GOP congresswoman fires back at ‘nasty’ headline about her and Trump
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., took aim at The Daily Beast’s “nasty” headline on Monday that took an exchange she had with President Donald Trump out of context.
Alex Isenstadt, Axios reporter and author of “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power,” made headlines with quotes allegedly said by Trump in a sneak preview published by Axios on Sunday.
Among the quotes was one he allegedly said to Luna in 2023 offering her the bed on his jet when she was pregnant and feeling ill, though it included a joke about his wife Melania being jealous.
“If you need a bed to lay down in, there’s one here on the plane. If you feel sick and you need to lay there, you can lay on it. Just don’t tell Melania. She doesn’t like other women on my bed,” Trump said to Luna, according to Isenstadt, who noted in the Axios sneak preview that Trump was joking.
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However, The Daily Beast ran the headline “‘Don’t Tell Melania’: Trump Once Offered Rising MAGA Star His Bed,” teasing to readers, “The alleged comments cast new light on the president’s eyebrow-raising marriage to Melania Trump.”
The report acknowledged Luna was “unwell” in the first paragraph but didn’t mention the joking nature of Trump’s comment until the fourth.
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The Daily Beast shared its story on X further implying an inappropriate relationship between Trump and Luna, writing, “The new revelations reveal how Trump reportedly offered a female congresswoman his bed, as long as she kept it a secret from his wife.”
Luna did not take kindly to The Daily Beast’s reporting.
“I seldom respond to nasty headlines because I don’t like giving trash credibility, however, being that there is allegedly a book coming out with me named and attacking @POTUS, his marriage, our first lady, and frankly implying something distasteful about me, I am responding,” Luna wrote on X.
KAROLINE LEAVITT SAYS AP REPORTER ‘CLEARLY’ FAILED TO GRASP TRUMP’S TARIFF PLAN AFTER HEATED EXCHANGE
“I was very pregnant and at the time experiencing pre-eclampsia symptoms, but was not diagnosed,” she explained. “As soon as @realDonaldTrump boarded the plane, being the gentleman and good person that he is, said if I did not feel well, I could use the back room. He did this in a respectful way and in front of my husband, of which we thanked him. He also assured me that they had a medical team on board in case anything happened and they were aware of how pregnant I was.”
“This was the most compassionate thing that could’ve been done at the time. I find it disgusting that the author fails to recognize that,” Luna continued. “A few weeks later, I was induced because I did have pre-eclampsia . The author of this book never reached out to me for comment. Which means that this book is likely going to be a s— hit piece. If people in POTUS orbit are talking to this author, they need to be cut off immediately. This is gross.”
The Daily Beast was later hit by Community Notes, which read “The woman in question was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has responded publicly to the allegation. She claims nothing inappropriate occurred, she was not asked for comment, and this situation is being presented out of context.”
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The Daily Beast did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.
A spokesperson for Axios told Fox News Digital, “In our report, Axios correctly portrayed and contextualized comments made by President Trump during an interaction that he had with Rep. Luna, an interaction she confirmed in her statement did in fact happen.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House communications director Steven Cheung denounced Trump books including Isenstadt’s as a “desperate attempt to make money off of President Trump’s name because journalism is a dying industry with reporters peddling lies and selling their souls in order to make a quick buck,” adding, “These works of fiction either belong in the bargain bin of the fantasy section in a discount bookstore or should be repurposed as tissue paper.”
Trump pitches new easy option for illegal immigrants to avoid ICE knock
President Donald Trump will urge illegal immigrants to “self-deport” from the U.S. using a newly announced app from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Axios reported Monday.
Trump will send the message in a video set to release on social media platforms this week, calling on illegal immigrants to use the CBP Home app to announce their departure from the country. The DHS unveiled the app earlier this month after removing the Biden-era CBP One app, which was used to allow migrants into the U.S.
“People in our country can self-deport the easy way, or they can get deported the hard way, and that’s not pleasant,” Trump says in the video.
“The Biden administration exploited the CBP One app to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States. Now, my administration is launching the CBP Home app to give people in our country illegally an easy way to leave now and self-deport voluntarily,” he continues.
NEARLY 17 MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LIVING IN THE US, 16% INCREASE SINCE 2021: ANALYSIS
“If they do, they will have the opportunity to potentially return legally at some point in the future, but if they do not avail themselves of this opportunity, then they will be found. They will be deported, and they will never be admitted to the United States ever, ever again,” Trump adds.
NOEM ENDS BIDEN-ERA USE OF CONTROVERSIAL APP TO ALLOW MIGRANTS TO BOARD FLIGHTS, EXCEPT TO SELF-DEPORT
Trump goes on to say that using the CBP Home app is the “safest option” for both illegal immigrants and law enforcement, in addition to allowing law enforcement to focus resources on apprehending and deporting illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes.
The CBP Home app allows illegal immigrants to “Submit Intent to Depart” and submit information regarding their intent to leave the U.S. They can also provide information to verify they have left the U.S., a function limited to those who were paroled into the U.S. using the Biden-era app.
The Trump administration has moved rapidly to expand deportations and also cut the number of migrants entering the U.S., including via humanitarian parole, which dramatically expanded under the Biden administration.
Trump ended the use of the CBP One app to parole migrants on his first day in office. His administration has also paused applications for parole programs and allowed ICE to cancel parole statuses of migrants.
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Last month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended the use of CBP One to allow migrants to board domestic flights, unless it is being used for their self-deportation. The administration has also canceled extensions of Temporary Protected Status for some nationalities.
Trump has the worst US trading partners crawling back to negotiating table, Bessent says
With so-called “stacked” tariffs looming around President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff deadline, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed optimism that some of America’s trading partners are already reaching out to negotiate.
“Going into April 2, some of our worst trading partners in terms of the way they treat us have already come to President Trump offering… substantial decreases in very unfair tariffs,” Bessent said in an exclusive interview on “Mornings with Maria,” Tuesday.
“I’m optimistic that, April 2, some of the tariffs may not have to go on because a deal is pre-negotiated,” he added, “or that once countries receive their reciprocal tariff number, that, right after that, they will come to us and want to negotiate it down.”
JORDAN BELFORT DOWNPLAYS TRUMP TARIFF CONCERNS, CALLS DEMOCRATIC CRITICISM ‘UTTER NONSENSE’
One month ago, Trump signed a plan for the U.S. to look at implementing “reciprocal” tariffs against countries that tax or limit markets for American goods.
Though specific levies have not been announced regarding trade countries’ exports, the president clarified in a Truth Social post: “If a Country feels that the United States would be getting too high a Tariff, all they have to do is reduce or terminate their Tariff against us. There are no Tariffs if you manufacture or build your product in the United States.”
There is broad agreement among economists that tariffs are a tax on imported goods that are normally paid by the importing company, which in turn passes on some or most of the cost of the tariff to consumers in the form of higher prices.
But Trump’s top officials have repeatedly quelled any concerns that tariffs will negatively impact the U.S. jobs market or consumer prices.
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“There’s a big group of countries where we have a small surplus, but we don’t do a lot of trading with them,” Bessent said.
“And then there’s what we would call kind of, ‘the dirty 15,’ and they have substantial tariffs,” he added, pointing out that “as important as a tariff or some of these non-tariff barriers” are, where they do testing or have domestic production “bear no resemblance to safety or anything that we do to their products.”
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Influencer goes undercover as an antisemite near college campus: ‘It was just shocking’
Pro-Israel influencer Zach Sage Fox once again found himself in enemy territory when he went undercover as an antisemite near Barnard College in New York City.
While Fox did not go on campus, he had the opportunity to talk with several students in the area, and he told Fox News Digital that what he saw was “shocking.”
In the video, which has garnered over 24,000 likes on Instagram, Fox got several students to be brutally honest about their thoughts on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and Jews. He said it gives the public a look at what these students say, “without the keffiyehs on.”
“It was just shocking how much I uncovered in such a small period of time,” Fox told Fox News Digital, noting that the students were unafraid of supporting antisemitism. Fox noted that he only met them seconds before they “just poured out all this antisemitism.”
After speaking with students, Fox said that “Jews have just become target number one at this school.”
PRO-ISRAEL INFLUENCER SAYS BIBAS MEMORIAL IN NYC ‘BROUGHT OUT THE WORST’ IN ANTISEMITES
In the video, Fox wears a disguise and pretends to be a British student named “Ben Klein.” He wore a pro-Palestinian shirt, a keffiyeh, a COVID face mask and a nose ring. Fox admitted that his costume made him “look like a narc,” and he was surprised so many people thought he was genuinely an anti-Israel activist.
At one of the more shocking points of the video, a Barnard student who said she studies “human rights and economics” said there is “nuance in terrorism.”
“I think ‘terrorism’ is one of those words where people haven’t actually thought about the meaning,” the student says in the video. Later in the video, she also agrees when asked whether there is “nuance to rape” if it is used as a weapon of “resistance,” such as the number of rapes committed during the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
60 UNIVERSITIES UNDER INVESTIGATION BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR ‘ANTISEMITIC DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT’
When speaking about this student, Fox said that he was stunned when she called herself a “queer for Palestine” but could not seem to explain why she supported a movement that actively persecutes gay people.
Fox said these anti-Israel students “don’t actually want to free Palestine from Hamas.” He told Fox News Digital that he found Hamas supporters while interviewing people near the Ivy League campus. In the video that was posted, one unidentified female said there are “students who are more sympathetic to Hamas.”
In addition to the anti-Israel students, Fox spoke with some Jewish students while undercover. One of the students who is featured in the video said he felt unsafe at Columbia.
“My takeaway is that it just feels like Barnard because it is, you know, seen as this female institution. I think it is more poisoned with a lot of this DEI propaganda that really has turned Jews into a full-on White colonizer class,” Fox told Fox News Digital.
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The pro-Israel influencer told Fox News Digital that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives must be ended because he believes they are “intellectually poisoning students.” He praised the Trump administration’s efforts to root out DEI from the federal government.
Fox admitted that his own views on DEI had changed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. He said that he was someone who did not see the harm that DEI initiatives could do until this past year and a half.
“It is such a disservice to intellectual thinking and free thinking,” Fox told Fox News Digital.
In addition to ending DEI initiatives, Fox believes mask bans should be in place, with exceptions for medical reasons. Fox says that forcing students to go unmasked would put an end to the building takeovers and disruptive anti-Israel demonstrations seen on campuses across the country over the last year and a half.
Trump unloads on ‘radical left lunatic judge’ for trying to keep ‘deranged murderers’ in US
President Donald Trump called for the impeachment of a judge in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, apparently referring to U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg who recently sought to block deportation flights to El Salvador.
“This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY,” Trump declared in the post.
“I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” the president added.
Missing American’s parents’ unexpected letter to police shakes up international search
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — The parents of a missing University of Pittsburgh spring breaker have asked Dominican police for a declaration of death nearly two weeks after she vanished from a five-star resort in the beach town of Punta Cana, telling authorities they accept the story of the lone publicly known eyewitness.
Subbarayudu and SreeDevi Konanki are not disputing the story of Joshua Riibe, a 22-year-old Iowa man and fellow spring breaker who is believed to be the last person who saw their daughter alive, according to a letter they sent to Dominican police on Monday. Her father had previously asked police to investigate all possibilities.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, vanished on March 6 after she went to the beach with seven other people around 4:15 a.m., according to surveillance video. Most of her group was seen coming back around 6 a.m., leaving her alone with Riibe, though he came back without her hours later.
Konanki’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter, which has been obtained by Fox News.
KEY WITNESS ASKS COURT TO END DE FACTO HOUSE ARREST
“Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that Sudiksha is believed to have drowned,” her parents wrote in a letter to La Policia Nacional, the country’s national police force, Monday night. “Her clothes were discovered on a beach near where she was last seen. The individual last seen with her is cooperating with the investigation, and no evidence of foul play has been found.”
They said they made the request after “much deliberation” and thanked supporters for the international search effort.
KEY WITNESS IN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENT’S DISAPPEARANCE TELLS POLICE HOW THEY MET, WHAT HAPPENED ON BEACH
“Initiating this process will allow our family to begin the grieving process and address matters related to her absence,” the grieving parents wrote.
“While no declaration can truly ease our grief, we trust that this step will bring some closure and enable us to honor her memory.”
Read the Konanki letter:
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, where the Konanki family lives, said in a statement Tuesday that “the disappearance of Sudiksha Konanki is tragic, and we cannot imagine the grief her family has been feeling. We have supported them throughout to ensure a rigorous, wide-ranging investigation. We have also met personally with them and continue to provide emotional support through our Victim Advocate Unit.
“Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned. While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible as we continue to review the evidence and information made available to us in the course of this investigation. We thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dominican National Police for their dedication to this investigation and collaboration.”
Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota who has not been accused of a crime but is considered a crucial witness in the case, has been held under surveillance at the resort since Konanki was reported missing.
His family has called his continued required presence in the country “irregular.”
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In a leaked transcript of an interview with police, he allegedly told detectives he last saw her on the beach after they were both pulled offshore in a strong current.
Riibe said after struggling back to land, he last saw her walking away in knee-deep water, and then he vomited and fell asleep on a chair, according to a transcript obtained by Fox News.
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On Monday, his attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus, challenging his de facto detention in the country. He has been holed up in the Riu Republica resort since Konanki vanished. They were both staying there for spring break vacations when they met.
Riibe is not accused of a crime, but authorities confiscated his passport while investigating his version of events.
A hearing on the habeas petition is expected to be held Tuesday afternoon, sources said, but the timing could change.
Major companies pull sponsorships from largest pride event in the world
The organizers of San Francisco Pride (SF Pride) shared financial concerns due to major companies pulling funding this year.
SF Pride executive director Suzanne Ford said that the show will still go on, but organizers are going to have to make due with a smaller budget. Ford expressed suspicion this was part of a wave of businesses distancing themselves from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs under the Trump administration.
“I’m very concerned. Obviously, there’s pressure from the federal government,” Ford told a local FOX affiliate.
“The tone has changed in this country. Businesses already hedge their bets, and I think people who, this isn’t their hard core value of their corporation, maybe they’re rethinking their investment,” Ford said.
SF Pride is a nonprofit that runs an annual parade and festival for two days in San Francisco. Scheduled for June 28-29, this year’s theme is “Queer Joy is Resistance.” The event is one of the largest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the world, drawing over 1 million attendees each year, according to their site.
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Ford said that five corporations pulled their sponsorship of SF Pride, resulting in a loss of approximately $300,000, and told Fox News Digital, “The overall budget goal is $2.3 million, and while we have nearly $1 million already committed, we now need to raise an additional $1.3 million to meet our target. We remain focused on securing the necessary funds and appreciate the continued support from our community and partners.”
The companies that reportedly pulled their funding are Benefit Cosmetics, Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, alcoholic beverage company Diageo, and wine company La Crema.
However, La Crema told Fox News Digital, “La Crema remains fully committed to the LGBTQ+ community. While we had to scale back our SF Pride activation this year, it was never our intention to step away entirely. We are in ongoing conversations with the organizers and it is our hope to still find a way to partner at this year’s event.”
The statement went on to say, “Our company has not distanced itself from DEI—we continue to support Pride events nationwide and in our backyard and maintain our long-standing advocacy partnership with Equality California.”
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LAUNCHES ‘ENDDEI’ PORTAL FOR PARENTS, STUDENTS, TEACHERS TO REPORT DISCRIMINATION
President Donald Trump has cracked down on DEI by signing executive orders terminating DEI policies in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.
Major companies like Facebook, McDonald’s, Walmart and Harley-Davidson are rolling back or have completely abandoned their DEI efforts.
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Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, Diageo, and Benefit Cosmetics didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Karoline Leavitt beats Psaki’s PolitiFact fact-check record in two months
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has already surpassed one of her Biden predecessors in total number of PolitiFact fact-checks after just two months in office.
On Thursday, PolitiFact issued Leavitt her latest fact-check over her statement, “Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people.” PolitiFact rated it “False” with chief correspondent Louis Jacobson writing that “virtually all economists” have characterized tariffs as “tax hikes rather than tax cuts.”
This marked Leavitt’s third PolitiFact fact-check since beginning her tenure as press secretary in January, which officially put her ahead of former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki’s entire record of fact-checks on the site.
KAROLINE LEAVITT SAYS AP REPORTER ‘CLEARLY’ FAILED TO GRASP TRUMP’S TARIFF PLAN AFTER HEATED EXCHANGE
In the sixteen months Psaki held the position, PolitiFact only fact-checked her twice, once in Nov. 2021 and once in Jan. 2022. Her November claim about Build Back Better was rated “False” while her January claim about COVID vaccines was rated “True.”
In contrast, Leavitt had her first two PolitiFact fact-checks on Jan. 30, less than two weeks after starting the position and nearly ten months earlier than Psaki. One was rated “False” while the other was rated only “Half-True.”
The more aggressive fact-checking right out of the gate was flagged by conservative media watchdog NewsBusters.
This also put Leavitt only one fact-check below former President Biden’s second press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, who received four fact-checks throughout her entire time behind the podium. Jean-Pierre held the position from May 2022 through January 2025.
Out of the four times PolitiFact fact-checked Jean-Pierre, two were rated “False,” while the other two were rated “Mostly True.” PolitiFact also did not begin fact-checking Jean-Pierre until June 2022, about one month after her term began.
POLITIFACT EXECUTIVE RIPS META’S ZUCKERBERG FOR ANNOUNCING THE END OF FACT-CHECKING ON HIS PLATFORMS
Comparatively, fellow press secretaries under President Donald Trump such as Sean Spicer, Kayleigh McEnany and Sarah Huckabee Sanders have also been fact-checked by PolitiFact more than press secretaries under Biden.
McEnany was fact-checked four times by PolitiFact over the period she was press secretary from 2020 to 2021.
Sanders received five PolitiFact fact-checks regarding comments she made during a White House press briefing, with one fact-check for an interview with ABC.
Spicer received nine PolitiFact fact-checks during the six months he held the press secretary position in 2017.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said, “PolitiFact’s so called ‘reporters’ aren’t fact checkers; they are left-wing crusaders dedicated to spinning the truth, perpetrating lies, and promoting the Democrats’ radical agenda. Karoline Leavitt has been so honest and transparent with the press that the fake fact-checkers at PolitiFact are having a hard time finding any facts to check.”
Fox News Digital reached out to PolitiFact for a comment.
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