DeSantis not keen on Musk’s new political party, has another idea for disrupting DC
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that business magnate Elon Musk push for balanced budget and congressional term limit amendments to the U.S. Constitution, rather than build a new political party. Musk, who has been beating the drum about the need to rein in government spending, announced that he is launching a new political party called the America Party. “Backing a candidate for president is not out of the question, but the focus for the next 12 months is on the House and the Senate,” he noted in a post on X. ELON MUSK INDICATES HIS NEW POLITICAL PARTY WILL BE PRO-GUN, PRO-BITCOIN: ‘THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS SACRED’ DeSantis is not on board with the idea. The governor suggested that if Musk funds candidates in competitive Senate and House contests, Democrats will likely win. But DeSantis acknowledged that the GOP has an issue with people running on spending less, but then failing to do so. “There’s a gap between the campaign rhetoric, and then the performance,” he said. ELON MUSK CONNECTS WITH INDIE ANDREW YANG ON BILLIONAIRE FORMER TRUMP ALLY’S THIRD PARTY PUSH He explained that he does not believe “electing a few better people” will alter the “trajectory” on the debt issue. DeSantis said that the “incentives” in D.C. will “lead to these outcomes, really, regardless of the outcome of elections at this point,” asserting that a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is needed. TRUMP SAYS HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE-TIME RIVAL DESANTIS NOW A ‘9.9’ Musk “would have a monumental impact” if he got involved, DeSantis said, adding that the U.S. also needs term limits for lawmakers.
Key advisor called Hunter Biden’s role on strategy call ‘inappropriate’ after he overruled legal guidance
A top advisor to former President Joe Biden reportedly labeled Hunter Biden’s presence on a call about the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that former presidents have some immunity from prosecution “inappropriate,” according to a new book. The book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” was published Tuesday and chronicles how Biden’s team dismissed concerns about his age during the 2024 election cycle, along with how President Donald Trump secured his victory. The book said Biden’s White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients, coordinated a video call with key Biden staffers, including White House Counsel Ed Siskel, communications director Ben LaBolt, senior advisor Mike Donilon and others to discuss whether Biden should provide an on-camera statement to the Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision. TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL POWER FROM PROSECUTION While Donilon already had drafted a written statement, Biden wanted to speak about the matter on-camera, the book claims. Staffers on the call started to hash out specifics of such an appearance, when Biden’s son started to chime into the call. “Suddenly an unidentified voice piped up from Biden’s screen and recommended an Oval Office address,” the book said. “At first, some aides had no idea who was speaking. It soon became clear the voice belonged to Hunter Biden, who the White House staff had not known was on the call. Siskel expressed some concern about the appearance of using the Oval Office.” SCOTUS WEIGHS MONUMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL FIGHT OVER TRUMP IMMUNITY CLAIM “Hunter snapped back: ‘This is one of the most consequential decisions the Supreme Court has ever made.’ He said his father had every right to use the powerful imagery of the Oval Office to deliver that message,” the book said. “They later settled on the Cross Hall, the long hallway on the first floor of the White House. After the call ended, Siskel told colleagues. Hunter’s presence was inappropriate.” Biden ultimately delivered a brief speech responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling and took no questions from the press, per the suggestion of his son, the book claimed. Siskel and a spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a 6–3 ruling in Trump v. United States that former presidents have significant immunity from prosecution for acts they committed in an official capacity. The case made its way to the Supreme Court after Trump faced charges stemming from then-Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and engaged in any other alleged election interference. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, and claimed a former president could not face a prosecution without a House impeachment and a Senate conviction. BIDEN AIDES PUSHED FOR EARLY DEBATE TO SHOW OFF BIDEN’S ‘STRENGTH,’ EXPOSE TRUMP’S ‘WEAKNESS,’ BOOK SAYS The book “2024” is one of several that have been released in this year detailing Biden’s mental deterioration while in office and how Trump won the election. It is authored by Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post. Another book covering similar material is “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” released May 20. 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. According to Dawsey, Hunter Biden’s involvement in his father’s affairs as president was not out of the ordinary during the former president’s time in office. “What we found out over the course of reporting for our book is, Hunter Biden (was) a major figure in the president’s orbit,” Dawsey said in a Sunday interview with ABC’s “This Week.” “He was often on these calls, he would pipe in to calls, he was helping him make campaign decisions, and the president was very concerned about his son. It was one of the things that was an albatross on him as he tried to run for re-election.”
Former Biden doctor asks to delay testimony to House committee investigating mental fitness
Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor, who served as doctor to former President Joe Biden, requested a delay to his upcoming testimony before the House Oversight Committee this week. O’Connor was scheduled to testify on Wednesday, but is now in a disagreement with the committee over the scope of the questions he will be expected to answer during his testimony. The committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is interviewing the doctor as part of its investigation into Biden’s mental fitness and his administration’s use of an autopen. A lawyer for O’Connor requested the testimony be delayed to July 28 or August 4 in a letter to Comer. “Dr. O’Connor has legal and ethical obligations that he must satisfy and for which violations carry serious consequences to him professionally and personally,” the letter says. BIDEN INSISTS ‘I MADE THE DECISIONS’ AS REPUBLICANS INVESTIGATE WHITE HOUSE AUTOPEN USE “We are unaware of any prior occasion on which a Congressional Committee has subpoenaed a physician to testify about the treatment of an individual patient. And the notion that a Congressional Committee would do so without any regard whatsoever for the confidentiality of the physician-patient relationship is alarming.” A spokesman for the Oversight Committee replied in a statement that O’Connor and his legal team were merely trying to “stonewall” the process. The committee is planning to move forward with Wednesday’s testimony, which O’Connor faces a subpoena to attend. The committee said O’Connor is welcome to object to individual questions during his testimony. But O’Connor is not allowed, in the committee’s view, to delay or decline a congressional subpoena due to concerns over questions about potentially privileged information. WHO IS NEERA TANDEN? THE CONTROVERSIAL DEM OPERATIVE WHO TESTIFIED ON BIDEN’S MENTAL ACUITY The debate over O’Connor’s testimony comes weeks after a former top aide to Biden, Neera Tanden, told the Oversight Committee that she was authorized to direct autopen signatures but was unaware of who in the president’s inner circle was giving her final clearance. During Tanden’s interview before Congress last month, which lasted more than five hours, she told lawmakers that, in her role as staff secretary and senior advisor to the former president between 2021 and 2023, she was authorized to direct autopen signatures on behalf of Biden, an Oversight Committee official told Fox News. “Ms. Tanden testified that she had minimal interaction with President Biden, despite wielding tremendous authority,” Comer said at the time. “She explained that to obtain approval for autopen signatures, she would send decision memos to members of the President’s inner circle and had no visibility of what occurred between sending the memo and receiving it back with approval. Her testimony raises serious questions about who was really calling the shots in the Biden White House amid the President’s obvious decline. We will continue to pursue the truth for the American people.” Read O’Connor’s full letter to the committee below (App users click here) Fox News’ Kelly Phares and Madeleine Rivera and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Journalist who refused to duck during Trump assassination attempt reflects on Butler rally in new book
Salena Zito, a veteran political reporter with more than 20 years of storytelling experience, is telling her own story in her book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland.” Zito’s book, released Tuesday, takes readers back to July 13, 2024, when a young shooter unleashed gunfire into the crowd at President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “I didn’t get down,” Zito told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview ahead of the release. “There was this inner voice that told me, ‘You have a job to do, continue doing it.’” When 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks began firing toward Trump, Zito found herself in the Secret Service’s secure perimeter, right by the stage where Trump was delivering his remarks. FOX NATION REVEALS NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FOOTAGE FROM TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN BUTLER “Time has these layers that happen,” Zito said. “It’s not remembering them. It’s experiencing them. It’s this interesting thing that happens. I see a sea of navy blue suits immediately surround him. Then, I hear the second four shots. I still didn’t get down.” PHOTOGRAPHER WINS PULITZER FOR ICONIC PHOTO OF BULLET SPEEDING BY TRUMP’S HEAD DURING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT As a gun owner, Zito recognized the sound of the gunshots right away. But as a journalist, she quickly began to commit the historic moment to memory as it was unfolding. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Zito described the scene she saw first-hand, that was caught on video by the network pool camera and watched across the world. Just over eight minutes into Trump’s speech, Zito was standing in the “buffer” with her daughter, her son-in-law and a Trump campaign aide, Michel Picard. It was Picard who finally brought Zito to the ground. “Michel Picard takes me down and lies on top of me and covers me,” Zito explained. “This young man didn’t have to do this. He will always be a hero in my heart. He lies on the top of my daughter. My son-in-law has already taken my daughter down.” Zito said, even from that vantage point, she could still see and hear the situation unfolding as Trump shouted out for his shoes, someone called out for a medic and a woman screamed. “I had my recorder on my phone because I thought I was going to be recording the rally, his speech. I wanted to make sure I got the nuance. I always do that. I could see, and I could hear everything that was happening.” She said Trump was saying, “USA,” from the ground as the crowd began to chant. When the Secret Service helped Trump onto his feet, he shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight,” Zito said she saw a different side of Trump, which is revealed in her book. The journalist, who is a political reporter for the Washington Examiner, is a special contributor for the Washington Post and has been a columnist for the New York Post, said Trump must have called her seven times in the 24 hours after the shooting. Zito was slated to interview Trump ahead of his rally in Butler, but such is the case with presidential campaign schedules, the interview time kept slipping. Zito was planning to fly with Trump to Bedminster, N.J., to interview him after the rally. Trump recovered from his near assassination with little more than a bullet graze to the ear, thanks to the immigration chart he was turning his head to face. One rally attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two others were critically injured by Crooks’ gunshots. Comperatore shielded his wife and daughters from the shots, saving his family. Trump honored their family when he returned to Butler to finish the rally later that year. “This book is for everyone,” Zito told Fox News Digital. “First of all, it was a witness to history. And it’s told in a way that is very conversational and told in way that’s very real and authentic. I tell the story exactly the way that it happened.” “But it’s also a book about understanding why place and rootedness [are] so important in American politics. There have been very few Republicans or Democrats that have understood that. It is part of America’s experience, no matter what happens next, that there’s a light shining on it, so that you understand people better.”
Elon Musk connects with indie Andrew Yang on billionaire former Trump ally’s third party push
As Elon Musk moves forward with forming a third party in hopes of rocking the nation’s longstanding two-party system, the world’s richest person is reaching out to a one-time presidential candidate who has started his own independent party. Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who spent the first four months of President Donald Trump’s second administration as a special White House advisor steering the recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spoke with Andrew Yang, Fox News has confirmed. A source familiar with the conversation said that the two discussed Musk’s push to create the “America Party,” which Musk aims to field some candidates in next year’s midterm elections. TRUMP DISMISSED MUSK’S MOVE TO FORM THIRD PARTY “I’m excited for anyone who wants to move on from the duopoly,” Yang said in a statement to Fox News. “And I’m happy to help give someone a sense of what the path looks like.” News of the conversation was first reported by Politico. Yang grabbed national attention in the 2020 election cycle, as the entrepreneur went from an extreme longshot to briefly being a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. But Yang soured on the two-party system after an unsuccessful 2021 run for New York City mayor. He then formed the independent Forward Party, which has been recognized in a handful of states and aims to eventually gain ballot access from coast to coast. ELON MUSK LAUNCHES ‘AMERICA PARTY’ AFTER TRUMP SIGNS HISTORIC SPENDING BILL: ‘WASTE & GRAFT’ Yang and Musk are far from strangers. Musk in 2019 supported Yang’s unsuccessful presidential bid. Musk became the top donor of the 2024 election cycle, dishing out nearly $300 million in support of Trump’s bid through America PAC, a mostly Musk-funded super PAC aligned with Trump. Trump named Musk to steer DOGE soon after the November election, and the president repeatedly praised Musk during his headline-making and controversial tenure at the cost-cutting effort. But a feud between Musk and Trump broke out days after Musk left the White House in late May, as Musk dubbed the administration’s massive landmark spending bill – which Trump called his “big, beautiful bill” – a “disgusting abomination,” which he said would sink the nation into unsustainable debt. POLL POSITION: MUSK’S FAVORABILTY AMONG REPUBILCANS PLUNGES AFTER FEUD WITH TRUMP Musk also argued that Trump would not have won last year’s presidential election without all of his support. Musk announced the launch of the “America Party” on his social media platform X on Saturday, a day after Trump signed the sweeping domestic policy package into law. The measure narrowly passed the Senate and House last week along near party-line votes in the Republican-controlled chambers. Trump on Sunday ridiculed Musk’s move. “I think it’s ridiculous to start a third party,” Trump told reporters. “It’s always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The president added that “third parties have never worked. So, he can have fun with it, but I think it’s ridiculous.” Starting an independent or third party, and gaining ballot access in states across the country, is extremely difficult.
Israeli prime minister answers whether he is worried about being jailed in NYC by Zohran Mamdani
After Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s leading mayoral candidate, pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the city, Netanyahu responded to questions about whether he’s worried. In December, Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist and is the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor, said, “as mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.” “This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also,” Mamdani said, referring to the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant against Netanyahu as well as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday evening to discuss a range of topics, including Iran and Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas. NETANYAHU SURPRISES TRUMP WITH FORMAL NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINATION DURING HISTORIC WHITE HOUSE MEETING When asked whether he was worried about the possibility of facing arrest in America’s largest city, Netanyahu said, “I’m not concerned about that.” The prime minister added, “I’m going to come there with the President Trump and we’ll see.” He went on to say that Mamdani’s threat is “silly in many ways, because it’s just not serious.” Trump also chimed in, saying, “We don’t know who the mayor is going to be yet, but this is a communist. He’s not a socialist. He’s a communist, and he’s said some really bad things about Jewish people.” TOP IRANIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR TRUMP’S EXECUTION “He might make it,” Trump said. “But, you know, it all comes through the White House. He needs the money through the White House. He needs a lot. “He’s going to behave. He’ll behave. He better behave. Otherwise, he’s going to have big problems.” Hearkening back to an earlier question asked by reporters, Netanyahu said, “what is serious” is whether there can be a two-state solution in Gaza that does not pose an existential threat to the Israeli people. “Look, there’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends,” he said. “After October 7th, people said the Palestinians had a state, Hamas state in Gaza, and look what they did with it. They didn’t build it up. They built down two bunkers into terror tunnels, after which they massacred our people, raped our women, beheaded our men, invaded our cities and our towns and our kibbutzim and did horrendous, horrendous massacres, the kind of which we didn’t see since World War two and the Nazis, the Holocaust.” ISRAEL HAMMERS HOUTHIS WITH AIRSTRIKES, REBELS RESPOND AMID RED SEA FLARE-UP “So people aren’t likely to say, let’s just give them another state. It’ll be a platform to destroy Israel,” he added. “We’ll work up a peace with our Palestinian neighbors, those who don’t want to destroy us, and we’ll work out a peace in which our security, the sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands.” “Now, people will say it’s not a complete state. It’s not a state, it’s not that, we don’t care,” he said. “You know, we vowed, ‘never again.’ Never again is now, it’s not going to happen again.”
Federal judge pauses Trump administration’s Planned Parenthood defunding measure
A federal judge on Monday prevented the Trump administration from enforcing part of a massive tax and spending bill that would block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood health centers. The temporary restraining order by Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts blocks the “big, beautiful bill’s” provision to defund the family planning provider. At issue is the provision in the new tax and spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 that eliminates one year of Medicaid payments from Planned Parenthood health centers because the organization also provides abortions. SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN OKS BAN ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERAL FUNDING IN TRUMP MEGABILL A White House official told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration is committed to ending the use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortions. The official noted that the administration’s stance is a commonsense position that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with. On Monday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah filed a lawsuit in federal court. “The prohibition specifically targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health care providers in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds,” the lawsuit states. SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN MEDICAID FUNDING DISPUTE If allowed to stand, Planned Parenthood said the provision would have “devastating consequences” for the more than 1 million patients who use Medicaid as their insurance at Planned Parenthood health centers across the country to get birth control and cancer screenings, among other services. Dominique Lee, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said the organization has a long history of fighting for sexual and reproductive freedom. “The Trump administration’s hell-bent ambitions to close our clinics and abandon our patients won’t stop us. Let me be crystal clear: We are not intimidated. We were built for this moment,” she said. “Here in Massachusetts, we fight back, and we will never be bullied into turning our backs on health care or human rights.”
Netanyahu surprises Trump with formal Nobel Peace Prize nomination during historic White House meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he had sent a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee to nominate President Donald Trump for the peace prize. Trump and Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday to discuss developments in the Middle East. While speaking to reporters, Netanyahu spoke about the relationship between Israel and the U.S. AFTER SETBACK TO IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, TRUMP EXPECTED TO LEVERAGE MILITARY SUPPORT IN NETANYAHU MEETING “I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people and many, many admirers around the world, for your leadership, your leadership of the free world, your leadership of a just cause, and the pursuit of peace and security,” he said. “The president has an extraordinary team, and I think our teams, together, make, an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities. “But the president has already realized great opportunities. He forged the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other,” Netanyahu continued. “So, I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee. It’s nominating you for the peace prize, which is well-deserved.” Trump accepted the letter, saying he was unaware of the nomination and thanking the prime minister. The nomination comes just weeks after the U.S. struck Iran’s nuclear program following previous strikes levied by Israel in an effort to end Tehran’s atomic ambitions. TOP IRANIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR TRUMP’S EXECUTION Trump on Monday said Iran was no longer the “bully of the Middle East” and said Tehran would be holding nuclear talks with the U.S. in the “next week or so.” Though when asked how negotiations with Hamas stood in a move to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages held there for over 630 days, neither the U.S. nor Israeli officials would comment on what the “hold up” was. When asked if there can be a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians – a policy the U.S. has long backed – Trump pushed the question to Netanyahu who said “overall security” will always remain in the hands of Israel. “I think Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers should threaten us,” Netanyahu told reporters. “And that means that certain powers, like overall security, will always remain in our hands. “No one in Israel will agree to anything else, because we don’t commit suicide,” he added. The Israeli leader then said he believes that Jerusalem can establish “peace between us and the entire Middle East with President Trump’s leadership” in a direct nod to the president’s push to expand the Abraham Accords. Nations like Saudi Arabia have said they are uninterested in normalizing ties with Israel until peace is established for the Palestinians, but other nation’s positions on establishing diplomatic ties remains unclear. The U.S. Envoy for Lebanon and Syria suggested earlier on Monday that both nations could be looking to improve diplomatic relations. Trump said he removed sanctions on Syria this year to give them “a chance,” and suggested he would like to lift the “biting sanctions” on Iran as well. “I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner, and not going around saying ‘Death to America, Death to the USA, Death to Israel,’ as they were doing,” he said. “They have such potential.”
Navy’s carrier fleet faces temporary reduction through 2027 as new ships hit development snags
The U.S. Navy will drop from 11 to 10 aircraft carriers for about a year once the USS Nimitz is decommissioned next year, as recent budget documents show a new carrier will be delayed from its original delivery date. According to the Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget estimates, Newport News Shipbuilders was expected to deliver the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) to the Navy by July 2025, but that has since shifted to March 2027. “The CVN 79 delivery date shifted from July 2025 to March 2027 (preliminary acceptance TBD) to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) work,” FY 2026 shipbuilding budget book reads. Both the Advanced Arresting Gear certification and Advanced Weapons Elevator work are systems that were incorporated into the Ford class carriers. INSIDE AMERICA’S 6TH-GEN ARSENAL: B-21, F-47, AND THE FUTURE OF AIR DOMINANCE HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia told USNI News that it is taking lessons learned and applying them with the new ships in its class. “Specifically, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) construction was fairly advanced when many Ford lessons were realized, precluding timely implementation of lessons learned for Kennedy,” Todd Corillo, HII company spokesperson, told the publication. “In contrast, Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81) have been able to incorporate, leverage and capitalize on Ford lessons learned earlier in the construction process.” Also being shifted was the delivery of the USS Enterprise (CVN-80), which was expected to be delivered in September 2029, but has since been pushed back to July 2030. USS NIMITZ CARRIER STRIKE GROUP SAILING TOWARD MIDDLE EAST AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, US OFFICIAL SAYS “The CVN 80 delivery date shifted from September 2029 to July 203 due to delays in material availability and industry/supply chain performance,” the document’s footnotes read. USNI reported that the Navy originally planned to pursue a dual-phase delivery approach for the Kennedy but has since switched to a single-phase delivery, which added two additional years of work to the vessel’s design and construction contract. Under the new plans, the Kennedy would be outfitted to handle the fifth-generation F-35C Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II and be outfitted with the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, USNI reported. SECOND NAVY FIGHTER JET GOES OVERBOARD FROM TRUMAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, PILOTS EJECTED Officials originally thought the dual-phase approach would save the Navy money when it came to construction costs and by minimizing the downtime between the Nimitz decommissioning and Kennedy delivery. These delays come as the USS Nimitz prepares to be decommissioned. Commissioned on May 3, 1975, the Nimitz is the oldest active aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy. It is currently on its final sea voyage in the Middle East, as the Nimitz is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026. The deployment is significant because the Nimitz was also deployed in 1980 when its helicopters were part of the failed U.S. effort known as Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The U.S. has been in a shadow war against Iran ever since. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Some wealthy New York elites surprisingly back NYC socialist candidate who wants to tax them more
Despite his socialist proposals, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has several millionaires backing his candidacy amid his calls to tax the wealthy to fund expansive social programs. James Hueston, a 27-year-old venture capitalist, is part of a group called the Mamdani Millionaires in a Wall Street Journal piece published Monday. “In my eyes, I should absolutely be paying my fair share for the people that need it,” Hueston told the newspaper. “I don’t think that he’s increasing taxation for the sake of it. I think that he’s doing it to fund very explicitly good policies.” SOCIALIST’S NYC MAYORAL WIN SPARKS FIERCE DEBATE OVER FEASIBILITY OF RADICAL POLICY AGENDA Voting data showed that about a third of the city’s wealthiest residents supported Mamdani in the primary, the New York Post reported. Many donors, some from Wall Street and large law firms, have remained anonymous. Other high-earning supporters of Mamdani include Ahmed Haque, the founder and CEO of consulting firm Didactic Labs. “For immigrants coming to this country, these small businesses represent the single path for upward mobility that they have,” he said. Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist who ran Michael Bloomberg’s third campaign for mayor of New York City, wrote on LinkedIn that New Yorkers should “do what we can to help him succeed.” SOCIALIST MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI UNDER FIRE FOR PLAN TO TAX ‘RICHER AND WHITER NEIGHBORHOODS’ In an Instagram post, Keith McNally, owner of Balthazar, a French restaurant, called Mamdani “fantastic.” “More so, when my affluent, paranoid friends tell me Mamdani’s dangerous,” he wrote. Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a major business group, told The Journal that she met with Mandani in September, long before his candidacy was taken seriously. “I’m not in favor of government taking over your business,” Wylde recalled him telling her. She added that “he has already acknowledged that the housing crisis is only going to be addressed if there’s an increase in private supply. So he’s not just talking about social or socialized housing solutions.”