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Mon, 22 Jun 2026 11:08:52 -0400

Extremist streamer declares NYC an Islamic republic with popular terror chant: ‘Mamdani’s New York’

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:30:41 -0400

A streamer who broadcasts to more than 1 million followers on a popular online platform set off a viral firestorm after invoking Mayor Zohran Mamdani's name as he declared Islam would take over New York City.

"Allahu Akbar!" the extremist internet personality Sneako yelled amidst a group of Egypt soccer fans while drums were banged and horns were blown. Egyptian flags waved among the crowd as they chanted along.

Sneako, whose real name is Nicolas Kenn De Balinthazy, has been described as a provocateur and palled around with the online antisemitic far-right during his rise to social media stardom. Before that, he was all-in on his support for the political far-left and supported the presidential campaign of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2016. He reportedly converted to Islam in 2023.

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But Friday night, after Egypt dethroned Australia in the World Cup, he may have made his most controversial splash yet while live broadcasting on the streets of New York City on the video streaming platform Kick.

Mockingly wiping tears from his eyes, Sneak said: "Oh no, oh no. F--- you!"

"This is the Islamic Republic of New York-istan," he continued. "Islam will be in every household. Inshallah the whole world will be Muslim."

"Welcome to Mamdani's New York. You see this city? You see how it looks? Inshallah, your city looks just like this too," he shouted among the crowd.

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"Inshallah" is Arabic for "God willing," and "Allahu Akbar" is Arabic for "God is great."

Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of New York.

The clip of Sneako quickly circulated the web, garnering tens of millions of views across platforms including Instagram and X, while thousands of people slammed him for the pronouncement.

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One of the sharpest replies came from Rob O'Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden in an early morning raid on the terrorist's compound in 2011.

"These guys sound WAY different when you wake them up at 2am," he said.

A pair of massive personalities on X, who have a history of bad blood, even teamed up to demand a harsh punishment for the streamer.

"Deport him NOW!!!" conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said in reply to the clip, which elicited a response from X owner and former Jones opponent Elon Musk.

"Yes," Musk simply replied.

When Musk purchased X — then Twitter — and vowed the return of free speech to the platform, Jones had been permanently suspended. At first, Musk was hesitant to reinstate Jones given the Sandy Hook controversy that surrounded the radio show host. Eventually, however, Musk relented.

One X user labeled the streamer as a "Disgusting creature."

"Send this dude to Iran if he hates America so much," said another.

Sneako appeared to cryptically address the controversy in a post of his own on X Sunday night.

"Every knee will bow," he posted. "Every tongue confess."

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On Monday, he took a shot at Musk for echoing Jones' deportation post.

"Go back to Africa," he told Musk, who is native to South African. "This is my country."

Mamdani's office did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment on Sneako's comments.

Dem senator accused of being 'nowhere to be found' on crucial issue impacting kids in swing state

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:00:48 -0400

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is being accused by Georgia’s top child welfare official of using vulnerable children and the state's embattled foster care system for campaign credit after releasing a new ad touting his work on the state’s troubled system.

Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) Director Candice Broce criticized the new foster care-focused ad released last week as the Georgia Democrat seeks re-election in one of the nation’s most closely watched races. In the ad, titled "Our Kids," Ossoff highlights "a scathing report" and "yearlong bipartisan investigation" alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., into the Georgia foster care system.

Ossoff presents his probe and new legislation as part of his record protecting children and holding the system accountable. However, Broce says the Democrat is overstating his role and turning a serious child welfare issue into a political victory lap.

"For five years, I’ve been in the trenches fighting for vulnerable children and foster care reform alongside thousands of DFCS workers. Trust us when we say Jon Ossoff is nowhere to be found," Broce said in a post on X. "Ossoff didn’t get more funding for DFCS after calling us incompetent and resource-strapped. He didn’t secure more federal support for child advocacy centers despite the State’s requests."

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"He didn’t fix federal law putting group homes out of business," she continued. "He hasn’t streamlined adoptions for kids placed with loving families. Jon’s ad sounds great, but his words are meaningless to the men and women in the arena."

Ossoff's team fired back, however, calling Broce an "unqualified partisan political hack" and accusing her of "dangerous incompetence." They pointed to Ossoff's oversight work highlighted in the advertisement that Broce criticizes, which the spokesperson said found children in Georgia’s foster care system were likely sex trafficked while in state care, among other issues.

"The Office of the Child Advocate, juvenile court judges, former foster children, nonpartisan advocates, investigative reporting, and Senator Ossoff’s yearlong investigation have laid bare the deep and dangerous dysfunction at DFCS," an Ossoff campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The campaign also cited testimony from juvenile court judges who accused Broce of suggesting that children with special needs be held in juvenile detention while DFCS searched for placements. Broce has denied the allegations, describing them as politically motivated and arguing they distort a broader discussion about how to keep foster youth with complex behavioral issues, runaway histories and trafficking risks safe amid placement shortages.

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"Candice Broce is a partisan political hack irresponsibly placed in charge of care for the state’s most vulnerable kids," the Ossoff spokesperson said. "Instead of whining that her dangerous incompetence was made public, she should fix her broken agency."

Broce rejected the attacks on her qualifications, pointing to her background as a health care attorney, former chief deputy executive counsel and chief operating officer to Gov. Brian Kemp and saying roughly 40 state agencies, including DFCS, reported to her in that role.

At the same time, she did not dispute that Georgia’s foster care system has faced serious challenges, but argued Ossoff used those problems for hearings, reports and campaign messaging without delivering meaningful help to fix them.

"If you’re going to beat us down, show up with something to make it better," Broce said. "He didn’t do that."

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Broce said Ossoff could have used his federal role to pursue resources on Medicaid, behavioral health access and placement capacity, rather than simply spotlighting DFCS failures.

"What’s actually bipartisan is the over $100 million in state funds we’ve gotten from Republican and Democrat legislators who support the issues we’re tackling and believe we deserve more resources," Broce said. "If he decides today that he actually wants to help us and vulnerable Georgia kids, we’d welcome him with open arms."

However, Ossoff's team contests it is not even "Senator Ossoff's job to fix the state agency [Broce] leads" in the first place, and said Broce was whining that "it’s Senator Ossoff’s job to fix the state agency she leads."

"While Sen. Ossoff led oversight, passed an anti-trafficking law, and helped save foster care funding President Trump cut, unqualified partisan hack Broce whines it’s Senator Ossoff’s job to fix the state agency she leads," Ossoff's representatives told Fox News Digital.

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Broce's criticism of Ossoff included a contrast between his record and that of Georgia’s other U.S. Senator, Democrat Raphael Warnock. Broce called the difference "stark," pointing to Warnock’s community events for vulnerable mothers and children and adoption-related measures as examples of practical support she says Ossoff has not delivered.

"Compare his child welfare record to Warnock’s. It’s crystal clear which U.S. Senator from Georgia cares about vulnerable families and kids, and it’s not Jon," Broce said in her X post.

Ossoff, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, is seeking a second term in November against Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who won the Republican nomination after defeating former football coach Derek Dooley in a mid-June GOP runoff election. Warnock will not face reelection again until 2028.

Legal war on Trump’s agenda gains firepower as federal lawyers defect to Democrats

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:00:41 -0400

Federal lawyers are leaving the Trump administration and landing in Democratic state attorneys general’s offices in large numbers as blue states ramp up their legal fight against the president's second-term agenda, a Fox News Digital review found.

Employment data analyzed by the New York Times indicates that more than 10,000 federal attorneys — approximately one fifth of all lawyers employed by the federal government — have left their posts since 2025 began. Of these, a Fox News Digital review identified well over 100 who have since begun working for Democratic attorneys general’s offices, with legal filings showing that some of those lawyers are now involved in cases challenging the Trump administration.

Fox News Digital reviewed public LinkedIn profiles, state staff directories, statements from public officials and court filings to identify attorneys who left federal service after January 2025 and later appeared in Democratic attorneys general's offices or relevant litigation records. The review does not establish why any individual attorney left federal service or joined a state office.

The true number of federal attorneys who have moved to Democratic attorneys general offices under the second Trump administration is likely higher, given that public LinkedIn accounts are not ubiquitous among federal workers.

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"Oregon DOJ is a destination for some of the most talented public servants in the country, including experienced lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice who are choosing to bring their skills to serve Oregonians at the state level," Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, a Democrat, told Fox News Digital. "They’re already making a difference — on consumer protection, federal overreach cases, criminal justice, environmental protection and on litigation like our National Guard case."

As Rayfield alluded to, many of the attorneys who left federal service after January 2025 have since worked directly on cases aimed at combating the Trump administration. Court filings reviewed by Fox News Digital uncovered scores of individuals who previously worked as lawyers under the Trump administration whose names now appear on legal actions taken against it.

These include a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict transgender healthcare for minors, a suit filed by California challenging its termination of research grants, an amicus brief filed by Democratic attorneys general in a case seeking to stop Trump from firing FTC commissioners and multiple cases seeking to rein in the president’s National Guard deployments, among others.

Even those whose names don't directly appear on filings can help Democratic attorneys general challenge major pieces of Trump’s agenda and defend state-level policies contrary to the president's interests.

Many of these lawsuits featured multiple teams of lawyers representing a host of different Democratic states. Democratic attorneys general have publicly disclosed that close cooperation between fellow blue states is a key part of their strategy to resist the Trump administration.

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Speaking to The Guardian in March, Democratic attorneys general disclosed that they have been meeting regularly since 2024 to discuss how they can best resist the Trump administration through joint lawsuits and public engagement. Staff from Democratic attorneys general's offices reportedly communicate daily regarding how they can hold the federal government to account, discussing items such as which state should lead a given case.

"I’m really proud to be part of this [attorney general] — and of course, Democratic [attorney general] — coalition that is doing the work every single day to protect our rights, and most importantly, the rule of law," Massachusetts state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said at a press conference in June 2025. "We can’t take our sight off of that."

California’s attorney general, meanwhile, called the cross-state collaboration "critical."

Federal lawyers working in the areas of civil rights, immigration, environmental law, public corruption and antitrust were overrepresented among those who left to work for Democratic attorneys general.

Government employees generally fall into two camps: career civil servants who are intended to carry out nonpartisan work on behalf of the government and political appointees who are granted greater leeway to work on explicitly political projects. The attorneys identified in Fox News Digital’s review overwhelmingly appear to have held career, rather than political, federal roles before joining Democratic-led state offices.

Many of the lawyers leaving federal service are taking one, or even two, decades of service with them, constituting a significant transfer of legal talent from the national government to Democratic states.

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One such lawyer worked in the Justice Department for roughly twenty years, beginning as a legal intern and ultimately rising to the position of assistant general counsel, leading multiple teams of attorneys. Now, after leaving the DOJ in August 2025, the lawyer works as a senior assistant attorney general in Colorado, helping the state fight the Trump administration in disputes over federal grants.

They were far from the only high-profile departure under the second Trump administration.

Others who jumped ship included, but were not limited to, the assistant chief counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services, the director of transparency at the Department of Homeland Security, multiple U.S. attorneys’ office division chiefs and another near-20-year veteran of the DOJ who now leads the Maryland attorney general’s efforts to hold the Trump administration accountable.

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"Experienced federal prosecutors and lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice are choosing state service, choosing Oregon, and choosing to fight for the people here," Rayfield added. "We’re fortunate to have them joining the already incredibly talented, proven team here at the Oregon Department of Justice."

A spokeswoman for New Jersey’s attorney general, meanwhile, told Fox News Digital that it recently added multiple members to its leadership team, including its new insurance fraud head, by recruiting federal lawyers.

The timing marks a notable change from the first Trump administration, when some of the same attorneys who have since left then remained in federal service, though the reasons for individual departures vary and are not always publicly known.

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"In the Trump era, the conservative movement has become much less able to attract competent elites. Education polarization is a long-term phenomenon, but Trump's populist style and policy platform has supercharged it, given his disproportionate appeal to the less educated," political commentator Richard Hanania told Fox News Digital. "This matters, because intelligence and experience are important for any administration trying to achieve its goals."

"Simply having people who agree with you isn't enough," he added.

Bloomberg Law reported in May that the exodus of federal attorneys was seriously harming the Trump administration’s ability to defend its immigration policies, with roughly a third of those in the Office of Immigration Litigation — including many in senior roles with critical expertise — having left since January 2025.

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The Trump administration, however, denies that its efficiency has been rocked by the mass exit of lawyers.

"Even with a thousand fewer prosecutors than the previous administration, this Department has indicted nearly 50,000 more criminals than the previous administration had in the same timeframe," a DOJ spokeswoman told Fox News Digital. "Our country has the lowest murder rate in 125 years, we’ve arrested more than 90 key cartel leaders, captured eight on the FBI’s Top 10 most wanted list, and removed millions of deadly doses of fentanyl from our streets — all on top of achieving a record 24 victories on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket."

"These achievements are nothing short of astonishing, and they have all been accomplished even with the supposed ‘exodus’ of anti-Trump prosecutors the media idolize," she added.

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While more than 10,000 federal attorneys have left government since January 2025, agencies have also hired roughly 3,200 attorneys during that period and the Trump administration has made multiple public pushes to encourage or recruit ideologically aligned lawyers to apply for roles.

The bulk of the lawyers who have left federal service since Trump took office for a second time were at agencies such as the DOJ, the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. California, Maryland, New York and Colorado were some of their most common destinations after leaving the Trump administration.

"Those who were fired from the Department were fired for a reason. Those who resigned or took the fork in the road option likely aligned more with the priorities of President Biden and would naturally leave, which is common during transitions," the DOJ spokeswoman continued. "The Administration gave career employees the fork in the road option to intentionally reduce the size of the government and eliminate unnecessary layers of staff who don’t effectively contribute to the mission of aggressively tackling crime."

The White House referred Fox News Digital to a Truth Social post written by President Donald Trump where he claims that many of the lawyers who have departed from his administration were "Radical Left Deep State Lunatics, who are destroying our Country, and Weaponizing Government."

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"This has allowed DOJ to run more efficiently and hire talented attorneys who wholeheartedly believe in our mission to keep the American people safe," she said.

Fox News Digital reached out to every Democratic state attorney general's office for comment.

Palace aides 'don't trust' Prince Harry alone with King Charles, experts say

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:00:39 -0400

If Prince Harry gets face time with King Charles during his latest drama-filled U.K. trip, don't expect a warm family reunion — palace aides are reportedly expected to tightly script every second to shield the monarch and the crown.

"Every interaction will need to be managed, even to the minute, by courtiers and those whose job it is to protect the monarchy," British royal expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital. "Merely polite meetings are more plausible."

"They are far more concerned with the overall institution and continuity than the feelings of any one family member," Fordwich said. "This has been the case for generations. Harry should know better."

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Fordwich's comments came after Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube's "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered," told Page Six that palace aides must follow a strict protocol if Harry visits his father.

"The king's private secretaries are also known to remain on standby, ready to step in if a conversation becomes uncomfortable or a difficult request is made, ending the meeting by reminding the king that his next engagement requires additional travel time and that he needs to leave," Schofield told the outlet.

"During meetings, a housemaid or butler serving tea may intentionally linger rather than immediately leave the room," she explained. "It is the king and his courtiers who have carefully strategized how to engage with Prince Harry, often ensuring there are subtle witnesses in the room."

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Harry's trip to his home country sparked controversy before it even began.

On July 6, Harry's spokesperson told People magazine that an offer for the Duke of Sussex to stay at Buckingham Palace during his London visit was withdrawn after he had formally accepted it.

However, palace sources disputed that account, saying Harry failed to respond by the deadline and that his later acceptance came only after arrangements could no longer be made.

Harry had also hoped to bring his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two young children to Britain for the first time since 2022. But after learning the family would receive police protection only while on royal property — and not throughout the visit — it was reported on July 4 that Harry decided they would not accompany him.

For more than a week, there were questions about whether Harry would accept his father's invitation to stay at a royal residence during his visit to London.

Harry arrived back in his home country on July 6, People reported. He is expected to be there through July 11. It's unclear whether he will meet with his father or whether his family will join him later in the week.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Archewell, which oversees the offices of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and Buckingham Palace for comment.

Schofield told Fox News Digital that palace aides would be on site if the king chooses to meet with his estranged son.

"At this point, every meeting between King Charles and Prince Harry carries constitutional implications, not just emotional ones," Schofield told Fox News Digital.

"The palace isn't treating these meetings like ordinary family reunions because experience has taught officials that private conversations can quickly become headlines or public relations spin. Ultimately, I believe this is about protecting the institution."

"Six years ago, this was a family dispute — today it's an institutional risk assessment," Schofield said. "Once trust is lost, every interaction becomes carefully choreographed because the stakes extend far beyond a father and son. I think Prince Harry has totally blown it this trip, and I'm hearing that the king will not make time for him if he does not bring the children."

"The back-and-forth. It tells the royal family that Harry has learned nothing over the last several years," Schofield added.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals in 2020, citing what they described as unbearable intrusions by the British press and a lack of support from the palace.

Harry has also been denied restoration of taxpayer-funded security by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC).

People magazine reported that Harry's team spent several days exploring ways to make the visit safe through enhanced private security arrangements. Palace sources claimed Harry initially declined the invitation to stay at a royal residence before accepting it on Saturday.

"Following RAVEC's decision not to provide security for his family, the duke spent last week making alternative security arrangements," Harry's spokesperson told the outlet. "Once those arrangements were in place, he was able to formally accept the offer of accommodation for himself over the weekend."

"It is therefore disappointing that the offer has now been withdrawn, with Tuesday's judgment in the Associated Newspapers Limited case cited as the reason. Buckingham Palace has, however, been aware of that judgment since last Thursday. It is therefore unclear why, having formally accepted the accommodation offer, it has now been withdrawn at the last moment."

Fordwich told Fox News Digital that reconciliation between father and son has become difficult because palace aides and other senior royals "don't trust Harry."

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Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams agreed.

"The king would like to see his grandchildren and have a relationship with his son," he told Fox News Digital. "However, the contradictory public briefings between the palace and the Sussexes, which are currently making headlines, underline the deep mistrust."

Schofield said lingering trust concerns continue to shape how the palace handles any potential meeting between Charles and Harry, with aides concerned that private conversations could become public.

"This didn't happen overnight," she said. "The late queen gradually introduced safeguards after concerns that private conversations were finding their way into the public domain. King Charles inherited those protocols because the underlying trust issues never disappeared."

"The monarchy operates on discretion," she said. "When that discretion is questioned, the palace responds by creating structure. I'd argue that what we're seeing is not a punishment but the consequence of a relationship in which confidence has been repeatedly tested, especially with the Buckingham Palace back-and-forth."

"The presence of aides shouldn't be viewed as palace paranoia," Schofield continued. "When the head of state is meeting with someone whose private conversations have repeatedly become public, witnesses become a sensible precaution."

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People magazine reported that the situation has become more complicated because a judgment in Harry's case against the publishers of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday was expected July 7. Palace sources told the outlet the king can't "appear to be compromised" while the legal case is ongoing.

"The fear is that the Sussexes want media coverage," Fitzwilliams claimed. "No one has forgotten the Oprah interview, the Netflix series and Harry’s memoir ‘Spare.’"

"I also wouldn't underestimate the influence of experienced palace advisors," Schofield said. "Many of them have served through multiple reigns. They aren't making emotional decisions. They're applying lessons learned from decades of constitutional crises."

Schofield said that even with palace aides present, she wouldn't rule out Charles and Harry meeting during his visit. She said it will take much more to restore trust on all sides.

"The relationship may improve personally over time, but institutionally, I think the safeguards are here to stay," she said. "Trust can be rebuilt, but the palace rarely forgets the lessons that forced it to develop those protocols in the first place."

"The saddest reality is that father and son may eventually find peace, but the monarchy is unlikely to return to the level of openness that existed before the breakdown. Some doors reopen. Others simply never swing quite as wide again. And the palace is safer that way."

Why homemade prime rib can be 'even better' than at a steakhouse, experts say

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:00:25 -0400

As more Americans look to increase their protein intake, picking up a prime rib roast at the grocery store may seem like an appealing option.

The varying sizes of this cut of meat make it notoriously tricky to cook, however. Some experts, though, say home chefs can master the process and produce great prime rib.

"There is absolutely no reason prime rib cooked at home can't be as good, even better, than anything you can get at a restaurant," Chicago-based chef "Meathead" Goldwyn, author of "Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling" and a member of the Barbecue Hall of Fame, told Fox News Digital.

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Professionally prepared prime rib tastes better than homemade for many reasons, according to Tasting Table.

Restaurants typically have more access to higher-end equipment and higher-quality meat, Tasting Table reported.

But Jess Pryles, the Texas-based creator of the Hardcore Carnivore line of meat seasonings and tools and a judge on Food Network's forthcoming series, "Pitmasters," told Fox News Digital that USDA Prime cuts are "readily accessible to the public."

A 2025 Beef Magazine article reported that the availability of higher-grade meats has increased. USDA Prime, the top grade of beef, which shows "an abundance of marbling — the amount of fat interspersed in the lean meat," is up from 3 to 4% in the early 2000s to 10 to 12% in recent years.

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"It all starts with the quality of the meat," Goldwyn said, adding that top-quality beef can be found at the grocery store.

"Most [grocers] don't stock top-quality prime rib because it is expensive, and it doesn't sell rapidly," he added. "But most [grocery stores] can special order anything you want and have it in for you in a few days. You can also order top-quality [beef] online from many suppliers."

Restaurants also often cook a whole roast and serve it in slices, whereas a home cook is more likely to opt for buying less-expensive individual steaks, which are technically rib-eyes, not prime rib, Tasting Table reported.

Restaurants also usually use more seasonings, dry-aging and prep time than the average home cook, Tasting Table reported.

"If you submerge your beef in a wet brine, you're making corned beef," Pryles countered. "And your meat is going to turn pale and unappealing in shade."

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Once someone chooses a superior cut of meat, everything that comes after is "a matter of technique," Goldwyn said.

"We are specialists in barbecue and grilling, but the methods we recommend work perfectly in indoor ovens," Goldwyn said. "Grills are just outdoor ovens with lousy thermostats."

Pryles' advice for nailing prime rib at home includes buying the best quality meat you can afford and seasoning it well in advance.

"Season it well in advance, ideally the day before, and let it sit uncovered in the fridge so the surface dries out," she said. "That helps you get better browning."

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She also recommends cooking the roast on a rack, "so the airflow can surround the entire piece."

"Start things at a lower temp for more even doneness edge to edge, then [finish with] a hot blast at the end if you want to build a crust," she said.

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"And, most importantly, pull it before it hits your final temperature, because carryover cooking is real, especially on a large roast. A thermometer is your best friend."

Four months to midterms: 12 races that will determine the Senate majority

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:00:04 -0400

With just under four months to go until this year's midterm elections, a top Senate Republican remains confident of the GOP's chances.

Sen. Tim Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, recently told Fox News Digital this spring that he's "incredibly optimistic" the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority in the upper chamber.

But his counterpart at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, is equally confident her party can flip control of the Senate, telling Fox News Digital earlier this year she sees "all the makings of a blue wave" heading into November.

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Republicans — as the party currently in power — were already up against traditional political headwinds that lead to a loss of congressional seats during midterm election years. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation, high gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump's underwater approval ratings. It's all a perfect storm that spells unfavorable outcomes for the GOP.

But Democrats have problems of their own as they try to win back control of the Senate, including a party brand that public opinion polling indicates is extremely unpopular.

Add to that high profile victories in this spring and summer by left-wing and socialist candidates over establishment rivals in Democratic primaries that is giving Republicans extra ammunition to portray all Democrats as extremists, or as Trump calls them, "communists."

Here's a look at a dozen competitive Senate seats in play that could potentially flip the balance of power in the chamber.

North Carolina

Republicans are defending an open seat in the southeast battleground state, with GOP Sen. Thom Tillis retiring at the end of this year.

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The GOP is rallying around former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley, who has Trump's backing after serving alongside the president's daughter-in-law and Fox News host Lara Trump in the lead up to the 2024 election.

Democrats, meanwhile, landed their top recruit when former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper launched a Senate campaign last summer. Cooper enjoys tons of name recognition in North Carolina and is 6-0 when it comes to running statewide races.

North Carolina voted for Trump for his second term, but the top nonpartisan political handicapper, Cook Political Report, rates the race Lean Democrat, with Inside Elections ranking it as a toss up.

Maine

Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election for a sixth six-year term in blue-leaning Maine.

Collins is the only Republican senator running for re-election this year in a state that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried in her 2024 presidential election bid against Trump. And Collins has seen a deterioration of her poll numbers among Mainers from her last re-election six years ago.

But the longtime senator, who has been a top DSCC target for multiple election cycles, has proven tough to beat.

But she could prevail again as her Democratic challenger, Graham Platner continues to face controversy over his past actions and comments.

The Marine Corps veteran and oyster farmer is backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

Republican groups supporting Collins have been blasting Platner over controversial comments he made over a decade ago on a now deleted Reddit account, a well-publicized Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest, infidelity and allegations of sexual misconduct.

Michigan

The GOP's also aiming to flip an open seat in battleground state of Michigan, where Democrat Sen. Gary Peters is retiring.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, is making a second straight bid and is the all-but-certain Republican nominee.

Democrats are dealing with a titanic two-way fight between center-left Rep. Haley Stevens, who is backed by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and former Wayne County Health Department Director Abdul El-Sayed, a left-wing candidate endorsed by Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

The primary battle, which until Sunday also included progressive state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, has already exposed numerous Democratic Party divisions and provided Rogers, who is backed by Trump, with plenty of ammunition.

Michigan's primary will be held on August 4.

Ohio

Democrats scored a major recruiting victory last year when former Sen. Sherrod Brown announced he would challenge Republican Sen. Jon Husted.

A former lieutenant governor, Husted was appointed to the Senate a year ago after then-Sen. JD Vance stepped down to serve as vice president to Trump.

Ohio, once a premier general election battleground, has turned solidly red over the past decade, and Democrats view Brown as their only competitive candidate in the race to serve the remaining two years of Vance's term.

Brown lost re-election in 2024 by roughly four points while Trump carried Ohio by 11 points.

The Cook Report and fellow nonpartisan ranker Sabato's Crystal Ball rate the race as a toss up, with Inside Elections ranking it as tilt Republican.

New Hampshire

Republicans see another flip opportunity in New Hampshire, where a long-held Democratic Senate seat in New England's only swing state is opening thanks to the retirement of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who is the first woman in U.S. history to be elected governor and senator.

Four-term Rep. Chris Pappas is expected to capture the Democratic Senate nomination in the state's early September primary.

There's a primary race on the Republican side between two former senators seeking a return to Capitol Hill.

Former Sen. John E. Sununu, an older brother to former Gov. Chris Sununu, has the backing of the president and has a double-digit lead in public polling. But Trump's first-term ambassador to New Zealand, former Sen. Scott Brown, remains in the race.

Alaska

Democrats were given a big boost in the red-leaning state when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced in February that she would challenge GOP incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Peltola lost re-election in 2024 in the at-large district that covers the entire state by three points, while Trump carried Alaska by 11 points.

Meanwhile, there's a court battle ongoing over the Senate bid by another Dan Sullivan, a former teacher who announced his campaign in May and recently registered as a Republican.

Georgia

Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026.

The Peach State is a true battleground swing state.

Georgians voted for Joe Biden to be president in the 2020 elections, but then swung red to vote in Trump for a second term in 2024. FRom 2005 until 2020, the state had two Republicans representing them in the U.S. Senate before electing two Democrats to go to Washington, D.C. when Trump's first term ended.

Ossoff, first elected in that 2020 race, built a massive war chest while the GOP faced a nasty three-way primary battle for its nomination in the crucial sunbelt battleground state.

In November's midterms, Ossoff will face Republican Rep. Mike Collins, who was backed by Trump days ahead of last month's GOP primary runoff election.

While a recent Fox News poll indicated Ossoff holding a double digit lead, Republicans plan to run an aggressive campaign against the senator.

Iowa

Republicans are defending an open seat in Iowa, a onetime swing state that's shifted to the right over the past decade.

But the GOP rallied around Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is backed by Trump, in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst.

Hinson, a former local TV news anchor who flipped a Democratic-held seat in 2020, is seen as a rising star in the party.

State Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian, won a contested and expensive Democratic primary over more progressive state Sen. Zach Wahls.

Texas

State Rep. James Talarico is hoping to become the first Democrat since 1988 to win a U.S. Senate election in right-leaning Texas.

Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising the first three months of this year, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary to secure the Democratic nomination.

The Democrat will face off in November against Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The MAGA firebrand, carrying plenty of political baggage, ousted longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas in an expensive and combustible GOP nomination battle that went into overtime.

Minnesota

The retirement of Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is giving the GOP hopes they can flip the seat in the blue-leaning state.

And Republicans landed what they say is a top-tier recruit in former NBC sports reporter turned conservative pundit and activist Michele Tafoya, who is part of a crowded GOP field in next month's primary.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive, is facing off against more moderate Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the race for their party’s nomination.

Florida

Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who as Florida's attorney general was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year to fill the seat once held by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is on a glide path to the GOP nomination in next month's primary.

Moody will likely face off in November against Democratic challenger Alex Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, whistleblower in the 2019 Trump-Ukraine controversy and brother of Rep. Eugene Vindman.

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Polling in recent months suggests a competitive race between Moody and Vindman in right-leaning Florida.

Nebraska

Republican incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, a former governor, is seeking a full six-year term in the Senate representing red-leaning Nebraska.

He'll face off in the midterms with former union leader Dan Osborn, an independent candidate who is making his second straight run for the Senate.

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Democratic nominee and former pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank is likely to drop out of the race and support Osborn in the general election.

Democrats abandon embattled candidate Graham Platner after rape allegation implodes Senate bid

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:47 -0400

Democrats swiftly turned on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Monday after a rape allegation triggered a full-on revolt among his most prominent supporters, with calls pouring in from across the party for him to suspend his campaign.

The mounting defections came after Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, accused Platner of rape in interviews with Politico and CNN, alleging the Senate hopeful entered her home uninvited while intoxicated nearly five years ago and forced himself on her despite repeated attempts to get him to stop.

Racicot, who was seeing Platner on and off at the time, told Politico she immediately cut ties with him after he forced her to engage in unprotected sex, saying, "I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’"

She also told CNN that the alleged encounter was the "dictionary definition" of rape.

PLATNER'S LATEST ACCUSER CLAIMS THE DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE 'ABSOLUTELY' RAPED HER

Platner immediately issued a statement denying Racicot’s account and said he was "taking the time to reflect on the best path forward" for his imploding campaign.

The vast majority of Democrats signaled Monday they were unwilling to give Platner that opportunity, with many lawmakers racing to issue statements calling on the Senate hopeful to immediately end his campaign.

The pleas stretched from Platner's most fervent progressive champions to the party’s establishment wing, most of whom had only recently rallied behind Platner after he won the Democratic primary nomination in June.

"There can be no tolerance for sexual assault," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of Platner’s most prominent supporters, said in a statement rescinding her endorsement. "With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race."

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had closely aligned himself with Platner, also withdrew his endorsement and called on him to exit the race after news of the rape allegation circulated.

Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., also pulled their support Monday, with Gallego stopping short of calling on Platner to suspend his campaign.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAINE SENATE RACE IS TIGHT, WITH CONCERNS ABOUT BOTH CANDIDATES

The progressive lawmakers continued to support Platner after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused the Maine Democrat of abuse in June — an allegation Platner has repeatedly denied as false and politically motivated.

Khanna notably traveled to Maine to campaign with Platner the following day after The New York Times first reported Fifield’s accusation.

Khanna previously said in multiple interviews that he would disavow Platner if a sexual assault allegation emerged, but told Fox News Digital that the Senate hopeful was "taking accountability" for his past and argued Platner was deserving of redemption.

The reaction among establishment Democrats was equally swift, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., publicly demanding that Platner "immediately" suspend his campaign to give the party time to put forward a new nominee.

The senior Democrats had only recently endorsed Platner following his June primary win after their preferred pick, Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, ended her campaign amid fundraising struggles.

"The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot," the pair wrote in a joint statement Monday.

The Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, a top outside spending group focused on electing Democrats to the Senate, also said Monday that it would redirect resources away from Maine as long as Platner remained in the race.

TOP PLATNER ALLY TURNS ON HIM AFTER BOMBSHELL RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS CAMPAIGN: 'RED LINE'

The warning comes as Democrats are up against a fast-approaching deadline to replace Platner as the party's nominee. Under Maine law, Platner can be replaced on the ballot if he withdraws by 5 p.m. on July 13, with the state party allowed to put forward a replacement by July 27.

Democrats view Maine as a top flip opportunity to retake Senate control during November's midterm elections, but Platner's rapidly unraveling campaign could derail those plans.

His plethora of scandals — from a former Nazi-linked tattoo to infidelity during his marriage — has sharply divided Democrats as the party seeks to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Collins on Monday issued a statement calling the rape accusation "appalling" but declined to weigh in on whether Platner should continue in the race.

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Other lawmakers hailing from the party’s centrist flank, including Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also publicly urged Platner to end his campaign. Neither had formally endorsed Platner before Monday’s rape allegation broke.

Many prominent Maine Democrats also called on Platner to drop his Senate bid on Monday, including Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and her daughter, former State House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-Maine, who is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee to succeed Mills.

Former Maine public health official Nirav Shah and State Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Maine, who both ran for the open gubernatorial seat and have been floated as potential Platner replacements, also said Monday that he should withdraw his candidacy. Jackson, who campaigned with Platner, was among the candidates that the Senate hopeful endorsed to succeed Mills.

A vast swath of left-wing organizations also pulled their support of Platner on Monday.

"The allegations reported today are profoundly disturbing and disqualifying," Tiffany Muller, president of the Democratic-affiliated group End Citizen United, said in a statement. "The conduct described is fundamentally inconsistent with the standards we expect from the candidates we support."

VoteVets, an organization that works to elect Democratic veterans, also withdrew its endorsement of Platner, who served in multiple overseas deployments. Meanwhile, Our Revolution, a leftist organization founded by former Sanders campaign staffers, called on Platner to leave the race while demanding that his successor share his far-left policy views.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., one of Platner’s few remaining progressive supporters, had not weighed in on the sexual assault allegation as of late Monday evening.

A spokesperson for Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.

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Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker also broke with Platner on Monday, saying "the accusations — they are as credible as it is going to get."

"This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable," Piker added during his livestream.

MORNING GLORY: The Supreme Court officially closes the books on another term

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:31 -0400

Teaching Constitutional Law is a joy, not a job — except for the 11th Amendment and the "Dormant Commerce Clause" cases and materials. The law school classroom is also a great vantage point from which to recognize that American constitutional law moves at a very gradual pace — and that this pace is a very good thing for the enduring "rule of law" that Americans enjoy.

Every semester since 1996, my students hear that Con Law ought to be their most interesting class of their three years of law school. Every law student is different, of course, and the "Uniform Commercial Code might float some boats and ‘Trusts and Estates’ can be pretty shocking — people do in fact "throw grandma from the train" — but Con Law impacts every citizen’s life and thus law students ought to care about it as citizens if not as lawyers. In fact, only a relatively small percentage of lawyers will run into issues that relate to the Constitution in the course of their careers. Fewer still will "practice" in the field and only a handful will argue a case involving the country’s highest law before even its lowest courts, much less before the United States Supreme Court.

Still, there are many reasons why, come every June or at latest early July, most of the nation’s news media focuses on the decisions flowing out of One First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. As a republic of laws, the nation’s highest court makes decisions impacting every American as we are equal before the law. The most difficult cases it accepts and decides matter to our 330 million. The news media — legacy and "new" alike — love the storylines.

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"SCOTUSblog" has thus become an extremely useful gathering place for Court watchers of all sorts, but especially for non-lawyers trying to make sense of the end-of-term rush of decisions. That goes double for laymen trying to figure out if the Court is shifting hard-right or hard-left on many issues or even some.

"By several measures, this term was more ideologically divided than the last one," Jake Truscott and Adam Feldman wrote for the SCOTUSblog platform on the first day of this month. "Last term, 15.2% of the court’s decisions were decided by a 6-3 vote, and 9% of all decisions were 6-3 ideological splits. This term, those figures rose significantly, to 28.8% and 22.7%, respectively."

So the Court has shifted "rightward" a bit, but of all of its cases resulting in opinions, only a little more than a fifth are decided along the divide of "originalists" v. "living Constitutionalists." (The "originalists" are Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Of those six, Roberts, Barrett and Kavanaugh are often grouped together as "moderates." The "liberal" justices are Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.)

NPR RETRACTS FALSE REPORT CLAIMING JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO IS RETIRING FROM THE SUPREME COURT

The Court issued 67 majority opinions this term, though it actually makes hundreds of smaller decisions throughout the Court year that begins in October and ends (usually) as June closes.

"The justice-level data reinforces this picture of a court still organized around a conservative center, but not operating in a purely ideological pattern in every major case," Truscott and Feldman wrote. "Roberts and Kavanaugh were in the majority most often this term, each at 95%. Barrett followed at 92%."

"[Justice] Jackson remained the justice least often in the majority," they continued. "She was in the majority 67% of the time overall this term and 41% of the time in non-unanimous cases."

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN LIMIT ON PARTY CAMPAIGN SPENDING IN COORDINATION WITH CANDIDATES

So the justice widely regarded as the most ideological and the most left-wing was still in the majority in two out of three major cases. That should reassure the non-lawyer that there is no revolution by the robes underway. Because quite a few district court judges issue bolts-from-out-of-the-blue on a regular basis, there is a growing perception of a judiciary that is politicized and highly ideological. That is true of some lower courts. Our highest court, however, is an enormous force for stability in the country that just turned 250 years old.

Con Law students learn that the Court generally moves slowly and when it doesn’t — as with the radical Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which declared unconstitutional every anti-abortion law in the land — it cannot expect the country as a whole to shrug and follow along. The Court will sometimes be a bit ahead of public opinion, but rarely, if ever, can it change the course of politics. When it tries, it opens and/or exacerbates rather than closes deep divisions among the citizenry.

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This year’s most controversial decisions are not actually anywhere near as divisive as Roe or the "Obamacare" decision (2012’s National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius) or Bush v. Gore which effectively decided that election by ending the (seemingly) endless recounting —correctly, by the way, as post-election "audit" after post-election "audit" showed. The most significant of this term’s cases may turn out to be National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, which held that the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act restricting the amount of money a party can spend in direct coordination with a candidate’s campaign were unconstitutional, thus breathing much-needed life into the two major political parties which need the lift.

The "birthright citizenship" case, Trump v. Barbara, drew lots of attention but very little genuine surprise among the population at large. Find me anyone outside of academia and a few think tanks who even knew there was a question about the citizenship of any baby born in America before the abandonment of border enforcement in the Biden years, and I'd be surprised if that person knew the underlying text, history and tradition of the arguments. Like most "big cases," the "importance" of the case will fade even as policy arguments about the actual issue of rational immigration policy continues.

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Which is itself a triumph for the rule of law. Americans generally accept the Court’s rulings and move on. Contrary to the overheated and indeed absurd "Trump is a fascist" rhetoric, President Trump has always complied with every court decision, even those with which he deeply and loudly disagrees. Such is the authority of the Supreme Court. The Court gets the final say on the "cases and controversies" that divide the country. It has been that way since the Civil War, and we will all be blessed if it stays that way.

So push away the alarmists. Ignore the doomsayers. The Supreme Court has gone about its work successfully — again — and will be back at it in October (or earlier if need be.) The "republic of laws not men" carries on. Con Law is still the most interesting course in law school, but its textbooks change very little from year to year. And that is a very, very good thing.

Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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SEN DAVE McCORMICK: Trump Accounts give all Americans a stake in prosperity

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:26 -0400

Last week, my friend Senator John Fetterman and I stood on a court at the 6th Man Center — a Philadelphia Youth Basketball facility in North Philly — watching dozens of children crowd around their phones grinning. They weren’t watching a video or playing a game. They were looking for investment accounts in their own names — accounts that give them a real stake in America’s future and become available on July 4.

Parents can celebrate Independence Day knowing that their children are eligible for a Trump Account: a $1,000 Treasury seed for every child born between 2025 and 2028, and another $250 for children ten and under in lower-income communities, funded not by Washington but by philanthropy.

These accounts were created a year ago as part of President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act, for which I cast the deciding vote in the Senate. Alongside no tax on tips or overtime and new tax credits for school choice and childcare, these measures are a down payment on the American Dream. They are also proof that we can share American prosperity without sacrificing the free markets and individual liberty on which this country was founded.

'THE VIEW' CO-HOST SUNNY HOSTIN PRAISES TRUMP FOR 'GOOD POLICIES' ON FERTILITY CARE AND CHILD SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

Capitalism is the greatest engine of prosperity and human flourishing the world has ever known. No economic system has lifted more people out of poverty, rewarded more work and innovation, or created more opportunity for ordinary people to build better lives. But to preserve that system — and the prosperity it makes possible — more Americans must have a real stake in its success.

Today, too many Americans are helping build this country’s future without sharing meaningfully in its upside. Since the global financial crisis, the top one percent’s share of the nation’s wealth has climbed from about 27% to 32%. That same 1% now owns roughly half of all the stock in America; the bottom half of households owns about 1%. As artificial intelligence and other new technologies transform our economy, this trend will only worsen — it’s both indefensible and politically unsustainable.

For decades, Washington’s answer to this dilemma was always the same: stand up a new agency, build a bureaucracy to run it, and redistribute hard-earned money through a system riddled with waste and fraud. It deepened dependence on government, and still the American Dream slipped further out of reach.

The Working Families Tax Cuts Act — signed into law last July 4 — chose another road: not redistribution from above, but incentives for Americans to invest directly in one another. A $1,000 seed fund is the first rung of a ladder every American child can climb — and gives parents, family and friends, employers and philanthropists a vehicle to invest directly in the next generation.

That is the magic of tax-advantaged compounding: a $1,000 investment at birth, combined with just $10 added to the account each week, could grow to nearly $400,000 by the time that child reaches my age of 60.

Michael and Susan Dell have shown what private investment in the next generation can look like. Their $6.25 billion pledge — enough to seed accounts for 25 million children — is patriotism made concrete: private generosity expanding ownership, opportunity and a stake in America’s future for millions of children. Many wealthy and patriotic Americans are following suit.

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Across the country, 6 million children have been signed up, but more must follow, including the 1.4 million eligible kids in Pennsylvania.

But Trump Accounts are only one part of a larger effort to revitalize the American Dream on our nation’s 250th birthday. The Working Families Tax Cuts Act is also bringing more jobs, more investment and more opportunity to families across the country. The school-choice scholarship credit, for example, lets Americans direct their own dollars to a child’s education, so families can choose the school that best fits their child’s needs.

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Abraham Lincoln called us to be dedicated to the unfinished work of liberty. That work continues in every generation. On July 4, as Trump Accounts launch nationwide, we will help make the American Dream more than just an inheritance of words for the next generation, but also a concrete stake in America’s promise. And they give the rest of us a chance to invest in the future of America’s next generation.

More will need to be done. But programs such as these — voluntary, guided by incentives, circumventing government bureaucracy and which provide opportunity, not entitlement — are an excellent starting point.

WATCH: Ex-Warren campaign volunteer spotted praising murderous ex-Iranian leader

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:25 -0400

A far-left activist who previously helped organize youth support for Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and volunteered for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-Mass., presidential campaign appeared in an Iranian state media interview praising the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him the "greatest anti-imperialist leader" of her lifetime.

Calla Walsh, who describes herself as a journalist from the U.S. working in Lebanon, made the remarks in an interview aired by Iranian state media PressTV during the outlet's coverage of Khamenei’s funeral. Walsh was previously profiled by Boston Magazine as a young organizer who helped form Students for Markey and "played a pivotal role" in Sen. Markey’s 2020 primary win over then-Rep. Joe Kennedy III, after first volunteering for Sen. Warren’s presidential campaign.

"He was a leader to all people in the world who struggled against imperialism, against arrogance, against Zionism, against genocide," Walsh said in the interview. "To me, he was the greatest anti-imperialist leader to live during my lifetime."

During Khamenei’s 37 years in power, multiple reports cited his regime killing thousands of citizens, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

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Her comments came with an Iranian flag seen in the backdrop.

Public profiles have traced Walsh’s political work through several Massachusetts progressive campaigns. Boston Magazine reported that Walsh later served as communications director for Jordan Meehan, a left-wing Massachusetts state House candidate, and was organizing with Act on Mass while doing digital media work for Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia’s re-election campaign in 2021.

The conservative Capital Research Center's InfluenceWatch, citing Walsh’s LinkedIn, also reported that Walsh was a regional organizer and strategist for Act on Mass from November 2020 to September 2021 and worked as digital director for Mejia in 2021.

Walsh has been tied to Michelle Wu’s Boston mayoral bid as well. A New York Times profile identified Walsh as part of the "Markeyverse" network and showed her canvassing for then-Boston mayoral candidate Wu.

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Meanwhile, Walsh has previously appeared in Fox News Digital reporting on far-left protest networks. In January, Fox News Digital reported that Walsh shared video of unrest in Minneapolis after the fatal Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti and bragged that protesters had trapped "ICE Gestapo" at the scene.

The same report noted that Walsh had previously been filmed in Iran shouting, "Death to America! Death to Israel!"

The interview from Iran's state media about the supreme leader's funeral was published under the headline, "Ayatollah Khamenei’s message of resistance was truly universal: American activist." Press TV summarized Walsh’s remarks as arguing that Khamenei’s legacy extended beyond Iran and the Muslim world and that the massive funeral crowds represented "not only grief but a march of victory."

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Walsh also framed the recent conflict as a defeat for the United States, saying, "It’s still fair to say that the U.S. has been more humiliated than it has ever been before in its history and has signed away huge concessions to Iran."

Fox News Digital reached out to Walsh, as well as to the high-profile Democrats she has worked or campaigned for, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

LIZ PEEK: July Fourth exposed Democrats' big problem with America's silent majority

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:11 -0400

July Fourth was a bad day for Democrats.

Americans turned out in force to celebrate the birthday of the country they love, applauding the virtues and values that have made the United States an exceptional nation for 250 years. The silent majority, the folks who believe in the essential promise and goodness of this beautiful land, made their voices heard.

A recent Cato poll confirmed that sentiment, showing that 86% of respondents are grateful and 79% are proud to be Americans. Moreover, "most also believe America is a land of opportunity (61%), and even more believe the American Dream (74%) is available to them personally." Cato reports that three-quarters of Americans feel positive about the nation’s founding, and 70% believe its founding principles remain relevant today. "In particular, overwhelming majorities believe the U.S. Constitution is important for protecting our rights and freedoms (86%) and for enabling America’s prosperity (82%)."

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That sure isn’t what we’ve been hearing from democratic socialist darling Zohran Mamdani, who has, incredibly, become the voice of the Democratic Party. In his Fourth of July speech, the New York City mayor lambasted our "nativist" country as one characterized by "monopolies that dominate every industry," "oligarchs who buy elections" and a "health insurance industry that exploits the sick."

Mamdani’s false and cliché-ridden diatribe doesn’t even make sense. In one breath, he excoriates the U.S. as dominated by an exclusive wealthy elite, but in the next, he exults in the "power each of us holds to bring America ever closer to the greatness so many have seen when they looked upon these shores." How can both those things be true? In an "authoritarian" regime, what power?

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The democratic socialist surge, newly led by Mamdani, is real and is terrifying the party establishment. Party leaders New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are running scared as the DSA threatens their political lives. Fifteen House moderates — the kind being wiped out by insurgent leftist newcomers — penned an open letter declaring, "We are capitalist, not socialist," and "We are mainstream, not extreme." They also proclaimed, "We are proud, not ashamed of America." Imagine elected politicians having to make that pronouncement.

It’s about time they did.

Democrats have only themselves to blame for the rise of the socialist left. They have offered the country nothing but hatred of Donald Trump for over a decade. They have opposed even the most popular policies proposed by the president, like deporting criminals and reducing taxes. They have absurdly blocked investigating and eliminating hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars lost to fraud every year — a problem that even Joe Biden’s administration said required urgent action. They have become the party that champions boys competing in girls’ sports and resists voter ID laws. They have fawned over European governments that have approval ratings below 30% and especially applauded those nations’ green energy policies that have stifled their economies and left them unable to compete for emerging industries like AI.

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Democrats’ consistent and mindless opposition to President Trump created a policy vacuum, giving democratic socialists an opportunity to fill that hole with outlandish policies like abolishing prisons and eliminating private property rights. Those are policies the silent majority will not accept, no more than they accepted the woke excesses of the George Floyd and #MeToo protests.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) first showed up as supporters of Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders when he ran for president in 2016. The DSA's membership increased from 6,500 to 8,500 during his campaign; another 13,000 people signed up in the eight months following the election.

Democrats should have disavowed the socialist Sanders then, when the DSA movement was tiny, but instead they played to the so-called Bernie Bros, who some thought denied Hillary Clinton the Oval Office by sitting out the election. In 2020, the corrupt hierarchy in charge of the party, along with a compliant media, promoted the big lie that Joe Biden was fit to serve as president. They engineered the defeat of Sanders, who led the early primaries, and forced the nomination of Biden. In recompense, they gave Bernie a seat at the table, allowing him to co-write the party’s platform and thus legitimizing his influence.

Riding that newfound acceptance, Sanders’ signature issues, like Medicare for All and taxing the rich, took on new weight, attracting the likes of New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who became one of two democratic socialists elected to the House of Representatives in 2019.

After the bruising defeat in 2024, the party scurried to find a new message and adopted "affordability" as its issue. Democrats crusading to bring down the cost of living is laughable, given that the most expensive places to live in the U.S. are all run by Democrats. What drives costs higher? Burdensome regulations, pro-union labor policies and high taxes, all signature attributes of Democrat-run governments.

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Massive government spending — pushing too many dollars into the economy — also drives up inflation. It is no coincidence that during Joe Biden’s presidency, when government spending hit the highest levels relative to the economy since World War II, inflation soared to above 9%.

DSA candidates are also running on affordability, but with socialist solutions like providing free buses as well as government-subsidized groceries and child care. So far, they have succeeded mainly in deep-blue districts and with low voter turnout. Ultimately, Mamdani and his ilk will fail, as socialism always has, because it denies the driving human force of self-interest and the wisdom and adaptability of free markets.

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But Democrats need to take a stand against the noisy radical leftists who will ultimately cost them voters. The movement is driven not only by socialist economic policies, but also by opposition to Israel and by antisemitism. Black Americans and Jews are important Democratic voting blocs; both are already speaking out against DSA candidates.

America’s silent majority has rallied to defend our nation in the past; if socialism gains ground, those quiet patriots will do so again. Count on it.

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Trump arrives at NATO summit as Iran rift looms above alliance talks

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0400

President Donald Trump is arriving at the Turkey-held NATO summit with fresh frustration toward several European allies over their responses to the U.S.-led operations against Iran, opening a new front in his long-running campaign to pressure the alliance over burden-sharing.

The summit, which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday in Ankara, Turkey, is expected to focus on defense spending, Ukraine and NATO's long-term strategy toward Russia.

But it will bring Trump face to face with some of his biggest foes in NATO, including Spain, whose Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called the U.S. war in Iran "illegal, absurd and cruel."

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said Wednesday that Trump remains "disappointed" by allies that declined to allow U.S. forces to use military bases or overflight rights during the operation, as well as by political statements criticizing the strikes.

WHY NATO'S DEFENSE SPENDING IMBALANCE LASTED FOR DECADES

"The president has expressed disappointment in both a couple of our allies' unwillingness to support us using our bases in their countries," Whitaker said. "And, as importantly, he's also incredibly disappointed in the political statements that came out around the time of the launch of Epic Fury."

The disagreements are expected to loom over a summit where Trump will once again press allies to increase defense spending, while also raising broader questions about whether NATO members are prepared to back the United States during conflicts beyond the alliance's traditional focus on Europe.

Trump's frustration has been evident publicly as well.

Ahead of the summit, he said he was attending largely because of his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while again criticizing some NATO allies over defense spending and questioning their commitment to the alliance.

"Except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don't think I would have gone to it," Trump told reporters at the White House on June 24.

During the same appearance, he renewed criticism of Spain and other NATO allies over their refusal to support U.S. operations against Iran, declaring, "There's a problem with Spain."

Whitaker said the operation also highlighted disparities in military capabilities across the alliance, noting that while some NATO members possess "exquisite capabilities," others lack the capacity to contribute meaningfully to a large-scale U.S.-led military operation.

The administration's frustration stems from a series of decisions by European allies during Operation Epic Fury.

The United Kingdom initially declined to allow U.S. forces to launch strikes against Iran from British bases before later reversing course after Iranian attacks escalated. Spain denied the use of its territory and airspace for combat operations while Sánchez publicly criticized the U.S.-led campaign.

Italy also sought to distance itself from the operation, insisting U.S. flights from bases on Italian soil were limited to logistical support rather than combat missions, while Germany served as a key logistics hub but stopped short of publicly endorsing the military campaign.

European governments defended their positions by citing domestic legal constraints and concerns about being drawn into a wider Middle East conflict. Britain later allowed U.S. strikes after initially withholding approval, while Spain continued opposing the campaign, Italy restricted its support to noncombat operations and Germany limited its role to logistics.

EUROPE'S $116B FIGHTER JET 'FAILURE' RAISES FRESH DOUBTS ABOUT ABILITY TO DEFEND ITSELF WITHOUT US

Several allies later agreed to support maritime security operations aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, but administration officials say the initial reluctance to back the U.S. campaign continues to shape Trump's view heading into the summit.

While the Middle East is not expected to dominate the formal agenda, it underscores broader questions Trump is bringing to Turkey about burden-sharing and whether NATO allies are prepared to back the United States beyond the alliance's traditional focus on Europe.

The tensions over Iran build on years of Trump's criticism of NATO, which he has repeatedly accused of relying too heavily on the U.S. During both his first and second terms, Trump has questioned whether Washington should continue defending allies that fail to meet spending commitments and has at times floated withdrawing from the alliance altogether.

"If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them," Trump said March 6. "If the United States was in trouble, and we called them ... you think they're going to come and protect us? They're supposed to. I'm not so sure."

Trump is expected to use the summit to press allies to meet NATO's new benchmark of spending 5% of GDP on defense.

"The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing," he wrote on Truth Social Thursday.

Whitaker suggested the administration increasingly views burden-sharing as extending beyond defense budgets alone.

"We believe that those that are doing more should get benefits from doing more," he said.

Whitaker confirmed the administration was considering countermeasures for allies that don’t meet defense spending goals. He added that countries contributing more could receive advantages ranging from priority in defense procurement to greater engagement with U.S. leaders.

While the summit is expected to focus publicly on defense spending, Ukraine and NATO's long-term strategy toward Russia, analysts say the fallout from Operation Epic Fury is likely to shape private conversations between Trump and several European leaders.

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Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Ian Brzezinski said during a press briefing the recent conflict has created "two scorecards on the table" for the summit — NATO's traditional priorities of strengthening deterrence against Russia and Trump's assessment of which allies proved most supportive of the United States during the Iran conflict.

"We have low expectations because of the issues not on the agenda, but that are driving the atmospherics," Torey Taussig, director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, said.

Charlie Kirk's family comes face to face with accused assassin for first time

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:41:42 -0400

PROVO, Utah — The family of Charlie Kirk came face to face with his accused assassin for the first time in a Utah courtroom Monday — the first day of what is expected to be a weeklong preliminary hearing.

Tyler Robinson, 23, was already in the room before members of the media were allowed in at around 8:55 a.m. He was wearing a gray suit, pink shirt and black tie, with his wrists and ankles cuffed. Later in the hearing, when videos of Kirk's shooting death were played for the sides and the judge, he showed no visible response when the sound of the fatal gunshot rang out.

Utah State Bureau of Investigation Agent David Hull was on the stand to introduce several videos, including images of Kirk’s death that were not shown publicly in court but were shown to the judge and attorneys for both sides. Two of them were described as showing the moment a sniper’s bullet struck Kirk in the neck, and they included audio that reporters could hear.

CHARLIE KIRK'S PARENTS, WIDOW TO ATTEND TYLER ROBINSON'S PRELIMINARY HEARING NEXT WEEK

While Judge Tony Graf Jr. flinched and leaned away from the screen when the shot rang out in one of the videos, Robinson remained still during both.

Kirk’s family had already left the courtroom before they were played. They were expected to receive warnings before graphic evidence would be introduced and left twice ahead of mentions of the assassination itself.

For much of the rest of the hearing, Erika Kirk and her in-laws, Rob and Kathy Kirk, sat next to one another watching the proceedings closely, occasionally exchanging looks or glancing down. Other relatives present included Erika's sister, Tonya, and niece and nephew.

ACCUSED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN TYLER ROBINSON FIGHTS BACK AS PROSECUTORS' SPRAWLING CASE COMES INTO FOCUS

At another point, with Kirk's family out of the courtroom, Hull also testified about the autopsy report, which listed Kirk's death as a homicide by a gunshot wound to the neck. During that testimony, Robinson’s mother leaned over to her husband and held her hand on his shoulder.

The Kirks also had some high-profile supporters join them near the front — including Donald Trump Jr., his wife Bettina and conservative commentators Jack Posobiec and Brandon Tatum.

Robinson’s parents, who usually sit in the front row, were in the fourth row Monday with other relatives.

ALLEGED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN TYLER ROBINSON'S ROOMMATE AND LOVER RECEIVED LIMITED IMMUNITY: PROSECUTORS

The first witness of the day was Officer Christopher Bagley, now a member of the Spanish Fork Police Department. He was working at Utah Valley University when Kirk was shot and killed during a Turning Point USA event there on Sept. 10, 2025.

He testified that he believed he heard a rifle shot — not a pistol shot — from the direction of the Losee Center. He said he reached that conclusion after seeing an empty handgun holster on the ground amid the early chaos and looking up to find that the Losee Center rooftop had a clear line of sight to where Kirk was speaking.

He went to the Losee rooftop, where he found a black and red screwdriver and impressions in the gravel that he described as what looked like a "sniper’s pad."

He also said he reviewed surveillance video showing the suspect on top of the roof, and he found footprints in the grass where the suspect dropped down and scuff marks on the roof above them. Defense attorney Kathy Nester only got in about 10 minutes of cross-examination before the recess for lunch, but she asked Bagley if his police report from the day mentioned a direction the shot came from.

It didn’t, he said. He also didn't know what happened to the handgun holster.

As prosecutors planned to show some UVU surveillance video, Robinson’s defense objected. While Graf had overruled most of their objections throughout the day, he sustained this one on the grounds that the video, due to edits including face blurs, zooms and red circles, had not been properly authenticated and could not be played.

The video is expected to be introduced later after prosecutors said they planned to provide an unedited version.

Hull was the second of four witnesses prosecutors said they planned to call to the stand Monday. He is expected to resume testimony Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. MT.

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Other video shown Monday included a vehicle alleged to be Robinson’s coming and going from a house near the UVU campus after midnight on Sept. 11 — about 12 hours after Charlie Kirk’s murder on Sept. 10.

As Fox News Digital previously reported, Robinson also allegedly had an encounter with law enforcement in the area hours after the shooting.

At some point during the week, the court is expected to hear a previously recorded statement from Robinson's former lover Lance Twiggs, who prosecutors allege received a written confession after the crime.

Robinson has not yet entered a plea. He could face the death penalty if convicted of the top charge against him, aggravated murder.

England's Jordan Henderson officially ruled out after freak fall causes fracture, opts for surgery

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 22:01:10 -0400

A freak mishap Sunday night abruptly ended England midfielder Jordan Henderson's 2026 World Cup.

Henderson, 36, spent the match on the bench in England's 3-2 win, but quickly drew attention after falling over an advertising board, leaving him writhing in pain during a moment of victory for England.

On Monday, Henderson opted to undergo surgery, bringing an unusual ending to the World Cup campaign of one of England's veteran leaders.

ENGLAND PLAYER INJURES WRIST HOPPING OVER AD BOARD DURING TEAM'S WORLD CUP VICTORY CELEBRATION VS MEXICO

As the stadium speakers blasted Oasis, Henderson tried to climb over a pitch-side advertising board to celebrate with the traveling supporters. He lost his footing and landed awkwardly on his wrist.

WATCH:

England captain Harry Kane reacted to Henderson's injury Sunday night after the match.

ENGLAND STUNS MEXICO 3-2 IN INSTANT WORLD CUP CLASSIC, HANDS TEAM FIRST WORLD CUP LOSS AT ESTADIO AZTECA

"Yeah Hendo just fell over there. I think he's OK. Something to do with his arm," Kane said, unaware of the severity of Henderson's injury at the time.

The celebrations quickly turned to concern as medical staff rushed onto the field, administered oxygen, and stretchered Henderson off the pitch.

Before the accident, Estadio Azteca hosted a World Cup classic. Jude Bellingham sparked England with a first-half brace before Harry Kane added a penalty. Mexico answered through Julian Quinones and a late Raul Jimenez penalty.

ENGLAND STUNS MEXICO 3-2 IN INSTANT WORLD CUP CLASSIC, HANDS TEAM FIRST WORLD CUP LOSS AT ESTADIO AZTECA

Henderson watched the thriller from the bench, picking up a yellow card in the 98th minute for his touchline protests. The match fell into chaos when England defender Jarell Quansah was shown a straight red card, forcing the Three Lions to desperately hang on.

While manager Thomas Tuchel and the squad flew to Kansas City to prepare for a quarterfinal clash against Norway, Henderson remained hospitalized in Mexico City. England next faces Erling Haaland's Norway on Saturday without the suspended Jarell Quansah.

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Henderson's World Cup had its ups and downs. The last one ended it.

Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela

Team USA's World Cup run ends as Belgium wins Round of 16 matchup to advance

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:59:48 -0400

Team USA’s run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has come to an end.

Belgium, in front of a sold-out, U.S.-heavy crowd in Seattle, defeated the USMNT, 4-1, in a match where they took full advantage of their opponent’s mistakes.

Charles De Ketelaere was the man who not only scored just nine minutes into the match for Belgium, but his goal in the 39th minute made Team USA manager Mauricio Pochettino kick water bottles on the sideline.

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The reason? Malik Tillman, who scored a free kick against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 victory in the Bay Area, took another just in front of Belgium’s box, and it deflected off a Belgian defender and threw off legendary keeper Thibaut Courtois to even the game at one apiece.

The momentum was back for the USMNT at that moment in the 37th minute. But once again, shoddy defense by the U.S. resulted in an easy goal for De Ketelaere right in front of Matt Freese’s net.

USA COACH MAURICIO POCHETTINO KICKS POWERADE BOTTLES IN FRUSTRATION AS TEAM'S FIRST HALF DEFENSE LOOKS SHAKY

Freese, though, had a massive error of his own in the second half that crushed the momentum that had conjured up while down one goal.

In the 57th minute, a total game-changer came when Freese decided to leave his net while De Ketelaere was chasing the through ball. Freese was first to get there, but as he was trying to clear the ball, his foot got caught in the turf.

In a desperation attempt, he tried to kick it with his right foot, but De Ketelaere got in the way and Hans Vanaken kicked it past Freese and Ream, who couldn’t turn his body around to save it for one of the worst goals allowed by a team at this World Cup.

Overall, it wasn’t Team USA’s best effort in the moment they needed it most in the Round of 16.

To make matters worse, Pochettino was forced to sub out Christian Pulisic, dubbed "Captain America," after a shot attempt resulted in an injury. Pulisic wound up for a kick on his right foot when a Belgian defender stepped in front of him. Instead of kicking the ball, Pulisic belted the back heel of the Belgian defender, and he went down in clear pain.

Pulisic tried to run it off, but with a clear limp, Pochettino sent in Sebastian Berhalter instead.

As for the biggest story of this match, Folarin Balogun, who became available after FIFA invoked Article 27 of its disciplinary code to suspend his red card, wasn’t much of a factor for the team. Belgium did a good job of buttoning up their defense, and Balogun never got a clean look to find the back of the net as he has in past matches.

The U.S. tried desperately to get back into the match, especially when Berhalter just missed getting a ball past Courtois, but it just went wide left. However, Belgium did their defensive duties and refused to allow what Senegal did to them in the round of 32 – a second-half miraculous comeback.

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Instead, Romelu Lukaku, Belgium's superstar striker, put a cherry on top of their victory with a stoppage time goal past Freese in the second half. It was quite the statement in a game they dominated throughout.

As you'd expect, it was a sad group for the U.S. following the loss, while Belgium celebrated their spot in the quarterfinals where they will take on Spain later this week.

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New Yorker suing ICE after officers went to his home to warn him over criticism of agency

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:45:26 -0400

A New York resident is suing after officers went to his home to serve him with a warning after he sent an email criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership over the agency's tactics in immigration raids.

David Streever, a U.S. citizen in Rochester, filed the lawsuit on Monday in Washington, D.C., against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, arguing that officials violated his First Amendment right to speak out against the government, according to the complaint reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Streever was on a trip to Finland with his 7-year-old daughter last month when two officers showed up to his home and handed his wife a warning notice informing him that an email he sent months earlier was considered a threat.

He had sent an email in January to Todd Lyons, who was the acting director of ICE at the time, after an ICE agent shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good during an immigration raid in Minneapolis.

ANOTHER NEW YORKER SAYS OFFICERS CONFRONTED HIM AFTER HE CRITICIZED ICE

In the email, Streever told Lyons he was "a monstrous human being" who "will never know peace" and will "go down in history as America's Reinhard Heydrich, the butcher," a reference to a Nazi leader.

"The way you are protecting the obvious execution in Minnesota, even as we see the videos, will lead to your downfall. Even Trump will turn on you before the end, and you will be a sad, despised man who eats himself alive with shame at your own pathetic weakness," Streever said in the email, according to the complaint.

"You will seek to lose yourself, to escape the burden of knowing the truth about yourself. But wherever you go, you will find yourself. You will torment yourself until your last day on Earth," the email added.

When officers arrived at his home, Streever's wife answered the door and was handed a "warning notice" explaining that her husband "may be in violation of federal law" for sending his email to ICE's former acting director.

The notice, reviewed by Fox News Digital, urges Streever to "promptly remove and/or discontinue" his "behavior," warning that the notice will be "taken into consideration" if he continues to be involved" in "criminal activities."

Streever’s wife told the officers he was out of the country but would return to Rochester later that week, according to the lawsuit. But federal officers did not wait and instead attempted to confront him at a New York City hotel after he returned from Finland, although they were turned away by hotel staff.

That same night, officers repeatedly called Streever’s phone, leaving voicemails identifying themselves only as Homeland Security Investigations.

On their train ride home, Streever told his daughter about the possibility that federal officers might confront him, and the young girl broke down in tears, fearing for her father's safety.

Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression who is representing Streever, argued the email was protected speech under the First Amendment and does not represent a legitimate threat.

"If someone is really threatening a government official, you don’t wait five months to act on it," Steinbaugh said in a statement. "The fact that authorities didn’t respond immediately shows that David presented no threat. This pursuit is designed to intimidate lawful speech, pure and simple."

Streever said he was shocked that federal officers came to his home to question him over his email.

"I cherish our right to speak openly about issues of public concern," Streever said. "I hope others will not be discouraged from peacefully expressing their views, even when those views are critical of the government."

"Like many Americans, I was deeply upset after the shootings in Minnesota and I felt compelled to do something," Streever said in an earlier statement. "Writing an email to the head of ICE seemed like the least I could do to express my sense of outrage. I never dreamed it would lead to a knock on my door by federal officers or descending on my hotel in the dark of night."

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and ICE for comment.

The lawsuit also names Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose office released a statement claiming, "Any allegation DHS and its components are attempting to ‘squash’ free speech is categorically FALSE," according to the Associated Press.

The complaint asks the court to order DHS and ICE officials to stop its "coercion and retaliation" against Streever for his protected speech.

The warning to Streever was presented the same week poll worker Paigelynne Gonyea, of Syracuse, said two federal officers confronted her at a voting site during New York’s primaries to question her about a social media post she made about Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who killed Good.

MINNESOTA SENATE VOTES TO BAN ICE FROM WEARING MASKS, ALLOW RESIDENTS TO SUE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS

Gonyea said she believes the warning to her was because of a post she made in January in which she shared a picture of Ross along with the caption: "I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted."

Her post was made after Ross had already been identified by the media.

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A spokesperson for DHS, Lauren Bis, shared an image of a different social media post from Gonyea in which she said the woman shared Ross’ address, according to the Associated Press, although part of the post was redacted.

Bis said in a statement last week that Gonyea "committed a federal crime by posting the address of an ICE law enforcement officer online" and "if you doxx our officers, we will investigate you, and you will be brought to justice."

After Donald Trump criticism, Keir Starmer intervened with FIFA ahead of England-Mexico

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:43:49 -0400

My, my how the tables have turned.

When FIFA announced that they'd suspended the red card punishment of US Men's National Team striker Folarin Balogun, it set off a firestorm of criticism. European soccer fans, the Belgian national soccer federation, the Union of European Football Associations, and many other commentators were outraged that Balogun's unjust red card had essentially been delayed.

Their complaints have been mostly incoherent and illogical, with UEFA's statement in particular being laughably inaccurate.

EUROPE IS FURIOUS OVER BALOGUN REPRIEVE BUT FIFA SUSPENDED RED CARD BANS FOR RONALDO AND OTHERS BEFORE THIS

"Football, like any other sports, relies on rules, which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition," they said. "Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. A minimum automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension."

Notably, UEFA had no complaints when Cristian Ronaldo's three-match red card suspension was postponed by FIFA ahead of the World Cup. Under the exact same rule that was used in Balogun's case.

But another critique of the process came from those who said that President Donald Trump's involvement was an unacceptable violation of soccer norms. Essentially, that a politician should not make phone calls to FIFA leadership to question a decision or potentially influence an outcome. British host Piers Morgan was particularly consumed by inaccurate righteous indignation, accusing the USMNT of "cheating" and "not playing by the rules."

MEDIA FIGURES MELT DOWN OVER TRUMP INVOLVEMENT WITH FIFA AS US STAR FOLARIN BALOGUN SET TO PLAY

Though of course, the USMNT did not cheat, and no rules were violated.

But the outrage from the Europeans and their fans over Trump’s involvement has been curiously missing from another revelation that was reported Monday morning: that British Prime Minister Kier Starmer called FIFA to intervene in favor of the England National Team ahead of their match against Mexico.

In the days leading up to England-Mexico at the Azteca, there were rumblings that the start time of the match might be moved up several hours to avoid forecast thunderstorms. But, according to British paper The Sun, Starmer directly intervened with FIFA to prevent that from happening.

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"The Mexicans were really talking up the storm and were pressing to move the game," a source told The Sun. "But Keir was having none of it and suspected they were trying to derail the England preparations by giving less time to adapt to the altitude, so he put his foot down."

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Well, well, well! A politician interfering with FIFA in order to benefit his country's national team? Unacceptable! Outrageous! Unfair! Appeal the whole tournament!

Obviously, Starmer and England got their way, and held on to beat El Tri 3-2 in a hard fought instant classic. Curiously, though, Piers Morgan and the very angry European fans have had little-to-nothing to say about a politician "putting his foot down" with FIFA. Should England go on to win their quarterfinal or entire tournament, their run will be tainted by this scandal, forever laden with an asterisk over this unacceptable atrocity.

USA coach Mauricio Pochettino kicks Powerade bottles in frustration as team's first half defense looks shaky

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:11:07 -0400

Team USA did not have the first-half start they were hoping for against Belgium in the Round of 16, and head coach Mauricio Pochettino displayed some rightful frustration because of it.

Belgium sent a shock to the USA system not even 10 minutes into the match when Charles De Ketelaere tapped in a ball served right in front of Matt Freese’s net and sent a silent murmur over the sold-out Seattle Stadium crowd.

But things felt back to normal when Malik Tillman, who scored a free kick in the second half against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32, did it again. Tillman buried his shot past legendary Belgian keeper Thibaut Courtois thanks to a deflection off one of Belgium’s defenders.

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That was in the 31st minute, but Pochettino’s display of frustration came after the U.S. conceded their second goal just two minutes later.

It was De Ketelaere once again, this time leaping over veteran defender Tim Ream and using his head to place the ball in the back of the net.

THANKS TO TRUMP, A RESTED TEAM USA HAS THE ULTIMATE EDGE OVER A FURIOUS BELGIUM IN THE 2026 WORLD CUP

As Belgium celebrated, Pochettino walked over to his bench and let out his displeasure with what he just witnessed on the pitch with a right boot to the Powerade bottles on the ground.

That’s the type of half it was for Team USA, which went into halftime with a lot to go over before the second half begins.

While possession was relatively close – Belgium owned it 53% to the USMNT’s 47% -- it was clear the Belgians had the advantage in the offensive end. They finished the half with five shots on goal to just one from the U.S. They also created four big chances, meaning this game could’ve been a lot further away for the U.S. than the scoreboard says at the moment.

The USMNT will need better play all around if they wish to move on to the quarterfinals to meet Spain and keep their World Cup title dreams alive. If they can do so, they would become just the second team in U.S. history to get it done, as only the squad in 2002 was able to reach the quarterfinals in this modern FIFA World Cup format.

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Pochettino may let out more frustrations in the locker room, but it’s clear the manager might have to get clever with Belgium owning the momentum after the first 45 minutes.

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New York Times calls University of California's 'test-blind' admissions policy a 'terrible' mistake

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:00:29 -0400

More than six years after the University of California system’s Board of Regents moved to stop using standardized test scores in undergraduate admissions, The New York Times Editorial Board is urging the UC system to reverse course.

In an editorial published Monday, the paper's editorial board called the UC system's decision a "terrible" mistake that left students less prepared for their college coursework. The editorial comes just days before the UC Board of Regents is expected to consider revisiting the policy.

The UC system in 2019 put together the Standardized Testing Task Force (STTF), an 18-member committee comprised of professors from across all 10 campuses. The committee was tasked with studying how the UC system used standardized testing scores in its undergraduate admissions. Around a year later, the group released a 225-page report with its findings and recommendations.

"The STTF found that standardized test scores aid in predicting important aspects of student success, including undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), retention, and completion," the group's report read.

CALIFORNIA BOARD OF REGENTS TO REVIEW SAT/ACT TESTING BAN AFTER 1,400 PROFESSORS WARN OF ‘SEVERE’ MATH GAPS

Despite the group's conclusion that the scores played a key role in predicting student performance, the UC system voted in 2020 to no longer consider them, instead opting for a "test blind" approach. This meant that schools in the UC system would not accept test scores, even from students who wanted to send them. The decision came as the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The paper's editorial board said the results of the "test-blind" approach "have been terrible," noting that last year a faculty group at UC San Diego reported a sharp drop in academic preparation for new students.

"Last fall, for example, nearly 12 percent of first-year U.C.S.D. undergraduates were not qualified to take pre-calculus, a low-level class, up from only 0.5 percent in 2020," the Times Editorial Board added.

The Times acknowledged that broader education challenges have emerged, such as artificial intelligence, COVID-19 school closures and smartphone distractions, but argued that the decline in preparedness among entering UC students was "larger than the regression elsewhere." The paper said that this underscored the role of the UC system's test-blind policy.

TEXAS’ LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICT SEES TEST SCORES SOAR AFTER STATE TAKEOVER DESPITE RACISM CLAIMS

In response to Fox News Digital's request for comment, a spokesperson for UC pointed to a statement made by UC's Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu.

"Academic preparedness and student success are significant priorities at the University of California. That’s why the UC faculty Academic Senate is engaged in a comprehensive, data-driven review of how to best assess college readiness and support student success at UC," Palazoglu's statement read.

"The review will go well beyond previous work on this subject because much has changed across the education landscape since the UC Board of Regents adopted its test-blind undergraduate admissions policy in 2020. Based on the authority delegated by the Board of Regents, the UC faculty Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) is leading the review of UC’s admissions policies and criteria."

The editorial comes as UC faculty members call for the return of standardized testing requirements.

Groups of UC faculty members sent two letters urging the university to reverse its test-blind policy. More than 2,300 of UC's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) faculty have signed one letter, while more than 900 UC humanities faculty members signed a similar one.

"Obscuring preparation gaps harms both students individually and the University collectively. It offers the appearance of access while undermining the chance of success," the letter from the STEM faculty read.

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Despite pleas from professors, the UC system has not moved to reverse its testing policy. Instead, it has decided to form a new committee to review the pros and cons of reinstating the tests.

The Times Editorial Board noted that Janet Napolitano, who served as the university president in 2020 and backed the test blind policy, was in favor of bringing back test scores. She told the paper that the test blind policy was "a worthwhile experiment," but the results made it "increasingly clear that the experiment needs to be revisited."

The editorial noted that the UC system was not alone when it moved to no longer consider test scores during the pandemic. However, many schools that made the same choice have since reinstated the requirement. Some have remained test-optional, while others have started requiring scores for admission. The list of schools that require students to submit scores includes Harvard, Brown, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and the California Institute of Technology, among others. The Times noted that both the Naval Academy and West Point require test scores.

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The Times Editorial Board also cited Brown University President Christina Paxson, who argued in a letter that standardized test scores were better predictors of academic performance than high school grades. She admitted that there were valid concerns about the tests and that the question of whether the benefits outweighed the drawbacks remained "empirical."

"The university’s trustees, known as the regents, have the final word. When they next meet, on July 14, they should have the courage to admit they made a mistake six years ago and reverse it," the Times Editorial Board argued.

Alex Rodriguez lands on his feet once again with another fitness trainer and model after recent breakup

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:51:01 -0400

Alex Rodriguez has carried lessons from his years of playing baseball into his personal life. Whether it was good or bad, you have to forget your last at-bat when you're preparing for your next one.

He didn’t let an engagement to Jennifer Lopez getting called off get him down, and he's not letting the end of his relationship of three-plus years with Canadian fitness instructor Jac Cordeiro get him down either.

A-Rod is back out there. In May, Cordeiro said there was "mutual love, care, and deep respect." when discussing the split, which was described as "taking some time apart."

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He was then seen last week out at Michael Rubin's White Party with a then-unknown fit woman sharing a kiss. A beacon of hope, if you will, for other romantics out there who have momentarily taken a detour off course.

On Monday, sources had confirmed that A-Rod had landed on his feet once again with the woman he was hanging out with in the Hamptons. According to Page Six, she's a private fitness coach by the name of Meghan Hayden.

JENNIFER LOPEZ ADMITS SHE 'WOULD'VE HAD SEX' WITH ENTIRE STAR-STUDDED 90S MOVIE CAST

Rodriguez, now 50, still has a type. He enjoys the fitness instructor-model game like no other. A source told the outlet, "They are dating. It’s new. She’s a really nice person from a great family."

The source added that they came with others and that the friends with them played defense for Hayden. They said, "There were other girls trying to talk and flirt with him, but the friends at the table nicely redirected them."

While it might appear as if the resilient A-Rod works fast, he's not working that fast. Let's give these two some time together. She hasn't even had a chance to be seen courtside at a Minnesota Timberwolves game yet.

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Let's give her a chance. Along with being a private fitness coach, she's a former Division I athlete who graduated with a bachelor's degree in exercise physiology.

So says her website, which also states, "When Meghan isn’t training clients, she’s most likely biking to her next session or modeling on set with household brands like Under Armour & Athleta."

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That all sounds like someone A-Rod could enjoy hitting the gym with, doesn't it? Good for him.

After the relationship news broke, she appeared to confirm it when she posted several pictures from the "White Party '26," including a couple of her with the former Major Leaguer.

Top Platner ally turns on him after bombshell rape allegation rocks campaign: 'Red line'

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:49:34 -0400

Support for embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is cratering among Democrats, with one of his most prominent supporters calling on him to exit the race following a harrowing rape allegation.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., rescinded his endorsement and called on Platner to suspend his campaign following a bombshell Politico report detailing a rape allegation by Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, who previously dated the scandal-plagued candidate.

Platner immediately denied Racicot's account — which alleges that he barged into her home in 2021 and forced her to have unprotected sex — but has said his campaign is determining its next steps.

She also went on CNN Monday evening shortly after the report was published to tell host Jake Tapper that "by dictionary definition" Platner "raped" her.

DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH SCANDAL-PLAGUED GRAHAM PLATNER, WARN OF 'CIVIL WAR' IN PARTY

"I thought, here's a man who was drunk and who, by dictionary definition, raped me. And he's blaming drunk women," Racicot said. "So I just felt like that was a very odd take to have on that. And I also feel like with all of the comments that he made about women, sexual assault, rape, even, um, you know, the comments that he had made that was in The New York Times article about, you know, threatening people with rape, like, why does this person have this issue, like scattered throughout their life, throughout their commentary, like it‘s on their mind?"

"I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line," Khanna said in a post on social media Monday evening. "These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement."

Khanna's statement preceded Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., the head of Senate Democrats' campaign arm, issuing a joint statement calling on Platner to "immediately" leave the race, so the party can choose a new nominee.

The pair said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) would not invest in Maine — a top pick-up opportunity for Democrats in November's midterm elections — if he continued to seek the battleground seat held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Both Schumer and Gillibrand supported Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, in the contentious primary and did not endorse Platner until he won the party's nomination.

Meanwhile, Khanna, a far-left populist with likely presidential ambitions, had embraced Platner's insurgent Senate campaign for months amid a patchwork of controversies.

Khanna personally campaigned with the Maine Senate hopeful in June shortly before Platner became the party's nominee. The campaign stop came just one day after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused Platner of abuse — an allegation first reported by The New York Times that Platner has fiercely denied.

By that point, Platner was also facing scrutiny for sending sexually explicit messages to at least half a dozen women while married, making a plethora of offensive online statements over the period of a decade and getting a Nazi-linked tattoo that he wore for most of his adult life.

Shannon Watts, a Democratic strategist and founder of the gun control group Mom Demands Action, slammed the timing of Khanna’s statement.

"You flew to Maine to campaign with him AFTER he was accused of assault against another woman," Watts wrote on social media.

Khanna previously appeared to dismiss the severity of Fifield’s account alongside many Democratic lawmakers, who seized on her background in Republican politics. He also argued that Platner, a combat veteran who has struggled with PTSD, had overcome a dark past and was deserving of redemption.

"Here you have a case of someone who had a dark chapter in his life, was in toxic relationships, was ashamed about it, who served this country, and the Maine voters are saying, ‘Look, let’s give him some grace, and his focus is stopping these wars, and it’s getting national health insurance, and it’s taking on economic inequality," Khanna told CBS News in an interview.

WATCH: DEM SENATORS EXCUSE PLATNER'S CONDUCT AT CRISIS HUDDLE WITH EMBATTLED MAINE CANDIDATE

And Khanna told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum in June that he asked Platner if there were any credible allegations of sexual assault that had yet to be revealed. He said Platner denied it.

"I made it clear that, for me, is a red line," the California lawmaker said. "And he said, no, there is not."

"Now, obviously, he had texts that were allegedly consensual, and while he was married, And that's a matter for him and his wife. And his wife came out and said that she forgave him. And so that is a different matter for me than abuse or assault or what people did in the Epstein class. It's a very different matter."

Khanna was not the only prominent Platner supporter to disavow the Senate hopeful following Monday's rape allegation.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., an early Platner supporter, was the first prominent Democrat to rescind his endorsement after Politico's report broke.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., rescinded his endorsement Monday evening, but stopped short of calling on Platner to exit the race.

Gallego, a former ally of disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has faced scrutiny over his past treatment of women. The Senate Ethics Committee recently dismissed a complaint brought by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., in a bipartisan manner.

His Arizona colleague, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who did not endorse Platner, also called on the Senate hopeful to suspend his campaign.

"Character and accountability matter regardless of party," Kelly wrote on social media. "It’s time for Graham Platner to drop out and allow for someone else to be nominated and give Democrats the best chance to win this seat in November."

Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has championed socialist candidates across the country, also distanced himself from Platner on Monday.

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"This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable," Piker said during his livestream.

Fox News Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment.

Popular Florida social media influencer killed in drive-by shooting while inside luxury SUV

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:35:01 -0400

A popular South Florida influencer was killed in a drive-by triple shooting early Sunday morning, authorities said.

Brianna Johnson, 21, who posted under the Instagram handle dreamdoll_brii, was riding in a lime green luxury SUV with two other passengers when gunfire erupted, the Miramar Police Department told Fox News Digital on Monday.

Surveillance video reportedly captured the shooting, which unfolded around 5:30 a.m., just hours after the Fourth of July holiday.

Johnson was known for sharing lifestyle and beauty content and had nearly 500,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram. Her TikTok account, _itgirlbri, had about 388,000 followers, while her Instagram account had roughly 88,800 followers.

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According to police, Johnson was traveling in a lime green Lamborghini Urus when the SUV reached an intersection and a white sedan "pulled alongside the driver's side and opened fire, striking three occupants."

Surveillance video obtained by local outlet WSVN appears to show a light-colored sedan following the victims' Lamborghini down the street before gunfire erupts.

Moments later, the Lamborghini was seen drifting through the intersection before crashing into a nearby house as the suspected shooter's vehicle sped away.

Police said they were alerted to the shooting after receiving multiple ShotSpotter notifications in the area.

Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss described the gunfire as rapid-fire, according to WSVN. Photos circulating social media also appear to show the Lamborghini riddled with a dozen bullet holes along its doors.

HAUNTING NOTE ON VEGAS HOTEL DOOR HINTED AT TRAGEDY BEFORE CHEER MOM, DAUGHTER FOUND DEAD

According to WSVN, the three victims had attended a large party at a nearby home before the shooting. Sources told the outlet the group later stopped at a gas station, where a fight allegedly broke out.

Investigators believe the victims' luxury SUV was then targeted and followed, according to reports.

Johnson ultimately "succumbed to her injuries," police said.

The two other occupants, whose identities have not been released, were rushed to a local hospital in critical condition.

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A woman identifying herself as Johnson's cousin, who goes by Instagram handle pdolly26, shared a series of Instagram Stories mourning her death and identifying the victim as the South Florida influencer.

Numerous fans also began flooding Johnson's social media accounts with messages of condolence.

Police said the shooting remains an active and ongoing homicide investigation.

Terrified passengers film Waymo autonomous vehicle driving into live fireworks in San Francisco

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:16:41 -0400

Passengers in a Waymo vehicle were terrified as the car drove into lit fireworks in the middle of a San Francisco street during Independence Day celebrations over the weekend.

Video footage of the incident shows a group of passengers who were shocked as the driverless car seemingly approaches lit fireworks in the middle of a street as the explosives are about to launch.

As the car gets closer, someone on the street appears to warn the vehicle to stop by waving their hand.

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"No, no, no, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go," one of the passengers is heard saying off-camera.

The autonomous vehicle then passes over the colorful flames and sparks.

"Our Waymo just drove into a firework," a passenger says in the clip.

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"Are we on fire, dude?" a fellow passenger asks.

A Waymo spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the company "is committed to keeping our riders safe and earning the trust of the communities where we operate."

"We take situations like this seriously and are committed to evaluating and learning from these events," the statement continued.

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No injuries were reported to either the passengers or the vehicle, and the company reached out to the riders after their trip. The possession of fireworks, even "Safe and Sane" explosives, is illegal in San Francisco, the city's fire department said.

One woman was killed and two other adults and a child were injured Saturday in a separate fireworks explosion, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Elsewhere in San Francisco, some Waymo vehicles were towed when their batteries died after vehicles became stuck in traffic for hours.

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"Our priority is keeping San Francisco moving safely, especially during major city celebrations," the Waymo spokesperson said. "On the Fourth of July, extreme traffic congestion in northern San Francisco disrupted normal operations for several Waymo vehicles."

"In coordination with local authorities and emergency services, our roadside assistance team worked quickly to clear our vehicles from the area," the statement continued.

‘He is happy with his choice’: Former co-host insists Mario Lopez is a MAGA supporter

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 20:00:09 -0400

Actor and TV host Mario Lopez denied that he supported President Donald Trump in a since-deleted Instagram comment, according to a Buzzfeed report last month.

The former "Access Hollywood" host commented on a video titled "Exposing Latino MAGA Artists" from last month, which labeled Lopez a "MAGA" supporter based on a past post supporting a UFC fight on the White House lawn, as well as following Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., and the official POTUS page, according to the June 26 report.

The video also highlighted a 2016 interview Lopez did with Trump for "Extra" during Trump's first presidential campaign.

MARIO LOPEZ BLASTS GAVIN NEWSOM FOR BEING TOUGHER ON 'SKITTLES' IN CALIFORNIA THAN DRUGS AND HOMELESSNESS

However, Lopez allegedly denied supporting Trump politically and claimed that he did not even attend the UFC Freedom 250 fight.

"You need to get your facts straight," Lopez wrote. "I’ve interviewed Trump many times when he was on 'The Apprentice.' And I didn’t attend the White House event. I was in DC shooting a PrimeTime special at the time for CBS celebrating a civics competition for kids."

Lopez wrote that his original UFC support was in support of his friend, UFC CEO Dana White, and that he "could care less" about politics as a whole.

"Like I said, I’m not a political person. Too divisive. I could care less about politics. I care about my family, my community, my culture, and my faith. God bless you and have a nice day, but please don’t spread misinformation," Lopez wrote.

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On Thursday, Lopez's former "Extra" co-host Tanika Ray added a comment to the original report, claiming that she could "confirm this is true."

"It's unfortunate but glad the truth is out maybe it will encourage him to think about it. But then again. He's a capitalist first," Ray wrote.

In another comment, she wrote, "He is Mexican and maga and though it's really confusing to me, it's his life. He is happy with his choice. I pray people wake up bc this isn't it."

Fox News Digital reached out to Lopez's representatives for comment.

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The former "Saved by the Bell" actor has remained largely apolitical in his public life but has been open about sharing his Christian faith while working in Hollywood.

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During his 2016 interview with Trump, Lopez previously described himself as "Latino, happen to also be conservative, a child of Mexican immigrants."