Blue state reveals plan to clean eye-popping number of voters from rolls
Oregon election officials are set to begin removing hundreds of thousands of inactive voters from the state’s registration rolls, a move that comes after years of inaction, mounting public pressure, and lawsuits filed against the state in recent months.
Oregon’s Democratic Secretary of State Tobias Read, in a press release Friday, outlined two new directives he said will “restart” the “routine cleanup of outdated, inactive voter registration records” in accordance with state law to address the roughly 800,000 inactive voter records that are being maintained by election officials.
The first directive orders counties to immediately cancel long-inactive voter registrations that already met the legal requirements for removal before 2017. These are registrations where election mail was returned as undeliverable, voters failed to respond to official notices, and they did not participate in multiple federal elections. State officials estimate roughly 160,000 registrations fall into this category and should have been removed years ago.
The second directive changes how the state handles inactive voters going forward. It updates the language on voter confirmation cards to clearly warn voters that their registrations will be canceled if they do not respond or vote within the required time frame. State officials say this step restores a process that allows routine cleanup of inactive registrations under federal law.
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Together, the directives are designed to address a backlog of inactive records and restart regular voter-roll maintenance after Oregon paused removals in 2017.
“These directives are about cleaning up old data that’s no longer in use so Oregonians can be confident that our voter records are up-to-date,” Read said. “From day one, our goal was clear: run elections that are secure, fair, and accurate. This move will strengthen our voter rolls and reinforce public trust in our elections.”
State officials acknowledge there are about 800,000 inactive registrations total, roughly 20% of Oregon’s voter rolls, though they stress multiple times in the press release that inactive voters do not currently receive ballots, saying at one point, “again, none of the individuals associated with these records will receive ballots, and these inactive records have no impact on Oregon elections.”
Being marked “inactive” in Oregon means you’re still listed as a registered voter, but you aren’t receiving ballot mail from the state until you reactivate your registration.
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However, inactive voters are still counted in the official voter roll totals, included in public records, and many experts have made the case that accurate rolls should reflect real, current voters, not people who moved years ago or can’t be located. Leaving outdated records in place increases the risk of mistakes, an expert on the subject told Fox News Digital.
“First of all, it’s astounding that they haven’t been removing anybody from the voter force in almost a decade because this is very basic 101 level election administration,” said Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project.
Snead explained that voter rolls naturally change every year as people move, die, lose eligibility due to felony convictions, or leave the state, creating constant churn that must be managed. When states fail to keep up, Snead says, voter rolls become bloated and outdated, making elections harder to administer and increasing the risk of errors and abuse.
Snead emphasized that the problem is especially serious in mail-in voting states like Oregon. He argues that automatically mailing ballots while failing to routinely clean voter rolls makes it more likely that ballots will be sent to people who are no longer eligible, including those who have moved or died. Even if state officials say inactive voters don’t receive ballots, Snead says Oregon’s recent administrative failures, including the suspension of its automatic voter registration program in 2024 after non-citizens were mistakenly registered, justify skepticism about whether safeguards are consistently working as claimed.
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“I think there’s clearly a degree of skepticism that’s warranted, and I think that it really speaks to the need to always be focused on the basics of election administration,” Snead said. “Cleaning of the vote rolls is really one of the most foundational, important things that a secretary of state should be doing.”
Oregon has been slapped with two lawsuits in recent months related to its handling of voter rolls, from Judicial Watch as well as Trump’s Department of Justice, and Snead suspects the timing of the secretary of state’s announcement is “probably to some degree” related to that.
“There’s an almost pathological resistance on the left to cleaning up the voter rolls, they call it voter purge, and they say that this is going to disenfranchise voters,” Snead said. “We’ve heard of all of the various statements. You know, lots of different ways and lots of different examples. But then when you actually bring litigation over this, sometimes that forces their hand.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital after publication, an Oregon SOS spokesperson said, “We can’t comment on pending litigation. I can say that getting this done was a priority for Secretary Read before he even took office, and he took this step because it’s the right thing to do. He wants his office focused on the details. We know this won’t satisfy those bad actors trying to undermine our free, fair, secure American elections, but the average Oregon voter can rest assured we are doing the hard work of running accurate and transparent elections.”
“Furthermore, the DOJ lawsuit is not related – it’s about whether we have to hand over Oregonians’ private voter data. Which we have no intent of doing.”
Cleaning up voter rolls has become an increasingly politicized issue in recent years, with Republicans pushing for more oversight in the name of election integrity and Democrats accusing Republicans of attempting to “disenfranchise” voters.
“Democrats support normal list maintenance and reasonable efforts to keep voter rolls up to date and in compliance with federal law,” DNC Spokesperson Albert Fujii told Fox News Digital. “The contrast could not be clearer: Donald Trump and the Republican Party are pushing aggressive voter purges to systematically disenfranchise eligible voters across the country, especially voters of color.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, RNC National Press Secretary Kiersten Pels said, “Oregon’s Democrat Secretary of State has presided over one of the most bloated voter rolls in the country, with more than 800,000 inactive registrations.”
“Democratic states have allowed their voter rolls to spiral out of control, especially in mail-in voting systems like Oregon’s. The RNC is taking action nationwide to ensure states are cleaning their voter rolls as required by law.”
Americans killed in destination as officials issue new travel warning over rising crime
The U.S. State Department has issued an increased travel advisory pertaining to Grenada, due to the “risk of crime.”
The Level 2 advisory was updated Jan. 5, with a warning about “violent crime.” Americans have been victims of armed robbery, assault, burglary and rape.
“In some cases, American citizens have been killed. Police response times are not as fast as one may expect in the United States,” the advisory says.
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Grenada lies in the eastern Caribbean Sea as part of the West Indies.
It’s about 125 miles north of Venezuela.
“Do not answer your door at your hotel or residence unless you know who it is,” the advisory states.
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Officials also warn travelers to physically avoid resisting any robbery attempt and to “keep a low profile.”
“Response time to law enforcement and security requests can at times be quite slow.”
Travelers are also advised to use caution when walking or driving at night and to stay aware of their surroundings.
About 16.8 million Americans visited the Caribbean in 2024, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
The U.S. Embassy is located in the country’s capital of St. George, which is the biggest city on the island.
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The State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s Grenada report noted that regional police forces do usually cooperate with U.S. counterparts.
“However, response time to law enforcement and security requests can at times be quite slow due to inadequate funding, lack of equipment and training, and staffing shortages,” the report said.
Tourism is a major contributor to regional economies, and there is a level of police protection that regional governments provide to tourist areas, the same source noted.
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The State Department has four travel advisory levels to help travelers assess safety risks before visiting other countries.
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The advisory levels are: Level 1 – Exercise Normal Precautions; Level 2 – Exercise Increased Caution; Level 3 – Reconsider Travel; and Level 4 – Do Not Travel.
Goldberg softens stance on immigration agents after controversial on-air comment
“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg walked back comments Monday suggesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were “violent criminals,” clarifying that she was concerned about accountability at the federal law enforcement agency.
“Nobody wants this. This is not what you said they were going to be — this is the thing, you said you were going after the bad guys,” Goldberg said during the first segment of the daytime talk show, appearing to address President Donald Trump rhetorically. “That’s what you said, the violent criminals. And what does it turn out? The violent criminals seem to be in the agency.”
However, following a commercial break, she walked back her comments and clarified her previous statement by saying she was not accusing ICE agents of being criminals.
“Before folks gather around and say, ‘Oh! She’s accusing all of the folks at ICE of being criminals!’ That is not what I’m doing,” Goldberg said. “And just so I’m clear, it feels sometimes that there is no one watching the hen house. OK? So before y’all start blowing it into all kinds of other stuff, just know that it’s nuanced speaking.”
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“I think you meant the lack of accountability, because you’ve had nine shootings by ICE agents against various people,” co-host Sunny Hostin suggested. “We haven’t heard much reporting on it, and no one has been held accountable, and we don’t know the status of the investigation. So that does feel like there is a lack of accountability and transparency.”
“You are very kind, and I appreciate that,” Goldberg replied.
Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday after allegedly swerving her car toward him. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described the agent opening fire as an act of “self-defense.”
Since her death, protests have erupted across the country, leading to further confrontations between protesters and law enforcement.
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“You see ‘Abolish ICE’ now,” Hostin said prior to Goldberg’s comments. “That was a lefty thing before. Everyone was saying, ‘Abolish ICE, you should never say that, you should never say that.’”
“I think people — red states, blue states — these are the United States of America and people don’t want to see murder — killing in the streets,” Hostin added.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin argued that while some may support ICE’s role in law enforcement, “Nobody signed up for this. Nobody said this is what we wanted.”
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ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Mother killed protecting kids after husband erupts in rage during NFL game
A Florida mom is being remembered as a hero after she was shot protecting her children when her husband flew into a violent rage over an evening NFL game.
Jason Kenney, 47, shot and killed his wife, Crystal Roure, 38, before turning the gun on himself just three days before Christmas, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Kenney had been drinking while watching Monday Night Football inside his shed – located at the family’s Highland City home – when he came inside to watch the end of the game at around 11 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2025, authorities said.
Upon entering the home, a fight ensued between the couple after Roure said she did not want to watch football, according to police.
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As the altercation escalated, Roure yelled for her 12-year-old son to run to a nearby neighbor’s house and call 911, and he heard a single gunshot as he was fleeing the home.
Responding deputies subsequently found Roure dead in the family’s living room with a gunshot wound to her head, and her 13-year-old daughter suffering from two gunshot wounds while in her bed. The couple’s 1-year-old child was also found asleep in her crib, unharmed.
The teen survived the shooting after the bullet struck her nose and ricocheted through the top of her head, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news conference.
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“She said, ‘I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me. And he shot me anyway,’” Judd said, referring to Kenney’s teen stepdaughter.
Authorities also discovered an undated letter Roure wrote to Kenney, telling him: “You’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way a family should be. You need God.”
Immediately following the shooting of his wife and stepdaughter, police say Kenney fled the area in his truck and called his sister to tell her he “had done something really bad and he was not going to jail.” Kenney reportedly added that she would “see it on the news,” before driving to his deceased father’s home in Lake Wales and entering a shed on the property.
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When officers arrived and began yelling for Kenney to come outside, they heard a single gunshot and ultimately found him deceased from an apparent self-inflicted wound to the head.
“He absolutely destroyed a family,” Judd said. “When you go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under the tree, just like the nuclear family should be, and it ends up this way.”
Judd revealed that relatives of the family told investigators that Kenney had been abusing his wife “for a while,” despite the sheriff’s office having no records of any domestic violence calls regarding the couple. Additionally, Kenney had no criminal history, Judd added.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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“After they were married, I know she said he was drinking a lot more but she said that he was going to stop and said he would get help with it. Obviously that didn’t happen,” Roure’s sister, Stephanie Roure, told USA Today.
“My sister died a hero for protecting her children and getting my nephew out of the house to make the 911 call,” Stephanie Roure reportedly said. “She did that. She saved their lives and by doing so my nephew saved his sister’s life, and thank God the baby was untouched.”
How the media sanitizes a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary as a ‘preschool teacher’
When police in Michigan arrested Jessica Plichta live on air as she finished a TV news interview supporting Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, she became an instant protest hero, seen as a victim of the heavy hand of law enforcement.
The 22-year-old from Grand Rapids was widely described in media reports as a “preschool teacher,” an “anti-war activist” and protest “organizer.” And while those descriptions are not wrong, they were hardly comprehensive. A Fox News Digital investigation reveals they are part of a pattern in the media in which the radical ties of leftist agitators are ignored, depriving readers of a deeper and more accurate picture of their sinister goals.
“Preschool Teacher, 22, Arrested on TV After Condemning Trump,” blared a headline in The Daily Beast, above an article that noted cynically, “Welcome to America.” The UK-based Guardian published an article framing her as a progressive “anti-war” activist. And Democracy Now, an anti-Trump platform, lamented, “Grand Rapids Police Arrest Protest Antiwar Organizer After She Condemns Trump.”
Few outlets reported that Plichta is a dedicated revolutionary in the radical Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described Marxist-Leninist “organization of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the United States.” The FBI in 2010 investigated the group for alleged ties to terrorist groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It is part of a sprawling network of Marxist-Leninist groups funded by a China-backed billionaire and committed to sowing chaos on American streets, using issues from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Elon Musk and President Donald Trump to fan the flames of discord.
But while the media worked to downplay or even hide Plichta’s radical ties, she has not been shy about her associations.
“I’m a proud cadre member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization!” Plichta declared at a pro-Maduro protest Jan. 3, just hours after U.S. military forces had captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for alleged narcoterrorism.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Plichta didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Plichta’s case is one in a series in which the media glosses over – essentially red-washing – the radical ideologies of far-left people and organizations involved in protests and agitation against the Trump administration. Similarly, the media has largely described anti-ICE protester Renee Nicole Good, killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last week, as a “37-year-old mother of three” and “an amazing human being,” with little scrutiny of her participation in a militant anti-ICE group called “Minnesota ICE Watch,” which trains members to aggressively obstruct the work of ICE officers.
For the far-left, sanitizing protesters accomplishes an organizing strategy that its consultants recommend in information warfare: “lead with sympathetic characters.” The goal is often to disguise coordinated revolutionary activity as grassroots activism.
“It seems there is a widespread practice in the media of identifying conservatives by their political or group affiliations,” said Walter Kirn, a veteran journalist and editor-at-large at County Highway, a pioneering media publication. “They’re ‘MAGA.’ They’re ‘Trump supporters.’ They’re ‘far right.’
“Meanwhile, on the left,” Kirn said, “people are described sympathetically by their roles. They’re ‘moms.’ They’re ‘protesters.’ It’s an obvious double standard that should be corrected, particularly when membership in specific activist groups is involved.” Kirn also edits a Substack newsletter, “Unbound.”
In most cases, the activist groups are transparent about their work and proud of their objectives. The stated goal of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which planted its red “FRSO” flag on the street where Good was killed, is to subvert the U.S. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization receives 501(c)(3) nonprofit benefits through the Lucy Parsons Institute for Social Research, a small Chicago nonprofit which last reported $264,004 in revenues.
Plichta’s arrest on Jan. 3 came soon after she led the pro-Maduro protest through the streets of Grand Rapids, blocking intersections. Despite multiple warnings from police, the group refused to move to the sidewalk.
She read her speech from her phone, a megaphone in her hand, and the young revolutionary didn’t mince her words.
“Free Maduro! Free Maduro!” she shouted. “We demand his safe return to Venezuela!”
“Join us in the struggle against imperialism!” she continued.
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“Brick by brick…wall by wall…one struggle will free us all!” she yelled.
Soon after, at about 5:30 p.m., outside the Fountain Street Church, Plichta was giving an interview to the local TV station, WZZM 13 On Your Side, when two Grand Rapids police officers came up behind her and arrested her for obstructing a roadway and failure to obey a lawful command from a police officer. Her mouth fell open, and she slowly put her hands above her head, saying, “I am not resisting arrest. I am going peacefully.”
Local media immediately reported the story, describing Plichta simply as a “preschool teacher” and protester. On Monday, she complained in an interview that police put her in their cruiser “without buckling my seatbelt.” The interview was staged with her comrades behind her, including one carrying a signed branded “Freedom Road Socialist Organization.” There was no mention of Plichta’s radical ideological orientation in the story.
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National and international media soon followed suit, making Plichta a darling of the left. But to her self-described “comrades,” she and Freedom Road Socialist Organization were new stars in a sprawling movement, all under the International People’s Assembly, an umbrella group for about 200 communist, socialist and Marxist-Leninist groups worldwide. That group has more on its agenda than stopping the Trump administration from arresting illegal immigrants or even toppling South American dictators.
The International People’s Assembly is supported by controversial U.S. tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham, currently under investigation by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee as an alleged propagandist for the Chinese Communist Party. Singham finances a number of groups in the U.S. in the socialist-communist network, fomenting anti-American sentiment on the streets, including The Answer Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, BreakThrough News and Code Pink, co-founded by his wife, Jodie Evans.
In recent days, these groups have been actively mobilizing socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist members nationwide to protest U.S. “imperialist” policies against immigrants, Venezuela, Palestinians and a host of other issues. Even there, major news outlets are largely ignoring the role of far-left groups in organizing the protests and describing them instead with sweeping statements framed as national consensus. CNN called the protests a “nationwide outcry,” while the New York Times described the demonstrations as a “mounting outrage. Neither CNN nor the New York Times described the demonstrations’ openly socialist organizers, even though the New York Times published two photos of the trademark black-and-white signs of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, its name in bold letters across the signs, and it even published one photo with “FRSO” and “Freedom Road Socialist Organization” across the bottom.
In its investigation of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, according to internal documents made public, the FBI launched its query in 2010 to see whether U.S. activists associated with the organization provided material support to foreign groups designated by the State Department as terrorist organizations. That investigation resulted in raids of activists’ homes and offices that the group called “repression” but didn’t lead to criminal charges.
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The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and its network of socialist organizations hosting the anti-ICE protests believe the U.S. capitalist system must be abolished, and they support the communist governments of Cuba, China, Russia and North Korea.
It framed Plichta’s arrest as part of a pattern of “repression” against revolutionary activists.
Plichta’s case illustrates how revolutionary groups can embed themselves within mainstream protest movements, like an insurgency, leveraging popular causes to advance a far more radical political agenda.
Whether the media was oblivious or purposeful, the clues to Plichta’s ideological radicalization were all there. She emerged from her brief stint at Kent County Correctional Facility with a red shirt with “FRSO” visible behind her winter jacket.
Inside the Fountain Street Church, the group’s organizational secretary, Tom Burke, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 26, gave the local chapter a pep talk in its defense of Maduro, its members leaning on their protest signs as they listened intently. One sign read: “Regime change begins at Home.”
Burke advised them to join other chapters and send a delegation to Maduro’s courtroom for his trial to “create havoc, make the country ungovernable for Trump and his friends and just stir it up everywhere we can.”
“So, comrades, please join me, and we’re going to defeat Trump and his minions,” Burke said.
Next to him, Plichta nodded in agreement.
“Solidarity!” Burke closed.
Plichta joined the chant: “Solidarity!”
College radio station DJ calls for VP Vance’s assassination in menacing post
EXCLUSIVE: A volunteer radio show host has resigned after authorities confirmed they are aware of a post on left-wing-dominated social media app Bluesky, in which a person advocated for killing Vice President JD Vance.
“It’s simple, we kill JD Vance,” said the person behind an account named hanslopez.bsky.social. The person identified themselves as a host of a radio show on WUML, which is funded by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The comment was made in response to another Bluesky user who claimed that, “JD VANCE THINKS BRITAIN & FRANCE ARE AMERICAS [sic] LIKELY ENEMIES.”
WUML’s website says that it has “given a voice to both the student body of UMass Lowell, and the greater Lowell community” for more than six decades.
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“Founded in 1952, WUML functions as a non-commercial FM station located in Lowell, Massachusetts, funded by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and fully managed and operated by student members, broadcasting both terrestrially and online,” the description says.
When the school learned of the post, it contacted authorities, according to a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
“UMass Lowell police promptly coordinated with the FBI, Secret Service and Haverhill police the same day to ensure an appropriate response,” the school said. “Contact was made with the individual in question, and the necessary assessments were conducted in collaboration with federal partners. Authorities confirmed there was no immediate threat.”
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Secret Service confirmed to Fox News Digital that it was aware of the post. The Haverhill Police Department directed Fox News Digital to the FBI, which declined to comment.
“UMass Lowell takes seriously any threat of violence involving our community. Statements such as the post in question are inconsistent with the values of our democracy and our university,” the statement continued. “The individual in question has since resigned from his volunteer role at WUML and removed the post from his Bluesky account.”
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The school said that the person behind the violent rhetoric is an alumnus.
Several posts, including the one directed at Vance, have been deleted from the Bluesky account.
Maren Morris reveals fans walked away after she broke ‘weird status quo’ of Nashville
Maren Morris admitted her outspoken political views came with a cost in the country music industry.
Morris, 35, opened up about how the political atmosphere of country music has evolved over the past 10 years amid President Donald Trump’s two terms.
“No one is very friendly,” she noted in a lengthy TikTok video. “Some people are cool, but like, it’s been very dicey at these award shows and s—. And I don’t really go to them anymore, but it’s very heated.”
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The release of “My Church” in 2016 led to big initial success for Morris in the country music industry, but since then she’s felt put off by the reaction to her political views.
“You cannot be a full songwriter and, you know, reflect reality and life through song without being political,” Morris said. “I’m sorry, it just – it is what it is. That’s John Prine, babe.”
“And I try to be kind, I try to be benevolent, but there are people and energies in the sphere of my work the last few years that have really put me off,” she added. “So I’ve stepped away in certain facets, but I still love country music, obviously, like there’s no choice. I grew up in it, so it’s there. It’s in your bones. It’s in your DNA, but I definitely think I’m lucky that I get to have a fan base and be honest.”
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Morris didn’t blame anyone but herself for the fallout over her political views, noting fans had every right to walk away.
“I’ve lost a lot of fans over the years because of my viewpoints and I think that’s fair,” Morris explained. “If you don’t agree with me, and you can’t enjoy my music because of my viewpoints, you are absolutely allowed to do that.”
“I do feel like I’ve sacrificed a lot of my mental health, my financial standing, my family just because I’m so deeply concerned and uncomfortable with the weird status quo of country music,” the country singer said.
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Morris said nobody will stop her from making music, not now or when she’s 90, but gave a warning to aspiring artists about the consequences of publicly backing what you believe.
“… I think for these upcomers in music or country music, just know it is a sacrifice to stick to your guns, and you will lose people along the way. Whether it’s fans or f—ing friends or family members, you will lose people because you are breaking a lot of norms and cycles.”
“But I’m fortunate that I can be here and make music and people buy tickets to my shows. And I’m very fortunate, and it’s a weird time right now. I’m very broken-hearted. I love my country, but it is so f—ing broken. And I wish I could snap my fingers and make it better. I’m here as an observant, like a songwriter. I just write about what I see and what I feel. And sometimes you break trends with even the machine that made you successful. And that’s OK. And it’s weird as f—. And a lot of people in my life don’t understand it. And they don’t understand what I’ve done. But I understand it and I have a beautiful life, and I have a beautiful son. And I’m very lucky.”
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Former White House intern reveals Clinton affair was ‘gross abuse of power’
Monica Lewinsky reflected on the unwanted fame she received after her affair with former President Bill Clinton was unearthed.
Nearly three decades ago, Lewinsky, a former White House intern, had an affair with the former president while he was in office. Clinton subsequently had an impeachment trial that came about in December 1998.
Lewinsky contemplated suicide due to the media scrutiny, and told The Times that “the public humiliation was excruciating; life was almost unbearable.”
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While her personal fallout almost cost her life, Lewinsky believed Clinton “escaped” from overwhelming criticism more easily than she did.
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“I haven’t spoken to him in almost 30 years and I don’t know what his internal landscape is,” she said. “I think he escaped a lot more than I did.”
Clinton was 49 at the time of the incident, while Lewinsky was 22.
Lewinsky maintained that their relationship was consensual, however “this was a gross abuse of power. Full stop.”
She added, “That doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes, that I didn’t make wrong choices, that my behavior didn’t hurt other people. But at the heart of it was a gross abuse of power.”
Following the scandal, Clinton was acquitted. After a few public appearances in an attempt to reinvent herself, Lewinsky disappeared from the spotlight in the mid-2000s.
Lewinsky reclaimed some of the narrative surrounding her story and served as a producer on the FX series, “Impeachment: American Crime Story.”
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In 2018, the former president bristled at questions over whether he should have resigned over his sexual relationship with Lewinsky and whether the #MeToo movement has changed his perspective.
“I dealt with it 20 years ago, plus,” said Clinton on NBC’s “Today Show.” “And the American people, two-thirds of them stayed with me. And I’ve tried to do a good job since then, and with my life and with my work. That’s all I have to say.”
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In January 2025, Lewinsky launched her own podcast, “Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky.”
The synopsis of her show states, “Every week, I’ll draw from my own unique experiences (like say, surviving a global scandal at 24 years old), and delve into the personal and often messy ways people find their way back to themselves.”
During a February appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Lewinsky admitted the “right way” for the former president to handle their affair going public would have been to resign.
“I think that the right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say it was nobody’s business and to resign,” Lewinsky told host Alex Cooper. “Or to find a way of staying in office that was not lying and not throwing a young person who is just starting out in the world under the bus.”
She added, “At the same time, I hear myself say that, and it’s like, ‘Okay, but we’re also talking about the most powerful office in the world.’ I don’t want to be naive either.”
Lewinsky also reflected on the White House response, including when Clinton denied the affair by saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Cooper asked Lewinsky to reconcile what people were saying about their relationship, and what she knew to be true.
“It was gaslighting,” she said. “I think that was what I experienced on a pretty large scale. It was devastating.”
Lewinsky also said that while she felt Clinton’s behavior was worse, she still made her own mistakes.
“Let’s recognize that while there were so many ways that Bill’s behavior was more reprehensible than mine, I did make mistakes,” she said.
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Grocery chain launches massive expansion with 180 new US stores
Budget-friendly grocery chain Aldi is expanding its footprint in the U.S.
The company announced on Monday that it plans to open more than 180 stores by the end of 2026, pushing its total footprint to nearly 2,800 this year. Its goal is to operate about 3,200 stores by the end of 2028.
As part of the company’s growth plans over the next five years, it will enter the Colorado market for the first time while opening additional stores in the Southeast and West markets. It also has plans to open three new distribution centers in Florida, Colorado and Arizona.
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Aldi, which is entering its 50th year in the U.S., said the expansion meets the “sustained demand” for its simple and affordable operating model.
“In 2026 we’re focused on making it even easier for customers to shop our aisles first,” Aldi U.S. CEO Atty McGrath said in a statement. “That means bringing ALDI to even more neighborhoods, upgrading our website and planning additional distribution centers to keep our shelves stocked.”
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Aldi operates using a no-frills model, keeping costs down by selling a limited selection of mostly private-label products in smaller stores. Locations are also staffed with relatively few employees.
For instance, customers insert a refundable quarter to use shopping carts, which the company says reduces the need to hire additional staff to collect carts, and saves customers more money.
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Demand for the low-cost grocer has risen as consumers grapple with higher everyday expenses.
Aldi said in its announcement that the “next wave of ALDI growth is powered by its customers” with 17 million new customers visiting stores in 2025 alone.
Key markets where Aldi is moving:
- Maine: In 2026, Aldi will enter Maine. It will open a store in the city of Portland.
- Colorado: More than 50 stores are planned for the Denver and Colorado Springs markets, supported by an accompanying distribution center.
- Arizona: The grocer will open 10 new stores in the Phoenix market in 2026, with plans to add a total of 40 new stores to the market by the end of 2030.
- Las Vegas: The grocer plans to double its current store count by 2030.
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- The Southeast: Aldi plans to continue its Southeast expansion in 2026 by converting close to 80 Southeastern Grocers locations to the Aldi format. Since acquiring Southeastern Grocers in 2024, Aldi has converted and opened nearly 90 stores, with plans to convert more than 200 in total by the end of 2027.