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Former congresswoman turned VA gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger accused of ethics violation

Former Democratic Congresswoman from Virginia Abigail Spanberger is being accused by her GOP opponent in the upcoming Virginia governor’s race of failing to include her role as a trustee in financial disclosure reports while she was a member of Congress. The campaign for Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is aiming to replace incumbent GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin, is calling the incomplete disclosures “a calculated lie,” not an “accident.” But, according to Spanberger’s campaign, the only asset contained in the trust is Spanberger’s personal residence, which is not required to be disclosed. In 2017, according to local real estate records, Spanberger and her husband updated their will and, as part of that process, transferred ownership of their home into a trust that listed the pair’s kids as the beneficiaries. They bought it for roughly half-a-million dollars, and it is now worth close to one-million. DOJ ASKS TO DISMISS VIRGINIA CASE AGAINST SALVADORAN ACCUSED MS-13 LEADER SET TO BE DEPORTED After opening the trust, Spanberger did not include it in any of her annual financial disclosure reports that are mandated by Congress while serving in the House of Representatives .Nor did she include it in a “Virginia Economic Interest Statement” filed last month. “Personal residences that do not earn income are not required to be disclosed, so Abigail did not disclose her family’s only home — as doing so would make their home address publicly available,” the Spanberger campaign told Fox News Digital. “Abigail filed her disclosures in accordance with House Ethics rules, which do not require her to disclose her role as a trustee of a living trust holding only her family’s home.” However, the Earle-Sears campaign says that Spanberger’s explanations of privacy and wanting to keep her family safe fall short. “Abigail Spanberger got caught hiding a trust — and not just any trust, but one holding nearly a million dollars in assets,” Earle-Sears campaign press secretary Peyton Vogel said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “That’s not an accident — that’s a calculated lie. Disclosure forms don’t require anyone to put their families at risk — only honesty. If she’s willing to lie about something this serious, Virginians just can’t trust her.” VIRGINIA SCHOOL PUTS UP CONTROVERSIAL ABCS DISPLAY ON WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, STARTING WITH ‘A IS FOR ABORTION’ Additionally, the Earle-Sears campaign has pointed to Congress’ House Ethics Manual requirement that members of Congress “must disclose any nongovernmental positions, whether or not compensated, that they currently hold,” including the position of “trustee.” Spanberger joined Congress representing a district in the northern part of Virginia in 2018, and was reelected in two subsequent election cycles — 2020 and 2022. Spanberger did not seek reelection in 2024, but is now running to replace Youngkin after he is term-limited later this year. Earle-Sears was elected lieutenant governor in 2021, cementing herself in the history books as the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Virginia. Both candidates have been tapped by their respective parties to be their candidate in the upcoming November general election, according to local media reports. Cook-political report currently labels the race as a toss-up.

Fox News Politics Newsletter: Boasberg V. Trump

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… -Third top DOD staffer Collin Carroll on administrative leave -New bipartisan tax proposal could give your family more money -Grassley, Johnson press DOJ IG to respond on whether ‘untasked’ undercover agents were present on Jan. 6 A federal judge said Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return two planes deporting migrants to El Salvador last month, a major update that comes as tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary have reached a fever pitch. In a 48-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that the court had determined that the Trump administration had demonstrated a “willful disregard” for his March 15 emergency order, which temporarily halted all deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to allow the court to better consider the merits of the case. Boasberg had also ordered all planes bound for El Salvador to be “immediately” returned to U.S. soil — which did not happen. Hundreds of migrants arrived in El Salvador later that evening, where the individuals were detained in a sprawling, maximum-security Salvadorian prison…Read more DUFFY ON DRONES: Duffy contrasts Biden-era ‘drone fiasco’ with Trump admin’s ‘radical transparency’ after FAA announces testing ECONOMIC PRIORITIES: JD Vance gears up to talk economic priorities during trips to Italy, India SEWAGE CRISIS: EPA chief takes on Mexican ‘sewage crisis’ flowing into US waters where Navy SEALs train TRUMP VS COURTS: Bondi defiant, says Abrego Garcia will stay in El Salvador ‘end of the story’ NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: Elise Stefanik considering bid for NY gov HEATING UP: Kentucky senate race heats up as signs point to Andy Barr joining the field CARTEL CRACKDOWN: Inside House Republicans’ new task force to battle criminal Mexican cartels TERROR ‘DETERRENCE’: Bipartisan senators push tougher penalties for foreign-backed crimes on US soil ‘KICK CORPORATE A–‘: Senate Republican DOGE leader Joni Ernst faces first Democratic challenger in 2026 race RESISTING TRUMP: Bernie Sanders, AOC and other anti-Trump progressives haul in big bucks for 2026 midterms TARGETING VANCE: Dem rising star eyes Vance as key long-term threat: ‘Needs to be defeated’ MUSK-PROOF’: Colorado Dems move to divert $4M in taxpayer dollars to fight Trump admin in court ‘FORK IN THE ROAD’: HUD reveals how many staffers packed their bags and took deferred resignation offer MIAMI ICE: ICE partnership will build ‘public trust,’ vice mayor of town with large Venezuelan community says MARKET MANIPULATION?: Longtime Trump foe Letitia James reviewing possible insider trading over president’s tariff pause ‘APPALLING AND DISTURBING’: Illegal immigrant arrested for incest with teenager, released by Va. jail captured by ICE Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Trump admin asks IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status

The Trump administration has asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, sources within the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed to Fox News. The Ivy League school’s failure to address antisemitism on campus is grounds for losing its 501(c)(3) status, Fox News’ sources said. The IRS is expected to make a final decision soon on Harvard’s tax exemption, according to CNN, which was first to report the story. In a recent social media post, President Donald Trump claimed that Harvard had “lost its way” and didn’t deserve federal funding. STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,’” Trump wrote. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.” “Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges,” he continued. “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.” TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO CHOP DOWN MAGNOLIA TREE PURPORTEDLY PLANTED BY ANDREW JACKSON: ‘MUST COME TO AN END’ The developments come less than three weeks after the Justice Department announced a “comprehensive review” of federal contracts and government-funded grants at Harvard University. Citing an ambition to eliminate antisemitism on campuses, and coming on the heels of a similar move against Columbia University, the Department of Education said that over $255.6 million in contracts between Harvard, its affiliates and the federal government would be reviewed, plus nearly $9 billion worth of grants. “Harvard has served as a symbol of the American Dream for generations — the pinnacle aspiration for students all over the world to work hard and earn admission to the storied institution,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said at the time. “Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic [sic] discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy.”

Underperforming DC schools’ staff has grown 7 times faster than enrollment: audit

An audit of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) found staffing levels in the district have increased at a rate of seven-and-a-half times more than student enrollment, while simultaneously student achievement levels in the district still remain behind pre-pandemic levels for most students. The Office of the District of Columbia Auditor found that over a five-year period, while student enrollment grew by 2.6%, the number of staff increased by 19.5%. This amounts to roughly 1,600 new positions funded by the district since Fiscal Year 2020, and an approximately 43% increase in per-pupil spending. Meanwhile, both in D.C. and nationally, students are still trying to find their way back to pre-pandemic achievement levels. EDUCATORS HOPE ‘ABYSMAL’ NATIONAL LITERACY RATES WILL BE ADDRESSED NOW THAT DEI, GENDER IDEOLOGY OUT THE DOOR “DC Public Schools works every day to help all our scholars reach their full potential. This recent report highlights a staffing strategy that prioritizes teachers and led to increases in enrollment and academic performance that stands out from other urban school districts. DCPS will work with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to identify ways to improve data systems to demonstrate the district’s continued fiscal stewardship,” DCPS press secretary Evan Lambert told Fox News Digital in response to the audit’s findings. “Following the sunset of federal pandemic relief, DCPS has increased local funding to schools by decreasing the overall number of Central Services staff.” The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, known colloquially as the nation’s report card, showed some improvements since the assessment was last released in 2022, but student achievement levels in reading and math nationally remain below 2019 levels for most students. In D.C. specifically, students saw better improvement than most big urban districts, but students in the nation’s capital have still not yet fully returned to pre-pandemic achievement levels, per the nation’s report card. The United States is the third-biggest spender among the 40 other developed nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on per-pupil spending, according to the Education Data Initiative. The pandemic spurred a massive influx of cash into the public school system as well, but many districts were found to be putting all that extra funding toward staff salaries and bonuses, as opposed to things directly related to student achievement. A FAILING NATION’S REPORT CARD PROVES NEED FOR SWEEPING CHANGE In North Carolina, the Wake County Public School System spent 78% of its total pandemic relief funding on salaries and employee benefits. In Chicago’s public schools system 77% of the district’s pandemic money went to staff bonuses, salaries and benefits. “Thanks to an infusion of $190 billion in federal relief funds, schools have been on a hiring spree over the last few years,” stated an analysis by nonprofit education news group The 74. “For example, before the pandemic, Los Angeles Unified was reducing its teacher count pretty much in line with its declining enrollment. But with the infusion of federal (and state) funds, Los Angeles kept staffing levels constant despite further enrollment declines. Gwinnett County in Georgia shows a similar bifurcated trend. Its staffing and enrollment lines were moving in tandem until the federal funds drove a rapid increase in hiring.” The 74, which stands for the 74 million American school children enrolled in K-12 schools across America, examined staffing and enrollment levels in over 9,500 school districts across the country, comprising roughly 92% of all K-12 students nationwide. The nonprofit education newsgroup found that almost 3,000 districts saw staff levels increase despite enrollment declines. Others, according to the analysis, shrunk their staff counts, but not as quickly as they lost students, while another category included districts that gained students but increased their staffing levels even faster. According to The 74, public schools overall added approximately 121,000 employees last year overall, even though they served about 110,000 fewer students. RANDI WEINGARTEN: TRUMP’S DECISION TO GUT THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS NOT ONLY ILLEGAL, IT’S WRONG President Donald Trump and Republicans have taken steps to put greater control over school funding in the hands of individual states, as opposed to the federal government. Last month, he signed an executive order meant to effectively dismantle the U.S. Department of Education through transferring its educational authority to the states. Last week, GOP senators also introduced a bill to close the department. “Despite per-pupil spending having increased by more than 245% [since the 1970s,] there has been virtually no measurable improvement in student achievement,” Trump’s March 20 order stated. “President Donald J. Trump and his administration believe we can, and must, be better.”

Mother of woman raped, murdered by illegal immigrant speaks at WH as Dems travel to El Salvador

Rachel Morin’s mom shares horrific details of daughter’s murder, slams her senator for trip to El Salvador

The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday. Patty Morin’s appearance comes as her senator, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident and El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang. “To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.” Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. A jury in the Harford County Circuit court found Victor Martinez-Hernandez, originally from El Salvador guilty on all counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping. Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. However, following Martinez-Hernandez’s conviction, Van Hollen issued a statement vowing to bolster border security while also “supporting our immigrant communities.” “While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice.” Martinez-Hernandez attacked Rachel Morin, 37, in August 2023 on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a trail Patty Morin said the family had walked for 25 years as Maryland residents. DEMOCRATS PRIORITIZING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OVER CITIZENS IS ‘MIND-BOGGLING,’ WHITE HOUSE SAYS “When she went on that trail that day, she was not planning on dying. She wasn’t planning on walking to her death,” Patty Morin told reporters. “She was planning on going to the grocery store with her girls afterwards. Victor Martinez, he waited for her. He waited for her to come closer. He saw her. He saw that there was nobody around, he attacked her. He dragged her 150 feet, blood gushing from her head.” Patty Morin shared with the press the horrific details of her daughter’s murder, including how Martinez-Hernandez raped and strangled her daughter after crushing her skull like an “eggshell.” Patty Morin said photos of the brutal attack show that not “one inch” of her daughter’s body remained free from injury. These photos have since been sealed because they are so graphic, she said. “You could see where the blood ran down around her as he was raping her, and then he threw her down, and raped her some more, and then he strangled her because he didn’t want her to be able to live to tell the story,” Patty Morin said. Patty Morin also shared that Martinez-Hernandez did not appear to express any remorse in the courtroom for his actions. “These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country,” Patty Morin said. “These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country. We are American citizens. Why should we allow people like this, violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?” Patty Morin also urged the press to not sanitize their news coverage of her daughter’s death. “Please tell the truth,” she said. “Tell how violent it really is. This is about protecting our children. It’s more than just politics or votes or anything, it’s about national security.” Meanwhile, Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday in an attempt to meet with Garcia. The Trump administration’s Justice Department admitted that it deported Garcia in an “administrative error.” BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s order that “requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” While Van Hollen met with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay during his trip, he was not permitted to visit Garcia at the prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT). However, Van Hollen told reporters he would continue to try to meet with him in the future. “I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.” Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

Blue state senator flies to El Salvador to visit deported migrant in prison, only to be denied

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, was denied a visit with a Salvadoran migrant and accused MS-13 member who was deported to El Salvador, after flying to the country on Wednesday morning. Van Hollen intended to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, though his attorneys maintain he does not have any gang ties. Van Hollen spoke to reporters from El Salvador on Wednesday afternoon, when he vowed to continue pressing for access to Abrego Garcia. He met with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay because President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez was out of the country, though Van Hollen said he was grateful to speak about the case of Abrego Garcia. LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS “I asked the vice president if I could meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia, and he said, ‘well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,’” Van Hollen said. He told Ulloa that he was not interested in taking a tour of CECOT and that he just wanted to meet with Abrego Garcia. “He said he was not able to make that happen,” Van Hollen said of Ulloa. When Van Hollen asked if he could come back next week to see Abrego Garcia, Ulloa told him he could not promise that, either. Ulloa also told the U.S. senator that he could not even arrange for him, or Abrego Garcia’s family to speak with the inmate over the phone. EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE SAYS US CANNOT ‘FREE CRIMINALS AND THINK CRIME IS GOING TO GO DOWN MAGICALLY’ The senator said the situation in El Salvador is “unjust,” and he accused the Trump administration of lying about Abrego Garcia. “I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.” The Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from CECOT where federal officials have sent hundreds of suspected criminals and gang members. The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from coming back to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” TRUMP SPARS WITH ‘LOW-RATED’ CNN ANCHOR OVER DEPORTATION OF EL SALVADOR MIGRANT This has caused no small outrage from Democrats, with Van Hollen being the first to announce plans to travel to El Salvador to help secure Abrego Garcia’s release. “Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Admin and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador,” Van Hollen on Tuesday. “He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family,” he went on. “I’m flying to El Salvador tomorrow morning to check on his condition and discuss his return.” EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE SAYS US CANNOT ‘FREE CRIMINALS AND THINK CRIME IS GOING TO GO DOWN MAGICALLY’ Van Hollen is not the only Democrat discussing visiting Abrego Garcia and other imprisoned migrants. Far left Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, and Robert Garcia, D-California, issued a joint letter on Tuesday in which they said they are “prepared to travel as soon as possible.” In their letter, which was sent to House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Kentucky, on Tuesday, Frost and Garcia requested authorization to send a congressional delegation to visit CECOT to “conduct a welfare check” on Garcia and other deported migrants at the prison. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

‘Not a Maryland man’: GOP blasts Democratic senator for fighting to return Salvadoran national

FIRST ON FOX: Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen drew wide rebuke for his sudden trip to El Salvador, during which he hopes to bring back deported Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Garcia is currently imprisoned in the South American country – and President Nayib Bukele indicated it would be “preposterous” to try to send him back to the U.S. Van Hollen made waves Wednesday morning when he posted a selfie-video before flying to San Salvador, and calling the goal of his “mission” to let both countries’ governments know he won’t stop fighting until Garcia returns to Maryland. Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the Old Line State’s delegation, slammed Van Hollen and contrasted the situation with Rachel Morin – who was murdered by an illegal immigrant found guilty Monday in Bel Air. BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR: ‘END OF THE STORY’ “The most striking… double standard, is that Rachel Morin, who was a constituent of mine, was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from El Salvador,” Harris said. “And Chris Van Hollen is not spending much time on that issue, but he’s taking time to go to El Salvador to bring back a citizen of El Salvador to the United States who had entered the country illegally and which an immigration court… found evidence that he was an MS-13 gang member.” Van Hollen did release a print statement after Morin’s killer was convicted, saying he was grateful to law enforcement and calling for “meaningful action” to reform “our broken immigration system.” “We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue,” Van Hollen said. DOJ INDICATES TRUMP ADMIN NOT OBLIGATED TO RETURN MAN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR, PUSHING BACK ON JUDICIARY White House communications director Steven Cheung mocked Van Hollen “and his bedwetting friends” for showing “more concern and sympathy for an illegal MS-13 gang member than victims of horrific migrant crimes.” Van Hollen previously had a mixed voting record on the illegal immigration issue. He voted against the Laken Riley Act in January and publicly objected to the first Trump administration deporting two Salvadoran men in 2017 who were scholastic soccer stars. “Shame on President Trump for tearing apart hardworking immigrant families. We should be focused on MS-13, not scholarship winners,” he said. Harris said efforts to “repatriate” Garcia to Maryland are also factually misguided. “This gentleman has already been repatriated – back to El Salvador; the country of his citizenship. That is where he belongs.” “Rachel Morin, in fact, was a Maryland woman; This gentleman is not a Maryland man,” he said, in reference to how Garcia has been described in the press. “We should probably worry about our own citizens before we worry about citizens of other countries.” Harris also lamented expending taxpayer funds for the trip, “to bring a citizen of a foreign country who entered America illegally back into the United States.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took criticisms a step further, suggesting Van Hollen may be “flirting with treason” and saying Garcia is already “home, in El Salvador.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also cited Morin’s murder in their rebuke of Van Hollen, claiming he has done more to bring “a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland” than he has to advocate for victims of gang violence. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Van Hollen’s stance did receive one prominent Maryland defender, with Gov. Wes Moore telling Fox News Digital, “We can be pro-public safety and pro-Constitution at the same time.” “We support Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s efforts to check on his health and safety and bring peace of mind to Kilmar’s family in Maryland – his wife, their 5-year-old child, and his two stepchildren, all who are U.S. citizens.” “Despite a unanimous Supreme Court decision, Trump is refusing to return Kilmar and is now even threatening to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador.” Fox News Digital reached out to Van Hollen for comment but did not hear back.

RFK Jr attributes rise in autism to environmental factors, while CDC points to improved diagnostic practices

While autism experts claim that the rise in cases stems from greater awareness and improved diagnostic testing, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shut down that idea Wednesday and, instead, attributed the rise in cases to environmental factors. Those who discount that environmental exposure is a factor in rising autism cases are engaging in “epidemic denial,” Kennedy told reporters Wednesday. Kennedy appeared at HHS’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss the latest findings on autism included in a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey released Tuesday. “This is coming from an environmental toxin, and somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food,” Kennedy said. “And it’s to their benefit to say ‘Oh, to normalize it, to say all this is all normal, it’s always been here.’ That’s not good for our country.” RFK JR. CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF FLUORIDE FROM DRINKING WATER, SPARKING DEBATE Even so, the CDC’s own new survey Kennedy addressed found that autism prevalence is on the rise and said the increase “might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.” Specifically, the survey found that one in 31 8-year-old children were diagnosed with autism in 2022 – up from one in 36 in 2000. Additionally, the survey determined that autism rates were far more common for boys than girls. While one in 20 boys is diagnosed with autism, those numbers go down to one in 70 for girls. While Kennedy acknowledged Wednesday there may be some genetic vulnerabilities that could contribute to increased odds of an autism diagnosis, he said the autism rates spiked starting in 1989 and that some new environmental toxin must have been introduced around that time. “Why are we not seeing it in older people? Why is this only happening in young people?” Kennedy said. “Have you ever seen anybody our age – I’m 71 years old – with full blown autism? Head-banging, non-verbal, non-toilet-trained.” As a result, Kennedy said HHS’ studies would examine toxins including mold, pesticides, air, water, different medications, as well as the age and obesity rates of parents, among other things. “We’re going to look at all the potential culprits,” Kennedy said. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the apparent discrepancy between Kennedy’s remarks and the CDC survey. UTAH BANS FLUORIDE FROM PUBLIC DRINKING WATER, ALIGNING WITH MAHA MOVEMENT Kennedy signaled Thursday in a Cabinet meeting at the White House that the administration would kick off a massive research initiative to understand the cause of autism by September. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy and legal advocacy on behalf of those with autism, pushed back against Kennedy’s statements in the Cabinet meeting and claimed Kennedy refused to acknowledge studies that point to genes as the underlying cause of autism. “There is no evidence that autism is actually becoming more common (rather, we as a society are getting better at identifying it, and diagnostic standards have appropriately been widened),” the network said in a Thursday statement. “Even if it were, however, autistic and other disabled people belong in our society. To claim otherwise, and to speak as though our existence is some kind of calamity that must be eliminated, is a form of eugenics.”

SCOOP: HUD reveals how many staffers have packed their bags and taken resignation offers

FIRST ON FOX: Roughly 2,300 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees have opted to take deferred resignation offers since January, Fox News Digital learned. “To continue serving the American people at the highest standard, we are taking inventory of all programs and personnel while maintaining a strong workforce that is dedicated to supporting our most vulnerable and promoting pathways to self-sufficiency,” Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “The Deferred Resignation Program carries out President Trump’s commitment to efficiency in the federal government by providing a pathway for employees to wish to seek new opportunities while also affording the agency an opportunity to streamline our operations.” The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered deferred resignations to federal employees earlier in 2025, which closed in February. The deferred resignation initiative offered staffers eight months of pay and benefits if they parted ways with their federal government jobs. HUD announced the launch of a second resignation offer March 31 to employees “who wish they had taken” OPM’s offer. Roughly 2,300 HUD employees have taken the deferred resignation offers, with slight fluctuations possible as they iron out final agreements with staffers, Fox Digital learned. Ahead of the Trump administration, HUD employed nearly 10,000 individuals. HUD OFFICES BECAME AS VACANT AS A ‘SPIRIT HALLOWEEN’ STORE UNDER BIDEN: ADMIN SOURCES “On week 1, President Trump went straight to work on reforming the federal workforce. One option offered to federal employees was a ‘fork in the road’ to separate from the federal workforce,” HUD posted to its official X account March 31. HUD CHIEF PUTS ILLEGAL ALIENS LIVING IN GOVERNMENT-FUNDED HOUSING ON NOTICE: AMERICANS ARE ‘OUR ONLY PRIORITY’ “The option to take the fork in the road closed on February 12, 2025. Since then, we have heard from staff who wish they had taken it. Today, we’re launching a second Deferred Resignation Program or ‘fork in the road’ in coordination with OPM that opens today and closes on Friday, April 11, 2025. Under the Biden administration, HUD reportedly had become desolate as staffers worked from home and rarely visited its massive Washington headquarters. Fox News Digital reported in February that HUD’s headquarters became as empty as an off-season “Spirit Halloween” store under the Biden administration, which had left offices relatively untouched since the first Trump administration. LIBERAL NORTH CAROLINA CITY’S DEI PLAN FOR HURRICANE RELIEF SHUT DOWN BY HUD SECRETARY “For four years, the American people witnessed their government buildings transform overnight into massive, taxpayer-funded ‘Spirit Halloween’ stores,” a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital at the time. President Donald Trump signed a memo on his first day back in the Oval Office ordering agency heads to terminate remote work arrangements that had been ongoing since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Turner told Fox Digital in February that upon his confirmation, “the four year vacation” for staffers was “over.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “This is a huge disservice to the American people and a massive waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” Turner told Fox Digital in February. “Let me be clear – the four-year vacation is over.” “I’ve been on many teams in my career, and I know from experience that in-person teamwork ensures accountability and fosters an environment of collaboration, creativity and communication,” he said. “At HUD, we’re getting back to work for the American people.”

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