Biden appears confused as he welcomes World Series champ Texas Rangers to White House
President Biden hosted the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers at the White House on Thursday.
The president shared a few jokes shortly after he entered the East Room of the White House. Biden even complimented Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi on his suit, saying, “Looking good, Nathan.”
After Biden gave a few remarks about the Rangers’ championship season, manager Bruce Bochy presented him with a customized jersey. Biden then held up the jersey and posed for a photo. Bochy also gave the president a pair of cowboy boots.
Moments later, Biden asked, “All right, what am I doing now?” as the guests and players laughed.
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The president followed up what appeared to be a joke by asking a military aide who approached him if they were trying to take one of the gifts he had just received.
“Are you stealing my jersey?” he asked, before cracking a smile and eventually handing off the personalized gift.
BIDEN HOSTS TEXAS RANGERS AT WHITE HOUSE TO CELEBRATE 2023 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
After a couple of seconds of awkwardly standing on the stage, the president raised both hands as music played in the background.
“Distinguished guests, please remain in your seats as the president departs,” the emcee then announced. Biden left the stage and greeted two children seated in the first row.
The president then faced the Rangers players and gave them a military-style salute before turning back around and walking out of the room. Thursday’s celebration marked the president’s first public event of the week.
The Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games last year to claim the franchise’s first World Series title.
Shortstop Corey Seager was the series MVP.
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The Rangers entered Thursday in third place in the AL West.
Police release bodycam of officer who confronted would-be Trump assassin on roof
BUTLER, Pa. – FIRST ON FOX: Police bodycam footage obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday through a records request shows two officers attempting to intercept Thomas Matthew Crooks on a roof seconds before he allegedly tried to assassinate former President Trump at a campaign rally last month.
The footage is taken from two officers from the Butler Township Police Department who made a desperate attempt to stop Crooks moments before he fired his DPMS AR-15 rifle, striking Trump in the ear, killing Corey Comperatore and injuring two others.
“F—ing this close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me,” the officer who was hoisted can be heard saying later on in bodycam video released Thursday.
One officer can be seen hoisting another officer onto the roof where Crooks was stationed, which is about 12 feet above the ground.
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Crooks pointed his weapon at the officer who scaled the building, before the officer ultimately ducks his head and loses his grip on the roof’s edge and falls about 8 feet to the ground, spraining his ankle, Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights previously told Fox News Digital.
The footage captures Crooks toward the end as officers surround his body after countersnipers fatally shot him.
“I’m f—ing p—ed. We couldn’t find him,” another officer can be heard saying in the bodycam footage.
“Before you motherf—ers came up here, I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself, dude,” the officer who was boosted onto the roof says. “Then he turned around and I f—ing dropped, and I started f—ing, I was calling out, ‘Bro, f—ing on top of the roof.’ F—ing, we’re not on the same frequency?”
“F—ing we’re not on the same frequency?”
Butler Township PD Lt. Matthew Pearson told a local outlet that the officer was unable to draw his weapon since he was hanging from the building.
Seconds later, Crooks opened fire and grazed Trump’s right ear. Three rallygoers were also shot, including Comperatore, 50, who was killed protecting his family from danger.
Additional footage from the Butler Township police department shows officers immediately after Crooks was neutralized:
BODYCAM SHOWS PA POLICE RESPONSE TO ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT:
David Dutch and James Copenhaver were injured after being shot at the rally. They have both since returned home, and Copenhaver’s attorney provided an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital as he continues to recover.
Officers can be seen standing over Crooks’ body on the roof in the footage released Thursday.
In other bodycam video, officers are clearly confused about why the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building, where Crooks shot from, was unmanned.
“I thought you were on the roof?” one officer says.
“Why were we not on the roof…why weren’t we?”
There also appears to be confusion about whether the shooter was neutralized and why the shooter wasn’t taken out before he opened fire.
PA OFFICERS ASK WHY ROOF CROOKS SHOT FROM WAS UNMANNED
“If you’d all had a gun up there … I’d have shot him. He wouldn’t have ripped out a gun up there,” one officer says in the bodycam.
“I’d say this is a f— up…somebody f—ed up.”
The footage is the latest crucial piece of publicly available information released that attempts to shed light on exactly what transpired that day and what efforts were put in place to stop Crooks.
The security breaches that paved the way for the shooting have been muddied by finger-pointing among the various agencies involved at the local, state and federal levels.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said video of someone moving along a roof minutes before Trump was shot confirms a “failure.”
The video, taken by Copenhaver and exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, shows a figure moving across the roof of the AGR building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump’s rally.
VIDEO SHOWS TRUMP SHOOTING VICTIM’S POV
The FBI previously revealed that Crooks had driven to the rally site at 11 a.m. on the day of the shooting and spent an hour there before heading home.
Crooks did not return to the scene until 3:50 p.m. Local law enforcement officers, in their designated positions, spotted him for the first time around 5:10 p.m. — approximately 50 minutes before Trump took the stage, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who obtained them from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU).
BUTLER POLICE GATHER WITNESSES AFTER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT:
On his return to the rally site, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards away from where Trump was going to be speaking, according to the FBI. The FBI later said that no photos or videos were taken from the drone and that the agency found no memory card in the drone.
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At 5:30 p.m., local law enforcement snapped a picture of Crooks and escalated it to command.
“Kid learning around building we are in,” an officer wrote in a text message, along with an image of Crooks. “AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out.”
“I lost sight of him,” the officer added.
A follow-up message said: “Call it in to command and have a uniform check it out.”
By 6:12 p.m., the “kid” would be killed by a counter-sniper after he opened fired on the rallygoers.
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On the day of the rally, Crooks parked his vehicle and flew a drone between about 3:50 p.m. and 4 p.m. about 200 yards from where the former president would be speaking on July 13. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a July 17 congressional hearing that Crooks had been at the rally site for about 70 minutes the morning of the assassination attempt.
Fox News Digital is reviewing the bodycam footage. This post will be updated.
College students’ tropical dream vacation quickly spirals into near-death nightmare
A dream vacation turned into a nearly fatal nightmare after two Oklahoma State University students were allegedly poisoned after ordering water from a poolside bar at a Cancun resort.
Disturbing photos shared by Zara Hull and her family show the moment Hull and Kaylie Pitze say they became unconscious after drinking the tainted water Aug. 1.
“I had called my mom at like 10 that morning to tell her how beautiful the resort was and how amazing it was. By 4:30, Jake called her and let her know that I was completely incoherent, like I was gone, like I was unconscious,” Hull told Fox 32 News.
Hull and a group of friends were in Cancun for a four-day trip that was quickly cut short after she and Pitze had a few drinks of the tainted water.
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Stephanie Snider, whose son Jake is Hull’s boyfriend, said in a series of Facebook posts that Hull and Pitze were slipped a drug while they were at the resort in Cancun last Friday. She said it was in their drinks and caused both girls to pass out at the same time.
“Our son, Jake, and his girlfriend are finally back in the U.S. after the most horrific 48 hours of our lives,” Snider wrote in a post on Facebook. “What started out as a fun vacation with friends for them ended up as our worst nightmare.”
Jake also described what happened at the pool, adding that he believes a resort employee was responsible.
“They sit down, the bartender gives them water, which now we see a bubbling fizzing effect in the picture that I took of them in the water. So, something was in there. So, they take a sip of it and not even one minute or two minutes later they both drop at the same time,” Jake told Fox 32 News.
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After leaving the pool, Jake explained that Pitze was taken back to their room in a wheelchair, while he carried Hull. Hull began throwing up and having what he thought was a seizure.
“Zara started having what the resort doctor called a ‘seizure’ and said she needed to be taken to the hospital. Once she was there, the hospital demanded $10K just to look at her to help her and start treating her. The money was sent. By the next morning, we were told more money was needed to continue treatment,” Snider said.
Snider said thankfully Pitze did not end up in the hospital, but he said she struggled for the following day after the incident.
“Neither of the girls have any memory of what happened after they took that last drink, which happened to have been a glass of WATER. We think it was whatever was put in that glass of water that did it. Both girls collapsed at the very SAME time. They both are battling feelings of not knowing what happened and ‘why them?’” Snider said.
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Nearly 27 hours later and after spending thousands of dollars, Hull’s family was able to negotiate with the U.S. Embassy and have her flown to Dallas to continue medical treatment.
On Thursday, Snider posted that Hull was finally getting her appetite back and able to drink more fluids on her own instead of solely through an IV.
Snider said she hopes this is a warning for others traveling to resorts like this.
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“They did exactly like we told them. Don’t leave the resort. You have no reason to leave that resort. You stay there,” said Snider.
“Like people say, ‘Don’t leave the resort and you’ll be fine.’ It started at the resort. The resort was not safe,” Hull said. “They say the resort is the safest place; don’t leave it. That’s not true.”
Snider said the name of the resort or hospital is not being released at this time due to legal and privacy issues.
Fugitive on the run for 35 years finally captured across the country after car chase
FIRST ON FOX: A suspected serial rapist from Massachusetts accused of raping two women at gunpoint nearly 35 years ago led California law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County on a car chase Thursday before being taken into custody.
Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was driving a Lincoln SUV while trying to get away from authorities before surrendering around 5:30 p.m, a Los Angeles Police Department source told Fox News Digital.
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Gale was identified and charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery of two women at a convenience store in Framingham, Massachusetts, near Boston, in 1989.
Authorities publicly identified him in connection with the crimes in May.
Gale lived in several other states, used multiple aliases and previously had ties to organized crime, but efforts to locate him were unsuccessful, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said at the time.
Investigators said Gale entered the Hit or Miss Store on Dec. 27, 1989, showed a .357 Magnum handgun and forced two female employees to the back of the store. He forced them to take off their clothes and placed them in separate rooms, authorities said.
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“He sexually assaulted both women while holding the gun to their heads,” Ryan’s office said. “When the suspect returned to the front of the store, the victims fled out the rear fire door to a nearby home.”
Evidence was collected at the scene and a DNA sample was later obtained. A DNA profile was developed in 2001, but failed to match with anyone in law enforcement databases.
Authorities later identified Gale as the suspected rapist through forensic genetic genealogy.
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In addition to the two rapes at gunpoint, Gale was wanted for questioning in connection with a series of rapes that occurred in 1989 and 1990, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
US reportedly delivers blunt message to Iran as world braces for attack on Israel
The U.S. has reportedly warned Iran a retaliatory attack on Israel for the recent killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran would pose a “serious risk” for Iran’s economy and government and likely escalate the months-long conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal the U.S. has communicated to Iran that the risk of a major escalation is “extremely high” if it carries out a retaliatory attack.
The official said Tehran has been put on notice “that there is a serious risk of consequences for Iran’s economy and the stability of its newly elected government if it goes down that path.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran late last month. Israel was immediately blamed for the assassination after pledging to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state, which killed 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken hostage.
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Haniyeh had been in Tehran for the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s newly-elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran has signaled its intention to strike back at Israel, though the exact scope and timing of a potential attack are not clear. That’s in contrast to Iran’s highly anticipated missile and drone attack on Israel in April in retaliation for Israel killing a senior Iranian paramilitary commander in Syria.
Another variable at play is the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah, which has in recent months been escalating attacks on Israel near its border with Lebanon.
Earlier this week, Israel said it carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon, killing four Hezbollah fighters.
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U.S. officials have insisted that warnings to Iran concern the risks of provoking a military response from Israe and deepening the conflict, and not potential U.S. military action, per the Journal.
These developments come as Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. leaders have urged Israel to resume talks with Hamas Aug. 15.
“It is time to conclude a cease-fire agreement and release hostages and prisoners,” a joint statement from the three countries Thursday sid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will send a negotiating team Aug. 15 to finalize the details of the Gaza cease-fire framework.
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The mediators said the talks would take place either in Qatar’s capital of Doha or Egypt’s capital of Cairo. Last week’s killing of Haniyeh was widely seen as a blow to cease-fire talks.
USA Basketball pulls off thrilling comeback against Serbia in Olympic miracle
It got scary for a while, but the United States men’s basketball team can exhale.
After trailing by as many as 17, the United States pulled off a miraculous fourth-quarter comeback to advance to its fourth straight gold medal game, beating Serbia, 95-91.
The U.S. trailed by 13 entering the fourth and was on the the brink of a huge upset, but it quickly cut the deficit to five with just over seven minutes to go.
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Then, the U.S. took over. After both teams exchanged baskets, back-to-back buckets by Joel Embiid brought the United States back to within two with just over four minutes to go. And a tough layup by LeBron James knotted it at 84 with 3:39 to go.
Serbia regained the lead, but Stephen Curry dropped his ninth three-pointer to put the U.S. up one. James then made a reverse layup to make it a three-point USA lead, and Curry matched it with his own, going coast-to-coast to put the Americans up 91-86 with 1:41 to go. The game turned on a 14-2 run by the Americans.
Up by two with 8.2 seconds to go, Curry, fittingly, knocked down a pair of free throws to ice it. The U.S. outscored Serbia 32-15 in the fourth quarter.
“Gotta get it the hard way,” James told the NBC broadcast after the game. “Kudos to Serbia, but we came through.”
Curry’s 36 points were one point shy of tying Carmelo Anthony’s American record in the Olympics. James recorded his second triple-double in the Olympics, finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, and Embiid added 19 points.
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The Americans will face host country France in the gold medal game, a rematch of the gold medal contest three years ago.
Camping World does complete opposite when ordered to take down American flag
A major RV retailer is fighting a Northern California county over its right to display a giant American flag.
Camping World RV Sales in San Joaquin County, like many of the company’s other 250 locations, flies a giant American flag over its grounds. That was stopped in April when the county ordered the dealership to remove the flag, citing safety reasons and a lack of permission, according to Fox40.
“Camping World’s flagpole was installed with neither a building permit nor planning approval, therefore they are in conversation with the code enforcement division,” the county said in a statement to the local outlet.
The county feels the flagpole could be dangerous because of its closeness to property lines and the highway. However, Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis disagreed and ordered the flag to be reinstalled at the location on Monday.
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“If we felt like we were putting people in danger or causing any issues with air traffic, which would absolutely not be OK, then I wouldn’t do it,” Lemonis said to FOX40.
Lemonis argued the flagpole was secure and set deeply in the ground. If it were any other flag but the American flag, he would have no problem taking it down while the permit issues were being resolved. However, he feels strongly about keeping the American flag up, no matter what.
“It’s symbolism about how we feel about this country. We have a lot of veterans who work for us, and a lot of veterans who shop with us,” Lemonis told Fox40. “I happen to be an immigrant. I was given the blessing of being able to enter this country and become a citizen, and I’m grateful for it. It’s been part of my life since I was a little child down in Miami, Florida, where we had the largest flag pole in Miami at our car dealership.”
After publication, San Joaquin County said in a statement that the flagpole at this location exceeded the height permissable without a building permit. However, they denied asking Camping World to remove the flag itself.
The county also said that after a review, a building permit would be issued for the flagpole on Thursday.
“The 2022 California Building Code adopted by San Joaquin County requires a building permit for a flagpole over a certain height,” the statement began. “The Camping World flagpole is 130 feet in height, and therefore requires approval by the Zoning Administrator and a building permit.”
“Due to the proximity of the pole to Interstate 5, the San Joaquin County Community Development Department (CDD) consulted with Caltrans regarding concerns that if the pole fell it could land in the CalTrans right of way for Interstate 5. Based on that the Zoning Administrator and Building Official have reviewed the site plan and engineered plans for the flagpole, CDD recently made the determination that the flagpole may be permitted, and a building permit will be issued today, August 8, 2024.”
“At no time did CDD staff instruct Camping World to remove the flag. The issue has been solely with the height of the flagpole. CDD is working closely with Camping World to issue the appropriate permit so the flagpole can remain safely and legally pursuant to state and county law.”
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Fox News Digital also reached out to the Camping World CEO for comment but has yet to receive a response.