Author: NOVA Corp

A 30-year-old man with a long prior rap sheet was arrested on charges of burglarizing a Virginia church last week in a county judicial system led by one of the country’s most high-profile George Soros-backed prosecutors, who is now under congressional scrutiny.

The suspect, Akuamoa Boateng, had a slew of prior charges — some dropped — brought by the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which is under congressional scrutiny for its prosecutorial discretion involving career criminals and illegal immigrants who go on to commit crimes, including the recent murder of a woman at a Mount Vernon-area bus stop last month.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano agreed to appear alongside Sheriff Stacey Kincaid before Congress as lawmakers are set to examine the county’s policies.

DEM SENATOR WARNS DEPORTATION COULD LET VIRGINIA WOMAN’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLER ‘ESCAPE ACCOUNTABILITY’

Boateng’s court records in Virginia’s state database show several prior cases and a handful of upcoming hearings, as Fairfax County Police officers otherwise tracked him down in this church burglary case in less than 24 hours.

Officers who responded to the church on Ox Road just south of Fairfax city found damaged property and the appearance of items having been stolen.

Officials said a church vehicle was also stolen, which detectives tracked to Hybla Valley, outside Alexandria, using license plate readers.

Boateng, of Lorton, was arrested, and stolen items were found in the vehicle. He was charged with burglary, auto theft, larceny with intent to sell, felony destruction and possession of Schedule I and Schedule II drugs and held without bond.

ICE MAKES MAJOR ARREST AFTER SOROS-BACKED PROSECUTOR MADE CONTROVERSIAL PLEA DEAL

Court filings for an individual matching Boateng’s first and last name, age, residence and reported birthdate revealed a startling rap sheet in the dense, heavily Democratic county.

Boateng has prior arrests on charges including alleged drug possession, obstruction, burglary, a bomb threat and cases of malicious wounding. A representative for Descano noted the state’s bomb threat statute includes other charges than bomb threats, and there was no mention of a bomb in that incident.

Malicious wounding in Virginia is a felony similar to attempted murder involving intentional serious bodily injury, and can include conduct prosecutors argue was carried out with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill.

For some of his recent charges, an individual matching his name and birth date has upcoming preliminary hearings for drug possession and petit larceny this summer.

He was found guilty of entering a structure to commit assault and battery but had four months of a 12-month sentence suspended, according to state records.

Bomb threat charges were dropped after an arraignment, bond and preliminary hearings in 2025 and 2026.

‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ MECCA OF MINNEAPOLIS OVERRUN WITH VIOLENCE, ‘FAILED LEADERSHIP’: FORMER AG CANDIDATE

He was found guilty of disorderly conduct in February but had his sentence suspended.

Virginians for Safe Communities posted to X that Boateng accrued dozens of other charges and had assault and gun possession charges dropped, based on court system data.

Descano’s office confirmed that Boateng “attacked both his parents in their home, causing injuries” in a 2023 case, and that the prosecutor’s office takes family violence “extremely serious[ly]” and successfully obtained a protective order, jail time and mental health treatment for the suspect.

The prosecutor’s office implicitly pushed back on assertions of being soft-on-crime and cataloged some of the actions taken against Boateng in that and other cases:

“The defendant pled guilty to two counts of family assault and battery and was sentenced to 1 year with 6 months suspended for each charge and was subject to a two-year protective order. After being released, he violated his probation, the commonwealth prosecuted him, and 8 months of his suspended sentence was reimposed. The commonwealth also prosecuted and convicted him for a separate instance of violating the Family Protective Order.”

Descano’s office also cited several such cases in November 2025 — describing “numerous incidents over a short period of time” that were resolved “in tandem” and saw Boateng convicted on five total charges in February — while confirming that county prosecutors are also pursuing four new cases, including a July court date.

Descano will make his first Capitol Hill appearance May 14 as House Republicans press him on the county’s immigration policies following a murder tied to a repeat illegal immigrant offender. The Democratic prosecutor rose to power with heavy financial backing from the Soros family’s Justice and Public Safety PAC, part of a network of political organizations supported by Hungarian-born billionaire and committed progressive mega-donor George Soros.

Stephanie Minter’s case spurred federal oversight and calls for legislative reforms, and Minter’s family is now also backing a recall effort against Descano that could threaten his tenure, according to local reporting.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau will produce a report “in short order” after reviewing multiple state-level investigations at the White House’s request to determine whether any are connected.

“Those investigations are collectively being looked at by the FBI pursuant to (the) President, the White House’s request,” Patel told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “So we’re reaching out. We’ve already done it, we’re engaged. They’re all state cases, but we’re looking to see if there’s any connections, and we’re going to have a final report here in short order.” 

He poured cold water on the idea that all the cases of mysterious deaths and disappearances that have resurfaced in recent weeks are connected — noting that some are not even scientists — but said the FBI is “just trying to do our homework.” 

“We are trying to make sure, was there a connection? Did they, were they all working on the same thing or not? Those questions we’re answering right now with our state and local partners, and we’ll produce a report shortly.”

TWO MORE TRUMP ALLIES SAY BIDEN FBI SECRETLY SEIZED THEIR DATA AMID ‘WEAPONIZATION’ CONTROVERSY 

At least a dozen cases involving scientists and others tied to government and defense research have drawn renewed attention in recent weeks, as federal authorities work to determine whether any are connected. The cases — which span disappearances, confirmed homicides and deaths previously ruled accidental — have circulated widely online and prompted questions about whether a broader pattern could pose a national security concern.

The FBI declined to say how much of the report would be made public, noting the matter remains an active investigation.

President Donald Trump also has acknowledged the cases, saying his administration is working to determine whether the incidents are connected.

“I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump said to reporters April 16. “I just left a meeting on that subject.”

“The White House continues to coordinate across the interagency in order to investigate these events and provide transparency to the American people. We will not get ahead of the investigation,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital Wednesday. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration has said it is aware of reports involving personnel across its labs and facilities and is reviewing the matter.

At least a dozen cases involving scientists and defense-linked personnel have drawn renewed attention in recent weeks.

They include the disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William “Neil” McCasland, who oversaw classified research programs and vanished from his New Mexico home earlier in 2026, and the death of NASA-affiliated engineer Joshua LeBlanc, whose body was found in a burned vehicle hours after he was reported missing.

Also among the cases is Monica Jacinto Reza, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer who disappeared while hiking in California, and Melissa Casias, a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee who vanished in New Mexico after leaving work.

Another case revealed by Fox News Digital involves Army biochemist Jude Height, whose 2022 death was ruled accidental after he was struck by a vehicle, but has since drawn renewed scrutiny from family members and former colleagues who say key details remain unexplained.

Authorities have not indicated that any of the cases are connected.

A 29-year-old Texas woman is now in custody and facing federal fraud charges after allegedly impersonating an immigration officer in a multi-year visa fraud scheme.

Mayra Collins, a resident of Brownsville, a city on the far southern tip of Texas, is facing five counts of fraudulently posing as a federal agent with various agencies in 2022 and 2025, Acting U.S. Attorney John Marck announced.

The charges against Collins are for two counts of wire fraud and three counts of impersonating a federal agent, according to local affiliate Fox 26.

The DOJ said Collins first allegedly posed as a federal immigration officer. She allegedly falsely represented that she could expedite the process for obtaining U.S. visas and took money from four victims. In 2025, Collins also allegedly impersonated a Border Patrol agent with influence over the hiring of federal employees. She allegedly told one victim there were job positions available, but that they needed to send her money for uniforms and ballistic vests before beginning employment with Border Patrol.

ILLEGAL ALIEN ALLEGEDLY RAN FAKE DHS BRANCH, PASSED OUT ‘IMMUNITY’ CARDS DURING A $400 FRAUDULENT COURSE

According to the DOJ, Collins “never worked for the United States” and “had no power to provide victims of her schemes with Visas or employment” with Border Patrol.

The woman is now facing up to 20 years in federal prison for the two counts of wire fraud and another three years for the impersonation charges. She is also facing a maximum fine of $250,000.

She is expected to make her initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Julie Hampton this Thursday.

Lora Ries, an immigration policy expert with the Heritage Foundation, explained that “the needless complexity of immigration law and the fragmented immigration bureaucracy spread across five federal departments are fertile ground for fraudsters.”

Ries, who is director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital that Democrats “helped create these systemic conditions because they facilitate illegal immigration.”

CBP SEIZES MASSIVE METH HAUL WORTH MILLIONS STASHED IN SECRET TILE SHIPMENT

“This perpetrator exploiting that confusing and scattered system is a consequence of their own making,” Ries said.

She noted that “Congress should greatly simplify immigration law and consolidate many of the immigration agencies for a better immigration system and to prevent such fraud.”

This comes as the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security ramp up the federal government’s investigation into a massive fraud scheme largely involving the Somali immigrant community in Minnesota. Federal officials raided 22 alleged fraud sites Tuesday morning.

The raids center on federal fraud investigations into largely Somali-owned businesses, including childcare facilities that registered their daycare with the state but were allegedly billing for care that was not provided.

EMMER SAYS MN FRAUD RAIDS SEND ‘CRYSTAL CLEAR’ MESSAGE AFTER FEDS HIT DOZENS OF SITES

Following news of the raids breaking, Vice President JD Vance, head of the administration’s fraud task force, remarked that the “task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding.”

Commenting on the Minnesota crackdown, Ries told Fox News Digital that “Americans, particularly Minnesotans, are pleased to see the ongoing pursuit of justice against fraud in that state.”

“We’ve only seen a glimpse of both the immigration fraud and welfare fraud that have occurred in Minnesota,” she said, adding, “Significant criminal and immigration consequences are needed for all the perpetrators to achieve justice and to send a message to others throughout the country not to engage in fraud.”

The Department of Justice is urging a federal court to keep Cole Allen, the suspect accused of opening fire at the Washington Hilton Hotel during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, behind bars pending trial. 

The DOJ’s filing on Wednesday includes a new photo showing Allen armed and inside a hotel room before the shooting unfolded.

“The United States of America, by and through its attorney, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, respectfully submits this memorandum in support of its oral motion to detain defendant Cole Tomas Allen pending trial,” a filing notes.

“At approximately 8:03 p.m., while back inside his hotel room, the defendant used his cellphone to take a photograph of himself in the mirror,” the filing states, noting that Allen “appeared to be wearing a small leather bag consistent in appearance with the ammunition-filled bag later recovered from his person (item 1), a shoulder holster (item 2), a sheathed knife consistent in appearance with one of the knives later recovered from his person (item 3), and pliers and wire cutters consistent in appearance with those later recovered from his person (item 4).”

The Supreme Court on Wednesday limited the scope of a key Voting Rights Act provision that restricts how states draw districts affecting minority voters, constraining states’ use of race as a factor when drawing congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

Justices for the 6-3 majority ruled that Louisiana’s newly redrawn congressional map, which created a second majority-Black district, constituted an “illegal” racial gerrymander.

Though the justices acknowledged that compliance with the Voting Rights Act can be a compelling interest for states, they ruled that it did not require Louisiana to create the new map with a second, majority Black district.

Compliance with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, “as properly construed, can provide such a reason,” Justice Samuel Alito said, writing for the majority. “Correctly understood, Section 2 does not impose liability at odds with the Constitution, and it should not have imposed liability on Louisiana for its 2022 map.”

“Compliance with Section 2 thus could not justify the State’s use of race-based redistricting here,” he added.

JUDGES SAY THEY’LL REDRAW LOUISIANA CONGRESSIONAL MAP THEMSELVES IF LAWMAKERS CAN’T

While the ruling does not overturn the Voting Rights Act or Section 2, it is likely to narrow how minority representation influences multiple states’ congressional maps, and trigger a new wave of legal challenges over congressional boundaries.

The case, Louisiana v. Callais, was first argued last March before the Supreme Court, and centered on whether Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which had added a second majority-Black district, amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

The dispute reached the high court after months of legal back-and-forth, including oral arguments last March, and a rare second round of arguments last October, focused on whether Louisiana’s map (and creation of the second majority-Black district under the VRA) violated the 14th or 15th Amendments of the Constitution.

Conservative justices appeared skeptical during October’s arguments about keeping Section 2 of the VRA in place, as is, and pressed the lawyer for the NAACP on whether she believed there should be a time duration limit on the intentional use of race in drawing voting districts under the law.

During those arguments, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other conservatives on the high court appeared open to the idea that Congress, in passing the 1965 Voting Rights Act law, may have intended a sort of “sunset period” for Section 2, allowing it to weaken over time. 

That possibility was invoked by Kavanaugh several times during oral arguments, as he pressed lawyers for the state of Louisiana and the NAACP for more specifics.

Hashim Mooppan, the principal deputy solicitor general, told the court the congressional map in Louisiana that was drafted in response to Section 2 of the VRA could also be construed as a “reverse partisan gerrymander,” and one that is also based on “purely racial” considerations.

Meanwhile, NAACP lawyer Janai Nelson, arguing the case on behalf of Black voters, told the high court that siding with Louisiana’s request to reverse the map would be a “staggering reversal of precedent,” which she said “would throw maps across the country into chaos.”

NEW MAJORITY-BLACK LOUISIANA HOUSE DISTRICT REJECTED, NOVEMBER ELECTION MAP STILL UNCERTAIN

A ruling from the high court has long been expected to have major implications for future elections. 

Critics have warned in recent months that weakening VRA could further erode protections for minority voters under the Voting Rights Act, at a time when several Republican-led states have attempted to aggressively push through new congressional maps ahead of the midterms.

They argued in filings to the Supreme Court that non-Black voters failed to show the direct harm required for equal protection claims or prove race was the main factor in redrawing the map.

But lawyers arguing the case on behalf of the NAACP and Black voters in the state have warned that a ruling in favor of Louisiana could have a staggering impact on races in 2026 and beyond.

A recent report from the nonprofit groups Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund estimates that an overhaul of the VRA could swing an estimated 12 Democratic-held House districts in favor of Republican candidates. 

This is a breaking news story. Check back shortly for updates.

The Supreme Court unanimously sided with a group of faith-based pregnancy centers on Wednesday that challenged the New Jersey attorney general’s investigation into whether the centers misled donors and the public about steering women away from having abortions.

The case was brought by First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a group of five Christian-based facilities in New Jersey that provide various pre-natal services to women facing unplanned pregnancies. The Supreme Court found the centers’ First Amendment rights were violated, handing a victory to the pro-life movement, which had argued the state investigation rattled the centers’ donors.

The opinion was narrow, finding that First Choice is now able to fight the state investigation in federal court, rather than state court. First Choice argued that then-Attorney General Matt Platkin, an elected Democrat, had issued baseless subpoenas to the pregnancy centers for donor information and that the centers should be allowed to fight them in federal court.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who authored the opinion, agreed with First Choice, saying the state-issued subpoenas breached the First Amendment.

PRO-LIFE CENTER FIGHTS NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL’S ‘FISHING EXPEDITION’ IN SUPREME COURT BATTLE

“An official demand for private donor information is enough to discourage reasonable individuals from associating with a group. It is enough to discourage groups from expressing dissident views,” Gorsuch wrote.

The high court’s majority rebuked Platkin, saying his probe did not align with longstanding court precedent.

“Over and again, we have held those demands burden the exercise of First Amendment rights,” Gorsuch wrote. “Disputing none of these precedents but seeking ways around them, the Attorney General has offered a variety of arguments.  Some are old, some are new, but none succeeds.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the New Jersey attorney general’s office for comment.

This is a developing news story; check back for updates.

Fox News’ Bill Mears and Shannon Bream contributed to this report.

Online influencer Hasan Piker mocked the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump during a livestream Tuesday night, even as he bailed on a panel hosted by a pro-communist nonprofit, with organizers citing safety reasons amid backlash to his rhetoric.

Piker, a self-described Marxist and popular streamer on the Twitch platform, was slated to appear as the headliner at an event hosted by the People’s Forum in Manhattan, “Columbia & Palestine: A Test of Democracy — Featuring Hasan Piker & Guests,” but he was a no-show. Instead, while the panel proceeded without him, he streamed his show live from New York City, which he called “Mamdanistan” for Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

He spent much of the six hours reading aloud articles and X posts about himself, at turns giddy, and then complaining about the “threats,” “disparagement campaigns” and “smears” he’d received for spewing rhetoric that critics say has stoked a culture of political violence.

Last year, the far-left streamer drew public scrutiny when he called for the murder of Senator Rick Scott, R-Florida,  as Republicans targeted Medicaid and Medicare fraud. He said, “If you cared about Medicare fraud or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott.”

A fellow panelist told attendees that Piker withdrew due to “the level of attacks and targeting that he has been going through from the right and the left and right,” following backlash after “the situation” with the attempted assassination on Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.

The episode highlights intensifying scrutiny of rhetoric by leftists like Piker, following the assassination attempt, as critics point to a pattern of inflammatory comments and question the influence of online personalities during a volatile political moment. On Tuesday, writer Peter Hamby at liberal Puck News even acknowledged, “There is a rising miasma of conspiratorial thinking, dangerous fact-denying, and dehumanizing language that has taken hold on the American left.” He singled out “clout-chasers.”

Piker’s decision to skip the in-person event while simultaneously mocking the incident online highlights escalating tensions around the influence of online personalities during a volatile political moment.

While the panel unfolded at the People’s Forum without Piker, the influencer used his livestream on Twitch to mock the assassination attempt and amplify conspiracy theories that it was a fabricated operation. 

LEAVITT BLAMES ‘LEFT-WING CULT OF HATRED’ AFTER WHCA DINNER SHOOTING

He also fawned over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s pre-taped White House Correspondents’ Dinner roast, including a controversial dig at First Lady Melania Trump having the “glow of an expectant widow.”

Piker laughed at the joke and interjected: “That is the bar,” a play off a slang term, “bars,” popularized in hip hop culture to refer to extremely good lyrics.

He continued, smiling: “‘You have a glow like an expectant widow’ is bars. I’m afraid to report that that is actually bars.”

Right about then, about 22 minutes into the People’s Forum event and well into Piker’s separate six-hour livestream, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April 2025 before being released by an immigration judge, took the microphone and said, “First, I would answer, or I would speak to the thing that many of you are wondering, most likely, and the question is, where is Hassan Piker?” The crowd laughed.

He continued, “Oh, yeah, Hasan was supposed to be with us tonight, and we had to do a last-minute call because of the level of attacks and targeting that he has been going through from the right and the left and, specifically, since last night, with the situation in the White House, there are people who are trying to point fingers to Hasan.”

MORNING GLORY: 2026 SHOULD BE YEAR ANTISEMITISM BECOMES UNACCEPTABLE IN AMERICA AGAIN

Mahdawi continued, “As we know, this is a whole war on truth. The system is trying to silence us and to censor us from speaking up for Palestine and from sharing our truth, because the truth has its own power. And we had to debate, as a team, with the People’s Forum team, as well, whether if we should actually reschedule it or cancel it, and it wasn’t as difficult of a decision as one might imagine, because we knew our North Star, and our North Star is to be with you and to empower ourself and to continue to share our truth.”

He finished: “So while we are with you here tonight, Hassan is streaming right now and watching us.” 

The crowd broke out in cheers.

DEM AND GOP LAWMAKERS TRADE BLAME OVER RHETORIC AFTER WHCD SHOOTING: ‘IT IS DISGUSTING’

While the People’s Forum panel lamented the alleged threats against Piker and the streamer blasted Trump and the First Lady during his livestream, NYPD Community Officers were on foot outside of the venue, and multiple police cars lined W. 37th Street in Manhattan. 

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

Already, lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee and House Oversight Committee are investigating the People’s Forum, a New York City-based nonprofit, as a hub for allegedly stoking chaos and hate in the country as part of a wider malign foreign influence operation. A Fox News Digital investigation found that the nonprofit received $22.4 million from Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American tech tycoon who has promoted Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

The organization has played a visible role organizing agitators at far-left protests and demonstrations in New York City and across the country, often in coordination with a network of pro-communist nonprofits funded by Singham, including CodePink, co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans.

Piker has faced repeated criticisms for past remarks. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Piker dismissed the reports of Israelis raped by Hamas militants, saying,  “It doesn’t matter if f—ing rapes happened on October 7th. Like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much,” pinching his fingers together.

He later told TV host Piers Morgan in April 2024 that he supports the chant, “Globalize the intifada,” which critics say calls for violence against Jews and the state of Israel.

“I am perfectly comfortable with people chanting about the intifada,” Piker said.

REPUBLICAN LEADER TARGETS TAX-EXEMPT STATUS OF CCP-LINKED NONPROFIT TIED TO VIOLENT PROTESTS

NYPD police officers have arrested hundreds of pro-intifada protesters at Columbia over the course of multiple anti-Israel demonstrations and on-campus encampments where agitators spray painted buildings, restricted walkways and occupied the Butler Library in May 2025. Lawmakers and Columbia University investigations established rampant antisemitism among protesters targeting Jewish students.

But in its promotion for the event, the Singham-funded nonprofit’s framed a narrative of the students as victims of “surveillance, suspension and institutional resistance.”

Meanwhile, as Piker mocked the assassination attempt on his livestream, a few pro-Trump supporters stood in front of the People’s Forum entry door being interviewed on phone cameras as multiple suited security guards ushered attendees safely into the event, walking past shelves packed with books by German philosopher Karl Marx, calling for a communist “revolution.” 

On his livestream, Piker griped about being the victim of “Hasan Derangement Syndrome” and becoming “the poster boy of the left.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Piker but did not receive a response.

FIRST ON FOX — A bipartisan batch of senators is introducing a measure that seeks to prevent fraudsters from sapping federal student aid.

The proposal aims to block the fraudsters, often referred to as “ghost students,” from utilizing stolen or fake identities to file Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications and obtain federal student aid money, Sen. Ashley Moody’s, R-Fla., office said in an announcement obtained by Fox News Digital.

Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., are joining Moody on the introduction of the “No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026.”

TRUMP ADMIN TIGHTENS VISE ON STUDENT AID FRAUD IN ‘GHOST STUDENT’ CRACKDOWN

“Taxpayer-funded student aid should go to students — not fraudsters gaming the system. This legislation takes common-sense steps to verify identity, strengthen oversight, and ensure federal dollars are not wasted,” Moody noted in a statement.

The senator, who previously served as Florida’s state attorney general, joined the U.S. Senate last year to fill the vacancy caused by Marco Rubio’s departure from his seat to serve as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Moody to the Senate seat in January 2025, and she is now seeking to win the seat in a November 2026 special election to serve the remainder of the term.

TRUMP ADMIN SAVES TAXPAYERS $1 BILLION IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN OF STUDENT AID PROGRAMS

“Our young students work night and day to earn their spot on campus. Zero federal student aid should go towards ghost students who are stealing money from Americans. As Co-Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions task force to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in education, I am proud to introduce this bill and will not stop until we eliminate all fraud,” Tuberville said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

“Scammers are deploying increasingly sophisticated tactics to steal money and federal financial aid from hardworking Americans. In the face of these scams, we need to do more to protect students and taxpayer dollars,” Hassan added. “This bipartisan bill will require that the federal government establish an identity fraud detection system during the student financial aid process, catching scammers on the front-end before tax dollars leave the government’s bank account. I will continue to combat the scourge of scams and ensure that higher education is accessible for all Americans.”

GOP DISRUPTOR COUNTERS BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN BAILOUTS WITH PLAN TO SHIFT COSTS AWAY FROM TAXPAYERS

The U.S. Department of Education recently “launched a new, real-time fraud detection capability” pertaining to the FAFSA form. The department noted that “fraud detection is built directly into the FAFSA itself, with every applicant evaluated in real-time using risk-based identity screening.”

“Applicants who display a certain level of fraud risk will now be required to present government-issued identification before accessing federal student aid funds such as Pell Grants and federal student loans,” the department said.

Experts and analysts are scrutinizing every recent signal from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell amid heightened tensions with President Donald Trump, right down to his choice of tie.

As Powell prepares to step down after Wednesday’s news conference, his inclination toward donning a purple tie has served as a quiet symbol of the Fed’s longstanding effort to remain independent and above politics.

“I like purple ties,” Powell said following remarks last April at a Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing conference in Virginia.

POWELL REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO STEP DOWN FROM THE FED AS PRESSURE MOUNTS

After wearing a purple tie on one occasion, he considered switching back to a more traditional red or blue at his next news conference, but paused.

“I go, ‘Hmm, maybe not.’ So I wind up wearing purple ties. And then it becomes a thing,” he said. “And now I definitely wear purple ties all the time.”

Powell originally framed the choice as personal preference, but later acknowledged a more deliberate reasoning: avoiding the political associations of red and blue, colors widely linked to the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively.

Fed chairs have long sought to avoid overt political signaling, carefully calibrating not just their language but their public image.

“It felt a little awkward to be wearing one that was identified,” Powell said.

A RARE FILING IN THE LISA COOK–TRUMP CASE COULD SWAY SUPREME COURT JUSTICES

“We are strictly nonpolitical—I can’t stress that enough,” he added. “It’s not that we are bipartisan, we are nonpolitical. We don’t do that. And so, purple is a good color for that. That’s all.”

Then, with a shrug to the symbolism, he returned to his original point: “Plus, I like purple ties.”

Notably, purple is the result of mixing red and blue together.

That message has taken on added resonance amid mounting political tension. What began as a disagreement over interest rate policy has escalated into a broader confrontation between Powell and Trump, marking one of the more fraught periods of his eight-year tenure as Fed chair.

Trump has intensified his pressure campaign in recent months, publicly criticizing the Fed’s benchmark interest rate decisions and even resorting to personal attacks.

Powell’s tenure at the central bank dates back to 2017, when he was selected by Trump to succeed Janet Yellen. He was reappointed to a second four-year term by President Joe Biden in 2022, which expires May 15. However, his term as a Fed governor runs longer, allowing him to remain at the central bank until 2028.

In March, Powell told reporters he had not decided on his next steps and declined to say whether he would remain on the Fed’s board after his term as chair ends.

Republican infighting in the House of Representatives is jeopardizing the passage of President Donald Trump’s agenda, as deep divisions over three high-profile pieces of legislation stall action on the floor. 

House GOP leadership canceled votes on Tuesday as internal negotiations failed to win over conservative holdouts to support an extension of a controversial surveillance program or mammoth legislation enacting agriculture and nutrition policies known as the farm bill.

Republicans on the House Rules Committee teed up a procedural vote advancing the legislative items on Tuesday after Democrats forced the panel to entertain dozens of failed amendments. But a swath of conservative lawmakers are noncommittal about supporting the procedural measure ahead of a highly anticipated vote scheduled for Wednesday morning. 

“We’ve been through some trying times here,” House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said after reading a portion of the Serenity Prayer when the panel reconvened Tuesday afternoon amid flaring tensions among lawmakers.

‘HELL WEEK’ IN WASHINGTON: A LOOK AT HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ CURRENT BIND, AND HOW WE GOT HERE

The intraparty divisions come as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is up against a fast-approaching April 30 deadline to pass an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The speaker can spare just a handful of GOP defections on the House floor during the test vote, setting up the measure for a vote on final passage if Democrats unite in opposition.

“I am a NO on the Rule,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., wrote on social media Tuesday after she criticized the House Rules Committee for rejecting her amendments to the farm bill.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., also threatened to vote “no” during the procedural vote after voicing frustration with the House Rules panel’s proceedings.

GOP privacy hawks have so far withheld their support on the procedural measure and the underlying three-year extension of a FISA renewal bill absent reforms. The Trump administration has failed for weeks to convince Republican holdouts to support a clean extension of the spy law despite warning about the national security risks of letting the program lapse.

Though the procedural measure includes language permanently banning central bank digital currencies (CBDC) — a high priority for some conservative members — the spy law extension does not include a requirement that would direct intelligence officials to obtain a warrant before reviewing Americans’ data.

The surveillance tool allows the U.S. government to surveil foreigners who are using U.S. communication platforms abroad. The program also permits intelligence collection on Americans in contact with foreigners without a warrant — a policy long seen as problematic by a mix of conservatives and progressives who want stricter privacy guardrails.

“The Intel community always just comes in and says people will die if you do this,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Tuesday, referring to a warrant requirement. “A lot of Americans died to give us and protect that Fourth Amendment right, that we don’t have government looking at our stuff.” 

THESE ARE THE 21 HOUSE REPUBLICANS WHO HELD OUT AGAINST TRUMP, JOHNSON ON $1.2T SPENDING BILL

The final shape of the House’s FISA renewal bill is also sparking tensions with the Senate.

“There’s a feeling that if it gets in the bill, then it’s going to sink the bill,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital, referring to the CBDC ban language that conservatives have described as an anti-surveillance measure. “I don’t know if that’s true or not. We’d love to at least vote on it.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday that a FISA renewal bill that contains a permanent ban on central bank digital currencies would be “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber.

Several House Republicans dismissed the majority leader’s comments, with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., referring to Thune as “Senator Palpatine” on social media.

Luna has also threatened to “blow up” the farm bill if controversial pesticide language is not scrapped from the legislation. Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) advocates and Democratic lawmakers have slammed the provisions as a liability shield for pesticide manufacturers.

Democratic lawmakers are unlikely to bail out Republican leadership during the critical test vote due to their likely opposition to the trio of legislative items within the procedural measure.

“Kash Patel is a major obstacle to getting to a FISA deal,” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., a member of House Democratic leadership, said Tuesday, referring to the FBI head. “And it’s because many members of Congress simply do not trust Kash Patel.”