Trump’s interview on ABC turns fiery when discussing approach to tariffs, deportations
President Donald Trump sat down for an interview with ABC News anchor Terry Moran to mark his first 100 days back in the White House and set the record straight on two hot topics: tariffs and mass deportations.
During a heated back-and-forth conversation with Moran, Trump promised “everything’s going to be just fine” when speaking about the controversial duties.
Moran claimed the 145% tariffs were “basically an embargo” and were bound to “raise prices on everything.”
To which Trump responded, “that’s good they deserve it.”
TRUMP REPEATEDLY WALKED BACK TARIFFS IN FIRST 100 DAYS AS WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES LATEST DUTY TAX RELIEF
It’s a topic the president has continuously spoken about.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know whether or not China’s going to eat it,” Trump said.
“That’s mathematics,” Moran argued.
“China probably will eat those tariffs,” Trump responded. “But at 145%, they basically can’t do much business with the United States. And they were making from us a trillion dollars a year, they were ripping us off like nobody’s ever ripped us off.
The president continued, “everything’s going to be just fine. It wouldn’t have been if I didn’t do this.”
Moran continued to poke, saying “your answer to the concern about the tariffs is everything’s gonna be hunky-dory,” but the president reiterated, “It wouldn’t have been if I didn’t do this. I had a choice. I could leave it, have a nice easy time, but I think ultimately you would have had an implosion.”
“Our country had inflation that was worse than they’ve ever had it before. You don’t mention that. Why don’t you mention that? We had the worst inflation probably in the history of our country,” Trump continued. “People say 48 years, probably in history of the country we had the worst inflation, and people were… Dying over the inflation, you know that. Now the grocery prices are coming down, the energy prices are going down, gasoline’s coming down. It’s all heading in the right direction.”
Another hot topic the president defended during the fiery discussion was his handling of the illegal immigration crisis he inherited from former President Joe Biden.
When speaking about whether illegal immigrants should receive court hearings instead of being immediately removed from the country, Trump stated, “if people come into our country illegally there’s a different standard.”
Trump described his administration’s handling of tracking down and deporting illegal immigrants as his most “significant” accomplishment so far.
Moran argued that “under our law, every single person who gets deported gets a hearing first.”
Trump retorted, “when Biden allowed 21 million people to flow into a country … did we give them a hearing when they came in?”
When the anchor insisted that it was the legal process and should be followed, Trump responded, “They get whatever my lawyers say” – referring to the legal rights his administration is affording deportees.
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The two men continued to butt heads as Moran spoke about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member going through a court battle related to Trump’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which grants the president wartime authority to deport noncitizens.
Trump stated that the lawyer said it was a mistake and that he “was not appointed by us — should not have said that,” referring to a former Justice Department official’s claim that Abrego Garcia was wrongfully removed back to El Salvador.
He said “this is an MS-13 gang member, a tough cookie, been in lots of skirmishes, beat the hell out of his wife, OK? This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.”
Moran responded that he was “not saying [Garcia] is a good guy.”
“It’s about the rule of law,” Moran said. He even went as far as to state that Trump “could get [Abrego Garcia] back.”
“There’s a phone on this desk. You could pick it up and call up the president of El Salvador and say, ‘Send him back now,'” Moran said.
Trump then said he would bring Abrego Garcia back “if he were the gentleman that you say he is.”
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Other topics discussed during the interview included Trump’s decision to revoke security clearances for certain people and going after law firms with executive orders, something that has been perceived as a punishment by some.
The president pointed out that if anyone was treated badly or punished, it was him.
“When you say I’m treating people rough, I’m not treating people rough,” Trump said. “I was treated worse than any president in the history of our country. And you know, people figured, well, maybe that’s it… he’s leaving town, there goes the helicopter, and then I came back, and I have tremendous support.”
Rock star canceled by the Left stuns White House with free speech question
Former Mumford & Sons musician and podcast host Winston Marshall asked the White House on Monday if President Donald Trump would give “political asylum” to UK citizens punished for their speech.
The British rock star-turned-political commentator appeared at Monday’s press briefing where he addressed concerns about free speech being under threat in his home country and asked if the U.S. would consider granting asylum to Brits who faced prosecution for posting “hate speech” online.
“In Britain, we have had a quarter of a million people issued non-crime hate incidents. As we speak, there are people in prison for quite literally posting memes,” Marshall told White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“We have extensive prison sentences for tweets, social media posts and general free speech issues. Would the Trump administration consider political asylum for British citizens in such a situation?” he asked.
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Leavitt chuckled before complimenting Marshall for broaching the topic.
“It’s a very good one. I have not heard that proposed to the president nor have I spoken to him about that idea, but I certainly can and talk to our national security team and see if it’s something the administration would entertain,” she began.
Leavitt relayed that Vice President JD Vance had been “incredibly outspoken” about free speech concerns in the UK.
“The president has spoken about this as well, directly with your prime minister when he was here for a visit to the White House,” Leavitt told Marshall. “So it remains a critical endeavor of ours, to show the Brits, and your country, which we love and admire, about the First Amendment and the importance of free speech in a sovereign nation.”
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In a speech to European leaders in February, Vance warned that Europe appeared to be retreating from some of its fundamental values it shares with the U.S. and returning to “Soviet-era” censorship.
Marshall, a co-founder and former lead guitarist for the folk rock band Mumford & Sons, has become an outspoken advocate for free speech after being “canceled” in 2021 for expressing his political opinion.
He left the band that year after causing an uproar by sending a tweet in support of conservative journalist Andy Ngo’s book, “Unmasked,” about the left-wing anti-fascist movement known as Antifa.
In a November 2022 interview with Fox News Digital, Marshall said he had “no regrets” about leaving the band and now feels “liberated” to speak out on controversial issues.
From 2022-2023, Marshall hosted the podcast “Marshall Matters” with The Spectator. He currently hosts the podcast, “The Winston Marshall Show,” where he interviews “leading writers, authors, artists, journalists, musicians, scientists, entrepreneurs and heterodox voices across the world.”
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Blue state governor appears with Trump again — and this time she’s not hiding
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., greeted President Donald Trump on the tarmac in Michigan before his speech to National Guard members on Tuesday, where she also spoke at the event without hiding her face.
“Well, I hadn’t planned to speak, but on behalf of all the military men and women who serve our country and serve so honorably on behalf of the State of Michigan, I am really damn happy we’re here,” Whitmer said.
Fox News co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro said on “The Five” Tuesday that Whitmer had a chance to set the tone for the Democratic Party.
“I think that…of course, she’s there because of the troops, but there are some Democrats who wouldn’t be in the same room with Donald Trump,” Pirro said. “I think that she did the right thing, and I think that wanting to work with the president to bring back manufacturing to Michigan is a smart move.”
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During the event on Tuesday, Trump unveiled plans to swap out the retiring A-10 Warthog aircraft based out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan with 21 brand-new F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets.
Trump shared the details during a speech to National Guard members at the Michigan base before an event commemorating his 100th day in office.
“So I want to thank Governor Gretchen Whitmer for bringing it also to our attention very strongly. And, you know, I’m not supposed to do that. She’s a Democrat. They say, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t have her here.’ I said, ‘No, she’s going to be here,'” Trump said. “She’s done a very good job, frankly. And she’s she was very much involved with, with the Republicans. They worked together on saving it. And it was not easy. So I want to thank you very much, Gretchen. Good job.”
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Whitmer’s presence Tuesday came a few weeks after seemingly hiding her face during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
Whitmer was criticized for shielding her face with a folder as a photo of the moment became a meme on social media.
She poked fun at the now-viral moment by once again holding folders up in front of her face when asked about her trip to Washington, D.C., during an event at the Detroit Economic Club after the meeting with the president.
“… I don’t want my picture taken, that’s all it was. I kind of wished I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face, but whatever. You know I was there … I just wrote a book about learning to laugh at yourself, so I’m pretty good at it. We all have our moments,” Whitmer said.
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The governor’s trip to Washington brought her 2028 presidential ambitions into the national conversation as she struck a diplomatic tone with Trump. She carefully criticized Trump’s tariffs while saying she understood the “motivation behind the tariffs” and even agreeing with Trump that we “need to make more stuff in America.”
Whitmer’s Oval Office moment marked her second meeting with Trump in less than a month, and Tuesday’s meeting now marks the third. As Trump signed executive orders from the Oval Office on April 9 and answered questions from the press, he said Whitmer had “done an excellent job” as governor and called her a “very good person,” a break from his typical lines of attack on her character.
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When Trump signed the executive orders calling for the investigation of two first-term administration aides who were critical of his actions, Whitmer’s office said she was brought into the room “without any notice” and that her appearance was “not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made.”
But Trump called the issues “bipartisan” and jokingly added, “We’ll all stand there together and cut a ribbon. OK, Gretchen?”
Harvard president apologizes for on-campus bigotry after new reports released
Harvard president Alan Garber apologized for the university’s failure to address both antisemitic and anti-Muslim/Arab tensions on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
On Tuesday, Harvard University released reports from its presidential task forces on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, as well as anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias. In a letter to the university, Garber expressed his gratitude for the teams’ work and lamented the rise of bigotry and “sometimes violent clashes” occurring on campus.
“The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful,” Garber’s letter began. “I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community. The grave, extensive impact of the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and its aftermath had serious repercussions on our campus.”
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Garber’s letter largely generalized the plights felt by both sides, citing how “some students” reported feeling ostracized by their peers.
“Especially disturbing is the reported willingness of some students to treat each other with disdain rather than sympathy, eager to criticize and ostracize, particularly when afforded the anonymity and distance that social media provides. Some students reported being pushed by their peers to the periphery of campus life because of who they are or what they believe, eroding our shared sense of community in the process,” Garber said.
“Harvard cannot—and will not—abide bigotry,” he added. “We will continue to provide for the safety and security of all members of our community and safeguard their freedom from harassment.”
In response to the reports, Garber announced that the school would be implementing some of their recommendations, including a review of disciplinary policies, a research project on antisemitism and a historical analysis of Muslims and Palestinians.
“May our successors, whether they are Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, or of any combination of backgrounds and perspectives, find Harvard to be a place where they can be themselves, express their views freely, and encounter sympathy and understanding—a place where all are cheered on as they pursue their dreams,” Garber concluded.
Harvard referred to these reports and Garber’s letter when reached out for comment by Fox News Digital.
Both reports recommended more teaching regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along with fostering free expression and tolerance on campus. However, the task force on anti-Muslim bias focused more on efforts to promote representation, while the task force on antisemitism focused more on efforts to recognize and discipline antisemitic incidents among students and faculty.
Recommendations from the task force on anti-Muslim bias included pushes to combat doxxing among faculty and students and the formation of an advisory committee. Recommendations from the task force on antisemitism included a review of policies regarding student activities and beginning the process to fill positions at Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies (CJS).
Garber announced these two presidential task forces in Jan. 2024 after Harvard came under fire for its handling of anti-Israel protests on campus. The task forces themselves have been considered controversial after it was reported that the co-chair of the antisemitism task force, Derek J. Penslar, signed a letter describing Israel as “a regime of apartheid.”
HARVARD PRESIDENT SAYS HE HAS ‘NO CHOICE’ BUT TO FIGHT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Garber’s appointment as university president also came after former president Claudine Gay resigned following the backlash she received after failing to clarify whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the school’s code of conduct and a plagiarism scandal.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a multibillion-dollar freeze of federal funding for Harvard over what it considered to be a failure to address antisemitism on campus. The university filed a lawsuit in response last week.
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Popular cruises suspend island stop over escalating gang violence
As summer travel quickly approaches, cruise lines are steering clear of a Caribbean island due to safety concerns.
Royal Caribbean recently altered its sailing itineraries to exclude Labadee, a picturesque peninsula on Haiti’s northern coast, which has long been a highlight of Royal Caribbean’s Western Caribbean itineraries.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily paused our upcoming visits to Labadee,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The cruise line informed guests directly of the change in their itineraries, the spokesperson said. Sister brand Celebrity Cruises had already removed the stop on its cruises in recent weeks, the Miami Herald reported.
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Chris Grow, a security consultant with more than 38 years of international experience in travel risk management and the co-author of “A Step-by-Step Guide to Essential Travel Safety Considerations,” discussed cruise travel safety with Fox News Digital.
“Some of these islands are very touchy with what’s happening, and their politics can change from day to day,” he said. “One minute you’re OK and the next minute it’s time to get on the boat and leave.”
Grow advised travelers to remain aware of where the U.S. consulate or embassy is located, to keep digital and physical copies of their passport and be aware of local political and social climates that can change rapidly.
“This isn’t to present fear,” he said. “You want travelers to have fun, but please understand there’s a reason we say these things.”
John Lovell, the president of Travel Leaders Network, told Fox News Digital that since the situation in Haiti is deteriorating, it was wise of the cruise behemoth to consider alternative routes.
“The good news is that Royal Caribbean has another place in the Caribbean exclusively for their guests: Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas. It has several beaches, the Caribbean’s largest freshwater pool, a water park and more,” he said.
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“I hope that things will settle down and that ships will call on Labadee again. Not only is the beach incredibly beautiful, but it provides employment to Haitians at the resort and support to entrepreneurs with the onsite Haitian straw market.”
Why did Royal Caribbean stop sailing to its port in Haiti?
Just days before Royal Caribbean’s announcement, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince issued a fresh security alert warning of “widespread protests with potential for violence between police, protestors, and criminal gangs.”
Haiti is currently rated at Level 4 by the U.S. Department of State’s travel advisory “due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care,” which means the U.S. government recommends travelers not go to the country.
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“The U.S. government is very limited in its ability to help U.S. citizens in Haiti. Local police and other first responders often lack the resources to respond to emergencies or serious crime,” the U.S. travel advisory states.
It remains unclear when or if Labadee will return as a regular port of call. While Royal Caribbean has emphasized the “temporary” nature of the suspension, no timeline of a return has been communicated.
Gangs in Haiti killed at least 5,600 people last year, according to a new United Nations report. The report from the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights said an additional 3,700 were injured or abducted.
Just a year ago, the streets of the Caribbean nation were overtaken by violence. On March 4, 2024, Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport was taken over by armed gangs.
Following the gang takeover, Haitians and Americans were left trapped. Fox News Digital previously reported that, in 2024, gangs controlled 85% of Port-au-Prince and all the roads and highways in and out of the capital.
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In early December 2024, at least 207 people were massacred in Port-au-Prince by the Wharf Jérémie gang. The victims, many of them elderly, were accused of using voodoo to harm the gang leader’s son. Their bodies were mutilated and burned and others were thrown into the sea.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.
Elon Musk no longer working on DOGE efforts from White House
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is starting to transition from his role with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and is no longer working regularly from the White House, according to a report from the New York Post.
His impending exit is no surprise, as the White House confirmed earlier this month that the plan was always for Musk to refocus on Tesla once he completed “his incredible work at DOGE.”
The Tesla CEO was appointed as an unpaid special government employee under DOGE and remains involved in the agency remotely.
MUSK NOT LEAVING YET, WRAPPING UP WORK ON SCHEDULE ONCE ‘INCREDIBLE WORK AT DOGE IS COMPLETE’: WHITE HOUSE
Fox News’ Bret Baier previously asked the DOGE leader during an interview with him and members of his team if he would be working past the 130 days typically expected of special government employees.
To which Musk responded, “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that timeframe.”
Musk has also reportedly told his investors that he would be “allocating far more of my time to Tesla” in the coming months during a Tesla earnings call.
Although the exact amount of money DOGE has recovered is unknown, Musk has said that he believes enough work has been done to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told The NYP that Musk working remotely “really doesn’t matter much” when it comes to accomplishing goals.
“Instead of meeting with him in person, I’m talking to him on the phone, but it’s the same net effect. He hasn’t been here physically, but it really doesn’t matter much,” Wiles said.
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Wiles also said Musk’s team is still working from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing.
“He’s not out of it altogether… He’ll be stepping back a little, but he’s certainly not abandoning it,” she told the outlet.
Violent MS-13 gangbangers getting ‘desperate’ as DHS official credits Trump’s action
As President Donald Trump cracks down on illegal immigrant gangs, a priority for his administration during his first 100 days in office, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official says violent foreign gangs like MS-13 are feeling the heat.
“These gangs are getting increasingly desperate,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. “Designating MS-13 and other gangs as terrorists is certainly helpful. That just gives us broader authorities … as far as deportations go.”
Immediately upon taking office, McLaughlin said, the Trump administration began partnering with local law enforcement as part of the 287(g) program, specifically because of their knowledge of the local gang scene.
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“Part of the reason we’re deputizing state and local law enforcement is, of course, we need more law enforcement bodies, but also they know their localities, and they can help us really target these guys and get them out of the country,” she said.
McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that, so far, 2,394 illegal immigrant gang members have been arrested since Trump took office, adding that this is just the tip of the spear of what the administration intends to accomplish.
“This is just the beginning,” she said. “This is just 100 days. We want to get these arrest numbers up. We want to get MS-13, Tren de Aragua — these really bad actors — out of our country. And that’s what we’re going to deliver on.”
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Trump’s early efforts have not gone unnoticed by would-be illegal immigrants, who McLaughlin said are reversing course instead of attempting to cross the border, and illegal immigrants already present in the country.
“Self-deportation is definitely happening. I mean, we see it in our app, the CBP Home app,” McLaughlin said. “And that’s what we want because it’s a lot cheaper. An average deportation and arrest is like $17,000. It’s incredibly expensive, and that’s probably on the conservative side.”
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McLaughlin noted that when illegal immigrants self-deport, it also reduces the danger to law enforcement authorities who risk life and limb arresting dangerous criminals.
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One of the Trump administration’s major victories in the war on MS-13 came at the end of March, when the FBI teamed up with the Prince William County Police Department, the ATF, ICE and the Virginia State Police to arrest one of the gang’s top leaders in the United States, 24-year-old Salvadoran national Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos.
Christie Brinkley’s ‘National Lampoon’ co-star saved her from going topless
Christie Brinkley has Beverly D’Angelo to thank for not going topless in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model appeared in the 1983 comedy as the flirty “Girl in the Ferrari” opposite Chevy Chase. Viewers witnessed how Chase’s character, Clark Griswold, struggled to keep his eyes on the road as the blonde bombshell in the sports car beside him zoomed between lanes. Meanwhile, Griswold’s wife Ellen [D’Angelo] was asleep in the passenger seat.
In Brinkley’s new memoir, “Uptown Girl,” the pinup described how the producers of the film asked her to go topless for a scene, but she refused.
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“The most memorable part of filming was the scene where I bump into Chevy’s character at a motel pool and talk him into going skinny-dipping, which we shot at two in the morning,” wrote Brinkley in an excerpt obtained by Fox News Digital.
“That’s when the production team asked me to go topless for the shot, but I wasn’t comfortable with it: I knew very well by then that part of my appeal as a model was that men had to imagine what was underneath my swimsuit, and I wasn’t about to give that away for what I thought would be a small, goofy movie. (None of us at the time ever suspected ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’would take off the way it did).”
“When the production team asked again about the possibility of nudity — and I couldn’t blame them for trying — Beverly walked out onto set in the nick of time. ‘I’ll do it,’ she said. ‘I’ll be the one to go topless! You’ll get your t—ies.’ I couldn’t have loved her more [at] that moment. And in my opinion, the scene between Chevy and me is funnier and cleverer because I throw my bra and panties at him from off camera, and all that the viewers can see are his oversized facial expressions.”
Brinkley, 71, told Fox News Digital she was thankful to have D’Angelo, 73, step in and save her that day.
“I was so grateful from day one when I got there,” she said. “I arrived at the location, and I wasn’t really sure what to do with myself. I was in this motel in the middle of nowhere, and then I got a call from Beverly right away saying, ‘Hey! Welcome. We’re all going to head out and grab a bite to eat. Why don’t you come with us?’ That’s the kind of thing that just puts you at ease and lets you feel like, ‘I can relax. I’ve got a friend.’”
Chase, 81, was just as welcoming, Brinkley revealed in her book.
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“[He asked] me for my ‘beauty secrets’ in his own hilarious way: ‘Christie, you gotta give me tips to make my hair look thicker!’ she wrote. “As funny as he was, he was also shy, a combination I found endearing, and we quickly developed a playful chemistry that translated on-screen.”
Brinkley has been photographed on six continents, in more than 30 countries and has appeared on more than 500 magazine covers worldwide. But in the five decades she’s been modeling, Brinkley has never posed nude.
“I really knew that I wanted to be a mom, and I didn’t want [my children] to go to school and have some kid go, ‘There’s your mom! I see your mom!'” the star told Fox News Digital.
“And so, I just made that decision. And then I think people knew. I think there was something about me that I didn’t attract that kind of… I didn’t have photographers saying or trying to get me to strip down all the time. It just didn’t happen.”
In her memoir, Brinkley emphasized that she never posed in her birthday suit.
“To be clear… if anyone asked me to pose nude, which they eventually did, I said no,” Brinkley wrote. “To this day, I have never done a nude shoot — not because I’m a prude, but because I’ve always wanted to be a mom, and I never wanted my kids to be embarrassed by nude photos of their mother circulating somewhere in the magazine world. Plus, I think it’s much sexier to suggest than to show it all.”
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“I’ve refused to do other things as a model, too, most notably when, a few months into my career, a client asked me to fly to the South of France to accompany a group of men on a yacht in the Mediterranean,” Brinkley wrote.
“The job, they said, would be to be nice to everyone on board, because everyone on board could be beneficial to my career. The trip would include an overnight, but in the morning, I could fly back to Paris — no harm, no foul.”
“I may have been a naïve kid from Malibu, but nothing about the trip sounded right to me,” she shared. “Where, after all, was the modeling part? I heard rumors that other models with more successful careers at the time had taken the same trip and come back with fancy cars, jewelry, and a new magazine cover, but none of that mattered to me. If I was going to get ahead in the industry, I wanted to do it on my own terms, not underneath someone else’s.”
“That proposed trip was the only time in my career I was ever asked, directly or indirectly, for a sexual favor,” Brinkley continued.
“I know that makes me one of the lucky few, and I like to think that once you declare your worth, no one questions it again, but I know that’s not true, either. Instead, you have to declare your worth over and over again, if not in one way, then in another — especially in an industry like modeling, where fame, money, and misconceptions can run wild.
“But as long as you believe in yourself, it doesn’t really matter what other people want or ask you to do. You write your own script… And as long as I’m writing my own script, I’m also going to call my own shots, no matter which side of the camera I’m on.”
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For decades, Brinkley was known as “America’s Sweetheart,” a title that suited her just fine.
“It’s very sweet,” she told Fox News Digital. “I never really took it literally. I just thought that it’s a compliment you take with a grain of salt. But it was very pleasant and sweet that they wanted to say something nice about me.”
Brinkley said she has zero regrets about her stance. Today, she hopes her story will inspire others to live life on their own terms.
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“Now I can look back and go, ‘Wow, I did that. Good for me,'” she said.
Ivy League student’s DOGE-like email to analyze why tuition is so high lands him in hot water
A sophomore at Brown University is facing disciplinary action after he sent a DOGE-like email to non-faculty employees asking them what they do all day to try to figure out why the Ivy League’s tuition has gotten so expensive.
“Brown is charging me for misrepresentation — for saying I am affiliated with the Brown Spectator, which I am, because the Brown Spectator is an independent non-profit and not a registered student group,” Alex Shieh told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement.
“Brown is also charging me for violating their IT policies for publishing Brown employee data, without specifying which provisions of the IT policy were violated,” Shieh added.
BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT ANGERS NON-FACULTY EMPLOYEES BY ASKING ‘WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY,’ FACES PUNISHMENT
He maintains, however, that he did not violate “any provisions of the IT policy.”
During free weekends in March, Shieh went to the common room in his dorm’s basement — a space that floods when it rains and requires plastic tarps, despite the school’s $90,000 yearly tuition — and used AI to try to determine what Brown employees did and why the school was so expensive.
The sophomore then created a database of the 3,805 non-faculty employees who worked at Brown University and emailed them to ask, “What do you do all day?”
In the inquiry, he said that he identified himself as a journalist for The Brown Spectator, a dormant on-campus libertarian journal that a group of students is planning to relaunch.
He formatted his database to identify three particular jobs: “DEI jobs, redundant jobs, and bulls–t jobs.”
Shieh said he wanted to investigate DEI because of President Donald Trump‘s executive orders, and his administration threatening to withhold federal funds to universities with DEI policies. The goal was to get as much data as possible so that his research could be accurate.
But only 20 of the 3,805 people emailed responded, and many of the responses were profane and hostile.
TRUMP ADMIN HALTING MORE THAN $500M IN FEDERAL FUNDING TO BROWN UNIVERSITY OVER ANTISEMITISM RESPONSE
Shieh also said that his Social Security number was leaked.
“Brown is retaliating against me for exposing that the exorbitant tuition costs are going to a bloated bureaucracy, not educating students,” Shieh told Fox News Digital in the email statement.
“It is no surprise that the House Judiciary Committee has opened an investigation into Brown and other Ivy League schools for price-fixing and other anticompetitive business practices, such as requiring students to purchase on-campus housing and meal plans, which may operate at a surplus in order to subsidize the administrative costs,” he added.
Shieh continued, “Because Brown can’t outright punish me for calling out their hypocrisy, they are instead accusing me of committing obscure conduct violations that are not applicable to my situation, in order to scare other students from speaking out.”
In an April 23, 2025, post on X, Elon Musk replied to Shieh’s post announcing the school’s disciplinary action with the word, “Unreal.”
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Brown administrators say Shieh’s case has nothing to do with free speech.
“In spite of what has been reported publicly framing this as a free speech issue, it absolutely is not,” Brian Clark, vice president for news and strategic campus communications, said in an email statement to Fox News Digital.
“At the center of Brown’s review are questions focused on whether improper use of non-public Brown data, non-public data systems and/or targeting of individual employees violated law or policy.”
“Brown has detailed procedures in place to investigate alleged conduct code violations, resolve them and implement discipline in instances when students are found responsible, and these will continue to guide our actions,” Clark added. “Students have ample opportunity to provide information and participate directly in that process to ensure that all decisions are made with a complete understanding of the circumstances.”
Clark said that the school “is proceeding in this matter in complete accordance with free expression guarantees and appropriate procedural safeguards under Brown policies and applicable law.”
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Shieh, however, said that he is expanding his initiative to look at other Ivy League institutions, including The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Cornell University “to expose wasteful expenditures there, and released an online tool to demand that schools cease and desist DEI.”
He said that the database has been used already by members of the public hundreds of times.