Author: NOVA Corp

Just days before an apparent assassination attempt on President Donald Trump’s life, one of the Democratic Party’s leaders called for “maximum warfare” against Republicans.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., made the inflammatory remark while warning Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., against redrawing the state’s congressional map ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Jeffries said that if DeSantis attempted to counter Democratic gains in Virginia following the state’s aggressive gerrymander, Democrats would continue to ratchet up pressure on Republicans nationwide.

“We are in an era of maximum warfare. Everywhere, all the time,” Jeffries said Wednesday at a news conference.

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Three days later, a California man allegedly attempted to assassinate the president Saturday evening at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.

Cole Allen, 31, is accused of storming a Secret Service checkpoint while armed and intending to enter the hotel ballroom to kill Trump and administration officials. The alleged assassin was armed with a shotgun, handgun and several knives and opened fire on federal agents before being subdued.

A Secret Service officer wearing a ballistic vest, whom Allen allegedly shot at close range, was released from the hospital Sunday.

The gunman allegedly prepared a manifesto before the attack that included anti-Trump and anti-Christian messages, several law enforcement officials told Fox News. He is expected to be arraigned on several federal gun charges Monday.

After the shooting, Republicans called on Democratic lawmakers to refrain from using warlike rhetoric to criticize Trump that could incite violence. The GOP made similar pleas in 2024 after two attempts on the president’s life in Butler, Pa., and at his golf club in Doral, Fla.

But top Democrats have argued that Republicans, too, have used plenty of inflammatory statements to describe their opponents.

“America will not be lectured about civility by far-right extremists in Congress,” Jeffries wrote on social media Sunday, adding that “now is a time to unify.”

A White House aide notably used the same “maximum warfare” language toward Democrats during an interview with The New York Times last year.

When asked to describe the White House’s midterms strategy, the anonymous staffer said, “Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ office before publication.

Jeffries’ defiant social media post came after he unequivocally denounced political violence during an interview with Fox News Sunday.

“It is certainly the case that violence is never the answer, whether it’s targeted at the right, the left or the center,” Jeffries told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

When asked how leaders can combat increasing political violence, Jeffries said elected officials must “set the most appropriate example” in their rhetoric. 

“Whatever your ideological perspective is, we all love America, and we all want to make sure that this country is the best that it can possibly be,” he added.

Some Democrats have issued clear appeals to the left to refrain from using violence to achieve their political aims.

“Please stop trying to murder the president,” Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., wrote on social media.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued his first veto Friday, halting City Council bill Int. 175-B that would have forced the NYPD to publicize plans for handling protests near schools and other educational facilities.

It is the latest sign of Mamdani’s growing clash with Council leadership, deepening an early power struggle with Council Speaker Julie Menin over policing, public safety and free speech.

“The problem is how widely this bill defines an educational institution and the constitutional concerns it raises regarding New Yorkers’ fundamental right to protest,” Mamdani wrote in a statement. “As the bill is written, everywhere from universities to museums to teaching hospitals could face restrictions.”

“This could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights,” he continued.

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“Int. 175-B is not a narrow public safety measure; it is a piece of legislation that has alarmed much of the labor movement, reproductive rights groups, and immigration advocates, among others, across this City. Nearly a dozen unions have raised the alarm about its impact on their ability to organize,” the mayor added.

Menin is going to work to whip up votes to override Mamdani on the bill, which finished just four votes shy of being veto-proof, passing last month 30-19.

“Ensuring students can enter and exit their schools without fear of harassment or intimidation should not be controversial,” Menin wrote in a statement. “This bill simply requires the NYPD to clearly outline how it will ensure safe access when there are threats of obstruction or physical injury, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”

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The bill, sponsored by Councilman Eric Dinowitz, would have required police to submit a protest-response plan to the mayor and speaker and post it online. It also would have required the police commissioner to provide a public point of contact for any effort to manage demonstrations near educational sites.

Dinowitz pushed back on claims that the bill threatened free speech.

“Should students be harassed on the way to school? I think the answer is no,” he told The New York Times.

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Opponents on the left said the measure would expand protest policing and chill protected speech.

The fight also exposed one of the biggest political fault lines at City Hall: how to respond to protests tied to Israel and the war in Gaza. The issue gained momentum after a heated protest outside a Manhattan synagogue last fall, where some demonstrators shouted, “Death to the IDF,” and, “Globalize the intifada.”

“Sending the message to New Yorkers that we have something to worry about with regard to protest by or near schools, libraries, teaching hospitals is absolutely the wrong message for these times, especially when the Trump regime is coming at protest with a sledgehammer,” New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman told the Times.

Jewish groups, including UJA-Federation of New York, blasted the veto, rebuking the “profound failure of City Hall to demonstrate to all New Yorkers that our safety is a priority.”

“At a time when Jewish and other communities across our city are facing heightened threats, this legislation represented a crucial step toward ensuring that every school and community institution can be better protected,” the group wrote in a statement.

Mamdani and Menin — the city’s first Jewish speaker — had shown signs this week of trying to cool things down, including a Thursday dinner to discuss the pending veto and other issues, the Times reported. Friday’s decision suggested the détente may not last.

The Justice Department is pressing the leading opposition to President Donald Trump’s $400 million privately funded ballroom project, calling on lawyers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) to drop their lawsuit.

“[Y]our lawsuit puts the lives of the president, his family, and his staff at grave risk,” Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Civil Division, wrote in a Sunday letter to opposing counsel, shared on X by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“Enough is enough,” Shumate continued. “Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last night’s assassination attempt on President Trump.”

Shumate vowed that if the NTHP did not move to dismiss by 9 a.m. Monday, he would move to dissolve the injunction against the ballroom’s construction and to dismiss the case.

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“It’s time to build the ballroom,” Blanche agreed, in his X post, echoing Trump’s words during the impromptu White House briefing after dodging his third assassination attempt by a gunman who rushed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night.

“The shooter targeted President Trump at the Washington Hilton, the only ballroom in Washington, D.C., suitable to host large gatherings for the President, where another shooter targeted President Reagan 45 years ago,” Shumate noted in his letter to Greg B. Craig of Foley Hoag LLP, pointing to the historical context of former President Ronald Reagan’s near-assassination at the same location.

“As history proves, that venue is demonstrably unsafe for the President of the United States because its size presents extraordinary security challenges for the Secret Service.

“[Saturday’s] assassination attempt on President Trump proves, yet again, that the White House ballroom is essential for the safety and security of the President, his family, his cabinet, and his staff.”

CHECKS AND BALANCES: TRUMP, SUPPORTERS SEEK TO PUSH BACK AGAINST ‘ACTIVIST’ JUDGES

“I hope [Saturday’s] narrow miss will help you finally realize that filing a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose except to stop President Trump no matter the cost,” Shumate wrote.

The NTHP sued the National Park Service in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing for a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom.

The group claimed Trump exceeded his authority when he demolished the East Wing — built in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency and expanded in 1942 — arguing the president needed congressional authorization to do so.

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Trump has said the president has historically had say over the White House remodeling, and has long noted that Congress does not have to pay for the privately funded project.

A lower court had issued a March 31 injunction to halt ballroom construction, but it also paused that injunction to allow for an appeal.

The White House argued the obstruction left the White House “open and exposed,” threatening security for the building, the president and his family and staff.

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“When the White House ballroom is complete, President Trump and his successors will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom,” Shumate wrote.

Forcing the president and Cabinet to attend events outside the White House grounds is too dangerous in this political climate, Trump himself argued Sunday night on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

“I’m building a safe ballroom,” Trump said. “And one of the reasons I’m building it is exactly what happened last night.

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“This is exactly why the military, and this is exactly why Secret Service and all law enforcement want it.

“Because you have maybe 1,000 hotel rooms above the ballroom we were in [Saturday] night. And I’m not knocking it. I’m just saying in terms of maximum security – it’s not the best thing. You can do it, but you can have problems like this.”

The obstruction by lawsuits is potentially delaying the project, Trump added.

“I wish it could be even sooner,” Trump said. “We’re months ahead of schedule, but it doesn’t open till ’28.”

Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic National Committee vice chair, slammed Democratic Sen. John Fetterman in a post on X, labeling the senator “a mess.”

“Almost every day now my US Senator comes on this site to attack his constituents and many people who worked hard to elect him. Suggesting that they have ‘derangement syndrome’ for opposing this administration. You’re a mess @JohnFetterman,” Malcolm Kenyatta asserted in a post on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman’s office on Monday.

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Kenyatta, a Pennsylvania state representative, unsuccessfully ran in the 2022 Democratic U.S. Senate primary that Fetterman won.

Fetterman attended the Saturday night White House Correspondents Association dinner event where a suspected shooter was apprehended.

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“We were there front and center. That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these,” Fetterman declared in a post on X.

“TDS” is a term that stands for “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a phrase that is used to describe individuals who vehemently and irrationally oppose the president, no matter the situation.

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Fetterman has said that TDS drives the Democratic Party, rather than any particular political leader.

King Charles III will head to the White House Tuesday afternoon to meet with President Trump after a man opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) on Saturday evening.

“Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of Government, we can confirm the State Visit by Their Majesties will proceed as planned,” said a Buckingham Palace spokesperson on Sunday.

President Donald Trump, the first lady and administration officials were evacuated from the Washington Hilton ballroom shortly after the WCHD began when a suspect rushed a security checkpoint and opened fire on Secret Service agents. The investigation is ongoing, and the agent is expected to recover.

King Charles’ first U.S. visit remains on track, officials close to the matter told Fox News Digital.

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Secret Service chief of communications Anthony Guglielmi told Fox News Digital that “the protective model for [Saturday] night’s event proved effective. The key takeaway for future events is that enhancements should be expected at every level, as that is how the model is designed to function.”

“Every protective decision is driven by intelligence amid a dynamic and currently elevated threat environment. We are actively focused on identifying the trigger for this incident and fully understanding the factors that led to it,” he added when asked about security measures for the visit. 

The four-day trip aims to mark America’s 250th birthday — which celebrates the nation’s freedom from British rule. Charles’ visit comes against the backdrop of the war with Iran and criticism from Trump of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“It’s been 87 years since King George VI became the first king to ever step foot on American soil, and next week King Charles III will become the second British king to ever visit the Land of the Free,” former advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thomas Corbett-Dillon told Fox News Digital.

The visit will kick off Monday morning with a formal ceremony at the White House and a ceremonial military review. The King and Queen will participate in several events, including a private tea.

“This is a monumental occasion, coming 250 years since the revolutionaries declared themselves free from the rule of the British crown. They now welcome that same crown with love, adoration, and open arms,” said Corbett-Dillon.

Charles will deliver an address to Congress after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, first delivered a speech at the Capitol during a state visit to the U.S. in 1991.

The last king to visit the U.S. was King George VI in 1939, when he traveled with Queen Elizabeth to strengthen ties prior to World War II.

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“The King is making one of the most politically sensitive trips of his life, visiting a White House that has publicly denounced his own Prime Minister on multiple occasions,” said Corbett-Dillon.

While the visit will celebrate the U.S.-U.K. alliance, it also unfolds at a politically sensitive moment, with tensions lingering over Iran and Trump’s public criticism of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,” said Trump on March 3. “By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,” the president continued, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of U.K. bases to launch attacks on Iran. 

Trump’s frustration with Starmer stems from Britain’s refusal to fully join the U.S. campaign against Iran, and has urged U.S. allies to get involved militarily or operationally, particularly around protecting oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz.

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“The president may be tempted to push the king to back him in Iran,” Corbett-Dillon said.

The monarch’s visit follows Trump’s state visit to the U.K. in September.

“The special relationship remains above the day-to-day politics of our two nations and is cemented in our shared heritage and history,” said Corbett-Dillon.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, Stephanie Nolasco and Ashley Papa contributed to this report.

As Xavier Becerra looks to move up the polls in the California Democratic primary for governor, one of the biggest controversies shadowing his record is the scandal involving missing migrant children during his tenure as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The scandal reportedly stemmed from the massive surge of immigrants, specifically unaccompanied minor children. Shelters became so full that these children were forced to stay in jail-like facilities run by federal immigration officials and eventually in massive tent cities set up in major metropolitan areas. 

The images of these children put pressure on the Biden administration to do something, so they reportedly began imposing demands on staffers to begin moving kids quickly out of the shelters and to their sponsors meant to protect the kids from human trafficking or other forms of exploitation, according to a scathing investigation by the New York Times published in Feb. 2023.

“If Henry Ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich. This is not the way you do an assembly line,” Becerra told HHS staff, according to the Times, even as HHS was beginning to peel back longstanding protections that had been in place for years, such as certain background checks and reviews of children’s files.

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The comment from Becerra to ramp up the efficiency also came after nearly a dozen officials within the HHS division responsible for unaccompanied migrant children expressed concern that child labor trafficking was increasing, adding the system is “one that rewards individuals for making quick releases, and not one that rewards individuals for preventing unsafe releases,” according to the Times.

Data the Times obtained showed, over a period of two years, more than 85,000 children became unable to be tracked by federal officials. 

However, Becerra contested that unaccompanied minors had been “lost,” arguing they were in the custody of vetted sponsors, but just did not pick up the phone when officials made their follow-up calls. Becerra and his supporters also pointed out, amid push back over the matter, that HHS’s legal authority over a child ends once they are placed with a sponsor.

A campaign staffer with Becerra’s team added that the HHS Secretary worked diligently to fix a broken immigration system inherited by Trump, suggesting the blame did not fall at Becerra’s feet.

Meanwhile, in February 2024, HHS’s Office of Inspector General indicated it had indeed found gaps in sponsor screening and follow-up, including missing documentation for required safety checks in 16% of sampled case files and untimely or undocumented follow-up calls in many cases. 

At the time those findings were released, the HHS OIG already found in 2022 that guidance issued to speed releases had removed safeguards and may have increased the risk of releases to unsafe sponsors.

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“Xavier Becerra failed those kids, failed the country, and failed to do his job,” a longtime Democratic Party campaign strategist told Fox News Digital.

“Becerra was horrible at HHS, and thinking he can become Governor of California after that record is delusional,” the strategist continued. “Voters deserve better than a recycled cabinet secretary who couldn’t manage his own department.”

A few months after the Times’ reporting, Republicans in the House subpoenaed Becerra and HHS for records and documents related to the “vetting, screening and monitoring” of sponsors for migrant children. Republicans received hundreds of pages of documents, but argued none were responsive to their concerns before eventually hauling him to Capitol Hill for a hearing.

After House Republicans ordered HHS to produce records by Oct. 3, 2024, the dispute never culminated in a clean public resolution — committees kept complaining the production was incomplete, Becerra was called back to testify, and later watchdog reports — rather than Congress’ subpoena — became the clearest answer on whether the government was reliably tracking unaccompanied minors entering the United States.

FIRST ON FOX: A billionaire gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, who has said there is “no bigger supporter of Trump right now than I am,” is facing questions after a healthcare company within his business empire criticized President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Rick Jackson has spent months trying to cast himself as the race’s most pro-Trump candidate who will be Trump’s “favorite governor” despite Trump’s endorsement of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. However, one of his companies has repeatedly criticized the OBBBA, a landmark GOP legislative package that Trump endorsed and signed into law last year.

Jackson Physician Search, a subsidiary of Jackson Healthcare, said on its website in September 2025 that the bill’s “sweeping cuts to Medicaid and ACA programs raise serious concerns about access, equity, and sustainability,” and warned that some hospitals may need to “adapt or close their doors.”

In a February 2026 recruitment report, the company also said the law was projected to cause “between 10 and 15 million people” to lose health coverage, while Medicare and Medicaid cuts were creating “significant financial pressure” across healthcare organizations and considerable “fear and uncertainty” about what lies ahead.

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“Rick supports the Big Beautiful Bill. Period,” Mike Schrimpf, a spokesperson for Jackson’s campaign told Fox News Digital. “Growing up in the projects, Rick believes in the dignity of work and is a strong proponent of work requirements for that reason. He has long opposed Obamacare and regularly touts President Trump’s healthcare policies, like TrumpRx, on the campaign trail. That’s why Rick Jackson will be Donald Trump’s favorite governor.”

Schrimpf added that “for months” Democrats have been attacking Jackson for his support of the OBBBA, noting “this attack makes about as much sense as accusing a pilot of hating to fly.”

At a campaign event last month in Thomasville, Georgia, Jackson told constituents that he thought there were “many parts” of the OBBBA that were “great,” and said he would be paying “40 percent more in taxes” if it had not passed, and defended work requirements in the bill by saying they motivate people to be productive and get off Medicaid.

“The worst thing that we can do is tell people — is get people relying on government where they have no incentive to work,” Jackson told constituents. 

“It’s the most dehumanizing thing that you can do,” he continued. “God made us to be productive.”

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Jackson has also drawn himself closer to Trump by praising his tariff policies. “I believe in fairness,” Jackson said in March. “Don’t want somebody to take advantage of us in a business transaction. That’s what he’s trying to do. So I support.”

Meanwhile, Jackson, who reportedly modeled his campaign launch after Trump with a celebratory elevator descent, said he can’t name a single White House policy he disagreed with, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

But, despite these assertions from Jackson on the campaign trail, his remarks stand at stark odds with his physician search firm warning in a February white paper about “considerable fear and uncertainty” for what is to come as the result of the OBBBA.

 “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is projected to cause between 10 and 15 million people to lose health coverage,” the white paper notes, citing new public healthcare work requirements implemented by the OBBBA. “Medicare and Medicaid cuts are creating significant financial pressure across healthcare organizations,” it continues.

The same report, which includes comments from the firm’s senior leadership and other content on the search firm’s website, also slammed H-1B visa provisions in the OBBBA aimed at restoring integrity to the immigration program that has reportedly been rife with fraud, arguing it would be a net negative for the healthcare industry.

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The materials and resources also said OBBBA would promote physician burnout, would likely force rural hospitals to shut down, would discourage hopeful physicians from going to school, thus exacerbating the existing doctor shortage, and briefly emphasized the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs on physician recruitment.

“My team works with clients throughout the Midwest who are facing department closures if they can’t hire a physician or advanced practice provider. For proof, just look at the number of labor and delivery departments forced to close in the past few years,” said Senior Vice President of Recruiting at Jackson Physician Search, Tara Osseck. “Now, recent policy changes — including provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and increased fees affecting international visas — are adding new layers of complexity to an already challenging physician recruitment environment.”

“The implications are significant,” Osseck adds. “Coverage losses can lead to increases in uncompensated care, placing additional strain on already thin operating margins. When financial pressure mounts, healthcare organizations may delay service expansions, reduce hiring plans, or freeze recruitment altogether.”

The OBBBA, a wide-ranging bill, included reforms to the federal student loan program aimed at making education more affordable. However, Regional Vice President of Recruiting at Jackson Physician Search, Tonya Hamlin, warned the reforms will actually make it harder for hopeful physicians to get to college.

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“These reforms could force students to absorb the difference through private loans or personal resources,” Hamlin wrote in a blog post on the search firm’s website. “They could also cause lower-income students to reconsider attendance altogether.”

Hamlin went on to warn that with less people able to go to medical school, the shortage of physicians will only get worse for hospitals and clinics.

“Despite these additional hurdles, clinicians and trainees must not be deterred,” Hamlin encouraged. “Stay focused on the higher purpose of your calling while staying informed, planning ahead financially, and engaging in ongoing advocacy.”

The Republican primary race for Georgia governor has been a messy one between Jackson and other frontrunner candidates, including Jones, Attorney General Chris Carr, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In particular, Jones and Jackson, have been sparring over who is more aligned with Trump.

“This Primary Election is very simple,” Jones says on his campaign website. “There is one authentic conservative who has fought for President Trump.”

Jackson, meanwhile, donated $1 million to the president’s political action committee, MAGA Inc. less than two months before he jumped into the race in February and has faced backlash for cutting 6-figure checks to the presidential campaigns of Trump’s former GOP rivals during the 2024 Republican primary. 

Jackson also reportedly ran an ad against Raffenspeger portraying him as the Biblical character Judas in an attempt to portray him as a traitor for defying Trump’s efforts to challenge Georgia’s 2020 election results.

The Republican primary to see who will move on to the general election in Georgia’s gubernatorial fight will take place on May 19. The first and only debate between the candidates is scheduled for Monday.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jackson Physician Search.

New York City’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “moving the goalposts” on poverty in the nation’s largest city with his newly unveiled racial equity plan to justify a massive expansion of government intervention, a top city policy analyst warns.

Mamdani released his “Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan” earlier this month, which quickly received pushback from President Donald Trump’s Justice Department as well as from the Manhattan Institute’s Santiago Vidal Calvo, who told Fox News Digital that when the report uses a “true cost of living” to claim 62% of New Yorkers can’t make ends meet in the city, it’s a ploy to declare a crisis that needs more government.

“What he’s essentially doing is moving the goalposts,” Vidal Calvo explained. “He’s essentially saying that what the federal government qualifies as somebody below the poverty line — which is essentially like $34,000, $35,000 a year, those might be like 2024 numbers, but it’s pretty close to that — we’re essentially moving the goalposts so anybody under $160,000 with children cannot afford to live in New York City.”

“Those numbers, in reality, if you live in New York City, they don’t sound crazy, they don’t sound, you know, high. But in all of reality, for any single person across America, $160,000 is, you know, a breadwinner. It’s essentially enough money to raise a family and to have children and to have a good life. So when we move the goalposts into that direction, without actually recognizing what are the underlying issues of the disease, what are the actual problems that make New York City expensive, then we’re just attributing a problem and throwing a dart at the board and saying, ‘This is it.’”

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The “reality” of the situation, Vidal Calvo says, is that you “don’t make a place more affordable by making people earn more” but instead the city needs to “ask the right questions” about policies that drive wage growth and new housing development. 

“So the issue here is that we are focusing on a problem that the socialists in City Hall want to believe—that if you give people more money, they essentially can access more things,” Vidal Calvo said. “But you’re not asking what is the tradeoff of giving people more money. And just by placing that the ‘True Cost of Living’ in New York City is $160,000 a year for people with children, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people, first, can afford that life or, second, they are able to get those salaries.”

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The high cost of living in New York City is driven by several factors, including housing, which is an area where Vidal Calvo says City Hall needs to “encourage more housing being built around the city.”

“That’s how you lower the price of housing,” he said. “It’s not by freezing rent, it’s not by stabilizing markets—normally what that leads is to more and higher prices.”

Rather than a giant administrative effort to grow government with more departments and staffers, Vidal Calvo explained that the city should instead be reforming zoning to build faster, slash permitting delays, make it easier to establish child care facilities, reduce administrative barriers, and create opportunities for employers to hire more people and recruit talent from across the United States.

Mamdani’s racial equity plan has drawn intense scrutiny from conservatives over its conclusions on race and efforts to base government action to address racial disparities, including from DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon who said she will “review” the matter.

Vidal Calvo, who recently published a New York Post op-ed on Mamdani’s plan, told Fox News Digital, “I feel like this is just another way to put DEI on the table without calling DEI.”

“And we have now found that in academia, in many government programs, in many existing architectures of social structures, DEI does not work, and unfortunately, this might be just another case in which it fails, and not because of the well-intended reason of trying to make everybody earn a living, because I feel like that’s a good intention that everybody can have,” Vidal Calvo explained. “But it’s about the solutions that they’re trying to actually approach. It’s about methodology of how they’re actually trying to approach this method. You cannot argue that just because somebody is a different race, it’s become insanely more unaffordable to make a living in New York City. That’s not how it works.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment.

President Donald Trump endorsed the idea of renaming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (NICE).

In a Truth Social post, he shared a screenshot of a post on X in which someone had written, “I want Trump to change ICE to NICE (National Immigration and Customs Enforcement) so the media has to say NICE agents all day everyday.”

“GREAT IDEA!!! DO IT. President DJT” Trump wrote on the Truth Social post.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

The official White House rapid response X account shared a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post.

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The Trump administration has been aiming to secure the border and crack down on illegal immigrants.

Some Democrats advocate for abolishing ICE.

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For example, progressive Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington declared earlier this month in a post on X, “ICE is not keeping us safe. It’s terrorizing our communities, detaining U.S. citizens, and letting people die in custody. Abolish ICE.”

A progressive “fearmongering” campaign ahead of the World Cup is drawing backlash as one critic accused leftist groups of trying to “sabotage” the U.S. tourist industry by targeting American business owners over their opposition to President Donald Trump.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Geoff Freeman, president of the U.S. Travel Association, called “questioning the safety of travelers” to the U.S. a “step too far.” He also called discouraging international visitors from traveling to the U.S. to make a political point about the Trump administration the “height of absurdity.”

“If we discourage these travelers from coming, travel businesses are going to pay a heavy price, and that’s not just in the 11 [FIFA] host cities around the country, that’s all around the country,” he said.

“We all have policies we disagree with, and there’s a way to express ourselves when we disagree with those policies. But holding the bellman, holding the waitress, holding the small travel business hostage in order to make your political point is extremely disrespectful.”

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The New York Times-owned outlet The Athletic reported this week that 120 fan groups and civil society organizations published a travel advisory warning potential World Cup visitors to the U.S. about possible arbitrary detention and inhumane conditions. Groups that backed the warning included Amnesty International USA, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The groups warned that visitors could face human rights violations in the U.S., including arbitrary denial of entry, risk of detention, invasive social media screening, searches of electronic devices, racial profiling and suppression of free speech. The advisory also warned that immigrants, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals and others are “most vulnerable to serious harm” when traveling within the country due to the “Trump administration’s rising authoritarianism and increasing violence,” according to the outlet.

The advisory called on travelers to the U.S. to “exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan.”

Though it noted concerns about previous World Cups in countries such as Russia and Qatar, The Athletic called it “highly unusual” for such warnings to come from so many civil rights organizations in a host country.

A FIFA spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “as per article 3 of the FIFA Statutes, FIFA is committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights.”

The spokesperson went on that “the development and publication of the FWC2026 Sustainability and Human Rights Strategy, the FWC2026 Human Rights Framework, and the recently updated FIFA Statement on Human Rights Defenders and Media Representatives as well as the establishment of an FWC2026 Human Rights Advisory Group comprised of independent experts and the wide advertisement of the FIFA Human Rights Grievance Mechanism, are all evidence of FIFA’s commitment to human rights across all key activities and actors connected to the tournament.”

Fox News Digital reached out to FIFA for comment. The White House’s World Cup Task Force has staunchly denied any such risks to visitors to the U.S.

Davis Ingle, a spokesperson for the White House, emphasized to Fox News Digital that “international visitors who legally come to the United States for the World Cup have nothing to worry about.”

While emphasizing that foreign visitors must be “proactive” in preparing their travel documents ahead of time, he dismissed the advisory as “ridiculous scare tactics driven by liberal activist groups and the left-wing media.”

“What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S.— full stop,” he explained. “Speculation to the contrary is ill-informed.”

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“President Trump is focused on ensuring that this is not only an incredible experience for all fans and visitors, but also the safest and most secure in history,” said Ingle. “Our mission is simple: ensure every fan – Americans and visitors alike – has a safe and unforgettable experience.”

Ingle said that the Department of Homeland Security will be working with local and federal partners to secure the 2026 FIFA World Cup “in line with federal law [and] the U.S. Constitution — as we do with every major sporting event, while showcasing American greatness to the entire world.”

“The FIFA 2026 World Cup will no doubt be one of the greatest and most spectacular events in the history of mankind, attracting millions of fans from around the world to eleven host cities across America,” Ingle went on. “This will be a monumental event that requires close coordination between the Trump Administration, FIFA, and all of our great federal, state, and local partners.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation ripped media outlets that it said are advancing the fearmongering campaign. The spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “The New York Times should be held equally responsible for platforming these baseless claims as the Far Left activist groups making them.”

“Comparing tourists who legally enter our country to illegal aliens who circumvent the system is absurd,” said the DOT spokesperson. “America is the greatest and freest country in the world. We have put millions of man-hours and billions of dollars into planning and facilitating a world-class event for millions of Americans and international visitors to enjoy this summer.”

A spokesperson for The Athletic responded to this by telling Fox News Digital that “The Athletic’s reporting is a fact-based account of a public advisory issued by more than 120 official globally recognized organizations, making clear the positions of these groups.” 

The spokesperson added that “it is the role of news journalists to report on topics of broad public interest like this,” saying, “Our article also makes clear criticisms of these groups’ position, including responses from both FIFA and the White House.” 

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Speaking with Fox News Digital on Friday, Freeman further backed the Trump administration’s preparations. He said the administration has “taken several important steps to welcome international travelers.”

Steps the administration has already taken to prepare include reducing visa wait times by creating a fast pass for those who have tickets to games and the introduction of new technologies by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to speed the processing of travelers entering the country, Freeman said.

He emphasized that the economic impact of international travel for the World Cup “has an opportunity to permeate all aspects of the United States.”

“International travelers are incredibly important in the United States,” he explained, noting that these travelers “spend eight times more than the average American spends when they move around the country.”

“The beauty of the international traveler is they’re not using our services. They’re not using healthcare. They’re not using the education,” he said. “They’re coming here, they’re spending their money and they’re going home, telling their friends and family, ‘Hey, you should go do the same thing.’”

“I think what the NAACP, the ACLU and other organizations are doing right now is trying to sabotage these games to make a political point,” he went on, adding, “It’s fearmongering to discourage tens of millions of people from coming to the United States to make a political point.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Amnesty International USA, the ACLU and the NAACP for comment.