Category: USA Politics

A day after U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced she had directed her office to close its investigation into the Federal Reserve over a building project, President Donald Trump said he wants to know what happened.

“Well, I want to find out,” the president told reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida on Saturday, after a journalist asked if he agreed with Pirro’s decision.

“You know, it’s not dropped,” he continued. “They’re looking into the whole thing about the crisis. What I want, with the IG, what I want to look at is how can a building that I could have done for $25 million cost $4 billion? That’s a big thing.”

Trump also mentioned Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying, “he was in charge.”

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

“So we’ll get to the bottom of it,” he added. “Yeah, I think Jeanine is fantastic. And she worked with other people on that. I tell you, I want to find out, I have an obligation to find that — this was done during Biden, but I have an obligation to find out how does it — I would have done that building for $25 million and had money left over. And it would have been open a long time ago.”

The Fed had an approved budget of $2.46 billion for the renovations, but went over budget because of things like more asbestos than expected and costs going up during the course of the renovation, the Fed says on its website.

Pirro said Friday the Fed’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, would take over the investigation, moving it from the hands of federal prosecutors into those of a longtime government watchdog.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S FEDERAL RESERVE HQ PROBE ESCALATES WITH UNANNOUNCED SITE VISIT BY PROSECUTORS

Powell was under investigation over statements he made to Congress related to the management of the renovation costs.

Powell revealed in a video announcement in January that the Department of Justice had opened an investigation into the Fed, calling it an unprecedented attempt to use “intimidation” to force him to lower interest rates.

In the lead-up to the investigation, Trump and Powell’s relationship had grown increasingly rocky, as Trump became frustrated over interest rates and began targeting Powell, whom he nominated in 2017. Trump called Powell a “fool” and demanded in March that he drop rates “immediately.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has a background in finance and sits on the Senate Banking Committee, had vowed to block Kevin Warsh’s confirmation because of the DOJ’s investigation, after Trump nominated Warsh to replace Powell, whose term was set to expire on May 15.

Tillis had claimed the DOJ’s investigation was political and would improperly interfere with markets, and he accused Pirro of seeking “brownie points” with Trump by opening it. “It’s not cute,” Tillis said during a television interview in February.

During his confirmation hearing this week, Tillis told Warsh, who previously served on the Fed’s Board of Governors, that he had “extraordinary credentials” but that he could not vote to advance his nomination in the Senate until the DOJ ended its investigation.

Horowitz, who will now investigate the Fed building renovation costs, has drawn a mix of praise and criticism from Republicans while serving as DOJ inspector general for more than a decade. He was one of the few high-profile inspectors general spared during Trump’s historic cull of government watchdogs last year and has found allyship in key figures like House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Pirro closing the investigation could pave the way for Warsh’s nomination.

Trump said he wanted to see the investigation through “for the country.”

“It’s much tougher, much more expensive to build a hotel than an office,” the president said, mentioning his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., that he sold in 2022 and was renamed the Waldorf Astoria.

He continued, “I want to find out how can a building of that size cost for whatever it’s going to be. Nobody knows, by the way, what it’s going to be. Kevin is going to be fantastic. Kevin Warsh, he may never get to be in that building.”

Trump told reporters that his nomination should now going smoothly, “but whether it is or not, somebody has to find out why that building that should have cost $25 million is costing billions of dollars. And you know why they have to find it out? For other buildings, because that’s not the only one. I think that’s the most egregious example.”

Fox News’ Ashley Oliver and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

CVS is disputing a Planned Parenthood claim of a “strategic partnership” on abortion pill access, as the organization’s website no longer includes language that previously referenced such a relationship.

“The team that manages our Reproductive Health program is unaware of anything related to that organization beyond standard abortifacient dispensing for individuals with prescriptions,” a CVS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The company added that it “do[es] not have a formal partnership with Planned Parenthood of Greater New York beyond filling prescriptions.”

CVS added it did not indicate any agreement or coordination with Planned Parenthood beyond dispensing legally prescribed medication.

ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE STAYS AVAILABLE BY MAIL FOR NOW AS FDA FACES 6-MONTH REVIEW DEADLINE

“There’s a little bit of mystery here,” Shawn Carney, president of 40 Days for Life, told Fox News Digital.

“CVS is for sure downplaying their role,” he added. “They say they’re just distributing abortion pills — that’s exactly what Planned Parenthood wants them to do.”

But Planned Parenthood of Greater New York’s annual report previously described a “strategic partnership with CVS,” stating that patients can “pick up the abortion pill from their local pharmacies.” That language was removed from the report as of April 24, 2026.

SUPREME COURT DIVIDED OVER STATE EFFORT TO DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD

“Through our strategic partnership with CVS, patients can now pick up the abortion pill from their local pharmacies, allowing them to experience abortion care, with the supportive guidance of our expert clinicians, in the comfort of their homes,” the report previously stated.

The report also stated that patients can pick up medication abortion prescriptions at CVS pharmacies.

Carney said he believes the arrangement would mark a first of its kind.

“This would make CVS the first publicly traded company in the United States to distribute abortion pills,” he said.

CVS maintains its role is limited to standard prescription dispensing, where permitted.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ATTACKS HAWLEY EFFORT TO STRIP FDA APPROVAL OF MIFEPRISTONE

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, however, did not directly address its use of the term “strategic partnership.”

“PPGNY makes strategic decisions about its operations and its association with various companies, partners, and organizations,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. “We are happy our patients are able to fill their abortion pill prescriptions at local pharmacies, including CVS, which expands access to critical health care.”

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York’s report appears to have been updated between April 23 and April 24, 2026. 

Fox News Digital contacted the organization for comment during that same timeframe. A version of the report viewed by Fox News Digital on April 23 described a ‘strategic partnership with CVS,’ while the current version, as of April 24, no longer includes that language.

The organization did not address the change in its statement.

Medication abortion, which typically involves a two-drug regimen, has increasingly been offered via telehealth in recent years after the FDA expanded access around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mifepristone also remains under federal scrutiny. 

The FDA said as of April 2026 that it was conducting a safety study on the drug and had received reports of serious adverse events, including deaths, in patients associated with mifepristone while also saying those events cannot be definitively attributed to the drug.

“Nobody wants to go to their CVS and buy a Snickers bar and buy their milk and think, ‘oh, they’re distributing abortion pills through the drive-thru,’” Carney told Fox News Digital. “That’s not what we want.”

Planned Parenthood reported performing 19,673 medication abortions in its most recent fiscal year.

A California winery partially owned by the husband of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., abruptly shut down in early April as House Republicans scrutinize Omar’s net worth.

Omar’s financial disclosures show Mynett owns a stake in eStCru Wines, a California wine business that shut down as of April 4, according to California business records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“Ilhan Omar has spent her entire career covering up Democrat-enabled fraud that cost taxpayers billions, so it’s no surprise that she would do the same for her husband. Voters see right through the corrupt lies of Ilhan Omar and her Democrat colleagues, and they’ll pay the consequences of their crimes at the ballot box this November,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar told Fox News Digital.

The shutdown comes amid a House Oversight Committee probe into Omar’s finances, with her husband’s assets a major area of focus.

ILHAN OMAR VINEGAR ATTACKER CHANGES PLEA AFTER CHAOTIC ONSTAGE RUSH

“Financial disclosure forms, filed by your wife Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, show eStCru LLC and Rose Lake Capital LLC, which you hold ownership stakes in, went from being worth as much as $51,000 in 2023 to as much as $30 million in 2024,” House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., wrote to Mynett in a February letter.

“Given that these companies do not publicly list their investors or where their money comes from, this sudden jump in value raises concerns that unknown individuals may be investing to gain influence with your wife,” Comer added.

JAMES COMER RAISES FELONY QUESTIONS OVER ILHAN OMAR’S FINANCES AFTER DISCLOSURE DISCREPANCY

Comer requested documents and communications related to eStCru and Rose Lake Capital LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm, which Mynett co-founded in 2022.

Tim Mynett, a political consultant, started eStCru Wines in 2021.

Omar’s 2025 financial disclosures listed her husband’s stake in eStCru as worth between $1 million and $5 million, a significant jump from the $15,001 to $50,000 her 2023 disclosures listed it at.

Comer pointed to the discrepancy in the disclosure forms in his letter, but Omar brushed it aside as an accounting error.

“The original filing was based on incomplete information from Mr. Mynett’s businesses’ accountants in good faith and deference to professional judgment. It listed assets without liabilities, and it significantly overstated her husband’s net worth. The accounting error created a misleading picture of far greater wealth,” an Omar spokesperson told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

After amending her disclosures, Omar claims that the value of her and her husband’s assets is between $18,004 and $95,000 and not, as originally reported, between $6 million and $30 million.

“The amended disclosure confirms what we’ve said all along: The congresswoman is not a millionaire,” Omar’s communications director Jacklyn Rogers told the Wall Street Journal.

Fox News Digital contacted Omar and the House Oversight Committee for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

President Donald Trump revealed to Fox News on Saturday that he unilaterally canceled U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s planned trip to Pakistan for talks with Iran. 

The president said in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie that it’s not worth the U.S. delegation making the 18-hour flight to Pakistan when the U.S. holds all the cards in the conflict with Iran. 

“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope, you’re not making an 18-hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing’,” Trump said. 

“And I canceled the trip, and I said, anytime they want to phone us, we’re ready, willing and able, but we’re not going to waste a lot of time,” Trump told Fox News.

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP CANCELS US TRIP TO PAKISTAN FOR IRAN NEGOTIATIONS

Then in a post on Truth Social, Trump said Iran is suffering from “tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’” 

“Nobody knows who is in charge, including them,” Trump wrote. 

U.S. special envoy Witkoff and Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, were supposed to travel to Pakistan this weekend for the second round of U.S.-Iran negotiations during Operation Epic Fury.

US TURNS TO DRONES AFTER RETIRING MINESWEEPERS TO REOPEN STRAIT OF HORMUZ

Prior to the cancellation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that “We’ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days” regarding a potential deal to end the conflict. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday to meet with Pakistan’s prime minister.

“Very fruitful visit to Pakistan, whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region we very much value,” he said on X following the trip.   

“Shared Iran’s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy,” he added. 

Vice President JD Vance was supposed to travel to Pakistan earlier this week for a second round of talks, but he was called back to the White House for meetings, and the trip was postponed indefinitely.

Vance, Witkoff and Kushner were in Pakistan earlier this month for the first round of talks with the Iranian, but no deal was reached after their in-person meeting.

President Donald Trump will attend the White House Correspondents‘ Dinner on Saturday, marking his first appearance at the annual event as commander in chief after skipping it throughout his first term.

The decision puts Trump back at a Washington ritual long tied to his fraught relationship with the press and political establishment. His return also revives memories of the 2011 dinner, when then-President Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers mocked him from the dais at a moment that later became a widely discussed part of Trump’s political story.

“Donald Trump is here tonight,” Obama said at the 2011 dinner. “Now, I know he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald.”

HOLLYWOOD TAKES SHOTS AT TRUMP WHILE CELEBRATING CONAN O’BRIEN AMID KENNEDY CENTER SHAKE-UP

“And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?” he continued. Trump had publicly called for the release of Obama’s birth certificate, which the State of Hawaii did release that year. 

The exchange underscored longstanding tensions between Trump and the Washington establishment that predated his entry into politics. 

Speculation mounted that the jabs helped fuel Trump’s eventual decision to launch a presidential run, culminating in a stunning upset victory in 2016. Trump had denied that Obama’s 2011 jokes prompted his candidacy, telling The Washington Post in 2016 that “there are many reasons I’m running, but that’s not one of them.” 

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP RECEIVES THE ‘PATRIOT OF THE YEAR’ AWARD AT FOX NATION’S PATRIOT AWARDS

“Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican, which is surprising since I just assumed he’d be running as a joke,” comedian Seth Meyers added when he took the podium that night.

Trump told Fox News’ “The Five” earlier this year he was treated “rudely and crudely” during the dinner, which he said influenced his decision not to attend while he was first in office.

“The press was so nasty, I just – so I didn’t do it,” said Trump.

TRUMP SAYS TRANSGENDER BATHROOM DEBATE LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHER ISSUES

He once again denied it was the 2011 dinner that sparked his interest in running for office.

“There is this theory: I was there while Barack Hussein Obama was speaking, and he was hitting me a little bit. Actually, it was very nice, and I was actually – I loved it. I really loved it,” said Trump.

WHCA PRESIDENT OPENS DINNER HIGHLIGHTING TRUMP’S ABSENCE AND ‘EXTREMELY DIFFICULT’ YEAR FOR THE PRESS

Trump announced he would attend this year’s dinner as part of America’s 250th birthday celebration. The first lady will join him.

“The White House Correspondents Association very nicely asked the President to join them at their annual dinner this year as the Honoree, which he gladly accepted,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle previously told Fox News Digital.

Trump did not attend during his first term due to a contentious relationship with the media at the height of coverage of the Russia investigation.

The banquet was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and revived in 2022 during President Biden’s administration. Trump also did not attend last year.

President Trump is attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday for the first time as commander-in-chief — after boycotting the annual event last year and each year during his first term.

The dinner will take place on Saturday, April 25, at the Washington Hilton.

“The White House Correspondents Association has asked me, very nicely, to be the Honoree at this year’s Dinner, a long and storied tradition since it began in 1924, under then President Calvin Coolidge,” Trump posted on his Truth Social last month, adding that it would be his “Honor to accept their invitation.” 

TRUMP’S RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER MARKS A POLITICAL JOURNEY COMING FULL CIRCLE 

The White House Correspondents’ Association’s president, Weijia Jiang said that they were “happy” with the president’s decision to attend.

“For more than 100 years, the journalists of the White House Correspondents’ Association have enjoyed an evening with the president,” Jiang said in a statement last month. “We’re happy the president has accepted our invitation and look forward to hosting him.”

DAN RATHER AMONG 200 JOURNALISTS DEMANDING TRUMP BE CALLED OUT AT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER

The president had skipped the event in years past, saying that decision was due to the press being “extraordinarily bad” to him.

Despite the annual invitation and Trump’s acceptance, hundreds of journalists are going after the president, having signed an open letter urging the White House Correspondents’ Association to call out the president and “forcefully demonstrate opposition” to his “efforts to trample freedom of the press.”

“The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it. President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press… render his presence at such an event a profound contradiction of its purpose,” the open letter reads.

“The collective weight of the administration’s actions — retaliatory access bans, coercive regulatory investigations, frivolous lawsuits against the press, defunding of public broadcasting, dismantling of international broadcasting, physical restrictions on journalists, personal verbal attacks on reporters, assaults on the media in official White House press releases and social media posts, the arrest of journalists, and the pardoning of those who committed violence against the press — represent the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president.”

TRUMP ACCEPTS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION DINNER INVITATION FOR THE FIRST TIME AS PRESIDENT

Notable signatories on the letter are former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, former ABC News White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, former NBC News anchor Ann Curry and PBS NewsHour correspondent Stephanie Sy.

A spokesperson for the White House simply pointed to Trump’s Truth Social post announcing he was attending the dinner when previously asked about the open letter. 

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Trump did attend the event as a private citizen in 2011 during the Obama administration. Then-President Barack Obama made a joke about Trump during that event saying: “Say what you will about Mr. Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House. Let’s see what we’ve got up there.”

Obama then featured an image of the White House with a neon sign that said “Trump White House Hotel Casino Golf Course” with gold columns and a chandelier.

But during his second term, Trump has actually taken to remodeling the White House— with a new ballroom under construction and his addition of gold molding to the Oval Office.

Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

Senate Republicans are forging ahead with a two-step plan to end the record-breaking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown, but their House counterparts tell Fox News Digital they are not on board with the strategy.

A swath of House Republicans have voiced growing frustration that a forthcoming GOP-only funding package does not include other policy priorities beyond funding immigration enforcement ahead of November’s midterm elections. 

“I think we’ve got one last opportunity for reconciliation,” Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I know some people are talking about two, but I think we’ve got one guaranteed shot.”

“I like the idea of making it bigger,” he added, mentioning defense funding and affordability concerns. “We’ve got a lot of important stuff to do and we need to get it done.”

ICE SHUTDOWN FIGHT MIGHT RESTRICT FEMA, COAST GUARD TO ‘LIFE-THREATENING’ EMERGENCIES

“I’m undecided,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital, referring to the Senate’s approach. “I’ve got issues with it. We believe it should be more expansive.”

The Senate approved a budget resolution early Thursday largely along party lines that would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term. 

Republicans are pursuing the partisan budget reconciliation process to bypass Democrats and fund immigration enforcement with GOP votes after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., refused to fund the department without sweeping reforms added to the proposal.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is racing to pass the Senate’s budget resolution as early as next week, at which point he can afford to lose only a handful of votes. President Donald Trump has set a June 1 deadline to fully fund immigration enforcement through a GOP-only bill, forcing Republicans to act quickly with little room for error.

Before the DHS shutdown House Republican leadership teased a budget reconciliation sequel to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would incorporate a diverse set of priorities, such as a defense supplemental package, spending cuts targeting fraud and policies aimed at lowering the cost of living.

Concerns among rank-and-file Republicans that a forthcoming budget bill will not include those provisions threaten to jeopardize that timeline.

House conservatives have also fiercely objected to the Senate passing a bipartisan partial DHS bill carving out ICE and the Border Patrol from the normal appropriations process and keeping those two agencies unfunded.

After Democrats in the upper chamber repeatedly filibustered DHS funding bills, the Senate approved legislation funding parts of the department that Democrats would support. The House has yet to take up that legislation.

“The bill the Senate sent over is totally unacceptable to conservatives,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., said Thursday, referring to the upper chamber’s partial DHS bill. “We will never vote or support in any way a bill that puts in a zero” for immigration enforcement, he added.

“The very premise of needing a reconciliation bill to pass funding for ICE and CBP is repulsive to me,” Higgins told Fox News Digital. “That sort of thing has never been done up here, to take an appropriations bill and sort of cherry pick what you don’t want in it and isolate whole agencies … I’m against that whole premise.”

BEHIND THE SCENES OF CONGRESS’ ELEVENTH-HOUR RUSH TO FUND THE DHS

Senate Republicans are largely unified on keeping the package as narrow as possible out of concern that adding more to the pot could stall lawmakers’ progress.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has sought to expedite the passage of a forthcoming budget bill by involving in the process just two panels —  the Senate Judiciary and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees.

“The vast majority of Republicans stuck together to do something Democrats are refusing to do: Fully fund the Border Patrol and ICE for three and a half years through the Trump presidency,” Graham said Thursday after the upper chamber adopted the budget blueprint. “As Senate Budget Committee Chairman, I am very proud of my colleagues.”

Still, some Senate Republicans agree with their House colleagues who want to super-size the forthcoming package out of fear that they may not get another shot before the midterms.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., argued that Republicans should try to beef up the package despite promises from leadership that there could be a third bite at the apple later in the year.

“I’m not saying anybody’s lying, they’re not. People probably intend to do a third reconciliation bill,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor. “But you’re not looking at Bambi’s baby brother here. There won’t be a third reconciliation bill. You know it … and I know it. This is it. This is the last train leaving the station.”

It is unclear whether the House will ultimately modify the Senate’s budget blueprint funding immigration enforcement.

Any changes to the resolution would kick it back to the Senate for reconciliation and require another marathon vote series before Congress could officially unlock the reconciliation process.

DHS, meanwhile, has warned this week it is short on funds to continue paying its employees through May.

Earlier in April, Trump ordered the department to use existing funds to provide backpay to federal employees, who had been furloughed or reporting to work without their salary during the funding lapse, which began in mid-February.

FIRST ON FOX: NEW YORK — As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani moves to cut the NYPD’s budget and resists calls to hire more police officers, parents in The Bronx are asking for more police, not less, saying their kids face an increase in danger. 

The push highlights growing tension between the mayor’s policing agenda and safety concerns from local families.

Over 1,000 people have signed a Change.org petition supporting the families of Zeta Bronx Tremont Park Lower Elementary school, who are requesting an NYPD crossing guard to be assigned to a treacherous corner, where they say a tragic accident is waiting to happen. 

Fox News Digital went to the busy intersection at Arthur Avenue and Tremont Avenue and spoke to parents about the dangers their children face every day as cars zoom by on their way to Interstate 95.

“The situation is very horrible for the kids and the parents too,” Aimee, a parent at the school, said. “There have always been small accidents on the street because the intersection crosses to go right to the highway, and it’s something that worries us a lot. They don’t take us into consideration and I feel that we should raise our voice for the entire community of the school.”

MAMDANI MOVES TO SIDELINE NYC POLICE WITH NEW SAFETY OFFICE UNDER SWEEPING OVERHAUL

A parent named Christine explained that the school has been trying to get a crossing guard or police officer “for a long time” but were told “they didn’t have anyone.” Several NYPD vehicles could be seen parked near the intersection but were unoccupied, and parents told Fox News Digital they belonged to a nearby station and were not monitoring the street crossing.

“[There have] almost been accidents so many times, and we really need help,” Christine said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Mamdani’s office for comment but did not receive a response.

Mamdani has faced criticism over his relationship with police dating back to his mayoral campaign, which was dogged by questions about his past support of defunding the police. After his election, Mamdani was in the hot seat from critics again when his budget included cutting police funding and cancelling 5,000 new NYPD hires.

Some parents near the Bronx school, including some who previously supported Mamdani, aren’t sold on the idea of less police.

MAMDANI’S ‘GUN VIOLENCE’ COMMENTS AFTER KILLING OF 7-MONTH OLD BABY SPARK OUTRAGE: ‘ABSOLUTE DISGRACE’

“Removing or preventing us from having those resources is a step in the wrong direction when our schools and children clearly need more support,” Paola, a Zeta parent, said in a press release. “We need more preventive officers and programs to keep our neighborhoods in the Bronx safe.”

“I am one of those who initially had a lot of faith in Mayor Mamdani, but I’m starting to get scared because he doesn’t seem aware of the actual needs of my community. The safety of my child and my own students is non-negotiable, and we must find the funding to keep our little ones safe.”

Aimee told Fox News Digital “we need more police” to “help us” and urged the mayor to “consider us.”

The Change.org petition requests a “dedicated traffic officer” during arrival and dismissal hours at the school and argues that “traffic officers are assigned at busy school crossings across New York City” and the children at the charter school “deserve the same protection” as those public schools. 

A parent named Lou described the situation as “very dangerous” and that many vehicles simply “don’t abide by the law.”

Fox News Digital witnessed several close calls at the intersection with cars making illegal or dangerous turns, honking horns, and coming to an abrupt stop as children were being ushered to school nearby.

“I don’t get why he’s saying less cops or less funding,” Paola told Fox News Digital, adding that the neighborhood is also suffering from crime issues related to drugs. 

“There has to be money somewhere.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, an NYPD spokesperson said “The Commanding Officer of the 48 precinct is working with community leaders and elected officials to get more School Crossing Guards.”

“Additionally, personnel from the 48 precinct are working with Department of Transportation to work on additional signage and redesign of the intersection. Year-to-date, there have been no collisions at the intersection Arthur Avenue and East Tremont Avenue. Year-to-date, the NYPD has issued 67 summonses to vehicles in the vicinity of Arthur Avenue and East Tremont Street. Traffic safety is a shared responsibility and the NYPD, along with personnel from the 48 precinct, are committed to supporting local schools in achieving that goal.”

Mamdani won the Bronx in November’s mayoral election with 51% of the vote, compared to 40% for former Governor Andrew Cuomo and 7% for Republican Curtis Sliwa. 

The U.S. is racing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as Iran threatens one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes, testing a Navy that has recently retired most of its dedicated minesweepers and is now relying on a smaller fleet of unmanned systems to do the job.

President Donald Trump has warned Tehran against further escalation and signaled the U.S. is prepared to act to keep the strait open, while Iranian forces have laid mines and threatened commercial traffic in the narrow waterway that carries a significant share of global oil.

The confrontation is now testing a weakness in the Navy’s mine-warfare posture. As the U.S. moves to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian mining threats, it is doing so after retiring most of the ships once dedicated to that mission and while still relying on a limited mix of legacy vessels and newer unmanned systems to clear one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.

At the current moment, any mine-clearing effort is unfolding amid an active standoff in the strait. The U.S. has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran has responded with attacks on commercial vessels, seizures of ships and threats to close the waterway entirely.

HEGSETH BLASTS BRITS, SAYS IRAN’S CHAOTIC RETALIATION HAS DRIVEN ITS OWN ALLIES ‘INTO THE AMERICAN ORBIT’

At least several commercial ships have come under fire in recent days, and both sides have intercepted vessels as they attempt to move through the chokepoint, underscoring the risks facing any operation to restore traffic.

Iran has tied further negotiations to the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, while Washington has insisted on security guarantees and reopening the strait, leaving little immediate path to a deal.

The operation comes after a major shift in how the Navy handles mine warfare. The service retired its four Bahrain-based minesweepers last year, ending a decades-long presence of dedicated mine-hunting ships in the Middle East.

At the start of the current crisis, the Navy’s remaining minesweepers were based in Japan, not the Persian Gulf, and newer littoral combat ships equipped for mine countermeasures were not all positioned in the region.

Multiple news outlets have reported Iran has laid at least a dozen mines in the strait, citing intelligence assessments, though some estimates put the number higher.

Now, as the U.S. moves to reopen the strait, some of those assets are being brought back in. Two Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships, USS Chief and USS Pioneer, were tracked sailing west from Southeast Asia toward the Middle East in recent days as preparations for mine-clearing operations ramp up.

DESTROY THE REGIME’S POWER WITHOUT OCCUPYING IRAN: A SMARTER WAR PLAN

The shift has left the Navy relying on a mix of legacy ships being surged into theater and newer unmanned systems designed to detect and neutralize mines.

“To be honest, that the minesweepers retired was never a concern to me, because we had brought in newer technology,” retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, who previously commanded the Navy’s 5th Fleet, told Fox News Digital.

But analysts say the Navy is still working through a transition as it replaces its older minesweepers with newer systems.

“We’re sort of at this nadir of the Navy’s mine sweeping capacity,” Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, told Fox News Digital.

Clark said the Navy has spent years developing unmanned systems to replace legacy ships, but currently has a limited number of those systems available for large-scale operations.

U.S. forces are not sending ships blindly into minefields. Instead, the operation begins with a wave of unmanned systems scanning the seabed to identify potential threats.

Underwater drones — some torpedo-shaped — are deployed in grid patterns to map the ocean floor and detect objects that could be mines, using high-resolution sonar to distinguish them from debris.

“They kind of look like torpedoes and they map the bottom,” Donegan said.

In parallel, surface drones tow sonar systems through narrow lanes, while helicopters equipped with sensors scan for mines closer to the surface, allowing the Navy to build a detailed picture of what is actually in the water.

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But identifying mines is only the first step.

“The mine neutralization part is really the long leg of the process,” Clark said.

Once a mine is located, operators deploy remotely controlled systems to disable it — either by detonating it in place or puncturing it so it sinks. Even then, the danger is not fully removed.

“You’ve got to then retrieve this thing with EOD personnel,” Clark said, referring to explosive ordnance disposal teams tasked with clearing debris that can still pose a hazard to passing ships.

Clearing mines remains a slow and methodical process that can stretch timelines depending on how many devices are in the water and how they are deployed.

The Pentagon has told Congress the effort could take as long as six months, according to a Washington Post report.

Clark said recent war-gaming suggests U.S. forces could identify and begin neutralizing mines within weeks, but fully removing them from key shipping lanes could take significantly longer.

“The finding part, you could do within a couple of weeks,” he said, adding that neutralizing mines could take additional time and that removing debris and ensuring lanes are completely safe could extend operations into months.

Donegan cautioned that timelines are difficult to predict, in part because U.S. forces must first confirm whether mines are actually present in the areas Iran has claimed.

“When somebody says they mined it, you have to go validate if that’s even true, and that takes time,” he said.

Left-wing nonprofits are rallying behind the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as the self-described “beacon of hope” for “fighting white supremacy” faces federal fraud charges.

In a blog post written by National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Senior Policy Advisor Mel Wilson, Wilson said, “it is important that we stand with and support The Southern Poverty Law Center until the legal travails are complete — with full confidence that SPLC will be vindicated.”

Below her commentary, Wilson listed a number of “coalition members” that are standing with SPLC and are a part of “The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.”

The list included more than one hundred non-profit organizations.

SPLC INDICTMENT BUILDS MOMENTUM FOR BESSENT’S TREASURY TO PROBE PARTISAN NONPROFITS

Separately, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a press release defending SPLC, saying that it stands with the nonprofit, and accusing the Department of Justice of “targeting” the organization. 

“This reported federal targeting of SPLC appears to be a transparently political attack on the rule of law meant to undermine the vital role civil rights groups play in countering hate groups. This is unacceptable and must not stand,” CAIR’s statement read. 

“We encourage all Americans and elected officials to stand in solidarity with the SPLC and all other organizations dedicated to the protection of civil rights,” the statement continued.

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CAIR was named a co-conspirator during The Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial from 2007-2008, where five members of the HLF were convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization, providing material support, money laundering and tax fraud after allegations that HLF funneled $12.4 million to Hamas in the early 2000s.

While CAIR never faced charges and was only named by prosecutors during the trial, the FBI cut ties with the nonprofit following the case.

SEC. NOEM SAYS HOMELAND SECURITY WILL FREEZE GRANTS TO NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

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

Federal authorities announced earlier this week that the Southern Poverty Law Center, known for civil rights litigation and racial justice, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly funneling millions to members of violent extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations and the National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party).

FAR-LEFT AGITATOR WHO ORGANIZED MN CHURCH STORMING RAKED IN OVER $1 MILLION FROM ANTI-POVERTY NONPROFIT

According to the SPLC’s Form 990 filing with the IRS, the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization posted roughly $129 million in total revenue in fiscal year 2024 with nearly $800 million in total assets.

The organization says that the money was for informants to report back to SPLC and provide information about the groups and their inner workings. 

The indictment said that one alleged informant, who was paid $270,000, shared “racist social media posts” under SPLC supervision, and that the nonprofit “helped organize transportation to events” during the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

EX-NONPROFIT BOSS ALLEGEDLY SWIPED $1.2M MEANT FOR HOMELESS PROGRAMS TO FUND LAVISH LIFESTYLE, DA SAYS

“These individuals risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation’s most radical and violent extremist groups,” SPLC Interim President and CEO Bryan Fair said in a video statement. “When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the civil rights movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system.”

In 1994, an investigative series by the Montgomery Advertiser examined the financials of SPLC at the time, finding that the founder was heavily focused on fundraising for the nonprofit, running the organization like a business or corporation. It also found that the salaries of SPLC were high, and that the nonprofit raised significantly more money than it spent. 

The Montgomery Advertiser was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism due to the series on SPLC.

SPLC co-founder Joe Levin rejected the paper’s claims at the time.

DOJ SAYS SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER FUNNELED $3M+ TO WHITE SUPREMACIST AND EXTREMIST GROUPS

Margaret Huang, who served as the CEO of the nonprofit until her resignation last summer, made $522,000 a year as reported by Charity Watch, which gave SPLC an “F” rating in May 2025 “due to it having six years’ worth of available assets in reserve.”

The indictments also raise questions about whether SPLC donors were misled on how their money was being spent, including payments made to members of the KKK and other extremist groups. 

“The SPLC indictment is legally valid, well-pleaded, and built to survive motion practice, former federal prosecutor and legal expert Andrew Cherkasky told Fox News Digital. “The wire fraud counts rest on specific, quoted solicitations telling donors their money would be used to ‘dismantle’ violent extremist groups, paired with the material omission that more than three million dollars flowed to the leaders, fundraisers, and organizers of those very same groups.”

OVERSIGHT DEMANDS DOJ ANSWERS ON FOREIGN FUNDING OF AGITATOR GROUPS AS IRAN, ANTI-ICE PROTESTS CONTINUE

Cherkasky noted that paying informants is not illegal, and that journalists, watchdog groups and the government regularly use them. But he noted “a nonprofit is criminally liable for the acts of its agents committed within the scope of their duties and for the organization’s benefit.”

“A high-level SPLC employee coordinated payment for documents stolen by a paid source who twice burglarized an extremist group’s headquarters, and a different source was paid six thousand dollars to falsely confess to the theft,” Cherkasky explained. “If proven, that is sponsored criminal conduct directed from inside the organization, and it carries institutional exposure that extends beyond the criminal counts to potential loss of tax-exempt status, civil liability to victims, and fiduciary exposure for directors and officers.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that SPLC was not honest or transparent with its donors.

“They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups — even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes,” Patel said. “That is illegal — and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”

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