Trump immortalized in history as photographer wins Pulitzer for picture of mid-air bullet
A New York Times photographer was awarded with a Pulitzer Prize Monday for his photos of the assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The July 13 event yielded numerous historic photos and videos, such as when Trump quickly got up after being shot as Secret Service agents escorted him off the stage holding his fist in the air while shouting the words, “Fight, fight, fight.”
One iconic image by The Times’ Doug Mills managed to capture the split-second moment a speeding bullet was seen mid-air next to Trump’s head at the rally. The photo was one of several he captured that day that earned him one of the most prestigious awards in journalism.
Days after the assassination attempt, Mills sat down with Fox News at the Republican National Convention to share his firsthand account of the shocking ordeal.
ATTEMPTED TRUMP ASSASSIN SEEN WALKING AROUND PENNSYLVANIA RALLY HOURS BEFORE OPENING FIRE
“I just happened to be down, shooting with a wide-angle lens just below the president when he was speaking. There was a huge flag waving right above his head, and I just happened to be taking pictures at the same time,” he told “America’s Newsroom” in Milwaukee at the time.
“Then, when I heard the pops, I guess I kept hitting on the shutter, and then I saw him reach for his [ear]. He grimaced and grabbed his hand and looked. It was blood, and then he went down, and I thought, ‘Dear God, he’s been shot,'” he continued.
Mills said the moment he discovered he had captured an image of the bullet whizzing past Trump was a “surprise” to him.
It happened after he was ushered into a tent and began sending photos of Trump’s defiant fist pump to an editor.
“I was like, ‘Oh, hell. I remember taking pictures of him when this happened. Let me go back and look.’ I started looking at it. I started sending them right away, and I called one of the editors and said, ‘Please look at these really closely. This might have been near the moment where he was shot,’” he said.
“She called me back like five minutes later and said, ‘You won’t believe this.’ She goes, ‘We actually see a bullet flying behind his head, and I was like, ’Oh my gosh.'”
Mills said he captured the rally images with a Sony a1 camera.
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“Doug Mills of The New York Times won the breaking news photography prize for his photos capturing the attempted assassination of President Trump last year, including an image in which a bullet can be seen,” the New York Times’ media reporter Katie Robertson reported as she touted three other other Pulitzers The Times won for stories on Sudan, Afghanistan and Baltimore.
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MSNBC walks back reporting on FBI chief: ‘A misstatement, we have not verified that claim’
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday had to walk back an eyebrow-raising claim made the previous week about FBI Director Kash Patel.
On Friday’s edition of the morning talk show, Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director at the FBI, shared the claim that Patel had been seen out partying more often than working at the office.
“Reportedly, he’s been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building,” Figliuzzi told “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire. “And there are reports that daily briefings to him have been changed from every day to maybe twice-weekly.”
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Figliuzzi, who is a national security and intelligence analyst for MSNBC, said his contacts at the FBI told him the agency was in a state of “chaos.”
“People don’t know what’s happening from day-to-day,” he added.
Figliuzzi’s comments were picked up by several media outlets last week. On Monday’s show, Lemire took a moment to retract those comments.
“Frank Figliuzzi was on that hour, discussing the work of administration officials,” Lemire began, referring to Friday’s “Morning Joe.”
“At the end of that segment, Figliuzzi said that FBI Director Kash Patel has been more visible at nightclubs than the FBI headquarters. This was a misstatement. We have not verified that claim,” Lemire said.
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MSNBC did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson declined to comment.
Last month, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll replaced Patel as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). A source close to Patel previously told Fox News Digital that the role was taken off of his plate so he could focus on his role as FBI director.
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Video shows phone exchange moments before man allegedly kills judge in chambers
FIRST ON FOX: Fox News Digital has obtained surveillance footage showing the moments leading up to former Letcher County, Kentucky Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines’ suspected murder of former Kentucky 47th Judicial District Judge Kevin Mullins as Stines’ attorney shared a motive for the shooting.
The pair, who had known each other for years before the unforeseen Sept. 19, 2024 killing that rocked the tiny town of Whitesburg, had spoken in the judge’s chambers and gone out to lunch together with a group of friends and coworkers in the hours leading up to the shooting.
In the surveillance video taken from Mullins’ chambers, a group of people, some of whom had been at lunch with Stines and Mullins earlier in the day at StreetSide Grill & Bar within walking distance of the court and county jail, could be seen cordially chatting with the judge for more than 12 minutes.
KENTUCKY SHERIFF SEEN IN FOOTAGE SHOOTING AT JUDGE IN SHOCKING PRELIMINARY HEARING
Thereafter, Stines entered Mullins’ chambers and cleared the room to speak with the judge privately.
“When I’m seeing the sheriff, it’s interesting to watch him because he was ready to go the minute he walked in,” consultant, author and body language expert Susan Constantine told Fox News Digital. “He was contemplating it, he was shuffling his feet, [and] had his hands in his pockets.”
Meanwhile, she noted that Mullins looked despondent, and almost unaware of Stines’ presence.
In the next seven minutes, Stines and Mullins talked privately before Stines stood up and seemingly locked the door of the chambers.
“[Stines] sits down, wants to have a conversation with the judge,” Constantine said. “The judge is very nonchalant, very carefree. Doesn’t seem to be rattled by a lot. Seems to be very, what I would say is just unremarkable.
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“And then we’ve got the sheriff, [he] leans in,” she said. “Then he’s obviously got something on his mind because he’s in an action stance.”
“I think the fact that [Mullins] is shrugging it off, I think that created more angst towards the judge because he wasn’t taking it seriously, whatever was being spoken about, and he’s kind of playing it off like it wasn’t a big deal,” she said. “And the more he played it out, ‘this is not a big deal,’ the more angry Stines became.”
Mullins then handed his phone over to Stines, a rumored but never-before-seen event that has led to a great deal of speculation among true crime pundits and internet sleuths alike.
After looking through the judge’s phone, Stines placed a call that went unanswered before he tossed the phone back onto the judge’s desk.
He then allegedly stood up, unholstered his pistol, and moved menacingly toward Mullins before opening fire at point-blank range, killing the judge.
NEW VIDEO SHOWS KENTUCKY SHERIFF POINTING GUN AT JUDGE BEFORE ALLEGED FATAL SHOOTING
Constantine said the judge didn’t appear to believe he was in imminent danger until seconds before the shooting.
“The judge is kind of going, ‘what are you doing?’ Put the gun down,” she said. “Just kind of using his hand gestures, kind of flinging him out, like, ‘what are you doing?’ This doesn’t make any sense.”
“And then all of a sudden, there’s something that the sheriff must have said,” Contantine said. “And all of a sudden, then he goes into protection, right? Both palms are up. ‘What are you doing? Stop. Don’t do this.’ Now he’s in self-protection mode. And that’s when [Stines] got him, when he was the weakest. Because both hands are up. And that’s when he went in for the shot.”
Constantine does not believe that the crime was committed in the heat of the moment, as Stines’ attorneys are prepared to argue.
“I think that was already pre-planned, [a] preeminent attack that was going to take place,” she said.
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Attorney Jeremy Bartley explains Stines’ motive
In a Monday phone interview with Fox News Digital, Stines’ attorney Jeremy Bartley and his wife and co-counsel Kerri Bartley put to bed online rumors about the phone exchange, and explained the defense’s version of events in the days leading up to the shooting.
“[Stines] had attempted multiple times to contact his daughter throughout the day, and including the time while he was in chambers, and he tried to contact her from the judge’s phone,” Jeremy Bartley said.
He also noted that Stines received a call from his aunt while he was in the judge’s chambers.
Bartley said that the phone exchange had nothing to do with any relationship between the judge and his daughter, as has been speculated.
Rather, he said Mullins was experiencing increased paranoia that his family was in danger in the period leading up to the shooting, due to a civil lawsuit in which he was named and deposed.
“Specifically, in the approximate two-week period prior to the incident in the judge’s chambers, pretty much all the witnesses the investigators talked to support what those close to Mickey had said as well,” Bartley said. “And that’s simply this: Mickey had become extremely paranoid. He’d become sleepless, basically wasn’t sleeping. [He] slept little, if at all. He had sort of become withdrawn. And you know, it was of such a concern that his co-workers urged him to go to the doctor, and he ultimately did the day prior to the shooting.”
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According to Bartley, a major contributing factor to the judge’s emotional state was a deposition in a civil lawsuit filed against former Letcher County Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Fields, which named Stines as a defendant for failing to adequately supervise Fields.
The lawsuit, filed by Sabrina Adkins in January 2024, came on the heels of Fields’ sentencing after he pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing her while she faced legal trouble in 2021. The civil suit claims that, in exchange for sexual favors, Fields allowed Adkins to remain at home on bail without having to wear an ankle monitor. When she later refused to participate in sexual activity with Fields, she was arrested for violating the terms of her home incarceration, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says that all the sexual assaults occurred in Mullins’ chambers, and that other women had been subjected to the same predatory treatment.
“[Stines’] big concern all centers around the civil suit by Sabrina Adkins, who had been sexually assaulted by this Ben Fields, or coerced into sexual favors in exchange for ankle monitoring fees,” Bartley said. “That had led to a federal lawsuit.”
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Stines had been deposed in the suit just three days prior to the shooting.
“This civil suit had drawn a lot of attention to things that were happening in the courthouse,” Bartley said. “And in fact, if you look at it, it was because of this lawsuit – the reason that there had been a camera placed in the judge’s chambers, which is highly unusual, highly unusual to have such concern that the administrative office of courts puts a security camera in a judge’s chambers.”
Bartley said that Stines was under pressure by his peers not to say too much during the proceedings in the civil lawsuit.
“I think one of the big things is that my client felt there had been pressure placed on him not to say too much during the deposition, and not to talk about things that happened within the courthouse, particularly in the judge’s chambers,” he said.
“On the day that this [shooting] happened, my client had attempted multiple times to contact his wife and daughter, and he firmly believed that they were in danger,” Bartley said. “He believed that they were in danger because of what he knew to have happened within the courthouse. And there was pressure, and there were threats made to him to sort of keep him in line, to keep them from saying more than these folks wanted him to say.”
According to Bartley, Mullins and Stines were not particularly good friends, contrary to popular belief, though they’d known each other for quite a long time.
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“I don’t think that you would find on any given weekend, the judge and my client hanging out socially,” he said. “I think that their relationship was centered pretty much solely on their profession.”
Stines has been charged with one count of first-degree murder of a public official. Bartley has said the alleged killing occurred in the heat of the moment and was not premeditated. He is planning an insanity defense for Stines.
Prosecuting attorney Jackie Steele did not return a comment request.
Education secretary drops hammer on Harvard in scathing letter
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent a scathing letter to Harvard University President Alan Garber on Monday, not only blasting the Massachusetts Ivy League school’s handling of antisemitism on campus but also advising school officials to refrain from applying for future federal grants because they will not “be provided.”
In her no-holds-barred letter, McMahon told Garber that the federal government has a “sacred responsibility” to be an important steward of American taxpayer funds, adding that the school has amassed a largely tax-free $53.2 billion endowment and receives billions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year.
“Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right,” she wrote. “Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?”
She also said the university has “made a mockery” of the higher education system in the U.S., inviting foreign students to its campuses who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the U.S.
TRUMP SAYS HE’LL REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS
McMahon slammed the school for adopting an “embarrassing” remedial math program for undergraduates, questioning why a school that’s so difficult to get admitted to has to teach low-level mathematics.
She called Harvard out for being embroiled in plagiarism scandals and lambasted the school for allowing Harvard University and the Harvard Law Review to engage in “ugly racism.”
McMahon blasted Harvard for hiring former Mayors Bill de Blasio of New York City and Lori Lightfoot of Chicago to teach “leadership” at its School of Public Health.
“This is like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation to future captains of the sea,” she said.
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“The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard’s consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided,” McMahon later wrote. “Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni.
“You have an approximately $53 billion head start, much of which was made possible by the fact that you are living within the walls of, and benefiting from, the prosperity secured by the United States of America and its free-market system you teach your students to despise,” she added.
In closing, McMahon reminded Garber that the Trump administration had been willing to maintain federal funding to Harvard as long as the school complied with federal law to protect and promote student welfare and stop racial preferencing.
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“The proposed common-sense reforms – which the Administration remains committed to – include a return to merit-based admissions and hiring, an end to unlawful programs that promote crude identity stereotypes, disciplinary reform and consistent accountability, including for student groups, cooperation with Law Enforcement, and reporting compliance with the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, and other Federal Agencies,” McMahon said. “The Administration’s priorities have not changed, and today’s letter marks the end of new grants for the university.”
Harvard confirmed to Fox News Digital that it received a letter from the administration on Monday.
“Today, we received another letter from the administration doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education,” a Harvard spokesperson said. “Today’s letter makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21.
“Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community. Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure,” the spokesperson continued.
TRUMP BRANDS HARVARD ‘ANTISEMITIC’ AND A ‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’ DURING FUNDING BATTLE
McMahon’s letter comes just days after President Donald Trump declared that his administration was going to be taking away Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
Trump made the announcement after Fox News reported that his administration asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. The Ivy League school’s failure to address antisemitism on campus is grounds for losing its 501(c)(3) status, sources said at the time.
Trump argued in mid-April that Harvard had “lost its way” and didn’t deserve federal funding.
“Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.”
Harvard has become a target of Trump’s broader crackdown on universities, much of which is in response to last year’s anti-Israel unrest that erupted on campuses across the country.
On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter to Garber and Harvard Corporation Lead Member Penny Pritzker outlining the institution’s failures and a list of demands from the White House. In the letter, the administration accused Harvard of failing to uphold civil rights laws and to foster an “environment that produces intellectual creativity.”
The Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership as well as its hiring and admissions practices by August 2025. The letter emphasized the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid admitting students who are “hostile” to American values or support terrorism or antisemitism.
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Harvard refused to comply with the demands, with Garber saying that “no government… should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
The Trump administration then froze $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard and is reportedly looking to slash another billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The university later filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its “unlawful” freezing of funds.
Liberals turn on Fetterman as report sheds light on his health, family drama
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., appears to no longer have the support he once had, with many liberals turning on him following a scathing report focusing on his health.
New York Magazine’s Intelligencer published a lengthy piece Friday titled “All By Himself” which says how Fetterman “insists he is in good health” in the wake of a massive stroke he suffered in May 2022, “but staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew.”
Fetterman, once seen as a progressive darling, has earned fanfare from many moderates and conservatives over his pragmatism on various issues. However, he has made more headlines over his ardent support for Israel following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, which has sparked an outcry from the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, including members of his own staff.
Many conservative critics have taken aim at New York Magazine’s “hit piece” and believe Fetterman’s backing of Israel, which was prominently disseminated in the report, is the reason why liberals are suddenly abandoning him after rallying behind him on the heels of his stroke during the 2022 midterms.
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Tech journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher was one of Fetterman’s most vocal defenders after NBC News aired a report shedding light on the severity of his stroke, even taking a personal shot at reporter Dasha Burns (now Politico’s White House bureau chief), who spoke about Fetterman’s cognitive challenges she witnessed and questioned whether he understood what she was saying in small talk following a rare in-person interview at the time.
“Sorry to say but I talked to @JohnFetterman for over an hour without stop or any aides and this is just nonsense. Maybe this reporter is just bad at small talk,” Swisher posted on X in response to Burns.
LIBERALS RUSH TO DEFEND FETTERMAN AS REPORTERS QUESTION HIS MENTAL FITNESS FOLLOWING NBC INTERVIEW
That wasn’t the attitude Swisher expressed towards New York Magazine correspondent Ben Terris, who authored the report.
“This is so sad and Ben Terris handles it with fairness and empathy,” Swisher wrote on the social media platform Bluesky. “Having had a stroke, I can say meds and self care is key to a good recovery and a great life. This was also so avoidable and the twisting of Fetterman’s massive political skills is painful to read.”
Terris’ New York Magazine colleague Rebecca Traister repeatedly drew attention to his report on her social media accounts, even sharing someone else’s post that quoted the report which read, “One former staffer recalled overhearing Gisele on speakerphone that December saying to Fetterman, ‘Who did I marry? Where is the man I married?’”
But in her own piece profiling Fetterman in October 2022, Traister praised his campaign’s transparency of his medical records and attacked media outlets for “pushing for further documentation with some of the energy once applied to Hillary’s emails” and accused “right-wing carnival barkers” of having “taken cues from the Oz campaign.”
“As someone who has recently interviewed him: Fetterman’s comprehension is not at all impaired,” Traister lectured Burns on X. “He understands everything, it’s just that he reads it (which requires extra acuity, I’d argue) and responds in real time. It’s a hearing/auditory processing challenge.”
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Traister expressed sheer excitement over Fetterman’s recovery while calling his GOP opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz’s attacks towards his health “horrifying” during an appearance on MSNBC.
“It was very striking, following his campaign so closely over the past month, to see how swiftly his health was improving and how that improvement was on public display,” Traister said in 2022.
“You could see almost a day by day, and certainly a week over week, improvement in his ability to address crowds, his ability to be loose and his confidence in front of crowds. And that was really striking,” she continued. “And the thing that was striking alongside it was that that visible improvement was happening alongside this building press narrative, certainly on the right wing and also in some major newspapers, about how he was hiding something about his health.”
MSNBC host Chris Hayes sounded the alarm on the “profoundly unnerving” report on the “urgent concerns” those around Fetterman have about his health. But during the 2022 campaign, Hayes called the attacks about Fetterman’s health “gross,” and downplayed his stroke as a serious campaign issue since he’s an “incredibly authentic dude.”
MSNBC contributor Rotimi Adeoye sounded off on the New York Magazine report, writing “The Fetterman story is troubling—not just because of chaotic staff allegations, but because someone clearly still struggling with their mental health shouldn’t be in such a high-stakes role. The only solution is political: Fetterman should resign. PA Dems need a robust primary.”
But in another post after Fetterman was elected, Adeoye declared “Our country is better off because John Fetterman is in the Senate.” Both posts have since been deleted.
Former MSNBC host and Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan highlighted from the report an email Fetterman’s former chief of staff Adam Jentleson sent Fetterman’s doctor expressing his concerns, saying it “makes clear that Fetterman should not be serving in the Senate.”
“Every Senate Democrat should read this and be asked about it – especially Schumer,” Hasan wrote.
But in Oct. 2022, Hasan posted “Imagine being a sentient human being who really believes John Fetterman can’t be a senator because he had a stroke, but a stroke-free Herschel Walker can be a senator.”
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Liberal writer Jill Filipovic praised the report, calling it “well worth a read.”
“Not every person is fit to do every job, and someone with serious mental health challenges who may not be complying with a treatment plan probably shouldn’t be in congress,” Filipovic wrote.
But in October 2022, Filipovic chalked up the impact of Fetterman’s stroke as mere speech impairment.
“I know it’s too much to expect consistency from Republicans, but it’s weird to see them go after Fetterman because his stroke has impaired his speech, but defend Herschel Walker by being like, ‘it’s not his fault he can’t remember the abortions he paid for, he has brain damage.'” Filipovic wrote at the time.
She also praised Fetterman for demonstrating “a kind of courage and gumption rarely seen on the national political stage” following his Senate debate performance against Oz.
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“Senator Fetterman routinely drives so recklessly he nearly killed his wife in a car crash,” Democratic activist Armand Domalewski wrote while highlighting an excerpt from the report about a driving accident Fetterman was involved in last year.
That wasn’t the attitude Domalewski always had.
“[D]riving me crazy that Fetterman has to apologize for stumbling over his words after a stroke but we all have to just keep going on normally as if his opponent didn’t TORTURE LITERAL PUPPIES,” Domalewski wrote in October 2022, referencing his Fetterman’s Republican rival Oz.
“Fetterman could be a stumbling drunk who forgets his pants half the time and it wouldn’t matter because Dr Oz literally TORTURED AND KILLED PUPPIES!!!!” he added.
Even after Fetterman won his election, Domalewski was hyping the senator’s political prospects.
“Unless his health takes a dive, Biden is obviously running for re-election, but if he does bow out and Fetterman’s health continues to recover, Big John is clearly a Presidential contender,” Domalewski wrote in November 2022.
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American woman had terminal stage 4 cancer — until a drug trial saved her life
Two years ago, Emma Dimery was told her stage 4 colon cancer was incurable. Today, she is healthy and cancer-free — and she says a last-resort clinical trial saved her life.
Dimery, who lives in Minnesota, was just 23 when she was diagnosed with colon cancer, which has been rising sharply among teens and young adults in recent years.
After experiencing abdominal pain and having abnormal blood work, Dimery underwent a colonoscopy, which revealed a “softball-sized” tumor and another “golf ball-sized” one, she told Fox News Digital.
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Despite multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and some combination therapies, Dimery’s treatment-resistant cancer spread throughout her body over the years, leading to what she described as a “low point.”
“I was basically treading water, doing immunotherapy every other week for probably four years or so,” she told Fox News Digital during an on-camera interview, adding that she was “out of options.” (See the video at the top of the article.)
“I had been waiting for a clinical trial,” recalled Dimery, now 35. “I had exhausted every other standard of treatment, and even some not-so-standard ones.”
A glimmer of hope
When Dimery heard about a new trial at the University of Minnesota, she said it “wasn’t a tough decision.”
“I was on board pretty much from day one,” she said.
The trial, led by Dr. Emil Lou, tested an experimental genetic therapy that the researcher described as the “next frontier of immunotherapy.”
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While most immunotherapies have targets that are on the outside of cells, this one targeted the insides of cells.
“Some of the targets inside the cell are preventing the immune system from activating against the cancer,” Lou, a medical oncologist and scientist who had previously treated Dimery, told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview. “It’s kind of like a shield that protects the cancer cell from the body’s immune system.”
In the trial, cancer cells were retrieved from the participants, then were altered in a lab using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, which Lou described as “genetic scissors.” The process programmed the cells to have a more effective anti-tumor response.
The altered cells were then reintroduced into the patients’ bodies via infusion.
“They trained the cells to be able to fight my cancer specifically when they were reintroduced into my body,” Dimery noted.
“What we saw … was a magnificent and unprecedented level of response.”
It was a long process that was grueling at times, she shared, with some challenging side effects.
“You just get through it and try to focus on the good,” Dimery said. “And I had a lot of good around me. I had really amazing support team.”
A total of 12 patients participated in the study — but Dimery had by far the best results.
‘Unprecedented response’
The vast majority of advanced colorectal cancers are not considered to be curable, Lou confirmed to Fox News Digital.
“The chemotherapies or whatever other treatments we have available, while there are a number of them, are palliative — meaning they don’t have the capability to induce a cure in patients with metastatic stage 4 colorectal cancers,” he said.
“Emma was in that category until she came onto our trial.”
Lou described Dimery’s response to the experimental immunotherapy as “remarkable.” After just one infusion of the engineered cells, she was pronounced cancer-free — an outcome that is “almost unheard-of” with advanced colorectal cancer.
“We term this in oncology as a ‘clinical complete response,’ which is something that you see in 10% or less of all patients,” Lou said. “And it’s less than 10% for stage 4 colorectal cancers.”
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“What we saw in Emma was a magnificent and unprecedented level of response, going from a metastatic stage for an otherwise incurable cancer … where now we don’t see any cancer.”
Two years after the trial, Dimery said she’s doing “really well.”
“The trial worked almost immediately — and I’ve had no evidence of disease since,” she told Fox News Digital.
While she’s hesitant to use “the C-word,” or “cure,” she said the trial has changed the way she thinks of cancer.
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“Until now, the best I could hope for was remission to the point of no evidence of disease … and had to accept that it could rear its head again at any point, even if they can’t detect it on a scan,” Dimery said.
“All of my scans have just been coming back better and better.”
Dimery’s story was unveiled last week at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
“Emma is exceptional in many ways, but what we learned from her case, we hope to replicate and decipher how we can achieve this on a more consistent basis across the board for more patients like her,” Lou added.
Importance of screening
Studies have shown that in 2023, one in 10 colorectal cancer diagnoses were considered early-onset, or affecting patients under 50 years of age.
The American College of Surgeons predicts that early-onset cases will double by 2030.
“Colorectal cancer remains one of the few cancers for which we have validated screening tools,” Lou noted.
Those include blood-based tests, stool-based tests and colonoscopies.
In 2018, the American Cancer Society changed its colorectal screening recommendation from age 50 to age 45. Other medical organizations followed suit in ensuing years.
“The trial worked almost immediately — and I’ve had no evidence of disease since.”
Even so, Lou said he is seeing patients diagnosed well ahead of the age 45 benchmark.
“I’m seeing something in the last five or six years that I really did not see earlier in my career — teenagers, people in their 20s, 30s and 40s,” he shared.
“Just last week, I saw someone in their early 40s with widely metastatic stage 4 colorectal cancer.”
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What’s “striking and alarming,” Lou said, is that about half of the cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed at stage 4.
“A lot of times, they don’t even have symptoms, or they have symptoms that were construed as something else.”
Dimery said she is encouraged by early-onset colon cancer coming to the “forefront of public consciousness.”
The more people who are aware, the better. I think it’s really important to not panic, but to stay informed and connected to the community.”
Genetic testing is also important to gauge the availability of clinical trials, she noted.
“That can tell you a lot about your individual type of cancer,” Dimery said. “Luckily for me, I had just the right kind of cancer for this treatment.”
Trump moves to revive industry — warns dependence could cost us when it matters most
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to encourage domestic prescription drug manufacturing and cut down on the time it takes to approve U.S. pharmaceutical plants.
Under the order, the Food and Drug Administration is directed to eliminate unnecessary requirements, streamline reviews and work with domestic drugmakers to provide early support before facilities come online.
The president also instructed the agency to increase inspection fees for foreign manufacturing plants, improve the enforcement of active-ingredient source reporting by foreign producers and consider publicly listing facilities that fail to comply.
BUFFETT CRITICIZES TRUMP’S TARIFF ROLLOUT, SAYS US SHOULDN’T USE ‘TRADE AS A WEAPON’
The White House estimates that it could currently take five to 10 years to construct new manufacturing capacity for pharmaceuticals, describing that as “unacceptable” from a national security standpoint, according to a White House fact sheet.
“We don’t want to be buying our pharmaceuticals from other countries because if we’re in a war, we’re in a problem, we want to be able to make our own,” Trump said in the fact sheet. “As we invest in the future, we will permanently bring our medical supply chains back home. We will produce our medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and treatments right here in the United States.”
TRUMP REVEALS THE NEXT INDUSTRY THAT WILL FACE IMMINENT ‘MAJOR’ TARIFFS
The order also directs the Environmental Protection Agency to speed up the construction of facilities made to manufacture prescription drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and other materials.
During the signing, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency plans to start conducting surprise inspections of overseas plants, which he said would move the oversight to be more in line with the U.S.
This comes after Trump in recent months has repeatedly threatened tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, which had previously been exempt from trade wars over potential harms.
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Last month, the administration began investigating imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as it sought to impose tariffs on both sectors, claiming that extensive reliance on foreign production of medicine and chips is a national security threat.
The U.S. imports more than $200 billion in prescription drugs annually.
Prince Harry’s betrayal shattered King Charles’ trust beyond repair: expert
King Charles is said to be missing his grandchildren from across the pond — but the ailing monarch has no plans to reconcile with his younger son anytime soon, due to lack of trust.
The claim was made by British royals expert Hilary Fordwich, who said that the 76-year-old, along with the rest of the royal family, is having difficulty trusting Harry after his latest interview. The king’s grandson, Prince Archie, is celebrating his sixth birthday on May 6.
Fox News Digital reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
PRINCE HARRY’S EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW, COURT LOSS WON’T ‘DETRACT OR DISTRACT’ UNITED ROYAL FAMILY: PALACE AIDE
After losing a court case over his security on Friday, Harry gave an emotional interview in which he said he wanted reconciliation. The 40-year-old said “the security stuff” was the reason his father stopped talking to him.
“King Charles sees his wayward son’s approach to detailing private family disputes in interviews, books, and on television as in direct violation of not just royal norms but undignified and contrary to all basic decency,” Fordwich claimed.
“He knows it would be constitutionally inappropriate for him to have intervened directly in any way regarding security,” she said. “While he regrets not having a relationship with Archie or [his sister] Lilibet, he is constrained by the legal and constitutional boundaries of his position. Everyone who knows him says he’s loving and generous, so the lack of contact with his grandchildren is said to be hurtful.”
Fordwich said that the Duke of Sussex “has burned bridges” since he and his wife Meghan Markle stepped back as senior royals and moved to California in 2020. Since the couple’s departure, they have aired their grievances in interviews and documentaries, as well as Harry’s 2023 memoir “Spare,” which listed embarrassing details about the House of Windsor.
“He is oblivious to the fact that his privileged upbringing was a blessing compared with most,” Fordwich claimed. “His behavior is causing irreparable harm nationally, as he was once much loved and second in popularity only to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.”
“He doesn’t serve his country, he only serves himself,” Fordwich claimed. “That is abhorrent to all the British and British values.”
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Harry has been estranged from his family since he and Meghan quit royal duties, alleging hostility and racist attitudes by the press and royal establishment. His memoir, which was stuffed with private details about his family, only worsened the rift.
But Harry said what’s souring the relationship now is a decision to remove his police protection detail after he stopped being a working royal. On Friday, the Court of Appeal in London rejected Harry’s bid to restore the protection, saying a government committee was justified in deciding that security should be assessed on a case-by-case basis whenever Harry visits the U.K.
WATCH: PRINCE HARRY HAS SPENT THE LAST FEW YEARS ‘TORTURING’ THE ENTIRE ROYAL FAMILY, EXPERT ARGUES
Harry blamed the palace, alleging that the decision to withdraw his security had been made at the direction of royal officials, who sit on the committee alongside police and government representatives. He said they were “knowingly putting me and my family in harm’s way,” hoping that the sense of threat “would force us to come back.”
He suggested his father was part of the problem, saying he’d asked the king “to step out of the way and let the experts do their job.”
Fordwich was unfazed by Harry’s admissions.
“Harry’s public airing of his grievances, whining, perceived self-victimization, and refusal to resolve matters privately have not only alienated him from his family but also have deprived his children of their heritage as well as royal relationships,” she argued.
“Those who work for and know the royals all have little to no optimism for reconciliation. Harry’s recent legal actions and resulting BBC interview have only served to make matters way worse, not just among all the royals but also among most of the British public. His naïveté was on full display, as well as his ghastly poor judgment.”
Royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News Digital that Charles “is very paternal” and not getting to know his two young grandchildren has been a sore spot.
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“Of course, he misses meeting Harry and Meghan’s children just as much as they all miss knowing him,” he said. “Harry wants reconciliation, and I am sure Meghan wants that too. The point Harry was making was that the royal family had to invite them officially over so that they could all have full security. If it was a private visit, they would not have the same security levels.”
“The ball is in King Charles’ court now to make the first steps and invite them all over,” Turner added.
British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard claimed to Fox News Digital that Charles had always hoped he could develop a relationship with the Sussex children. However, he now sees it as “a distant wish.”
“He is horrified, hurt and upset by his son’s constant barrage of damaging, offensive comments towards him and the royal family,” Chard claimed. “He also has to preserve his energy, concentrate on battling cancer and lead the monarchy.”
“Prince Harry maintains that his security battle has prevented him from bringing his family to the U.K.,” said Chard. “Sadly, he will not bring his children to the U.K. without 24/7 gun-protected security. A thorough case-by-case bespoke security arrangement is in place.”
“He also believes he has no relationship with his father solely due to his security battle,” Chard continued.
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“This is not the case. Prince Harry is constantly in fight mode, battling personal crusades and publicly trashing the British royal family. Prince Harry may wear his heart on his sleeve. However, his lack of empathy towards others, hypocritical antics and blurred sense of reality has not only done him damage but has negatively impacted the whole royal family.”
The king has been treated for an undisclosed form of cancer for more than a year. Buckingham Palace has given infrequent updates and has not disclosed what form of cancer he has. Harry, who has met his father only once, briefly, since his diagnosis early last year, said, “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Harry held out little hope of another meeting with his father soon.
“The only time I come back to the U.K. is, sadly, for funerals or court cases,” he said.
Still, Harry noted he fears for his family’s safety.
Since his royal exit, he has been stripped of taxpayer-funded police protection. He has also been denied permission to pay for it himself, leaving private security his only option.
MEGHAN MARKLE STANDS BY PRINCE HARRY AFTER SECURITY APPEAL LOSS, SHOWS SUBTLE SUPPORT WITH TENDER FAMILY PHOTO
He said that is not as good as police protection, which is provided for life to “people who leave public office,” such as former prime ministers.
But like Fordwich, Chard stressed that Harry can’t be trusted. Without hesitation, she labeled him the “Duke of Delusions” due to his questionable actions.
“King Charles holds a place in his heart for his youngest child but sadly realizes he cannot be trusted,” Chard claimed. “King Charles, along with certain other royal family members, has been forced to cut contact with Prince Harry as all trust has been broken. Prince Harry has no filter and continues to share anything and everything with the media without a care in the world. There is only so much reputational damage that can be smoothed over.”
“He launches attacks on his father despite claiming ‘there is no point fighting anymore,’” said Chard.
“He condemns the ‘establishment stitch-up’ while maintaining that his establishment birthright should guarantee his police protection and everything he requests. He has blown all trust. No one has the time or heart to pander to Prince Harry’s whims, and they certainly don’t want their private conversations blazoned in books and Netflix productions.”
“Prince Harry’s actions may have put the final nail in the coffin,” Chard added.
PRINCE HARRY WANTS TO RECONCILE WITH ROYAL FAMILY: ‘I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER MY FATHER HAS’
Harry and Meghan continue to raise their children in California. Harry said he “can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K.” The prince said he loves Britain and “it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”