A House Democrat running for Senate in a key swing state bashed voters who supported then-President-elect Donald Trump in a resurfaced interview.
“I think Donald Trump ran a xenophobic campaign that drew out the worst people in the world that we are not going to appeal to and never will,” Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a 2016 interview directly after Trump won the presidential election.
Gallego also said in the interview that he will try to “protect” Americans from the policies of Trump, including those who were “dumb enough” to vote for him.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Gallego campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
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“Ruben Gallego thinks you are a bad person if you support President Trump,” NRSC spokesperson Tate Mitchell told Fox News Digital. “Gallego is running to be a Senator for the far-left, not all of Arizona.”
The presidential race in Arizona is expected to be one of the closest in the country with the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average showing Trump with a tight lead, but the RCP average also shows that Gallego has a lead over his GOP opponent, Kari Lake.
On the campaign trail, Gallego has been a fierce critic of Trump despite the former president’s popularity in the state.
ARIZONA POLICE ORG ENDORSING TRUMP CROSSES AISLE TO BACK PROGRESSIVE DEM IN CLOSE SENATE RACE
Gallego called Trump a “craven politician” in an interview with MSNBC earlier this year and has routinely gone after the former president on social media, including posts suggesting Trump and Lake are threats to democracy.
Lake has made the case on the campaign trail that Gallego is a rubber stamp for a Biden-Harris administration.
“President Trump’s consistently strong lead in Arizona proves that Arizonans are tired of and dissatisfied with the policies of Kamala Harris and Ruben Gallego that have caused record-high inflation and made our state less safe by opening the border to millions of unchecked illegal immigrants,” a Lake spokesperson told Fox News Digital earlier this year.
“As voters learn the truth about Gallego’s voting record and the fact that he has voted for Biden-Harris policies 100% of the time, they will reject Radical Ruben just as they reject Kamala Harris.”
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The Cook Political Report ranks the Arizona Senate race as “Lean Democrat.”
How Israel wiped out cold-blooded terrorists’ chiefs one-by-one
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, Hassan Nasrallah, died in its strike Friday against the group’s headquarters in Lebanon.
“This is not the end of our toolbox. The message is simple, anyone who threatens the citizens of Israel – We will know how to reach them,” the IDF’s Chief of the General Staff, Ltf. Herzi Halevi said of the elimination of Nasrallah.
The IDF attacked the Iran-backed terror proxy’s headquarters in southern Beirut, revealing that they had targeted Nasrallah. A Hezbollah media relations official initially claimed he was “fine and well,” but the Israelis confirmed his death early the next morning.
Hezbollah later confirmed the death of its terror chief. In a statement supplied to Reuters, it said it would continue its battle against Israel “in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people”.
At least two other people were killed and dozens were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
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“The IDF announces that yesterday (Friday), September 27th, 2024, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and one of its founders, was eliminated by the IDF, together with Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders,” the IDF said in a statement.
“Following precise intelligence from the IDF and Israeli security establishment, IAF fighter jets conducted a targeted strike on the Central Headquarters of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which was located underground embedded under a residential building in the area of Dahieh in Beirut, the statement added. “The strike was conducted while Hezbollah’s senior chain of command were operating from the headquarters and advancing terrorist activities against the citizens of the State of Israel.”
The IDF said Nasrallah was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, as well as the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist activities around the world. The IDF said Nasrallah was Hezbollah’s central decision-maker and the strategic leader.
On Friday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters, “The United States was not involved in Israel’s operation,” noting there was “no advance warning,” from the Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his trip to New York following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly where he warned Hezbollah about Israel’s right to go on the offensive.
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.
After his speech the prime minister’s office released a picture showing the Israeli leader in his New York hotel approving the operation against the terror chief.
ISRAEL TARGETS HEZBOLLAH LEADER NASRALLAH IN STRIKE ON BEIRUT HEADQUARTERS
The IDF said it is continuing to strike terrorist infrastructure sites belonging to Hezbollah.
“Since last night, the IDF struck over 140 Hezbollah terror targets, including launchers aimed at Israeli civilians, buildings in which weapons were stored, strategic weaponry, weapons production facilities, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites, some embedded underneath residential buildings in the area of Beirut,” the IDF said.
“The IDF is continuing to operate to degrade and dismantle Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure and capabilities,” it added.
Rich Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that Nasrallah’s death would prove a significant victory for Israel due to his close ties to Tehran.
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“People don’t appreciate that Nasrallah took over for Soleimani as senior strategist for Khamenei,” Goldberg explained.
“Nasrallah had operational control of Lebanon and Syria: This is not just a strategic game-changer for Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria, it’s a strategic game-changer for Tehran,” Goldberg explained. “We should assume that the IRGC is effectively in charge behind the scenes. Khamenei clearly had made a decision in recent weeks to avoid inviting Israeli strikes inside Iran.”
“The calculus that led to that decision hasn’t changed,” Goldberg added. “Should Khamenei decide he’s feeling lucky tonight and order a direct attack, we should reset all our assumptions about what Israel is willing to do inside Iran.”
Maher rips rapper’s profanity-filled rant against USA but reveals who it did impressed
“Real Time” host Bill Maher took aim at rapper Macklemore over his “F— America” declaration at an anti-Israel event.
The Grammy-winning artist went viral this week for his appearance at Seattle’s “Palestine Will Live Forever Festival” which raised money for various groups, including the controversial agency known as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which Israeli officials have declared is strongly tied to Hamas, leading to the firing of nine UNRWA staffers allegedly involved in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Israeli officials have declared that UNRWA is strongly tied to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. itself announced in August that nine UNRWA staffers would be fired due to possible involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel.
“Straight up, say it. I’m not gonna stop you. I’m not gonna stop you,” Macklemore said, appearing to reference chants from the crowd.
“Yeah, F— America,” he said, sparking cheers from the audience.
BILL MAHER: TRUMP IS ‘RIGHT’ ABOUT THE DANGEROUS RHETORIC AIMED AT HIM, ‘BUT HE IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!’
That didn’t sit well with Maher, who addressed the rapper’s declaration during his closing monologue.
“I’m sure it was a big hit with the Queers for Gaza crowd, literally advocating for a government that would imprison you or kill you for being queer from the safety and security of a country that doesn’t do that,” Maher said.
“Yes, America. The only place in the world where a White guy from the suburbs could become a millionaire rapper because here, every person, regardless of race, class or gender has the right to be talent-free,” he added.
BILL MAHER TRASHES KAMALA HARRIS FOR BEING ‘FULL OF S—’ ON ISRAEL, MIDDLE EAST: ‘JUST SHUT UP’
In a follow-up statement on Instagram, Macklemore seemed to back down from his attack on America: “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely.” He added, “Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment. Saturday night was one of those times. I strive to always lead with love in an effort to bring people together and never to create more division.”
He concluded, “Unfortunately, the historic event in my hometown that brought thousands of people together to raise awareness and money for the people of Palestine has become overshadowed by two words. I wish I had been in a better place with my grief and anger. But the truth is I’m not ok. I haven’t been.”
Maher began his monologue by praising Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for helping Democrats be more patriotic at this year’s DNC convention, but lamented their sentiment hasn’t resonated with younger people.
“The protests that started off as justice for Palestine have morphed into a broader kind of America is the problem, ‘We f—ed up the whole world’ thing,” Maher said.
“Guess what document allows you to chant ‘Hey hey, ho ho’ followed by something really stupid,” Maher asked them before answering with the Constitution.
BILL MAHER MAKES THIS BOLD 2024 PREDICTION AFTER TRUMP-HARRIS DEBATE
After citing a study alleging four out of ten Gen Zers believe the Founding Fathers are “better described as villains,” Maher noted that how young some of them were including 18-year-old James Monroe, 21-year-old Alexander Hamilton and 25-year-old James Madison.
“They were the Gen Z of their day, and when they were your age, they started a country. What the f— have you done?” Maher asked.
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“History is complicated, and Gen Z reasoning is not. They think they’re pure, but they’re really just simplistic. They know two things: White people did some very bad things and- no, that’s it. That’s all they know,” Maher said, later adding “The citizens of Gaza cannot assemble in protest of their own government, cannot do or say what they want or practice whatever religion they want, or have a free press, all rights guaranteed in just our First Amendment! The irony in all of this is that the world the founders birth, flawed though it may be, provides the bedrock for everything that makes life good for the very people who hate them so much.”
“It’s so easy to take for granted individual liberty, a bill of rights, the rule of law, checks and balances, getting a trial by jury, the peaceful transfer of power, protecting minority rights and democracy itself, but those are the things that make our pampered, privileged, bratty lives so relatively cushy. No one starves here, even our poor people are fat,” he continued. “Why do millions of people every year risk their lives to come here? Because they want what we got! The founders were flawed, but they did build a place the whole world wants to break into. No one is paying a coyote to smuggle them into India or Russia. Immigrants don’t see us as the problem. They see us as a solution. And there’s a reason they kill themselves to get here.”
VP Harris’ ‘7-word’ phrase dubbed as a get out of work free card
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. involved a rally audience in a call-and-response joke at his Michigan rally this week.
Kennedy spoke at the Falk Productions manufacturing facility in Walker, Michigan on Friday — participating in a campaign event hosted by Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump.
During the rally, Kennedy mocked Vice President Kamala Harris for her frequent references to having been born in the “middle class” when asked to respond to a difficult question.
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“All you have to know is seven words, and you never have to admit to doing anything wrong again,” Kennedy told the Michigan audience. “And you know what those seven words are? ‘I was born in the middle class.'”
Kennedy instructed the rally-goers to repeat after him in a series of back-and-forths.
“The next time your boss asks you why you were late for work, what are you gonna say?” Kennedy asked.
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“I was born in the middle class!” the audience responded.
“And the next time your wife asks you why you didn’t take out the garbage, what are you gonna say?” Kennedy asked.
“I was born in the middle class!” the audience responded.
“That’s all you have to know and you don’t have to answer any questions!” Kennedy joked.
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Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance also referenced the vice president’s tendency to bring up her middle class roots during a rally earlier this week.
“They ask Kamala, of course, because she’s the vice president and she is the reason why we have sky-high inflation and a wide open border, ‘What are you going to do? What is your specific plan to solve the inflation crisis that’s making it unaffordable to buy groceries and housing?’ And Kamala will say, ‘Well, did you know that I grew up in a middle-class family? I had a very nice lawn back there in Berkeley, California,’” he continued. “It’s like, ‘Well, that might be true. What the hell does that have to do with lower inflation?’”
Network evening newscasts skim over critical data that could sway voters
“NBC Nightly News” was the only prime time network news program on Friday night to report on bombshell new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data revealing that over 400,000 illegals immigrants convicted of crimes are currently free in the United States.
Both ABC’s “World News Tonight,” and the “CBS Evening News” failed to mention any of the findings that ICE presented in a letter to Congress this week that was reported by a variety of other outlets on Friday. They simply covered Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Arizona’s border with Mexico and touted her policy proposals for immigration.
Only NBC News’ evening newscast mentioned the letter, though it didn’t cover the entire scope of the findings – only reporting that “more than 13,000 migrants previously convicted of homicide are currently free inside the U.S.”
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Fox News Digital reported on Friday that ICE sent a letter to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and other members of Congress this week, showing that as of July 2024, there are 425,431 convicted criminal migrants – and 222,141 with pending criminal charges – who have crossed the U.S. southern border illegally and who are awaiting removal from the country.
According to the report, none of these criminal migrants are being held in detention, even those who have received their final orders of removal or those undergoing removal procedures.
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Of these 425,431 convicted criminals, 62,231 have been convicted of assault, 14,301 convicted of burglary, 56,533 have drug convictions and 13,099 have been convicted of homicide. An additional 2,521 have kidnapping convictions and 15,811 have sexual assault convictions.
“NBC Nightly News” briefly pointed out the existence of the letter and the more than 13,000 illegal immigrants convicted of murder still free in the country, though it did not mention the nearly half a million other criminal migrants aren’t currently detained in the U.S.
The other two networks failed to mention the bombshell findings in their prime time nightly news segments on Friday altogether.
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“CBS Evening News” made no mention of the letter but focused on the dueling immigration rhetoric of the Harris and Trump presidential campaigns.
The network noted that Harris has “promoted herself as tough on cross-border crime,” and reported that “foot traffic across the entire U.S.-Mexico border is down in recent months” thanks to both Mexico’s immigration crackdowns and the Biden-Harris’ administration’s policies.
ABC’s “World News Tonight“ took the same approach to covering the border issue, noting Harris’ trip to Arizona this week and how she is trying to offer his vision of border security against former President Trump’s.
The network reported that asylum restrictions enacted by the Biden-Harris administration in June has led to a “drastic decrease in the encounters across the border.” It also noted Harris’ border policy mantra that “we can be a nation of laws and also a nation of immigrants.”
Trump slammed Harris’ border policies following the release of ICE’s data, telling supporters at a campaign event in Michigan on Friday, “We’re like a dumping ground. Non-citizens, convicted criminals from all over the world are right now at-large in the United States of America.”
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Eerie bodycam footage reveals moment Gabby Petito’s fate was already sealed
FIRST ON FOX: When Florida police visited the home of Brian Laundrie in 2021 after the disappearance of his fiancee Gabby Petito on the other side of the country, his parents dodged their questions before officers ultimately left with her van – and more questions than answers, newly released bodycam video shows.
“I’m not talking to anybody,” Laundrie’s father, Christopher Laundrie, tells a North Port police officer after answering the door in a sleeveless shirt as his wife, Roberta, looks on over his shoulder.
The officer, who has a New York detective on the phone who was looking for Petito, asks, “You don’t want to talk to us?”
GABBY PETITO’S PARENTS REACH SETTLEMENT WITH LAUNDRIE FAMILY AND ATTORNEY STEVE BERTOLINO IN FLORIDA LAWSUIT
WATCH: Florida police bodycam shows Brian Laundrie’s parents on the day Gabby Petito was reported missing
“No,” Christopher Laundrie replies, shaking his head.
The officer explains he has a detective on the phone and asks when the last time the parents saw their son or Petito.
“Well, Brian is here, and that’s all we’re saying,” his father replies. “We have an attorney… That’s all I want to say.”
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He agrees to share the attorney’s phone number with police.
North Port police recorded the encounter on Sept. 11, 2021, the day Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, reported her missing in her New York hometown. The video was just made public through public records requests.
“This nightmare never ends,” Schmidt told Fox News Digital Wednesday, just over three years after her daughter’s remains were found at a campsite north of Jackson, Wyoming. Petito had last been seen alive at a grocery store in town there on Aug. 28, 2021.
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After authorities say Laundrie bludgeoned and strangled Petito, he left her body in the Bridger-Teton National Forest and drove home to his parents’ house in North Port – using her van and debit card.
“Is this her vehicle, her van?” the officer asked Laundrie’s parents, pointing at her white Ford parked in their driveway.
“It’s both of theirs,” Christopher Laundrie replied.
The officer returned to his patrol vehicle and put the Suffolk County detective on speakerphone, as they discuss what to do. She revealed that Petito hadn’t been in contact with her parents since Aug. 27.
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“His sister told me another story that he left her out there and flew home, and yet you’re seeing the van in their driveway, and they won’t say where she is,” she says. She notes that the vehicle is registered to Petito and says her family considers it hers.
By then, Petito’s phone had been off for 10 days.
“I don’t know if that van’s a crime scene,” the detective says.
A North Port sergeant later approached the door and tried to ask the Laundries for help reassuring Petito’s parents that she was OK. They refused and said their son wouldn’t talk to investigators either. He told them the van was registered to her only, that it shouldn’t be there, and that police would tow it.
“If that’s what you’re saying you gotta do, you gotta do it,” the father replies. “Right now, I’m not speaking to you anymore.”
The family’s lawyer, Steve Bertolino, previously told Fox News Digital he advised them to invoke their constitutional right to remain silent as the investigation played out.
Brian Laundrie himself also declined to ever speak with police and eventually snuck out and shot himself in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park about 10 minutes away, where his remains went undiscovered for weeks until floodwater receded.
GABBY PETITO’S MOM AND STEPMOM SEND NOT-SO-SUBTLE MESSAGE TO ROBERTA LAUNDRIE
Fox News Digital was present when his parents discovered a drybag at the scene, which they handed to police.
The FBI eventually revealed it contained a handwritten confession as well as personal effects belonging to both Laundrie and Peitito.
“I ended her life,” reads the note, recovered on Oct. 20, 2021. “I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked. I was in shock.”
He claimed he did it after she injured herself in a fall.
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The slaying inspired Petito’s parents to found a nonprofit foundation in her honor, assisting other families of missing persons and advocating against domestic violence.
They have lobbied for federal legislation, some of which became law with bipartisan support, as well as lethality assessment laws in Florida, Utah and New York designed to give police grounds and authority to separate victims from their abusers.
The foundation donated $100,000 to the National Domestic Violence Hotline last year.
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‘Brady Bunch’ star drops bombshell about secret sexual relationships between ‘siblings’
Barry Williams is getting real about the past relationships and hook-ups shared between his “Brady Bunch” costars.
“We all hooked up with each other at some point,” the 69-year-old actor told Us Weekly. “Not necessarily while we were filming.”
“I dated Maureen [McCormick], and Chris [Knight] dated Eve [Plum] and Michael [Lookinland] and Susan [Olsen] had a little mock wedding at one point. So, yes, we all hooked up,” he added.
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While Williams said the “hook-ups” were solely among the younger stars, he did have a “teenage crush” on his TV mom, the late Florence Henderson.
“I had a teenage crush on her, for sure,” said Williams. “And she’s got a very lively personality and great sense of humor, but I knew that I wanted to have music in my career [in] acting, and so I talked to her a lot about that.”
“I had found this singer coming into the Copacabana near Beverly Hills,” he continued. “I can’t think of exactly where it was, but I invited her to go together as a date, and she said, ‘OK,’ so I was thrilled. And now for me, it was a date.”
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“We were recognized, and so people were whispering about us, which is strange, but we talked about the singer, his orchestrations, the band that he had, and what touring was like,” Williams added. “And she gave me an idea what that life would look like now at the end of the date. And this is chronicled in my book as well. I did go in for a little kiss, and she was nice enough to return it. So it was a highlight. Nice little peck, yes.”
“The Brady Bunch” aired for five seasons on ABC from 1969 to 1974 and its success spurred numerous spinoff titles.
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In 2021, Williams opened up about navigating fame at a young age.
“The years were very intense years for me,” Williams recalled on the Australian morning talk show, “Today Extra.” “All my teen years, 14 to 20, were on ‘The Brady Bunch.’”
“There were a lot of changes,” Williams said of going through the physical changes with his younger costars. “You could hear the voice changing, you could see the hair changing, you could see the growth spurts going on with all of us.”
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“So, it was sometimes awkward and sometimes fun, but I’ve always enjoyed people watching the show,” he added.