Chaos erupts at GOP lawmaker’s town hall after left-wing groups promote protests
A House Republican town hall began and ended in chaos Tuesday night as angry protesters jeered for over an hour in a small Midwestern city and accused Republicans of trying to gut critical government programs. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., was the only House GOP lawmaker whose office set up an in-person town hall this week while Congress is in recess – and left-wing groups appear to have seized on the opportunity to disrupt. The event kicked off on a contentious note just minutes after an opening prayer, with the moderator’s first audience question accusing President Donald Trump and Flood of not supporting the “rule of law.” The crowd repeatedly booed any mention of Elon Musk or the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with Flood having to stop and plead for calm multiple times. BLUE STATE GOP CHAIR UNLEASHES ON GOVERNOR FOR ‘GRANDSTANDING’ WITH SPECIAL DEMAND OF TRUMP ADMIN At one point protesters could be heard shouting, “Tax the rich.” Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Fleming Kleeb posted on X, showing the number of people heading to Flood’s town hall minutes after it began. She said state Democratic Party operatives “are on site if you need an action handout of things you can do beyond the town hall!” Meanwhile, progressive groups MoveOn and Indivisible advertised a “volunteer-organized event,” titled, “Musk or Us: Demand Mike Flood Fight Back!” The time and place listed matched Flood’s Tuesday night town hall. The event lasted roughly an hour and a half with little reprieve for the congressman as people peppered him with questions and the crowd jeered him during answers. During the open mic portion of the event, a woman noted that Flood’s wife fought breast cancer and said her own sister died of the disease, before telling him, “You decided to capitulate your job of monitoring the funding of places that do research for breast cancer.” “I would like to know how you, personally, stomach that decision,” she asked as the crowd applauded. Flood said he supported medical research funding, and that while he was not aware of any such pause, DOGE was reviewing funds on a case-by-case basis as part of its mission to reduce the national debt. However, even mentioning Musk or DOGE set off the crowd inside Columbus High School’s auditorium, and Flood had to raise his voice and repeat himself several times at points as protesters grew louder. “How can you be against a balanced budget?” an exasperated Flood asked the crowd. After the event, Fox News Digital observed discussions on the message board site Reddit urging people to go protest Flood. One user posted on a Nebraska-focused message board, “I highly implore District 1 residents to make the drive and come out to make your voices heard.” In response to another commenter noting the event was scheduled to last an hour, the same initial user replied, “That’s a whole hour’s worth of booing him and his stupid idea that he’ll get the support of his precious hometown.” In a separate thread about the town hall, another user posted, “S— man isn’t even in my district, but I’m considering going up there.” SPACEX DRAGON CAPSULE STICKS SPLASHDOWN LANDING AS NASA ASTRONAUTS RETURN HOME AFTER MONTHS STUCK IN SPACE Flood’s decision to host a town hall in person comes in apparent defiance of House Republican leaders’ guidance to refrain from such face-to-face events, given the intense uptick in protests – both planned and unplanned. The majority of House Republicans have transitioned to holding tele-town halls, which the lawmakers have defended as a more productive and controlled environment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Several have cited issues of safety for their staff, with mobs at in-person constituent events growing raucous at times. Meanwhile, left-wing groups that had been urging people to protest at GOP town halls are now taking advantage of the change in strategy, and have pushed activists to hold mock town halls with empty chairs representing lawmakers who in some cases were not even invited. Prominent Democrats like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have also seized on the vacuum to hold their own events in Republican districts.
Mahmoud Khalil blames ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ for arrest in first statement since ICE detainment
The Columbia University activist, arrested by federal immigration authorities and facing possible deportation over his alleged support for Hamas, has released a statement from inside the detention facility where he is being held. Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old green card holder who is married to a U.S. citizen, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on March 8. In a letter released by his attorneys on Tuesday, Khalil characterized his arrest as “indicative of anti-Palestinian racism.” He also blamed Columbia’s administration, including former university President Minouche Shafik, who was criticized for failing to adequately respond to allegations of antisemitic behavior from activists on campus before she ultimately stepped down. “My unjust detention is indicative of the anti-Palestinian racism that both the Biden and Trump administrations have demonstrated over the past 16 months as the U.S. has continued to supply Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians and prevented international intervention,” Khalil wrote. “For decades, anti-Palestinian racism has driven efforts to expand U.S. laws and practices that are used to violently repress Palestinians, Arab Americans, and other communities. That is precisely why I am being targeted.” ‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’ Khalil, who played a major role in the anti-Israel protests at Columbia, is fighting against his deportation in the courts. Not long after he was arrested, a judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting him. In one of the first legal victories for Khalil, a judge on Wednesday ordered his deportation case be heard in New Jersey, not Louisiana, where he is being held. The judge cited a law that required the case be held in the same jurisdiction where Khalil’s attorneys first filed a lawsuit to challenge his detention. The Trump administration previously said there was a bedbug infestation at the detention facility in New Jersey, near Khalil’s arrest, leading them to have to ship him to Louisiana. RUBIO DEFENDS DEPORTATIONS OF HAMAS SUPPORTERS AFTER COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ACTIVIST ARREST “While I await legal decisions that hold the futures of my wife and child in the balance, those who enabled my targeting remain comfortably at Columbia University,” Khalil wrote in his letter. “Presidents Shafik, Armstrong, and Dean Yarhi-Milo laid the groundwork for the U.S. government to target me by arbitrarily disciplining pro-Palestinian students and allowing viral doxing campaigns – based on racism and disinformation – to go unchecked.” Khalil said his arrest was both a direct affront to his First Amendment rights and a broader attempt by the Trump administration to “suppress dissent.” He wrote that “in the weeks ahead” students, activists and elected officials “must unite to defend the right to protest for Palestine.” “I have always believed that my duty is not only to liberate myself from the oppressor, but also to liberate my oppressors from their hatred and fear.”
Chicago police solve only 6% of non-fatal shootings, review finds, as mayor faces mounting criticism
Chicago authorities have made arrests of suspects in only 6% of the Windy City’s 19,000 non-fatal shootings in the past seven years, according to a deep dive conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times. Only 1,200 people have been arrested in connection with shootings since 2018, the paper reported. Neighborhoods on the South Side appeared to have the highest proportion of arrest-less cases, with Pullman and Burnside recording zero arrests for 64 and 38 shootings, respectively. Ashburn, on the West Side, was barely better with five arrests made out of 93 reported incidents. A similar trend was recorded for Roseland, where only 35 of the 584 recorded shootings there saw an arrest made. Only O’Hare – which is generally comprised of the namesake airport – and Edison Park far on the North Side recorded zero total shootings. PROPOSED CHICAGO RESOURCE CUTS COULD LAND CITY IN COURT, OFFICIALS WARN The locales with the highest proportion of arrests were Norwood Park on the North Side at 29% and Beverly on the South Side with 33%. For context, the “Loop” – Chicago’s downtown – saw 16% of its 85 cases solved. One man who was working as a rideshare driver when he was carjacked and shot in 2021 still has not seen police make any arrests, according to published reports. “I get that they’re understaffed, but at the same time, where’s my justice?” said Tom Wagner, who has a scar on his abdomen where he was shot in the gallbladder, liver and colon. Wagner reportedly called police over a 10-month period and got no response, before he was told in February that they were dropping his investigation, according to the Sun-Times. Crime experts told the paper that the lack of arrests may be worsening chronic violence, as criminals face little deterrent against lawless behavior. The paper’s study found that CPD has a smaller proportion of officers working as detectives than in other major cities, with one exception being Philadelphia. Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Brandon Johnson for comment but did not receive a response. DEMOCRAT MAYOR NOT WELCOME AT FUNERAL FOR SLAIN CHICAGO OFFICER Last year, Johnson publicly blamed his recent predecessors – Democrats Lori Lightfoot, Rahm Emanuel and Richard M. Daley, the son of famous Mayor Richard J. Daley. The last Republican to hold the mayor’s office was William Thompson from 1927-1931. “The city was run into the ground and everybody knows that,” Johnson said at the time. “They jacked up the finances, got bad deals, and so now we’re left with the chaos and the mess that was created by other people. But today is a testament that if we continue to work together at every single level of government, it’s going to take all of us and the community to continue to hold these individuals accountable but to make sure we’re making critical investments in the people of Chicago, the homicides and shootings will continue to fall.” Johnson was recently lambasted by Congress over Chicago’s crime wave and allegations his administration doesn’t properly cooperate with ICE. Johnson appeared to deny some allegations from Republicans on the panel in regard to Chicago’s “sanctuary city status.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., cited a reported 6% positive-approval rate for Johnson, saying it “speaks volumes” of how the city is deteriorating crime-wise. Johnson responded that LaHood could help his state’s largest city by supporting “continue[d] invest[ment] in these programs that continue to drive violence down in the city of Chicago.” The Chicago Police Department did not respond to an inquiry about the Sun-Times report. Neither did rumored 2028 Democratic presidential contender Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker previously rejected some of the labels given to the Windy City over its crime epidemic, claiming at a 2024 rally that Republican-led states are statistically worse: “Although there is a perception by some that violence in Chicago is the worst in any city anywhere, actually if you look at all the data, you’ll see that it’s red states that have the worst violent crimes and murder rates. Not blue states,” he said.
‘State of the art’ air traffic control system will be unveiled in the ‘next couple days,’ Duffy says
A brand-new “state of the art” air traffic control system will be unveiled by the Trump administration in the “next couple days,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. President Donald Trump will get the “first sneak peek” before the system is presented to Congress as part of a funding request, according to Duffy. “We’re going to have an announcement in the next couple days. We are going to have a brand new system. Again, our system is 25, 30 years old. We use copper wires, floppy disks. I mean… it’s atrocious, the system we use,” Duffy said. “It’s safe, but we’re seeing the cracks of age. So we’re going to build a brand new state of the art system.” “We’re going to go from copper lines to fiber lines. Our radar, some of the newest models that we have date back to like 1982. We’re going to have brand new radar, brand new terminals for air traffic controllers, we’re going to have sensors on runways,” Duffy continued. “So they don’t have to stand in the tower and look out with binoculars. And oftentimes the controller’s views are impeded. On their screens they’ll be able to see where airplanes are at, on the tarmac. So again, top technology that’s going to be deployed.” DUFFY PROPOSES BIG PLANS TO UPGRADE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, USE AI TO FIND ‘HOT SPOTS’ Duffy said the key to upgrading the nation’s air traffic control system is “speed.” “It’s not that we don’t know that we’ve had a problem with air traffic control, but it takes too long. And then technology changes, money changes, administrations change. So we have to do this really fast. And so the Congress has to give us all the money up front,” he told “Fox & Friends.” NTSB PROBE OF CHICAGO MIDWAY NEAR MISS REVEALS SUN GLARE AS POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR “We have some SpaceX engineers that are helping us and others, to help us deploy — again this fantastic system,” he also said. “And so we’re going to roll our plan out. Again, I’m talking to the president this week. Give him the first sneak peek, and then we’re going to roll it out to Congress and hopefully get the money quick.” Duffy previously said upgrading the system could take up to four years to complete.
Judge who blocked key Trump executive order has long history of left-wing activism, Dem donations
FIRST ON FOX: A federal judge who blocked President Donald Trump from implementing an executive order banning transgender troops from serving in the military has a long history of activism in the Democratic Party, including volunteering for Joe Biden and donating tens of thousands to Democrat campaigns. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes, a Biden appointee who is the first openly gay federal judge in D.C., acknowledged in her Senate questionnaire during her confirmation process that she volunteered for Biden’s 2020 campaign “providing limited legal assistance regarding potential election law issues.” Reyes, who assumed office in February 2023, has been donating to Democratic causes to the tune of more than $38,000 since 2008, sending money to liberal efforts such as ActBlue, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossof’s campaign, and maxed out contributions to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, FEC records show. Additionally, Reyes has been a frequent contributor to Defeat By Tweet, a Democratic-aligned super PAC that supports the Justice Fund, which Influence Watch describes as a group that “raises money for liberal groups in swing states each time President Donald Trump makes a post to his controversial Twitter account.” CHECKS AND BALANCES: TRUMP, SUPPORTERS SEEK TO PUSH BACK AGAINST ‘ACTIVIST’ JUDGES Defeat By Tweet’s website is currently shuttered but says it is “transferring” its resources to Black Church PAC, a group aligned with defunding the police that received at least $150,000 from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign. Reyes, who was born in Uruguay before her family immigrated to the United States when she was in kindergarten, has been active in representing illegal immigrants in her previous capacity as a lawyer. During a speech accepting the 2017 Woman’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia’s Woman Lawyer of the Year award, Reyes said she was “privileged” to represent asylum seekers and thanked lawyers at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, stating it was an honor “fighting for the rights of refugees in the United States.” NEW BILL THREATENS TO CRIPPLE ‘JUDICIAL TYRANNY’ FROM DERAILING TRUMP’S AGENDA AT EVERY TURN Reyes said in the same speech that she deferred law school for a year to work for the Feminist Majority Foundation, a group that describes itself as a “cutting edge organization dedicated to women’s equality, reproductive health, and non-violence.” Reyes said in her Senate questionnaire that she served on the board for the group from “2014-present” although she is not currently listed on the organization’s website. The Feminist Majority Foundation has previously called abortion a “necessity” and opposed in a January press release the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which blocks men from playing in women’s sports. The questionnaire also acknowledges that she was a panelist in a 2021 discussion called “Did You Really Just Say That? Recognizing and Managing Microaggressions.” The discussion was hosted by Centerforce, which touts a DEI series that includes several conferences aimed at “address[ing] the obstacles posed by the backlash against DEI initiatives and the consequences of Affirmative Action repeal.” Despite her history of progressive activism, Reyes has sided with Trump in the past, including last April when she berated Biden’s Justice Department after two of its employees failed to appear in court for depositions related to the Republican push to impeach Biden, NBC News reported. Earlier that year, Reyes also called it “an attack on our constitutional democracy” when a former IRS consultant leaked Trump’s tax returns. She also ripped the lawyers of eight inspectors general who were fired by Trump and denied their immediate reinstatement last month, asking, “Why on earth did you not have this figured out with the defendants before coming here?” The lawsuit against the Trump administration is still ongoing. At issue currently is a Jan. 27 executive order signed by Trump requiring the Defense Department to update its guidance regarding “trans-identifying medical standards for military service” and to “rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.” Reyes questioned the Trump administration at length over the order, demanding to know whether it was a “transgender ban” and if the government’s position is that being transgender is an “ideology.” Reyes, who previously stated that the idea of only two sexes is not “biologically correct,” issued a preliminary injunction this week barring the Pentagon from enforcing Trump’s order, which asserted “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” In her 79-page ruling, Reyes in part cites Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “Hamilton” to justify blocking the ban on transgender troops. “Women were ‘included in the sequel’ when passage of the Nineteenth Amendment granted them the right to vote in 1920,” Reyes wrote in the footnotes, adding, “That right is one of the many that thousands of transgender persons serve to protect.” Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Stephen Sorace and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
Hospital questionnaire sparks outrage over newborn sexual orientation question
New parents in New Jersey are receiving shocking documents from a health network — and it is not the hospital bill. A form from Inspira Health went viral as it asks parents about their newborn’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Now, New Jersey State Sen. Holly Schepisi (R-District 39) is introducing legislation to exempt minors from these types of questions. Schepisi — also a mother of two — told Fox News Digital that when she first saw the form being circulated on social media, she was “skeptical” because of the “outrageous” and “nonsensical” nature of the forms. However, her staff were able to confirm that the questionnaire was indeed real and was being distributed to new parents. NYC PARENTS OUTRAGED AFTER TEACHER READS GENDER IDENTITY BOOK TO PRESCHOOL CLASS Inspira Health’s forms are meant to comply with a New Jersey law that requires the collection of data on patients’ race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, according to Schepisi. “The health network, in fairness to them, it was like ‘We don’t necessarily want to be providing these out. And we have received some pushback and backlash from patients.’ But under the new law that was implemented in New Jersey in late June of 2022, the health network had a real belief that in order to be compliant with the law DOH [regulations], that they had to be all encompassing and include this, including for newborn patients,” Schepisi told Fox News Digital. The law requires the collection be done “in a culturally competent and sensitive manner,” which Schepisi said was “subjective.” HIDING KIDS’ ‘GENDER IDENTITY’ FROM PARENTS IS COMMON IN BLUE STATE FIGHTING TRUMP ON TRANS ISSUES: WATCHDOG Schepisi thinks she will be able to get bipartisan support for her legislation that would create an exemption for minors in the state’s medical records law. “Apparently, as drafted, as guidance was being provided, the interpretation by a lot of people, was that this data must be collected from all demographics without regard to age,” Schepisi told Fox News Digital. This seems to be the case, as Inspira Health told Fox News Digital that the questionnaire is “required by New Jersey law and the State of New Jersey Department of Health.” Inspira Health also said that parents are allowed to decline to provide this information. “Per recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Health stating that health systems can collect that data in a clinically appropriate and culturally competent manner, Inspira Health will request this information from adults. This update in protocol remains compliant with the law, and we respect patients’ right to decline to respond,” Inspira Health said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Some healthcare workers are also finding the form to be preposterous, according to Schepisi, who said Assemblyman John Azzariti, a medical doctor, called it “absurd.” Azzariti is sponsoring Schepisi’s legislation in the Assembly. Schepisi also said the form was “not fair” to workers engaging with patients who are unhappy about the bizarre questionnaire. The state senator said she has spoken to some Democratic state legislators who were stunned to hear about the forms’ existence. “I did have quite a few conversations over the past week bringing this issue to some of my Democratic colleagues’ attention, and, you know, their response was pretty much the same as a lot of people out in the public, like, ‘We’re doing what?’” Schepisi pointed the finger at New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, saying that initiatives such as the collection of this data for medical records “stemmed directly from the governor’s office.” She also pointed out that the law went from introduction to the governor’s desk in a week and a half, which she said is “unheard of.” In response to a request for comment, the New Jersey Department of Health told Fox News Digital that “the Department stresses that any collection of SOGI data should be done in a clinically appropriate and culturally competent manner, including patient populations for which certain data may not be appropriate, as in the case for newborns. We also recommend that hospitals develop internal policies and procedures based on clinical advice to assist their employees in collecting such data.”
Blue sanctuary state operating as ‘control’ center for vicious migrant gang: acting DEA chief
Lax immigration policies in deep blue Colorado are helping Tren de Aragua, one of the most vicious migrant gangs in America, to use the state as a “command and control” center, according to the acting head of the DEA. A representative for the DEA Rocky Mountain Division confirmed with Fox News statements by DEA Acting Administrator Derek Maltz on local outlet Denver 7, in which Maltz said Colorado is “ground zero for some of the most violent criminals in America,” including Tren de Aragua’s leadership. Tren de Aragua – also known by its acronym “TdA” – is a violent Venezuelan criminal group that has been linked to some of the most egregious crimes in America in recent years, including the murder of nursing student Laken Riley and the capturing of an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate TdA a “foreign terrorist organization.” ‘ON NOTICE’: EX-VENEZUELAN MILITARY OFFICIAL APPLAUDS TRUMP’S ‘FIRST GOOD STEP’ TARGETING BLOODTHIRSTY GANG “Now, we are learning that the command and control for TdA in the entire United States of America is right here in Colorado,” Maltz told the outlet. He said this information was based on new intelligence from the “men and women on the front lines and what we’re seeing.” Maltz said the laws of Democratic-run Colorado have allowed TdA and other criminals to “take advantage of vulnerabilities and weaknesses” to perpetuate their crimes. “Anybody that thinks it’s a good idea to open up the border to adversaries around the world and then not even know who they are coming into our communities, it makes no sense,” he said, adding, “People in this state have allowed illegal violent criminals in here at record levels.” ‘BRING IT ON’: SHERIFF PUSHES BACK AFTER BLUE STATE LEADERS SUE TO STOP IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT Maltz called on state leaders to stop playing politics and instead help take violent criminal immigrants off the streets. “The politics have to stop. This is not a red or blue issue, this is a red, white and blue issue,” he said. “We have to start thinking about our citizens first.” Maltz also had some very pointed words for those criticizing or attempting to stand in the way of the federal government’s immigration crackdown. “Why don’t you thank law enforcement instead of being ‘Monday morning quarterbacks’ sitting at home and being critics?” he asked. “Why don’t you ask the politicians in the state of Colorado why they are not uniting, why they are fighting the force of good that’s going after evil?” ‘CLOSING TIME’: WHITE HOUSE, BORDER PATROL TROLL WITH DEPORTATION MEME VIDEO “Wake up, pay attention,” he went on. “Talk to the citizens that can’t go out of their house at night when gunshots are going off, talk to people that are being extorted, talk to people that are being kidnapped and raped, talk to people that are being impacted every day.” Despite the criticism, Maltz said the federal government is “connecting the dots” and taking a “whole of government” approach to finally crack down on TdA and other migrant criminals, regardless of Colorado’s laws. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “I’m proud to report that right now, the cartels, the MS-13, the violent gangs like Tren de Aragua, they’re going to be held accountable, and they’re already being held accountable,” he said. ‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’ “I’ve got a warning for the TdA members,” he added, “start running now.” “The team of the DEA, working with their partners from FBI, ATF, HSI, ICE ERO and our state and local counterparts, it’s a team that takes public safety and national security serious and they’ve already proven what they can do,” he said. “So they better go and find another state because they are not welcome here in Colorado.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Colorado’s two Democratic senators, Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment by the time of publication. MEXICAN IMMIGRATION ACTIVIST WHO HID IN COLORADO CHURCH FOR YEARS TO AVOID DEPORTATION ARRESTED BY ICE Eric Maruyama, a representative for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, responded to Maltz’s statements by telling Fox News Digital that the state “works with the DEA all the time on criminal investigations and to apprehend violent offenders and fugitives whether they are here legally or illegally.” Maruyama instead placed the blame for the crisis on the federal government, saying, “The reality is that Congress and the federal government for years have failed to fix our broken immigration system, secure our border, and create pathways to citizenship for people.” “Gov. Polis is focused on improving public safety and has signed comprehensive laws to crack down on illegal gun crimes, get fentanyl off the streets, and recruit and retain more law enforcement,” he claimed. “When it comes to criminal investigations or prosecutions, Colorado works closely with all federal partners, in accordance with state and federal law, to fight crime and enhance public safety.”
‘No betrayal’: Ukraine breathes sigh of relief after Trump-Putin talks
Kyiv, Ukraine – Russia launched 145 drones and six missiles on Ukraine on Tuesday just minutes after US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin finished their phone conversation. The attacks were launched from six locations in western Russia, and 45 drones targeted the Kyiv region alone, Ukrainian officials said. They said, however, that while the strikes damaged civilian infrastructure, they did not kill or wound anyone. The attacks were a way of rejecting Trump’s 30-day ceasefire proposal, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Today, Putin virtually threw away the proposal to fully cease the fire,” he said. Ukrainian citizens were indignant. “Putin shows that Trump is nothing but his lap dog,” said Larysa Kozhedub, a 52-year-old manicurist whose nephew Oleksiy was killed near the eastern city of Pokrovsk last October. “America lost the Cold War, and Ukraine is paying for it,” she told Al Jazeera. But analysts are more calm and cautious. No “betrayal” of Ukraine’s interests resulted from the Trump-Putin conversation that lasted more than two hours, said Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank in Kyiv. Advertisement “Everyone here was very afraid that Putin will yet again zombify Trump,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to Trump’s susceptibility to Putin’s views on the Russia-Ukraine conundrum. Instead, Fesenko noted, Trump did not bend to Russia’s calls to halt Washington’s military aid to Kyiv or force Ukraine to cease mobilisation in return for the full ceasefire. During a draconian mobilisation campaign, Ukraine replenished its decimated front-line forces – and for the first time in more than two years managed to wrestle back several towns in eastern Ukraine. However, Ukrainian troops were kicked out of Russia’s western Kursk region, where they had occupied up to 1,000 square kilometres (385 square miles) since August 2024. After a panicked withdrawal and losses, they currently maintain their hold on several villages and farms near the Russian-Ukrainian border. “However, it’s too early to relax. Russia will continue to present its ultimatums in the next stages of talks,” Fesenko said. United States President Donald Trump (left) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (right) discussed Ukraine and the ‘normalisation’ of US-Russian ties by phone [File: Drew Angerer and Gavriil Grigorov/AFP] Ironically, Trump and Putin agreed to implement parts of Kyiv’s peace plan, which was presented at the March 11 talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, Fesenko said. Kyiv proposed to cease air and sea attacks, as well as strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days. Russia’s pummelling of Ukraine’s power stations has caused blackouts and further hobbled the country’s economy. Advertisement In response, Kyiv doubled down on its drone and missile attacks on Russian oil refineries, fuel depots, military targets and civilian sites. Kyiv is ready to suspend its strikes on the energy infrastructure, Zelenskyy said. “Our side will support it,” Zelenskyy told a news conference held after the Trump-Putin talks. The Trump-Putin conversation may herald the pace of upcoming peace talks and a step-by-step ceasefire that would take weeks if not months to implement, Fesenko said. The next step – a suspension of air attacks – would be beneficial to Ukraine since Russia launches thousands of drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles across the country every month. The effect, however, would be more psychological than practical. Millions of Ukrainians lie awake at night to the howling of air raid sirens and the boom of air defence systems shooting down the drones, while actual casualties and destruction remain minimal. ‘Global security’ talks amid Middle East tensions The Kremlin said that apart from Ukraine, Trump and Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East, the Red Sea region and “interaction in the matters of nuclear non-proliferation and global security”. This way, Putin offered Trump help with Iran’s nuclear programme and Yemen’s Houthis, Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych said. Washington started bombing the Houthis on Saturday even though they stopped attacks on ships in the Red Sea after the ceasefire began in Gaza. “Yes, Putin wants to help Trump to kill two birds with one stone,” Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera. However, Putin may be bluffing because Tehran uses its clout among Houthis to up the ante in its own dealings with Washington and does not necessarily want Putin as a middleman, he said. Advertisement But if Russia could indeed help Trump with Iran and Yemen, Putin will ask for concessions in Ukraine, he said. Trump is in a political pickle as he needs a fast peace settlement ahead of his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin’s main international backer. “It’s one thing when you come [to negotiations] with a ready algorithm that began to work, and another thing when you start working from scratch,” Tyshkevych said. ‘Ukraine’s biggest loss in the past year’ Meanwhile, Russia is “fragmenting” the Ukrainian problem by offering preconditions such as separate discussions of warfare in the Black Sea, Tyshkevych said. In the past two years, Kyiv succeeded in destroying Russian warships in annexed Crimea. The attacks forced Russia’s entire Black Sea fleet to relocate from its main base in Crimea’s Sevastopol to the Russian port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine’s agreement to stop strikes in the Black Sea will manifest Zelenskyy’s “political and military defeat”, predicted Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s University of Bremen. Kyiv already failed to use its dominance in the western part of the Black Sea to retake Ukrainian islands and spits west of annexed Crimea, and lost several islands in the Dnieper delta, he said. “This is Ukraine’s biggest loss in the past year” besides the retreat from around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, Mitrokhin told Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Putin wants to use a pause in Trump’s push for the peace settlement to occupy more Ukrainian areas with the troops that pushed Ukrainians out of Kursk, said Mitrokhin. Advertisement As a result, there could be more “meat marches”, or devastating frontal assaults on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk, he said. But Ukraine’s attacks on border areas of Russia’s Belgorod region that lie
US court rejects Trump bid to dismiss Mahmoud Khalil deportation challenge
Judge Jesse Furman says effort to deport Palestinian rights advocate is ‘exceptional’ and requires ‘careful’ review. A federal court in the United States has dismissed an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismiss Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil’s legal challenge against his detention and deportation. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal permanent resident, has been held by the government since March 8 in a push to deport him over his participation in campus protests for Gaza last year. On Wednesday, Judge Jesse Furman ruled that Khalil’s legal request for a judicial review against his detention, known as a habeas corpus petition, must proceed. The Trump administration had asked the court to reject the challenge. Furman noted that Khalil is arguing that the effort to deport him violates his rights to free speech and due process, which are guaranteed under the US Constitution. “These are serious allegations and arguments that, no doubt, warrant careful review by a court of law; the fundamental constitutional principle that all persons in the United States are entitled to due process of law demands no less,” Fruman wrote in his ruling. Advertisement He described Khalil’s ordeal as an “exceptional case”. However, the judge decided that his New York-based court cannot adjudicate the case, saying that the matter should be transferred to New Jersey, where Khalil was held when the challenge was filed. The government sought to move the case to Louisiana, a Republican-dominated state, where Khalil is currently detained in an immigration enforcement facility. Furman said that his previous order barring the government from deporting Khalil must remain in place while the case is under review. But he did not rule on the activist’s request to be released on bail, leaving the matter to the New Jersey court that will oversee the petition. He ordered the court clerk to transfer the petition “immediately”, but there is no exact date for when the New Jersey Court will rule or schedule hearings on the case. The Trump administration is pushing to deport Khalil under a rarely used provision of an immigration law that gives the secretary of state power to remove any non-citizen whose presence in the US is deemed to have “adverse foreign policy consequences”. The US government has not charged Khalil with a crime. Instead, US officials have accused him of “activities aligned to Hamas”. But Khalil’s supporters say he engaged in peaceful protests against Columbia University’s ties to the Israeli military as part of the wave of campus demonstrations that swept the country last year. Khalil’s detention has raised concerns about Trump’s willingness to scuttle free speech in his crackdown on Palestinian rights advocacy in the US. Advertisement The activist, whose wife is a US citizen and eight months pregnant, was arrested late at night by immigration enforcement agents and transferred to two different facilities without his family or lawyers being notified. Critics have likened his treatment to forced disappearances by authoritarian governments. “The Trump administration is seeking to send a message with the unlawful and deplorable disappearance of Mr Khalil,” Hannah Flamm, acting senior policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), told Al Jazeera last week. “This is not the first occasion when the US government has weaponised immigration enforcement to separate families and to terrorise communities. But Mr Khalil’s arrest represents a significant departure and profound violation of American free speech rights.” Khalil released a statement from his confinement late on Tuesday, describing himself as a political prisoner. “My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night,” he wrote. Adblock test (Why?)
How much money is actually lost to fraud, waste in the US?
Billionaire Elon Musk, the driving force behind United States President Donald Trump’s budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has broached the sensitive issue of Social Security cost savings on the TV channel Fox Business. Musk told host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump economic adviser, that the Government Accountability Office estimated in 2024 that federal government fraud was “half a trillion dollars”. While referring to waste, Musk said: “Most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that’s like the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half-trillion, maybe $600, $700bn a year.” Using the word “eliminate” in the same breath as “entitlements” set off alarms among Trump’s and Musk’s Democratic critics. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the March 11 news briefing that Musk was referring to cutting waste, fraud and abuse in those programmes, and Trump “is going to protect Social Security”, Medicare and Medicaid. At a March 11 event promoting Tesla cars at the White House, a reporter asked Musk if he could guarantee there would be no interruption to Social Security benefits. Advertisement “We are going to be very careful with any benefits,” Musk said. “In fact, only by tackling waste or fraud can we actually preserve those programmes for the future.” “Fraud” and “waste” mean different things. Waste refers to careless use, and fraud includes criminal wrongdoing. Musk referred to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress that examines federal spending. In 2024, the office estimated there are $233bn to $521bn in fraudulent payments across the government per year. The report went further than Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which make up about half of mandatory government spending. It covers the entire government, including pandemic-related relief programmes that resulted in record fraud. Musk said cutting fraud and waste will help his efforts to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget. But his estimates for fraud are at the top end of the GAO’s estimate or exceed it. For Social Security, the inspector general in 2021 found about $300m in payments was made after the deaths of beneficiaries over about two decades – about one-third of which was recovered. Although federal officials have long recognised improper spending as a problem, it is not the main reason for the programme’s dire financial outlook. What does the government know about overall fraud? In April, the Government Accountability Office under President Joe Biden produced what it called a “first-of-its kind, government-wide estimate of federal dollars lost to fraud”. Advertisement The office’s estimate of $233bn to $521bn lost in fraud per year covered 2018-2022 data in reports from agency inspectors general and fraud reports submitted to the Office of Management and Budget. Musk cited the high end of the range when he said “half a trillion”. The White House didn’t respond to our question about the source of his $600bn to $700bn figure. The GAO’s top-line figures included not only official fraud findings from legal proceedings but also estimates from individual agencies’ findings of fraud. The agency also extrapolated figures it believed represented undetected fraud. The estimated losses represent about 3 percent to 7 percent of average federal outlays. The Office of Management and Budget, the agency that assists the president in meeting his budget goals, found a lower figure of federal government fraud, from $4.41bn to $7.31bn annually, based on amounts confirmed through a judicial or adjudication process. Experts on the federal budget said it’s important to pay attention to the full analysis in the government reports. Joshua Sewell, director of research and policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said taxpayers should view these numbers with a “massive grain of salt”. The report is filled with caveats and is likely not representative of other years because of the increase in pandemic spending. “It’s a fine report to try to put numbers to an amorphous issue, but you can’t take the high-end numbers as a definitive statement on the dollar amount of fraud that exists in federal spending,” he said. Advertisement It is possible that about 5 percent of the annual federal budget is lost to fraud and some programmes have improper payment rates in excess of 10 percent, said Bob Westbrooks, executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a government committee Congress created five years ago. But the phrase “improper payments” doesn’t necessarily mean fraud; it includes scenarios with insufficient documentation. “Whatever the number, it is huge in absolute terms,” Westbrooks said, referring to all fraud. Westbrooks said Musk was conflating fraud and waste and ignoring that COVID-19-era fraud was likely pushing up the government’s estimated range, as the report itself noted. The Government Accountability Office said the range is a “reflection of both the uncertainty associated with estimating fraud and the diversity in the risk environments that were present in fiscal years 2018 through 2022”. What do we know about Social Security fraud? At the March 11 White House briefing, Leavitt cited an inspector general report from the Social Security Administration that found more than $70bn of fraud in that programme alone. The 2024 report did not conclude there was more than $70bn in Social Security “fraud”. It said the programme sent almost $71.8bn in “improper payments” from 2015 to 2022, a period that includes Trump’s first term. That is less than 1 percent of overall payments in that timeframe. On Fox Business, Musk said “there’s a massive amount of fraud” with people submitting fake Social Security numbers to receive a range of government benefits, including Social Security, healthcare and unemployment assistance. Advertisement Most of the improper payouts revealed by the inspector general were overpayments with some underpayments. This happens, for example, when beneficiaries fail to report necessary information or the administration fails to update records, the 2024 inspector general report said. Neither represents criminal intent necessarily. The Social Security Administration has long struggled to curb improper payments. “Without better access to data, increased automation, systems modernisation, and policy or legislative changes, improper payments will continue to be an issue