Inside the suspected CEO assassin’s movements as new clue surfaces
NEW YORK – The masked gunman wanted in connection with the ambush shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Wednesday morning fled the crime scene using various modes of transportation before police believe he got on a bus out of the Big Apple, authorities told Fox News.
Police traced his route from the crime scene near 54th Street and Sixth Avenue up to Central Park, which he exited at 77th Street and Central Park West, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told Fox News Friday.
Kenny’s boss, new NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, added that investigators have picked up an abundance of video and digital evidence in addition to physical evidence they hope can lead them to the killer.
“We actually have a tremendous amount of forensic evidence in this case that we’ve collected- DNA evidence, fingerprint evidence, which is all at the lab now being processed,” she told Fox News Friday.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO BRIAN THOMPSON’S ‘PREMEDITATED’ ATTACK AND SUSPECT’S GETAWAY: TIMELINE
That could include a sample from a drink the killer discarded near the scene and a dropped burner phone, which police recovered a few steps away.
He walked with the bike to Columbus Avenue and then ditched it in favor of a taxi, which he took to an uptown bus terminal, where investigators found video of him entering about an hour after the murder.
He entered the park wearing a backpack and emerged without it, prompting the NYPD to spend most of Friday searching for evidence. They found the backpack over the weekend, reportedly stuffed full of Monopoly money, and sent dive teams to ponds in the park.
Authorities are now conducting an interstate manhunt for the suspect, whose identity has not been made public.
UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO ASSASSINATION: HERE ARE THE BREADCRUMBS LEFT BEHIND BY A KILLER
Kenny said the suspect arrived in New York about 10 days before the murder and that there is only one person of interest in the case. He is believed to have ridden to New York City on a Greyhound bus that departed Atlanta the day before Thanksgiving. He checked into a hostel on the Upper West Side using a fake ID and paying in cash – but police were able to obtain an unmasked image of their person of interest from a lobby surveillance camera in the building.
“Our goal in all of this is to bring closure to the family and bring and bring justice to the family, but people have to realize this isn’t a television show,” he said. “We’re not going to solve this in 60 minutes. This is going to be painstakingly done. We have to do it right. Eventually, we’re gonna have to present this case, in front of a judge and a jury. So we’re taking our time at this point, and we’re going to connect the dots, and we will make this arrest.”
UNITED HEALTHCARE CEO MURDER: INVESTIGATORS START SMALL, FOCUS ON FAMILY IN SEARCH FOR MOTIVE
He said it was too soon to allege a motive but acknowledged that the suspect did leave potential clues behind.
“We’re not going to commit to a motive right now, but, you know, obviously when you look at the writing, you look at the victim’s employment, you know, it could possibly be a disgruntled employee or a disgruntled client, but we’re not we’re not ruling that out, but we certainly not committing to it at this time,” Kenny said.
The killer left behind casings with handwritten words on them, “depose,” “deny” and “defend,” drawing comparisons to the book “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It” – speculation swirled that the slaying may have grown out of resentment for a denied claim.
Criminal profiler John Kelly, who says he lost money on a business venture involving a smaller firm that relied on UnitedHealthcare, tells Fox News Digital he believes the masked assassin was motivated by either “revenge or money.”
He believes a massive hack in February, which Reuters reported impacted 100 million Americans, could have been a factor in the case for victims who suffered personal and financial setbacks as a result.
In addition to the hack, customers have another reason to be angry with UnitedHealthcare, Kelly said.
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A class action lawsuit alleges that the company routinely wrongfully denied elderly patients care it owed them under its Medicate Advantage plans by overriding human doctors with an AI model that had a 90% error rate.
“Despite the high error rate, Defendants continue to systemically deny claims using their flawed AI model because they know that only a tiny minority of policyholders (roughly 0.2%) will appeal denied claims, and the vast majority will either pay out-of-pocket costs or forgo the remainder of their prescribed post-acute care,” the lawsuit alleges.
The civil case remains ongoing, as does the hunt for the killer.
The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward in the case, asking the public to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You can also submit a tip via their website. All calls are kept confidential.
President-elect Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel as FBI director has sparked a frenzy of outrage from the fake news media. I’m sure none of this surprises Kash, who has faced it all before.
Fake news outlets don’t typically attack congressional staffers by name, but years ago they made an exception for Kash. At the time, he was my lead staff investigator on the House Intelligence Committee as we examined allegations that President Trump had colluded with Russia to hack the 2016 presidential election.
We quickly began uncovering evidence that the entire Russia collusion narrative was a hoax funded by the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign and weaponized by our own intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Shockingly, the abuses included the Department of Justice and FBI providing false information to a secret court to get a warrant to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page.
Back then, Kash was an outstanding sleuth and a bulldog investigator who drew on his own experience as a DOJ prosecutor to figure out what misdeeds these corrupt officials were committing. To get the evidence, we had to overcome their ceaseless stonewalling, over-classification of documents, and countless other tricks and maneuvers they employed to bury the truth.
KASH PATEL IS THE FUMIGATOR THE FBI NEEDS
Fake news reporters and “resistance” bureaucrats understood the evidence we found undermined their hoax narrative, so they launched an all-out jihad against Kash, with anonymous sources accusing him of committing every conceivable atrocity known to man.
The attacks on Kash went beyond these information warfare operations—in a face-to-face meeting with us, top DOJ officials, who apparently didn’t appreciate their dirty laundry being aired, threatened to subpoena Kash’s communications. What we only found out years later was that they had seized Kash’s emails, along with those of other congressional staffers investigating the collusion hoax, including staffers for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
In sum, the DOJ secretly spied on their own constitutionally mandated overseers to find out what we knew and how we knew it.
You can imagine how intimidating it would be for a staffer to be directly threatened by top-level Department of Justice officials. But Kash could not be bullied. He was fearless, methodical, and intelligent, and ultimately played a decisive role in exposing the most consequential and damaging hoax in American history.
KASH PATEL’S NOMINATION SPARKS ENTHUSIASM, ANXIETY; FUTURE OF THE FBI APPEARS UNCERTAIN
In light of the Russia collusion hoax, the politicized January 6 investigations, assorted surveillance abuses, the misuse of confidential human informants for political purposes, pressure on Big Tech to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, the investigation of parent protesters at school board meetings, and countless other manipulations, the FBI and DOJ clearly need drastic, fundamental reform.
Tinkering around the edges isn’t enough – the entire culture of these institutions needs to be revamped, and their workforces must be decentralized so they refocus on fighting criminals and terrorists instead of politics.
To successfully execute that mission at the FBI, the bureau needs a director who understands the problems and how to fix them. Crucially, this person must have the guts to do it notwithstanding the wailing from the media and the whole galaxy of left-wing interest groups alongside the bitter opposition of the upper echelons of the FBI’s own workforce.
WHO IS KASH PATEL? TRUMP’S PICK TO LEAD THE FBI HAS LONG HISTORY VOWING TO BUST UP ‘DEEP STATE’
Kash has an extensive record of distinguished government service as a public defender, terrorism prosecutor, senior staff member at the Office of National Intelligence and the National Security Council, and chief of staff to the Department of Defense. But his record at the House Intelligence Committee alone shows Kash has the courage and commitment to reform the FBI.
It’s amusing to watch discredited former officials leap on cable news shows to decry Kash’s nomination like it heralds the end of the republic. After all, those who abused, politicized, and discredited the FBI, and those who tried to cover up those abuses, have a lot to lose if Kash is confirmed.
Imagine if these people could no longer rely on the FBI to investigate and arrest everyday Americans with dissenting political opinions, leak false information against their political opponents, and actively undermine presidents whom they are supposed to be serving.
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Kash understands surveillance abuses and intimidation tactics because he experienced them himself – and he never backed down.
If you want an FBI director who will go along to get along, you’re better off with someone else. If you want a director who will follow the Constitution and transform the bureau into an impartial, trustworthy law enforcement agency that zealously goes after criminals instead of political targets, then Kash is, bar none, the right man for the job.
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Trump uses viral photo of him and first lady to push new product: ‘Enemies can’t resist’
President-elect Donald Trump has released a new fragrance line for men and women to commemorate his historic election victory, and he found an unwitting model to help sell it.
An online ad for the fragrance features a viral photo of Trump and Jill Biden, with the first lady seemingly smiling at him at the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday.
“Here are my new Trump Perfumes & Colognes! I call them Fight, Fight, Fight, because they represent us WINNING,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“A fragrance your enemies can’t resist,” reads the tagline.
TRUMP, JILL BIDEN ATTEND NOTRE DAME REOPENING IN FRANCE WITH WORLD LEADERS
Trump sat between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, during the ceremony, which was also attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Britain’s Prince William.
The first lady and her daughter, Ashley, were also seated in the same row as Trump.
Noticeably missing from the festivities was President Biden, who declined an invitation to attend the ceremony held five years after a devastating fire wrecked the centuries-old Paris landmark. The White House cited a “scheduling conflict.”
On Election Day last month, social media erupted when the first lady was photographed wearing a red pantsuit to cast her ballot. The wardrobe selection raised eyebrows, as the color red is synonymous with the Republican Party.
Many took to X to joke that the first lady voted for Trump in the wake of speculation the Bidens were not thrilled with the way the president was forced to end his re-election bid in July.
The first lady caused another social media firestorm when many noted what seemed to be an icy reception for Vice President Harris at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a remembrance ceremony on Veterans Day. Harris was Trump’s opponent in the 2024 presidential race.
As Harris took her seat for the wreath-laying ceremony, Biden appeared to look straight ahead through dark sunglasses.
“Jill Biden refused to even look at Kamala,” wrote the popular X account “End Wokeness.”
Conservative author David Harris Jr. has suggested there seems to be a “rift” within the party after Harris’ blowout loss to Trump.
On his fragrance website, the “Fight, Fight, Fight” collection is for “Patriots who never back down, like President Trump.”
SOCIAL MEDIA REACTS TO TRUMP ‘DOMINATING WORLD LEADERS’ WITH MACRON HANDSHAKE DURING MEETING IN FRANCE
“This scent is your rallying cry in a bottle,” the description reads. “This limited edition cologne embodies strength, power, and victory.”
The perfume and cologne bottles feature Trump’s image and raised fist from the July 13 assassination attempt on him at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally that claimed the life of Corey Comperatore, 50, a firefighter and father of two daughters.
Trump was hit in the right ear, and two other men, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, were also wounded by gunfire.
TRUMP WELCOMED BY WORLD LEADERS AT NOTRE DAME REOPENING CEREMONY IN ‘PRESIDENTIAL’ FASHION
The perfume and cologne start at $199 and $298 for a buy one, get one for 50% option.
Two of the fragrances are already sold out, according to the website.
“Great Christmas gifts for the family. Go to gettrumpfragrances.com/. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!” Trump wrote.
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This is the latest product the president-elect has sold this year. He also sold “God Bless the USA” Bibles and a line of $400 sneakers during his presidential campaign.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the first lady for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Biden admin spent millions on ‘misinformation’ research – and the details are disturbing
A new report by Open the Books, a nonpartisan government watchdog, has revealed that since 2021, the Biden administration has spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on research related to “misinformation,” a significant rise compared to the first Trump administration.
The increase in spending raises serious concerns about civil liberties and free speech online, especially on social media platforms, where much of the Biden administrations’ efforts were directed.
Since 2021, the Biden-Harris White House has spent at least $267 million on research grants and contracts related to “misinformation” or “disinformation.”
FACEBOOK STILL SILENT AFTER SUDDENLY BANNING THEN REINSTATING THIS POPULAR GUN MANUFACTURER
During President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, the same federal agencies provided just $6.72 million on similar programs. That means the Biden administration increased federal spending on contracts and grants for misinformation by more than 3,800%.
Disturbing details
On its own, the fact that the Biden-Harris administration has spent $267 million on misinformation grants and contracts is extremely disconcerting. The federal government shouldn’t be involved, directly or indirectly, in the fact-checking industry. Nor should it engage in efforts designed to limit the speech of citizens, particularly when taxpayers are the ones footing the bill.
But the cost and creation of these misinformation programs is just the tip of the iceberg. Open the Books conducted a detailed review of many of the programs, contracts and grants as part of its report, and I subsequently verified and expanded upon some of their findings.
What we found is clear evidence that the Biden-Harris White House used funds to support or develop Orwellian surveillance and propaganda strategies, create methods and tools to restrict speech online, and even to finance highly politicized reports critical of Trump.
For example, Open the Books reports that in 2022 the Department of Health and Human Services provided $2.3 million to the University of Pennsylvania for “investigating and identifying the heterogeneity in COVID-19 misinformation exposure on social media among black and rural communities to inform precision public health messaging” because “misinformation contributes to confusion, distrust, and distress around health behaviors such as vaccination, mask wearing, and social distancing.”
The research description suggests that the project requires collecting and analyzing large amounts of social media posts online, all in the name of stopping public health misinformation — a term that has been used to justify silencing the speech of Americans questioning the views of government, academia and other powerful institutions.
The Biden administration funded similar COVID-19 misinformation projects at other universities as well, including the University of Texas and Michigan State University.
Of course, it’s true that health-related misinformation can be harmful to the public, but the Biden administration and many of America’s elite universities are clearly not qualified to speak authoritatively on the matter, nor worthy of receiving significant taxpayer funding. After all, throughout the height of the coronavirus pandemic, they repeatedly spread false information about public health issues.
For example, despite overwhelming evidence that mask mandates do not prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Biden administration forced Americans to wear masks while using public transportation systems, such as airlines. It also required masks for many federal workers and for citizens entering government buildings. This continued until 2022 — two years after the pandemic began and long after government health data had shown mask mandates do not work.
The University of Pennsylvania didn’t perform much better. It imposed Draconian mask-mandate policies of its own and its School of Medicine published poorly designed research claiming designed research claiming mask mandates were effective.
Much more comprehensive studies conducted over longer periods later proved reports like those published by the University of Pennsylvania were wrong, a conclusion supported by countless public health officials and even some pundits at left-wing publications, including New York Times columnist Bret Stephens.
Incredibly, the grant to the University of Pennsylvania is still active and isn’t slated to end until 2027, which means taxpayers will likely continue to fund the research for years to come.
Propaganda machine
Open the Books also discovered that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hired a defense contractor, Guidehouse, to conduct “misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation analysis.” In September 2023, DHS started a $1.2 million contract with Guidehouse.
Public and private sector clients use Guidehouse to help them combat alleged misinformation online. In one report published by Guidehouse about the “growing threat of misinformation,” the group noted that it helps its clients, including governments, using a “six-step approach to misinformation and disinformation detection.” Among the six steps is a plan to “Configure and deploy the tools and technologies that will be used to monitor the information landscape,” as well as the creation of “counter-messages to inaccurate or false information.”
It’s not hard to imagine how such programs and strategies could be abused by federal officials, who have repeatedly been caught pressuring social media companies to restrict the speech of their users and limit the spread of news stories that damage left-wing politicians and their family members, such as Hunter Biden.
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The Biden administration even went so far as to fund partisan reports about its chief political opponent, Donald Trump. In Fiscal Year 2022, the National Science Foundation paid nearly $200,000 to George Washington University researchers to develop a study titled “Pandemic Communication in Time of Populism: Building Resilient Media and Ensuring Effective Pandemic Communication in Divided Societies.”
As Open the Books explains, “Researchers on this Biden-era grant examined how so-called ‘populist’ leaders supposedly prevented society from coming together in ‘solidarity’ during the COVID pandemic. Trump’s presidency was a focus of the research, along with the leaders of three other countries.”
What we found is clear evidence that the Biden-Harris White House used funds to support or develop Orwellian surveillance and propaganda strategies, create methods and tools to restrict speech online, and even to finance highly politicized reports critical of Trump.
Unsurprisingly, the NSF-funded report included a recommendation to give academics, government officials, and other “experts” more authority in how future public health crises are handled.
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Brighter future?
The truth is, a government that respects free speech rights does not spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to figure out ways to limit, combat or research the speech of its citizens.
President-elect Trump has promised that his administration will defend free speech. If that truly is his intention, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t, then a good place to start is eliminating the Biden administration’s disturbing, vast misinformation and disinformation programs.
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NBC called out for ‘selectively omitting key words’ from Constitution in Trump interview
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., took NBC News to task for “selectively omitting” a key part of the 14th Amendment in a question about birthright citizenship during an interview with President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday.
Trump was asked about a number of changes he intends to implement once he assumes office during a sit down released on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” including his plan to end birthright citizenship. Under the 14th Amendment, someone born in the U.S. is granted citizenship regardless of whether their parents are citizens. Trump confirmed that he intends to end the policy “on Day One,” calling it “ridiculous.”
NBC host Kristen Welker pushed back, arguing that the 14th Amendment “states all persons in the United States are citizens. Can you get around the 14th Amendment with executive action?” she asked.
DONALD TRUMP ON FBI DIRECTOR CHRIS WRAY: ‘HE INVADED MY HOME’
Trump said he was open to using executive action, reiterating that the U.S. is “the only country has it” and “we have to end it.”
Lee shared a clip of the exchange on X later Sunday, rebuking the NBC host for omitting six critical words from the 14th Amendment in her question to Trump.
“All persons born … in the United States, *and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,* shall be citizens of the United States,” Lee wrote on X, highlighting the missing words in asterisks.
“Those words matter,” he added.
The senator continued to break down the issue in a lengthy 12-part thread.
“Congress has the power to define what it means to be born in the United States ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,'” he wrote.
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” While current law contains no such restriction, Congress could pass a law defining what it means to be born in the United States ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’ excluding prospectively from birthright citizenship individuals born in the U.S. to illegal aliens.
“Those who suggest Congress is somehow powerless to limit birthright citizenship ignore important constitutional text giving Congress power define who among those ‘born in the United States’ is born subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’
“It bothers me that@MeetThePress, long revered as America’s leading Sunday political news program, has become so one-sided,” he continued.
“In this instance, @MeetThePress seems to try to render a debatable matter beyond debate by selectively omitting key words from the Constitution, making it appear incorrectly that the Fourteenth Amendment proscribes any and all restrictions on birthright citizenship.”
NBC did not respond to Fox News Digital when asked whether the omission was intentional.
Trump addressed a number of other topics during the wide-ranging interview, including his plan to restore the country’s reputation globally, his thoughts on FBI Director Christopher Wray, and how he plans to unify a fractured country in his inaugural address.
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“It’s going to be a message of unity, and I think success brings unity. And I’ve experienced that. I’ve experienced it in my first term, as I’ve said. We’re going to be talking about unity, and we’re going to be talking about success. Making our country safe. Keeping people that shouldn’t be in our country out, we have to do that. I know it doesn’t sound nice, but we have to do that. Basically, it’s going to be about bringing our country together,” Trump said.
The Christmas present warning that could ruin your holiday if you ignore it
You might want to reconsider making your Christmas gifts look tree-ready as the TSA could unwrap those presents when you go through a security checkpoint before your flight.
In fact, the TSA has its own sort of “naughty-or-nice list” for travelers to take a look at before jetting off on holiday adventures.
“In the event that there is an alarm that needs to be resolved in checked or carry-on bags, TSA advises passengers not to wrap gifts prior to their flights,” a TSA spokesperson told Fox News Digital via email.
FLIGHT PASSENGERS CAN BE DENIED BOARDING IF THEY DON’T FOLLOW THESE RULES, TRAVEL EXPERT WARNS
“When there is an alarm that must be resolved, often the only way that a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) has available is to see the item that caused the alarm. If a package is wrapped, then the TSO must unwrap it for inspection,” the spokesperson added.
It might be worth waiting to add the final touches to your gift upon arrival or try packaging your gift in a way that is easier to see what is inside.
“What TSA recommends, is either wait to wrap the gifts after the airport checkpoint or place the item inside a gift bag so that it can be inspected without having to dismantle the wrapping paper,” the TSA spokesperson said.
ARIZONA FLIGHT PASSENGER GOES VIRAL AFTER LEAVING UNMARKED POWDERY SUBSTANCE IN LUGGAGE, TSA INSPECTS HER BAGS
It is also important to know if your gift will pass the TSA naughty-or-nice list, also known as the prohibited list, so you know if it is best to pack in your carry-on or checked bag.
Classic holiday gifts have some specific rules that you will want to make mention of or else “the Grinch will be paying you a visit at the checkpoint and you may opt to leave your prized snow globe behind,” TSA’s website says.
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Small snow globes that appear to contain less than 3.4 ounces of liquid, approximately the size of a tennis ball, are allowed to be packed in your carry-on if the entire snow globe can fit into a quart-sized plastic bag. Larger snow globes must be placed in your checked bag, according to the TSA.
Advent calendars, another staple holiday gift, are allowed in your carry-on without any fear of the 24 flaps being opened.
Electronic items are a very popular present during the holiday season, and there are various rules that flyers must be aware of when traveling with electronics.
“Electronics are popular gifts and can travel in carry-on luggage. However, all electronics larger than a cell phone should be placed in a bin with nothing above or below it so that TSA can get a good X-ray image to ensure that it has not been tampered with. So if you have a tablet, laptop or the latest gaming console, you can carry it onto the airplane,” according to a TSA press release.
“With electronics often come batteries and ‘dry’ ones such as AA, AAA, 9-volt, C and D batteries can all be carried through a checkpoint. Lithium batteries with 100 watt hours or less installed in a device are okay, but loose lithium batteries are prohibited in checked bags.”
Drones can also be packed in a carry-on, but the TSA recommends looking into drone-specific policies with your airline.
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If you are unsure about whether your holiday gift will be on the naughty-or-nice list, check out the TSA’s “What can I bring?” page or message @AskTSA on X.