‘Loyalty police’ leader pleads Fifth in Biden mental decline investigation
A top aide to former first lady Jill Biden refused to answer GOP investigators’ questions on Wednesday as the House Oversight Committee probes whether senior ex-White House aides covered up signs of former President Joe Biden’s mental decline.
Anthony Bernal, former assistant to the president and senior advisor to the first lady, was compelled for a July 16 closed-door deposition after missing a previously agreed-upon interview date late last month.
His scheduled sit-down came and went quickly, however. Bernal apparently pleaded the Fifth Amendment to the questions asked by House staffers, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., quickly confirmed Bernal invoked his right against self-incrimination in comments to reporters alongside committee member Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who was also present.
COMER DISMISSES BIDEN DOCTOR’S BID FOR PAUSE IN COVER-UP PROBE: ‘THROWING OUT EVERY EXCUSE’
Both criticized Bernal and his lawyer for arguing the Fifth Amendment was not an admission of guilt, and Comer told reporters “all options are on the table” when asked whether the former president himself should be brought in.
“We’re gonna continue our investigation. I think that the American people are concerned,” Comer said.
A follow-up statement by Comer said, “During his deposition today, Mr. Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health.”
While the deposition was meant to be staff-led, several lawmakers were seen entering the room – Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, both members of the committee, both made appearances.
Crockett said the deposition was “fine” in response to a question by Fox News Digital. “They’re still losers,” she added.
Donalds, however, called for House investigators to aggressively pursue their leads.
“The chairman is being nice. I don’t have to be. This is corruption at the highest level, because if you cannot, say, answer a simple question about Joe Biden’s capabilities, then that further demonstrates that he was not in charge of his administration,” Donalds said.
“And if he was not in charge of his administration, then every order, every bill that was signed, every memorandum, as far as I’m concerned, are null and void.”
Comer is investigating allegations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back against those claims.
In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Biden affirmed he “made every decision” on his own.
“Original Sin,” a book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson, positions Bernal as a fiercely protective aide who was dubbed the leader of the “loyalty police” by other former Biden staffers.
His LinkedIn page lists him as currently working as Jill Biden’s chief of staff in the Transition Office of Former President Joe Biden.
Bernal was originally slated to appear last month for a voluntary transcribed interview, but he and his lawyers backtracked after the Trump administration announced it was waiving executive privilege rights for him and several other former White House staffers.
“Now that the White House has waived executive privilege, it’s abundantly clear that Anthony Bernal – Jill Biden’s so-called ‘work husband’ – never intended to be transparent about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the ensuing cover-up,” Comer said in late June.
He’s now the second former Biden administration staffer to invoke the Fifth Amendment after ex-White House physician Kevin O’Connor did so last week.
O’Connor’s deposition lasted less than 30 minutes, with the doctor refusing to answer any questions after his name.
FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SAYS SHE ‘NEVER HAD A CONCERN’ ABOUT BIDEN’S MENTAL STATE AS HOUSE PROBE HEATS UP
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But O’Connor’s lawyers argued at the time that it was not an admission of guilt. Rather, they were concerned the scope of the committee’s questioning could force him to violate patient-doctor confidentiality, risking his standing as a physician.
A House Oversight Committee aide pushed back: “Doctor-patient objection would have meant he would have stayed and answered questions that didn’t implicate such privilege. Instead, he took the Fifth to all and any potential questions.”
Two other former Biden White House staffers appeared for voluntary transcribed interviews already.
Another, former deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, was also subpoenaed to appear this Friday.
Officials flag surprising revelations from deep State Department cuts
When senior State Department officials set out to trim the agency in the “biggest reorganization since the Cold War,” they couldn’t get a total headcount on employees — for months, they say.
“It took us three months to get a list of the people that actually work in the building,” one senior State Department official told reporters during a briefing at Foggy Bottom on Monday, defending the job cuts that detractors have claimed will damage U.S. diplomacy.
“They couldn’t tell you how many people worked here,” the official said. “It’s sort of scary as a taxpayer and as a public servant to think that we don’t even know how many employees we have. This is a national security agency, you know. Who are these people?”
The reorganization will result in a department with about 3,000 fewer employees. Around half of those took a voluntary buyout, and the other half were given reduction in force (RIF) notices.
RUBIO SPEARHEADS MASSIVE STATE DEPT REORGANIZATION SET TO ELIMINATE, MERGE MORE THAN 300 OFFICES
A handful of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s closest advisors evaluated over 700 domestic offices within the State Department, submitting RIF (reduction in force) notices to employees in those they found to be “duplicative” or “inefficient.”
The idea, officials said, was to put a “maximum of 12 clearances on any piece of paper,” meaning documents would go through 12 layers of approval instead “40, 50 clearances.”
The department had dozens of different offices handling human resources, and when a new employee was hired, they were accepting faxed records on their past work with other agencies.
“It’s crazy that a department that’s tasked with so many critical diplomatic, national security functions, with a $50 billion plus budget is running its affairs that way,” an official said.
The investigation found three separate offices dealing with sanctions, two handling arms control issues.
“Some of these regional offices within this sort of functional civil liberties, civil society, bureaus of democracy, human rights and labor, population, refugees and migration each had their own regional offices in addition to the country desk, regional bureau, construct,” the official said. “Every independent bureau and office had its own executive director, its own HR department, its own payments.We were making payments out of like 60 plus different offices.”
Rubio’s team maintains the reductions focus on nonessential bureaucratic layers while preserving frontline diplomacy. A Supreme Court decision in late June reopened the door for mass federal layoffs after a lower court had blocked the cuts. Legal challenges from unions remain pending, though the reorganization is moving forward.
The officials shuttered a “diplomats in residence” program, which they determined to be a “cushy job.”
“State Department employees are getting paid to go hang out at Georgetown, and sort of recruit for the Foreign Service,” one official said, “without any sort of metrics or accountability.”
They didn’t touch the country desks, those specifically focused on nations like Iran or China, and didn’t fire anyone from passport services or diplomatic security. They did not make cuts at embassies or foreign posts.
“We touched the people that are doing these sort of like wasteful, sort of mindboggling functions or places where we found natural efficiencies in combining two offices.”
WHITE HOUSE PROPOSAL AXES UN, NATO FUNDS AND HALVES STATE DEPARTMENT BUDGET
Critics have warned that cuts to the diplomatic corps could damage U.S. presence globally and cede soft power to China.
“A climate change office is not countering China,” an official shot back.
The department also shuttered an office that had been tasked with resettling Afghan refugees seeking to flee Talliban rule and culled the Bureau of Population, Refugees & Migration.
“That office was not doing work that was countering China or serving the national interest,” the official said. “China has overtaken the United States in a number of those countries. So I would argue growth at the State Department has not coincided with a growth of outcomes for the American taxpayer.”
In another example, an official told of a Gulf state foreign minister who complained that theBureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor under the Biden administration kept pushing them to unionize foreign workers.
“This created huge diplomatic tension with them,” the official said. “That foreign minister was delighted and wants to work with us on shared prosperity and trade agreements that aren’t trying to to be patronizing to other countries about their domestic affairs.”
Still, the process has sparked palpable tension within the department. Employees gathered tearfully in the Foggy Bottom lobby to say goodbye, some displaying signs reading, “Diplomacy matters.”
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Signs with messages like “resist fascism” and “you made an impact” were taped up throughout the department.
A group of more than 130 former senior officials, including former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, signed an open letter expressing concern that deep staff reductions could endanger U.S. foreign policy effectiveness.
Some have seized on the results of a whittled-down State Department and foreign aid apparatus: A report by The Atlantic found the Trump administration had given an order to incinerate 500 tons of emergency food that had been purchased during the Biden administration as aid to be distributed in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“It’sa little bit of a shame to see people behaving that way. You sort of wonder whether they had any interest in following the president and sort of, upholding their oath to listen to the commands of the people,” one official said.
Political commentator exposes glaring omission in New York Times’ Biden interview
Political commentator Mark Halperin called out The New York Times for their interview with former President Joe Biden published on Sunday, questioning why expert and Republican analysis on the president’s use of an autopen to “delegate pardons” was “absent” from their write-up.
On Monday’s episode of “The Morning Meeting,” Halperin argued that The New York Times disregarded basic journalistic standards by failing to include opinions from experts and Republicans on Biden’s claims about his use of the autopen.
“If this shoe were on the other foot, I can’t believe The New York Times wouldn’t have gone and gotten Adam Schiff’s reaction. There’s no Republican reaction in that story,” Halperin noted. “There’s no legal expert quoted in the story…”
BIDEN DEFENDS CONTROVERSIAL AUTOPEN USE FOR MASS CLEMENCY DECISIONS IN NYT INTERVIEW: ‘A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE’
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer interjected, noting that there is a pattern from the “legacy left-wing press” in refusing to engage with Republicans on stories that concern possible wrong-doing by Democrats.
“That’s the point I’m making,” Halperin replied.
“It’s like, that’s basic journalism 101. Biden is now taking the position that he could delegate pardons, right? That’s the position they took in the story. Everything else is fine. That’s the one thing. So what do law professors think about that? What do Republicans think about that? It’s absent from the story,” he added.
The political commentator continued, stating that he cannot understand “as a matter of journalism,” why The Times would forgo expert and dissenting opinions on Biden’s claims about his autopen use. He said that if the outlet was writing about a Republican politician in the same circumstances, “they’d have both of those things.”
“They’d have some hysterical law professors saying this is an impeachable offense, and they’d have a Republican saying this needs to be investigated,” Halprin asserted. “It’s absent from the story, it’s madness.”
TRUMP RESPONDS TO BIDEN DISMISSAL OF AUTOPEN PROBE, SAYS HE DIDN’T KNOW ‘WHAT WAS GOING ON’
In The Times’ interview with Biden, the former president argued that because he “granted clemency to so many people,” he had his staff use the tool to sign the pardons.
“‘I made every decision,’ Mr. Biden said in a phone interview on Thursday, asserting that he had his staff use an autopen replicating his signature on the clemency warrants because ‘we’re talking about a whole lot of people,’” The Times reported.
However, The Times report said Biden did not personally approve each name included in the broad, categorical pardons.
“Rather, after extensive discussion of different possible criteria, he signed off on the standards he wanted to be used to determine which convicts would qualify for a reduction in sentence,” The Times reported.
Biden’s chief of staff issued final approval for multiple high-profile preemptive pardons during the former president’s final days in office.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to The New York Times for comment.
AOC hosts DC breakfast to rally Dems behind Zohran Mamdani after primary upset
The political earthquake that shook the Democratic Party when Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s primary last month has rattled its way down to Washington, D.C., as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., teamed up with Mamdani at a “Communication and Organizing Skillshare Breakfast” on Wednesday morning.
Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive champion and youngest woman elected to Congress, was an early endorser of Mamdani, the 33-year-old so-called democratic socialist who has yet to land key endorsements from New York Democratic leaders.
The Bronx and Queens representative campaigned with Mamdani in New York City ahead of his primary win last month, and on Wednesday, the “Squad” member is welcoming Mamdani to the nation’s capital.
Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani were scheduled to host the 8 a.m. breakfast at the National Democratic Club. While the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is located right next door to where Wednesday’s breakfast is being held, the DNC said it was not involved with the event.
Minutes before the breakfast was scheduled to start, the location was moved to a restaurant a few blocks away.
REPUBLICANS RELENTLESSLY USE MAMDANI AS SOCIALIST CUDGEL TO BASH VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS
Ocasio-Cortez confirmed the breakfast meeting on Tuesday, telling reporters she is eager for people to meet him “face to face” and “hear what he has to say about making New York affordable for working people,” while championing issues like rent freezes, affordable childcare and grocery prices.
MAMDANI’S PRIMARY WIN EXPOSES DEMOCRAT DIVIDE AS TOP LEADERS WITHHOLD ENDORSEMENTS
“I think a lot of people just need to get to know folks before they issue an endorsement. I hope that this conversation can be constructive to bring the party together and rally behind our nominee,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Mamdani has yet to secure endorsements from two top New York Democrats – House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.
“I’m excited to go to Washington, D.C., to speak with Congressman Jeffries, to speak with Senator Schumer, to speak with leaders of our party across the country,” Mamdani said Tuesday.
But while Mamdani is eager to meet with Jeffries and Schumer in Washington, no such meeting has been reported.
When Fox News asked Schumer if he was meeting with Mamdani in Washington on Wednesday, he said, “I spoke with him last night and will be meeting in New York City.”
And on Monday, Jeffries told reporters, “I’m scheduled to meet with the Democratic nominee at the end of the week back home in Brooklyn.”
Longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, who has endorsed Mamdani, asked by Fox News if Schumer and Jeffries would eventually endorse the mayoral nominee, said he “would assume so in time.”
Nadler spoke with Fox News after attending the breakfast meeting.
Last month, New York Democrats congratulated Mamdani on securing the Democratic nomination and confirmed they were having discussions with the young socialist, who would be New York City’s first Muslim mayor if elected this November.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., endorsed Mamdani last week after backing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary. Cuomo announced on Monday his decision to stay in the mayoral race as an independent.
“We’re past the primary, and the people of New York City have spoken,” Epsaillat said Thursday. “If there is a common denominator in every decision that I’ve made since I began to represent this district, in terms of supporting someone, it’s called the Democratic Party.”
Ocasio-Cortez agreed Democrats are “stronger when we are united” when speaking with reporters Tuesday.
“Zohran Mamdani is the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, and as a Democrat, I am rallying behind our nominee,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., said he would not attend Ocasio-Cortez’s breakfast on Wednesday. Suozzi, a moderate, has emerged as a vocal opponent to Mamdani’s campaign among New York Democrats.
But Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, attended the breakfast meeting and told reporters as she departed that Mamdani had successfully utilized social media on the campaign trail. Dingell also blamed the media for what she said was rhetoric that Democrats are moving towards socialism.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, a top progressive House member, told reporters as she left the meeting that Mamdani was “inspiring.”
Rep. Ro Khanna of California, another leading progressive lawmaker who is also considered a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, told reporters as he left the meeting that Mamdani was “very impressive.”
Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a Democrat from New York who has endorsed Mamdani, told reporters as she left the meeting that “it it just its just beautiful to have someone who is so authentic, you know, that money cannot buy that. And, we had a great conversation.”
It appears Mamdani didn’t delve into specifics regarding the far-left agenda he’s hoping to enact if he’s elected New York City mayor, and instead spotlighted his effective campaign trail messaging which focused on the crucial issue of affordability.
Democratic Rep. Luz Rivas of California told reporters upon leaving the meeting that “it was just more how he was getting that message out,” when asked what Mamdani discussed.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., confirmed he was planning to attend Wednesday’s breakfast. While Moskowitz admitted he has “vast disagreements” with Mamdani on policy, he said he wants to learn about running a successful digital campaign.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked President Donald Trump if he was invited to the breakfast.
“I’d love to be,” Trump said. “I’d really love to go. I mean, I look forward to meeting them both.”
But Trump reiterated his claim that Mamdani is “a Communist. I don’t think our country is ready for a Communist, but we’re going to see. And I don’t think that race is over yet either.”
Trump added that he thinks Cuomo should stay in the race because “he has a shot.”
“He’s running against a Communist. I would think that he would have a good shot of winning,” Trump explained.
The Mamdani campaign was quick to seize on Trump’s comments Tuesday.
“We would like to congratulate Andrew Cuomo on earning Donald Trump’s endorsement. Obviously, this triumph speaks for itself. The question now is whether Cuomo will embrace Trump’s support publicly or continue to just accept it in private,” Jeffrey Lerner, a Mamdani campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.
Republicans have been relentless in trying to anchor Mamdani to Democrats across the country who are running in competitive races in elections this year and in next year’s midterms.
Asked earlier this week if Mamdani is giving the GOP extra ammunition in their messaging battle, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley said, “Absolutely.”
“I mean, this is the face of the new Democratic Party,” Whatley charged in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
“Everybody who wants to lead that party wants to lead it to the left. They’re moving away from the American public right now at a pretty rapid clip.”
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The National Republican Congressional Committee, which aims to protect the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House in next year’s midterms, has repeatedly tied Democrats to Mamdani.
“Radical socialist Zohran Mamdani isn’t just the future of the Democrat Party, he is the Democrat Party. On the campaign trail, we’ll make sure every voter knows House Democrats share his far-left agenda. They may try to run from it, but they’ve already bent the knee.”
Trump’s controversial plan to fire federal workers finds favor with Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily allow mass layoffs at the Education Department marked the latest in a string of rulings from the high court green-lighting the president’s plans to scale down the size of the federal workforce.
Permitting the termination of about 1,400 Education Department employees is one of several instances of the Supreme Court showing significant deference to Trump’s power over the executive branch. In other cases, the high court has preliminarily approved of Trump’s executive order calling for sweeping federal job cuts and shown an openness to the president diminishing the independence of some agencies.
Often these decisions, issued on an emergency basis at the request of the Trump administration, have come with little explanation. The high court did not, for example, spell out why it allowed Trump to carry out mass layoffs at the Education Department. But the move advances the president’s long-term efforts to dismantle the department, for now.
South Texas College law professor Joshua Blackman said the plaintiffs’ argument that Congress needs to approve such a drastic change to an agency did not appear persuasive to the high court.
SUPREME COURT RULES ON TRUMP’S MASS LAYOFFS AT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
“I think they’re basically saying, ‘We don’t think this is trying to restructure the agency,’” Blackman told Fox News Digital. “Justices Jackson and Sotomayor sort of made that point in the dissent, but I don’t think it’s resonating with the majority.”
Blackman noted that even though these shadow docket decisions are temporary while the lawsuits proceed in the lower courts, they have lasting power. Litigation can take two or three years, and employees who lose their jobs are likely not waiting around for that long to return to the government, he said.
He also said those employees are not “in theory, at least,” suffering irreparable harm because “reinstatements with back pay is an option.” Irreparable harm is a criterion judges consider before issuing emergency orders.
Another Trump-friendly ruling
Last week, the Supreme Court temporarily reversed Judge Susan Illston’s order blocking the administration from acting on Trump’s executive order to reduce the workforce.
“The President has the authority to seek changes to executive branch agencies, but he must do so in lawful ways and, in the case of large-scale reorganizations, with the cooperation of the legislative branch,” Illston, a Clinton-appointed judge based in California, wrote.
‘IT WILL HAPPEN QUICKLY’: STATE DEPT POISED TO ACT AFTER SUPREME COURT GREEN-LIGHTS AGENCY LAYOFFS
Trump signed an executive order after he took office announcing a sweeping “reduction in force” initiative. To carry out Trump’s order, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management sent a directive to the heads of government agencies in February to craft plans to eliminate jobs.
“Agencies should focus on the maximum elimination of functions that are not statutorily mandated while driving the highest-quality, most efficient delivery of their statutorily required functions,” the memo said.
A group of labor organizations and nonprofits sued, arguing a mass reorganization of government required congressional approval.
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against them by pausing Illston’s injunction. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan sided with the conservative majority, which found that the executive order and memo are lawful. The majority noted that the decision is not a reflection of the justices’ opinions on agency-specific firings and that those should be examined as a separate matter.
Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, told “Fox & Friends” the high court was sending a “clear” message about judicial overreach.
“This is another shot across the bow to lower courts that they’ve got to knock this off,” Turley said. “They’ve got to stop with these injunctions. This is six months of delay. It could’ve been much longer, and the court is signaling, ‘We’re going to be on you very quickly if you continue to do these types of orders.'”
Pending layoffs
The decision empowered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lay off more than 1,300 State Department workers.
Since Trump took office, tens of thousands of federal employees have accepted buyout offers from the administration or been let go. But many other layoffs are still wrapped up in lawsuits.
Some firing decisions remain pending because of district court judges’ orders. In some cases, the Trump administration has argued that the Supreme Court’s recent move to do away with universal injunctions is reason enough for those judges to reverse course.
In one lawsuit, Democratic-led states sued over Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.’s move to terminate about 10,000 employees. Judge Melissa DuBose, a Biden appointee based in Rhode Island, sided with the states and blocked the terminations. The judge must now decide if her injunction is at odds with the Supreme Court’s new ruling on universal injunctions.
Humphrey’s Executor
The government downsizing coincides with the president’s controversial decision to fire several watchdogs and members of independent agencies without cause.
In May, the Supreme Court sided with Trump on two of the firings, fueling speculation that the high court is aiming to overturn a 90-year precedent set in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.
That decision found that President Franklin D. Roosevelt could not fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission without a reason, such as neglect of job duties or malfeasance, because it conflicted with a law Congress passed that established the commission.
SUPREME COURT LETS TRUMP’S ‘WRECKING BALL’ FEDERAL JOB CUTS PROCEED WHILE LEGAL FIGHT CONTINUES
In Trump’s case, the Supreme Court temporarily approved two firings involving the heads of the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board. The high court’s order was unsigned but indicated that the three liberal justices dissented.
“Because the Constitution vests the executive power in the President… he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents,” the order read.
The Supreme Court’s decision was a boon to Trump’s implementation of the unitary executive theory, a legal concept that emphasizes presidential control. However, the order included a cautionary note that the Supreme Court’s finding was cursory and that no final decisions had been made about independent boards.
Kagan tore into the majority for letting Trump move forward with the firings.
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“Not since the 1950s (or even before) has a President, without a legitimate reason, tried to remove an officer from a classic independent agency – a multi member, bipartisan commission exercising regulatory power whose governing statute contains a for-cause provision,” Kagan wrote.
Other similar lawsuits, including one brought by two fired Democratic-appointed FTC commissioners, are still pending, and the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on them.
LAPD detail next steps in ‘American Idol’ executive double murder probe
ENCINO, Calif. – The Los Angeles Police Department is continuing their investigation into the harrowing murders of Robin Kaye, a longtime “American Idol” music supervisor, and her husband, Thomas Deluca, after they were found dead inside their home on Monday.
LAPD Lieutenant Guy Golan provided an update to Fox News Digital on the next steps in the investigation after the suspect, 22-year-old Raymond Boodarian, was arrested for double homicide – crimes that at this point in the investigation appear to be random.
“He was arrested from his place of residence. Over near the 19,000 block of Van Owen Street. He was arrested without incident,” Golan told Fox News Digital.
‘AMERICAN IDOL’ MUSIC BOSS ROBIN KAYE AND HUSBAND FOUND MURDERED IN THEIR LA HOME
“He did not provide any statements at this time, and investigators plan on filing charges for murder against him.”
Golan explained that his team is now putting the case together over the next 48 hours to present it to the district attorney’s office for further consideration.
“We’re still investigating any possible motive. Right now, we have no connection linking the suspect with the victims,” Golan added.
Golan pointed out that the suspect was identified through surveillance video, as well as forensic evidence that was at the scene that police had “expedited analysis” on.
Since investigators only had the evidence for “about 26 hours,” according to Golan, officers still have to do the “canvassing legwork for additional witnesses” and look through “additional surveillance video.”
BRAD PITT’S LOS ANGELES HOME RANSACKED BY THREE SUSPECTS WHO BROKE IN THROUGH FRONT WINDOW
“We still don’t know if the suspect drove to the scene or if he walked or if he took a bus or an Uber… we have a lot of legwork to show the suspect being at the residence, other than simply surveillance video that we recovered from the house. And we have the next 48 hours to do that,” Golan told Fox News Digital.
WATCH: LAPD LIEUTENANT GUY GOLAN SAYS THE MOTIVE IS CURRENTLY UNKNOWN AFTER ROBIN KAYE AND HER HUSBAND WERE FOUND MURDERED IN THEIR LA HOME
LAPD officials said the double homicide of Kaye and Deluca, who were found with multiple gunshot wounds, appeared to be a random act of violence.
While the motive remains unclear, authorities are continuing to work on piecing together what led to the fatal encounter. Golan emphasized that although detectives are still in the early stages of the investigation, there’s currently no indication the victims were targeted.
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Random violent attacks like this are very scary because if it’s a random act, it could happen to anybody… We understand that the community is obviously concerned about what’s going on,” he told Fox News Digital.
While the murders may have shaken up the Los Angeles community, Golan added one bit of reassurance – that the suspect, Boodarian, is currently behind bars.
WATCH: ROBIN KAYE AND HER HUSBAND’S POOL CLEANER, MAURO QUINTERO, DETAILS A PREVIOUS BREAK-IN ATTEMPT ON HOME
“The one silver lining [is] that we were able to take [the suspect] into custody in an expeditious manner. But nobody ever likes hearing about something happening completely unprompted again. We’re going to get to the bottom of what happened and why it happened,” Golan concluded.
Kaye and Deluca, were found dead inside their home after officers responded to a call around 2:30 p.m. on July 14 for a welfare check in the 4700 block of White Oak Avenue in Encino. Both victims were 70.
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WATCH: SECUREIT HOMES TECHNICIAN DETAILS WHAT WAS INCLUDED IN AN ESTIMATE FOR ROBIN KAYE AND TOM DELUCA’S HOME
It is believed the murders may have occurred on July 10 after the investigation revealed the LAPD had received two calls that day reporting a possible burglary suspect at the house around 4pm, according to police.
During a news conference yesterday, Golan shared that Kaye and Deluca’s Los Angeles mansion is “fortified.”
WATCH: LAPD LT. GUY GOLAN PROVIDES UPDATE ON THE MURDERS OF AN ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ EXECUTIVE AND HER HUSBAND
“It has seven, eight-foot-high walls with metal spikes that are welded onto the tips of the walls there. The vehicle gate was closed, also spiked. They had no means of entering via gate code like they did on the date of the welfare check.”
“They did request a flyover by our airship, which did happen. There were no signs of forced entry during this flyover. And again, that the suspect entered the property without force and entry,” he continued.
“There were no signs of burglary. And regarding what evidence there was in the front porch, it was not visible by air due to the foyer having a kind of cover over it there at the front of the house. So the airship was not able to see what the officers observed during the welfare check.”
Kaye, per IMDb records, worked on “American Idol” for over 15 seasons and won multiple Guild of Music Supervisors Awards. Her résumé also includes “Lip Sync Battle” and other major TV productions.
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Doctor accused of murdering wife confronts courtroom allegations of serial cheating
As prosecutors attempted to paint a Colorado dentist as a calculated killer who poisoned his wife to pursue a new romantic life, the defense took a dramatically different route by portraying his wife of 23 years as emotionally manipulative and mentally unstable.
Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline.
In opening statements Tuesday in Colorado, defense attorney Ashley Whitham acknowledged the couple’s rocky 23-year marriage but described Angela not as a victim of betrayal, but as someone who was emotionally broken, deeply private and at times manipulative.
“You’re going to hear her own daughter describe her that she was also manipulating words,” Whitham revealed to jurors Tuesday. “Again, that if she wanted to try to get something, she would be manipulative.”
COLORADO DENTIST’S ALLEGED INTERNET SEARCH HISTORY TAKES CENTER STAGE AS MURDER TRIAL BEGINS
The Colorado couple’s marital strife was laid bare in Tuesday’s opening remarks. Prosecutors pointed to his relationship with a Texas orthodontist, Dr. Karin Cain, as the motivation for the murder. Cain has not returned Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. The defense said the 47-year-old husband had extramarital affairs throughout the couple’s marriage.
“Karin Cain was just like the others. This wasn’t some new obsession,” Whitham said.
Along with a series of affairs, Craig also allegedly used the website Seeking.com, advertising himself as “Jim and Waffles” and claiming a net worth of $10 million in search of “sugar babies.”
Whitham described Angela as an “extremely private” stay-at-home mom of six who, due to her deeply held Mormon faith, was reluctant to share the couple’s marital issues. She claimed Angela was isolated and someone who was “not about to tell people about her marital struggles” and who was “broken.”
Defense attorney Kelly Hyman delved into the dueling strategies as the high-stakes murder trial kicks off. She noted that the defense’s strategy to cast Angela as manipulative and unstable plays into their aims to create reasonable doubt and reframe the context.
“By doing so, the defendant implies that [he] wasn’t responsible,” she explained to Fox News Digital. “That could go to the heaty of the defense that Angela killed herself and that it was suicide.”
While prosecutors argued Tuesday that Craig’s alleged Google searches, chemical orders and romantic messages to his alleged mistress amount to premeditation, Hyman warned that speculative interpretation of digital evidence isn’t always a slam dunk.
“A way to do this is to challenge admissibility and the reliability of the digital evidence. This can be done on cross-examination or through a defense witness to counter the digital forensic and timeline reconstruction,” she said.
The defense argued Tuesday that investigators operated with “tunnel vision” and failed to investigate other leads. The defense said Angela’s personal laptop was never seized or searched despite prosecutors showing images of her using it from her hospital bed to research symptoms.
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“The defense could argue that the unexamined laptop may contain information supporting an alternative theory of events or potentially pointing to another person and/or a different timeline,” Hyman said. “This omission may suggest an incomplete and/or biased investigation.”
Hyman also noted that the absence of direct physical evidence, such as cyanide residue on containers or packaging, could work to the defense’s advantage.
“The absence of direct physical evidence like poison residue on the protein shake containers or the victim’s body presents a key argument for the defense to use,” she said.
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Investigators alleged in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital that, in the weeks before his wife’s hospitalization and death, Craig used a dental office computer to search for “undetectable poisons” and how to obtain them, later purchasing arsenic and cyanide by mail, “how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?”
Alongside these online searches, investigators alleged Craig made YouTube queries such as “how to make poison” and “Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig’s lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for comment.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney fires back at DOJ, claiming ‘Trump would agree’
The family of Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate and the only convicted accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, insisted she received an unfair trial this week, shortly after the Justice Department downplayed the contents of sealed files surrounding the years-long investigation into his activities.
“Our sister Ghislaine did not receive a fair trial,” the Maxwell family said in a statement Tuesday.
Maxwell, 63, is appealing her 2020 conviction on sex trafficking charges while serving a 20-year federal prison sentence at FCI Tallahassee — where she has been keeping in shape as she fights the case.
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Her family says she could also take another legal step in search of her freedom — filing a writ of habeas corpus in the Southern District of New York, which would be a challenge to the legality of her imprisonment.
“If necessary, in due course they will also file a writ of habeas corpus in the US District Court, SDNY,” the statement reads. “This allows her to challenge her imprisonment on the basis of new evidence such as government misconduct that would have likely changed the trial’s outcome.”
Maxwell’s appeal hinges on the argument that she should not have been prosecuted under the terms of a prior plea agreement the government reached with Epstein in an earlier trafficking conviction in Florida, for which he received a 13-month slap on the wrist.
WATCH: Journalist who spoke to Ghislaine Maxwell from prison: I didn’t see any remorse
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The 2007 non-prosecution agreement between Epstein and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida stated that “the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein.”
Lower courts have rejected this argument, and she is now petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of the case.
“I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal,” said David Oscar Marcus, one of Maxwell’s attorneys. “He’s the ultimate dealmaker — and I’m sure he’d agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it.”
If her appeals fail, she’s due for release in July 2037.
EPSTEIN VICTIMS NUMBERED OVER 1,000 – FAR MORE THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN, FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS SAY
In the wake of the government’s recent announcement that Epstein kept no incriminating client list, Maxwell’s supporters are crying foul.
“With all the talk about who’s being prosecuted and who isn’t, it’s especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the U.S. government made and broke,” Marcus added.
Epstein died in 2019 a month after his arrest on additional federal sex trafficking charges. Authorities say his death was a suicide by hanging in his jail cell, but his family and other skeptics have rejected that finding.
Last year, a federal judge ordered thousands of pages of documents from a civil case brought by Epstein and Maxwell victim Virginia Giuffre unsealed. The documents linked dozens of prominent people in entertainment, business, politics and academia to Epstein – but not to his criminal activities.
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The vast majority of those figures were not accused of wrongdoing, and the few who were had already been publicly linked to Epstein before the document dump.
Giuffre, Epstein’s most outspoken accuser, died of suicide earlier this year in Australia.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department and FBI released a joint memo announcing a review of Epstein’s case files had been completed. However, the document revealed barely any new information.
Authorities said that most of the unreleased files pertain to minors or victims who appear to be minors, and that more than 10,000 videos and images included “illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography” that would not be released.
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The government published hours of surveillance video that authorities said support the conclusion that Epstein killed himself – but there’s also a missing window due to a flaw in the system, raising new questions.
Surprising substance shown to extend lifespan and overall wellness in new study
A new study suggests that psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, could extend lifespan.
Researchers at the Emory University Department of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, discovered that psilocybin extended cellular lifespan and improved survival in aged mice.
Psilocybin is the “naturally occurring psychedelic compound produced by hallucinogenic mushrooms,” as defined in the study.
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Psilocybin has recently received attention due to “considerable clinical evidence” for its potential in treating various psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions, the researchers noted.
The study, published in the journal Nature, uncovered the first experimental evidence that treatment with psilocin – the “active metabolite” in psilocybin – increases longevity in aged mice.
This suggests that psilocybin may be a “potent geroprotective agent,” the researchers wrote.
Co-author Louise Hecker of Emory University said the data suggests psilocybin impacts “multiple hallmarks of aging.”
This includes reducing oxidative stress levels and preventing DNA damage, also known as preserving “telomere length.” (Telomere are DNA-protein structures on the ends of chromosomes, which help to prevent cellular damage.)
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“Psilocybin appears to slow the ‘wear and tear’ that accompanies aging,” Hecker said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Mice and cells are healthier and live significantly longer.”
The treatment led to “a dramatic impact on cellular life extensions” and increased the survival of mice, even when administered later in life, the researcher noted.
The mice also appeared healthier, growing back black hair that was once white.
“Most of what we know about psilocybin is clinical outcomes and what it does in the brain,” Hecker commented. “These studies shed light on the fact that psilocybin has potent impacts on the entire body.”
More research needed
As these are the first studies showing the impact of psilocybin on aging, Hecker noted that there is still “much more to learn” about the drug’s potential.
“What are the optimal dosing protocols for humans? What is the optimal age for treatment initiation for optimal benefits?” Hecker questioned.
“Psilocybin appears to slow the ‘wear and tear’ that accompanies aging.”
“Is there an age, beyond which point, when treatment does not provide efficacy? Are there potential harms or adverse effects associated with long-term treatment? What are the mechanisms of its action? All these questions need to be rigorously tested.”
Additional studies are needed to answer these questions and confirm whether treatment impacts lifespan, Hecker noted.
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Gabe Charambides, founder of Odyssey – America’s first legal psilocybin retreat, located in Oregon – said he considers these findings “compelling.”
“While most human psilocybin trials have focused on mental health outcomes — depression, anxiety, PTSD — this work highlights physiological shifts, including markers of cellular aging,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
While Charambides’ retreat doesn’t test for any biological changes, he said that many guests report relief from physical ailments like chronic pain and migraines.
“Those self-reports suggest the mind–body effects the study hints at may translate to humans as well,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Administration of psilocybin should differ “sharply” from mice to humans in terms of screening, preparation and safeguards, Charambides noted.
Individuals who benefit the most from psilocybin therapy include those who “feel stuck” after significant life events – like childhood trauma, divorce, career upheaval or bereavement – or people who aim to improve their mental health, he added.
Potential risks
Ryan Moss, chief science officer at Filament Health, a clinical-stage natural psychedelic drug development company in Canada, has emphasized the importance of administering psychedelics in a safe setting.
“Psychedelic experiences can sometimes feature anxiety, hallucinations and paranoia,” Moss previously told Fox News Digital. “Some patients using traditional psychedelics have reported experiencing adverse cardiovascular events during clinical trials.”
To mitigate these risks, Moss recommended that clinical trial participants receive thorough preparation and monitoring by trained professionals during sessions.