Author: NOVA Corp

  • Golden eagles, lions and a winged Lady Liberty top Trump’s proposed 250-foot DC Triumphal Arch designs

    The fate of the President Donald Trump-touted 250-foot Triumphal Arch will be decided next week at a White House Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) meeting after the official proposed designs of the monument were filed by the Trump administration and released for the first time Friday.

    “I am pleased to announce that TODAY my Administration officially filed the presentation and plans to the highly respected Commission of Fine Arts for what will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World,” Trump said in Truth Social post

    “This will be a wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!”

    TRUMP ADMIN OFFICIALS REVEAL DETAILS OF FREEDOM 250 GRAND PRIX IN DC

    Speculation has swirled about the final look of the proposed arch since late last year, with many iterations making the rounds on social media before the official mock-ups were shared earlier today.

    The mock-up, designed by architecture firm Harrison Design, is a 12-page addendum shared on the Commission of Fine Arts official meeting page.

    According to those mock-ups, the arch rises to 250 feet, evoking the nation’s 250th anniversary and more than double the height of the nearby 99-foot Lincoln Memorial.

    The central opening of the arch in the provided designs is roughly 110 feet high, providing a picture frame effect for both the Lincoln Memorial across the Potomac River and Arlington National Cemetery.

    The arch’s location would be roughly equidistant from both landmarks, sitting at the roundabout between Memorial Bridge and Memorial Avenue near the Arlington Cemetery Metro Stop.

    The scale would be unlike any monument in Washington, D.C., with the arch theoretically dwarfing nearby memorials and towering above the roadway.

    TRUMP ADMIN URGES RESTORING BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION IN EMERGENCY MOTION: ‘TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE’

    Friday’s released designs revealed a golden, winged Lady Liberty-style figure atop the arch flanked by two bald eagles crowning the monument and adding even more height to the structure. This is in contrast to previous possible designs Trump posted to social media in January, which had no ornamentation atop the arch.

    The most iconic detail released in Friday’s design, emblazoned across the top of the large central archway, are golden letters that say “ONE NATION UNDER GOD” centered on its white stone facade.

    Harrison Design confirmed to Fox News Digital that the principal architect behind the arch is Nicolas Charbonneau, the award-winning director of Harrison Design’s Sacred Architecture Studio. He is known primarily for his work on churches.

    “The world is ordered so that there’s a harmony to everything,” Charbonneau told The Arlington Catholic Herald. “And we’ve been designed to know that there should be an ordering to what we do. A lot of modern architecture flies in the face of that.”

    RARE AND ORIGINAL AMERICAN FOUNDING DOCUMENTS TO FLY ON FREEDOM PLANE ACROSS NATION

    According to the mock-ups reviewed by Fox News Digital, there appear to be internal staircases within the arch’s pedestals leading to what is implied to be a viewing deck for visitors to the monument. Four golden lions sit at each corner of the monument, renderings show.

    The White House reiterated its goals for the monument in a statement it had previously shared with Fox News Digital earlier this year when asked for comment.

    “The Triumphal Arch in Memorial Circle is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle reiterated in a statement to Fox News Digital.

    AMERICA 250 ORGANIZERS UNVEIL SWEEPING PLANS FOR THE COUNTRY’S HISTORIC BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

    “It will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen and all Americans alike, serving as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by so many American heroes throughout our 250-year history so we can enjoy our freedoms today. President Trump will continue to honor our veterans and give the greatest nation on earth — America — the glory it deserves.”

    Trump has previously touted the arch, saying he’d “like it to be the biggest one of all,” adding, “We’re the biggest, most powerful nation.”

    The Commission of Fine Arts, founded in 1910, consists of members who are personally selected by the sitting president and describes itself as “an independent federal agency charged with giving expert advice to the President, the Congress and the federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics.”

    The White House Commission of Fine Arts is scheduled to meet Thursday morning in D.C.

    The entire packet of renderings of the arch can be viewed here.

    Harrison Design did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the arch’s design.

  • Trump’s birthright citizenship crusade draws backing from cohort of prominent legal scholars

    A group of at least seven law professors have mounted a campaign to challenge the longstanding interpretation of birthright citizenship, arguing in favor of former President Donald Trump’s effort to narrow the constitutional provision, even as Supreme Court justices signal skepticism.

    The legal scholars’ arguments aim to persuade the Supreme Court and opponents of Trump’s efforts that there are serious originalist and historical arguments for narrowing birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment that deserve consideration rather than dismissal as a fringe political theory.

    Ilan Wurman, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, told Fox News Digital the recent wave of support is intended to reinforce the point that birthright citizenship is not a settled matter despite the institutional consensus on it.

    “That several prominent law professors have come out over the past year, including a few in the past month, in varying degrees of support for the Trump Administration’s birthright citizenship executive order, shows that their position is serious,” Wurman said. “The Supreme Court cannot simply rely on the conventional wisdom. It will have to show its work.”

    TRUMP ELEVATES IMMIGRATION FIGHT AT SUPREME COURT, TURNING UP HEAT ON DEMOCRATS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

    Wurman, who specializes in constitutional law, was one of dozens who also weighed in on the case by submitting amicus briefs to the high court ahead of April 1 oral arguments on birthright citizenship, which grants automatic citizenship to most babies born on U.S. soil under the 14th Amendment.

    He argued, in part, that the amendment never intended to grant illegal immigrants’ babies citizenship, saying that in the 19th century, parents who were residents of a country owed allegiance to the country in exchange for protections from its government.

    “This exchange of allegiance and protection was often described as a ‘mutual compact,’” Wurman wrote. “Lawful aliens generally fell within the scope of the rule, while foreign soldiers and ambassadors did not. … Illegally present aliens would likely have fallen outside the scope of the rule.”

    The other law professors include Randy Barnett of Georgetown University, Kurt Lash of University of Richmond, Richard Epstein of New York University, Tom Lee of Fordham University, Adrian Vermeule of Harvard University and, most recently, Philip Hamburger of Columbia University, each of whom has argued in varying degrees that Trump’s birthright citizenship order is constitutionally defensible.

    SCOTUS SLATED TO WEIGH FUTURE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP PROTECTIONS FOR MILLIONS — HERE’S WHAT AT STAKE

    Trump’s order, signed soon after he took office, would prevent children born to mothers who are illegal immigrants or legal temporary visitors from gaining automatic citizenship. While all the justices, aside from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, appear poised to toss out Trump’s order, the case has nevertheless invited polarizing debate. If approved by the high court, it could strip citizenship from those ineligible for it under Trump’s new interpretation and broadly shift immigration policy.

    The Trump administration has contended that temporary visitors and illegal immigrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and that that phrasing in the amendment was intended to apply to freed slaves in the Civil War-era. The administration has argued that birth tourism companies have illegally exploited the generous citizenship policy and that it also incentivizes illegal immigration.

    Chief Justice John Roberts challenged Solicitor General John Sauer during oral arguments on the small exceptions built into the 14th Amendment, such as children born to foreign diplomats, saying they were not comparable to a wide category of illegal immigrants.

    JUSTICE JACKSON SPARKS ONLINE UPROAR AFTER LINKING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP TO STEALING A WALLET IN JAPAN

    “The examples you give to support that strike me as very quirky,” Roberts said. “You know, children of ambassadors, children of enemies during a hostile invasion, children on warships, and then you expand it to a whole class of illegal aliens. … I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples.”

    The American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued against the executive order told the Supreme Court the policy was enshrined in the 14th Amendment to “put it out of reach of any government official” and that its exceptions were intentionally narrow.

    “It excludes only those cloaked with a fiction of extraterritoriality because they are subject to another sovereign’s jurisdiction even when they’re in the United States, a closed set of exceptions to an otherwise universal rule,” ACLU lawyer Cecillia Wang said.

    Wurman noted that the professors siding with Trump’s executive order have been met with “swift and vicious” reactions. David Bier, immigration expert at the libertarian CATO Institute, said the bloc of dissenters was unserious.

    “Oh SEVEN!? That’s remarkable given that to qualify as a judge or appointee you need to align yourself with the president,” Bier wrote on X. “The case is a joke. It’s sad that these people are debasing themselves in a losing effort for an ignoble cause.”

  • Swalwell’s former female staffer drops bombshell allegations of sexual assault, exposing himself: report

    Sexual harassment allegations have been amplified online by Democrat-aligned politicos targeting Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., one of the leading Democratic candidates in California’s gubernatorial race.

    Amid repeated denials and cease and desist letters sent by Swalwell’s lawyer, one of the alleged victims shared her story publicly for the first time, accusing Swalwell of taking advantage of her while she was intoxicated on multiple occasions, according to a bombshell report published by the San Francisco Chronicle Friday. The alleged victim’s story also included claims that Swalwell pressured her to send naked pictures of herself and sent sexually explicit photos of his own, pulled out his private parts while driving in a car with her and requesting she perform oral sex on him, among other incidents the victim said exposed how Swalwell treated her.

    The unnamed female accuser, who spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle, reportedly worked for Swalwell for about two years and revealed that he started pursuing her, despite being married, shortly after she was hired as a young 21-year-old staffer in his district office. On multiple occasions, the young staffer recalls blacking out from alcohol consumption, before waking up naked in Swalwell’s hotel bed with signs she had engaged in intercourse. Swalwell allegedly distanced himself after the incident, and their relationship faded, before reuniting when she no longer worked for him, during which another incident allegedly took place. 

    DEM SENATOR RIPPED FOR ‘SMEAR’ OF FEMALE ACTIVIST ADVOCATING FOR SWALWELL’S ACCUSERS 

    “Eric Swalwell should immediately drop out,” Democratic strategist Bhavik Lathia said after the San Francisco Chronicle’s report dropped. “It is damning.” 

    Former San Jose Mayor and fellow Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate in California, Matt Mahan, also called on Swalwell to “drop out.”

    “To the survivor who risked everything to come forward – I believe you,” he said. “To the Democratic Party – you’d better hold him accountable,” Mahan said.

     “If we don’t, we have no credibility asking anyone else to do the same,” he continued.

    Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a longtime friend of Swalwell who faced backlash earlier this week for trying to discredit allegations against the California Democrat, posted on Friday that he “regret[s] having come to his defense on social media prior to knowing all the information. I am equally as shocked and upset about what has transpired.”

    “What is described is indefensible. Women who come forward with accounts like this deserve to be heard with respect, not questioned or dismissed,” Gallego said. “I am withdrawing my endorsement of Congressman Swalwell, effective immediately.”

    Swalwell’s team did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment, but he recently said during a press gaggle that the allegations are “false,” including allegations that Swalwell previously pressured female staffers to sign non-disclosure agreements so they cannot speak out, or that he was involved in an alleged hush money settlement. 

    “It’s false. And also some of the allegations I’ve seen, which is that we’ve had NDAs in the office – never. There’s never been an allegation, and there’s never been a settlement,” Swalwell insisted this week.

    “This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” Micah Beasley, a spokesperson for Swalwell, also said on Tuesday.

    Cheyenne Hunt, a former Capitol Hill staffer who is currently a nonprofit director at the group Gen-Z for Change, is among the voices acting as a proxy for alleged Swalwell accusers and has been helping amplify their stories. On Friday, she blasted Swalwell for “tak[ing] a page out of the Trump playbook by attempting to silence women,” with cease and desist letters he allegedly sent out late Thursday night ahead of the San Francisco Chronicle’s report sharing a first-hand account from one of Swalwell’s alleged accusers. 

    Fox News Digital  has not independently verified the allegations from the report.

    The alleged victim, who began working for Swalwell during his short-lived presidential campaign in 2019, said a married Swalwell, who was 38, began pursuing her, including through messages on Snapchat, which allows users to send photos that subsequently disappear after someone has looked at them. She claimed the relationship rapidly progressed as Swalwell began asking for pictures of her face, then her naked body and eventually her genitalia. When messaging, the victim alleged Swalwell would sometimes send shirtless selfies or other images of his own genitalia.

    SWALWELL THREATENS FBI WITH LEGAL ACTION AS PATEL REPORTEDLY WEIGHS ‘FANG FANG’ FILES RELEASE

    Swalwell tried to kiss the alleged victim in her car when she drove him home from a donor meeting one night, and on another occasion he allegedly pulled out his penis while in the vehicle and asked her to perform oral sex on him. She admitted to doing so in a parking lot, but soon stopped out of fear someone might see them.  

    Meanwhile, in September 2019, the alleged victim, who was then working in Swalwell’s Castro Valley district office, reportedly said Swalwell invited her out for dinner and drinks when she drank too much and blacked out. She claimed to have not even remembered leaving the restaurant, but was woken up in Swalwell’s hotel room the next day with vaginal soreness indicative of sexual intercourse. She also reportedly had a brief memory of Swalwell sucking her toes.

    After the September 2019 incident at Swalwell’s hotel, the victim said the pair’s relationship faded as Swalwell distanced himself from her and began treating her more formally during public interactions. She eventually stopped working for Swalwell, but stayed in politics and noted Swalwell would occasionally remain in touch with her, including reaching out when she was looking for a job. 

    However, she claimed that five years later, while attending an April 2024 charity event Swalwell was being honored at, the pair reunited. She was not working for Swalwell at this later date, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The woman indicated that she and Swalwell went out for drinks after the event, during which, once again, she became inebriated and could only remember bits and pieces about the night. 

    “Even though he had hurt me in the past, I felt like he was someone I could trust,” the alleged victim said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “Because we shared this secret together, it pulled me closer to him.”

    According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting on the alleged victim’s experiences, one moment she did remember from the night was pushing Swalwell away and telling him “no” as he allegedly tried to force her to have sex with him. The woman reportedly texted a friend after the incident telling her she had been sexually assaulted by Swalwell. Other messages reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle reportedly showed the victim indicating she had “blacked out” but “woke up once during it and even told him to stop at one point.”

    “This happened one other time when I was working with him, but I convinced myself I was an equal party in it even though same pattern: I blacked out and he had sex with me,” the alleged victim wrote, referring to the 2019 incident, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting.

    ERIC SWALWELL CAMPAIGN SETS OFF ALARM BELLS AFTER ACCEPTING $25K DONATION FROM CCP-TIED LAWYER: ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ 

    The outlet also indicated it spoke with the friend the victim was allegedly texting, as well as the woman’s then-boyfriend who she reportedly told about the assault the next day. The boyfriend reportedly encouraged her to report Swalwell at the time. 

    However, she did not go to the authorities at the time, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, because she was afraid she would not be believed. Medical records reportedly showed she did obtain a pregnancy and STD test a week following the incident.

    Swalwell subsequently messaged the alleged victim after the 2024 incident and told her not to tell anyone about their interaction that night, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “He even sent me a message: you said you didn’t remember anything last time i hope you do now,” the alleged victim reportedly texted her friend three days after the incident. “And i said: yeah I’m trying to forget thanks.” 

    “He was sending messages like we just had a romantic encounter like he knows what he’s doing,” the alleged victim also allegedly wrote to her friend at the time. “He was gaslighting me into thinking it was consensual.”

    Swalwell’s alleged victim began talking to the San Francisco news outlet roughly a month ago, as she was weighing whether to go public with her allegations as they began anonymously surfacing online. 

    The victim was confused how the rumors began, considering she only told family and a small group of friends about the incident. The victim reportedly called the Swalwell campaign in March to see if her name had surfaced among the rumored victims, to which one of Swalwell’s staffers reportedly asked her to vouch for Swalwell. 

    “He was so confident that I would stay silent that he wasn’t scared,” she said of Swalwell.

    “I have no skin in the game of who becomes governor of California, but I feel people have a right to know whether the person who leads a state that is a safe haven for so many women actually treats women with dignity and will protect their rights,” continued the woman, who still works on Capitol Hill, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “No one protected me from him, and so I have to protect the other young women like me who aspire to work in this field and he could prey upon.”

    Late Thursday night, Swalwell’s attorney, Elias Dabaie, sent a cease-and-desist letter that Hunt, one of the individuals amplifying Swalwell’s accuser’s claims, argues is an effort to intimidate those trying to speak up about Swalwell’s history with women. 

    “Today we learned [Swalwell] is intimidating survivors, serving cease and desist letters on those coming forward with stories of sexual harassment and abuse. He sent this threat in the dead of night — another attempt to delay the truth,” Hunt wrote on social media, attaching a copy of the first letter of the cease and desist letter she claimed to have obtained.

    “This is what it looks like when powerful men get caught,” Hunt continued. “These cease and desists are a disgusting abuse of power against brave women who are courageously working together to share their stories. It begs the question: if Swalwell has done nothing wrong, as his campaign claims, why not let the women tell their stories in the light of day? Our team remains steadfast. We will not relent. The women will not recant.”

    The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that it had confirmed the authenticity of the letter. Fox News Digital reached out to the attorney who sent the letter to confirm the authenticity of the letter independently, but did not immediately receive a response. 

  • Streamer who said Rick Scott should be ‘killed’ invited to Yale as lawmaker demands funding cut

    A Senate Republican wants federal funding revoked from Yale for a forthcoming speech from a controversial streamer who once called for him to be “killed.”

    Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., blasted an upcoming event at the Ivy League university featuring Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker, who has become a flashpoint for Democrats and fodder for conservatives because of his views and alignment with the far-left of the party.

    Piker, who has come under fire for his previous comments that “America deserved 9/11” and for excusing sexual violence committed on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel, is set to appear at the Yale Political Union for an event dubbed “Resolved: End the American Empire” Tuesday.

    SENATE GOP VOWS TO ‘GO IT ALONE’ ON ICE FUNDING AS DEMS DOUBLE DOWN ON SHUTDOWN

    “This is WILD,” Scott said on X. “I spoke at the Yale Political Union last year on why we need to buy made in America products. Now, they are hosting a guy who said I should be killed.”

    “Yale receives billions from the federal government — President Trump and Congress need to IMMEDIATELY revoke it,” he continued. “An elite private university that hosts an antisemite who says a Senator should be killed, capitalists should be killed, and the U.S. deserved 9/11, shouldn’t get ONE CENT from taxpayers.”

    The Yale Political Union did not respond to a request for comment on Scott’s push to nix funding for the university.

    Scott and Piker have had a run-in, indirectly, before.

    MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT DEFENDS APPEARING WITH HASAN PIKER, DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM PODCASTER’S CONTROVERSIAL REMARKS

    When Republicans were crafting President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” in 2025, Piker said during a stream — in reaction to comments from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that Republicans were targeting Medicaid fraud — that Scott should be killed.

    “The reason why I’m saying, if you cared about Medicare or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott is because — and not make him a prominent part of the Republican Party — is because he, to this day, is still also known as committing the largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history,” Piker said.

    At the time, Republicans were trying to include several provisions in the budget reconciliation process that they pitched as reforms to Medicaid designed to cut costs and root out fraud in the system.

    SQUAD MEMBER SUMMER LEE CALLS ‘UPPER CLASS’ THE ‘ENEMY’ AT EL-SAYED RALLY

    A provider rate crackdown; denying states Medicaid funding for having illegal immigrants on the benefit rolls; preventing illegal immigrants from participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and preventing Medicaid and CHIP funding from going toward gender-affirming care were all on the table.

    However, those provisions were gutted from the bill for not complying with the strict guardrails that dictate the reconciliation process. Still, Republicans were able to include stringent work requirements for the healthcare program.

    Scott’s office didn’t comment on Piker’s Medicare fraud accusation but told Fox News Digital that “no Democrat elected official calls this guy out and the press seems to give all the Democrats a pass for actively campaigning with him.”

    Piker’s management team and Yale did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

  • Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Antifa-tied group’s plan for chaos, school probe over transgender policy

    RADICAL PLAYBOOK: Far-left group’s training manual to cause chaos at upcoming event revealed in leaked doc

    WOKE SHOWDOWN: Feds launch Title IX probe into K-12 school district over gender identity policy

    RECORD REVERSAL: School clears student suspension over pro-ICE flyers it deemed ‘harassment’

    SIGN UP TO GET THE CAMPUS RADICALS NEWSLETTER

    ‘DESERVE THE TRUTH’: Conservative group urges crackdown on hidden campus crime

    ‘DEEPLY INAPPROPRIATE’: GOP rep demands answers after university hosts abortion-support training for teens as young as 14

  • Court poised to block Trump tariffs again, teeing up new fight

    The Court of International Trade on Friday appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump‘s use of a little-known emergency trade law to justify his sweeping, 10% global tariffs — teeing up a familiar, if technically new, legal fight focused on when and how a sitting president can act to unilaterally impose steep import fees on most U.S. trading partners.

    During nearly two hours of arguments, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of International Trade grappled with Trump’s use of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — an emergency provision designed to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments problems — and its applicability in today’s economy.

    Under Section 122, a president has the authority to unilaterally impose import fees of up to 15% on U.S. trading partners for a period of 150 days, to respond to large and serious “balance of payments deficits,” or instances that risk immediately depreciating the power of the dollar.  

    Arguments before the court hinged on interpretation of the “balance of payments deficits” phrase, and whether the persistent U.S. trade deficits cited by Trump in invoking Section 122 aligned with the kind of crisis that Congress had envisioned when it passed the trade law in the mid-1970s. 

    TRUMP WARNS SUPREME COURT TARIFF SHOWDOWN IS ‘LIFE OR DEATH’ FOR AMERICA

    Members of the three-judge panel appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments, and questioned whether Congress intended the statute to apply to specific instances of international currency pressures, rather than long-running trade imbalances.

    “Are you really saying that a large trade deficit alone is sufficient?” the judge asked Justice Department lawyer Brett Shumate, adding, “I don’t think it is, and I think Congress didn’t think it is.”

    Congress, Shumate argued, had provided presidents with broad discretion to assess economic conditions, and to identify what “balance of power” deficits warrant emergency intervention. 

    Shumate also ticked through a list of other economic indicators Trump cited in his proclamation — including the current account deficit, and the “net international investment” position, among other things.

    “The important point,” Shumate said, “is that Congress provided the president [with] discretion.”

    FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS 5 TRUMP TARIFF EXECUTIVE ORDERS 

    The arguments come weeks after a group of 24 attorneys general sued the administration over Trump’s use of Section 122, arguing that the move was an illegal attempt to “sidestep” the Supreme Court’s ruling in February that blocked Trump’s use of an emergency economic powers law to unilaterally impose his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs. 

    Shumate said Friday that both authorities — IEEPA and Section 122 — were available to Trump, and told the court that Trump could have invoked Section 122 earlier.

    Lawyers for the challenges told the court Friday that upholding the administration’s broader view of the law would effectively turn Section 122 into an all-purpose trade weapon. 

    TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY

    Jeffrey Schwab, a lawyer representing one set of challengers in Friday’s case, said the government’s theory was “very, very, very broad,” adding that it could allow the president to act “at any point, at any moment that he wants, forever.”

    Trump is the first president to attempt to use both IEEPA and Section 122 to unilaterally impose tariffs. 

    The case is seen broadly as one that could help define the outer bounds of presidential tariff authority.

    If nothing else, the novelty of both cases, and the skepticism on display by the trade court Friday suggests the new Section 122 tariffs might follow a legal fight that is similar to his first.

  • Pro-Palestinian activist refuses to condemn political violence after threat against her is foiled

    Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian-American activist, blasted what she called Zionist aggression after investigators foiled a Molotov cocktail plot against her life — but refused to condemn political violence across the board.

    In the past, Kiswani’s organization, Within Our Lifetime (WOL), has drawn scrutiny for refusing to condemn U.S.-designated terror organizations.

    “For years, I and so many other Palestinian organizers have been the targets of coordinated harassment, threats, stalking,” Kiswani said at a press event.

    Undercover investigators prevented Alexander Heifler, 26, from carrying out a plan to make and use Molotov cocktails against Kiswani late last month. According to court filings, Heifler had made as many as 12 incendiary devices and was preparing to throw them at Kiswani’s car and home.

    NURSE FIRED FOR RANT AGAINST ISRAELIS IN TIMES SQUARE AS SPIDER-MAN TRIES TO STOP CONFRONTATION

    She also said she believed Palestinians had the right to act in their own interests.

    “I believe that in accordance with international law, the victims of a genocide have the right to defend themselves, and I also believe the American people should be concerned about Zionist terrorist organizations attempting to assassinate their critics on the streets of American cities.”

    She did not clarify if self-defense also included acts of violence.

    CONTRIBUTOR FOR FAR-LEFT OUTLET CALLS FOR ‘WIPING OUT ISRAEL,’ SAYS ISRAELIS ‘MUSTN’T FEEL SAFE’

    NYC MAYOR MAMDANI’S WIFE LIKED POSTS CELEBRATING OCT 7 TERROR ATTACKS BUT GETS SOFT TREATMENT FROM THE PRESS

    Reacting to Kiswani’s statement, Yuval David, a fellow with the Middle East Forum, a pro-Israel research group, said Kiswani’s framing did not come as a surprise.

    She refuses to condemn political violence, and she also refuses to condone terrorism because she tries to manipulate the narrative to justify terrorism by calling it resistance,” David said.

    David noted that Kiswani’s organization has shied away from condemning violence against Israel in the past.

    WOL made headlines in the wake of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel in October 2023 for its anti-Israel support, stating in online messaging that “we are anti-Zionists” and that the “liberation of Palestine requires the abolition of Zionism.”

    David recalled WOL’s messaging to its followers at the outset of the Israel-Hamas war.

    “A month after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad attacks [Kiswani] and her organization published maps of Jewish organizations across New York City, labeled them as having, quote, ‘blood on their hands.’ And told followers to, quote, ‘know your enemy.’ She said that the map should serve as a call for every struggle to act,” David said.

    The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism has said WOL demonstrates “very explicit support for violence against Israeli civilians in support of terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”

    For its part, WOL has said it is anti-Zionist, not antisemitic.

    After news of the plot against Kiswani broke, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called on viewers to denounce violence across the board.

    “We do not tolerate any kind of violent extremism in this city. No one should face violence for their political beliefs or for their advocacy. And I am relieved she is safe,” Mamdani said in a press event.

    NYC BOOSTS PATROLS AMID ‘HEIGHTENED THREAT ENVIRONMENT,’ AFTER GUNMAN RAMS TRUCK INTO MICHIGAN SYNAGOGUE

    When asked if she would condemn political violence in the wake of the foiled plot, Kiswani blasted the inquiry.

    “Since its inception, Fox News has not only cheerled the Israeli occupation of Palestine, it has spread lies that launched the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which led to the deaths of over a million people, and it presently supports Trump and Israel’s war on Iran,” Kiswani told Fox News Digital.

    “It is ironic that a news network that glorifies violence when carried out in the interest of American imperialism puts the burden on me, the Palestinian victim of a Zionist terrorist plot, to explain my position on political violence,” she continued.

  • Canadian politician goes viral for using sprawling LGBT acronym critics compare to a Wi-Fi password

    A Canadian politician went viral on social media after spelling out the acronym of an identity in the LGBT community known as “MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+,” sparking mockery and comparisons online that it sounded like a “WiFi password.” 

    Leah Gazan, a member of Canada’s New Democratic Party, shared the term during recent public remarks, in which she lamented the Canadian government cutting $7 billion from Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s budget.

    “When the budget was released, I was shocked to find out that Prime Minister Carney is cutting $7 billion between Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations,” Gazan said. 

    “They provided zero to deal with the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+,” Gazan said. “This is abhorrent. This is callous.”

    CANADIAN OPPOSITION LEADER TELLS ROGAN ‘FAKE REFUGEES’ ARE STRAINING ECONOMY, MUST BE DEALT WITH LAWFULLY

    The term stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual Plus people. MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ is a term adopted by the Canadian government in its efforts to keep track of missing and murdered indigenous people. Notably, the lengthy acronym excludes indigenous missing boys and straight men.

    Many accounts poked fun at Gazan, such as the Morse Report, which wrote on X that the LGBT community has “gone from a group of people to a PASSWORD you have to set for a banking app!” 

    “It’s the WiFi that comes pre-set on the router!” the Morse Report wrote.

    The viral video even garnered a comment from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

    “The mental institutions were closed far too quickly….” Cruz wrote on X.

    “So apparently they’d added murdered people into the LGBT community,” political commentator Matt Walsh wrote on X. “Murdered is now a queer identity. This is the kind of innovation we get from Canada.”

    “They front loaded this acronym with true victims —dead or missing girls — and then they leached off that valid suffering,” Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld said. “It’s stolen valor. It’s stolen victim hood.”

    CANADA’S CARNEY UNDER PRESSURE TO ACT AFTER SYNAGOGUES SHOT AT IN LATEST ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS

    Gazan shared a clip of her speaking on X, along with a lengthy written post in which she continued to rail against the Canadian government for not meeting its “legal obligations to end the ongoing genocide against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.”

    “Is the safety of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people not in the national interest?” Gazan wrote.

    Fox News Digital reached out to Gazan for comment.

  • Bessent, Powell summon Wall Street CEOs for emergency meeting over Anthropic AI risks amid Pentagon dispute

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned Wall Street bank heads to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for a flash meeting to warn them of cybersecurity threats posed by AI giant Anthropic, according to a Thursday night report from Bloomberg.

    Bessent and Powell convened the last-minute meeting at Treasury’s D.C. headquarters in order to ensure the banks were ready to guard against risks from Anthropic’s latest model, Claude Mythos Preview, a powerful new AI model that experts warn marks a profound shift in the technology.

    Each bank summoned is marked by the Fed as “structurally important” to the global financial system. The attendees included chief executives from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

    Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was in attendance, a source with knowledge of his schedule told Fox News Digital. Spokespeople for Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo declined to comment. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    PENTAGON’S AI BATTLE WILL HELP DECIDE WHO CONTROLS OUR MOST POWERFUL MILITARY TECH

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was also summoned but was unable to attend, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar. JPMorgan, notably, is a member of Anthropic’s “Project Glasswing,” an initiative to use Mythos as a defense against future similar models. JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Mythos has garnered a swell of intrigue online thanks to Anthropic’s claims that the AI can autonomously identify and exploit software weaknesses.

    The company touted Mythos as a “frontier model” that can outperform “all but the most skilled humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities.” It claimed the model has already identified thousands of software flaws previously unknown to their developers, including some that were decades old inside companies widely considered to be security strongholds.

    “This could make cyberattacks of all kinds much more frequent and destructive, and empower adversaries of the United States and its allies,” Anthropic wrote in a blog post. “Addressing these issues is therefore an important security priority for democratic states.”

    ANTHROPIC’S DEMOCRATIC TIES UNDER FIRE AS TRUMP ADMIN SEVERS PENTAGON CONTRACTS

    In light of the security risks, a source close to Anthropic told Fox News Digital that the company has briefed senior U.S. government officials about Mythos, though did not specify which agencies.

    The increasingly relevant AI titan was once a core partner of the U.S. military, securing a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July 2025.

    However, the partnership split open in February after the company drew redlines against the War Department using its technology for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. After issuing the company an ultimatum, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk, barring federal contractors from using its products.

    Anthropic sought to appeal that designation, but a federal appeals court rejected their plea Wednesday.

    When asked to comment on the Treasury’s Tuesday meeting, the Department of War referred Fox News Digital to a statement in support of the Wednesday ruling from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

    “Today’s D.C. Circuit stay allowing the government to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk is a resounding victory for military readiness,” Blanche posted on X Wednesday. “Our position has been clear from the start — our military needs full access to Anthropic’s models if its technology is integrated into our sensitive systems. Military authority and operational control belong to the Commander-in-Chief and Department of War, not a tech company.”

    The Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board did not immediately return requests for comment.

  • Anti-Israel agitator Mahmoud Khalil one step closer to deportation with immigration board ruling

    An immigration appeals board has issued a final order of removal for anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil, advancing the Trump administration’s effort to deport the Columbia University graduate, according to his legal team.

    The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled Thursday to deny Khalil’s bid to dismiss the case, marking a significant development in the administration’s push to deport him from the U.S.

    Khalil, a 31-year-old lawful permanent resident, has been at the center of a broader federal crackdown on noncitizens involved in anti-Israel campus protests tied to the war in Gaza. He was the first person whose arrest became publicly known as part of the crackdown.

    His legal team blasted the decision as “baseless and politically motivated,” arguing the government is retaliating against his speech and lacks evidence to support the case.

    MAHMOUD KHALIL AVOIDS EXPLICIT HAMAS CONDEMNATION, CRITICIZES ‘SELECTIVE OUTRAGE’ AMID PALESTINIAN SUFFERING

    “In all my decades as an immigration lawyer, I have never seen such a baseless and politically motivated decision,” Khalil’s lead attorney, Marc Van Der Hout, said in a statement issued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The BIA’s decision has absolutely no support in the record, violates a federal court order, and we’ll be fighting it until the end.”

    The Trump administration has argued Khalil’s protest activity was “aligned with Hamas,” a claim cited by the Department of Homeland Security and other officials, though authorities have not publicly detailed specific evidence linking him to the terrorist group.

    Khalil has also denied allegations of antisemitism. Officials have also cited a rare foreign policy provision of U.S. immigration law, sometimes referred to as a “Rubio determination,” as well as alleged issues tied to his green card application.

    Despite the ruling, Khalil’s attorneys say he cannot be deported while his separate federal habeas case continues to play out in court.

    A federal judge in New Jersey previously found the government’s justification for detaining Khalil was likely unconstitutional and ordered his release.

    After his arrest, Khalil spent 104 days in immigration detention, missing the birth of his first child before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release.

    Khalil later suffered a setback in his federal case when a U.S. appeals panel ruled that the New Jersey judge overstepped his authority by ordering his release. In a 2-1 decision, the panel found the case must proceed through the immigration court system before it can be challenged in federal court.

    His lawyers are now requesting the full appeals panel reconsider that decision and have asked one of the judges to step aside over his prior role as a Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters.

    Khalil has denied wrongdoing and said the case is an attempt to silence him.

    “I am not surprised by this decision from the biased and politically motivated Board of Immigration Appeals. I have committed no crime. I have broken no law. The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine — and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it,” Khalil said in a statement released by the ACLU.

    DHS FIRES BACK AFTER MAHMOUD KHALIL TARGETS TRUMP ADMIN FOR $20M OVER DETENTION

    “My family is here. My life is here. I reject any attempt to intimidate me out of my home based on lies and ideological attacks,” he said. “This is not justice. This is just another attempt to retaliate against me.”

    Khalil, a prominent organizer of anti-Israel protests at Columbia University in 2024 who the Trump administration is seeking to deport, was initially arrested in 2025 at his university-owned apartment in New York City.

    Homeland Security Investigations, a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told him at the time they were revoking his green card, according to his attorney, Amy Greer. He was later transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.

    Khalil played a major role in protests against Israel that rocked Columbia University in 2024 and met with school officials on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups pushing the university to divest from Israel. He completed the requirements for a Columbia master’s degree in late 2024.

    Born in Syria, he is the grandson of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland, his lawyers said in a legal filing. His wife, a U.S. citizen, gave birth to the couple’s child while he was in detention.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously defended the Trump administration’s actions following Khalil’s arrest in March, saying he allegedly distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers on campus.

    “This administration is not going to tolerate individuals having the privilege of studying in our country and then siding with pro-terrorist organizations that have killed Americans,” Leavitt told reporters at a White House press briefing at the time, noting that on her desk were the “pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the logo of Hamas” on them that Khalil allegedly was distributing.

    “We have a zero-tolerance policy for siding with terrorists, period,” she said.

    Fox News Digital has contacted the Justice Department for comment.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.