Alleged attempt to impersonate White House chief of staff under federal investigation
Federal authorities are probing a scheme to impersonate White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, according to individuals familiar with the issue, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated,” a White House official noted. Senators, governors, American business executives and other people have gotten texts and calls from an individual claiming to be Wiles, individuals familiar with the messages noted, according to the outlet. WHO IS SUSIE WILES, TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF? 5 THINGS TO KNOW FBI officials informed the White House that they do not think another country is involved, some of the people noted, according to the report. Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for comment on Friday morning, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. TRUMP CHIEF OF STAFF SUSIE WILES ONCE HELPED NFL BROADCAST LEGEND FATHER PAT SUMMERALL BEAT ALCOHOLISM “The FBI takes all threats against the president, his staff, and our cybersecurity with the utmost seriousness,” FBI Director Kash Patel declared in a statement, according to the Journal. “Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority.” The chief of staff informed associates that her phone contacts had been hacked, according to some of the people, the Journal reported. The phone is her personal device, not a government phone, the individuals noted, according to the outlet. Some calls involved a voice which sounded like the chief of staff, individuals who heard them noted, according to the report. Government officials believe the impostor utilized artificial intelligence to mimic her voice, some of the individuals noted. TRUMP NAMES SUSIE WILES AS FIRST FEMALE WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF IN HISTORY CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In some cases involving texts, individuals got requests which they at first thought were official, according to the outlet, which noted that one legislator received a request to develop a list of people who could be pardoned by Trump. But it became evident to some legislators that the asks were suspect when the impostor started posing questions about the president, for which Wiles should have been privy to the answers — and in one instance, when the impostor requested a cash transfer, some of the people noted, according to the outlet. In many instances, the impostor used broken grammar and the messages were too formal compared to how Wiles normally communicates, individuals who received the messages noted, according to the outlet. The calls and texts did not emanate from Wiles’s phone number, according to the report.
Since Floyd riots culled monuments 5 years ago, leaders in ex-Confederate capital lament ‘s—t didn’t change’
Fragments of toppled Civil War monuments still lie in a lot beside Interstate 95, near the Richmond Wastewater Treatment Plant—just a stone’s throw from the iconic “Marlboro Cigarette” in South Richmond, the onetime capital of the Confederacy. While Richmond’s tobacco-trading past remains symbolized by that roadside oddity at the Philip Morris plant, it and other cities across the south took swift action to erase reminders of the Civil War and slavery. A report Thursday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch looked back at what has, or moreso hasn’t, transpired as those who had sought the culling of the monuments had hoped in the heat of the George Floyd riots of five years ago this week. Virginia State Del. Mike Jones, D-Richmond, a reported opponent of the monuments, told the paper that “s—t didn’t change when they came down,” and that “real progress” was what was sought in erasing the South’s pro-slavery and secessionist past. DC TO BEGIN RECONSTRUCTING BLM PLAZA “As abhorrent as [they] are, give me life, give me real justice. You can keep your monuments.” Jones told the paper. One statue did find a new home, as Davis is now on display at the city’s Valentine Museum. It still has paint marks on it from when it was besieged by protesters in 2020. Jones told the paper that gun violence and education-related issues still plague minority communities and also took a swipe at President Donald Trump in regard to the lack of change since the Floyd riots and monumental upheaval. VA GOVERNMENT GRINDS TO A HALT AS HOSPITALS, RESIDENTS HIT BY COLOSSAL WATER PLANT FAILURE “We didn’t really get the monuments because the spirit of [them] is in the White House right now,” he told the Times-Dispatch. While monuments have either been toppled by protesters or removed by municipalities across the South, Richmond – as expected due to its past as the C.S.A. capital – had many in prominent places. The city’s tree-lined Monument Avenue was reduced to a series of traffic circles around unremarkable granite pedestals after the removal of effigies of Gens. Robert E. Lee, James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, President Jefferson Davis, and local scientist-turned-Confederate Naval officer Matthew Maury. Then-Gov. Ralph Northam’s efforts to remove the last of the monuments, Lee’s, were briefly blocked by a court – as it was originally constructed through private donations and the help of then-Democratic Gov. Fitzhugh Lee; the general’s nephew. While efforts to rename Robert E. Lee Bridge on U.S. 301 – the major pre-I-95 crossing of the James River – have appeared to stall, signage that once greeted travelers bound for Petersburg is now muted. Fox News Digital reached out to lieutenant governor candidate Levar Stoney—who, as Richmond’s mayor, led the effort to remove the monuments—for comment on reports that the removal has brought little meaningful change. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP During his mayorship, Stoney said in a video statement that protesters attempted to take down monuments themselves while the coronavirus raged, and that in response to the risk of “serious illness, injury or death.” “It is past time, as the capital city of Virginia, we have needed to turn this page for decades,” Stoney said, adding the city and “residents of color” had been “burdened” by its historical role as CSA capital. Fox News Digital also reached out to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, as well as Republicans in the greater Richmond area, for their response to the current sentiments, but did not hear back by press time. One Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the situation shows the focus should have been, and should be, on directly addressing crime and pressing issues like the city’s water shortage crisis, which reemerged this week after Richmond and even the State Capitol were stopped in their tracks due to a catastrophic utility failure earlier this year.
New book exposes Biden’s ‘scripted’ Cabinet meetings amid alleged cognitive decline cover-up
Former President Joe Biden‘s Cabinet meetings were overly “scripted,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson reveal in their book, “Original Sin,” an outline of Biden’s cognitive decline and his administration’s alleged cover-up. “The Cabinet meetings were terrible and at times uncomfortable – and they were from the beginning,” a Cabinet member told the authors. “I don’t recall a great Cabinet meeting in terms of his presence. They were so scripted.” The White House’s speechwriters shortened Biden’s remarks and shrank his vocabulary to adapt to “Biden’s diminished capabilities,” according to Tapper and Thompson. During his one-term presidency, Biden’s aides told the journalists that he became increasingly reliant on teleprompters and note cards, even for private conversations and in Cabinet meetings. Four Cabinet members who spoke with Tapper and Thompson described Biden’s meetings as overly scripted. One Cabinet secretary said he hated “the scripts” for Cabinet meetings, while another doubted in 2022 that he could run for re-election. CREDIBILITY CRISIS: WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS SPEAK OUT ON WHETHER BIDEN’S MENTAL DECLINE WAS DELIBERATELY HIDDEN “You want people to tell you the truth and have a real dialogue, and those meetings were not that,” a Cabinet member told Tapper and Thompson. NEW BOOK REVEALS BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE WORRIED ABOUT HIS AGE YEARS BEFORE BOTCHED DEBATE PERFORMANCE However, as Biden’s bad speeches and reliance on note cards became common practice, a speechwriter told Tapper and Thompson that over time, “they just got used to it.” The story behind closed doors was inconsistent with the White House’s narrative, according to “Original Sin.” In January 2024, the White House convened a meeting with Biden, his national security advisers and congressional leadership to urge Congress to continue financially supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries described Biden as “incredibly strong, forceful, and decisive,” and the official White House readout said Biden was “clear” about protecting national security and “underscored the importance of Congress ensuring Ukraine has the resources it needs.” However, a House Democrat who attended the meeting said, “That’s not true,” Tapper and Thompson wrote. A second House Democrat described the meeting as a “disaster,” and a “s—show.” “For the first twenty minutes of the meeting, the president listlessly read bullet points out of a binder. For many at the table, he was difficult to hear. He stumbled over words; he started sentences and then stopped abruptly; he trailed off,” Tapper and Thompson said. A House Democrat said he was “not capable of making a strong, forceful argument,” and deferred to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Intelligence Director Avril Haines to answer questions, as outlined in “Original Sin.” Tapper and Thompson described a concerning event for senior administration officials on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. After reading a “weak, slurry” speech from a teleprompter, Biden confused Alabama with Texas and then his own Cabinet members, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “I blame his inner circle, and I blame him,” an official who found the event “crazy” told the authors a year later. As Cabinet members observed concerning practices that accompanied Biden’s day-to-day meetings, Tapper and Thompson described how the president’s circle grew smaller and smaller in 2023 and 2024. “Access dropped off considerably in 2024, and I didn’t interact with him as much,” a Cabinet secretary told the authors. “I didn’t get an explanation.” The Cabinet secretary said they briefed senior White House aides who would then communicate the information to the president themselves. They questioned if it was the White House’s way of filtering information to shape his decisions. “I think the people around him had their own agenda, and they didn’t want more people around him,” another Cabinet member told Tapper and Thompson. The Cabinet members who spoke to Tapper and Thompson described a “weird period” when they didn’t have any access to Biden for months between 2023 and 2024. They described it as a “deliberate strategy by the White House to have him meet with as few people as necessary.” When they did see him, they said they were shocked at how “disoriented” and “out of it” he seemed, mumbling and “not making much sense.” Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden’s cognitive decline and his inner circle’s alleged role in covering it up. A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Move over, Black Hawk: Army unveils the MV-75, tiltrotor aircraft to replace iconic assault chopper
The U.S. Army is preparing to retire its iconic Black Hawk helicopters — the workhorses of its air assault fleet for nearly five decades — in favor of a faster, more versatile aircraft built for the challenges of 21st-century warfare. Bell Aircraft’s V-280 Valor, a cutting-edge tiltrotor aircraft, has been selected to begin phasing out the Black Hawk by the 2030s. Once fully deployed, it will be designated the MV-75, though a common nickname has yet to emerge. The Valor combines the vertical lift capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing airplane, cruising at 320 mph — nearly double the Black Hawk’s top speed of 175 mph. This hybrid design, enabled by tiltrotor technology, allows the MV-75 to hover, land vertically in tight spaces, and then shift into high-speed horizontal flight. It’s tailor-made for operations in the Indo-Pacific region, where U.S. forces must be able to travel long distances over the ocean and conduct rapid insertions into constrained environments, such as jungle clearings or island terrain without runways. Fox News Digital recently took a tour of Bell’s Advanced Vertical Lift Center in Crystal City, Virginia. BILLIONS SPENT, WARFIGHTERS WAIT: INSIDE THE PENTAGON’S BROKEN BUYING SYSTEM AND THE PLAN TO FIX IT “The Army recognized that the battlefield has changed,” Rob Freeland, Bell’s director of government relations and public affairs, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The enemy now has long-range fires, advanced sensors, and robust networks. You have to move faster and strike before they do.” Speed and range are at the heart of this transformation. As Freeland put it: “If you can move at twice the speed and range of your adversary, you can change the outcome before they can react.” The MV-75 is designed to carry up to 14 troops and haul payloads of 10,000 pounds, making it ideal for rapid troop deployments, heavy resupply and surprise assault missions. It will also feature autonomous and semi-autonomous capabilities, a leap forward in reducing pilot workload and enabling future unmanned operations. The V-280 Valor beat out a proposed joint Sikorsky-Boeing compound helicopter platform dubbed the SB-1 Defiant-X in 2019 for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The Army has contracted Texas-based aerospace company Bell to build six prototypes, conduct the first test flight by 2026 and begin full-scale production by 2028, with delivery targeted for 2030. However, leadership has expressed interest in accelerating that schedule under the Army Transformation Initiative. “We’re not waiting for a distant out-year to make this thing real,” said Gen. James Mingus, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, speaking at the Mission Solutions Summit earlier this month. “We are driving to get this aircraft online years ahead of schedule.” HEGSETH ORDERS SWEEPING ARMY OVERHAUL AND CONSOLIDATION AIMED AT COUNTERING CHINA AND GOLDEN DOME CAPABILITIES The “MV” designation reflects the aircraft’s multi-mission and vertical takeoff capabilities. It’s built for a broad range of missions, including air assault, maritime interdiction, medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), combat search and rescue, and tactical resupply. The first unit to receive the MV-75 will be the 101st Airborne Division, the Army’s elite air assault force. One of the Army’s priorities in selecting a replacement was reliability. After years of dealing with aging helicopters requiring frequent maintenance, the Army is demanding aircraft that can stay in the fight with minimal downtime. “Because it’s inherently reliable, you don’t need a mountain of gear next to you just to keep the aircraft flying,” said Freeland. The MV-75 program is part of a broader Pentagon push to modernize U.S. military capabilities in an era defined by strategic competition with China. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Since entering service in the late 1970s, the UH-60 Black Hawk has been the backbone of Army aviation. It has flown in nearly every major U.S. military operation over the past 40 years, from evacuating wounded troops in Grenada and Panama, to supporting combat and logistics missions in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Black Hawk was infamously involved in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, and became a household name through its depiction in the 1999 book and 2001 movie “Black Hawk Down.” Its versatility, durability and ability to perform under fire made it a symbol of American air power — but after decades of use, its replacement will need to adapt to the evolving battlefield.
SCOOP: Top congressional committees launch probe into Nashville mayor accused of blocking ICE
FIRST ON FOX: Two powerful committees in the House of Representatives are opening an investigation into another Democratic official accused of blocking federal immigration authorities. House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., is leading a probe into Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell alongside Nashville-area Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn, Fox News Digital learned Friday. Ogles had been petitioning leaders for weeks to look into O’Connell after the Democratic leader publicly denounced Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in his city and signed an executive order aimed at tracking ICE movements in the area. The probe is being supported by the House Judiciary Committee, which is led by Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., chair of the subcommittee for immigration enforcement. SCOOP: HOUSE GOP MEMO HIGHLIGHTS REPUBLICAN WINS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ “The Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Homeland Security of the U.S. House of Representatives are conducting oversight of state and local jurisdictions that endanger American communities through efforts aimed at thwarting the work of federal immigration officials,” the four leaders wrote in a letter to O’Connell. “While the state of Tennessee has outlawed sanctuary policies, recent actions from your office threaten to chill immigration enforcement in the City of Nashville and Davidson County. Accordingly, we write to request information about how your recent actions, including a directive to Nashville and Davidson County employees to disclose their communications with federal immigration officials, affects the robust enforcement of immigration law.” The lawmakers said O’Connell’s executive order, which mandated that government employees report interactions with federal immigration authorities, “could have a chilling effect on the ability of local law enforcement to communicate freely and candidly with federal immigration employees.” “In fact, your chief lawyer recently admitted that it was an ‘open question’ whether an individual could legally ‘announce in advance that there’s an impending enforcement activity,’” they wrote. MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE “This statement, when viewed in context of your order requiring all Metro law-enforcement officers to report about communications with ICE personnel, raises the prospect that Metro employees may use nonpublic information to warn criminal aliens of planned ICE enforcement operations. In other words, there is the real potential that your Executive Order could have the effect of diminishing ICE enforcement operations.” It comes after ICE agents working with the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested nearly 200 people the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said were illegal immigrants – many of them criminals with gang affiliations or other sordid pasts. The DHS news release targeted O’Connell by name over comments he made in early May. “What’s clear today is that people who do not share our values of safety and community have the authority to cause deep community harm.” MCCAUL TOUTS MONEY IN TRUMP TAX BILL TO PAY TEXAS BACK FOR FIGHTING BIDEN BORDER POLICIES After the arrests, O’Connell signed an executive order aimed at tracking peoples’ interactions with federal immigration authorities, according to WSMV4. He said of ICE’s work in his city, “It’s important for us to get this right, and it’s very frustrating to see a failure in the process.” O’Connell also helped launch the Nashville government’s nonprofit, “The Belonging Fund,” to help illegal immigrants pay for urgent care needs. The fund’s website states that “donations to the fund are made possible solely by individual donors and private organizations – no government dollars are included. That means no taxpayer dollars are being used in the administration or distribution of this fund.” Republicans, however, have questioned whether that is true. “The recipients of these funds are untraceable, and the purpose seems crystal clear: help illegal foreigners evade the law,” Ogles told Fox News Digital. “I refuse to sit back while our communities are overrun — while our neighborhoods are destroyed and our daughters are assaulted. And I doubly refuse to stay silent while blue city mayors aid and abet this invasion.” O’Connell is now one of several Democratic leaders locked in an immigration fight with the Trump administration. House Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was charged by the Justice Department with assaulting an officer after she and two other House Democrats forced their way into a Newark ICE detention center, charges McIver has dismissed as political. Fox News Digital reached out to the Nashville mayor’s office for comment on the letter.
Obamas seen together for 1st time in 6 months as analyst sees ‘no love lost’ amid divorce murmurs
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were seen in public for the first time in six months, via new photos captured by BackGrid outside the Lowell Hotel & Restaurant in Lenox Hill, Manhattan. While Michelle Obama has refuted rumors of a separation amid solo appearances by the former president, the Lowell sighting was the first for the 44th first family since December 2024. Guarded by the Secret Service, the Obamas stepped out into a car but with markedly different expressions and body language, an observation seconded by The Human Behavior Lab President Susan Constantine. “Definitely a completely different [public] appearance than we’ve seen in the past,” Constantine told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday interview. MICHELLE OBAMA SLAMS DIVORCE RUMORS DURING PODCAST INTERVIEW As someone who has observed and analyzed the Obamas for many years, Constantine said their body language was concerning when it comes to the relationship rumors. “When I’m looking at the photos, the distance between the two; with the two Secret Servicemen in between them [it] is showing that there’s literally a separation,” she said. “Almost like the two [USSS officers] inside are drawing a line between President and Missus Obama.” “She’s out front-and-center and very joyful; very empowered; a real pep in her step,” Constantine added. “She’s feeling quite confident in wherever she is at in her headspace, but you wouldn’t even think the two of them are together.” Constantine remarked that the former president looked more like a Secret Service agent guarding Michelle Obama than her husband. The former president appeared distraught, distracted and distant, she added. MICHELLE OBAMA SKIPS TRUMP INAUGURATION AS BARACK ARRIVES SOLO “You can see the stress in his face.” While the two appear different on the surface, there are clues that the two are indeed a longtime couple. In several photos, the Obamas appear to have the same gait, and their heels lift off the ground in incidental tandem, the body language expert continued. “That’s typical of being somebody who has been with you for a long time.” However, as the rumors swirl, the body language seen may beget some of that conjecture. “There is definitely something emotional – something internal between the two of them that is going on… He’s a shadow in her path.” “It’s sad to see that – she is putting him through the ringer – there is certainly something serious going on in their relationship – I can say that with professional certainty.” Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for the Obamas for comment. Michelle Obama was noticeably absent from recent public events with her husband – including former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Executive branch couples from President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump back to former Vice President Dan Quayle and former second lady Marilyn Quayle were in attendance. The only such dignitary without a mate was Obama – who spent much of the time instead of joshing with his otherwise political foe: Trump. The former president was his jovial self as seen in the pool feed of that event. The Obamas have been married for 32 years, but the former first lady has spoken about the tribulations of her marriage, including on her “IMO” podcast that she co-hosts with brother and former New York Knicks/Milwaukee Bucks Vice President Craig Robinson.
WATCH: US intel’s take on TdA gang misses mark on ties to Maduro regime, ex-Venezuela army officer says
A former high-ranking officer in the Venezuelan military is contesting a recent report by the U.S. intelligence community about the massive Tren de Aragua gang present throughout the country. Jose Arocha, who is a former lieutenant colonel in the Venezuelan military, told Fox News Digital that the recent intel community report denying Tren de Aragua is linked to the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is missing a key aspect: the socialist regime’s animosity towards the United States and penchant for asymmetric warfare. Tren de Aragua, also known simply as TdA, is a violent Venezuelan gang that has been terrorizing U.S. cities over the last several years. The group is linked to high-profile murders such as the killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the seizure of an entire apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. As one of his first moves back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump directed the State Department to designate TdA a “foreign terrorist organization.” SUPREME COURT ALLOWS TRUMP ADMIN TO MOVE ON ENDING LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR SOME VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS Speaking with Fox News Digital via Zoom, Arocha, a national security expert at the Center for a Secure Free Society, said he agrees with the Trump administration’s moves against Tren de Aragua, which he believes is an “asymmetrical warfare” tool of the Maduro regime to sow discord in the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere. “The Maduro regime doesn’t need to send troops to the USA. It sends criminals instead,” he said. “TdA is a plug-and-play insurgency – assembled in prison, deployed abroad.” Arocha’s statements, however, contrast with a new public memo released by U.S. intelligence agencies last month that denied any solid connection between the Maduro government in Caracas and the gang. “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 report says that the intelligence community based its conclusion “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.” Arocha, meanwhile, said that “the missing point here is that the intelligence report is too narrow a lens about the TdA.” “It’s about crime and migration, but they’re missing the warfare dimension,” he said. “They are missing that for the Maduro regime, the United States is the enemy, has been the enemy for years.” VIOLENT VENEZUELAN GANG EXPLOITS TECHNOLOGY TO TURBOCHARGE ITS DOMINANCE: EXPERTS “The TdA is not a gang,” he went on. “It’s the enabler arm of the Venezuelan regime in the hybrid warfare strategy, the asymmetrical tour of war. That’s the missing point. And that is the point that explains how a local gang is right now in more than 10 countries, including the United States. That’s incredible, and that is not possible without a state sponsor behind them.” While the report points to law enforcement actions the Maduro government has taken against TdA, Arocha explained that in reality Venezuelan prisons, including the “Tocorón” prison where the gang started, are more like resort hotels. “Tocorón, [which] they said is the epicenter of the crime in Venezuela, it wasn’t a prison, it was a palace for organized crime. Full equipment, we have a zoo, nightclubs and even a pool for the prisoners there,” he said. Arocha also posited that the 2023 raid the Venezuelan government conducted on Tocorón “appears choreographed” and that key TdA leadership was able to escape through pre-made tunnels. “While the regime gained optics of cracking down on crime, TdA’s mobility remained intact,” Arocha told Fox News Digital. 11 ALLEGED TEEN TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS ATTACK NYPD OFFICERS: POLICE The intel report admitted that the escaped TdA members were “possibly assisted by low-level Venezuelan military and political leaders.” But to Arocha, the connection goes straight to the top. He pointed to the kidnapping and murder of Venezuelan political dissident Ronald Ojeda in Chile, which, according to Reuters, is being investigated by the Chilean government as a possible Tren de Aragua operation sponsored by the Maduro government. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Reuters reported in March that Chilean Attorney General Angel Valencia said that Ojeda’s murder “doesn’t have the characteristics of a normal crime” and “all the evidence we have at this state of the investigation lets us conclude that a cell or group linked to the Tren de Aragua that was politically motivated that originated from an order of a political nature.” The outlet also reported that the Venezuelan government denied the accusations as baseless. Arocha further pointed to former Maduro Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who has alleged ties to Hamas and Hezbollah, as evidence that the Venezuelan government is embedded with America’s worst enemies. VENEZUELAN ILLEGAL ALIEN, ALLEGED TREN DE ARAGUA LEADER IN CALIFORNIA, ARRESTED ON IMMIGRATION CHARGES El Aissami was arrested on corruption charges and is currently in prison. “He has a strong influence with Iran and China and Russia, too. Right now, he’s in prison, which means that he’s living in the palace in prison,” Arocha remarked, smiling. “The Venezuelan regime is a proxy of Russia, China and Iran, especially China right now,” he went on. “They use Venezuela [to] create chaos in Latin America especially … not confronting directly the United States, but indirectly, using criminals, using disinformation, using every single tool they have.” In response, Arocha urged the Trump administration to continue to take a whole-of-government approach in combating TdA. He urged the administration to “increase our scope” by reaching out to Latin American countries with experience with TdA, such as the Chilean government. “They have a knowledge right now about the TdA. We have to understand what they’ve learned about, and we have to put all the pieces together to have the big
Dem county executive dings Trump admin over sanctuary jurisdiction designation
In a statement responding to the inclusion of Montgomery County Maryland on a list of sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S., County Executive Marc Elrich accused the Trump administration of seeking to criminalize immigrants and “create fear.” President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for a list of sanctuary jurisdictions. DHS issued the list on Thursday, the department noted in a post on X. “We are not in violation of federal law, and we will not be making changes based on political headlines. Montgomery County has always cooperated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cases involving violent crimes, serious felonies, and threats to public safety. That has been and remains our policy,” Elrich said in his statement. LEADERSHIP SHAKE-UP COMING AT ICE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS, SOURCES SAY “This designation, like many other actions taken by this administration, is about criminalizing immigrants, not protecting public safety. We will not be complicit in efforts to stigmatize or target our immigrant communities,” the Democrat declared. “These types of announcements are designed to create fear. But we do not govern by fear in Montgomery County. We govern by the law and by our values.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of an MS-13 member in a press release earlier this month, noting multiple instances of the Montgomery County Detention Center failing to honor immigration detainers for the individual over the years, including just last month. “The Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville convicted Amaya of attempted motor vehicle theft April 4, and sentenced him to three years of confinement with two years, five months and 11 days suspended,” the release noted of Salvadoran national Nelson Vladimir Amaya-Benitez. “On April 18, the Montgomery County Detention Center again declined to honor ICE’s immigration detainer and released Amaya from custody.” POLK COUNTY SHERIFF GRADY JUDD NAMES OBSTACLES IN DETAINING MIGRANTS UNDER TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation Director Ben Stevenson acknowledged the “error.” “This individual met the criteria we use to notify and coordinate with ICE due to a prior felony conviction and validated gang membership in the DOCR records. We failed to make this notification. We take full responsibility for this error,” he said in a statement. “Montgomery County has stated consistently that we cooperate with ICE in cases involving individuals convicted of violent crimes, verified gang members, drug distributors & traffickers and other felony convictions. That policy remains in place.” TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SETS NEW GOAL OF 3,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS DAILY CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Elrich said during a media briefing that “we goofed on our part. We did not make a policy decision to let this person go.” The Trump administration has been aiming to crackdown on illegal immigration and is seeking to remove many individuals from the country after massive numbers of people flowed across the U.S. border during President Joe Biden’s administration.
Harvard DHS lawsuit revives Supreme Court conflict of interest questions
Harvard University’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for moving to ban foreign students at the Ivy League school could be on a fast track to the Supreme Court, reviving a longstanding debate over when justices should recuse themselves from cases. Four Supreme Court justices attended Harvard. While being an alumnus of a university involved in litigation does not typically warrant recusal from a case, other factors, such as deeper involvement with a school, could change matters. Professor James Sample, a constitutional law professor at Hofstra University, told Fox News Digital recusals from every case involving universities justices attended or were linked to would be “untenable,” but recusals could be appropriate in certain circumstances. A recusal is “entirely subjectively applied by the justice in his or her own case, and, rightly or wrongly — and I’m among those who have criticized the practice — the practice on the Supreme Court is that only the justice in his or her own case, and no one else, makes that determination,” Sample said. JUDGE TEMPORARILY PAUSES TRUMP MOVE TO CANCEL HARVARD STUDENT VISA POLICY AFTER LAWSUIT Justices Neil Gorsuch and Elena Kagan attended Harvard Law School. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson attended Harvard for both their undergraduate and law degrees. Kagan served as dean of Harvard Law School. Ed Whelan, a legal scholar who clerked for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, told Fox News Digital the fact that a justice “went to Harvard or loved University of Alabama football is never going to be a reason for recusal.” Jackson’s ties to Harvard run perhaps the deepest though. The justice, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, served a six-year term on the Harvard Board of Overseers through 2022, and one of her daughters is a student there and preparing to graduate next year. Whether Jackson should recuse herself from Harvard litigation that comes before the high court can, “legally speaking,” only be determined by her, Sample said, pointing to the open-ended language in the statute governing judicial recusal. TRUMP ADMIN ASKING FEDERAL AGENCIES TO CANCEL REMAINING HARVARD CONTRACTS Harvard’s latest lawsuit, filed Friday in Massachusetts, alleges the Trump administration’s decision to ban international students at Harvard by stripping them of their visas is unconstitutional. Harvard’s attorneys made an emergency request for a restraining order, and Judge Allison Dale Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, granted the order within hours. The order brought the DHS’s visa operation against Harvard to a temporary halt and opened the door for the government to turn to higher courts for relief, meaning it could be on an expedited path to the Supreme Court. In 2023, Jackson recused herself from Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, a landmark affirmative action case, while the three other justices affiliated with Harvard did not. Some legal experts have said that in that instance it was necessary for Jackson to recuse because her tenure on the board, a governing body at the university, was current when the case hit the high court’s docket. But Harvard’s new cases could be a different story. “The specificity of the particular nexus that connects the justice to the specific interest at stake in litigation, as that gets more specific, as that nexus gets closer and closer, the potential for an appearance of conflict increases,” Sample told Fox News Digital. TRUMP SAYS HARVARD’S FOREIGN STUDENTS ARE FROM COUNTRIES PAYING ‘NOTHING’ FOR THEIR EDUCATION Harvard’s visa case is one of two lawsuits the school has brought against the Trump administration this year. In the second, brought in April, Harvard alleged the Trump administration improperly froze grant money and contracts totaling more than $2 billion. That case is moving at a slower pace than the visa lawsuit. Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s decision to recuse herslef in an unrelated case recently made headlines after the high court issued a deadlocked decision, 4-4, leaving in place a block on the creation of a religious charter school in Oklahoma. If Barrett had weighed in, the case could have had the far-reaching effect of allowing or banning public funding for religious schools across the country. Barrett did not explain why she recused herself, and judges are not required to. The Associated Press reported that the justice is close friends with law professor Nicole Garnett, who was connected to the case. Last week, because of recusals, the Supreme Court declined to take up Baker v. Coates, a copyright case involving plagiarism allegations against activist Ta-Nehisi Coates. The high court noted in an order list that five justices opted not to take part in the case and that it therefore lacked a quorum to consider it. The nonpartisan group Fix the Court speculated that four of the five recused themselves because they had published or plan to publish books with Penguin Random House, whose parent company was named in the suit. Democrats repeatedly urged conservative Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from Trump’s 2020 election subversion case because of Thomas’ wife’s work attempting to reverse the results of the election in favor of Trump, but the justice ignored those calls. Gorsuch attended Columbia University, another school under fire from the Trump administration and involved in litigation, but he likely would not step away from cases brought by the school solely because he went there.
President Trump teases ‘last day, but not really’ for Elon Musk at DOGE: Oval Office presser set for Friday
Elon Musk is finishing his official role in the Trump administration, but if President Trump’s latest Truth Social post is any indication, the billionaire isn’t going far. “I am having a Press Conference tomorrow at 1:30 P.M. EST, with Elon Musk, at the Oval Office,” Trump posted Thursday. “This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific!” Musk’s government service will end May 30, the legal 130-day limit for his “special government employee” designation. He was appointed in January to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created by executive order on Inauguration Day. WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’ “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk posted on X Wednesday. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized Thursday “the DOGE leaders are each and every member of the President’s Cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government.” And the cuts are adding up. According to a May 26 update on DOGE’s website, the initiative has saved $175 billion through asset sales, contract cancellations, fraud payment crackdowns and other spending cuts. That translates to about $1,087 in savings per taxpayer. ELON MUSK DOES NOT REGRET WORK AT DOGE, SUPPORT FOR TRUMP: ‘ESSENTIAL’ FOR AMERICA TO ‘REACH GREATER HEIGHTS’ DOGE’s reach has extended across the federal government, but not without pushback. Democrats in Congress have sharply criticized Musk’s role. During a February House Oversight hearing, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., called his influence “reckless and illegal,” accusing Trump of “outsourcing governing to a billionaire who answers to no one.” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, warned Musk was acting as an “unelected official” inside the executive branch. Despite the criticism, markets are welcoming Musk’s return to the private sector. Bloomberg reported Tesla shares rose 4.2% this week on news of his government exit. In an investor call earlier this month, Musk reassured shareholders, “Starting in June, I’ll be allocating far more time to Tesla and SpaceX now that the groundwork at DOGE is in place.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News Digital’s Diana Stacy and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.