Federal judge orders NC to certify Supreme Court election results with Democrat leading
A federal judge on Monday ordered the North Carolina elections board to certify results showing Democrat Allison Riggs as the winner of the state Supreme Court race against Republican Jefferson Griffin, ruling that thousands of contested ballots in the November contest must remain in the final count. U.S. District Judge Richard Myers – who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019 – agreed with Riggs and others who argued it would violate the U.S. Constitution to carry out recent decisions by state appeals courts that could remove potentially thousands of ballots for overseas military and their family members who were not required to attach a copy of their photo IDs, as well as ballots for a category of “Never Residents,” or U.S. citizens with family ties to North Carolina who have never lived in the United States. Myers wrote that votes could not be removed six months after Election Day without damaging due process or equal protection rights of the affected residents. Myers ordered the State Board of Elections to certify results that, after two recounts, had Riggs as the winner — by just 734 votes — over Griffin. FEDERAL JUDGE KICKS BATTLE OVER NC SUPREME COURT ELECTION BACK TO STATE COURT “The State Board SHALL certify the results of the election for Seat 6 based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period on December 10, 2024,” Myers wrote, denying Griffin’s petitions for judicial review and injunctive relief. The judge delayed his order for seven days in case Griffin wants to appeal the ruling to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. More than 5.5 million ballots were cast in what has been the nation’s last undecided race from November’s elections. Myers said the “case concerns whether the federal Constitution permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact and apply those changes retroactively to only a select group of voters, and in so doing treat those voters differently than other similarly situated individuals.” The board “must not proceed with implementation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court’s orders, and instead must certify the results of the election for (the seat) based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period,” Myers wrote. Griffin, himself a state Court of Appeals judge, filed formal protests after the election in hopes that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him. Griffin’s legal team was reviewing Myers’ order Monday night and evaluating the next steps, Griffin campaign spokesperson Paul Shumaker told the Associated Press. FEDERAL JUDGE WEIGHS IN ON LAST UNDECIDED 2024 ELECTION “Today, we won,” Riggs said in a statement. “I‘m proud to continue upholding the Constitution and the rule of law as North Carolina’s Supreme Court Justice.” Griffin wanted Myers to leave undisturbed the state courts’ decisions, which also directed that most of the voters with otherwise ineligible ballots get 30 days to provide identifying information for their race choices to remain in the tally. Riggs, the state Democratic Party and some affected voters said Griffin was trying to change the 2024 election outcome after the fact by removing ballots cast by voters who complied with voting rules as they were written last fall. Myers wrote that Griffin’s formal protests after the election, which were rejected by the State Board of Elections, constituted efforts to make retroactive changes to the voting laws that would arbitrarily disenfranchise only the voters who were targeted by Griffin. Griffin’s challenges over voters not providing photo identification only covered at most six Democratic-leaning counties in the state. “You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in a 68-page order. “Permitting parties to ‘upend the set rules’ of an election after the election has taken place can only produce ‘confusion and turmoil’” that “‘threatens to undermine public confidence in the federal courts, state agencies, and the elections themselves,’” he added. One category of ballots that state appellate courts found to be ineligible covered military or overseas voters who did not provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. A state rule exempted them from the requirement. The appeals courts had permitted a “cure” process for these voters, so their ballots could still count in the race. The other category of ballots that the appellate courts declared violated the state constitution were cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized these persons to vote in state elections. Griffin filed formal protests that appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled down the total to between 1,675 and 7,000, according to court filings. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kamala Harris takes next step in return to political stage
Former Vice President Kamala Harris headlines a top-dollar Democratic National Committee fundraising dinner on Tuesday, marking the latest step back into the political spotlight by the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee. The New York City gathering of top party officials, politicians and donors, where tickets range upwards of $25,000 per person, according to an invitation obtained by Fox News, comes as Harris is mulling her political future after last November’s election defeat at the hands of Republican President Donald Trump. Among her campaign options that she’s weighing is a 2026 run for the open governor’s seat in her home state of California and another bid in 2028 for the White House. The event also comes as the Democratic Party, facing historically low favorable ratings in national polling, aims to leave the political wilderness after the party lost control of the White House and the Senate and fell short in its bid to regain the House majority in the 2024 elections. KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS POLITICAL TIMETABLE FOR MAKING KEY DECISION And it is being held as an increasingly angry and energized base of Democrats is pushing for party leaders to take a stronger stand in pushing back against Trump’s sweeping and controversial agenda during the opening months of his second administration. “Kamala Harris understands the fight that we are in,” DNC committee member and veteran Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told Fox News. She added that “Kamala Harris is a beloved figure in the Democratic Party.” “The DNC is using every tool in their toolbox to bring people together, to get people excited about the campaigns that are coming in the next two cycles,” said Cardona, a member of the DNC’s influential Rules and Bylaws committee. “I think it’s super smart for the DNC to use her, to use every other elected [official], to use governors, to use former administration officials. … I think this is just par for the course for what the DNC needs to do going forward.” CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING AND OPINION ON FORMER VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS The fundraiser is being held the day after the president helped haul in big bucks as he headlined a gathering of major donors at one of his golf courses in Virginia for MAGA Inc., which was the top Trump-aligned super PAC during the 2024 election cycle. Harris proved her fundraising prowess last year, hauling in over $1 billion during her three-and-a-half-month White House campaign after replacing then-President Joe Biden atop the Democrats’ national ticket in late July, amid mounting questions over the then-81-year-old president’s physical and mental stamina. “She raised an eye-popping record amount of money,” Cardona noted. “She is still a tremendous draw for the Democratic faithful and donors and that will continue to be the case going forward.” The DNC is using much of the money brought in at its fundraisers to build its ground operations and messaging efforts ahead of next year’s midterm elections. A top progressive leader agreed that using Harris to help fundraise for the DNC makes sense. HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY RUN FOR WHITE HOUSE IN 2028 But Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a major grassroots organization that promotes economic populism and democracy through electoral and issue advocacy efforts, pointed to Harris’ 2024 setback as well as her flameout in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary when asked about how the left would receive a potential 2028 White House bid by Harris. “She had her chance. Sometimes you have to know when to step away,” Green told Fox News. He argued that Harris felt more like a candidate from the party’s establishment than a shake-up of the system, populist, during her two presidential campaigns, and that the more voters got to know her, the less they supported her. Harris’ appearance at Tuesday’s DNC fundraiser, where she’ll take part in a question-and-answer session with national party chair Ken Martin, comes a week after she made some of her first major public remarks since her 2024 defeat. The former vice president at an event in San Francisco took aim at Trump’s economic agenda. She said the president’s controversial implementation of tariffs, which initially triggered a massive stock market selloff, “as I predicted, are clearly inviting a recession.” The stepped-up appearances by Harris come as she continues to meet with advisors and friends as she considers her political future. A source in the former vice president’s political orbit confirmed to Fox News Digital two months ago that Harris had told allies she would decide by the end of summer on whether to launch a 2026 gubernatorial campaign. TOP TRUMP ALLY TEASES BID FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR IF HARRIS RUNS Harris served as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and represented the Golden State in the U.S. Senate before joining Biden’s 2020 ticket and winning election as vice president. And Harris would be considered the clear frontrunner for governor in heavily blue California in the race to succeed term-limited Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom. Meanwhile, extremely early polls in the next Democratic Party presidential nomination race, which are heavily reliant on name recognition at this point, indicate that the former vice president holds a significant lead over other potential White House contenders. It is unlikely she could do both. Running and winning election in 2026 as governor of California, the nation’s most populous state and home to the world’s fifth-largest economy, would likely take a 2028 White House run off the table, allies and political analysts have indicated. While no decisions have been made, the former vice president has vowed to remain politically involved. Harris, in a video message to the Democratic National Committee as it huddled for its winter meeting in early February, pledged to be with the party “every step of the way.” And in an early April speech in California, Harris reiterated that she’ll stay politically active, noting that “I’m not going anywhere.” 2028 WATCH: VIRAL VIDEO SPARKS MORE AOC SPECULATION But Harris is far from
US intel agencies say Venezuelan regime doesn’t direct Tren de Aragua gang, undercutting Trump admin: report
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime does not direct the activities of the Tren de Aragua, according to a newly public memo released by U.S. intelligence agencies last month. The memo, published Monday by the New York Times, undercuts President Donald Trump’s justifications for using the Alien Enemies Act to facilitate deportations. The report represents the “sense of the community” of the National Intelligence Council and states they have not found a direct link between Maduro’s regime and TdA leadership. “While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the report states. “The IC bases this judgment on Venezuelan law enforcement actions demonstrating the regime treats TDA as a threat; an uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation rather than top-down directives [that] characterize the regime’s ties to other armed groups; and the decentralized makeup of TDA that would make such a relationship logistically challenging,” the memo continues. FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING While the memo cuts against the claim that support for TdA is a direct policy from Maduro’s regime, it does note that FBI analysts agree that “some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members’ migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies … to advance what they see as the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety in these countries.” NOEM RIPS DEMOCRATS OVER SUPPORT FOR DEPORTED MIGRANT The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing, has been invoked three times, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. Trump’s administration declared in March that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years or older who are members of TdA, are within the U.S. and are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. may be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as “alien enemies.” Key to the White House’s argument is its claim that TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolás Maduro regime-sponsored narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela. In 2020, Maduro and other regime members were charged with narco-terrorism and other crimes in an alleged plot against America. Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Democrat floats work visa suggestion in response to Trump admin’s $1,000 self-deportation offer
The Department of Homeland Security is offering $1,000 to illegal aliens who opt to self-deport via the CBP Home App, but Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., floated the idea of charging fines and granting work visas instead. “Why don’t we make them pay a $5k fine, go through a background check and give them a work visa for a few years, renewable with good behavior,” he asked in a Monday post on X. Gallego suggested in another post that immigrants would pay for the cost of their background check. DHS UNLEASHES POSSIBLE MONEY-SAVING MEASURE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS TO SELF-DEPORT: ‘SAFEST OPTION’ “Make them pay. That is what we do now for other immigrants. Part of the filing fee,” noted Gallego, who defeated Republican Kari Lake in Arizona’s 2024 U.S. Senate contest. The $1,000 offer comes as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration and seeks to conduct a mass deportation effort. ICE NABS ILLEGAL MIGRANT AFTER BLUE CITY AUTHORITIES DROP HOME INVASION, CHILD ABDUCTION CHARGES “Any illegal alien who uses the CBP Home App to self-deport will also receive a stipend of $1,000 dollars, paid after their return to their home country has been confirmed through the app,” a DHS release noted. “Even with the cost of the stipend, it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent. Currently, the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121.” DHS also indicates that illegal aliens will receive travel assistance to return to their home country. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RELEASED BY BIDEN ADMIN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO MURDER OF GEORGIA GRANDMOTHER CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The first use of travel assistance has already proven successful. An illegal alien that the Biden Administration allowed into our country recently utilized the program to receive a ticket for a flight from Chicago to Honduras. Additional tickets have already been booked for this week and the following week,” DHS noted.
China and Egypt wrap first joint military exercise as Beijing looks to cozy up to American allies
Egypt and China wrapped up their first-ever joint military exercises on Sunday, in a show of force involving the U.S.’ top rival and one of its top recipients of military aid. Running from mid-April until Sunday, the drills consisted of joint aerial exercises, simulated air combat and modern warfare lectures. China deployed its J-10C fighter jets, KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft and Y-20 transport tankers in a display of its military prowess beyond Asia, according to footage posted by Chinese state media outlet CCTV. Egypt has, in recent years, also purchased large amounts of military machinery from Russia, prompting questions about how the U.S. should address a top Middle East ally and aid recipient growing closer to its biggest adversaries. CHINESE FIRM AIDING HOUTHI ATTACKS ON US VESSELS “We’ve never seen a crisis like this,” said Joel Rubin, a former senior State Department official who worked on the Egypt desk under former President George W. Bush and pens “The Briefing Book” on Substack. “Egypt is essentially flouting us right now and looking to China, looking for more stable, long-term partners after nearly four and a half decades of stability in terms of the peace deal under Camp David.” Egypt operates a number of U.S.-made aircraft – F-16 fighter aircraft, CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache helicopters – and is slated to receive C-130 J transport aircraft. Egypt also possesses 32 American Patriot missile defense systems. The China-Egypt Eagles of Civilization 2025 is expected to bolster Beijing’s ties to Africa’s strongest military and a longtime strategic U.S. ally. Egypt has received roughly $1.3 billion each year in U.S. military aid since the Camp David Accords that normalized relations between Israel and Egypt. That figure puts it behind only Israel, which scores around $3.8 in U.S. military aid. Ukraine receives more aid than Egypt and Israel, but only since Russia’s invasion – prior to 2022, it got between $200 and $350 million each year. ISRAEL APPROVES PLAN TO CAPTURE ALL OF GAZA, CALLS UP TENS OF THOUSANDS OF RESERVE TROOPS When the Trump administration took office and froze all foreign aid, Egypt and Israel were the only two nations who were exempted from the freeze. Egypt partners with U.S. security forces across the region to fight terrorism in places like Iraq and Syria. The Camp David Accords, per Rubin, were the “final piece to the puzzle that peeled off the most important Arab military from the Soviet Union.” Prior to the accords, Egypt was aligned with Russia’s priorities in the Middle East. “It was about getting them into our column, and this is a sign they may be again moving into a different column.” Around $300 million of U.S. military aid to Egypt can be conditioned on human rights concerns, and that money has been frozen and unfrozen in recent years due to complaints about Egypt’s human rights record under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. “Cairo’s hedging tactics are not new. This has been a slow and steady effort, and this exercise marks a clear escalation. For Cairo, they want to diversify their patrons. Washington has long conditioned its aid to Egypt on human rights and democratization efforts. While the U.S. has routinely issued waivers on these conditions and allowed the aid to flow, Cairo does not want to remain beholden to Washington,” said Mariam Wahba, an Egypt-focused researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. However, with a new administration with little appetite for foreign aid, Egypt may be concerned that further aid cuts are on the table. “This exercise should certainly sound the alarm in Washington,” said Wahba. The exercises, according to former Deputy Assistance Secretary of Defense Simone Ledeen, “are both about capability building and sending a geopolitical signal.” “Egypt is hedging, showing the U.S. it has options,” added Ledeen, who worked in the first Trump administration. “China is making clear it intends to expand its influence in the Mediterranean. Everyone should be paying attention.” The latest development, according to Rubin, calls for “very agile diplomacy.” “It’s indicative of the broader global uncertainty and panic about the Trump administration’s position towards international affairs,” he said. “If we do threaten in a way that pushes them out, then even if we might feel justified morally, we could potentially be losing a crucial ally and partner, one that has significant impact on global shipping routes, counterterrorism work across the Arab Middle East, and we would be giving China a toe hold right into the heart of the Middle East at the worst possible time.”
NASA backs Trump budget blueprint with $6B cut to agency
President Donald Trump unveiled a budget blueprint last week that includes roughly $6 billion in federal funding cuts to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Despite the multibillion-dollar slash, a senior official at the space agency told Fox New Digital that the reduction in funding is actually beneficial for efficiency and exploration. “The reductions in the President’s blueprint budget counterintuitively represent an opportunity to truly innovate in how we conduct our space missions,” senior NASA official Ryan Whitley told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. “Now is the time to reduce the bureaucracy at NASA and turn our attention to the execution of bold new human missions to the Moon and Mars.” HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS EMBRACES TRUMP BUDGET PROPOSAL ‘PARADIGM SHIFT’ The proposed plan would cut roughly 24% of NASA’s entire budget, and could phase out some major projects like the Artemis moon program. Artemis, which was conceptualized by Trump in his first term, was designed to push the U.S. to return to moon exploration and came after President Barack Obama canceled the Constellation program in 2011. The original timeline of the Artemis program included a mission to land astronauts on the moon by 2024 via the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, but technical challenges have delayed the undertaking several years, and it is now set for at least September 2026 should the program survive the cuts. While funding reduction threatens some existing programs, the White House touted new investments that would bolster the agency in an effort to beat Chinese space innovations. TRUMP, GOP PUSH FOR MAJOR REDUCTION OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING IN NEW BUDGET PLAN “By allocating over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs, it ensures that America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient,” the White House topline preview reads. “To achieve these objectives, the Budget would streamline the NASA workforce, IT services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities.” Aligning with the Trump administration’s movement to improve government efficiency, the White House clarified that the budget “refocuses [NASA] funding on beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars.” With a heavy reduction in federal funding, it is most likely that outside contractors and companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX will most likely play a bigger role in launching rockets and exploring space. SpaceX has conducted 479 launches thus far, and Blue Origin has conducted 31. As the current head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), though he has announced his intention of leaving the agency to focus more on Tesla and his other ventures, Musk clarified he had no involvement in NASA budget discussions in a post on X last month. GOP LEADERS FIND NEW MAJOR HOLIDAY DEADLINE FOR TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AMID MEDICAID, TAX DIVISIONS The budget blueprint and the funding changes to NASA still have to make their way through the legislative process, but the U.S. space agency has stood fast in its position that the current proposal will bolster innovation and exploration. “We have accomplished the impossible time and time again, but even the best organizations need to take a hard look in the mirror,” Whitley told Fox News Digital. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “For the past 25 years, NASA has had access to billions of dollars to advance human exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit. Despite that, in all that time, the United States has only successfully conducted one—uncrewed—test flight around the Moon,” he said. “We know we are capable of accomplishing much more.”
Lawyer of whistleblower in Trump impeachment case sues administration over revoked security clearance
A lawyer who represented a government whistleblower in a case that led to President Donald Trump’s first impeachment sued the Trump administration on Monday for “unconstitutional retaliation” after his security clearance was revoked. Lawyer Mark Zaid argued that the administration’s decision to pull his clearance in March was in retaliation for representing former Department of Homeland Security intelligence chief Brian Murphy, who was key to Trump’s 2019 impeachment. Murphy filed a whistleblower complaint in 2019 alleging Trump, amid his re-election campaign, pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate then-U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine. The U.S. House of Representatives voted later that year to impeach Trump for abusing the power of his office and obstructing Congress, but he was later acquitted by the Senate. HAKEEM JEFFRIES BLAMES TRUMP FOR NEWARK AIRPORT CHAOS, ACCUSES WHITE HOUSE OF ‘BREAKING THE FAA’ Zaid’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., claims the decision to rescind his security clearance represents a “dangerous, unconstitutional retaliation by the President of the United States against his perceived political enemies” that “eschews any semblance of due process.” The complaint accuses the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedures Act, the First Amendment and parts of the Fifth Amendment. “No American should lose their livelihood, or be blocked as a lawyer from representing clients, because a president carries a grudge toward them or who they represent,” Zaid said in a statement. “This isn’t just about me. It’s about using security clearances as political weapons.” FORMER VP PENCE VOWS TO SPEAK OUT IF PRESIDENT TRUMP VEERS FROM ‘CONSERVATIVE AGENDA’ The lawsuit cites a 2019 incident in which Trump called Zaid a “sleazeball” at a Louisiana rally and told reporters that the lawyer was a “disgrace” who “should be sued.” The move to pull Zaid’s clearance was “a bald-faced attack on a sacred constitutional guarantee: the right to petition the court or federal agencies on behalf of clients,” the lawsuit says, noting that an “attack on this right is especially insidious because it jeopardizes Mr. Zaid’s ability to pursue and represent the rights of others without fear of retribution.” Trump has also revoked clearances of several other political foes, including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his own former national security advisor John Bolton, as well as attorneys at other law firms. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Zaid urged the court to rule that Trump’s revocation decision was unconstitutional and reinstate his clearance. He has had access to classified information since 1995 and a security clearance since 2002. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment. Reuters contributed to this report.
What happens on ‘bad days’: Troubling revelations about John Fetterman and Joe Biden
John Fetterman has always been an eccentric character on a star-crossed path. He is the only United States senator who has adopted a hoodie as his official uniform. He is also the only one who suffered a stroke on the eve of his primary victory, making it difficult for him to speak, but won the general election anyway. And the Pennsylvania Democrat doesn’t toe the line on all party positions, especially when it comes to his fierce support for Israel. AS JUDGE IS CHARGED WITH OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE IN MIGRANT CASE, SPINNERS CAST IT AS AN ANTI-TRUMP STORY But now comes a troubling story in New York Magazine that casts the senator in a much darker light. The New York Times put it this way: Fetterman’s former chief of staff “was so alarmed with his ex-boss’s erratic behavior last year that he wrote a lengthy letter to his doctor warning that the senator was spiraling out of control and that his mental health issues could cost him his life.” The staffer, Adam Jentleson, added in writing Fetterman’s Walter Reed doctor: “I’m worried that if John stays on his current trajectory he won’t be with us for much longer.” Other former staff members told the Times that colleagues were sometimes “frightened” to be in his presence when he was manic, and that his “volatile” behavior has gotten worse since the election. Fetterman issued a statement saying that “my ACTUAL doctors and my family affirmed that I’m very well.” He called the magazine story a “hit piece” and promoted the idea that its author, Ben Terris, was “best friends” with Jentleson and that they “sourced anonymous, disgruntled staffers with lies or distorted half-truths.” Terris, for his part, disclosed in the article that Adam Jentleson is a “personal friend.” So it wasn’t a state secret. Jentleson wrote to the medical director who supervised Fetterman’s hospitalization for mental health problems in 2023: “He does not see his doctors. I am not sure when he last saw a cardiologist, but I don’t think he’s seen one since he was released. He long ago ordered us to stop putting regular drop-bys with Dr. Monahan on his schedule, despite the fact that he had agreed to those as part of the plan.” Brian Monahan is the Capitol and Supreme Court physician. Fetterman was the first Democratic senator to visit Trump, who carried Pennsylvania and the other swing states, at Mar-a-Lago. STATE OF WAR: HOW TRUMP IS FIGHTING A 9-FRONT BATTLE Jentleson wrote another doctor: “We do not know if he is taking his meds, and his behavior frequently suggests he is not.” Among other things, wrote Jentleson, his ex-boss drives recklessly and recently bought a gun. There are “high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room.” Joe Biden, who does his first post-White House interview today, with his wife on “The View,” is a whole other story. His problem was not depression but making other Democrats depressed when he insisted on running for a second term. We now know how his wife and his staff protected him from the press and even his own staff to avoid revealing his mental decline. And that blew up on them in the horrible debate with Trump. Ron Klain has gone on the record with his frustration that his longtime boss walked out on one prep session and fell asleep by the pool. Now comes a new revelation in a forthcoming book by Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post. The Times writes, citing the book, that “his top White House aides debated having him undergo a cognitive test to prove his fitness for a second term” in the early weeks of 2024. Here was the dilemma, according to “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” And that’s an accurate title. Biden’s closest aides “worried that the mere fact of his taking one would raise new questions about his mental abilities.” SENATOR’S WARNING FOR DISTRICT JUDGES AS SUPREME COURT SET TO HEAR LANDMARK CASE Which is precisely what would have happened. Rather than persuading the former president not to run, they wouldn’t even let him do a soft-focus Super Bowl interview. During this period in 2022, the Times published an interview with David Axelrod, the former Obama White House official turned CNN commentator. Axelrod said Biden “looks his age”–then 79–and added: “The stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.” Axelrod angrily called Klain, then the chief of staff, to ask why he was fueling doubts about a Democratic president. “There’s no Obama out there, Axe,” Klain told him, according to the book. “Who’s going to do it if he doesn’t do it?” This was also around the time that special counsel Robert Hur, declining to prosecute Biden on the classified documents he voluntarily turned over, called the president “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That seems incredibly mild now. Biden held a news conference to declare his memory was fine, but referred to the president of Egypt as the president of Mexico. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Talk about good days and bad days. Everyone has bad days, but it has national and international resonance when it involves a senator or a president. None of this should be used to stigmatize those with mental health or mental acuity problems. But there are red flags here that deepen our understanding of what’s really happening.
Linda McMahon blasts Harvard in scathing letter telling elite university it will no longer get federal grants
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent a scathing letter to Harvard University President Alan Garber on Monday, not only blasting the Massachusetts Ivy League school’s handling of antisemitism on campus but also advising school officials to refrain from applying for future federal grants because they will not “be provided.” In her no-holds-barred letter, McMahon told Garber that the federal government has a “sacred responsibility” to be an important steward of American taxpayer funds, adding that the school has amassed a largely tax-free $53.2 billion endowment and receives billions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year. “Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right,” she wrote. “Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?” She also said the university has “made a mockery” of the higher education system in the U.S., inviting foreign students to its campuses who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the U.S. TRUMP SAYS HE’LL REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS McMahon slammed the school for adopting an “embarrassing” remedial math program for undergraduates, questioning why a school that’s so difficult to get admitted to has to teach low-level mathematics. She called Harvard out for being embroiled in plagiarism scandals and lambasted the school for allowing Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review to engage in “ugly racism.” McMahon blasted Harvard for hiring former Mayors Bill de Blasio of New York City and Lori Lightfoot of Chicago to teach “leadership” at its School of Public Health. “This is like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation to future captains of the sea,” she said. IVY LEAGUE SUICIDES, PRINCETON’S 8TH STUDENT DEATH IN 4 YEARS EXPOSE CRISIS AT ELITE SCHOOLS “The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard’s consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided,” McMahon later wrote. “Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni. “You have an approximately $53 billion head start, much of which was made possible by the fact that you are living within the walls of, and benefiting from, the prosperity secured by the United States of America and its free-market system you teach your students to despise,” she added. In closing, McMahon reminded Garber that the Trump administration had been willing to maintain federal funding to Harvard as long as the school complied with federal law to protect and promote student welfare and stop racial preferencing. HARVARD PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR FAILURE TO ADDRESS ANTISEMITISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA AFTER NEW REPORTS RELEASED “The proposed common-sense reforms – which the Administration remains committed to – include a return to merit-based admissions and hiring, an end to unlawful programs that promote crude identity stereotypes, disciplinary reform and consistent accountability, including for student groups, cooperation with Law Enforcement, and reporting compliance with the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, and other Federal Agencies,” McMahon said. “The Administration’s priorities have not changed, and today’s letter marks the end of new grants for the university.” Harvard confirmed to Fox News Digital that it received a letter from the administration on Monday. “Today, we received another letter from the administration doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education,” a Harvard spokesperson said. “Today’s letter makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21. “Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community. Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure,” the spokesperson continued. TRUMP BRANDS HARVARD ‘ANTISEMITIC’ AND A ‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’ DURING FUNDING BATTLE McMahon’s letter comes just days after President Donald Trump declared that his administration was going to be taking away Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Trump made the announcement after Fox News reported that his administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. The Ivy League school’s failure to address antisemitism on campus is grounds for losing its 501(c)(3) status, sources said at the time. Trump argued in mid-April that Harvard had “lost its way” and didn’t deserve federal funding. “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.” Harvard has become a target of Trump’s broader crackdown on universities, much of which is in response to last year’s anti-Israel unrest that erupted on campuses across the country. On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter to Garber and Harvard Corporation Lead Member Penny Pritzker outlining the institution’s failures and a list of demands from the White House. In the letter, the administration accused Harvard of failing to uphold civil rights laws and to foster an “environment that produces intellectual creativity.” The Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership as well as its hiring and admissions practices by August 2025. The letter emphasized the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid
Trump admin continues Biden defense of abortion drug mifepristone, asks court to dismiss lawsuit
The Trump administration is asking a federal judge in Texas to dismiss a case that aims to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone. The request continues the Biden administration’s position in defense of the drug: that Texas isn’t the proper venue for the lawsuit. In a Justice Department court filing, the Trump administration said Idaho, Missouri and Kansas have no ties to Texas, where the lawsuit was filed, arguing they lack standing in the suit against the Food and Drug Administration over its rules over the pills, which are available online and by mail. MAJOR DRUG STORES START SELLING ABORTION PILL SOME SAY IS ‘DANGEROUS’ FOR WOMEN AHEAD OF LANDMARK SCOTUS CASE “Aside from this litigation, the States do not dispute that their claims have no connection to the Northern District of Texas,” the DOJ wrote. “The states cannot keep alive a lawsuit in which the original plaintiffs were held to lack standing, those plaintiffs have now voluntarily dismissed their claims, and the States’ own claims have no connection to this District.” The three Republican-led states are challenging FDA actions that loosened restrictions on the drug in 2016 and 2021, including allowing for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in-person, Reuters reported. ABORTION PILL USE HAS SPIKED IN RECENT YEARS, NEW REPORT REVEALS: ‘SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE’ A lower court previously rebuffed a request to reverse FDA approval of mifepristone. “The States are free to pursue their claims in a District where venue is proper,” the federal attorneys said. But the brief pointed to weaknesses in the states’ argument beyond standing, noting, for instance, that their challenge to the FDA’s 2016 action allowing the pills to be used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy rather than the previous seven is outside the statute of limitations. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Last year, the Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion doctors and medical associations after the justices ruled the plaintiffs could not show they had been personally harmed by the federal government’s regulation of the pill. The Trump administration also argued for the dismissal, saying the states’ challenge to FDA’s 2016 actions is outside the six-year statute of limitations. Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.