Trump slams ‘horrible’ Kimmel ahead of Kennedy Center gala that raised record $23M

President Donald Trump once again swiped at late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Saturday as he honored the Kennedy Center honors recipients in the Oval Office on Saturday.

“I’m sure they’ll give me great reviews, right? You know? They’ll say, ‘He was horrible, he was terrible. It was a horrible situation,'” Trump told reporters on Saturday ahead of the Sunday gala, which Trump is set to host. “No, I think we’ll do fine. I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible. Some of these people, if I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”

Kimmel’s show was briefly suspended by ABC and parent company Disney in September after his remarks suggesting the suspected killer of Charlie Kirk was part of the MAGA crowd, although Kimmel said he was misinterpreted.

According to the Kennedy Center, the Kennedy Center Honors has raised a record $23 million for its 48th annual celebration. It marks the largest fundraising haul in the history of the Honors, which was launched in 1978 as the institution’s highest recognition of lifetime artistic achievement. Among this year’s recipients are Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor and the rock band Kiss.

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While Kennedy Center honorees have visited the Oval Office privately in past years, Trump on Saturday hosted the first official, on-camera ceremony recognizing the recipients there, introducing each honoree ahead of Sunday night’s gala.

Kimmel has never officially hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, though he appeared at the honors during a tribute to fellow late-night host David Letterman in 2012. Kimmel has previously hosted the Academy Awards and the Emmys.

The liberal late-night host called out the president during his monologue on Thursday for making him one of the top trending people on Google, joking it was thanks to Trump’s constant attention.

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“None of this would’ve ever happened without the support of loyal viewers like President Trump, who has done so much this year to raise awareness for our show,” he said. Kimmel noted he was ranked third behind musician “d4vd” and rapper Kendrick Lamar, who took the first and second spots, respectively.

Kimmel added, “Thank you, Mr. President, for making me number three in the world.”

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The late-night host mocked Trump for the attention, noting that the president has repeatedly criticized him on social media this year — calling Kimmel “untalented” and demanding that he be taken off the air.

How Minnesota’s Somali community changed the culture, landscape of a major city

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali community — a rapidly expanding Muslim population that has become a flashpoint in national debates over integration, welfare fraud and how the group is reshaping the state’s historically Scandinavian, Christian cultural landscape.

That scrutiny intensified this week after President Donald Trump blasted Somali Minnesotans as welfare abusers who have been raiding state coffers for years. 

“I hear they ripped off — Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars, billions every year. . . .  They contribute nothing,” Trump said, amid news that some Somalis were involved in bilking that state out of hundreds of millions of dollars in various fraud schemes.

“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you. Somebody says, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”

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Trump and members of his administration have also accused the population of committing immigration fraud in order to bring friends and relatives to the U.S. and again claimed Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother — a charge she has repeatedly denied.

For years, accusations of crime and gang activity — and the fact that a small cohort of Somali Minnesotans traveled overseas to join al-Shabaab — have cast a long shadow over the community’s efforts to assimilate.

A community under fire

Many Somali residents told Fox News Digital that they are angered that the entire community has been saddled with what they say is an unfair reputation, blaming a small minority of fraudsters and criminals for the negative attention against the group as a whole.

And now a massive COVID-19-era fraud scheme — which prosecutors say is the largest pandemic-era fraud case in U.S. history — has thrust the population back into the spotlight.

At first glance, the choice can seem perplexing: families from an East African nation putting down roots in a state known for subzero winters and harsh conditions.

But the Somali civil war forced thousands to flee their homeland beginning in the 1990s, with refugee resettlement and family reunification swelling the Somali population in Minnesota to roughly 80,000 to 100,000, depending on the estimate. One local leader told Fox News Digital the true number is likely closer to 160,000.

Like many immigrant groups before them, Somalis have brought their own customs and traditions — and have made their mark on the neighborhoods where they’ve settled.

Advocates say Somalis have woven themselves into Minnesota life — running restaurants and working in nursing, trucking and factories and filling shopping centers like the Somali-themed Karmel Mall in Minneapolis. They argue the community’s true story is one of hard work, civic pride, and assimilation — not the isolated crimes that grab headlines.

The largest cluster of Somalis in Minneapolis is in Cedar–Riverside, a neighborhood just south and west of downtown that has earned the nickname “Little Mogadishu,” a nod to Somalia’s capital city. The name reflects the area’s sweeping demographic and cultural transformation.

‘Little Mogadishu,’ a neighborhood transformed

When Fox News Digital visited Cedar–Riverside, the area felt almost hollowed out — run-down, like a poverty-stricken inner-city neighborhood.

On a Saturday afternoon, the streets were quiet, lined with shuttered storefronts and once-lively bars from years past, while a handful of East African restaurants carried on with a steady flow of local patrons. Some closed shops with faded English signs now displayed “Coming soon” notices in Arabic.

The Riverside Plaza complex — a cluster of 1970s-era brutalist concrete towers — loomed large over the neighborhood. Its once-vibrant multicolored panels have faded with time, mirroring the on-the-ground sense of wear and age — a reflection of the neighborhood’s shifting fortunes.

Outside, beside a street sign reading “Somali St,” a woman dressed in bright green offered bottles of water for sale to passing drivers while flocks of pigeons flapped and spiraled up outside the towers.

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The Islamic call to prayer rang out from a nearby mosque occupying an older commercial building, echoing over an empty street and through the concrete courtyards — a sound that felt both peaceful and eerie in the stillness.

Men gathered outside the mosque, some wearing kufis for Friday prayers, while women passed by in hijabs and abayas — a sight still unfamiliar to many Americans, though now a regular part of daily life in Minneapolis.

Faith and politics were visible here. 

The day before, the liveliest scene unfolded as people entered and left another mosque on a corner street, its windows boarded up, while political yard signs for mayoral candidate Omar Fateh dotted the grass outside, as did ones for Council Member Jamal Osma. Both are progressives like Ilhan Omar, who has become the community’s most visible national figure.

Mosques, faith and identity

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR–Minnesota, said that faith remains central to Somali life but also serves as a bridge to their new home.

“Religion grounds us,” he said. “It helps us build discipline and community, and it’s part of why Somalis have been able to succeed here.” 

The sight of Muslim garb is a striking change for a neighborhood that was once a European immigrant enclave and, more recently, a hub for students and music lovers drawn to the University of Minnesota’s West Bank and Augsburg University campuses nearby.

Many of the old watering holes — like Palmer’s Bar, which predates World War I — have struggled and closed amid changing demographics, shifting drinking habits and declining foot traffic. Alcohol is forbidden in Islam.

Palmer’s, which sits beside the commercial building-turned-mosque, has reportedly been purchased by the mosque. The congregation also bought the now-shuttered Nomad World Pub directly across the street, residents said, once a local mainstay for soccer fans and live music. In the 1990s, Minnesota had only a handful of mosques. Today, there are about 90 statewide, Hussein said.

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The Cedar Cultural Center — one of the last survivors of the West Bank’s old music corridor — still hosts musicians and artists, a reminder that Cedar–Riverside hasn’t entirely lost its creative pulse.

A few residents appeared high on drugs, huddled in doorways, the signs of addiction hard to miss. 

In the evening, a group of Somali volunteers wearing orange high-visibility vests gathered in the town square, offering medical help to those who had overdosed or fallen ill. 

One man said he had served time in jail for a gang-related crime, but denied being part of one. Another young man said he had just moved from South Dakota to rebuild his life after being jailed for murder, but let out after being wrongly accused.

WATCH: Islamic call to prayer echoes through Minneapolis’ ‘Little Mogadishu’

“As soon as we entered the neighborhood, it was instantly like the demographics changed,” Luke Freeman, a young white man who was visiting the city from Wisconsin with a friend, told Fox News Digital. 

“Cedar–Riverside is very distinctly Somali. It’s a more rundown neighborhood — not bad, but certainly a rougher part of town.”

The pair said they had heard about “Little Mogadishu” and wanted to check it out, complimenting a meal they had just finished at a local East African restaurant.

Most older Somali residents, known as “elders,” spoke little English but were welcoming, although women were far more reluctant. Younger Somalis were warmer and more talkative, greeting visitors with “bro” and eager to discuss day-to-day life in Minneapolis and their African heritage. Some admitted they wanted to be more westernized to blend in; another boasted that his rap video had millions of views on YouTube.

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“It’s been great so far. Welcoming. ‘Minnesota nice,’ as we call it,” said Abdi Fatah Hassan, who came to the U.S. in 2004 at age 13. “Thank God I’m in a great community. It’s close-knit, kind of feels like back home. You’re not just thrown in the deep end; people show you things, help you grow, help you adapt to the country.”

“Every community has its bad apples. Don’t judge the few for the many. Most of us are hardworking, honest Americans — patriots, you could say.”

Hussein, of CAIR–Minnesota, said that negative press about crime often overshadows the contributions Somalis have made to the state — even as the community continues to face persistent challenges.

“Somalis in Minnesota are hard-working folks — many of them work two jobs, and yet about 75% are still poor,” he said. “There are entrepreneurs, successful restaurants, people in trucking, IT and even corporate America, making significant changes. But those positive stories don’t get much attention.”

About 36% of Somali Minnesotans lived below the poverty line from 2019 to 2023 — more than triple the U.S. poverty rate of 11.1% — according to Minnesota Compass, a statewide data project. Somali-headed households reported a median income of around $43,600 during that period, far below the national median of $78,538.

Hussein added that Somali Minnesotans are a “very young community, still maturing politically and socially,” but already shaping neighborhoods through small businesses and civic engagement.

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Karmel Mall: the community’s beating heart

Hussein’s point was borne out at Karmel Mall, about three miles southwest of Cedar–Riverside, a multi-story complex buzzing with activity. The mall houses more than 200 Somali- or East African–owned businesses with modest-looking stores. Its floors are mazes of narrow corridors packed with African clothing stalls, salons, barbers, jewelry stores and halal eateries.

When Fox News Digital visited the mall on a recent Saturday evening, shoppers were eager to discuss life as Somali Americans. Many men drank coffee or tea late into the evening, the place humming like a social club. It also has a mosque. 

Mahmoud Hussain, a barber and first-wave Somali arrival in the 1990s, was cutting a child’s hair while a line of customers sat waiting outside. He said he was grateful for the opportunity America had given him. 

“Somali people are giving, loving, strong in their roots, and they adapt to other cultures,” Hussain said with a bright smile. 

“We came from Somalia to America directly post-war. We were one of the first people to come out and build a halal community and money-transfer businesses,” he said of his family. Most people were doing taxis at the time — just getting through the day.”

“When we came here, it was like a gold rush — everybody was talking about Minneapolis.”

“Growing up here, you have a generational gap between your parents and understanding the society here. But America’s a melting pot — we’re trying to get our own foot into our roots while embracing the country that accepted us.”

A small framed sign above one of his mirrors read, “In God We Trust.” 

He beamed with excitement when asked about it. “It means everyone’s God,” he said. A simple line he believes bridges his Muslim faith with the country he now calls home.

A community working to be seen

Nearby, a woman working in a clothing store said she is a software engineer at eBay in California. She came to the United States from Somalia at age 19 on a scholarship, pointing out that not everyone arriving from Somalia is a refugee and that Somali women are thriving in fields once closed to them.

She said she is immensely proud of her job in a traditionally male-dominated sector, “because we pass so many categories of being a minority,” she said. 

“First of all, we’re black in tech. Then we’re women, then we’re Muslim women, then we are Somalis. So you see, there’s a lot of categories of minority that we fall under… You’ve got to have the skills, which means you got put in the effort.”

Meanwhile, as the night drew to a close, a group of young women wearing hijabs were cleaning up inside a salon. Laughs and giggles spilled outside the half-closed shutter door, but nonetheless they too wanted to share their lived experiences growing up in Minneapolis. 

“There’s a big community, so it feels welcoming and weird at the same time,” said Najma Mohammad, a hair stylist who came to the U.S. as a child. 

“Most people think just because some people are bad and Somali, that every Somali is bad — which is just a stereotype. We’re not the people we are seen as. Most of us are here to make a difference in the world and to make our parents proud.”

Fellow hair stylist Ferdowsa Omar, who came to the U.S. in 2016 from Ethiopia, said religion and the wearing of the hijab were often met with curiosity.  

“In the beginning, it was kind of hard not knowing the language, but as I grew older, I found myself because I grew up with my people,” Omar said. “Some people didn’t know what hijab was, and when we were young, they used to look at us like they were confused, but they were always respectful about it.”

“I personally don’t wear [the hijab] every day, but when I do, I feel beautiful — I feel myself,” Omar said before Mohammad chimed in. 

“It’s a religious act, so you can wear it if you want,” Mohammad said. “And if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But my mom and my dad have taught me to wear the hijab for religious reasons.”

For them, Karmel Mall and the salon represent more than a job; they’re safe spaces to work, connect and show that Somali and East African women are thriving.

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As the stores began closing, the first floor remained full of chatter as men sat around tables sipping coffee. There are no bars for Muslims — the mall itself is the night’s social center.

Back in Cedar–Riverside, behind the concrete towers, two soccer games unfolded on an all-weather field under the floodlights played by Somali men in their 20s and 30s.

For most Somali Minnesotans, this is ordinary life — work, prayer and play.

“Minnesota has had thirty years with the Somali community — and ninety-five percent of it has been positive,” CAIR’s Hussein said. 

“We’ve been here thirty years. We’re no longer newcomers. Our children were born here — they are Minnesotans now.”

Kennedy cousin describes childhood abuse before prison sentence for teen’s murder

Five decades after Martha Moxley, the daughter of an affluent Connecticut family, was found murdered outside her home, the Kennedy cousin formerly at the center of the case is speaking out for the first time.

Michael Skakel, cousin of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., spent 11 years behind bars for the 1975 murder of Moxley. Despite being released from prison in 2013 and later having his conviction vacated, Skakel is still looking to assert his innocence in a case that has captivated the nation. 

In the new NBC News podcast titled, “Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley Murder,” Skakel spoke publicly at length for the first time since his conviction was overturned to recount his upbringing and explain his side of the murder case. 

Moxley was only 15 when she was beaten and stabbed to death with a golf club in the yard of her family’s suburban Greenwich home on Oct. 30, 1975. She was last seen hanging out with friends on “Mischief Night,” an annual evening in which children partake in neighborhood pranks on the night before Halloween. 

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An autopsy later revealed Moxley had been killed with the golf club, which was ultimately traced to the Skakel family’s home. 

Investigators initially began looking into Thomas Skakel, Michael’s older brother, and the family’s live-in tutor, Kenneth Littleton, before ultimately turning their attention to Michael, who was 15 at the time of Moxley’s death.

For decades, Skakel had remained largely silent. However, he is now speaking out to tell his side of the story, while recounting painful details about his traumatic childhood. 

Skakel detailed how his family’s Catholic religion played a large part in his upbringing, while recalling how he was hit over taking Playboy magazines when he was a child.

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He went on to discuss how his parents primarily showed affection toward his brother, Tommy, when the brothers were growing up. Skakel also pointed to how his parents hardly visited him after he was hospitalized with a broken neck when he jumped off a desk in his childhood home. 

When Skakel’s mother was dying from cancer, the young boy was told her hair was falling out due to her shampoo – not the treatment – and was ultimately blamed for her illness by his father, he said.

Skakel recalled a time in which his father, whom he had not seen in weeks, told him, “You make me sick. If you only did better in school, your mother wouldn’t have to be in the hospital.”

“I just wanted to die,” Skakel said in the episode, as he recalled how his father barely addressed his mother’s death.

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As his mother struggled with her illness, Skakel began drinking when he was just a teenager. On the day she died, he finished off an entire bottle of Smirnoff on his family’s lawn, he said. 

“His alcoholic, abusive father tortured him physically and psychologically throughout his boyhood, including beating him and telling him he was responsible for killing his mother,” Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist, told Fox News Digital.

Lieberman pointed to how the psychological damage inflicted on Skakel likely impacted him in his adult life as his drinking eventually escalated. In 1978, he borrowed his brother’s car and, while driving with a few friends, smashed into a telephone pole. 

In exchange for not being charged with a DUI, the family’s lawyer concocted a deal in which Skakel was sent to the controversial Élan School in Maine in an effort to correct his unruly behavior. 

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Individuals from the boarding school traveled to Connecticut to pick him up, with Skakel recalling how he “was dragged out of there like an animal,” before being loaded onto a plane where he was thrown into “a world of utter insanity.”

The Élan School had roughly 300 live-in students who were often subjected to harsh physical punishments, prolonged screaming and occasionally wearing dunce caps, according to the podcast. Headcounts were carried out every 15 minutes to keep residents from escaping, which Skakel attempted multiple times. 

In an emotional recounting, Skakel described how he was subjected to various punishments, including the “general meeting” and “boxing ring” where students would face forms of physical brutality. 

“They sent maybe 10 guys upstairs to get me,” Skakel said, as he recalled a failed escape attempt. “And they literally picked me up over their heads and carried me down the stairs like I was a crash test dummy. And when I was probably 10 feet from the stage, they threw me and I thought I broke my back on the stage.”

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After Skakel left the school, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and spent a month at a residential care facility in California. 

He got married in 1991 and established a skiing career. However, his new life in Hobe Sound, Florida, came crashing down in 2000, when authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in Moxley’s murder. 

“My Uncle Tommy rented me a private jet the next morning,” Skakel said. “And I flew from [the] Jupiter jet port, the private jet port, to Teterboro, and I’m looking on the news the next morning and it’s all over every station.”

Skakel did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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On Jan. 19, 2000, Skakel turned himself in to authorities after police issued a warrant for his arrest, 25 years after Moxley was killed. Skakel, who was 39 at the time, was initially arraigned as a juvenile, with the case later ending up in regular court. 

He was convicted of murder by a panel of 12 jurors in Norwalk Superior Court on June 7, 2002, and later sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

In 2013, following multiple failed attempts to appeal his conviction, Skakel was granted a new trial after a judge ruled his attorney, Michael Sherman, did not adequately defend him in his original case.

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Skakel’s conviction was ultimately vacated by the Connecticut Supreme Court on May 4, 2018, with prosecutors later deciding to not seek a second trial for Skakel on the murder charge.

“Michael Skakel should never have spent one day in prison because there was no way to determine that he was guilty beyond reasonable doubt,” Lieberman said. “Many threads were left hanging. From a questionable police investigation to a questionable attorney who didn’t bring the alibi witness in to testify, to media sensationalism and no forensic evidence.”

“Michael was a victim of torture throughout his life, from his childhood to the court system,” Lieberman said, adding Skakel “has continued to unconsciously play out this victim role until today.”

While the mystery surrounding who killed Moxley continues to loom over the case, Skakel’s bid to assert his innocence in the podcast adds a new voice to a story that has been marred by decades of silence. 

‘Megachurch’ of feminism created ‘idol’ of female autonomy, Catholic scholar warns

An author of 11 books, including an upcoming title on feminism, says the movement has evolved into a kind of secular “megachurch” with its own doctrines, rituals and moral code — one that she argues now serves as a substitute for faith, family and traditional Christian virtue.

“Feminism actually is not a subset of Christianity. It’s actually a rival to Christianity,” Carrie Gress, a fellow at the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

Gress is the author of the forthcoming book “Something Wicked: Why Feminism Can’t Be Fused With Christianity,” which she says examines how feminism has “quietly captured the minds and hearts of women by mimicking aspects of Christianity. Through its own ‘commandments,’ ‘virtues,’ ‘evangelization,’ and even ‘a sacrament,’ feminism has become an exceedingly powerful megachurch.”

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“In many respects, it can actually be seen as a megachurch,” Gress told Fox News Digital. “It has taken on so many of the aspects of Christianity.”

According to Gress, feminism was designed from its earliest roots as a substitute belief system — one she says is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity.

“So feminism has its own sacraments, virtues, rites, evangelization — all of that. The simplest example is to look at what I call the ‘commandments of feminism,’” Gress said.

“There are three of them, and they started actually back in the early 1800s,” she added. “Percy Bysshe Shelley [husband of “Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley] is the romantic poet who actually put them together. These ideas of his in-laws, his mother-in-law Mary Wollstonecraft and his father-in-law, William Godwin, and then his own idea. And these ideas were, to have contempt for men, to really shun monogamy and to embrace promiscuity, and then to be involved in the occult. And those are sort of the three tenets of feminism.”

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Gress’ argument echoes earlier reporting and scholarship that have explored similar themes.

A 2015 article in The Atlantic entitled, “When Feminism Becomes a Religion,” stated: “The feminist movement today has startling similarity to religious fundamentalism. There is the same dogmatism, the same zealous fervor, the same fear, the same clinging to certainty and the absolute conviction in one’s own correctness. Dissenters are marginalized, castigated, even cast out. The psychology is identical; all that differs are the goals.”

The article, authored by Chris Bodenner, a former senior editor at The Atlantic, continued: “But just as with religious extremists, feminists are fearful of what science might do to their perfect tapestry of beliefs, and what it might lead to in society, even if this doesn’t make any sense. It saddens me that friends I grew up with who were negatively affected by this mindset in the context of religion have traded that in for a different version.”

In an article published in The Cut, Nicki Minaj was quoted as saying, “I want your goal in life to be to become an entrepreneur, a rich woman, a career-driven woman. You have to be able to know that you need no man on this planet at all, period, and he should feel that, because when a man feels that you need him, he acts differently.” 

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A 2020 interview with Senegalese feminist Diakhoumba Gassama, titled “Feminism Is My Religion,” likewise described feminism as a belief system guiding moral and personal choices.

“To me, feminism is definitely beyond belief,” Gassama said. “It’s a vision and a value system. In the same way some people are religious, I can say feminism is my religion. Everything I do, whenever I have to decide between A or B, I ask myself: are my values going to be respected? Am I going to be able to look at myself in the mirror in the same way?” 

In 2022, Medium published an article titled, “Women Don’t Need Men, And It’s Breaking The Manosphere,” authored by Ossiana Tepfenhart, who wrote, “Studies show single, childless women to be the happiest. Women no longer need a man to make a living or have kids. They have been doing it all on their own for a while.”

Gress argues that feminism sells women a false promise, which is that their greatest fulfillment lies in autonomy, careerism and detachment from family.

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“So feminism has created an idol, which is, of course, female autonomy,” Gress said. “It’s taught women and continues to tell women that our greatest happiness and our fulfillment is going to come when we are living by and for ourselves, when we’re not married or marriage isn’t really the center of our life, as well as our children, that those things are actually obstacles to the happiness that we’re going to find in a career.” 

According to Gress, feminism also diminished the cultural value of children by framing them as impediments to productivity.

“Now the sad part is, of course, that women are really made for relationships,” Gress said. “They’re made to love others. And we can see that this desire to love and to mother others hasn’t evaporated. It’s just shifted to another place. And this is why we see so much of a boom in the pet industry. Women are just choosing to nurture pets in a way that they in the past would nurture their children and focus on their family.” 

She added: “Women have been targeted with this idea so that we will be angry and will be more politically helpful. And you can see this, I think, any of the women’s movements. These are not movements or events that are showing happy, healthy, thriving women, but they really embody a kind of anger, rage, envy, contempt. All of those things are sort of shot through the movement at this point.”

Gress believes that reversing feminist cultural trends requires restoring the traditional roles of men and women, not rigidly, but purposefully.

“It’s really the restoration of womanhood and helping women see that,” Gress said. “And I think that is really where it’s going to help men too, because we’re going to get men back to understanding what their purpose is. And when both roles understand their purpose, not that they’re fixed or that there’s not some overlap, but when a couple comes together and is working towards a common goal instead of working against each other, that’s really where you see major gains happen in the family. And in the culture and, you know, ultimately, in civilization.”

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Florida sheriff says teen boys facing premeditated murder charges in killing of girl

Two teen boys in Florida are accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl and setting her on fire along a wooded walking trail last week in what authorities are calling a “horrific” killing.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters Thursday that the body has been identified as Danika Troy. He said Danika’s mother reported her as a runaway on Monday.

“Unbeknownst to the mother, Danika was murdered the previous night,” Johnson said.

A passerby discovered Danika’s body along a wooded area off Kimberly Road in Pace, a town about 16 miles northeast of Pensacola, and called 911, Johnson said.

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Investigators quickly identified the suspects as 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins and 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and took them into custody.

“This is where it gets really horrific,” Johnson said.

Williams allegedly stole his mother’s handgun and shot Danika.

“It’s bad enough you kill a 14-year-old. You’re 14. You’re 16,” Johnson said. “Shoot her multiple times, and then they set her on fire.”

Johnson said investigators are still working to determine a motive.

“They have been interviewed, but the motive that they’re giving doesn’t fit the forensics or any facts of the case, so we don’t have a legit motive,” he told reporters.

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Blevins and Williams supposedly knew the victim from school, according to Johnson. He believed the two teens have had previous “run-ins” with law enforcement, though he could not immediately say if they had earlier arrests.

Blevins and Williams are being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice on premeditated first-degree murder charges. 

“You don’t want to go out and see a burnt child with bullet holes,” Johnson said. “That’s not something you sign up for.”

Johnson said no parents have been charged at this time, though investigators are “looking into it.”

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The sheriff’s office is working with the State Attorney to charge both teens as adults.

“If you do an adult crime, you gotta do adult time,” Johnson said.

Former diplomat warns Venezuela’s military ‘built on sand’ as US tensions grow

As tensions rise between Washington and the Maduro regime, experts told Fox News Digital that Venezuela’s military may look formidable on paper but is hollowed out by years of corruption, decay and political control. While they say Venezuela cannot stop a determined U.S. strike, any broader operation would be far more complicated than the White House suggests.

Isaias Medina, an international lawyer and former Venezuelan diplomat who denounced his own government at the International Criminal Court, described Venezuela as a criminalized state dominated by narcotrafficking networks.

“Venezuela today resembles a fortress built on sand wrapped around a criminal regime,” he said, adding that any hypothetical U.S. action would be “evicting a terrorist cartel that settled next door and not invading a country.”

Medina warned that Venezuela’s dense civilian population — also victimized by the regime — demands extreme caution. “The only acceptable approach is overwhelming bias toward restraint and longer operational timelines, forgoing targets that cannot be struck cleanly.”

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He said the military’s capabilities look better on paper than reality, with equipment rusting from lack of maintenance and thousands of politically appointed generals disconnected from an estimated 100,000 lower-ranking troops who may abandon their posts under pressure.

Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, told Fox News Digital that Venezuela’s most relevant threat lies in its air-naval systems — and even those could be quickly eliminated.

“You have to break this up,” he said. “There’s an air-naval part, which is most likely what could impact our strike operations,” including fighter jets, limited naval vessels and Russian-made surface-to-air missiles.

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But Montgomery said the U.S. could quickly neutralize them. “Reasonably speaking, in the first day or two of a campaign plan, we can eliminate the air and maritime threat to U.S. forces,” he said.

Any U.S. plan targeting cocaine production would begin with “simultaneous strikes on the airfields, the aircraft and the air defense weapon systems to ensure that they don’t respond to any U.S. attacks on other assets.”

Asked whether Venezuela could retaliate after such strikes, Montgomery replied: “Not against an air campaign. No.”

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Montgomery stressed that while air defenses can be eliminated quickly, a ground operation would be a far different story. “They have a small professional military… 65 to 70,000 people, many of whom probably don’t want — they didn’t join the army to fight,” he said. The country also maintains a massive militia, whose motivation would depend on loyalty to Maduro.

But geography and scale make a land operation a nightmare scenario. “Venezuela is probably twice the geographic size of California, 35 to 40 million citizens,” Montgomery said. “This would be a terrifically challenging ground campaign, especially if it turned into a counterinsurgency.”

He added bluntly: “Today, I would not do this. I do not recommend it.”

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Montgomery does support an air campaign which he believes will be more efficient than the current naval tactics. He cited his experience commanding U.S. Navy counter-drug operations: “Every one of these 21 ships could have been pulled over by a mix of Navy and Coast Guard assets and helicopters.” But intelligence often proved unreliable.

Despite years of decay, Venezuela still possesses a large, uneven mix of military hardware. Analysts say it cannot stop a U.S. campaign but could complicate early phases.

Its inventory reportedly includes 92 T-72B tanks, 123 BMP-3 infantry vehicles, Russian Msta-S artillery, Smerch and Grad rocket systems, and an estimated 6–10 flyable Su-30MK2 jets. Air defenses include the S-300VM, Buk-M2E and Pechora-2M.

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Venezuela’s deepening ties with Iran, Russia and China continue to worry U.S. officials.

Jorge Jraissati, president of the Economic Inclusion Group, said “numbers show only 20% of Venezuelans approve of this regime,” warning that for more than a decade “there has been no respect for the will of the population” as Caracas aligns with “anti-Western regimes that destabilize the region.”

Sydney Sweeney channels red carpet vixens as American Eagle stock soars

Sydney Sweeney channeled Hollywood icons Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson as she stepped out at the premiere of her upcoming film “The Housemaid.”

Sweeney’s white-hot look comes as reports American Eagle’s stock has soared following the “Euphoria” star’s summer jeans campaign. Sweeney’s ad boosted the company’s shares by 10%, according to data from Brokerchooser. The controversial ad campaign, titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” added roughly $400 million in market value and amplified the brand’s web traffic by 100%. 

While Monroe and Anderson were each unique cultural icons, Sweeney represents something larger, according to branding expert Doug Eldridge.

“Monroe was a one-off, in terms of her beauty and pin-up appeal,” Eldridge, founder of Achilles PR, told Fox News Digital. “In many ways, Sweeney is the same for the youth of today, but unlike Monroe, Sweeney has also been selective in her roles (so as to avoid being typecast); her marketing and endorsements (to further show her range and commercial appeal); and she has even made a political statement of sorts, by refusing to cower to the woke mob, who vilified the AE tagline and demanded that Sweeney personally issue an apology.”

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Though Sweeney draws inevitable comparisons to Monroe, her allure feels less like a reflection of the past and more like a reinvention of it.

“Sweeney has the superficial beauty of Monroe, but she also exhibits a sense of stoic depth that the late-Monroe never demonstrated,” he added. “Sweeney has proven that she can increase share prices for brands, but more importantly, she’s proving that in 2025 she isn’t the second coming of anyone — she’s the first Sydney Sweeney.”

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Sweeney’s collaboration with American Eagle for its fall clothing campaign sparked mixed reactions. In one version of the ad, Sweeney stated: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue.”

While some dubbed the campaign as “tone-deaf” due to the alleged racial undertones, others praised the actress for killing “woke” advertising. According to Salon, the term “great genes” was historically used to “celebrate whiteness, thinness and attractiveness.”

American Eagle defended Sweeney amid the backlash but removed the controversial video from the brand’s social media accounts. “‘Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans’ is and always was about the jeans,” the statement said. “Her Jeans. Her Story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way.”

Sweeney even received support from President Donald Trump.

WATCH: TRUMP DEFENDS SYDNEY SWEENEY’S AMERICAN EAGLE AD

Sweeney herself spoke about the controversy in a statement to People on Dec. 5, saying, “I was honestly surprised by the reaction. I did it because I love the jeans and love the brand. I don’t support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true.”

She continued, “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m always trying to bring people together. I’m against hate and divisiveness. In the past my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press but recently I have come to realize that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it. So I hope this new year brings more focus on what connects us instead of what divides us.”

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While Monroe and Anderson embodied past cultural archetypes of beauty and sex appeal, Sweeney represents the modern evolution of that image.

“By contrast, Sweeney has demonstrated theatrical range, commercial appeal and a quiet confidence that is rare to find in the era of gratuitous, tongue-dragging mea culpas,” Eldridge told Fox News Digital.

“As long as Sweeney continues to follow her current roadmap, the only limitations placed on her will be the ones she places on herself. Otherwise, the sky is the limit.”

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Being compared to the pop culture legend is enough to help elevate Sweeney’s career, even if she never achieves the same recognition as Monroe, branding expert Steve Honig told Fox News Digital.

“Marilyn Monroe is an iconic figure in this country’s history; she is a pop culture legend,” the founder of The Honig Company explained.I think it is highly unlikely that Sydney Sweeney, as popular as she is or will become, can come close to reaching the status of a Marilyn Monroe. That said, the fact that people are comparing her to Marilyn Monroe can only help her career.

“Oftentimes, the success of a star is based as much on their offscreen image as it is on their performances,” he continued. “She is very much in today’s pop culture conversation and the fact that people are even putting her in the same sentence as Marilyn Monroe is good for her image and career.”

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Billionaire set to complete exodus from major blue city in favor of Florida

Ken Griffin’s Chicago real estate selloff is nearly complete, as the billionaire’s final condo in the city has reportedly gone under contract, marking the end of a sweeping divestment that followed Citadel’s move to Miami.

Griffin’s spokesperson told Bloomberg Wednesday that the billionaire’s last Chicago property, a condo at 800 N. Michigan Avenue, has gone under contract. 

The full-floor duplex penthouse that’s described as the “crown jewel” of Park Tower is listed on Zillow for $12.5 million, a roughly 20% decrease from its July asking price of $15.75 million.

Griffin moved the global headquarters of his Citadel and Citadel Securities to Miami from Chicago in June 2022.

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“There’s something very special about the government in Florida and their focus on delivering traditional values for the community,” he said at an event organized by the Economic Club of Miami several months after making the announcement.

Bloomberg reported that Griffin owned a range of high-end properties in Chicago over the years but unloaded most of them after announcing the relocation of his hedge fund.

KEN GRIFFIN REVEALS ‘25 BULLET HOLES’ IN CHICAGO BUILDING DROVE CITADEL MOVE TO MIAMI

He told the outlet in October, at a Citadel Securities conference in New York, that his company’s planned office tower in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood will probably cost around $2.5 billion.

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“South Florida has something that the rest of the world wants. It has oceanfront property in a state with extraordinarily safe streets, great schools, strong sense of community, great cultural institutions. Miami is one of the most vibrant cities in the world,” said Griffin. 

“With respect to a real estate portfolio, you’d be hard-pressed to beat the returns of real estate in South Florida over the last seven years.”

Brittany Mahomes agrees with NBA star’s passionate defense of her husband

Brittany Mahomes has often been vocal about her support for her husband, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

While the Chiefs quarterback remains largely viewed as one of the NFL’s premier talents, Kansas City’s uneven performances this season have raised questions about the team’s postseason viability.

The Chiefs have advanced to four of the past five Super Bowls but carry a 6-6 record into a critical Week 14 matchup with the Houston Texans. A loss Sunday night could deal a major blow to the Chiefs’ playoff hopes.

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However, if the Chiefs manage to defeat the Texans, it would significantly bolster their playoff odds.

CHIEFS’ PATRICK MAHOMES TAKES CLEAR STANCE ON SPORTS BETTING: ‘I JUST STAY AWAY FROM IT’

The uncertainty surrounding the normally perennial playoff team has also sparked some chatter about Mahomes’ performance so far in 2025. However, two-time NBA Finals champion Kevin Durant fired back at anyone who may decide to direct criticism at Mahomes’ football prowess.

“What kind of a question is that? That makes no sense at all. If anybody is questioning Pat Mahomes legacy from a one-off year, he can miss the playoffs for the rest of his career, I don’t give a damn,” Durant said during a recent appearance on “Up & Adams.”

 “This man is Patrick Mahomes. When he coming out there, how many championships he got? Three? Like, come on now. Are we going to question Pat Mahomes, Chris Jones, Travis Kelce? He’s still an all-time great, potentially the greatest of all time.”

A clip of Durant’s comments was later shared to the show’s Instagram account and prompted a comment from Brittany. “Let them know,” she wrote.

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C.J. Stroud returned to the Texans’ lineup for a Week 13 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

The Chiefs-Texans game kicks off at 8:20 p.m. ET.

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