Texas removes 7 National Guard troops from Illinois mission after viral photo
The Texas Military Department (TMD) confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it replaced seven National Guard members who were deployed to Illinois amid civil unrest, citing the service members’ failure to meet “mission requirements.”
About 200 Texas National Guard troops were deployed to Illinois on Oct. 7 for a 60-day mission to protect federal personnel and property during anti-immigration protests, the Pentagon previously confirmed.
During the pre-mission validation process, the Texas National Guard identified and replaced seven service members who did not meet mission requirements, a TMD spokesperson said.
The affected Guardsmen were returned to their home station, though the department did not specify the reasoning for their removals.
HOMAN CONFIRMS TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD ‘ON THE GROUND’ IN ILLINOIS, WARNS ANTI-ICE RHETORIC FUELING ‘BLOODSHED’
The announcement comes after a photo showing a group of service members arriving in Illinois went viral on social media, with critics speculating about their fitness.
“The Texas National Guard echoes Secretary [of War Pete] Hegseth’s message to the force: ‘Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear,'” a TMD spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
SEN TAMMY DUCKWORTH: THE NATIONAL GUARD SWORE AN OATH TO THE CONSTITUTION, NOT DONALD TRUMP
Hegseth in September called for service members in combat roles to meet the highest male standards for physical fitness.
Department officials did not confirm if the service members in the viral photo were the same Guardsmen removed from the mission.
TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYS 200 TROOPS TO ILLINOIS FOR FEDERAL PROTECTION MISSION AMID PROTESTS
A federal judge ruled Saturday National Guard troops can stay in Illinois but cannot patrol or protect federal property.
The decision followed a request from the Trump administration to lift a prior block on their deployment. The temporary restraining order keeps the troops in place pending further court arguments.
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Mystery woman in viral video comes forward, police reveal what happened outside home
A woman seen in a surveillance video that appeared to show her being forcibly pulled away by a man outside a Wichita home on Sunday has contacted police, they said Tuesday afternoon.
Police said that around 3 p.m., investigators received a phone call from a woman claiming to be the individual seen in the video.
“Investigators immediately responded to her location, made contact and transported her to City Hall so detectives could conduct a victim interview,” the Wichita Police Department said in a statement.
According to the statement, investigators have identified the woman as a 35-year-old resident of the area where the video was recorded early Sunday morning on the 1400 block of North Volusia.
INVESTIGATORS RELEASE VIDEO OF POSSIBLE ABDUCTION, SHOWING WOMAN SCREAMING AS SHE’S PULLED AWAY
“At this stage of the investigation, we believe this incident is a case of domestic violence where the female was victimized by her boyfriend,” police said. “The female does not have any significant injuries.”
Detectives are continuing to conduct interviews, and the department said the case will be presented to the appropriate attorney’s office for formal charging consideration.
Police thanked the public for helping to spread the video and still images that drew widespread attention on social media and news outlets.
“We do believe it led the female to call us saying she was the person we were looking for,” the statement read.
As police had emphasized earlier in the day, investigators do not believe there is any ongoing danger to the public.
“As we stressed this morning, we do not have any reason to believe there is ongoing danger to the general public,” the department said.
The 20-second Ring doorbell video, recorded around 2 a.m. Sunday, showed a woman appearing to resist as a man pulled her out of frame in a north Wichita neighborhood.
CINCINNATI VIRAL BEATING BODYCAM RELEASED AS SUSPECTS FACE NEW CHARGES IN GRAND JURY INDICTMENT
The clip prompted an urgent police plea for help identifying the individuals, leading to dozens of tips. Investigators canvassed the area for witnesses and additional footage, reviewed license plate reader data, and checked recent disturbance and missing-person reports before the woman came forward.
Before Tuesday’s update, Wichita Police Capt. Aaron Moses told Fox News Digital the video had given investigators “a strong starting point” as they worked to locate the woman and verify her safety.
“The challenge is, this is the only piece of evidence that we have at this time,” Moses said during the interview.
“We think someone out there does recognize her. And that’s why we shared the video again today,” Moses said.
WATCH: Wichita police investigate possible abduction caught on camera
Moses stressed that there is no indication the case is connected to organized crime or a broader pattern.
“We don’t have any information to lead us to believe that this is related to the cartel. We don’t have any information to lead us to believe that this is part of a larger pattern at this point,” he continued.
When asked whether the incident could be a hoax or prank, Moses said the department was treating it as legitimate until proven otherwise.
“We have to treat everything as though it’s real until we can verify otherwise,” he said. “At this point we cannot verify if this is a hoax or anything else, so we are operating under the assumption that this is a legitimate incident.”
Police reviewed all missing-persons reports filed since Oct. 1. They believe the event is likely isolated and does not pose a broader public safety risk.
“We haven’t received any additional reports of suspicious activity in that area,” Moses said. “We don’t believe there is a danger to the general public.”
CHILLING SECURITY FOOTAGE CAPTURES WOMAN’S DESPERATE ESCAPE FROM FLORIDA KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT IN PARKING LOT
As public interest in the case surged, Wichita police had to confront a wave of misinformation spreading online. Social media users circulated what appeared to be artificial intelligence-generated “enhancements” of the video, claiming to reveal faces or clearer details.
Moses cautioned that these images are not authentic and could harm the investigation.
“The use of artificial intelligence for this type of an investigation does have the ability to complicate our investigation,” he said. “It can generate erroneous tips and information that’s not verified by a human being.”
He urged the public to only share content released directly by the Wichita Police Department. Verified updates, he said, are always posted on the department’s official social media channels.
“Anything that comes from another source has not been verified, and we cannot confirm the accuracy or the validity of that information,” Moses warned.
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Police said detectives are continuing to gather evidence and interview those involved. The case will be referred to prosecutors for review.
“We are grateful for the community’s help and the attention this case received,” the department said. “Our priority remains transparency and ensuring the safety of everyone involved.”
Cheryl Hines says ‘May I finish?’ as she debates with ‘The View’ co-host about her husband
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines clashed with co-hosts of “The View” and defended her husband, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
On Tuesday, during a discussion of Hines’ upcoming memoir, “Unscripted,” the actress was pressed about her husband’s work in the Trump administration. RFK Jr. had originally run as a Democrat in the 2024 election, but eventually dropped out of the race and endorsed President Trump instead, a move many consider to have been a decisive one in the election overall.
Since then, Kennedy has faced backlash from prominent Democrats and liberal commentators — including the hosts of “The View.”
“Bobby’s background, everything I have seen him do, he has dedicated his career to suing big corporations because of toxins that are — have been affecting people’s healthcare, people’s health, I should say,” Hines said as she defended her husband, citing her husband’s well-known environmental lawsuits.
TRUMP STANDS BY RFK JR. AFTER HEATED SENATE HEARING: ‘I LIKE THE FACT THAT HE’S DIFFERENT’
“But the problem, respectfully, is that your husband is the least qualified Department of Health and Human Services head that we have had in history,” Hostin argued.
Hines objected, questioning the proposition that her husband – who specifically studied toxins — might be deemed less qualified than an economist to perform this role.
“He has also spread a lot of misinformation, a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion, and I think it’s just a very dangerous thing,” Hostin argued. “I say it with the utmost respect.”
“Some of it’s good, and some of it’s not,” co-host Joy Behar replied.
“When you say misinformation, disinformation, we could go back to COVID,” Hines began, recalling all of the controversies about medical information and institutional narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He has connected circumcision to autism,” Hostin interjected.
“May I finish?” Hines said, recalling when medical professionals and institutions initially claimed that getting the vaccine will stop one from catching or transmitting COVID-19 – guidance later revised by the CDC. “That was ‘disinformation,’ ‘misinformation.’”
CHRIS PRATT WISHES RFK JR., TRUMP ADMIN SUCCESS, ADVISES AGAINST BEING ‘MIRED IN HATRED’ FOR THE PRESIDENT
She recalled that her husband was censored at the time for asking for actual medical proof of such claims from officials at the time.
Co-host Sara Haines then offered a point that the panel could all agree on, a prospect that delighted the embattled Hines, replying, “Oh, thank you. What do we all agree on?”
“The MAHA movement, ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ you praise your husband’s campaign to make food and baby formula safer which I think everyone can get on board with, tell us about that,” Haines said.
“I am very proud of Bobby, and he has worked really hard to get a lot of petroleum-based food dyes out of our food, which also and… Even baby formula, we’re finding out there’s arsenic. There’s lead,” Hines replied. She then turned back to Hostin, turning her previous words about RFK Jr. being unqualified compared to his predecessors and asked, “The question is, who was running HHS when they allowed lead and arsenic in a baby formula? How is that person not dangerous?”
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As the interview concluded, co-host Whoopi Goldberg later encouraged Hines to come back on the show sometime in the future.
“Really?” Hines asked with a shocked look.
“Because we don’t often get people on this show who we can ask these questions to, and I appreciate that you came on, and so I’m saying, ‘Come back.’”
“My husband was gonna come on, and I said, ‘Maybe don’t,’” Hines quipped.
“No, because do you know what?” Goldberg said. “If we can have the discussion back and forth, it then becomes people’s — they can decide what they believe, and they’re not just hearing one side.”
DOJ seizes record $15 billion in Bitcoin in largest US forfeiture ever
Bitcoin valued at $15 billion has been seized by the Department of Justice (DOJ) from a massive “pig butchering” network, and in what officials say is the “largest forfeiture action in U.S. history.”
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, unsealed an indictment Tuesday charging Chen Zhi, also known as “Vincent,” leader of the Prince Holding Group, in connection with the crypto scam scheme, based out of Cambodia.
Zhi, 37, who is still at large, is also accused of directing Prince Group’s operation of forced-labor scam compounds across the country. The DOJ said Zhi used violence to discipline workers.
FEDS UNSEAL CHARGES AGAINST ‘BARBECUE,’ HAITIAN GANG LEADER WITH $5M BOUNTY ON HIS HEAD
Images of beatings were included in the evidence unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors also allege the company was a front for one of Asia’s largest criminal enterprises.
“As alleged, the defendant directed one of the largest investment fraud operations in history, fueling an illicit industry that is reaching epidemic proportions,” said Joseph Nocella, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
DEA, FBI SEIZE $10 MILLION IN CRYPTOCURRENCY ‘DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE SINALOA CARTEL’
According to court documents seen by FOX Business, Zhi built Prince Group, which claimed to invest in real estate, finance, and consumer services across more than 30 countries, into a massive network of “phone farm” compounds.
There, trafficked workers were allegedly forced to carry out scams that lured victims online through fake romantic relationships, pleas for financial help, or promises of lucrative cryptocurrency investments. Such schemes are referred to as “Sha Zhu Pan” or “pig butchering,” according to the DOJ.
Prosecutors said Zhi company generated up to $30 million per day at its peak, stealing crypto funds that were laundered through what’s known as unhosted digital wallets, which puts users in charge.
The 127,271 bitcoins, worth $15 billion and now in U.S. custody, were allegedly held in the wallets controlled by Zhi.
ALLEGED BITCOIN TORTURER WALKS FREE ON $1M BOND AFTER TWO-MONTH RIKERS ISLAND DETENTION
The Treasury Department has now designated Prince Group as a “transnational criminal organization” and announced sanctions against Zhi and his associates.
“This is an individual who allegedly operated a vast criminal network across multiple continents involving forced labor, money laundering, investment schemes, and stolen assets targeting millions of innocent victims in the process,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in a statement.
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“Today the FBI and partners executed one of the largest financial fraud takedowns in history,” Patel added.
FOX Business has reached out to the DOJ and Prince Holding Group for comment.
Duffy responds to trucker who ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to learn English in America
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday doubled down on the Trump administration’s order to crack down on English proficiency standards for commercial truck drivers.
Duffy was responding to a local news report in California about an Indian citizen who drove a truck for a living but has since been banned because of new rules that restrict who is eligible for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits (CLPs) and commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).
The Department of Transportation (DOT) singled out California for what it called “gross negligence,” saying more than 25% of CDLs issued to noncitizens or non-permanent residents were improperly granted.
The truck driver featured in the news report spoke to a reporter in his native language, not English.
SENATE REPUBLICANS TARGET OBAMA-ERA TRUCKING RULE WITH NEW ENGLISH PROFICIENCY BILL
“Crocodile tears for a man who has spent a decade in our country but couldn’t be bothered to learn our language,” Duffy wrote on X. “Our new rules will keep you and your family SAFE on America’s roads!”
The DOT also commented on the report.
“This driver has been in the U.S. for TEN YEARS and does not know enough English to qualify for a trucking license,” the agency wrote. “This is exactly why @SecDuffy ordered @FMCSA to crack down on English proficiency standards.”
“Do you want to drive on American roads? Being able to understand English is the BARE MINIMUM,” it added.
CONNOR WAS KILLED BY A DRIVER WHO COULDN’T READ SIGNS. MAKE TRUCKERS LEARN ENGLISH AGAIN
A Senate bill would require prospective truck drivers to demonstrate basic English proficiency before receiving a CDL.
The legislation would codify President Donald Trump’s executive order, which similarly imposed stricter English language requirements.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., would establish several standards, including ensuring that truck drivers can converse with the public, understand highway traffic signs and signals in English, respond to official inquiries, and make entries on reports and records.
The issue gained attention after an illegal immigrant truck driver allegedly jackknifed his 18-wheeler while making an illegal U-turn in Florida, killing three people in August.
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His limited English drew sharp scrutiny after the DOT said he failed an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment following the deadly crash in Fort Pierce, Florida. Singh provided correct responses to only 2 of 12 verbal questions and accurately identified just 1 of 4 highway traffic signs, the agency said.
Former aide called ‘a joke’ by Trump after failing to honor MAGA hat pledge
President Donald Trump castigated “The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin as a “joke” on Tuesday after she appeared to renege on a promise to wear a MAGA hat on the air if he got the Israeli hostages home.
Asked by a reporter about her pledge, which she made last year, Trump inquired if she’d put the hat on. After two opportunities on Monday and Tuesday, she hadn’t yet.
Trump then claimed Griffin, who resigned as White House communications director in December 2020, had written him “beautiful” letters upon her departure and even afterward, which she’s denied in the past.
“She used to work for me,” Trump said, later adding, “She got hired by ‘The View,’ and they gave her a couple of bucks, and she changed her view very quickly. I never thought she’d make it. I never thought she had what it took in any way. You know what that means… It just shows what a fraud ‘The View’ is. This woman gave me letters and statements. She said I was the greatest president in her lifetime.”
‘DOCTOR WHO’ ACTRESS ADMITS SHE HAD ‘TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME’ BEFORE GAZA PEACE DEAL
“Now she’s not that old, so I don’t consider it a great compliment,” Trump added. “But I’ve had better. More recently, I’ve had the greatest president of them all. I like that much better. Does that include Washington and Lincoln? Yes, it does. I said that I like that. So I think she’s a joke.”
Griffin was already an established critic of Trump when she became a permanent co-host of the show in 2022.
The former Trump aide — who voted against him in 2024 — told her co-hosts last December that she would wear the signature red hat for an entire show if he did something like bring home the hostages once he took office again.
“My point when I say I’m not going to be apocalyptic, it’s not changing a tune. It’s not making every single thing a five-alarm fire. If he does good, if he gets the Israeli hostages out, I promise I will wear a MAGA hat for one day on the show and say, ‘Thank you for doing it,’” Griffin said.
‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOST PRESSES MAMDANI ON WHETHER HE’S APOLOGIZED TO OFFICERS OVER ANTI-POLICE RHETORIC
“Please don’t do that,” one of her co-hosts could be heard saying, sounding annoyed.
Donald Trump Jr. reminded Griffin on social media of her promise this week, but Griffin hasn’t worn the hat on either show so far this week or discussed the pledge.
Griffin effusively praised Trump, however, for brokering the deal that brought the surviving 20 Israeli hostages home and led to a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict.
‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOST SAYS TRUMP WOULD WIN BY SAME MARGINS IF ELECTION HELD TODAY
“Whether you like Trump or not, I think he, I think [Special Envoy] Steve Witkoff, and I think Jared Kushner do deserve credit for this deal,” Griffin said on Monday, noting the direct negotiations between the latter two and Hamas. “I used to be of the mind that we don’t negotiate with terrorists, but sometimes the only way to get peace is to sit down with some of the most evil people and try to come up with what we can do to end the bloodshed. So thank God, I pray that this peace holds.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to “The View” for comment.
Britney Spears’ ex warns of alleged disturbing knife behavior around sleeping sons
Britney Spears would sometimes stand outside of her sons’ room when they were at her house with a knife while they slept, ex-husband Kevin Federline has claimed.
“They would awaken sometimes at night to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep — ‘Oh, you’re awake?’ — with a knife in her hand,” the former backup dancer wrote in his upcoming memoir “You Thought You Knew,” according to The New York Times. “Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Spears’ reps for comment.
A rep for Spears told US Weekly: “With news from Kevin’s book breaking, once again he and others are profiting off her, and sadly it comes after child support has ended with Kevin. All she cares about are her kids, Sean Preston and Jayden James, and their well-being during this sensationalism.”
Federline said the incidents made her sons, Sean Preston, 20, and Jayden James, 19, afraid to stay at her house following her split from him in 2007.
MELISSA JOAN HART FEELS ‘GUILTY’ FOR TAKING AN UNDERAGE BRITNEY SPEARS TO HER FIRST NIGHTCLUB IN THE ’90S
He also wrote about the time in 2007 when Spears was placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold at a hospital following a custody dispute in which she refused to let the boys go with his representatives.
“It was one of the hardest nights of my life,” the 47-year-old wrote of that night. “I felt sick over what she was going through. This was someone I had loved. Someone I had built a life with. The mother of my children.”
Weeks later, Spears was placed on another psych hold that eventually led to her 13-year conservatorship, and Federline getting primary custody of the boys.
Federline admitted in an interview with The Times that he hasn’t spoken to Spears in “years,” but expressed concern that her release from her conservatorship in 2021 wasn’t a good idea.
“It’s become impossible to pretend everything’s OK,” Federline wrote, according to The Times. “From where I sit, the clock is ticking, and we’re getting close to the 11th hour. Something bad is going to happen if things don’t change, and my biggest fear is that our sons will be left holding the pieces.”
He urged all the people who supported the “Free Britney” movement to get her out of her conservatorship to “now put the same energy into the ‘Save Britney’ movement. Because this is no longer about freedom. It’s about survival.”
BRITNEY SPEARS CLAIMS THERE’S ‘NO JUSTICE’ AFTER SETTLING LEGAL BATTLE WITH ESTRANGED DAD: ‘MY FAMILY HURT ME’
Earlier this year, Spears posted a video she took of one of her sons playing the piano. She could be heard crying in the video and exclaiming, “That’s my baby!”
“Reposting because it’s a far better edit and excuse me crying and breathing hard !!!” she captioned the post. “I was excited !!! Mamas don’t get enough credit at all these days !!! I mean just saying !!! I made a person !!! A live breathing person and I made two of them !!! And my boys are so incredibly sweet and charming !!! I’m so blessed.”
In June, she also shared a photo of her reuniting with Jayden.
But, her relationship with her sons has been fraught over the years.
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In 2022, the “Oops!…I Did it Again” singer wrote a revealing, since-deleted post on Instagram, accusing her sons of being “hateful” following an interview with the Daily Mail in which the boys discussed repairing their relationship with her.
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“I know that teenagers are just hard to deal with at that age … but COME ON, there’s being rude then there’s being HATEFUL … they would visit me, walk in the door, go straight to their room and lock the door !!!” she wrote at the time. “I’m like why come visit me if they don’t even visit me !!! But I never said that because I have to be kind !!!”
She added, “It breaks my heart because it seems to me that these days, cruelty does in fact win, although it’s not about winning or losing !!! But I can’t process how I dedicated 20 years of my life to those kids … everything was about them !!! For them to knock the breath out of me.”
In the interview, Jayden said there is “no hate” between them and Spears, but “it will take a lot of time and effort” to fix their relationship.
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“I 100% think this can be fixed,” he said. “I just want her to get better mentally. When she gets better I really want to see her again.”
“I love you a lot, I hope for the best for you,” he said directly to Spears. “Maybe one day we can sit down like this and talk again.”
Federline also said in the interview that the boys decided on their own not to attend her 2022 wedding to Sam Asghari that ended in divorce a year later.
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In her 2023 memoir “The Woman in Me,” Spears denied Federline’s claims that she ever had serious substance abuse issues, and wrote that during their divorce he “tried to convince everyone that I was completely out of control.”
Ex-Vikings captain says family is being ‘held hostage’ by Minnesota trans athlete laws
Former Minnesota Vikings captain Jack Brewer says he feels his family, figuratively, is being “held hostage” by the North Star State’s Democratic policymakers who continue to enable transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
The state did not comply with the Trump administration’s Friday deadline to ban trans athletes from girls’ sports. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison cited the current government shutdown in a letter to the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, saying he has no “substantive response” to the Title IX deadline.
Brewer, who also served as captain for the University of Minnesota’s football team, has family and young relatives living in the state, and called its trans athlete policies “dark and demonic.”
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“I still have plenty of family in Minnesota — nieces, nephews, cousins — and family members who coach high school sports there,” Brewer told Fox News Digital. “My family is being held hostage to these dark and demonic laws. I feel for my little nieces who have dreams of being athletes, for my young cousins playing high school sports, and for my former teammates who are now coaches and athletic directors across the state. These are my people — that’s why I speak out. I say things they can’t. It’s a sad reality that they’re being forced to raise their children around this sickness.”
The Trump administration determined at the end of September that Minnesota policies violated Title IX, citing a controversy from the spring that saw a transgender softball pitcher lead a girls’ high school team to a state title.
The findings also cited instances of trans athletes competing in girls’ Alpine and Nordic skiing, lacrosse, track and field, and volleyball in Minnesota.
The U.S. Department of Justice has already filed lawsuits against educational agencies in Maine and California for similar violations. A DOJ referral for Minnesota is now likely when the government re-opens.
“President Trump is absolutely right to demand that men stay out of women’s sports,” Brewer said. “When Congress is back in session, he should cut all federal funding to states that continue this insanity. Minnesota has become the laughingstock of America — the embarrassment of our nation.”
Ellison’s response to the ultimatum comes despite the hundreds of Minnesota school board members who penned an open letter urging the state to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order and change its policies to keep males out of girls’ sports. As of Tuesday afternoon, 280 school board members across 113 school districts in the state have signed the letter, citing concerns for girls’ privacy and safety, as well as potential federal funding cuts in response to the state’s noncompliance.
Brewer called out Ellison and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for not adhering to the wishes of those school board members.
MINNESOTA TEEN SOFTBALL PLAYER OPENS UP ON TRANS PITCHER PLAYOFF GAME AS TRUMP ADMIN VOWS TITLE IX ENFORCEMENT
“You have hundreds of school board members who have stood against this, yet a governor and an attorney general with that much control are forcing their leftist, satanic ideals on people who want nothing to do with it,” Brewer said. “The world is watching as Minnesota has become the epicenter of this darkness — the devil’s den. Something needs to change, and the people of Minnesota need to wake up.”
Brewer also cited his Christian beliefs for his stance on the issue.
“The Bible talks about this — Jesus said it’s better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be cast into the sea than to harm one of His little ones,” he said. “Our nation was founded as a Christian nation — not one that appeases or promotes sexual immorality. We are destroying the souls of our children.”
Ellison has responded to school board members urging the state to keep biological males out of girls’ sports by saying the issue “doesn’t harm anyone.”
“Letting the very small number of transgender students in Minnesota play on their school sports teams doesn’t harm anyone, but segregating them does,” part of Ellison’s statement read.
“I too am concerned about the Trump Administration’s threats to cut education funding for kids across Minnesota, but this matter is before the court right now. The federal government’s threats violate the U.S. Constitution, Minnesota law, and Title IX itself. I’m fighting to prevent these harmful cuts, stop the Administration’s bullying of transgender kids who just want to live their lives in peace, and protect the rights and freedoms of all our students in Minnesota.”
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Ellison has already filed his own lawsuit against Trump and the DOJ for trying to enforce its policies to protect girls’ sports in Minnesota. He has also bragged about “suing them first” over the issue.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Ellison and Walz’s office for a response to Brewer’s comments.
Unearthed donations could shake up key governor race as key Democrat attack crumbles
FIRST ON FOX: New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mikie Sherrill took tens of thousands of dollars from companies linked to the opioid crisis as she hammers her Republican opponent over his alleged connection to that same crisis.
Sherrill spoke during a press conference on the Garden State’s opioid epidemic on Monday, where she accused Ciattarelli of “looking at ways to help people get access to the drugs that were killing them” through his ties to pharmaceutical-backed training programs.
“So you heard it, Jack made millions,” she said. “The opioid companies made billions, and thousands of New Jerseyans were dying.”
However, this attack might come back to haunt her campaign. Her congressional campaigns received three $1,000 donations from the AmerisourceBergen political action committee in 2018, 2019 and 2022, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital.
FINAL FACEOFF: CIATTARELLI, SHERRILL, BLAST EACH OTHER ON DEBATE STAGE
Her campaign also received at least $4,500 from the Teva Pharmaceuticals PAC, $1,000 from the Endo Pharmaceuticals PAC and $17,000 from Johnson & Johnson.
In total, a Fox News Digital review found at least $25,500 in donations going from companies tied to the opioid crisis to Sherrill’s campaign.
AmerisourceBergen has been accused, perhaps most notably in 2021 by Washington state’s Democratic attorney general Bob Ferguson, of profiting off billions from the opioid epidemic through the shipment of dangerous prescription painkillers with no regard for how those drugs were contributing to the deaths of citizens. AmerisourceBergen, which now goes by Cencora, and two other companies would go on to reach a settlement with Washington state for over $500 million.
In early 2022, AmerisourceBergen, whose executives were exposed for previously mocking West Virginians as “pillbillies” at the height of the opioid crisis, announced it would be agreeing to a $6.1 billion settlement that would be paid out over 18 years and would cover the “vast majority of the opioid lawsuits filed by state and local governmental entities,” according to a press release.
JACK CIATTARELLI DEMANDS MIKIE SHERRILL ‘COME CLEAN’ AS EXPLOSIVE ACCUSATIONS FLY IN NJ GOVERNOR’S RACE
In late 2022, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen, one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors, alleging the company “for years flouted its legal obligations and prioritized profits over the well-being of Americans” by failing to report suspicious orders of controlled substances, like fentanyl and oxycodone, which were then sold illegally, fueling the devastating opioid epidemic.
The other three pharmaceutical companies that donated thousands of dollars to Sherrill’s campaigns through their PACs also reached massive settlements for their roles contributing to the opioid crisis, which includes over $4 billion from Teva to participating states and local governments, according to a press release from Texas AG Ken Paxton’s office.
Johnson and Johnson agreed to pay $5 billion as part of their settlement, according to their 2022 press release.
Mikie Sherrill for Governor Communications Director Sean Higgins responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, calling the story a “desperate attack from perennial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, who refuses to answer for his role publishing misinformation about the dangers of opioids at the height of the opioid epidemic.”
“Mikie Sherrill has shown time and again that she will take on anyone to stand up for families and fight the opioid crisis. That’s why she helped pass landmark bipartisan legislation, signed into law by President Trump, to help fund treatment, recovery, and prevention programs in New Jersey.”
The campaign did not address a question from Fox News Digital about whether the money donated from the pharmaceutical companies would be returned.
In 2017, Ciattarelli received $1,500 from Mallinckrodt LLC PAC, a company that reached a settlement for its involvement in the opioid crisis in 2022. Additionally, the New Jersey Republican received $500 from Johnson & Johnson, a company that also reached an opioid settlement, in 2016.
Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Just like Mikie Sherrill got caught red-handed, personally profiting from investments in the same NJ utility companies she blamed for electricity rate increases, it’s no surprise to learn Mikie’s hypocrisy extends to taking thousands in campaign contributions from the very pharmaceutical companies she maligned yesterday.”
“At this point, if Mikie Sherrill’s lips are moving you can just assume she’s lying,” he continued.
Sherrill first made her claims that Ciattarelli contributed to the opioid epidemic during last week’s gubernatorial debate.
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“With regard to everything she just said about my professional career, which provided [for] my family, it’s a lie. I’m proud of my career,” Ciattarelli responded at the debate.
It was during his 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.
And Ciattarelli’s campaign fired back the day after the debate, pledging to file a defamation lawsuit against Sherrill.
“Mikie Sherrill cracked,” Ciattarelli campaign chief strategist, Russell said at the time.
“In doing so, she claimed — twice — that Jack Ciattarelli ‘killed tens of thousands of people, including children,’ a clearly defamatory attack that shocked the moderators, press, and public alike,” Russell added. “In a time where political violence and violent rhetoric are becoming all too prevalent, Mikie Sherrill baselessly and recklessly accusing a political opponent of mass murder in a televised debate crosses the line.”