Kash Patel reveals FBI’s capture of all 10 members of Most Wanted fugitive’s list during hearing
The FBI has apprehended all 10 members of the FBI’s Most Wanted list during President Donald Trump’s second term, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed during an appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during his opening statements as the committee’s chairman, lauded Patel and the FBI for their work in capturing nine of the 10 most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s top 10 list. Patel, during his opening remarks, corrected Grassley, revealing that his agency had just this past weekend caught the tenth fugitive. “Mr. Chairman, I’m proud to announce today, and I hate to correct you, we haven’t captured nine of the top 10 most [wanted] individuals on our list. We’ve captured 10,” Patel said. FBI CAPTURES TOP TEN MOST WANTED FUGITIVE WITH ALLEGED SINALOA CARTEL TIES, PATEL SAYS “Just this past weekend, we captured a thug down in Venezuela who was on our most wanted list and on the run for years. He has been captured, apprehended and is on his way back to the United States of America. That’s 10 of 10. Nobody in the FBI history has done that,” Patel said. HIGHEST-RANKING TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBER EVER EXTRADITED TO US SET TO APPEAR IN HOUSTON COURTROOM: DOJ “We, the FBI, captured more than two and a half times the number of the top 10 most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s list from the prior administration,” he also said. While Patel did not say the name of the fugitive during the hearing, the FBI earlier revealed exclusively to Fox News Digital that the 10th capture was that of Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, the FBI’s first ever “cyber fugitive.” Aguirre led “a large international conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from financial institutions in support of the Tren de Aragua, through an ATM jackpotting scheme since at least 2024,” the FBI told Fox News Digital. In addition to a clean sweep of the top 10 fugitives, Patel also revealed that his FBI has also captured six of the top 10 most wanted fraudsters on the top 10 fraudsters list, a compilation his FBI created during the current administration. FBI TOUTS 6,000 ARRESTS, 44% HOMICIDE DROP ONE YEAR INTO TRUMP’S DC CRIME CRACKDOWN Patel also outlined the broader progress the Trump administration has made towards making the U.S. safer. “On top of that, we’ve captured six of the most wanted fraudsters around the world, taking the murder rate down 20 points is no easy effort. It requires a team lift, state, local and international partners. This includes results in cities like Baltimore, which reached its lowest mid-year homicide numbers in recorded history,” he said. TRUMP’S LAW-AND-ORDER BLITZ MARKS ONE YEAR WITH EYE-POPPING HAUL OF SUSPECTS, GUNS IN BLUE CITY “This year in Memphis, we accomplished a 50% reduction in homicide for a city that had the highest per capita homicide rate in the country, thanks to the president’s task force. And right here in Washington, D.C., we are on track to have the lowest homicide numbers since 1990,” Patel added. Fox News Digital contacted the FBI for further comment. Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Vance’s intimate Capitol Hill huddle as Republicans confront tough midterm terrain
EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance energized Republicans during a huddle on Capitol Hill Tuesday where he urged lawmakers to “kick a–” in the 49 days before the midterm elections, according to audio obtained by Fox News Digital from a person in the room. He wants members of Congress who are on the campaign trail to tell Americans how Trump administration’s policies benefit them daily. “There’s people out there right now whose lives are going to get better, or their lives are going to get worse based on whether we’re in the majority or whether we’re in the minority,” Vance told the Republican lawmakers in spelling out the stakes of the 2026 midterms. “There are going to be people who are going to be poorer. Who are going to be less able to afford their prescription drugs, who are going to be less safe in the homes in their neighborhoods if the other guys get the majority,” he continued. “And there are people who are going to be able to walk down the street in safety if you guys keep the majority. If we keep the majority together.” Specifically, Vance told incumbents to hammer home the issue of crime, noting that the homicide rate has reached a 126-year low. Vance explained that in a country of 330 million people, that crime stat translates to “thousands of people,” including mothers and fathers, who are coming home to their families instead of being victims of deadly crimes. FBI REPORTS LARGEST DROP IN VIOLENT CRIME AND MURDER SINCE 1937 AS HOMICIDES FALL MORE THAN 18% “There are tens of thousands of children who will come home tonight and work on their homework with mom or dad, rather than a stranger, because of what we’ve been able to do in supporting law enforcement,” Vance said in the closed-door meeting. “This is not an abstraction, ladies and gentlemen,” the vice president continued. “This is not about what you see on CNN or Fox News. This is not whether someone with an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to their name wins. This is about whether the American people in this country that we love have a government that they deserve, that protects them, that fights for them, or whether they have a government that treats them as a means to end.” Fox News Digital caught up with Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., after the meeting. “I think he did a great job,” the congressman said. “He’s very good. He’s very personable.” “He’s got some kind of voodoo thing going on where he remembers everybody’s dadgum name,” Burchett told Fox News Digital. “It kind of freaks me out a little bit. But, I mean, every time I’ve run into him — I remember one time I was waiting in line to go to the bathroom and he walked out of the bathroom. ‘Hey, Tim, what’s going on?’ I invited him to a [University of Tennessee] game.” Vance offered some campaign tips to the lawmakers while ribbing the political consulting class for sometimes being out of touch, and saying “the American people are not dumb.” He said voters understand President Donald Trump and his administration inherited problems, including inflation, massive debt and “a country that was weaker on the national stage.” “They know that Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said. THE ONE LINE FROM JD VANCE’S GOP KEYNOTE THAT REVEALS HIS VISION FOR AMERICA The vice president directed members to “pound the pavement” in their home districts to personally connect with as many voters as possible. Just as importantly, Vance said, Republicans in safe districts who have no real opposition from the left should contribute money to the campaigns of fellow Republicans who are in competitive districts. “So here’s the thing, this is not rocket science. You guys know this better than I do, you know your districts better than I do,” Vance said . “We know that most voters, particularly the voters who are open-minded, who are not hardcore partisans, they don’t really start paying attention to the election until right about now.” THUNE-ALIGNED GROUPS UNLEASH HISTORIC WAR CHEST TO DEFEND SENATE MAJORITY: ‘WINNING MESSAGE’ Vance also spoke fondly of when late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined him in Ohio while he was campaigning for the Senate in 2022. “I’ll never forget this,” said Vance. ” Lindsey Graham comes out — I didn’t know Lindsey Graham at all, and you guys know how the campaign trail is in the final stretches. You wake up in a crappy hotel, you haven’t seen your wife, your kids in a few days, and it’s a lot more fun when you have some company out there.” “You’re telling jokes, you’re enjoying it. That energy — people pick up on it. So, get out there and campaign with your friends.” Vance recalled how Graham told him stories that had him “aching with laughter,” half of which he said he could not repeat.
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz’s ‘effective altruism’ network tied to AI regulation push
Concerns about artificial intelligence spelling doom for the human race are being linked to a “cult-like” philanthropy movement known as “effective altruism” supported by billionaire Democratic megadonor and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, according to a policy analyst. In response to former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s resignation announcement on X, Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center in Washington D.C., went viral as he raised questions about whether the resignation was part of a broader network that aims to influence lawmakers and AI policy. “I resigned from Anthropic today,” Coxon’s post read. “I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.” RESEARCHER WHO DEPARTED AI ROLE OVER FEARS OF RACING INTO EXTINCTION SAYS PEOPLE ARE ‘BEGGING’ FOR REGULATION Thayer quoted the post in a response that received interaction online with top lawmakers in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “This post looks like the start of a VERY sophisticated and well-funded PR operation to get support for Democrats to regulate AI into oblivion,” Thayer posted. “The post is punchy, quotable, it almost seems professionally written. The first three accounts to quote tweet it all do so within 15 minutes of the initial posting.” Thayer echoed claims made by White House AI advisor David Sacks that AI fears are overblown and potentially based on political motives. “I think this is becoming a panic,” Sacks told CBS News correspondent Jo Ling Kent. “We’re in an election season, and there is an incentive for political actors to try and amplify the fear. And I think this is a moment to really calm down a little bit and look at the issue rationally.” SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: YES, WE MUST HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON ON AI BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE Coxon told Fox News’ Bret Baier last week that we are “on the doorstep of tremendous discoveries,” but are running in too quickly. He emphasized the need for moderation. Baier asked Coxon if the issue could be figured out. “I think definitely. I think if we actually try instead of submitting to the inevitability of a doomed race or a hubristic gamble, then we can solve it,” he said. “The problem is not unsolvable.” TOP MEDIA OUTLETS FAIL TO DISCLOSE WHO IS BANKROLLING THEIR AI REPORTERS Coxon said he was acting alone when deciding to voice his concerns about the direction of AI, according to The Wall Street Journal. Fox News Digital sat down with Thayer to ask about his theories concerning the coordination behind Coxon’s “sophisticated” resignation, which was in turn met with a slew of national television interviews and immediate notoriety. Almost overnight, Coxon’s post became a major point of policy debate spanning across political parties and politicians, including President Donald Trump and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Thayer did not offer a theory for which individuals or groups might have coordinated with Coxon, who has denied such claims. But Thayer said the “AI doomerism movement” is associated with “effective altruism,” a philosophy he described as “cult-like.” OPINION: REP. TED LIEU: AI IS ALREADY TOO POWERFUL. WE NEED A KILL SWITCH BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES According to the Centre for Effective Altruism, the movement is defined as a “project that aims to find the best ways to help others and put them into practice.” But Thayer noted that while the philanthropic movement may sound high-minded, Silicon Valley elites and members who donate and support “effective altruism” may have much more direct political goals in mind. Thayer did not have evidence that any individuals or groups connected to the effective altruism movement provided public relations or other support for Coxon’s post about his resignation. FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SEE AI REGULATION AS URGENT, RANK SAFEGUARDS AHEAD OF INNOVATION Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna have been leading financial backers of organizations associated with the “effective altruism” movement. The couple founded Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, and remain its “main funders,” according to the organization. Tuna serves as its president. Coefficient Giving says its artificial intelligence work has expanded rapidly, with $168 million committed to AI safety, security and field-building in 2024 and $351 million in 2025 — a combined $519 million. The organization says it is on track to commit more than $1 billion to AI policy advocacy in 2026. In a 2021 grant application description, the organization cited that it seeks “to fund programs and events in a variety of areas of interest to Coefficient Giving — including effective altruism, global catastrophic risks, biosecurity, AI for epistemics, forecasting, and other areas.” Moskovitz, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of roughly $10 billion, contributed more than $50 million to support the Biden-Harris campaign from 2020 to 2024, including $46.89 million to the Future Forward PAC, which served as the main fundraising vessel for the failed presidential campaign. TRUMP UNLOADS ON TECH TITANS PUSHING FOR SLOWDOWN ON EMERGING INDUSTRY: ‘WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!’ On Monday, the Department of War Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering posted to X: “Americanism, not effective altruism. The United States will continue to be AI DOMINANT!” As for the reasoning behind “effective altruism’s” commitment to the artificial intelligence policy space, Thayer said the fearmongering technique is comparable to the climate change narrative that has been traditionally peddled by the Democratic Party. “They basically just say kind of in the same vein as climate change activists like Al Gore used to, they kind of just make bombastic doomsday projections without citing really a whole lot of easily discernible evidence and just expect us to trust their expertise,” Thayer explained. “First, they got you scared of the data centers based on a bunch of sketchy arguments about water pollution supposedly, and supposedly raising your electric prices, which don’t seem to actually be true,” he added. “And now they’re getting you scared of the
Kamala Harris viciously mocked with resurfaced bumbling ‘two words’ explanation of AI after desperate call
Former Vice President and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris is being mocked over a resurfaced clip of her “two letters” explanation of artificial intelligence after she posted a call to slow its development. Harris, who previously served as the Biden administration’s AI czar, posted a lengthy statement on AI on Monday. In her post, Harris called for President Donald Trump to “do his job to protect America’s interests by pursuing a treaty with countries like China to stop dangerous uses of AI, limit the speed of its development, and adopt global standards for testing.” In response, social media users recalled Harris’ attempt at explaining AI as vice president in 2023. “I think the first part of this issue that should be articulated is AI is kind of a fancy thing,” Harris said. “First of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence, but ultimately what it is is it’s about machine learning.” WATCH: KAMALA HARRIS TORCHED OVER ‘ZERO SENSE’ WNBA PEP TALK IN LATEST ‘WORD SALAD’ MOMENT She continued, saying, “And so, the machine is taught — and part of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine — and we can predict then, if we think about what information is going in, what then will be produced in terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process.” “So,” she went on even further, “to reduce it down to its most simple point, this is part of the issue that we have here is thinking about what is going into a decision, and then whether that decision is actually legitimate and reflective of the needs and the life experiences of all the people.” After Harris’ X post on Monday, conservative influencer “Western Lensman” reposted the 2023 video of Harris, writing, “Kamala Harris on AI when it’s not a written statement crafted by a team of consultants.” National security and global economics expert Kyle Bass reacted, “There’s not a chance in hell Kamala wrote this. Have you ever heard her say ‘frontier,’ ‘advancing,’ and ‘intelligence’ in the same sentence? Until now, her misfits had never produced anything this un-Kamala and then posted it on social media.” Columnist S.L. Kanthan wrote, “One of the dumbest women now wants America to voluntarily slow down progress in AI.” He posted another video of Harris explaining cloud storage. Harris said, “No longer are you necessarily keeping those private files in some file cabinet that’s locked in the basement of the house. It’s on your laptop, and it’s then, therefore, up here in this cloud, that exists above us, right?” Author and national security expert Sarah Adams commented on Harris’ AI post, writing, “No one is looking for your thoughts on ‘intelligence.’” Another user, influencer Andrew Aziz, and several others suggested that Harris’ post itself was AI-generated. KAMALA HARRIS DIVES INTO MIDTERM FIGHT ONLY TO GET ROASTED FOR NEVER HAVING ‘AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT IN HER LIFE’ In her post, Harris wrote that AI is “advancing at an alarming speed,” emphasizing what she characterized as industry leaders’ call to “responsibly slow the pace of frontier AI development.” She wrote that “a slowdown is critical in order to ensure AI serves the public interest,” saying, “Pacing AI development does not mean giving up on this technology’s potential to produce life-saving benefits in fields like medicine — some of which we are already seeing. Rather, it is about setting up sensible guardrails so that AI does not completely escape human control and endanger our safety and collective future.” Besides action from Trump, Harris called on Congress to “work at an urgent pace” to provide AI oversight, saying, “The United States must continue to lead the world in developing AI technology even as we seek to impose common-sense safety standards.” Harris is not the only prominent Democrat to have called for increased AI regulation recently. Former President Barack Obama urged Democrats during a private fundraiser in New York City on Thursday to place artificial intelligence near the center of their political agenda ahead of the midterms and the 2028 presidential race while warning that the technology could become dangerous without greater oversight as voters increasingly raise concerns about jobs, privacy and data centers. “This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous,” Obama said. “If we do get on top of it, I do think it’s beneficial. I genuinely think it’s going to accelerate, for example, drug development in ways that can help us cure diseases. I do think that this can help us figure out pathways for a clean energy future.” ANTHROPIC CEO CALLS ON AI INDUSTRY TO SLOW DOWN TECH RACE, DRAWING SUPPORT FROM ELON MUSK, SAM ALTMAN Meanwhile, Trump on Monday rejected growing calls for safeguards and restrictions on AI, declaring that the technology needs a “STRONG AND SMART” president rather than additional restraints. “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He suggested that “there is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” adding, “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.” Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
‘Still waiting on the DOGE check’: Battleground state voters cast doubt on Trump’s new $5K promise
Voters squeezed by rising costs are skeptical of President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend — with at least one resident pointing to a previous DOGE dividend proposal that never materialized. “I feel like that’s a pitch to get more votes,” Yolanda Lewis told Fox News Digital. “I’m still waiting on the DOGE check that he promised that we never received, so until he gives us a definite date saying when we’re gonna get that and receive it, then I’ll take that into consideration.” Trump suggested in February 2025 that a portion of savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could be returned to taxpayers, while Elon Musk entertained a proposal that envisioned payments of as much as $5,000. Trump later backed the idea of returning 20% of DOGE savings to Americans. DOGE reported $110.3 billion in savings from contracts, grants and leases, though a Government Accountability Office review later found that some of its estimates were inaccurate or lacked sufficient supporting evidence. Now, with affordability a top-of-mind issue for voters across the country, Trump has unveiled a new “Trump dividend” plan at the Midterm GOP Convention last Wednesday that would give $5,000 to American adults if Republicans maintain control of Congress. Several Detroit voters, interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Detroit Health Department’s annual Block Party on Sept. 12, rejected the proposal, with some calling it a “bribe” and others questioning whether the money would ever be paid out. TRUMP MAKES STUNNING FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CASH PROMISE IN BID TO RALLY GOP VOTERS AT DALLAS MIDTERM CONVENTION “I think it’s kind of irresponsible because what is the long-term impact of this money?” Jahdante Smith, the Green Party candidate for the state House of Representatives 9th district, told Fox News Digital. Smith, who supports Medicare for All, pointed to the nation’s roughly $40 trillion debt in questioning how the proposal would be funded. “So where does that money come from? Where do you divert those funds from? Also, I think that it is sort of a bribe,” Smith said. Michigan, which Trump won by 1.4% in 2024, has become a key battleground in the fight for Senate control as Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Saye and Republican Mike Rogers are both vying for Michigan’s open Senate seat. El-Sayed called Trump’s $5,000 proposal “unserious” during a rally in Lansing, Michigan. “Funny thing about it is like there’s no world in which you can pay for it,” El-Sayed said. “So how about you actually do some governing and like solve the Social Security problem. How about we guarantee people health care so they don’t have to pay so much for that.” Rogers’ campaign did not directly comment on the former congressman’s stance on Trump’s $5,000 dividend plan. Instead, it pointed to El-Sayed’s support for implementing a progressive tax plan. “You know what’s not serious? Challenging Mike to a 1:1 football scrimmage, taking money from Designated Terrorist Organizations and advocating to raise taxes for Michiganders while they’re already paying for Democrats’ mismanagement,” said Alyssa Brouillet, communications director for the Rogers campaign. “Funny enough, those are things Abdul does.” Prices are an acute concern in Detroit, where roughly a third of residents live below the federal poverty line. The city’s median household income is below $40,000, according to U.S. census data. “Well, as a city Detroit retiree, affordability is very important, and I think the prices since Trump’s been back in office have gone up on everything, especially gas, diesel, you know, affordabilities went out the window,” William Davis told Fox News Digital. The current cost of gas in Detroit is $4.11 per gallon. Before the Iran war, gas prices hovered between $2.81 and $2.92 per gallon in January. TRUMP FACES RECKONING AS GOP FIGURES LABEL $5K PROMISE A ‘SOCIALIST VOTE-BUYING SCHEME’ Martesha Adams, a young mother and nurse living in Detroit, told Fox News Digital at the Detroit Health Department Block Party that she also viewed the $5,000 proposal as an attempt to win over struggling Americans. “The whole time I feel that he’s been in the office, it’s been a kind of game,” Adams said. “America has been laughed at from everywhere. And the $5K for bribery, that’s nothing. So I hope that people do not go for that bribe, and they really look into the politics.” For Shelby Campbell, a 2023 graduate of Wayne State University, affordability has already forced significant changes. She said she sold her car because she could no longer afford Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance and has struggled to find an affordable rental in Detroit. Campbell called Trump’s $5,000 proposal “disgusting.” “He shouldn’t be able to offer people money if we have one party in office,” Campbell said. “It’s supposed to be about everybody and what we all want and need, so it’s just bribery in my opinion.” Campbell, who said she plans to vote for El-Sayed in the general election, argued that money already plays too large a role in politics. “I think he’s genuinely a good guy, and he wants to get money out of politics, and I am all for that,” Campbell said. “We seriously need that because big corporations buy our elections just like Donald Trump is trying to do.” Other Detroit residents echoed Lewis’ skepticism about whether Trump would actually deliver the proposed payments. BILLIONS SPENT BY KEY FEDERAL AGENCY HASN’T MADE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP ANY EASIER: REPORT Trump also proposed a separate $2,000 dividend last year funded by tariff revenue, though those payments never materialized. “I don’t think it’s realistic to think he’s going to do that,” Davis said of Trump’s latest proposal. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that the $5,000 payments would require congressional approval, while pledging to work toward Trump’s proposal. “I never go out and give big commitments on the front end because I’ve got to work through it, and that’s what we do every single day,” Johnson said. While Trump’s
Trump blasts Supreme Court ‘disaster’ after justices rule against him on mail-in voting
President Donald Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court on Tuesday after justices ruled against his administration on a major mail-in voting initiative. “Republicans just got another bad decision from the United States Supreme Court, one that the Court System took forever to give, and then blamed it, in part, on no time left to implement a solution to our totally CORRUPT and out of control Mail-In voting ‘disaster,’ which is a laughing stock all over the World, and where we are the only country that has to endure such a Nation Destroying SCAM,” Trump wrote. The president went on to praise Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who dissented from Monday’s order. Trump called the pair “legends.” SUPREME COURT REJECTS TRUMP BID TO REVIVE STRICT MAIL-BALLOT RULES BEFORE MIDTERMS “It is a big loss for Republicans, and America itself, and makes cheating by the Radical Left ‘Dumocrats,’ on Mail-In Ballots, a much easier thing to do – And now they have an open field to do so!” Trump wrote. Trump went on to list a series of cases where the Supreme Court has disappointed him, including its decision to strike down his tariff policies and void his executive order ending birthright citizenship. TRUMP CRITICIZES 2 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES BY NAME OVER TARIFF RULING “It is not easy for me to write this criticism of the United States Supreme Court – it will likely cost me dearly for years to come – but I feel it my obligation and duty, as President, to do so for the America we love!” he wrote. The Monday order rejected the Trump administration’s request for a stay in the implementation of a universal injunction against new mail-in ballot rules from the U.S. Postal Service. The rules would require federal ballot mail to be sent in envelopes bearing an election-mail logo, capable of being scanned by high-speed equipment and carrying a barcode unique to each voter. State and local election officials would also be required to submit envelope designs to the Postal Service for review and upload basic voter information to an online USPS portal. USPS WOULDN’T DELIVER BALLOTS IN STATES THAT REFUSE TO FORK OVER MAIL-IN VOTER INFO UNDER PROPOSED RULE Under the USPS rule, mailings that failed to comply would not be accepted and would instead be returned to election officials to correct and resubmit. The court’s Monday order went unsigned, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion that allowed room for a potential Trump victory down the line. He nevertheless argued that it is too close to Election Day to realistically implement the rules for the 2026 midterm elections. “In my view, based on the briefing the Court has received at this interim stage, there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service’s statutory authority,” Kavanaugh wrote. “But applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.”
Smithsonian move reignites ‘woke,’ ‘Marxist’ criticism as Latino museum avoids congressional approval
The Smithsonian designated its Arts and Industries Building as the permanent home of the controversial National Museum of the American Latino, a move critics say will allow the institution to move forward without another congressional fight over a museum they argue should not exist. The decision comes as the Smithsonian faces intensifying scrutiny over its historical exhibits. Mike Gonzalez, a former Bush State Department official and longtime critic of the Latino museum, argued its inaugural exhibition promoted a far-left worldview and said selecting the Arts and Industries Building was an effort to avoid a contentious Capitol Hill battle. “We need to fire the Smithsonian leadership,” Gonzalez said. “We need to get rid of the Latino museum. It needs to be de-authorized. It should not exist.” WATCH: SMITHSONIAN DIRECTOR ADMITS SHE SEES HISTORY AS ‘TOOL’ OF ‘SOCIAL JUSTICE’ AFTER EXPLOSIVE HEARING Shortly after the interview, his wish partially came true when the Smithsonian’s top official, Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, announced his retirement after four decades with the institution. Gonzalez examined the Latino museum’s inaugural 2022 exhibition, “¡Presente!,” in a Heritage Foundation report shared with Fox News Digital. He also testified alongside National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig during congressional hearings in July. The Smithsonian declined comment on Gonzalez’s report or his comments to Fox News Digital. Gonzalez argues the location decision matters because the Smithsonian already controls A&I, unlike the National Park Service sites previously under consideration. “They want to use this as kind of a ruse,” Gonzalez said, arguing that the institution can avoid another congressional fight by placing the museum on property it already controls. TRUMP V. SMITHSONIAN: A TIMELINE OF HOW THE WHITE HOUSE FIGHT OVER ‘WOKE’ HISTORY UNFOLDED Gonzalez examined “¡Presente!,” and argued that a series of panels reflected what he described as an anti-Western, anti-American worldview. He pointed to its use of the idea “we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us” as historically inaccurate and said it is a favorite mantra of those on the left who criticize immigration law enforcement. He said the language casts U.S. westward expansion primarily through the lens of displacement while obscuring the history of Mexicans who remained in territory acquired by the United States and later became American citizens. “I guess your guest today would count as one of them,” he said of himself. “Even though I don’t… run around calling myself a Hispanic. I’m a proud American of Cuban heritage.” SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY PROMOTES ‘EXTREME POLITICAL ACTIVISM,’ WH REPORT ALLEGES READ THE FULL HERITAGE FOUNDATION REPORT His report also highlights exhibits dealing with gender identity, immigration and the veneration of Marxist luminaries and political figures. Speaking to Fox News Digital from Israel, he said such attacks on national identity would never “fly.” One exhibit featured in Gonzalez’ report was titled “Jose Julio Sarria: Drag and Politics” and described Sarria as a “legendary drag performer [and] the first openly gay person to run for public office in the U.S.” Another panel featured a Cuban transgender HIV/AIDS activist who fled the country during the Mariel Boatlift. SMITHSONIAN PUSHED ‘REVOLTING’ SOCIAL ACTION TRAINING AFTER ‘WHITENESS’ CHART APOLOGY: EXPERT “They create[d] a hothouse, an incubator of grievances among these 70 million Americans of Hispanic descent,” he said, adding that Sarria and another featured figure prove that point. That example involves Orlando Letelier, a foreign minister under former Marxist Chilean President Salvador Allende. A photograph from the exhibition shows a 1976 quote from Letelier discussing his imprisonment under the Pinochet dictatorship and his later “liberation” in the name of restoring human rights. “Orlando Letelier has nothing to do with America, other than the fact that he died in a car explosion in Washington D.C., in 1976, but I’m old enough to remember that he was a cause-celebre of the left [then],” he said. “This is not an American story. The only reason he’s there is because the curators who worked in this exhibit betrayed who they are… They’re Marxists.” Gonzalez, who said his father was imprisoned by Cuba’s former “tin-pot dictator” Fulgencio Batista before the leader was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959, said the Latino museum also does a rank disservice to the true history of Marxist-Leninist rule in Havana. “Havana perhaps has not been at war since the British invasion of 1763 and yet it looks like it’s been carpet-bombed: It’s been carpet-bombed by socialism.” The exhibit on Batista omits the oppressive reign of the Castro brothers and also features a cartoon mocking the U.S. for the Reagan-era Iran-Contra affair, the report said. Gonzalez noted the latter aged poorly because the Daniel Ortega regime the U.S. opposed in Nicaragua is back in power decades later and has recently eliminated elections. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., a Smithsonian Regent and someone who also fled Cuban socialism, said the institution is a “crown jewel” of the United States and should be held to that standard. “The Congressman believes that the Smithsonian should be fair and balanced, aim for truth, and present both sides of the equation,” Gimenez spokesman Rey Anthony told Fox News Digital.
Newsom roasted online for ‘staged’ fly-fishing interview with CNN anchor where he dropped major 2028 hint
Social media users are taking jabs at California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his latest political stunt — a recorded fly-fishing outing with a CNN anchor that the Democrat used to break news about his often-rumored presidential ambitions. In the interview, recorded in Montana more than a month ago, CNN’s Jake Tapper is seen with Newsom standing in shallow water, repeatedly casting fly reels while talking politics. Newsom told Tapper he wouldn’t run for president if former failed 2024 presidential candidate former Vice President Kamala Harris tossed her hat into the ring. “Of course not. Why would I?” Newsom said when asked whether he would run against Harris in a presidential primary. “I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do it to me. Why would I? I wouldn’t do that to you.” “I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?” JENNIFER SIEBEL NEWSOM DODGES QUESTION ON HUSBAND GAVIN’S PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS Tapper pushed back, saying Newsom could do it if he really wanted to. But the Golden State governor replied by saying that would be a “gift from God for everybody else,” likely referencing those who don’t want to see a Democrat win in November, and claimed a primary against the former nominee would be “mutually assured destruction.” “I know her base of supporters. I know her friends,” Newsom said of the former U.S. senator from California. “The zen diagram (sic) on that is just pure crossover. It’s not — I wouldn’t do that to — I wouldn’t do that to people,” he said, mixing up the Buddhist meditation practice with a Venn diagram, the visual tool where overlapping circles are used to show how groups are similar and different. KAMALA HARRIS IS THE ‘FAIRLY OBVIOUS’ 2028 PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER, DEMOCRATIC INSIDERS SAY On social media, the reactions to the video widely shamed the pair for a stunt that was viewed as contrived. “why [sic] is newsom fly fishing in business casual?” an X user named Sam Alberti asked. “How lucky are we that a camera crew just happened to be standing in a Montana river while two guys who can’t cast pretended to fly fish,” said a popular X user with more than 55,000 followers. “Totally organic. Not staged at all. CNN is doing the Lord’s work trying to make Newsom look like a regular dude. Herculean task.” Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross wrote, “The best part of this is when Newsom says ‘Zen diagram’ when he was talking about a Venn diagram.” “Jake Tapper and Gavin Newsom pretending to be regular guys fishing is absolutely hilarious,” said another user with 1.7 million followers. ‘HE’S SO THIRSTY’: NEWSOM’S ‘ENTHUSIASTIC’ PRAISE FOR TRUMP POLICY TURNS HEADS “This is the most Gavin Newsom-ish fishing video ever — the French Laundry of fishing!” said politico Kenneth Baer, referring to the upscale California restaurant where Newsom dined with a group of friends during COVID-19 lockdown despite his implementation on state-wide restrictions on social gatherings during the pandemic. “‘Let’s do this interview surrounded by an entire film and sound crew in the river. Yeah, yeah, that’ll make us seem like nature guys,’” economist Nick Messenger said sarcastically. Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office but did not hear back by time of publication.
China expert warns Beijing wants Americans — not the CCP — to spread its message
Congress will examine how foreign adversaries — particularly China — seek to influence American public opinion and policymaking at a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. One of the expert witnesses told Fox News Digital ahead of the hearing that Beijing’s greater advantage lies in shaping debate inside the United States through American organizations rather than direct Chinese propaganda. Matthew Johnson, a China expert and senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said Beijing increasingly seeks to influence debates over national security and other strategic issues by working through American institutions and organizations, making its messages appear homegrown rather than directed by the Chinese government. HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE FOREIGN ‘TROJAN HORSES’ AS SINGHAM SCRUTINY WIDENS “The idea is that it’s not the Communist Party talking, it’s actually institutions and individuals in the United States who are talking,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “That’s actually the best outcome because then it looks organic… it looks like it’s somehow being produced from within our society as opposed to by external actors.” Johnson said one of Beijing’s current priorities is slowing U.S. advances in artificial intelligence and data-center infrastructure—an area he said Chinese leaders view as central to strategic competition with the United States. He said China’s influence strategy combines grassroots activism with efforts to shape thinking among academics, policy experts and other influential voices. His testimony comes as Congress continues examining the funding network linked to Shanghai-based Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, whose nonprofits have become the subject of congressional investigations and a federal criminal probe. Fox News Digital previously reported that Singham directed at least $285 million into six pro-China, pro-communist nonprofit organizations beginning in 2017, including CodePink. Singham and the organizations have denied taking direction from the Chinese government, and neither Singham nor the organizations have been charged with wrongdoing. HOUSE PANEL SUBPOENAS 3 LEFT-WING GROUPS IN PROBE OF $39M TIED TO MARXIST TYCOON NEVILLE SINGHAM Johnson is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, which will hold a hearing titled “Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America.” Lawmakers are expected to examine how foreign adversaries, including China, Cuba and Iran, may use nonprofits, activist networks and other organizations to shape U.S. public opinion and policy. “My goal is to raise the curtain to expose these operations and stop them from undermining our national security, capitalism and the American Dream,” committee Chairman Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., told Fox News Digital. Johnson said the hearing focuses on what lawmakers describe as “malign foreign influence”—efforts by foreign governments to shape American public debate and policymaking by steering conversations toward their own strategic interests rather than those of the United States. “I try to break down influence in terms of looking at ways in which the framework of very sensitive strategic conversations is being steered in ways that seem to map onto China’s strategic interests, not American strategic interests,” Johnson said. He said the concept of a “Trojan horse” reflects Beijing’s preference for influencing American debate through domestic institutions and individuals rather than direct government messaging. “From an American perspective, we want to be sure that it’s Americans who are leading the debate on this issue, not Beijing,” Johnson said. CHINA’S INFLUENCE MACHINE: FEDERAL RECORDS EXPOSE BEIJING’S PUSH TO SWAY AMERICA Among the organizations that have received funding from Singham’s network is CodePink, the anti-war activist group co-founded by Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, Singham’s wife. CodePink has spent years organizing disruptive protests inside Congress, campaigning against U.S. policy toward China, Cuba and Israel, and promoting its “China Is Not Our Enemy” campaign, which argues the United States should pursue cooperation with Beijing rather than confrontation. House Ways and Means Committee Republicans have accused the group of promoting narratives aligned with Chinese Communist Party interests, allegations CodePink denies. Asked why campaigns such as CodePink’s “China Is Not Our Enemy” matter, Johnson said they promote an image of China that serves Beijing’s strategic interests by downplaying the broader geopolitical competition between the two countries. “The idea that we don’t want war with China, we want peace… these are all noble goals,” Johnson said. “But… its strategic function is that it masks the fact that Beijing actually does seek a world order that is more shaped by Beijing in which the United States plays a lesser role.” Johnson said China does not have to convince Americans to support the Chinese Communist Party to advance its interests. Instead, he said, Beijing benefits when public debate shifts away from viewing China as a strategic competitor. “The real issue is whether there is actually a balance and whether we have enough transparency to allow us to assess whether there’s a balance,” Johnson said. Fox News’ Asra Q. Nomani contributed to this report.
Oil squeeze tightens as Iran-backed attacks cripple Hormuz escape routes
The U.S. is choking off Iran’s oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz. But the routes meant to shield other Gulf producers from that disruption are now coming under pressure themselves. A drone attack last week badly damaged Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, a critical bypass that carries crude oil across the kingdom to the Red Sea. Repairs could leave it largely out of service for three to five weeks after it had been moving roughly 2.6 million to 4 million barrels per day in recent weeks. At the same time, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized additional territory and strategic islands around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean — adding pressure to another major shipping route already battered by years of attacks. And those repeated disruptions are already reaching American consumers. NEW RISK FOR US CONSUMERS AS IRAN-BACKED ATTACKS THREATEN A SECOND MAJOR OIL CHOKEPOINT U.S. diesel prices hit a record national average of $6.23 a gallon Monday, according to AAA, while regular gasoline averaged $4.32. Brent crude climbed as high as roughly $110 a barrel during the day. Washington has sharply curtailed Iran’s oil exports and trade, but the wider conflict is still disrupting energy supplies elsewhere in the region, especially as Iran-backed Houthi rebels strengthen their stance along the coastline in Yemen. THE OVERLOOKED WAY THE IRAN WAR IS MAKING GROCERIES, AMAZON PACKAGES AND NEW HOMES MORE EXPENSIVE The question now is whether Iran is hurting enough to make the concessions Trump wants — and how much economic damage Tehran and its allies can still inflict while it holds out. The economic pressure on Tehran is mounting. Iran has gone weeks without sending meaningful new crude exports through Hormuz. Since the United States reinstated its naval blockade July 14, no Iranian crude cargoes have successfully crossed the strait to China, Tehran’s largest remaining oil customer, according to Kpler, Vortexa and TankerTrackers.com. Iranian crude and condensate loadings fell to roughly 220,000 to 255,000 barrels per day in August, down from about 740,000 in July and roughly 2 million in March. Commercial shipping through Hormuz also remains deeply disrupted. Recent readings from Kpler, which tracks real-time data on global commodity flows and maritime shipping, have repeatedly put visible commodity-vessel transits in the single digits, even as the U.S. has worked to restore some movement through the waterway. Miad Maleki, a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the pressure is increasingly reaching beyond Iran’s oil industry and into the broader economy. HORMUZ CRISIS HIDES A DEEPER OIL THREAT THAT COULD OUTLAST THE WAR “There are a series of indications” that the pressure is working, Maleki told Fox News Digital, citing the combined effect of sanctions, the naval blockade and growing diplomatic isolation. Iran depends heavily on trade through the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, Maleki said, and restrictions on those channels are making it harder to obtain foreign currency and essential imports. Gasoline could become an especially difficult pressure point. Iran remains one of the world’s major crude producers but lacks sufficient refining capacity to meet its own demand, leaving it dependent on imports that have become more difficult to secure. The regime can cushion some of the financial blow by continuing to print currency and pay salaries, Maleki said, allowing inflation to absorb part of the pressure rather than immediately cutting government payrolls. Physical shortages are harder to solve. But that does not necessarily mean Tehran has deliberately substituted the Bab el-Mandeb for Hormuz as a new source of leverage. Iran expert Arash Azizi said Tehran has already been forced to recognize that its ability to dominate the Strait of Hormuz is weaker than it once claimed. “Iran has realized that some of the leverage it has over the threat of Hormuz is gone,” Azizi told Fox News Digital. “[Iran] is not able to close it effectively and is desperately trying to find a way to better its odds,” he said. Azizi cautioned, however, against treating every Houthi move as part of a coordinated Iranian strategy to transfer pressure from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. “Iran has limited control, and the Houthi-Saudi conflict has a dynamics of its own,” he said. IRAN LOSES KEY ECONOMIC LIFELINE IN MIDDLE EAST THAT TRUMP’S SANCTIONS COULDN’T REACH AS DEADLOCK PERSISTS Iran encourages and materially supports the Houthis, Azizi said, but does not exercise full operational control over the group. That distinction matters as the Houthis strengthen their position around Bab el-Mandeb. Their capture of Mayun Island, the port of Mokha and, most recently, the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands has expanded their reach around one of the world’s most important shipping corridors. Yet the group has continued to allow many vessels to pass rather than attempting a total closure of the strait. Azizi described the instability there as a “double-edged sword” for Tehran. Pressure on shipping and Saudi energy infrastructure can raise costs for Iran’s adversaries and increase anxiety in global oil markets. But a broader regional conflict can also make it harder for Tehran to achieve what Azizi described as its overriding objective: ending the war, preserving the Islamic Republic and beginning reconstruction. For Tehran, he said, the immediate goal is therefore less about opening a new front than improving the terms on which it can end the current one. Iran wants “some sort of a deal that puts an end to the war,” preserves the Islamic Republic and allows it to begin postwar reconstruction, Azizi said. That shifts the central question back to Washington. The Trump administration has demonstrated that it can inflict severe economic pressure on Iran. What remains unclear is whether additional pressure produces the concessions Washington wants — and whether the costs Iran and its regional allies can still impose improve Tehran’s bargaining position or deepen its isolation. Azizi believes Tehran may already be prepared to move. “I think Iran is ready to make concessions,” he said. “The question