Divided Supreme Court rules against Oklahoma religious charter school
An evenly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a religious school that sought public funding from the state of Oklahoma.
In a 4-4 vote, the justices upheld the Oklahoma State Supreme Court’s decision that for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma City to receive public funds would be unconstitutional. Justice Amy Coney Barrett had recused herself from the case.
The court issued a one-sentence ruling upholding the lower court’s decision, saying only: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.”
Oklahoma has argued that providing state funds for a religious charter school violates the First Amendment.
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The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore’s contract request in June 2023, making them eligible to receive public funds. The school agreed that it would be free and open to all students “as a traditional public school,” and would comply with local, state and federal education laws.
But St. Isidore also indicated that the school “fully embraces the teachings” of the Catholic Church and participates “in the evangelizing mission of the church.”
Its ability to receive state funding was later blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled that using the funds for a religious school was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond sued to block the approval of the school’s state charter, calling it an “unlawful sponsorship” of a sectarian institution, and “a serious threat to the religious liberty of all four-million Oklahomans.”
That argument was appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case in October.
In more than two hours of wide-ranging oral arguments last month, justices appeared split along ideological lines over whether to allow St. Isidore to become the first religious charter school in the U.S.
The justices focused on two questions during the oral arguments: First was whether charter schools should be treated as public schools, which are considered extensions of the state and therefore subject to the Establishment Cause and its ban establishing or endorsing a religion; or if the school should be considered a private entity or contractor, which was the argument made by St. Isidore.
The second question was whether Oklahoma’s actions violated the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution, by placing what the school argues is an undue burden on its religious mission.
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The decision comes as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has, in recent years, ruled in favor of allowing taxpayer funds to be allocated to some religious organizations to provide “non-sectarian services” such as adoption services or food banks.
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In this case, the justices debated what limits on curriculum supervision and control would be placed on the religious charter school, if its contract with the state was allowed to move forward.
Justices Kentanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kegan pressed attorneys for the school on how they would treat students with different religious backgrounds who might opt to attend.
There is no indication of how each justice ultimately voted.
Defying Dem warnings, House Republicans push Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ through
House Republicans are celebrating the major victory they delivered early Thursday morning for President Donald Trump.
Minutes after the GOP majority in the House of Representatives stood nearly entirely united to pass Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package by a razor-thin 215-214, Speaker Mike Johnson touted that “the House has passed generational, truly nation-shaping legislation.”
Johnson predicted the measure would, among other things, “reduce spending and permanently lower taxes for families and job creators … and make government work more efficiently and effectively for all Americans.”
And Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota said that House Republicans have “shown time and time again that we deliver for the American people, especially when it matters most.”
HOW TRUMP’S SWEEPING BILL PASSED THROUGH THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
But with Republicans clinging to a fragile House majority, Democrats view the House passage of what’s called Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” as political ammunition as they aim to win back control of the chamber in next year’s midterm elections.
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin, in deriding the legislation, pledged that “Democrats will do everything we can to kick those who are responsible for this bill out of office. We have Americans at our side. This vote will cost many, many Republicans their seats in the midterms.”
And Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington State said in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of the final House vote that “we’re going to hold Republicans accountable, and there will be a price to pay.”
But the rival National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) disagrees.
“House Democrats just signed their own political death warrant. Voters won’t forget how they betrayed working families. And Republicans won’t let them,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued in a statement.
The GOP-crafted measure is stuffed full of Trump’s campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit. It includes extending his signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay, providing billions for border security and codifying his controversial immigration crackdown.
Passage of the bill in the House comes as the national debt currently sits at $36,214,475,432,210.84, according to Fox Business’ National Debt Tracker.
The massive package now heads to the Senate, where Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, said that “this is not one big, beautiful bill. It’s ugly.”
As Democrats attack the measure, they’re highlighting the GOP’s proposed restructuring of Medicaid—the nearly 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans.
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The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation’s major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire later this year. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulatory requirements for those seeking Medicaid coverage. Among them are a new set of work requirements for many of those seeking coverage.
“Let’s be clear, all Republicans are talking about right now is how many people and how fast they’re going to take away healthcare. They have these huge cuts to Medicaid, 14 million people lose healthcare across the country, and they’re talking about how fast they can do that,” said DelBene.
Schumer argued that “there’s nothing beautiful about stripping away people’s healthcare, forcing kids to go hungry, denying communities the resources they need, and increasing poverty.”
And Martin claimed that “the GOP budget will decimate local communities, blow an economic hole in rural America, and make us into a nation governed by and for a handful of elites.”
House Republicans push back against the Democrats’ attacks and say what they are doing is putting an end to waste, fraud and abuse currently in the Medicaid system, so the program can work for the public in the way that it was intended.
They call any talk that they are cutting aid to mothers, children, people with disabilities and the elderly a “flat out lie.”
And NRCC chair Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina told Fox News Digital in a statement ahead of the vote that “Republicans are ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid so the most vulnerable get the care they need.”
“Democrats are lying to protect a broken status quo that lets illegal immigrants siphon off billions meant for American families. We’re strengthening Medicaid for future generations by protecting taxpayers and restoring integrity,” Hudson added.
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Dating back to last year’s presidential campaign, Trump has vowed not to touch Medicaid. On Tuesday, as he made a rare stop on Capitol Hill to meet behind closed doors with House Republicans in order to shore up support for the bill, Trump’s message to fiscally conservative lawmakers looking to make further cuts to Medicaid was “Don’t f— around with Medicaid.”
While there are divisions between Republicans over Medicaid, and a chasm between the two major parties over the longstanding entitlement program, there is one point of agreement: This issue will continue to simmer on the campaign trail in one form or another long after the legislative battles on Capitol Hill are over.
Biden officials hid myocarditis risks linked to COVID vaccines: report
U.S. health officials knew about the risks of myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccines but downplayed the concern and delayed informing the public about the risks of taking the jab — that is according to a new Senate report released by Sen. Ron Johnson Wednesday.
Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has been investigating the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier this year, he subpoenaed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for records relating to COVID-19 vaccine safety data and communications about the pandemic.
SEN. RON JOHNSON: THE COVID COVER-UPS HAVE TO END
The interim report, spanning 55 pages, obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, revealed that Biden administration officials “withheld crucial health information from the Subcommittee and the public.”
Since 2021, Johnson has sent more than 70 oversight letters, which he says were “either completely ignored or inadequately addressed.”
The report highlights the records Johnson has obtained pursuant to the subpoena from the new, Trump administration-led health agency. Specifically, the report focuses on HHS’ awareness of and response to cases of myocarditis—a type of heart inflammation—following COVID-19 vaccination.
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Johnson’s report says the 2,473 pages of records he obtained “contain evidence of the Biden administration’s efforts to downplay and delay warning the public about the risks of myocarditis associated with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.”
The report points to records from May 2021, in which health officials at HHS discussed whether to issue a formal warning about myocarditis.
According to the report, the formal warning about myocarditis was initially going to be distributed nationwide as a Health Alert Network message, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is CDC’s “primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.”
However, Johnson’s report said that health officials at CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “ultimately decided against issuing a formal HAN and, instead, posted ‘clinical considerations’ on CDC’s website about myocarditis.”
“Based on the subpoenaed records the Subcommittee has received to date, as well as public FOIA documents, this interim report will highlight records and present a timeline showing U.S. health officials knew about the risk of myocarditis; those officials downplayed the health concern; and U.S. health agencies delayed informing the public about the risk of the adverse event.”
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The report also highlights the Israeli Ministry of Health notifying officials at the CDC in February 2021 of “large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine.”
The report also highlights documents showing CDC officials discussing “safety signals” for myocarditis with mRNA vaccines in April 2021 based on Defense Department and Israeli data, but “still not taking immediate steps to warn the public.”
Documents obtained by Johnson also show CDC officials communicating with Moderna and Pfizer representatives about the risks.
Johnson also obtained “draft meeting notes from late May 2021 exchanged between U.S. public health officials which included the question: ‘Is VAERS signaling for myopericarditis now?,’ and the answer: ‘For the age groups 16-17 years and 18-24 years, yes.’”
“VAERS” is an acronym for the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
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“Rather than provide the public and health care providers with immediate and transparent information regarding the risk of myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration waited until late June 2021 to announce changes to the labels for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines based on the ‘suggested increased risks’ of myocarditis and pericarditis,” the report states. “Even though CDC and FDA officials were well aware of the risk of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration opted to withhold issuing a formal warning to the public for months about the safety concerns, jeopardizing the health of young Americans.”
The report added that the Biden administration’s decision “to downplay the COVID-19 vaccine health risks and delay warning the public about cardiac-related adverse events associated with the mRNA vaccines jeopardized the public’s health.”
According to the report, as of April 25, 2025, VAERS reported 38,607 deaths and more than 1.6 million “adverse events worldwide associated with the administration of COVID-19 injections.”
Of the more than 38,000 deaths, the report said 25% occurred on Day 0, 1, or 2 following injection, compared to “2,663 deaths reported to VAERS associated with the flu vaccine over a period of 35 years.”
“No other reports of adverse events associated with any other drug or vaccine even come close to these statistics,” the report states. “And yet, those who oversaw the development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines continue to insist it is safe and effective, without providing the data to prove their claims.”
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Johnson’s report demands that the “full extent” of the Biden administration’s “failure to immediately warn the public about all COVID-19 vaccine adverse events must be completely exposed.”
“The American people fund the federal health departments and agencies with their hardearned tax dollars,” the report states. “The information developed by these departments and agencies belong to the American people, and should be made fully and transparently available.”
The report states that as “the roadblocks are removed and more documents that have been hidden and withheld for years become available, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will provide transparency and let the American public see what is their right to see.”
Aircraft crashes in San Diego neighborhood, sets multiple homes on fire
A small aircraft crashed in a San Diego military neighborhood Thursday morning, setting several homes and vehicles on fire.
The aircraft, a Cessna 550, crashed at around 3:45 a.m. in the Murphy Canyon neighborhood, leaving a path of destruction in its midst.
Officials said that there were “multiple fatalities” and that nobody on the ground was seriously injured. The plane can carry six to eight people, although investigators said they are still trying to determine how many people were on board.
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“We have jet fuel all over the place,” Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy said during a news conference. “Our main goal is to search all these homes and get everybody out right now.”
He said “there is a direct hit to multiple homes” in the Murphy Canyon neighborhood and described “a gigantic debris field” in an area of densely populated homes and sweeping canyon views.
Nearly 100 residents have been displaced in what Naval Base San Diego Capt. Bob Healy described as “one of the largest military housing areas in the world.”
Initial reports say that the plane hit a pole, losing its wing, then crashed into a home, sending debris airborne. Officials said that 15 homes were impacted by the crash. The plane originated from the Midwest.
PILOT KILLED AFTER SMALL PLANE CRASHES INTO CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD
Video footage by Fox 2 KTVU shows one house badly damaged by fire. At least three cars were seen burned in the driveway and the roof was partially collapsed.
Debris from the aircraft was seen strewn along a nearby road and several other cars on the road were also charred and mangled and could be seen still smoldering hours later as the morning sky brightened.
“We had one stubborn car fire that wouldn’t go out, but the house fires have been knocked down,” Eddy said. “Every car on both sides of the street caught fire due to jet fuel. Multiple homes were destroyed.”
The crash site is close to the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, a smaller airport on the north side of the city. The crash drew a large police and fire response with first responders now going from house to house to check on residents.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the plane to crash.
One witness said he heard several loud booms followed by fires.
“You look out the window, you just see big flames… So big flames, flames everywhere,” he told Fox 2 KTVU.
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Multiple roads were cordoned off and will remain closed off for several hours, officials said.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate, the FAA said in a statement. The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates, the FAA said.
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from dismantling Department of Education
A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from dismantling the Department of Education on Thursday, ruling that it cannot be done without congressional approval.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun’s order blocks the Trump administration from carrying out the mass-firing at the DOE announced in March and orders that any employees who were already fired be reinstated.
Joun’s order noted Trump’s repeated calls to shut down the department while on the campaign trail, and argued the reduction in force was his means of doing so.
“The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true,” Joun wrote.
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“Defendants do acknowledge, as they must, that the Department cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval, yet they simultaneously claim that their legislative goals (obtaining Congressional approval to shut down the Department) are distinct from their administrative goals (improving efficiency). There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions,” his ruling continues.
Read the full ruling below (App users click here)
The ruling comes just a day after another federal judge blocked Trump’s administration from firing two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton found that allowing unilateral firings would prevent the board from carrying out its purpose.
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Walton wrote that allowing at-will removals would make the board “beholden to the very authority it is supposed to oversee on behalf of Congress and the American people.”
The oversight board was initially created by Congress to ensure that federal counterterrorism policies were in line with privacy and civil liberties law.
The two plaintiffs, Travis LeBlanc and Edward Felten, argued in their lawsuit that members of the board cannot be fired without cause. Meanwhile, lawyers for Trump’s administration argued that members of other congressionally created boards do have explicit job protections, and it would therefore be wrong for Walton to create such protections where they are absent.
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“The Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the Associated Press. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
New book exposes how top Biden aide helped cover up Biden’s mental decline
A new book sheds light on former White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates’ role in defending President Joe Biden’s mental acuity, which the book alleges was done without the White House staff having the full picture of the president’s actual condition.
“Some of Bates’s colleagues believed that Biden’s inner circle took advantage of his loyalty and told him to deny things they knew were true,” Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson wrote in their new book “Original Sin,” detailing the inner workings of the Biden White House and attempts to downplay concerns about the president’s mental and physical fitness.
“He, along with most of the press team, rarely met with the president and didn’t have firsthand knowledge of the president’s wherewithal,” the book continued. “They relied on senior staff for answers. Still, risking his own credibility, Bates willingly became the White House’s tip of the spear when it came to fighting off any reporting on Biden’s acuity.”
Outside of White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Bates was perhaps the most prominent face of the public-facing defense of Biden during his administration, often handling requests for comment from reporters and is mentioned about half a dozen times in the book.
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The book goes into detail about an alleged “modus operandi” from the Biden campaign and the White House for “attacking any journalist who covered any questions about the president’s age” with the goal to “shame journalists and create a disincentive structure for those curious about the president’s condition.”
“To answer the question on everyone’s minds: No, Joe Biden does not have a doctorate in foreign affairs. He’s just that f—ing good,” Bates posted on X following a Biden press conference two weeks after the debate performance that many believe was the beginning of the end of his campaign.
The book looked back on that remark and stated that it “reflected the views of the Politburo but among professional Democrats, it became an instant legend for its sycophancy and tone-deafness.”
Bates dismissed the book’s narrative about him, telling Fox News Digital it “is distorted, stretching select facts while excluding others.”
A former Biden White House staffer also came to Bates’ defense, telling Fox News Digital, “This gets important facts wrong.”
FORMER BIDEN MEDICAL ADVISOR SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY’ HAD CANCER AT BEGINNING OF PRESIDENCY
“Bates served as a senior spokesperson who met with and traveled with the President, including in the Oval and on Air Force One, staffing him around the country and on Capitol Hill. That’s public information. He served as a point person in the press office on major legislative and political issues,” the former White House staffer continued. “He was known for being respectful and considerate if a colleague didn’t want to do an interview for a challenging story, whether it was about policy or anything else.”
The book details one specific instance of the White House successfully killing a story when “weeks” before the explosive Wall Street Journal story detailing concern about Biden’s decline came out in June, Steve Ricchetti, former White House deputy chief of staff, strongly denied claims that the president was slipping to another journalist.
“[A] reporter with a different national news outlet had been hearing from White House aides that behind the scenes the president was having serious and disturbing moments, forgetting names and facts, sometimes seeming seriously confused at meetings,” the book read.
“The reporter reached out to members of the White House press office, which not only aggressively—and angrily—disputed her reporting but also took the unusual step of having Steve Ricchetti call her,” the book said. “He talked to her off the record, so she couldn’t use any of what he said or even attribute it to ‘a White House source.’ But he told her that everything the others were saying was false, and that he was at the meetings as a counselor to the president.”
According to Tapper and Thompson, the Biden White House was going all out trying to control the perception of his health.
“The message from the White House was clear, this reporter believed: If she went forward with the story from anonymous aides, the White House would aggressively dispute it, on the record, and portray her as a liar,” the book reads. “The tacit threat worked.”
The book has sparked intense reactions from both sides of the aisle, leading many to slam the media’s coverage of Biden’s mental acuity and blame the media and Biden’s team for covering up the facts of the situation.
Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden’s cognitive decline and his inner circle’s role in covering it up.
Others have pushed back against the framing of the book, including Naomi Biden, Joe Biden’s granddaughter, who delivered a scathing rebuke to the new book, calling it “silly” and “political fairy smut.”
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CNN, Tapper’s network, has also faced pushback for its promotion of the book, including from “The View” and Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who took issue with the network promoting the book under the backdrop of Biden’s recent cancer diagnosis.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Biden spokesperson said, “There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover up or conspiracy.”
“Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill.”
States where people are using cash to buy homes instead of taking out mortgages
While many people take out a mortgage to buy a home, some homebuyers use cash to make their purchases.
The share of homes bought with all cash varies from state to state, with some states standing out as seeing the largest percentages, according to a recently released analysis by New American Funding.
Putting in all-cash offers on a house can “help buyers stand out in multiple-offer situations” as well as lead to a quicker closing, according to the mortgage lender.
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New American Funding said it analyzed data about 2024 home sales from ATTOM to craft its list, “Top 10 States for All-Cash Home Sales.”
According to the company, here are the top 10 states with the highest percentage of homes bought with all-cash.
West Virginia: 41.1%
New York: 40.4%
Delaware: 38.9%
Georgia: 37.5%
Alabama: 36.7%
South Carolina: 35.2%
North Carolina: 34.3%
Louisiana: 34.1%
Maine: 33.4%
Ohio: 31.5%
Last year, homebuyers nationwide used all-cash to buy homes in more than a quarter of home transactions, New American Funding reported, citing ATTOM.
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The median sale price of a home hit $438,466 as of April, according to a separate report from Redfin.
It represented a 1.8% increase from March and a 1.4% increase from April of last year, it found.
In April, more than 1.9 million homes were on the market on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to Redfin.
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Rapper claims his car was hit with Molotov cocktail month after alleged Diddy break-in
Kid Cudi claimed his car was hit with a Molotov cocktail roughly one month after Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly broke into his home.
In January, 2012, Kid Cudi’s car caught fire. The rapper testified Thursday that he got a call from his dog’s babysitter, who was at his home. He said no one else was present. At the time, Kid Cudi was at his ex-girlfriend’s sister’s house. After hearing about the car fire, Kid Cudi testified that he immediately went home.
The jury was shown photos of Kid Cudi’s Porsche. He said it looked like the top of the Porsche was cut open and the Molotov cocktail had been dropped in.
The jury was also shown photos of the damage the Molotov cocktail did on the Porsche. Kid Cudi testified that the door to the driver’s side showed smoke damage. The bottle for the Molotov cocktail was on the ground, near the Porsche.
Kid Cudi confirmed he spoke with law enforcement and filed a report.
However, his car was not able to be repaired. Kid Cudi said his reaction to the incident was “what the f—.”
Kid Cudi testified he understood the damage to his car was intentional.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Kid Cudi testified that he believed Sean “Diddy” Combs was involved in the car fire that damaged his Porsche beyond repair.
According to the rapper, he last saw Cassie Ventura at SoHo House a few days after the fire.
Kid Cudi testified that he had reached out to Diddy and told him they needed to meet up and talk. According to Cudi, everything was “getting out of hand.”
Kid Cudi confirmed he reached out to Diddy because he believed the rapper was involved in the car fire. There was an objection from the defense, which was sustained.
When an objection is sustained in court, it means the judge agrees that the question or answer is not permissible.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Kid Cudi testified that he called the police after Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly broke into his home in December of 2011.
Diddy had just found out that Kid Cudi was dating Cassie Ventura, the rapper claimed Thursday. After being alerted that Combs was at his home by his executive assistant Capricorn Clarke, Kid Cudi left Cassie at the Sunset Marquis.
When he arrived home, Kid Cudi said no one was in the home. Some gifts he had purchased for his family were opened and the dog was locked in the bathroom, the rapper said on the stand. He explained his dog was allowed to roam free.
Kid Cudi
had his dog for three years at the time. He claimed that after the break in, the dog was “very jittery” and “kind of on edge all the time.”
After assessing his home, Kid Cudi testified that he then got back into the car and called Combs again. He cannot remember his exact words, but claimed he was asking Combs where he was. Diddy allegedly told Kid Cudi he was “on [his] way.” Kid Cudi claimed he thought to himself, I don’t know who he has with him or what his intentions were… He recalled Diddy having a calm tone.
After the call, Kid Cudi said he thought about the reality of the situation, and decided to call the police. After calling the police, Kid Cudi returned home, spoke to the police, and made a report about the break-in. He explained he saw Cassie later and described her as “stressed.”
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
During Kid Cudi’s testimony, a 2011 break-in at the rapper’s home was brought up.
Kid Cudi testified that early in the morning he received a call from Cassie to say Diddy had found out about their relationship. At the time, Kid Cudi and Cassie had been seeing each other during a break in the singer’s relationship with Combs.
Cassie allegedly called to say Diddy had found out about their relationship. Kid Cudi testified she sounded “nervous” and “scared” on the phone and he went to pick her up. According to Kid Cudi, he was confused because he didn’t think Cassie was still dealing with Combs at the time. He told the jury when he picked Cassie up, she was “very stressed, nervous, scared, didn’t know what Sean Combs would do.”
After picking Cassie up, they allegedly went to the Sunset Marquis, because it was “someplace safe” and “off the radar.”
At the Sunset, Kid Cudi spoke with Capricorn Clarke on speakerphone. Kid Cudi testified that Capricorn sounded “very scared” and seemed to be crying. He said Capricorn, who worked for Diddy, told him that Combs was at Cudi’s house and she was forced to go with him. Capricorn allegedly waited in the car. Kid Cudi testified he drove home after the call.
On the drive to his house, Kid Cudi said he called Diddy. Combs answered. Kid Cudi claimed he said, “muthaf—-, you in my house?” Combs allegedly responded that he just wanted to talk. Cudi told him he was on his way home. Kid Cudi says Combs’ tone was calm.
Cudi claimed when he arrived home, he found his security cameras weren’t working and were positioned as if someone had moved them out of the way.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Kid Cudi took the stand Thursday in the federal trial for sex crimes against Sean “Diddy” Combs, after he was first mentioned by Cassie Ventura during her testimony last week.
While on the stand, Cassie claimed she and Kid Cudi began a relationship while she and Diddy were on a break, saying the relationship hurt Diddy because he was the one that put the two of them in a studio together.
She also alleged Diddy was offended by her decision to start a relationship with Cudi because of his status in the music industry.
Cassie also testified that following her breakup from Cudi in 2011, she visited Diddy in Arizona, where he threatened to blow up the “Day n’ Nite” singer’s car while he was out of the country.
According to her testimony, Cassie left one of Diddy’s alleged “freak offs” when he found messages between her and Cudi discussing what toiletries she should leave at his house.
She claimed Diddy later became violent with her due to the relationship, allegedly kicking Cassie in the back, resulting in a bruise there and on other parts of her body.
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright and Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
George Kaplan, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former assistant, had great respect for the rapper.
During Thursday’s testimony, Kaplan described his relationship with Diddy as “complicated.”
Diddy’s defense lawyer showed the jury a message from Kaplan to Combs from November of 2018, shortly after Kim Porter’s death. Kaplan explained he sent the message because he “was heartbroken for him.”
Kaplan also confirmed that he invited Combs to his wedding.
The ex-assistant agreed he has great respect for Diddy, but claimed what the rapper did offended him. “It shook me,” he said during cross-examination. He then described the relationship as “complicated.”
During re-direct, Kaplan clarified the violence from the 2015 Las Vegas plane incident and the apple-throwing incident was what “shook” him.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former assistant praised the rapper while on the stand despite testifying that he quit because he wasn’t comfortable fixing certain situations for Diddy.
George Kaplan told Diddy’s defense lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, that working for Combs was a complicated time in his life.
He described Diddy as “a God among men” and claimed the disgraced music mogul “didn’t just push me to my deepest depths. He introduced me to depths I didn’t know I had.”
Kaplan claimed when he chose to leave his job at Combs Enterprise, his friends told him, “this is my Harvard and I’m blowing it.”
The former personal assistant agreed working at Combs Enterprise was “a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former personal assistant claimed he also witnessed the rapper become violent towards his girlfriend Gina.
Gina, who has not testified in Diddy’s trial, began dating the rapper around April 2014, Cassie Ventura previously told the jury.
While on the stand Thursday, George Kaplan recalled an incident where Combs allegedly threw apples at Gina in his Miami home. According to Kaplan, Diddy was very angry and was throwing green apples at Gina. Kaplan claimed the rapper was throwing them “hard.” He testified that Gina was trying to shield herself from harm. Kaplan explained he did not intervene because he was a young kid trying to make it in the entertainment industry and thought for a second that this behavior was normal.
Kaplan testified that he gave three months notice to leave Combs Enterprise in September of 2015, a month after the apple-throwing incident with Gina.
During cross-examination, Kaplan claimed he could not remember if any of the apples hit Gina.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Kid Cudi arrived at court Thursday at around 9:18am ET for his highly-anticipated testimony in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial.
The Grammy Award-winning artist, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, was first mentioned in the trial during Cassie Ventura’s testimony. The two dated briefly in 2011, during a break in her relationship with Diddy.
During her testimony, Cassie claimed Diddy allegedly threatened to blow up Cudi’s car during her relationship with him, once he found out they were dating.
Cudi broke out onto the music scene with the release of his song, “Day ‘n Nite,” in 2007. He later released his debut album, “Man on the Moon: The End of Day,” in 2009, which included the song as his lead single. The rapper has received six Grammy nominations throughout his career, going on to win two in 2012, for his collaboration with Kanye West, Rihanna and Fergie on the song, “All of the Lights.”
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
George Kaplan, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former assistant, testified he quit working with the rapper because he didn’t feel comfortable fixing certain situations.
Kaplan said he once saw Cassie Ventura
with bruises on her face. He claimed the second incident happened at Diddy’s home after the alleged physical altercation on the plane to Las Vegas in 2015.
The “Last Night” singer allegedly called Kaplan via the intercom in the home. Kaplan said he went through the bedroom to the rapper, who was in the bathroom. The former personal assistant testified that Cassie was on the bed with her head in her hands. According to Kaplan, he saw Cassie with injuries on her face. Diddy allegedly asked Kaplan to go pick up over-the-counter lotion remedies to reduce swelling. Kaplan testified that he went to CVS and picked them up.
Diddy’s ex-assistant explained he left his job as Combs’ assistant in Dec 2015. He told the jury he “was not comfortable, aligned with the physical behavior…” he had seen, referring to the plane incident and the bedroom incident. Kaplan testified he wasn’t comfortable fixing those situations.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former assistant’s immunity deal won’t protect him from prosecution if he lies.
George Kaplan confirmed on the stand Thursday that he received a subpoena and has an immunity order.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey emphasized that the immunity order protects him from any crimes he committed in the past, but will not protect him if he lies on the stand in Diddy’s trial.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former personal assistant testified Thursday that he witnessed the rapper become physically violent with his now ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Kaplan took the stand as the first witness of the day and spoke about Diddy’s romantic relationships while the two worked together.
Kaplan named Diddy’s long-term partner and mother of his four kids, Kim Porter, along with Cassie and a woman named Gina. Porter, who died in 2018, was a “very important” person in Diddy’s life, Kaplan testified. He described Cassie and Gina as Combs’ girlfriends.
Kaplan explained he did not see Cassie often, but claimed he did witness Diddy being physically violent with her. According to the former personal assistant, the incident occurred in the second half of 2015 on Combs’ jet where other people were present while flying to Vegas.
Kaplan explained there was a partition that Diddy and Cassie
were sitting behind. Kaplan said he heard glass break. “There was a glass crash, shatter,” he testified. Kaplan said he looked over his right shoulder and saw Diddy standing over Cassie. The singer was allegedly on her back with her legs up, as if trying to create space. Combs had a glass in his hand over Cassie, Kaplan said. “There was a tremendous commotion scuffle…Cassie screamed ‘isn’t anybody seeing this?’” according to Kaplan.
Kaplan noted Combs was angry. The ex-assistant said he looked away, then heard further glass crashing and chaos. No one responded to Cassie, according to Kaplan. Security allegedly didn’t do anything. Kaplan testified he didn’t intervene, telling the jury, “I was 23 years old…just wanted a job in entertainment…” Kaplan said he didn’t want to compromise his position. He also testified that he did not call the police because it would not have aligned with what he wanted to accomplish professionally.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former employee took the stand Wednesday.
“One of Combs’ other assistants, George Kaplan, was compelled to testify after the judge granted him immunity and forced him to testify,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explained. “Kaplan said that he would pick up drugs for Combs and set up the hotel rooms with baby oil and Astroglide for the freak offs. He would also clean up the drugs and hotel rooms after the freak offs. This was important to establish the criminal enterprise for the racketeering charges.”
Kaplan claimed he would tidy up hotel rooms to protect Diddy, to protect his public image. He said hotels would sell photos or videos to newspapers to try and embarrass celebrities and he wanted to avoid that.
The ex-assistant also testified to providing food, clothes, or on few occasions, drugs, to Diddy during hotel stays. He described a medicine bag that allegedly contained a number of different drugs, including Advil, Tylenol, Ketamine and Wellbutrin.
The former employee claimed he once had to pick up MDMA for Diddy. It was the first time he was aware of Combs using MDMA, a stimulant and hallucinogen more commonly known as ecstasy or molly.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich and Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs chatted with his defense team Thursday as he prepared to hear continued testimony from his former employee.
For Thursday’s court appearance, Diddy wore a light gray sweater.
George Kaplan, a former assistant of the disgraced music mogul, took the stand Wednesday. The ex-assistant was subpoenaed by the prosecution to testify and originally invoked his 5th amendment right not to incriminate himself.
The prosecution told Kaplan that if he is granted immunity, he will be forced to answer questions during Diddy’s trial. Judge Arun Subramanian signed the immunity order and Kaplan took the stand again later in the day.
He testified about buying drugs for Diddy and tidying up hotel rooms after the music mogul had guests in order to protect his image.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former assistant, George Kaplan, took the stand on Wednesday, in the federal trial against the rapper for sex crimes.
During his testimony, Kaplan claimed he began working for Combs Enterprises in 2014 and had many responsibilities, including carrying bags which contained phones, medicine, computers, iPads and food.
His responsibilities changed as Diddy grew to trust him, saying he would go on to work anywhere from 80-100 hours per week and was paid approximately $125,000 per year.
He testified that the disgraced rapper would threaten his job once a month, the first time being when he purchased the wrong size water bottle.
According to his testimony, part of his job was to set up hotel rooms for Diddy, usually with only a few hours notice, which were booked under the name Frank Black.
He testified to stocking the hotel rooms with clothes, a speaker, candles, baby oil and Astroglide, which he paid for with his company credit card. He also testified to what he would see in the hotel rooms, claiming he would see energy drinks and once saw a crystalized powder on the bathroom counter.
His job also allegedly included cleaning up the hotel rooms after Diddy was done using them, as he told the jury he wanted to avoid the hotel selling photos or videos of the room to newspapers and that he was trying to protect Diddy’s public image.
“I made it as close as I could to look like it was the way that it was found when he came in,” he testified.
He explained that Diddy would have “guests,” a female partner at the hotels and would stay anywhere between 12 hours and a few days.
Another aspect of his job was allegedly to pick up drugs for the rapper. He claimed to once having to pick up MDMA for Diddy, and when in Miami was given a number to call and cash, saying a “guy came” when he called and he then paid for the drugs.
Kaplan then provided another example, alleging that while staying in the Bel-Air Hotel with Diddy, he was asked to call someone to “pick something up,” and upon meeting up with the person and paying him with Diddy’s money, was handed a bag to give to the rapper.
Diddy’s former assistant received immunity after the judge signed an order earlier Wednesday.
Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz, Tracy Wright and Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Dawn Hughes testified in court Wednesday about why abuse victims stay in violent relationships.
The psychology expert, who had previously testified against R. Kelly and Johnny Depp, explained she was only there to provide “blind testimony” and had not evaluated Sean “Diddy” Combs or his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Cassie testified last week about the alleged abuse she experienced at the hands of her ex.
“She answered one of the biggest questions in the case: Why did Ventura stay in such a coercive and violent relationship if she didn’t consent to the freak offs?” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explained.
“Hughes talked about trauma bonding and why victims stay in abusive relationships,” he added. “Abusers use power and control to make their victims feel trapped. She also talked about the ways victims cope, how abuse affects their memory, and why they don’t seek help or tell anyone about the abuse for years. This was consistent with Ventura’s account of Combs manipulating and controlling every aspect of her life.”
Former HSI agent Gerard Gannon testified in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial this week.
Gannon helped plan the raid on Diddy’s Miami home. According to Gannon, agents and police used an armored vehicle and a boat, saying it was typical practice.
When the special response team arrived at the rapper’s home on Star Island, they drove through the gate. Gannon testified when the vehicle pushed though, the gate broke.
Gannon testified in court Tuesday that he was personally in all the rooms of Diddy’s Star Island mansion except the basement.
During the search on Diddy’s home on March 25, 2024, authorities allegedly seized various “freak off” supplies, including narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.
Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Homeland Security Investigations special agent Gerard Gannon testified in the federal trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday.
Diddy’s homes in both Miami and Los Angeles were raided by Homeland Security on March 25, 2024, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News Digital at the time that the raids were connected to a federal human trafficking investigation.
According to Gannon’s testimony, HSI was aware Diddy would not be at his Miami home when they executed their search warrant, but that there were six individuals on the property at the time of the raid. He testified that “there was one individual who wasn’t too happy” and failed to cooperate while being searched.
Among the items found during the raids of Diddy’s Star Island home was a black Gucci bag found on top of a dresser, which Gannon claims had a bag of assorted pills, assumed to be narcotics, and white powder.
Photos of the bag, which included blue, pink, white and yellow pills were shown to the jury. The photo also shows a rolled up $100 bill, which tested positive for cocaine and ketamine.
Gannon claims they also found 13 pairs of high heels and other shoes, including boots, one of which had three cellphones inside.
They also found 25 bottles of baby oil
and 31 bottles of Astroglide as well as a box with “Puffy” engraved on it, which contained a bag with a clear pill and crystal rock-like substance.
Fox News Digital’s Lauryn Overhultz and Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report.
Former NOPD chief slams Sheriff Hutson’s ‘checkered past’ after recent jailbreak
Former New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas is criticizing what he described as New Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson’s “checkered past” after 10 inmates escaped a parish jail last week.
Since the inmates escaped from a hole behind a toilet in a jail cell the morning of May 16, authorities have recaptured five and arrested one correctional officer in the jailbreak.
“Sheriff Hutson has had a very checkered past in the last 15 years in the city of New Orleans, with multiple complaints of administrative failures as the [former] independent police monitor, multiple complaints as the sheriff and the consent decree management and multiple complaints of ethical violations that have resulted in findings by the Louisiana Ethics Board,” Serpas told Fox News Digital.
TWO MORE ARRESTED TODAY FOR ALLEGEDLY AIDING NEW ORLEANS JAILBREAK FUGITIVES
“It’s no surprise to the people of New Orleans that incompetence[e] is key to her leadership style, and the people deserve so much better.”
The escaped inmates, some of whom are charged with violent offenses, including murder, were being held in a minimum-custody site at the Orleans Parish prison. The jail is only at 60% staffing, and at the time of the escape, four supervisors and 36 staff members were monitoring 1,400 inmates, authorities said.
Hutson did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital, but she did announce a temporary suspension of her re-election campaign in a statement Wednesday morning.
“As I said today, I take full accountability for the breach that occurred under my leadership,” Hutson said. “I am grateful to the community, our law enforcement partners and city and state leaders for helping us to secure the Orleans Justice Center and capture the remaining escapees,” Hutson said in a statement.
“We’ve taken immediate action, including suspensions, an arrest and full cooperation with the attorney general’s investigation.”
LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL EXPECTS MORE ARRESTS IN NEW ORLEANS JAIL ESCAPE INVESTIGATION
She added there is “a long road ahead” of her “to be fully satisfied that the [Orleans Justice Center] and my deputies have the proper resources to perform their duties to the fullest extent the people of New Orleans deserve.”
“I cannot spend a moment putting politics over your needs.”
“As such, I am temporarily suspending my re-election campaign. I cannot spend a moment putting politics over your needs,” she said. “Now is the time to focus on security, accountability, and public safety. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with other agencies and community organizations to hear your valuable input and make necessary changes.”
FIFTH ESCAPED INMATE FROM NEW ORLEANS JAIL RECAPTURED AFTER DAYS ON THE RUN
Serpas noted there was historically low voter turnout for the sheriff election in December 2021, when less than 60,000 votes were cast, representing just 27% of New Orleans Parish registered voters. It was similar to that year’s mayoral race, at 28% turnout.
Hutson faced ethics charges over nepotism and other complaints in September 2024 and whistleblower lawsuits from former administrators between 2023 and 2024, FOX 8 New Orleans reported.
LOUISIANA JAIL WORKER ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY HELPING 10 INMATES ESCAPE ORLEANS PARISH FACILITY
When asked his thoughts on the arrest of a jail employee, 33-year-old Sterling Williams, who is accused of helping the inmates escape, Serpas, now a criminology and justice professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, said “the question” for him is how Hutson did not see “red flags on an appointment.”
Two others, Cortnie Harris, 32, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, have also been accused of aiding the escape.
“There is no question that it’s difficult to hire people to work in the jail environment,” Serpas said. “There is no question that there are many examples across the country of jail employees violating their oath and office. It’s a thing that sheriffs just know what to look out for. And here we have another example of this particular sheriff … not knowing how to actually lead or be ethical in that leadership.”
LOUISIANA GOVERNOR BLASTS ‘PROGRESSIVE PROMISES’ AFTER NEW ORLEANS JAIL ESCAPE
Hutson has also received criticism for declining jail conditions at the Orleans Justice Center, including drug smuggling, inmate violence and inadequate mental health care. Federal monitors have noted major gaps in safety and supervision in biannual reports on the Orleans Parish jail.
FOX 8 found that Hutson’s office has regressed in four jail safety and supervision categories since the last sheriff’s administration, while the remainder are the same as the previous administration.
Monitors “witnessed the most unsupervised jail units in recent memory once Sheriff Susan Hutson took over,” the report states, according to FOX 8.
Hutson proposed a tax increase to generate $11.7 million annually for the sheriff’s office, but 91% of voters rejected the measure.
Between 2022 and 2024, the sheriff’s office lost 17 employees, and Hutson expressed a need for 150 additional deputies to manage a 500-person increase in inmates since she took office.
To reestablish trust with the public after the jailbreak, the sheriff’s office must first apprehend all 10 escapees, Serpas said.
“The public expects the local, state and federal agencies will work together, which we have clear evidence of,” the former superintendent said. “I think the next jury that is out, if you will, is there is an upcoming sheriff’s election. And in New Orleans, my hometown … in Sheriff Hutson’s race, when she won, 25% of voters went to the poll. We need people to go to the poll and challenge the candidates.”
Anyone found aiding an escapee will be charged as an accomplice, according to New Orleans authorities. The FBI is offering rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of the escaped inmates. Crime Stoppers is also offering a $2,000 reward per inmate.
The five men who remain on the run are:
- Lenton J. Vanburen Jr., 26, faces charges of illegal carrying of weapons, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, obstruction of justice and introducing contraband in prison.
- Jermaine Donald, 42, faces charges of second-degree murder, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon and obstruction of justice.
- Antoine Massey, 32, faces charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, theft of a motor vehicle and a parole violation.
- Derrick Groves, 27, faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and battery of a correctional facility employee.
- Leo O. Tate Sr., 31, faces charges of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, illegal carrying of a weapon, motor vehicle theft and multiple drug counts.
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A violent offender warrant squad is searching for the escapees along with the FBI and U.S. Marshals. More than 200 law enforcement officers are assisting with the search.