Trump responds after Panama’s president refutes idea US could regain control of key canal
Panama’s president has responded to President-elect Trump’s idea that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal.
After Trump said Sunday that the United States “foolishly gave it away” and is now “being ripped off” at the waterway, Panama’s conservative President José Raúl Mulino released a video declaring that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong” to his country.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Mulino addressed Trump’s complaints over rising fees for ships crossing the canal, saying they are set by experts who take into account operational costs, and supply and demand factors.
“The tariffs are not set on a whim,” Mulino said. He noted that Panama has expanded the canal over the years to increase ship traffic “on its own initiative,” and added that shipping fee increases help pay for improvements.
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“Panamanians may have different views on many issues,” Mulino said. “But when it comes to our canal, and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.”
Trump then took to his social media site to offer in response, “We’ll see about that!” He also posted a picture of a U.S. flag planted in the canal zone under the phrase, “Welcome to the United States Canal!”
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Trump had previously addressed the canal in a Saturday Truth Social post, where he complained at length about the fees levied on U.S. ships going through the Big Ditch. The Panama Canal’s tolls can range from three to six figures depending on how large a vessel is and how much cargo it carries, with the largest ships being charged as much as $500,000.
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
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The canal depends on reservoirs to operate its locks and was heavily affected by 2023 Central American drought that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators also increased the fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot.
With the weather returning to normal in the later months of this year, transit on the canal has normalized, but price increases are still expected for next year.
Trump border czar unloads on Dem NY gov for touting subway safety after horrific killing
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing criticism over a “tone-deaf” post touting subway safety in New York City, which came just hours after an illegal immigrant allegedly set a woman on fire and watched her burn to death.
“Governor Hochul, shame on you. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to make this right in New York,” President-elect Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan said Monday on “Fox & Friends,” as he slammed the Democratic official for supporting sanctuary status in the Empire State.
In an X post on Sunday, approximately eight hours after the incident, Hochul claimed that crime has decreased on NYC subways since she deployed the National Guard to mitigate the issue earlier this year. Hochul sent 750 National Guard members to the subways last week in an effort to keep holiday crime in check.
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“In March, I took action to make our subways safer for the millions of people who take the trains each day,” Hochul’s post read. “Since deploying the @NationalGuardNY to support @NYPDnews and @MTA safety efforts and adding cameras to all subway cars, crime is going down, and ridership is going up,” she wrote.
Fox News Digital previously reached out to Hochul’s office for comment on the criticism, but did not immediately hear back.
Homan, who recently journeyed to the Big Apple to discuss illegal migrant crime with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, pinned some of the blame on the Biden administration for lax federal immigration policies.
“Here’s another example of an illegal alien killing an American citizen. It’s almost a daily occurrence now, because a historic number of criminal aliens are walking the streets, because of this administration’s policy in sanctuary jurisdictions and lax immigration enforcement,” he said.
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“ICE has their hands tied,” he continued. “Secretary Mayokas has given them priorities so they can’t even go arrest illegal aliens anymore unless they’re convicted of a serious crime, thenmaybe they can arrest them, so this is on this administration.”
Sources identified the person of interest as 33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta. While not identifying the suspect, a high-level NYPD source told Fox News Digital he illegally entered the U.S. from Guatemala during Trump’s first term in 2018.
The person of interest has no prior arrests in New York City and one prior arrest in Arizona, the source added.
The crime took place at Stillwell Avenue Subway station in Coney Island at about 7:30 a.m. when an illegal migrant allegedly approached a woman who had fallen asleep while seated on a subway train and used a lighter to ignite her clothes, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds, according to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Hochul posted on X Sunday night to declare that any subway crime is “one too many” and laud the quick action taken by NYPD officers.
Officers investigated the situation after seeing and smelling smoke, discovering a woman standing inside the car fully engulfed in flames. The flames were extinguished with help from an MTA employee and a fire extinguisher and the victim was pronounced dead.
The suspect, who was found with a lighter in his pocket, is now in police custody.
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Ex-CNN host spars with TikToker over ‘President Musk’ accusation: ‘We don’t trust you’
Don Lemon was caught in a verbal war against a TikToker over Elon Musk’s influence on President-elect Donald Trump.
The ex-CNN host spoke to various people in New York City over the weekend about the claim Democrats were pushing that the X CEO was the shadow “President Musk” over Trump based on Musk leading an online conservative opposition to a bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown.
“Who is the real president-elect, you think?” Lemon asked.
“Donald Trump won, I believe,” TikToker and former pro-soccer player Will John replied.
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“Democratic lawmakers in Washington are calling Elon Musk now, and they’re saying Donald Trump is the vice president or the head of communication,” Lemon followed up.
“What? Wait a second, no. No one said that,” John said.
Lemon interrupted, “Really? Have you not paid attention—”
“Absolutely not. I’m paying attention to what I’m doing during my day, so I can try and get a better life and get ahead,” John said.
Lemon then told John to look up “President Musk” on his phone to prove his point, to which John obliged.
“That’s already a loaded question you realize,” John remarked while looking.
John found reports from Axios, Business Insider, ABC News, Washington Post, New York Times and The Atlantic using the term “President Musk,” which Lemon considered a win.
“We don’t trust any of these. The common man doesn’t trust any of this,” John fired back. “I don’t trust any of these. I don’t trust any of them. I don’t trust any of these. We’re the common man. We don’t trust any of these. No one trusts the government. No one trusts the common news. We don’t trust any of that anymore. Independent news, we are the ones that own the news now. People trust me. They don’t trust MSNBC because I care, and I’m actually one of them.”
“I can’t disagree with you,” Lemon admitted.
Lemon asked other pedestrians the same question to mixed results on his TikTok account.
“I haven’t seen that personally. I think that’s odd that he’s in that position of power for people to call him that. I don’t know if he is the best person to be representing us in our government,” one woman responded.
“I mean that’s just internet chatter,” another woman said. “I think Elon Musk wasn’t in the last election, so how could he be president-elect?”
A third woman said, “Well, not in an election-style, but obviously he’s influencing the government.”
“How much longer do you think Donald Trump is going to put up with someone calling Elon Musk President Musk?” Lemon followed up.
“Forever. He’s putting money out there. He likes money,” the woman replied.
A man said he had actually heard the term “President Musk,” though he argued Musk was the vice president-elect while Trump was still president-elect. However, he said that will change.
“He’s lost. He’s gone. Musk is even worse, cheerleading this guy on like, politically, man. It’s over. Life in America is over. Just watch what they do,” he said.
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Several liberal media pundits like Lemon also insisted Musk was either co-president or president himself over Trump.
“Elon Musk, the guy who really runs things. He’s not just Trump’s co-president. I think that’s way too low a title,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said during his monologue on Wednesday. “He’s the head dude in charge and House Republicans certainly know who they are taking their marching orders from.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump-Vance Transition spokeswoman and incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt threw cold water on the media talking point.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop,” she said.
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Aaron Rodgers puts Jets teammates on notice with 2 games left in season
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers reflected on the team’s close loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and how the team stays focused on the final two games of the regular season.
Rodgers had 256 passing yards and a touchdown pass as the Jets fell to the Rams, 19-9. He was asked about how the team will keep a positive mindset with the season nearing its end and New York out of contention for the playoffs.
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“I think we’re kinda past the ‘keeping it positive’ thing,” Rodgers said, via SNY. “I think it’s just about perspective. Perspective informs your truth and your truth makes your reality.
“So, the reality of the situation is what it is, but your perspective is what you can change every single day. So, what you’re focusing on is the most important thing now. It’s not to change the reality of the situation – being 4-11, out of the playoffs, going into an unknown offseason.”
Rodgers then spoke about what the next two weeks will mean in terms of building for the future of the organization.
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“You gotta figure out what it means to be a professional,” he said. “That’s an important part of building culture. The last two weeks we can really see who’s on board moving forward and who is ready to get out. It’s just part of the game. I’ve been on a couple of teams who were out of it, and it’s interesting to watch the practice habits, the preparation habits.
“Hopefully, we’ll do the right thing, and it means a lot because everybody’s watching, and it’s a who-you-know business. There will be interesting conversations in the next couple of weeks, but just focus on the relationships we have with each other and try to finish this thing out like a pro.”
The Jets underwent dramatic changes during the season, from the dismissal of their head coach and general manager to a major trade for Davante Adams.
The team could see more changes as Garrett Wilson has been noncommittal about his future with the team.
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New York is 4-11 on the year.
Teen brothers missing after weekend duck-hunting excursion goes horribly wrong
Two teenage brothers have been missing for over a week in Northern California after they went duck hunting in stormy weather on Dec. 14.
Wesley Cornett, 17, and Andruw Cornett, 19, went hunting at the Thermatilo Afterbay, a large body of water in Butte County with 17 miles of shoreline and 4,300 surface acres of water.
“Approximately 250 people from 21 different organizations have been searching for Wesley and Andruw Cornett since last Saturday, the day the two brothers went missing while duck hunting at the Thermalito Afterbay,” the Butte County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post earlier this week, along with a video detailing high-tech efforts to find the two missing teenagers in weed-covered water.
Search efforts began the same day the teenagers went missing, with SCSO deputies, detectives, the BCSO Aviation and Marine Unit, and BCSO Search and Rescue responding to “reports that one of two duck hunters had overturned on a kayak, and the other one swam into the water to try and help.”
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“Thousands of acres have been searched by boat, by ground and by raft,” Trevor Skaggs with BCSO Search and Rescue said in a video posted to the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
Jeff Eggleson of Big Valley Divers said “the most difficult thing” rescuers have to do is “get through the weeds” at the base of Thermatillo Afterbay.
Heavy rain and winds swept across Butte County on Saturday, leading about 5,000 people without power, according to local news outlet Action News Now.
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The boys’ mother, April Clark, created a GoFundMe called “Help April Clark Find and Honor Her Sons,” hoping to raise money for search efforts and eventually for their funerals.
“My two handsome sons went hunting Saturday Dec 14th 2024. Wesley, 17, went out on the kayak and over turned and his brother Andruw, 19, seen him in distress called 911 and stated there was no time to wait he was going in to save his brother [sic],” Clark wrote in the GoFundMe page description. “Neither one of my boys have been seen since Saturday. Andruw is a hero in my eyes.”
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Clark added that the sheriff is now calling the search for her sons a “recovery” mission.
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“This is a freak accident that my family and I are trying to wrap our heads around and we also have 4 girls at home who we still need to care for,” Clark wrote. “This is hard for me to write as im beyond broken into so many pieces if you can please find it in your heart to donate and help our family find and lay my handsome two young boys to rest any amount of support will forever be blessed for our family.”
NFL Hall of Famer doesn’t mince words for Kirk Cousins after Falcons starter benched
The Atlanta Falcons have taken over first place in an NFC South race that is going to come down to the wire in the final two weeks of the regular season.
However, the quarterback who helped beat the New York Giants on Sunday wasn’t Kirk Cousins – the $180 million man they signed to a four-year deal this offseason.
It was Michael Penix Jr., the rookie first-round pick. Many were shocked when the Falcons called his name because they had just signed the veteran Cousins a month ago.
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Cousins’ play, though, had been faltering of late, and one NFL Hall of Famer was blunt with his assessment of him this year after Penix looked good in his first NFL start.
“Consistently mediocre. That’s what Kirk has been this year,” Giants great Michael Strahan said, via the Daily Mail. “Whenever you’re a great player in your mind, you’re still that. But sometimes, your skill level diminishes, and it drops.
“You don’t know when it’s going to happen, it can happen at any point in the season. I think for Kirk Cousins, it happened now.”
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The Falcons were 7-7 under Cousins, but head coach Raheem Morris made a change after Atlanta’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders saw more maligned offensive drives just like the ones in recent weeks with Cousins under center.
But the 36-year-old, who is coming off a torn Achilles from the 2023 season with the Minnesota Vikings, was a part of four straight losses before that 15-9 win over the Raiders. In that span, Cousins didn’t throw a single touchdown and had eight interceptions.
So, after throwing just one touchdown and yet another interception, Morris made the switch despite the Falcons being in such a tight playoff race.
Penix’s debut saw no touchdown passes, but he was quick with his decision-making and on time with the ball to his receivers as he threw for 202 yards on 18-of-27 through the air. He also had an interception on his stat sheet, though tight end Kyle Pitts juggled a pass near the goal line that was ultimately picked off.
With Penix taking the reins moving forward, Strahan believes that Cousins must play the mentor role.
“Keep him around, let him teach Michael Penix the intricacies of the game,” Strahan said. “It’s good to have that veteran influence, but I think Kirk may have to just humble himself to understand that’s his role right now.”
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There have been reports the Falcons could cut Cousins before March to avoid the remaining years on his contract, though $100 million was guaranteed at signing earlier this year.
Watchdog releases bombshell report highlighting the worst ethics violations of 2024
FIRST ON FOX: The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a conservative-leaning ethics watchdog, released a year-end round up of 2024’s worst ethics violations committed by public officials that the group investigated this year.
The theme for this year’s report was ethics violations tied to efforts to win elected office. The violations ranged from failures to disclose financial information and violations of federal contribution limits, to “blatant” Hatch Act violations and officials seemingly using campaign funds for their own personal pleasure.
FACT is a nonprofit based in the nation’s capital that was formed in 2014, and describes itself as “dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas.” At the end of each year, the watchdog unveils its top ten worst violators.
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“It is important to note the alarming detail that there is not one particular ethics rule implicated among them, rather they cover a wide variety of fronts, including the laws enforced by the Office of Special Counsel, the Federal Election Commission, and the Office of Congressional Ethics,” the 2024 report states. “It’s clear these top violators too often prioritize themselves over serving their constituents.”
READ THE REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
One of the examples FACT cited involved Wisconsin Democratic member of Congress, Gwen Moore, whose political action committee under her control spent 94.8% of its funds on things like food and travel, such as catering, food delivery, restaurants, hotels, a resort in California’s wine country and alcohol, according to the report.
The report said that Moore’s leadership PAC spent almost eight-times more on this than it did on its required purpose of supporting candidates.
Moore ultimately beat her GOP challenger in November by a wide margin, keeping her in control of the Milwaukee-area congressional district. The congresswoman’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Two other violations from the report included Hatch Act violations. The Hatch Act is aimed at ensuring that the government functions in a nonpartisan manner and bars certain public officials from engaging in political activities while they are on duty.
FACT’s report charged President Joe Biden’s Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, with sending “a blatant political email,” two months before November’s election, which was described in a media report at the time as “a sales pitch for Kamala Harris.”
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The official email from HHS was sent to people who signed up to receive updates on the government’s Medicare program, which means it could have reached up to 67.5 million recipients, according to FACT. While the email did not directly say “vote for Harris,” it lauded Harris for casting a tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, noting that the move from Harris served to lower healthcare costs.
HHS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Other ethics violations included in FACT’s round-up were several instances of misused or misrepresented campaign funds.
The report highlighted outgoing Maryland Democratic Rep. David Trone, who earned backlash during this year’s election cycle for allegedly funding his campaign with money earned through his Total Wine empire despite claiming he had stepped away from his family’s wine business after being elected to Congress in 2018. Trone, who left the House to run for Maryland’s open Senate seat this year – losing in the primary – failed to disclose his interest in numerous Total Wine franchises in the lead up to the election, the report alleged.
Representatives for Trone did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The report also claims that Rep.-elect Eugene Vindman, who recently took over Virginia’s seventh congressional district with a win last month, received campaign contributions significantly exceeding those allowed under federal law. VoteVets PAC, a political action committee supporting left-leaning veterans running for Congress, was reportedly engaging in illegal campaign work for Vindman’s campaign by acting as their press liaison.
Vindman’s campaign manager did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Together, all of these examples and more lay out what FACT’s Executive Director Kendra Arnold called “a preview” of what elected officials are like when nobody is looking.
“We uncover and file complaints on all types of ethics violations, but this year the ones committed in the campaign stage unfortunately stood out,” Arnold told Fox News Digital. “Of all the types of violations it could easily be argued that those committed to get into office are among the very worst.”
Top DNC fundraiser announces she’s ditching the Democratic Party following attacks
Prominent Democratic National Committee (DNC) powerhouse fundraiser Lindy Li announced that she is leaving the Democratic Party, which she referred to as a “cult,” after facing an onslaught of internal attacks for criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris last week.
Li, a Democrat strategist, served as both a surrogate for Harris and a member of the DNC’s national fundraising committee, where she raised “tens of millions of dollars” on behalf of Democratic candidates. She also frequently appeared on the air to stump for Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.
Li became the target of the left’s attacks earlier this month when she expressed support for President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth. But it was the party’s vitriolic response to a subsequent appearance on Fox News that pushed her rightward, she said on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”
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“This past week has been harrowing for me,” Li told Piers Morgan in Wednesday’s episode. “This Saturday, I went on ‘Fox & Friends’ and I said ‘Democrats have a stench of loser hanging over them.’ As soon as I said that, there were boycott campaigns against me. Unblock, unfollow campaigns.”
Li told “Fox & Friends” that she felt Harris was “indulging in delusions” of making a political comeback amid party buzz of the vice president staging a 2026 gubernatorial or 2028 presidential run and that the Democratic Party was plagued by the “stench of loser” after November’s defeat.
The comment cost her forty thousand followers in four days and prompted an onslaught of slanderous attacks from Democrats, the same people she spent her whole career defending, she told Morgan.
“People have called me a whore, the ‘C-word.’ They asked for me to be deported…,” she revealed.
Li said she was also accused of working as a “communist spy.” The accusation was particularly offensive to her, she said, considering her family history.
“They’re calling me a spy for the regime that killed my great-grandfather and these are the people who call themselves the social justice warriors,” she told Morgan. “They’re going headfirst into racism anytime someone dares to disagree with them. I want to be a part of the team that says men are men and women are women and men shouldn’t play in women’s sports.”
The reaction was eye-opening for her, she said, telling Morgan that she feels like the party who claims to occupy the moral high ground has been unmasked.
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“All these so-called Democrats, the party of inclusion, the party of diversity, masks off. And it’s even worse because they pretend to occupy the moral high ground,” she said. “They pretend to be so loving and caring and embracing of diversity but all of a sudden, when I dare to utter any criticisms of the goddess Kamala Harris, I get ostracized. Me, after having raised tens of millions of dollars for the party.”
She continued, “My donors are pissed…it’s my responsibility to ask what the hell happened with their money…these are legitimate questions, but no, in the cult, you can’t ask questions. And leaving the Democratic Party or even questioning the Democratic Party is like leaving a cult. It’s terrifying. I don’t want to be a part of this craziness anymore. They’re accelerating my rightward shift.”
Li said Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves for driving her and other prominent fundraisers out.
“They’re shrinking their tent. They’re basically pushing me to bring my tens of millions of dollars that I’ve raised and can continue to raise to a different team that treats me better, that treats me with common decency.’
Four days earlier, Li told NewsNation’s “Morning in America” that she was still weighing her options about what a future role might look like for her.
“I think I’m too big to fully exile from the party,” Li said of her contributions to the DNC at the time, seemingly signifying a change of heart in the short time between both comments were made. “The leadership knows that.”
“People on Trump’s team have already reached out to me to see if I’d be willing to switch,” Li added. “So, I’m not an orphan, you know? And I know people are actively trying to recruit me.”
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Li isn’t the first Democratic fundraiser to exit the party. In September, an ex-Obama fundraiser who helped raise millions in donations for his campaign announced that she was “divorcing” the Democratic Party and planned to vote for Trump in the November election.