Scandal rocks air traffic control tower where commercial plane crash left dozens dead

A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee working at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) outside of Washington, D.C. was recently charged over a workplace altercation, authorities said.

Upper Marlboro, Maryland, resident Damon Marsalis Gaines, 38, was charged with assault and battery in relation to the incident. POLITICO reported that the suspect works in controller operations.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) confirmed the developments to Fox News Digital, explaining that the incident transpired in a control tower on Thursday.

The FAA also confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital.

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“The employee is on administrative leave while we investigate the matter,” an FAA spokesperson said.

It’s unclear what sparked the scuffle.

The incident is one of many newsworthy stories involving DCA air traffic control recently. The airport has faced scrutiny after an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter collided on Jan. 29, killing 67 people.

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An FAA report later found that the number of staff working at DCA’s air control tower at the time was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”

On Saturday, a United Airlines plane reportedly made contact with a kite while it was attempting to land at DCA, though that event is unrelated to the assault incident.

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Authorities are actively investigating the allegations.  

Epstein’s most prominent accuser hospitalized after car crash and has ‘days to live’

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, announced on Instagram Sunday that she has just days to live after a high-speed crash involving a school bus in Australia led to kidney failure.

“This year has been the worst start to a new year, but I won’t bore anyone with the details but I think it [is] important to note that when a school bus driver comes at you driving 110km (about 70 mph) as we were slowing for a turn that no matter what your car is made of it might as well be a tin can,” Giuffre posted along with an image of herself showing bruises on her face, head and torso from a hospital bed.

“I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology.”

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A spokesperson for Giuffre said in a statement that she had been in a serious accident and was being treated at a hospital.

“Virginia has been in a serious accident and is receiving medical care in the hospital,” said her spokesperson, Dini von Mueffling. “She greatly appreciates the support and well wishes people are sending.”

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Giuffre is among the most publicly visible accusers of the alleged sex trafficker Epstein, his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and their friend the British Prince Andrew.

“I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time, but you know what they say about wishes. S**T in one hand and wish in the other & I guarantee it’s still going to be s**t at the end of the day,” the post continued. “Thank you all for being the wonderful people of the world and for being a great part of my life. Godbless you all xx Virginia.”

She also appeared in an infamous photo as a teen alongside Andrew and Maxwell allegedly taken in the latter’s London townhouse during a party in 2000.

Andrew has denied Giuffre’s allegations of wrongdoing and settled a civil lawsuit she brought against him out of court in 2021.

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Court documents from Giuffre’s court battles have made public thousands of pages of documents that shed light on Epstein’s case that would otherwise have remained out of public view, including Epstein’s contact book and flight logs and sworn depositions from Epstein and Maxwell.

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and is appealing.

Trump ‘blindsided seemingly everyone’ in Congress with decision for UN ambassador

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., saw her nomination to serve as ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump crumble last week before she ultimately withdrew her name from consideration. 

The saga unfolded quickly, with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, only being informed of Stefanik’s withdrawal by the White House roughly two hours before Trump shared it on social media. 

Two senior House GOP aides told Fox News Digital that even Republican leaders were blindsided by the decision. 

“Trump pulling Stefanik’s nomination for ambassador to the U.N. blindsided seemingly everyone on Capitol Hill,” one senior House GOP aide said Thursday. “As early as yesterday, representatives were praising her as the ‘soon-to-be-ambassador.’”

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A White House official told Fox News Digital it was about the GOP’s shrinking majority in the House: “The season for needing votes is upon us – reconciliation, debt ceiling. Every vote counts.”

Trump himself was reportedly concerned about the slim House majority and Democrats over-performing in special elections in Florida. Stefanik, who had been poised for a bipartisan confirmation process, said she’d spoken with Trump multiple times since Thursday.

“It was a combination of the New York corruption that we’re seeing under Kathy Hochul, special elections and the House margin,” Stefanik said on “Hannity” Friday. “I’ve been in the House. It’s tough to count these votes every day. And we are going to continue to defy the political prognosticators and deliver, deliver victory on behalf of President Trump and, importantly, the voters across this country.”

“The president knows that. He and I had multiple conversations today, and we are committed to delivering results on behalf of the American people. And as always, I’m committed to delivering results on behalf of my constituents,” she added. 

Upon hearing the news, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters, “The only reason they would do it is because of the House,” referring to the lower chamber’s slim majority.

“Because everybody likes her [and] thinks she’s qualified.”

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“But I could understand why that would be a problem,” he explained. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., wasn’t even aware of her looming withdrawal when reporters first asked him. “It’s probably something to do with political realities,” he said. 

The Republicans’ House majority is crucial to getting Trump agenda priorities done through the key budget reconciliation process, which the GOP has been trying to expedite. 

With an already fragile majority, Republicans also faced potential trouble on two fronts in special elections prior to Stefanik stepping back. 

For Stefanik’s New York district, Republican-on-Republican infighting was threatening the party’s hold on the seat. 

One of the candidates even threatened to run as a third-party candidate if he didn’t get the GOP nod. 

That could have put the possibility of splitting the Republican base in play, giving a Democratic candidate a prime opportunity to prevail – though GOP elections sources denied concerns over her seat.

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Another point of concern for the GOP majority is the election to replace national security advisor and former Rep. Mike Waltz in Florida’s 6th District on Tuesday. 

The Democratic candidate, Josh Weil, and Democrats have poured money into the race to flip the red seat. 

If Weil is successful, Republicans in the House would have one less vote to advance Trump’s agenda items, particularly his hallmark tax cuts. 

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As the reality of these concerns set in, Trump took to Truth Social last week to confirm that Stefanik was withdrawing as U.N. ambassador nominee. “I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength, and much more, so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat. The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day. There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations,” he said. 

Musk says millions of noncitizens were given social security numbers under Biden

Elon Musk shared a chart during a get-out-the-vote rally in Wisconsin over the weekend, which he claimed showed millions of noncitizens received Social Security numbers during former President Joe Biden’s tenure. 

The event came just a day-and-a-half before polls opened in a contentious state judicial race. 

The Sunday town hall garnered a lot of attention Monday over Musk’s move to hand out $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters who signed a petition calling for an end to “activist judges,” after the state’s Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge arguing the sweepstakes was unlawful.

After handing out the money, Musk brought friend and DOGE colleague Antonio Gracias on stage to discuss the work he has done with the federal government’s Social Security system. Shortly after Gracias joined Musk, a large graphic that read, “New Non-Citizen Social Security Numbers Issued,” was illuminated on the screen behind them.

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“We started at the top of the system, mapping the whole system of Social Security to understand where all the fraud was,” Gracias said, before turning his attention to the chart behind him. “But, this is what jumped out at us,” he continued. “When we saw these numbers, we were like, ‘What is this?’”

Gracias was referring to the total number of noncitizens who received Social Security numbers between FY 2021 and FY 2025. The chart showed a steady year-over-year increase under Biden, reaching more than 2 million in FY 2024, which ended on Sept. 30.

FY23 saw roughly 1 million noncitizens issued Social Security numbers, as did FY25, which began in October and will end in September of this year. 

“This literally blew us away,” Gracias said. “We went there to find fraud and we found this by accident.”

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“This is a mind-blowing chart,” Musk added.

The eyebrow-raising numbers come amid Musk and DOGE’s ongoing probe into various federal programs and agencies, including the Social Security Administration (SSA). 

Last week, DOGE said it had removed approximately 7 million Social Security accounts belonging to people listed as being over 120 years old. DOGE has also found through its audits that the Social Security database included 20 million dead people marked as alive, Musk said at the Wisconsin town hall Sunday.

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Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing all public assistance and social services in the U.S. to stop providing access to noncitizens, stating such services are intended for U.S. citizens. 

In line with the president’s directive, the Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a new initiative last week with the Department of Homeland Security that seeks to bolster inter-agency communication between the two departments to ensure noncitizens are not benefiting from public housing programs. 

Trump admin shuts down Biden ‘pet project’ — and the true cost per person is coming to light

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is shuttering the Biden-era EPA museum located near the White House that “scarcely” saw visitors since it opened in 2024, Fox News Digital learned. 

Zeldin announced Monday afternoon that the National Environmental Museum and Education Center, which opened last year under the Biden administration, will shutter after costing taxpayers millions to build and subsequently drew a lackluster number of visitors. 

“The scarcely visited museum cost a whopping $4 million taxpayer dollars to build in accordance with Smithsonian standards and more than $600,000 annually to operate,” the EPA said of the museum in Monday comment provided to Fox News Digital, describing the museum as the “Biden EPA’s pet project.” “It had less than 2,000 external visitors between May 2024-February 2025 and while the museum was free, the cost to taxpayers per external visitor amounted to nearly $315 per person.” 

The EPA museum opened in May 2024 within the William Jefferson Clinton federal building, which is home to the EPA’s headquarters and sits just blocks from the White House. A smaller EPA exhibit previously was showcased in a neighboring federal building ahead of the construction and opening of the National Environmental Museum and Education Center in 2024. 

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“From Love Canal and the founding of EPA more than 50 years ago to the historic funding of our Investing in America agenda, our new museum chronicles our nation’s work to protect public health and the environment – a movement that has transcended political and geographic divides,” Biden-era EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the museum last year.

 “Our work with state, local and Tribal partners has changed people’s lives, it has restored our connection with the environment and our planet, and it will ensure that future generations will continue to have clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and clean land to live, work and play on,” he continued. 

Zeldin’s EPA said the museum did not spotlight bipartisan achievements and efforts protecting Americans’ health and the environment, but instead, “the Biden administration chose to curate the museum with a massive gap of recognition between 2014 and January 20, 2021.”

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“There is also a higher priority placed on Democrat Administrations’ work compared to Republican Administrations,” an EPA spokesperson said of the museum. “Biden’s EPA favored the incorporation of a slew of ‘environmental justice’ and climate change content to proliferate the fearmongering tactics of the radical left instead of focusing on the statutory work EPA does daily to deliver clean air, land and water to Americans.” 

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A breakdown of estimated annual costs to operate the museum, which was provided to Fox Digital, shows taxpayers were expected to foot the bill for an estimated: $123,766.29 in annual cleaning and landscaping costs, $37,899 for audio and visual maintenance, $54,292.99 in annual “artifact storage” costs, $8,900 for “Magnetometer maintenance,” $46,000 for X-ray maintenance, an estimated $123,000 in utility costs, and $207,326 in annual costs to fund two security guards for the museum during operating hours. 

The total annual operating costs totaled just more than $600,000. 

The Functional Government Initiative, a government watchdog focused on broadening the public’s awareness of government officials and decisions, celebrated Zeldin’s announcement as a win for taxpayers as funds will return to it intended use for the agency: protecting the environment. 

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 Rod Law, Functional Government Initiative’s communications director, said in comment to Fox News Digital Monday. “There is something ironic about the EPA wasting money on a museum about itself when it is supposed to be focused on toxic waste.” 

“Sadly, promoting special interest climate activism and growing the out-of-touch bureaucracy were hallmarks of the EPA in the Biden administration, and this museum was an unfortunate result of such policy. Administrator Zeldin closing it protects taxpayers, helps return the EPA to its statutory mission of protecting the environment, and abandons past dysfunction and bureaucratic self-promotion,” Law continued. 

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The New York Times previewed in February that the museum’s fate hung in the balance as the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency went through various federal agencies in search of government overspending, fraud, and mismanagement.

Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally, has been on a cost-cutting mission at the agency since he was sworn-in back in January.

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Zeldin has uncovered and cut $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean-energy projects; put the Biden administration’s Clean Power Plan 2.0, which cracked down on power plants, on the chopping block; and terminated hundreds of employees amid the Trump administration’s mission to trim and streamline the federal government of overspending.

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CEO facing lawsuit says he’ll be dragged to jail before taking down store’s American flag

The CEO of Camping World, a national RV dealer with stores in 200-plus locations, is facing a lawsuit by another city over its massive American flag that waves outside a dealership. 

City leaders in Greenville, N.C., voted 4-2 last week to initiate legal action to take down the American flag at a Camping World dealership. The vote came amid another lawsuit filed by the city of Sevierville, Tennessee. 

“Not when they sue, not when I lose, not if they take me to jail, the flag is not coming down,” Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis said last week after the city council in Greenville, North Carolina, voted to authorize the filing of civil action against the company, WITN reported. “While I respect the city council’s position and while I understand they have the right to sue me, and they’re going to and I understand I have the right to defend myself, the flag is never coming down.”

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“They need to sue me, not the business, because I put the flags up everywhere,” he added.

The Greenville City Council said the flag is nearly the size of a basketball court at 3,200 square feet. It flies on a pole that stands 130 feet tall, almost double the size of what is currently allowed. 

On Monday, Marcus Lemonis posted an image of a complaint filed in March by the city of Sevierville, which had requested the removal of a 100-foot flagpole on its property, which flies a 40-feet by 80-foot American flag.

“The Flag will not come down,” Lemonis wrote on X. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Lemonis and the city for comment. 

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It is not the first time the RV giant has defied orders to remove the huge Camping World flags; he has had similar experiences across the country and even takes on daily fines in some areas.

“We dealt with it in Statesville [North Carolina]; Morgan Hill, California; Onalaska, Wisconsin; and now Greenville, North Carolina,” he told FOX Business’ “The Bottom Line” in January. “And I think this is a perfect example … of local and city and state municipalities putting regulations on businesses that don’t advance the business. They just create more noise and unnecessary distractions.”

Lemonis was born in Lebanon and left on the doorstep of an orphanage, according to the Camping World website. A couple from Miami adopted him when he was 9 years old.

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He said he grew up watching his family in the car dealership business, flying their American flag, WITN reported. 

He has been defiant amid requests to take down the flag.

Dolly Parton lays down the law ahead of collab with pop star who used curse word in song

Ahead of working on a collaboration with singer Sabrina Carpenter on her hit song, “Please, Please, Please,” country music legend Dolly Parton had some conditions for the up-and-coming star. 

“Of course, she can talk a little bad now and then,” Parton told told Knox News. 

“I told her, I said, ‘Now, I don’t cuss. I don’t make fun of Jesus. I don’t talk bad about God, and I don’t say dirty words, on camera, but known to if I get mad enough,'” she said. 

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The rendition of the duo’s collaboration of “Please Please Please,” was posted on YouTube on February 14, 2025. 

Carpenter’s original version of the song contains the phrase, “I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherf—er, oh, please, please, please.” 

The version with Parton was changed to “I beg you, don’t embarrass me like the others, oh, please, please, please.”

The music video depicts Parton and Carpenter driving together in what appears to be a pickup truck, with Carpenter wearing a sweater with a headband and gloves, an apparent nod to retro style and a stark departure from Carpenter’s outfits in the original “Please Please Please” music video. 

“Please Please Please,” was part of Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Deluxe album released in August 2024. 

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This isn’t the first time Parton has partnered up with another big-name artist. In 2024, Parton collaborated with Beyoncé on several songs for Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album, including a cover of Parton’s classic, “Jolene.”

“She was so sweet,” Parton said of Carpenter. “And Beyoncé’s great and Miley [Cyrus], you know I love her. So, I’m just having fun with all of it.”  

While Parton, who is working on “Dolly: An Original Musical,” scheduled to premiere July 18 – August 17, 2025, at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts Nashville, Tenn., said she is not sure what collaboration will be next, it will definitely be someone she appreciates.  

“Whoever calls me that I like. (And) I’ll I say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that,” Parton said of picking her next duet partner. 

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