Hegseth moves to censure Dem senator over ‘seditious video’ — and review his pay, rank
EXCLUSIVE: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., will receive a formal censure letter and that he has directed Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to review the retired Navy captain’s retirement rank and pay and provide a recommendation in 45 days, sharply escalating an investigation alleging he made “seditious statements” that undermined military operations.
“Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly — and five other members of Congress — released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “As a retired Navy Captain who is still receiving a military pension, Captain Kelly knows he is still accountable to military justice. And the Department of War — and the American people — expect justice.”
The review could result in a downgrade of Kelly’s rank at which he officially retired. As a result, his retirement pay, which is tied to rank, may also be reduced.
Kelly fired back by calling the move “outrageous” and “un-American.”
“If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it,” Kelly said. “I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.”
PENTAGON LAUNCHES FULL COMMAND INVESTIGATION INTO SEN. MARK KELLY OVER ‘SERIOUS MISCONDUCT’ ALLEGATIONS
A censure letter will also be issued outlining the “totality of Captain Kelly’s reckless misconduct,” Hegseth said.
Such a letter typically calls out figures for wrongdoing and can be used to justify reductions in rank, pay or benefits. It also serves as an official warning that future misconduct could result in harsher consequences.
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“This Censure is a necessary process step, and will be placed in Captain Kelly’s official and permanent military personnel file,” Hegseth said.
The department added that Kelly’s status as a sitting U.S. senator “does not exempt him from accountability, and further violations could result in further action.”
SEN BLACKBURN FIRES BACK AT DEMOCRATS OVER ‘DISTURBING’ VIDEO URGING TROOPS TO DEFY ‘ILLEGAL’ ORDERS
Kelly was notified of the basis for the actions and has 30 days to submit a response, according to Hegseth.
The department added that such actions against Kelly are based on his public statements from June through December 2025, in which he “characterized lawful military operations as illegal and encouraged members of the Armed Forces to refuse lawful orders.”
This comes after a group of Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds – Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, and Jason Crow of Colorado – released a video directed at service members and intelligence officers stating: “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”
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All the lawmakers in the video highlighted their former service in the military and intelligence community.
Members in the video had worked to limit Trump’s ability to deploy National Guard members domestically or launch military action against suspected narco-terrorists without congressional approval. However, none of that context appears in the video, titled “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” Instead, the video framed the appeal as a warning to military members to “stand up for our laws” and “refuse unlawful orders.”
Fraud fallout forces Democrat Gov Tim Walz to abandon Minnesota re-election bid
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota announced on Monday that he’s dropping his bid for an unprecedented third term as governor amid stinging criticism of the unsuccessful 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee’s handling of his state’s massive welfare assistance fraud scandal.
“As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” Walz wrote in a statement. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”
“So I’ve decided to step out of this race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work in front of me for the next year,” the governor added in his statement and in front of cameras a couple of hours later. The governor didn’t take any questions but said on Tuesday he would return to “take all your questions.”
And pointing to his efforts to deal with the growing fraud scandal, Walz charged, “The political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win.”
GOP LAWMAKER UNVEILS WALZ ACT AFTER BILLIONS LOST IN MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL
Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.
More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme. How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers, and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.
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Prosecutors said that some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.
“This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,” Walz told reporters last month, as he took responsibility for the scandal.
The governor took actions to stop some of the suspected fraudulent payments, and ordered an outside audit of Medicaid billing in the state.
But Trump repeatedly blasted Walz as “incompetent” and, during Thanksgiving, used a slur for developmentally disabled people to describe the governor.
The scandal, which grabbed plenty of national attention over the past two months, went viral the past few weeks following the release of a video by 23-year-old YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run daycare centers. Days later, the Trump administration froze federal child-care funding to Minnesota.
Reactions quickly began to pour in following the Walz announcement.
“Good riddance,” Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, said in a statement.
Republican Governors Association Communications Director Courtney Alexander charged in a statement that “Walz’s failed leadership is emblematic of Minnesota Democrats’ agenda and whoever Democrats choose to replace Walz with at the top of the ticket will need to defend years of mismanagement and misplaced priorities.”
Minnesota Republican state Rep. Kristin Robbins, a candidate for governor, released a statement saying, “Tim Walz and his staggering fraud could not outrun our investigations and the momentum we have in this race.”
“He knows he will lose in November, and would rather give up than take responsibility. Anyone Walz handpicks to run for governor will own the fraud and failures of this administration. Our campaign is building the coalition necessary to stop the fraud, protect our kids, and make Minnesota prosper. As Governor, I will dismantle the years of fraud Democrats allowed and ensure our tax dollars work for Minnesotans.”
Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, another leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, took to social media to argue, “If Democrats think they can sweep Minnesota’s fraud scandal away by swapping out Tim Walz, they are wrong.”
“We need transformational change across state government that only comes with a Republican governor. I will deliver that no matter who the Democrats decide to run,” Demuth emphasized.
Joe Teirab, a former federal prosecutor who worked on the Feeding our Future fraud case that was a key part of the unfolding fraud scandal, told Fox News Digital that Walz “allowed fraudsters to steal billions from taxpayers, and did nothing.”
“The only fraud scheme Walz has chosen to end is his political career,” Teirab said.
But Democratic Governors Association (DGA) chair Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said in a statement, “No matter who decides to run or how much national Republicans want to spend, the DGA remains very confident Minnesotans will elect another strong Democratic governor this November.”
And Besehar praised Walz, a former DGA chair, as “a true leader who has delivered results that will make life better for Minnesota workers and families for years to come.”
Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin, a former longtime state party chair in Minnesota, said the decision by Walz “is entirely consistent with who Tim is. Tim has always believed that leadership isn’t about preserving your own power — it’s about using it to make a difference for as many people as possible.”
“In the months ahead, Tim will continue doing what he’s done throughout his career: standing up to Donald Trump, defending Minnesota’s values, and fighting for working people,” Martin predicted.
Walz met Sunday with Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to discuss his decision to drop his re-election bid, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News’ Alexis McAdams.
Word of their meeting comes amid speculation that Klobuchar, a former Hennepin County attorney who’s been elected and re-elected four times to the U.S. Senate, may now run to succeed Walz.
Walz said he was “absolutely confident” that Democrats would “hold this seat come November.”
And the governor touted that if he had continued to seek re-election, “I have every confidence that, if I gave it my all, we would win that race.”
In the nation’s capital, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is investigating Minnesota’s fraud scandal, took aim at Walz.
“Though Tim Walz is not running for governor again, he cannot run from accountability,” Rep. James Comer of Kentucky charged in a statement. “The House Oversight Committee demands that he appear for a public hearing on February 10 to expose this fraud and begin the process of accountability. The American people deserve answers, and they deserve them now.”
The statement was echoed by the White House, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson saying,”Tim should know, that dropping out of the race won’t shield him from the consequences of his actions.”
But Walz, firing back, claimed that “Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place. They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”
“They’ve already begun by taking our tax dollars that were meant to help families afford child care. And they have no intention of stopping there,” the governor argued.
The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school.
Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education.
He taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High.
Walz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard.
He was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state that includes a number of midsize cities. During his last two years on Capitol Hill, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Walz won election as governor in 2018 and re-election four years later.
But Walz was unknown to many Americans when then-Vice President Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor as her running mate in the summer of 2024, soon after she replaced then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
Walz, during his three months as running mate, visually and vocally embraced the traditional role of political attack dog that has long been associated with vice presidential nominees.
But Harris and Walz fell short, losing the November 2024 election to Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance, as the Democratic Party ticket was swept in all seven crucial battleground states.
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Pundits considered Walz a possible contender for the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nomination.
But Walz said in multiple interviews last summer that he had no interest in seeking the presidency.
And the ongoing fraud scandal and his decision to end his gubernatorial re-election bid seems to put an end to Walz’ recent tenure in national politics.
Rubio has little patience for ‘confused’ CBS anchor on scope of Venezuela operation
Secretary of State Marco Rubio slammed “confused” CBS host Margaret Brennan Sunday for questioning the scope of the operation that led to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s capture.
“I’m curious because you just described the regime as still in place, essentially. I’m curious why the Trump administration decided to leave it intact and only arrest Nicolás Maduro and his wife,” Brennan said Sunday on “Face the Nation.”
After Brennan listed a series of indicted regime affiliates still in place, she added, “I’m confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn’t you arrest them if you are taking out the narco-terrorist regime?”
RUBIO TO CUBA: ‘I’D BE CONCERNED’ AFTER US MILITARY ARRESTS VENEZUELAN LEADER MADURO
Rubio fired back.
“You’re confused? I don’t know why that’s confusing to you,” Rubio said.
Brennan protested they were still in power.
“Yeah, but you’re going to go in and suck up five people? They are already complaining about this one operation. Imagine the howls we would have from everybody else if we actually had to go and stay there four days to capture four other people,” he said.
“We got the top priority. The number one person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not, and he was arrested, along with his wife, who is also indicted. And that was a pretty sophisticated and, frankly, complicated operation.”
“It was,” Brennan agreed.
US MILITARY DETAILS TIMELINE OF OPERATION TO CAPTURE MADURO, REVEALING MORE THAN 150 AIRCRAFT INVOLVED
Rubio proceeded to detail the complexity of the operation: landing helicopters on “the world’s largest” military base, kicking down Maduro’s door, handcuffing him, reading him his rights and putting him on a helicopter to leave the country without losing any American lives or assets.
“That’s not an easy mission, and you’re asking me why didn’t we do that at five other places at the same time? I mean, that’s absurd,” he added.
Brennan later restated her point that other members of the regime are still in the country.
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“I’m asking why you chose that this was the limit of the military operation,” she said, to which Rubio reiterated that Maduro claimed to be the country’s leader.
The Trump administration successfully captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a limited nighttime operation on Jan. 3 and transported the two to U.S. custody, where federal prosecutors have brought criminal charges against them, officials said.
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Cuba’s intelligence footprint in Venezuela revealed after US raid topples Maduro
Cuba acknowledged that 32 of its citizens — described by the government as members of the island’s armed forces and intelligence services — were killed during the U.S. operation that seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, declaring two days of national mourning in their honor.
Havana did not specify where the personnel were stationed during the raid. But their deaths have renewed scrutiny of years of reporting and international investigations documenting Cuba’s deep and covert involvement inside Venezuela’s military and intelligence structures.
Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan political analyst, said Cuba’s intelligence role was critical to the consolidation of power first under Hugo Chávez and later under Maduro. “Experts usually link Cuba as the most important intelligence provider of Venezuela. This includes issues like running elections, building diplomatic leverage with other countries and keeping the security forces in check, among others,” he told Fox News Digital.
TRUMP VOWS US WILL ‘RUN’ VENEZUELA UNTIL ‘SAFE’ TRANSITION OF POWER
Jraissati said any transition in Venezuela “would require the American government, in partnership with the Venezuelan people, to work together on minimizing the Cubans’ influence over Venezuela’s state apparatus and society at large.”
A Reuters investigation published in August 2019 found that two confidential agreements signed in 2008 granted Cuba sweeping access to Venezuela’s armed forces and intelligence services. Under those agreements, Cuban officials were authorized to train Venezuelan troops, restructure intelligence agencies and help build an internal surveillance system focused on monitoring Venezuela’s own military, according to the report.
Those arrangements played a central role in transforming Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency — the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) — into a force designed to detect dissent, instill fear within the ranks and ensure loyalty to the government, the investigation found.
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The findings were later echoed by the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, which said it reviewed a 2008 memorandum of understanding between Cuba and Venezuela. The U.N. mission reported that the agreement provided for Cuban advisory oversight in the restructuring of Venezuelan military intelligence, including the creation of new agencies, training of counterintelligence officers and assistance with surveillance and infiltration techniques.
Former Venezuelan officials cited by Havana Times and El Toque have described Cuban advisers embedded across some of the country’s most sensitive institutions, including the civilian intelligence service SEBIN, DGCIM, the defense ministry, ports and airports, and Venezuela’s national identification system.
Human rights organizations and international investigators say those structures were central to the government’s response to mass protests in 2014 and 2017, when Venezuelan security forces carried out widespread arrests and deadly crackdowns on demonstrators.
The U.N. fact-finding mission documented patterns of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention and torture, and reported that Cuban advisers helped train Venezuelan personnel in methods used to track, interrogate and repress political opponents.
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Experts say Cuba’s admission that its military and intelligence personnel were killed during a U.S. operation inside Venezuela has sharpened focus on the alliance’s true depth, turning years of documentation into an immediate geopolitical issue.
Massive state school’s professors push for reparations during on-campus meeting
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in October hosted a meeting of a state-supported reparations committee, where two of its professors and one of its researchers advocated in favor of reparations.
“The first problem, an analysis of Black workers’ lived experiences in Illinois, reveals two dominant relationships,” said Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, a professor in the school’s history department. “They shared with White workers labor exploitation. That is the hallmark of capitalism: theft.”
Cha-Jua, fellow professor LaKisha David and doctoral student Naomi Simmons-Thorne spoke at the October meeting held by the African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission.
The commission was established by the Illinois General Assembly, in part to study reparations and “discuss the implementation of measures to ensure equity, equality, and parity for African American descendants of slavery.” The commission reports its findings to the general assembly.
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Cha-Jua said that “the most frequent lived experience of the African American people has been as enslaved persons, sharecroppers, farm laborers, domestic servants, washerwomen, wageworkers, non-industrial or industrial workers, menial laborers in the public sector and as contemporary sub-proletarians laboring in part-time, temporary, low-wage un-unionized and benefit-less jobs.”
He also said that after emancipation, Black male workers were subject to what he termed “super-exploitation” and “racial terrorism,” and took the audience through a litany of 19th century atrocities perpetrated against Black people in America.
“It’s not about individual reparations,” he concluded. “We constitute a nationality that simply does not have a state. But we are a nation of people, so what we want to talk about is collective reparations. Reparations to communities and reparations to the African American people, as well as individual payments.”
Simmons-Thorne, who studies philosophy at UIUC, discussed the “three species of justice,” one of them being “rectificatory justice.”
“It is this type of justice that is at the heart of the reparations movement, but it is also the type of justice that has been least thought about in the history of philosophy,” she said.
“I often hear this, that reparations is just [Critical Race Theory] or DEI, when ancient philosophers in the fourth century BCE were talking about this kind of justice. So this is not just a modern thing, or some kind of modern excess.”
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Simmons-Thorne, in her capacity as a member of an Urbana-Champaign reparations committee, devised a survey to report to lawmakers sentiments on what aspects of reparations are “most salient to people.” The survey focuses on whether educators are properly teaching students about reparations precedents.
“We want to know whether our educational institutions, whether our centers of public information, is doing a good job of educating residents and citizens, both local and statewide, about reparations precedents, like the one that happened of course in Evanston or in Rosewood, Florida, and whether our educational institutions are teaching about the principles of international law and where, you know, reparations is enshrined in the right to remedy and repair crimes against humanity.”
In 2019, Evanston, Illinois, became the first locality to implement reparations in the form of cash payments. Eligible African Americans could receive up to $25,000 in cash payments. As of June, about $6.3 million in reparations had been paid, according to the Evanston RoundTable.
In 1923, a mob burned Rosewood, Florida, a mostly-Black town, to the ground. The attack killed at least six people, and the rest of the town fled in terror. In 1994, the Florida Legislature awarded $2.1 million to victims and descendants of victims of the attack.
Other parts of Simmons-Thorne’s survey quizzed African Americans on the social histories of their families that could “form the basis of a reparations claim,” and specifically which Illinois institution would be most culpable for negative social experiences.
Summarizing preliminary data from 61 respondents, she said educators are not doing enough to teach people about the history of reparations precedents, and that survey respondents want financial compensation and “guarantees of non-repetition” of slavery as forms of reparation.
BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS
At the end of her speech, Simmons-Thorne pivoted to the forthcoming expected generational wealth transfer from baby boomers to younger generations, particularly millennials.
She recounted a story about a friend who she said received a six-figure sum in inheritance after a relative died, but complained that she and her husband didn’t receive any inheritance when his grandfather recently passed away.
David is an assistant professor in UIUC’s anthropology department. She is also the head of The African Kinship Reunion (TAKiR), which helps “African American families in Illinois trace their ancestry and connect with their roots” via DNA analysis, according to its website. That foundation runs the Illinois Family Roots Pilot Program.
“This is really speaking from some recent things that happened, and you know, I wonder when we think of how people think of us as Black people in this country, at what point will it become obvious that we respond to our environment, you know, just like any other human responds to the environment,” she said. “So we have the right to respond to trauma and things like that as if we are traumatized. That is a human condition.”
She then explained the Illinois Family Roots Pilot Program, which offers free DNA testing to help African American families trace their ancestry, “to help to build a more cohesive family narrative,” which she said is in itself a form of reparations.
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“The program emphasizes African heritage because it is housed within my broader research initiative, The African Kinship Reunion at the University of Illinois, which focuses on repairing genealogical harm caused by slavery and forced family separation,” David told Fox News Digital.
“That emphasis reflects the historical reality that African American family records were uniquely and systematically destroyed, not a restriction on participation. Access to family history is also closely tied to psychological well-being, identity development, and a sense of belonging — outcomes the state already supports through adoption records, family reunification and archival access.
“The envisioned Office of Genealogical Affairs would be open to all people and would treat genealogy as a public service, extending support to individuals whose documentation is incomplete through no fault of their own. The core issue is equitable access to family history and its psychological well-being benefits.”
Simmons-Thorne, Cha-Jua and the University of Illinois did not respond to requests for comment.
Fetterman breaks ranks on Maduro capture while Schumer demands answers from Trump
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is breaking with many Democrats by praising the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, saying Americans across party lines once agreed he needed to be removed.
“I don’t know why we can’t just acknowledge that it’s been a good thing,” Fetterman said Monday on “Fox & Friends.”
“We all wanted this man gone, and now he is gone. I think we should really appreciate exactly what happened here.”
He described the operation as “appropriate and surgical,” noting that Maduro was taken into U.S. custody to stand trial, not assassinated or “disappeared.”
DEMOCRATS LABEL TRUMP’S VENEZUELA OPERATION AN ‘IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE’
“And it was less than a year ago, President Biden raised the bounty to $25 million,” he said.
On January 10, 2025, before then-President Joe Biden left office, the Department of State raised the reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro from $15 million to $25 million. The reward was increased to $50 million on August 7, 2025.
Fetterman pointed to the millions of displaced Venezuelans, many of whom were celebrating after receiving news of Maduro’s capture, and emphasized the “chaos and the suffering that Maduro brought to Venezuela.”
GOP LAWMAKER SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘EGG ON THEIR FACE’ AFTER TRUMP’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO
Still, many Democrats disagree.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized the mission in a press release, warning that even though Maduro was an illegitimate dictator, “launching military action without congressional authorization and without a credible plan for what comes next is reckless.”
He added that the Trump administration had assured him it was not pursuing regime change or taking military action in Venezuela. Schumer called for an immediate congressional briefing on the administration’s plan going forward and accused the president of using the operation “to distract from skyrocketing costs Americans face and the historic cover-up of the Epstein files.”
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Fetterman acknowledged that his opinions differed from those of his Democratic colleagues, some of whom have questioned the legality of the mission.
He wanted to “remind everybody that America is a force of good order and democracy, and we are promoting these kinds of values. We are the good guys.”
SEE PICS: ‘Tuna King’ pays record-shattering price for single bluefin fish
A Japanese sushi chain shattered records Monday by paying a staggering $3.24 million (510 million yen) for a single bluefin tuna at Tokyo’s famed New Year fish auction.
The top bidder for the prized 536-pound tuna was Kiyomura Corp., the Tokyo-based operator of popular sushi restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai. The bid broke Kiyomura’s previous record of $2.1 million (333.6 million yen) in 2019.
Kiyomura owner Kiyoshi Kimura told reporters that he did not expect to pay so much for the fish, but “the price shot up before you knew it.”
“I thought that (the winning bid) would come in a little bit lower, maybe around 400 million or 300 million yen, but it turned out to be over 500 million,” Kimura, known as the “Tuna King,” told reporters.
STEAK ‘N SHAKE TOUTS $2.50 ‘PATRIOT MILKSHAKE’ TO HONOR AMERICA’S SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL
The prized fish was caught off the coast of Oma in northern Japan, a region famed for producing some of the country’s best tuna. It fetched about $13,360 (2.1 million yen) per kilogram, or roughly $6,060 per pound.
“It’s in part for good luck,” Kimura said. “But when I see a good looking tuna, I cannot resist … I haven’t sampled it yet, but it’s got to be delicious.”
WHY CHEAPER BEEF PRICES ARE STILL A LONG WAY OFF
The massive tuna was taken to Sushizanmai’s flagship restaurant, then sliced and distributed to locations nationwide. Kimura said the tuna will be served to customers at standard menu prices.
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“I hope the economy will get better this year. The Takaichi administration pledged to work, work, work, so Sushizanmai will work, work, work too,” Kimura said, referring to the new government of Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister. “I hope this bid will cheer everyone up.”
Colts star hits NFL milestone, ejected in season finale after heated ref interaction
Indianapolis Colts receiver Alec Pierce reached a huge NFL milestone in the team’s season finale on Sunday, but the fourth-year veteran was unable to finish out the game after he was ejected late in the third quarter for making contact with an official over a disputed call.
Pierce, 25, finished with four receptions for a season-high 132 yards and two touchdowns, surpassing 1,000 yards receiving in the process. He also ended the regular season leading the NFL with 21.3 yards per reception for the second consecutive year.
But celebrations were dampened by Pierce’s first NFL ejection.
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“Just knowing that this is my last game, wasn’t the way I wanted to finish. It was an abrupt ending to the season here and stuff. I wanted to be out there and finish it with my brothers today,” Pierce told reporters after the team’s 38-30 loss to the Houston Texans.
Pierce was ejected after a third-and-goal play from the six-yard line. He pleaded his case to an official after believing that Texans cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram should have been called for pass interference.
In fighting for a flag, Pierce drew one himself after making contact with the referee.
PHILIP RIVERS CALLS IT A CAREER AGAIN AFTER ‘THREE-GAME BLUR’ WITH COLTS
“I thought it was pass interference, so I was just talking to him about that, and then I guess I bumped him,” the star receiver explained.
Pierce said he tried to apologize to the ref, and clarify that it was not a “malicious act.”
“I just wanted to let him know I wasn’t trying to put hands on him or anything.”
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Despite missing the playoffs and failing to finish out the game, Pierce said he was happy to reach his first 1,000-yard season.
“It’s a huge milestone. I think it’s a goal of every receiver in the NFL. It’s a notable milestone. Obviously, the season didn’t end how we wanted and would much rather be in the playoffs, but take what we can get.”
Tommy Lee Jones’ daughter faced charges before her death from suspected overdose
Tommy Lee Jones’ daughter, Victoria Jones, was facing multiple charges prior to her death.
According to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Victoria — who was found dead on Jan. 1 from a suspected overdose — was arrested in Santa Cruz, California, on May 14, 2025, and charged with public intoxication and resisting a police officer. The documents show that Victoria had a pretrial conference scheduled for Jan. 27.
The 34-year-old was found dead inside the Fairmont San Francisco on Jan. 1, Fox News Digital confirmed at the time. She may have suffered a drug overdose, according to 911 audio.
TOMMY LEE JONES’ DAUGHTER VICTORIA FOUND DEAD IN SUSPECTED OVERDOSE AT SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL
The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that SFFD units responded to a call originating from the hotel around 2:52 a.m. on Jan. 1 for a medical emergency.
When paramedics arrived, they performed an assessment and declared an unnamed person dead at the scene.
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The call for the incident allegedly involving Victoria was classified as a “code 3 for the overdose, color change,” according to 911 audio obtained by People.
The San Francisco Police Department also responded to the scene, Fox News Digital confirmed. Officers arrived around 3:14 a.m. Victoria’s death remains under investigation by police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).
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Shortly after the discovery, Tommy Lee broke his silence and thanked his fans for their support.
“We appreciate all of the kind words, thoughts, and prayers. Please respect our privacy during this difficult time. Thank you,” read a statement obtained by Fox News Digital, signed by “The Family of Victoria Kafka Jones.”