his maxed-out donors hail from California, New York or the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region. After the release of an October filing, Ossoff’s team touted in a press release that, in the face of “heavy spending from GOP Super PACs,” it raised $12 million during the last third-quarter filing period that runs from July 1 through Sept. 30. The same press release said Ossoff’s “re-election juggernaut” was “overwhelmingly” powered by small donors with an average of $36 from approximately 233,000 donors. If a donor has not given an aggregate of at least $200, that donor’s contribution remains undisclosed in FEC filings. NATIONAL DEMS BANKROLL CAMPAIGN OF ‘FAKE INDEPENDENT’ SENATE CANDIDATE FROM MIDWESTERN STATE Ossoff is running for re-election in a state Trump won in 2024, albeit by a thin two-point margin. He first arrived in Congress in 2021 after defeating incumbent Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., in a razor-thin election that required a runoff. During that first election cycle, according to The Washington Free Beacon, Ossoff raised 60% of his contributions from outside the state of Georgia. According to Ossoff’s recent October FEC filing, California is leading the pack in terms of the most donations to his campaign during the third quarter, totaling about 20% of all donations. Georgia is second with about 17.5%. But when it comes to donors who have maxed out their contribution limits, more of those political donors came from California (33.3%) New York (15.65%) and Massachusetts (10.8%) than from Georgia, which accounted for only 6.1% of maxed-out donors who contributed to Ossoff in the third quarter. REPUBLICAN DOOLEY JUMPS INTO GEORGIA’S SENATE RACE WHILE TOUTING SUPPORT FOR TRUMP AND TAKING AIM AT OSSOFF Given Ossoff’s vulnerability heading into Election Day, GOP strategists and Senate sources say the Georgia Democrat is unlikely to break with his party to vote for reopening the government, fearing it could cost him crucial support from liberal donors nationwide. “There is no middle ground for him when it comes to these big decisions that have to be made, and I think the shutdown proves that,” Ryan Mahoney, a Georgia-based GOP strategist who has worked with Republican senators in the state told The Washington Examiner. “His calculus is, ‘Do I vote to open the government up and get crushed and can’t raise a single dollar of low-dollar money, or do I vote to shut the government down and get $3 million [from online fundraising]?’” a Democratic Party insider also told The Hill. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ossoff’s campaign declined to comment when reached for this article.