A University of Michigan Board of Regents member was ousted after Michigan Democrats selected a candidate who shared social media posts praising Hezbollah as the party’s nominee.

Amir Makled, a trial lawyer, bested incumbent Regent Jordan Acker, who is Jewish, for the Democratic Party’s nomination at the state party’s convention over the weekend, sparking criticism from a former leader of the state’s Democratic Party.

More than a week before Michigan’s Democratic Convention, the Detroit News reported that Makled had shared and later deleted posts on X praising Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Abu Ali Khalil, who were both killed in Israeli airstrikes. In both posts Makled shared, Nasrallah and Khalil are dubbed “martyrs.”

UC DAVIS PROFESSOR WHO POSTED VIOLENT THREATS AGAINST ‘ZIONISTS’ KEEPS JOB AFTER DISCIPLINE

The Democratic nominee also shared a now-deleted post from Candace Owens in which she called Israelis “demons” who “lie, steal, cheat, murder and blackmail.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Makled for comment.

Brandon Dillon, the former head of Michigan’s Democratic Party, penned an opinion piece in the Detroit News criticizing Makled’s candidacy that was published just days before Makled won the party’s nomination. Dillon said Makled is not a Democrat and that his social media behavior reflects “a pattern of extremism and bigotry.”

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ADDRESSES HUNDREDS OF ‘WANTED’ POSTERS FOR JEWISH FACULTY MEMBERS POSTED AROUND CAMPUS

“These are not isolated missteps or comments taken out of context,” Dillon wrote in the Detroit News. “They reflect a broader pattern of poor judgment that should raise serious concern.”

In his acceptance speech for the party’s nomination, Makled gave a nod to students involved in anti-Israel protests that formed on the University of Michigan’s campus in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.

“To these students, the students who spoke up, the students who organized, the students who refused to let anyone tell them that their education wasn’t worth fighting for, you all reminded us what a public university is supposed to be,” Makled said.

ELITE UNIVERSITY ATTENDED BY TRUMP’S SON CRACKS DOWN ON LEFT-WING STUDENT AGITATORS

Makled, who legally represented University of Michigan students involved in anti-Israel campus protests, had previously called for the university system to divest from Israel.

The anti-Israel protests which formed at the University of Michigan led to reports of antisemitic attacks against Jewish students. The University of Michigan was one of 60 universities notified by the Department of Education that it was being investigated for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for failing to properly address antisemitic harassment and discrimination.

In December 2024 — just months before the Education Department shared its notice with the University of Michigan — the car belonging to outgoing Regent Acker was vandalized. The words “Divest… Free Palestine” and an inverted triangle, a reference to Hamas, were spray-painted in red across Acker’s vehicle.

At the time of the attack, Acker said it was the third time that year he’d been victimized by anti-Israel vandals.

Fox News Digital reached out to Acker for comment.

A left-wing lawfare group is trying to uncover records that might prove FBI Director Kash Patel engaged in behavior unfit for his role, such as “excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”

Democracy Forward, a group that supports left-wing policy positions in court on issues like DEI, immigration and abortion, sent a 16-page Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Justice Department on Tuesday. It asks for documents, schedules and communications that seek to prove allegations made against Patel in a recent article published by The Atlantic.

The report suggests the FBI Director has a drinking problem, poses a national security risk and is at the helm of persistent management failures at the bureau — and it comes as lawmakers warn Patel ‘is next’ after three Trump cabinet secretaries exited the administration in recent weeks.

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“Kash Patel should be next,” Democrat House Whip Katherine Clark said after news broke of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s exit Monday following a probe into her own alleged ethical lapses.

“Start the clock,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., added following the Atlantic’s report.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department, the FBI and representatives for Patel regarding the FOIA request, but did not hear back in time for publication.

Meanwhile, Patel filed earlier this week a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic for its reporting on his alleged conduct.

Democratic Party leadership warning the FBI and DOJ about its duty to preserve all records related to alleged incidents involving Patel that could become subject to a potential congressional inquiry. Then came the FOIA filing.

“Democracy Forward Foundation seeks records that would help the public understand the issues raised in the Atlantic article as it relates to previous reporting on potential concerns surrounding Director Patel’s ability to run a key law enforcement agency and his use of taxpayer dollars,” the group’s letter to the Justice Department states.

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The group is interested in Patel’s calendars, schedule, text messages and other electronic communications between himself and his staff. Democracy Forward also specifically asks for any records reflecting “a request for or use of ‘breaching equipment’ that was made by or used by Director Kash Patel’s security detail.”

The request comes at a time when the DOJ is facing it’s own shake-up after Pam Bondi was ousted as Attorney General earlier this month.Todd Blanche, once Bondi’s deputy, is serving as Acting Attorney General.

When asked about Patel’s future as the top dog at the FBI, Republican strategist Mark Bednar, who has worked for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and current Transportation Secretary and former Congressman Sean Duffy, was more supportive of his tenure, arguing the FBI has seen positive change since Patel took charge.

“In the years leading up to President Trump being elected to his second term, the American people had lost confidence in the FBI as an institution. Kash Patel is part of President Trump’s goal of revitalizing the agency and executing on the “Make America Safe Again” agenda,” Bednar told Fox News Digital.

A separate GOP strategist who requested anonymity argued that if Patel leaves it won’t be because of The Atlantic hit piece.

“If Kash Patel goes down, it won’t be because of a damaging Atlantic story, which is a badge of honor in this Administration,” they told Fox News Digital. “It’s more likely because the President views him as becoming a liability during a time of war, as well as a desire to clean house in one fell swoop as the midterms approach.”

“There’s already blood in the water with the three ousted Cabinet picks, and knocking out one more gives the President a chance to head into November with a refreshed slate and the best team around him.”

Rep. lhan Omar, D-Minn., brushed past questions from a Fox News Digital reporter on Monday about reported accounting errors that had previously inflated her reported wealth by millions, declining to explain the discrepancies.

Omar’s finances continued to grab national attention on Friday, when Congressional disclosures reviewed by the Wall Street Journal indicated that Omar’s wealth is somewhere between $18,000 and $95,000 — a far cry from previous reports that had put her wealth between $6 and $30 million.

Fox News Digital attempted to ask Omar about the discrepancies, but the Minnesota congresswoman ignored the questions while chatting and laughing with another woman. 

MAN ACCUSED OF SPRAYING OMAR HAS CRIMINAL RECORD AS CONGRESSWOMAN VOWS ‘A–HOLES’ WON’T WIN

Omar’s office previously said the new numbers would end suspicion that Omar may have used her position on Capitol Hill to monetarily benefit her and her husband.

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

Rogers noted that the filing was corrected “as soon as the discrepancy was identified.”

While the new figures undercut concerns about the size of her wealth and where it came from, they also bring new questions of their own, including how they had been so far off the mark in the first place.

Omar came under fire last year when disclosure reporting revealed she and her husband accumulated up to $30 million in wealth, drawing calls from President Donald Trump for lawmakers to investigate her husband’s business ties.

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“The DOJ and Congress are looking at ‘congresswoman’ Ilhan Omar, who left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than $44 million. Time will tell all. Thank you for your attention to this matter!,” Trump said in a a post to Truth Social last year.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on whether lawmakers should continue scrutiny of Omar’s business ties in light of new evaluations.

Omar’s wealth jump had been tied to two businesses: Rose Lake Capital and ESTCRU LLC.

In 2024, evaluations of Rose Lake, a business firm co-founded by her husband, reached between $5 million and $25 million. Just one year before, in 2023, she reported that the same company’s value was between $1 and $1,000.

‘SQUAD’ REP AYANNA PRESSLEY’S EX-CON HUSBAND SLAPS PHONE OUT OF MAN’S HANDS AS HE TRIES TO ASK HER A QUESTION

Similarly, ESTCRU LLC, a winery registered in Santa Rosa, California, first appeared on Omar’s disclosure reports in 2020 and had a value of just $15,000 to $50,000 in 2023. In 2024, that evaluation exploded to between $1 million and $5 million.

Reports of Omar’s wealth drew scrutiny from the House Oversight Committee, which demanded to see more of the companies’ business records earlier this year. 

Responding to new evaluations, Emmer said Omar shouldn’t consider herself safe from congressional investigations just yet. 

“Ilhan Omar is even more clueless than I thought if she thinks this financial disclosure revision clears her of suspicion,” Emmer exclusively told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

“She can backtrack, obfuscate, and distract all she wants but she’s made clear who she is: A fraud-enabling, racist antisemite who espouses anti-American rhetoric every chance she gets,” Emmer charged of his fellow Minnesota lawmaker.

Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Members of Congress blasted South Korean leadership over a “left-wing government closely aligned with China,” that they accused of “attacking” American companies and showing favoritism to Chinese-led businesses. 

In a letter led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., more than 50 members of the House of Representatives expressed their concern to Republic of Korea (ROK) Ambassador to the United States Kyung-wha Kang over what they deemed to be “discriminatory” business practices from the ROK.  

“Many American tech companies have faced a range of regulatory actions that seek to punish them while shielding Korean domestic competition,” the letter reads. “Recent research by think tank Competere shows such regulatory actions by the ROK government will cost $1 trillion in combined economic damage to the U.S. and Korean economies over the next 10 years, with the U.S. economy losing $525 billion and American households losing nearly $4,000 each.”

“We are committed to ensuring that your government ceases its persecution of Coupang and other American companies operating in South Korea,” the letter continues. “The stakes for American economic and security interests are enormous.”

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Issa sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the letter and what’s at stake for U.S. companies if the ROK continues its alleged bias. 

“South Korea is still an important strategic partner, but their last election led to a left-wing government closely aligned with China that, among other things, has begun attacking American companies, companies as large as Meta, but also one that you probably don’t know called Coupang, who they’re basically the Amazon of South Korea,” Issa told Fox News Digital.

“But they’re owned by and founded by a Korean-American and they have been systematically attacked quite frankly, probably because they’re an American company and effectively a unicorn in South Korea,” Issa added. “We’re seeing that South Korea has adopted the European digital rules which are very much designed to localize rather than accept the great companies that have spread very well around the world because they’ve earned it.”

SOUTH KOREAN PM HAN DUCK-SOO REINSTATED AS ACTING PRESIDENT AFTER IMPEACHMENT OVERTURNED

Yoon Suk-yeol, of the People Power Party was elected as president in 2022 but was impeached in December 2024, largely for his attempt to declare martial law. 

Lee Jae-myung, of the Democratic Party, who was defeated by Yoon in 2022, was elected in 2025. The South Korean National Assembly holds a strong majority by the county’s Democratic Party, and the ROK is now governed by a full Democratic majority for the first time in four years. 

The Democratic party is the main liberal thinking party in the ROK, which favors progressive domestic policies as opposed to conservative beliefs that have previously reduced political engagement with North Korea and promoted relations with the U.S.

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Given the situation in Iran, Issa compared the alliance of nations like North Korea and China siding with the Iranian regime to the era of former President Ronald Reagan, as he alleged South Korea is straying from its trade relationships with the U.S. 

“The fact is that as we go back into an alignment that looks a lot like the Cold War, where China and Russia have become strategic partners, where they’re picking off people to be with them, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela until recently, and obviously Iran, it has become very much like the period of time when Ronald Reagan was president,” Issa told Fox News Digital. 

The U.S. and the ROK established the KORUS FTA (U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement) in 2018, which serves to promote trade between the two allied countries.

SOUTH KOREA TO END SOME MILITARY ACTIVITY ON BORDER TO EASE TENSIONS WITH NORTH KOREA

When asked if alleged favoritism toward Chinese and other nations violated the KORUS FTA or any other preexisting trade agreements between the U.S. and the ROK, Issa told Fox News Digital that the agreements can be used as leverage if the ROK leadership doesn’t correct course. 

“South Korea depends on the United States for a sale of Hyundai, Kia, obviously the Samsung line and others,” Issa explained. “Our free trade agreement allows that product to come in at the lowest possible rate, in some cases still zero. If they want that benefit, we have to use that leverage.”

Issa noted the importance of non-tariff barriers in South Korea and their effects on U.S. companies.

“[We need] to make sure that they are not just tariffing our companies, but also not using other non-tariff trade barriers, clearly with Meta and Coupang and others,” Issa said. 

“And by the way, we still have over 25,000 troops [in the ROK], Issa added. “We have a strategic partnership with them that keeps North Korea from reuniting the country under a communist government.”

Southern Poverty Law Center’s interim CEO Bryan Fair claimed in a Tuesday video that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating the organization and possibly preparing criminal charges.

“Although we don’t know all the details,” Fair said in a video posted to the organization’s YouTube account, “the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”

The SPLC is a nonprofit group that has come under fire in recent years for alleged political bias. In October, FBI Director Kash Patel eliminated all ties to the organization after they labeled Turning Point USA a hate group.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine,” Patel said in a Oct. 3 post on X.

TRUMP ADMIN AGENCIES COORDINATING TO EXPOSE BIDEN ADMIN’S ‘PROLIFIC AND DANGEROUS’ WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT

“Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence,” he said at the time. “That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership.”

Fair pointed to that announcement as proof that the SPLC was being targeted by the Trump administration. He also cited a December hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government titled “Partisan and profitable: the SPLC’s influence on federal civil rights policy.”

Before Patel cut ties, SPLC had collaborated with the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies on their informant program, which Fair claimed was at the heart of the alleged investigation.

BERKELEY GROUP USES SONG ETCHED ON CHARLIE KIRK’S SUSPECTED KILLER’S BULLET CASINGS TO PROMOTE TPUSA PROTEST

“We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI. We did not, however, share our use of informants broadly with anyone, in order to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families,” he said.

Fair also said the SPLC no longer works with paid informants.

In May 2025, the group published an analysis of Turning Point USA as a hate group, calling it a “well-funded, hard-right organization with links to Southern Poverty Law Center-identified hard-right extremists,” and adding that its “primary strategy is sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists.”

BIDEN DOJ WEAPONIZED FACE ACT TO IMPRISON PRO-LIFE ACTIVISTS, ATTORNEY TELLS HOUSE: ‘SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN’

On Sept. 9, one day before Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, SPLC published a newsletter that Charlie Kirk Show producer Andrew Kolvet described as an attack.

Kolvet questioned whether or not the newsletter contributed to Kirk’s death.

“Did these contribute to the assassin’s motive?” Kolvet wrote in an October post on X.

“We may never know, but the swirl of extremist propaganda certainly played a role. The SPLC has been credibly accused of corruption, mishandling of donations, union-busting, and covering up of sexual assault by senior leadership, all while sitting on nearly $1 billion in reserves and being based in red Alabama. These are legitimate predicates for investigation. Those should happen immediately,” Kolvet concluded.

Fox News Digital contacted SPLC and the DOJ for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

FIRST ON FOX: Vivek Ramaswamy is putting his money where his mouth is, and the Republican candidate for Ohio governor is fulfilling a campaign pledge he first made last summer.

Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and business leader, invested $25 million of his own money into his gubernatorial campaign so far this year. He first grabbed national attention in the 2024 election cycle by running for the GOP presidential nomination before dropping out and becoming a top surrogate for President Donald Trump.

The investment was included in Ramaswamy’s latest fundraising report, which indicates he has hauled in a record $50 million since launching his campaign last year. That includes $30 million this year — $5 million from donors and Ramaswamy’s $25 million investment.

The fundraising report, shared first with Fox News Digital Tuesday, also highlights that Ramaswamy had $30 million in his campaign coffers at the end of last month. Separately, the Ramaswamy-aligned American Exceptionalism PAC reported $29.5 million in fundraising so far this cycle.

RAMASWAMY REVEALS RUNNING MATE IN BID FOR OHIO GOVERNOR

“No gubernatorial campaign in Ohio history has ever put up numbers like this, and it sends a clear message: Ohioans are fired up for Vivek, our campaign is growing, and we will win big in November,” Ramaswamy’s campaign manager Jonathan Ewing said in a statement.

The report, coming before next month’s Ohio primary, showcases Ramaswamy’s large fundraising advantage over his Democratic rival for governor, Amy Acton, a doctor and researcher who served as director of the state Department of Health from 2019-2020. The winner of November’s election will succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine.

Once a top general election battleground state, Ohio has shifted to the right over the past decade, with Trump carrying the state by 11 points in the 2024 election.

But this year’s race for governor and a battle for a U.S. Senate seat in the Buckeye State are expected to be competitive. The Cook Report, a nonpartisan political handicapper, rates the governor’s race as leaning Republican, which is one step away from being considered a toss-up.

As first reported by Fox News Digital in July, Ramaswamy pledged to infuse up to $30 million of his own money into his bid for governor. His campaign says the $25 million investment so far this year is a large down payment on the pledge.

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Acton’s campaign last week reported that it brought in $9.3 million in fundraising to date, which it highlighted as “the most ever raised at this point in the calendar by a Democratic candidate for governor in the state’s history.”

The campaign also reported more than $4.8 million raked in during the first three months of this year.

Campaign manager Philip Stein said the fundraising “is the clearest sign yet that Ohioans, including independents and Republicans, are excited to elect Dr. Amy Acton to be Ohio’s next governor.”

Ramaswamy, who was endorsed by Trump last year as he launched his campaign, has used his large financial lead over Acton to put up ads statewide in Ohio. The campaign in March launched a $10 million ad buy and pledged to keep running spots through Election Day in November.

Ramaswamy’s campaign noted that “Vivek has already far surpassed all finance benchmarks set in recent gubernatorial campaigns.”

It also spotlighted the grassroots nature of Ramaswamy’s fundraising, with 392,347 donations from more than 120,000 unique donors and an average contribution of just $63. It also pointed out that donors giving $200 or less accounted for over 98% of individual contributions.

The campaign pointed out that the fundraising drive will continue and shared that Ramaswamy will headline a fundraising event in Columbus on Thursday evening that’s expected to bring in over $1 million.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s camp responded defiantly Tuesday after the Supreme Court declined to hear a wrongful death case brought on appeal by a Brooklyn man who blamed the Democrat’s COVID-era nursing home orders for his father’s 2020 death.

Cuomo was one of several Democratic COVID-era governors, including Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf and California’s Gavin Newsom, who came under intense scrutiny for their lockdown procedures and policies that required nursing homes to accept returning hospital patients regardless of their coronavirus infection status.

A Cuomo spokesman told Fox News Digital that the high court was the latest to absolve the former governor of alleged wrongdoing, while the plaintiff told New York media he was “disappointed” by the decision.

“For six long years, families have had to deal with unimaginable losses of loved ones from COVID and it doesn’t get easier, especially when that pain was manipulated and politicized,” said Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s longtime ombudsman.

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“Every investigation and every court to examine these claims has reached the same conclusion: there was no wrongdoing by Governor Cuomo or his administration,” Azzopardi said.

“Today, the Supreme Court joins that list.”

The plaintiff, Daniel Arbeeny of Brooklyn, sued Cuomo and his then-health commissioner Howard Zucker under federal law covering deprivation of rights and a state wrongful death statute, according to court documents from the Manhattan-based Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

A district court previously dismissed the suit on qualified immunity grounds, which generally state that public officials cannot be prosecuted for actions taken in their official capacity. Police have similar protections.

Arbeeny’s father Norman died at 89 after being released from a Cobble Hill nursing home where COVID patients were housed.

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When Cuomo was running for mayor in 2025, a bipartisan group, including Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, current Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Brooklyn State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, made the issue a focal point and protested together to demand accountability from the New York political scion.

 “You need to face us and apologize. If you are going to lead you are going to lead for all of us,” Norman’s other son Peter Arbeeny told Brooklyn Paper.

Cuomo’s policy, like that of other Democratic governors, aimed to assuage fears that COVID-related hospitalizations would overwhelm capacity and led to a ban on nursing homes denying admission solely based on a COVID diagnosis.

“The Supreme Court doesn’t erase what was done and the truth of what happened. Nine thousand COVID-positive patients were forced into nursing homes with deadly consequences,” Daniel Arbeeny added Tuesday to the New York Post, a corporate cousin of Fox News Digital.

In remarks to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Azzopardi said that independent reviews, including those from the DOJ, the New York County district attorney’s office, and the New York State attorney general’s office, found Cuomo’s nursing home guidance consistent with federal policy at the time.

“[It] aligned with actions taken on Democratic and Republican states across the country during a once-in-a-century pandemic,” Azzopardi said. “The facts are settled and the highest court has spoken.”

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He also cited a New York State Department of Health report cited in a legal memo that stated the Cobble Hill nursing home the elder Arbeeny was a patient at had its first COVID-positive-testing patient admitted days after the man was discharged.

While the case was being litigated, Cuomo said via a court filing that the purposes of his mandates were clearly aimed at freeing up hospital beds for “patients with more acute needs” and meant to send “individuals… who were no longer contagious back to facilities who could provide them with adequate care.”

In a Fox & Friends interview after the New York County District Attorney’s office closed its 2022 probe into the nursing home deaths, New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Flushing, said Cuomo’s lawyers and “PR team” want the public to believe he had been “absolved.”

Fox News chief meteorologist Janice Dean, whose in-laws died in a nursing home, said that news suggested a political “deal” between Albany and top prosecutors.

New York Department of Health records obtained by Fox News showed Cuomo reported 8,505 deaths through January 2021 with the actual figure topping 12,000.

Daniel Arbeeny told Fox News at the time that Norman’s death was preventable because “the governor decided to lie about it.”

The Supreme Court did not issue a reason for its decision not to hear the case.

Mexico’s president is demanding answers after a crash killed two U.S. officials tied to a cartel-related operation — an incident exposing conflicting accounts over American involvement inside the country.

Fox News can independently confirm via a U.S. official that the two deceased individuals worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA declined to comment.

The crash in the northern state of Chihuahua killed two U.S. Embassy personnel and two Mexican officials as they were returning from an operation targeting a clandestine drug lab, according to authorities.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said her administration was not informed of any U.S. presence and has ordered an investigation into whether Mexican sovereignty or national security laws were violated.

MEXICO BROKE INTERNATIONAL LAW WITH THE CARTELS AND AMERICANS SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES

“We were not aware of any direct work or coordination between the state of Chihuahua and personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said in a Tuesday press conference, adding that her government is seeking information from both local authorities and the United States.

She stressed that Mexico does not permit joint operations with foreign governments, saying cooperation is limited to intelligence-sharing “within a clearly defined framework … in keeping with our sovereignty.”

But officials in Chihuahua, Mexico, offered a different account, describing the U.S. personnel as part of routine cooperation with local authorities.

“Two instructor officers from the U.S. Embassy died while carrying out training duties as part of the exchange we generally and routinely have with U.S. authorities,” state prosecutor César Jáuregui Moreno said in a Tuesday press conference. 

He added the Americans had “always supported us with advisory support and training, as part of our regular exchange.”

Experts say those roles often extend beyond the classroom.

“The CIA has been supporting counter-narcotics efforts for some time and works closely with the DEA, the military and partner governments,” said Christine Balling, a counterinsurgency expert with experience in Latin America.

Balling said the role described as “training” can place U.S. personnel alongside partner forces in operational settings.

“People think training is just in the classroom — it’s not,” she said. “These officers would be working with partner forces on things like strategy or technology, including drones.”

“It makes perfect sense that they would be on site when an operation is carried out and be vulnerable,” she added.

Under Mexican law, foreign security cooperation is generally subject to federal oversight, but in practice those relationships can play out at the local level, sometimes without national leaders being directly involved in every operation.

The incident comes as tensions grow over the U.S. role in Mexico’s fight against powerful drug cartels.

President Donald Trump has increased pressure on Mexico to crack down on trafficking groups, while recent operations have relied heavily on U.S. support, including surveillance and intelligence-sharing to locate cartel targets.

But Sheinbaum has drawn a firm line against any unilateral U.S. activity inside Mexico.

Balling said Sheinbaum likely was not aware of the specific mission but faces political pressure to distance herself from any American-involved operations.

“There are domestic political pressures to show that the government is in control and not allowing outside forces to take over,” she said.

“I would be shocked if she knew the details, unless it was the type of operation that required a president’s sign-off,” Balling added.

It remains unclear what caused the crash, and authorities have not said whether foul play is suspected.

Officials said the Americans were not involved in the raid itself and had been conducting training work elsewhere before meeting with Mexican investigators after the operation.

Balling said the circumstances may never be fully clear, raising the possibility — without evidence — that cartel involvement could be difficult to confirm publicly.

“It makes perfect sense that they would be on site when an operation would go down and then be vulnerable to whether this was actually an accident or an intentional hit,” she said. “I don’t think that would ever be made public.”

Democrat Analilia Mejia was sworn in to the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday after decisively winning a special election last week in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.

Democrat Mikie Sherrill vacated the House seat last year after winning the Garden State’s gubernatorial contest.

Mejia has been an advocate for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

MEET ANALILIA MEJIA, THE SANDERS-AOC BACKED PROGRESSIVE WHO JUST WON ELECTION TO CONGRESS

“I join you today with a message delivered by the people of New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, but echoed nationally: Stand up, defend, restore, not only our democracy, but also a just economy that actually works for working people,” Mejia declared during a speech after being sworn in.

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Republicans now hold a slim 217-214 majority in the lower congressional chamber.

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California switched from Republican to independent last month.

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While Republicans currently hold the majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate, Democrats are aiming to change that during the 2026 midterm election cycle.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa bans on 75 family members and associates tied to the Sinaloa cartel, expanding the Trump administration’s crackdown beyond drug traffickers to those that profit from ill-gotten gains.

The Sinaloa cartel was one of eight drug cartels designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in February 2025. The classification allows the United States to pursue tougher criminal penalties and greater military intervention against drug cartels and their members.

“The Sinaloa Cartel smuggles illicit fentanyl, which the President designated as a Weapon of Mass Destruction, and other deadly drugs that harm American communities,” Rubio said in a statement. “Imposing visa restrictions on drug traffickers, their family members, and close personal and business associates will not only prevent their entry into our nation, but also serve as a deterrent to continued illicit activities.”

MEXICO TO EXTRADITE 26 TOP CARTEL LEADERS TO US IN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEAL

Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., celebrated Rubio’s decision to place visa restrictions on those linked to one of Mexico’s top drug cartels on X.

“For too long, narco-terrorists have built fortunes off the pain and deaths of innocent Americans while their families lived in luxury off blood money,” Salazar wrote. “The era of impunity is OVER. No more hiding behind money, power, or family ties. If you profit from cartel terror, the consequences are coming. America’s safety comes first.”

The Sinaloa cartel is one of the two largest drug cartels operating in Mexico, with tens of thousands of members operating in more than 40 countries. A Drug Enforcement Administration operation last summer resulted in the arrests of 600 people tied to the cartel. Over the span of a week, federal officers seized 714,707 counterfeit pills, 926 pounds of fentanyl powder, 4,870 pounds of methamphetamine, 16,466 pounds of cocaine and 36.5 pounds of heroin.

ARIZONA GUN DEALER ARMED TWO MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS, DOJ SAYS

The State Department based its decision to prevent those tied to the Mexican drug cartel from entering the United States on a 2021 executive order signed by former President Joe Biden titled “Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade.” More than 325 people, including members of the Sinaloa cartel, have faced sanctions under the Biden-era executive order, according to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Last September, the Trump administration sanctioned a faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as Los Mayos, as well as 15 companies affiliated with the group.

The Treasury has sanctioned more than 600 Sinaloa cartel-linked individuals and companies that played “critical roles” in the cartel’s operations, under the authority of the Foreign Narcotic Kingpin Designation Act of 2000 and Biden’s 2021 executive order.