WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid mounting tensions with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
It’s the Trump administration’s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States.
“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump said “other things are happening,” but did not offer additional details, saying he would speak more about it later.
The seizure was carried led by the U.S Coast Guard led effort and supported by the Navy, according to a U.S. official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A day earlier, the U.S. military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appeared to be the closest that warplanes had come to the South American country’s airspace since the start of the administration’s pressure campaign.
The U.S. has built up the largest military presence in the region in decades and launched a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Among the concessions the U.S. has made to Maduro during past negotiations was approval for oil giant Chevron Corp. to resume pumping and exporting Venezuelan oil. The corporation’s activities in the South American country resulted in a financial lifeline for Maduro’s government.
CALI, Colombia—They see themselves as the cowboys of the drug trade, highly experienced crews that ferry narcotics on small boats across the open seas, running on a mix of bravado, skill and dreams of a massive payday.
Now, designated as terrorists by the Trump administration, they face not only the perils of a capricious sea but the new danger of getting blown out of the water by the U.S. military. The trade’s unofficial motto—“deliver or die”—has never rung so true.
Iran has sent the Lebanese militia Hezbollah hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year via money exchanges and other businesses in Dubai, as Tehran seeks new ways to funnel money to its ally, people familiar with the matter said.
Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, is in desperate need of funds to rebuild and rearm its militia and pay other costs stemming from its bruising fight with Israel last year, the people said. Its smuggling routes through Syria were disrupted by the fall of the Iran-aligned Assad regime a year ago, and Lebanese authorities have made strides cracking down on couriers bringing suitcases of cash through the Beirut airport.
EXCLUSIVE: The Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members blocks from the White House worked with various United States government entities, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Afghanistan, Fox News Digital has learned.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States on the heels of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 under the Biden administration. Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. a month later under “Operation Allies Welcome.”
National Guard soldiers gather after two fellow troop members were shot, Wednesday, in Washington, D.C.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Intelligence sources told Fox News Digital that Lakanwal had a prior relationship with various entities in the U.S. government, including the CIA, due to his work as a member of a partner force in Kandahar.
“In the wake of the disastrous Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Intelligence Committee on Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“The individual—and so many others—should have never been allowed to come here,” Ratcliffe continued. “Our citizens and service members deserve far better than to endure the ongoing fallout from the Biden administration’s catastrophic failures.”
Ratcliffe added: “God bless our brave troops.”
Fox News Digital has learned that the FBI is taking the lead on the investigation.
Multiple high level intelligence sources told Fox News Digital that the shooting is being investigated as a possible act of international terrorism.
FBI officials confirmed the two West Virginia National Guardsmen remain in critical condition.
Law enforcement officers secure the area after a shooting targeting National Guardsmen in downtown Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26, 2025.(Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
In an online address to the nation late Wednesday, President Donald Trump called the shooting a “savage attack” and described how one of the Guardsmen “was shot at point-blank range in a monstrous ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House.”
Trump added that the “heinous assault” was an “act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity.”
“The hearts of all Americans tonight are with those two members of the West Virginia National Guard and their families,” he added. “The love of our entire country is pouring out for them, and we are lifting them up in our prayers as we are filled with anguish and grief for those who were shot, we’re also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve. As President of the United States, I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price.”
“This is a targeted shooting,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser explained during a news conference Wednesday afternoon following the shooting. “One individual appeared to target these guardsmen. That individual has been taken into custody.”
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
Dr. Qanta Ahmed of Independent Women’s Forum joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss an ISGAP report that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated multiple American agencies and Gov. Greg Abbotts’ R-Texas., designation of CAIR as a terrorist organization.
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to begin designating certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
The order, invoking the Immigration and Nationality Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, cites the group’s involvement in violence across the Middle East, including rocket attacks on Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, assault.
The move begins a 30-day review led by the State and Treasury Departments to identify Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon for possible designation, which could freeze assets, restrict travel, and criminalize material support for affiliated entities.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has developed into a transnational network with chapters across the Middle East and beyond,” Trump’s executive order reads. “Relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.
Supporters of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood take part in a protest in the village of Sweimeh, near the Jordanian border with the occupied West Bank, on May 21, 2021.(Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)
“For example, in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel, the military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel,” the order continues. “A senior leader of the Egyptian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, on October 7, 2023, called for violent attacks against United States partners and interests, and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood leaders have long provided material support to the militant wing of Hamas.
“Such activities threaten the security of American civilians in the Levant and other parts of the Middle East, as well as the safety and stability of our regional partners,” the order noted.
Trump signaled over the weekend that he was planning to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization after several groups stepped up warnings in recent months that the Islamic group was gaining a foothold in the U.S.
“It will be done in the strongest and most powerful terms,” Trump told Just the News over the weekend. “Final documents are being drawn.”
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on Nov. 24, 2025, to begin the process of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization.( Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The president’s comment came shortly after Texas declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and just days after the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), a prominent global research center, released a comprehensive 200-page study warning of the Muslim Brotherhood’s growing influence in the U.S.
The Islamist organization founded in Egypt, has gained access to government agencies, been involved in advising American civil rights policy, infiltrated educational institutions, and created a vast social media footprint, the report states, while outlining the belief that the group has allegedly targeted U.S. government agencies for infiltration, including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Justice, through career appointments and advisory roles.
“We welcome President Trump’s statements and the growing recognition that the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideology and network pose a serious challenge to the United States and democratic societies,” Charles Asher Small, executive director of ISGAP, said in a press release after Trump’s interview with Just the News.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.
BERLIN (AP) — Traditional Christmas markets were opening across Germany on Monday, drawing revelers to their wooden stands with mulled wine, grilled sausages, potato pancakes or caramelized apples.
In Berlin, the famous market at the city’s Gedächtniskirche church opened with service open to the public on Monday morning. Other openings included the Christmas markets at the Rotes Rathaus city hall, Gendarmenmarkt and Charlottenburg Palace.
Christmas markets are an annual tradition that Germans have cherished since the Middle Ages — and successfully exported to much of the Western world. Vendors sell not only snacks and drinks but also handmade candles, wool hats, gloves and shiny Christmas stars in all colors and shapes. Children enjoy rides on chain carousels, Ferris wheels and skating on ice rinks.
Security is an issue at all markets across the country.
In the western city of Cologne, the Christmas market in front of the city’s famous double-domed cathedral was packed with big crowds on Saturday.
“We sense a very good atmosphere here, so we feel that in these difficult times we are currently experiencing, we can give visitors a little moment of respite here,” said Birgit Grothues, the spokeswoman for the market. “We see many smiling faces under our illuminated tent.”
Nonetheless, she said that after last year’s attack in Magdeburg, the city created a special security plan for its markets in close cooperation with police. It includes an additional anti-terrorism barrier and private security, she said.
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Associated Press writer Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Donald Trump’s primary military adviser, will be joined by David L. Isom, the senior enlisted adviser to Caine. Caine’s office said in a statement that the men will “engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions.”
Hegseth said then that the deployed Marines were “on the front lines of defending the American homeland.”
Caine’s visit this week comes as Trump evaluates whether to take military action against Venezuela, which he has not ruled out as part of his administration’s escalating campaign to combat drug trafficking into the U.S. The buildup of American warships and the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people on 21 alleged drug boats, are seen by many as a pressure tactic on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to resign.
The Trump administration also is ramping up pressure by designating the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a foreign terrorist organization, although the entity that the U.S. government alleges is led by Maduro is not a cartel per se.
Until this year, the label of foreign terrorist organization had been reserved for groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida that use violence for political ends. The Trump administration applied it in February to eight Latin American criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and other activities.
Hegseth said last week that the designation of Cartel de los Soles will provide a “whole bunch of new options to the United States” for dealing with Maduro. In an interview with conservative news outlet OAN, Hegseth did not provide details on what those options are and declined to say whether the U.S. military planned to strike land targets inside Venezuela.
“So nothing is off the table, but nothing’s automatically on the table,” he said.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A Lithuanian court convicted a Ukrainian national on Monday of carrying out an arson attack last year on an IKEA store in the Baltic nation’s capital, which authorities have accused Russian military intelligence of being behind.
The Vilnius regional court convicted Daniil Bardadim of charges including a terrorist act, illegal possession of explosives and arrival in Lithuania with the aim of carrying out terrorist acts. Bardadim, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison — a bit short of the four years prosecutors had sought.
The store in Vilnius was attacked on May 9, 2024. Investigators have said that Bardadim and another person agreed during a secret meeting in Poland to set fire to and blow up shopping centers in Lithuania and Latvia for a reward of 10,000 euros ($11,500) plus a BMW car.
Prosecutors said that Bardadim, who was a minor at the time of the attack, acted “in the interests of the military structures and security services of the Russian Federation.” IKEA was allegedly targeted because the company withdrew from Russia and because of Sweden’s aid to Ukraine.
The device was set off around 4 a.m. but the resulting blaze was extinguished quickly by employees and firefighters.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Two suicide bombers attacked the headquarters of a security force in northwestern Pakistan on Monday morning, killing at least three officers, police and rescue officials said.
The attack took place in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said city Police Chief Saeed Ahmad.
He said one attacker detonated his explosives at the main gate of the provincial headquarters of the Federal Constabulary, while the second bomber was shot and killed by officers near the parking area.
He said a swift response by security forces prevented more casualties and the situation was quickly brought under control.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have been blamed for similar previous assaults in the country, which has witnessed a surge in militant attacks.
The attacks have strained ties between Islamabad and Afghanistan’s Taliban government, with Pakistan accusing the Pakistani Taliban of operating freely inside Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
HASAKAH, Syria—In a wing of the notorious Al Sina prison in northeastern Syria, where some of the world’s most dangerous inmates are held, guards wearing balaclavas stood along a corridor lined with cells. A prisoner pressed his face to a small, square hole in one of the cell doors. Behind him, some 20 other prisoners in brown jumpsuits sat barefoot on the floor.
“Is Biden still the U.S. president?” he asked a visiting journalist. The prisoner, a British Islamic State member, didn’t get an answer.
Gunmen stormed a Catholic school in Nigeria, abducting more than 300 students and teachers at a time when President
Trump is threatening military action to protect Christians in the West African nation.
The attackers hit St. Mary’s Catholic School in central Niger State in the early hours Friday, spraying bullets into the air before rousting students from their dormitories and forcing them into the forest at gunpoint, police said.
“The Somali community here in Minneapolis has been welcoming and has shown love towards me, and I appreciate it,” O’Hara said at a news conference on Thursday. “Over the last three years we have been working together to try and address some of the real serious problems that we have in our community.”
“We have to be honest at times with the problems that we’re having in our community, and we need our community to help us fix those problems together because it’s real and it’s serious. At the same time, if people have taken anything that i have said out of context in a way that’s caused harm, I apologize, and I’m sorry for that because that’s not my intention at all,” O’Hara added.
In an interview with WCCO earlier this month, O’Hara was speaking about a deadly Halloween shooting as well as juvenile crime plaguing the city when he made the comment. Alpha News reported that the Dinkytown area, where the shooting took place, has seen a series of crimes including assaults, robberies, shootings and auto thefts.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara speaks during a press conference regarding the Annunciation Church shooting in Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 28, 2025.(Tim Evans/Reuters)
During the interview, he stated that the young people committing the crimes were not “poor kids from Minneapolis,” but rather kids that come from out of town who take “mommy’s Mercedes-Benz to Dinkytown, and they don’t know where they are.”
“Groups of kids, groups of East African kids that are coming from surrounding communities and not just one community, kind of all over the place,” O’Hara told WCCO.
After the interview, a petition on Change.org demanded an apology from O’Hara, saying that the East African community of Minneapolis “has already been carrying the weight of unfair scrutiny for years” and that the chief’s comment would “deepen that burden.”
The Minneapolis Somali community has faced scrutiny on a national level in recent days after a bombshell report revealed a series of alleged financial schemes that ended with terrorists getting taxpayer dollars. Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo of the Manhattan Institute found that Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization in Somalia, was receiving funds that could be traced back to Minnesota.
“Every scrap of economic activity, in the Twin Cities, in America, throughout Western Europe, anywhere Somalis are concentrated, every cent that is sent back to Somalia benefits Al-Shabaab in some way,” a former official who worked on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force told Thorpe and Rufo.
Women walk along a tree-lined street in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the U.S.(Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
Following the report, President Donald Trump announced he was ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in Minnesota.
The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a country for TPS if nationals cannot return safely or if the country “is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.” Countries currently under TPS are Burma, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Lebanon, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.
“Minnesota, under Governor Waltz, is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately the Temporary Protected Status (TPS program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Rufo, one of the authors of the bombshell report, said Trump’s announcement was a “great start” but that there is still more work to do.
“Canceling TPS for Minnesota Somalis is a great start. Next: review all asylum, refugee, and citizenship applications for any hint of fraud or technical error; then initiate denaturalizations and mass deportations up to the furthest limits of the law. They have to go home,” Rufo wrote on X.
Women walk along a tree-lined street in Minneapolis’ Cedar–Riverside neighborhood, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the U.S.(Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn, who praised Trump’s decision, wrote a letter on Friday to U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen demanding an investigation. The letter was also signed by Emmer’s fellow Minnesota Republicans, Rep. Pete Stauber, Rep. Michelle Fischbach, and Rep. Brad Finstad.
“It is alleged that Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the nation, has been sending millions back to Somalia via the hawala network, an informal money trafficking network which is notorious for funds ending up in terrorist networks, and in this instance, Al-Shabaab,” the letter reads.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) speaks during a press conference with members of the Republican Study Committee and other members of House Republican leadership, on the 28th day of the government shutdown in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The lawmakers cited the various cases involving members of the Somali community, including the Feeding our Future fraud scheme, fraud in the Housing Stabilization Services program, Child Care Assistance program and Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program.
“It is bad enough that these individuals are defrauding our state, taking services and funds away from children and the most vulnerable, but now there is a good reason to believe that Minnesota taxpayer dollars are going straight into terrorists’ hands. These new allegations present not only a serious betrayal of taxpayer trust, but also a grave threat to our national security,” the letter states.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN, who visited the school on Friday.He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.The school kidnapping in Niger state’s remote Papiri community happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children.Yohanna described as false a claim from the state government that the school had reopened for studies despite an earlier directive for schools in that part of Niger state to close temporarily due to security threats.“We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, calling on families “to remain calm and prayerful.”School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as “strategic” targets to draw more attention.UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats.The kidnappings are happening amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country. Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims. The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in a Muslim-majority town.The attack also took place as Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu was visiting the U.S. where he met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday.
ABUJA, Nigeria —
A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.
The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN, who visited the school on Friday.
He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.
The school kidnapping in Niger state’s remote Papiri community happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children.
Yohanna described as false a claim from the state government that the school had reopened for studies despite an earlier directive for schools in that part of Niger state to close temporarily due to security threats.
“We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, calling on families “to remain calm and prayerful.”
School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as “strategic” targets to draw more attention.
UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats.
The kidnappings are happening amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country. Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims. The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in a Muslim-majority town.
The attack also took place as Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu was visiting the U.S. where he met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday.
Nnamdi Kanu, founder of IPOB, was convicted and sentenced on Thursday.
IPOB has been accused of terrorism and extrajudicial killings in the country’s southeastern region where it has called for the creation of an independent state.
The separatist group condemned the sentence, claiming no weapons and “no attack plan” were ever found on Kanu and that the separatist leader did not commit any offenses under Nigerian or international law.
“We reaffirm our commitment to peaceful advocacy, international law and the pursuit of a United Nations–supervised referendum,” IPOB’s spokersperson, Emma Powerful, said in a statement.
The charges against Kanu, who has rejected the court’s authority, included carrying out acts of terrorism, issuing and violently enforcing stay-at-home orders that bring the southeastern region to a halt every Monday, giving guidance on how to make bombs to be used on government facilities, and incitement.
Judge James Omotosho told the court on Thursday that the “right to self-determination is a political right,” but he added that: “Any self-determination not done according to the constitution of Nigeria is illegal.”
Powerful said the violence in the southeast “is politically manufactured” and has nothing to do with Kanu, who has been in detention.
Ekpa, who is also a Finnish citizen, was sentenced to six years in prison for participating in the activities of a terrorist group, public incitement to commit a crime for terrorist purposes and aggravated tax fraud.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Editor’s Note: The Muslim Legal Fund of America and the CAIR Legal Defense Fund announced Thursday that they have filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton to block enforcement of Abbott’s “unconstitutional and defamatory” November 18 proclamation, which they say falsely declared the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations a “foreign terrorist organization” and threatened various civil penalties against the civil rights organization if it continues to serve the people of Texas.
Original story:
Being Muslim doesn’t make one a terrorist, but that didn’t stop Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from condemning two prominent civil rights groups this week, prompting an immediate response from one that the allegations are defamatory and have no basis in law or fact.
Abbott issued a proclamation on Tuesday designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations. This designation authorizes heightened enforcement against both groups and their affiliates and prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas, according to a press release.
The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have “long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a statement.
“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” he said. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
It’s an unusual move on Abbott’s part, since, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, only the U.S. secretary of state can officially designate foreign terrorist organizations following consultation with the attorney general and treasury secretary.
The impact of the action by Abbott is limited to Texas law enforcement and authorizes the state attorney general to sue organizations deemed affiliated with CAIR or the Muslim Brotherhood, the Guardian reported this week.
In his proclamation, Abbott referenced comments by Muslim Brotherhood founders that supported “fighting of the non-believers.” The governor also cited that Hamas, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, orchestrated a 2023 terrorist attack in Israel in which nearly 400 people were killed.
Abbott said he targeted CAIR because the organization was named in 2007 as having ties to the Holy Land Foundation, a group that was shut down for sending millions of dollars to Hamas. CAIR has denied the allegations and was not indicted.
Habiba Noor, a lecturer at Trinity University, told the Texas Tribune this week that Abbott is using an “Islamophobic toolbox” to rehash conspiracy theories in an effort to criminalize Muslims. One such conspiracy theory, the lecturer said, is that CAIR is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, responded by saying in a letter that Abbott didn’t have the authority to unilaterally declare Americans or American institutions terrorist groups.
CAIR Texas said its civil rights work would continue undeterred. A spokesperson for CAIR Houston did not immediately respond to voicemails and emails seeking comment on Wednesday.
“Greg Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government,” CAIR National said in a statement. “Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas. His latest publicity stunt has no basis in fact or law, nor can it stop our civil rights work.”
At press time, the Muslim Brotherhood had not issued a response to Abbott’s proclamation. In 2015, the group was banned in Egypt, where it was founded, and declared a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood supports charitable causes and has said that its aim is the establishment of a state ruled by Sharia law.
Sharia is an Islamic legal and moral code that serves as a path for Muslims to live according to God’s will, as derived from the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
And that’s a problem for Abbott, who, one day after designating the Muslim groups as terrorists, called for an investigation into “possible criminal violations by Sharia tribunals masquerading as legal courts and … purporting to enforce Sharia law” in Collin and Dallas counties.
Texas Republicans, including Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have attempted for months to thwart the construction of a 400-acre Muslim community called EPIC City near Plano, calling it a “Sharia compound.”
Abbott signed a bill into law in September prohibiting “residential property developments like EPIC City from creating Sharia compounds and defrauding and discriminating against Texans.” No evidence has been produced that the organizers of EPIC City, which would include 1,000 residential units, a school and a mosque, intended to operate under Sharia law.
The project appears to be on hold because of numerous legal challenges and state investigations.
Harris County commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia and Lesley Briones jumped into the fray late Tuesday evening, issuing a statement that Abbott’s proclamation against the Muslim organizations “is a reckless action that fuels fear and runs contrary to Harris County’s success as the country’s most diverse metro area. It also has no basis in the law.”
“Harris County has thrived as a welcoming place for all. People come here from around the world,” the three Democratic commissioners said in a joint statement. “Not only do we contribute to their success, but they contribute to ours. We all work together to build a safe, prosperous community. The governor’s rhetoric fractures community trust and undermines the safety and cohesion that government is meant to protect.”
Numerous elected officials from Houston and Harris County attended a Muslim celebration to break fast at the end of Ramadan this year. Credit: Daniel J. Cohen
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who is competing in a January runoff election to fill the unexpired term of the late Sylvester Turner in U.S. Congressional District 18, said Abbott’s announcement was discriminatory and unconstitutional.
“He’s putting entire communities at risk by spreading fear instead of facts,” Menefee said in a statement. “Governor Abbott is again breaking down the trust we need to keep our neighborhoods stable. I denounce his decision and call on him to reverse it.”
In its response to Abbott, CAIR National said that the governor’s office has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government. The organization said it plans to continue opposing all forms of bigotry, speaking out against injustice and defending the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech.
CAIR has previously taken legal action against the state, most recently last year in defense of anti-genocide protesters at the University of Houston and University of Texas at Dallas.
“We have successfully sued you three different times for shredding the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government, and we are ready to do so again if you attempt to turn this publicity stunt into actual policy,” the statement reads, in a direct message to Abbott.
Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged in a criminal complaint with committing a terrorist attack or other violence on a mass transportation system — a federal offense rather than a state offense.
Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said the 26-year-old victim was minding her own business and reading her phone on an O’Hare-bound Blue Line train around 9 p.m. Monday when Reed came up and set her on fire with no provocation whatsoever.
“The surveillance video is difficult to watch, and very disturbing, as a young woman was set ablaze, and tried to put herself out, while other passengers got out of the way or watched,” Boutros said.
Chicago police investigators obtained surveillance footage from Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train car No. 3236, which showed the victim sitting on a seat in the middle of the train car, according to a federal court affidavit. Reed was sitting in the back of the same train car.
Lawrence Reed, and a woman he is accused of setting on fire, both seen seated on a Blue Line train car.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
The surveillance footage showed Reed standing up with a bottle in hand, walking up to the victim — who was seated with her back toward him — and pouring a liquid from the bottle all over her body. Reed then tried to ignite the liquid, the affidavit said.
Lawrence Reed stands up and approaches a woman he is accused of setting on fire on a Blue Line train car.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Lawrence Reed pours liquid on a woman he is accused of setting on fire on a Blue Line train car.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Lawrence Reed pours liquid on a woman he is accused of setting on fire on a Blue Line train car.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
At first, the victim fought off Reed and ran to the front of the train, the affidavit said. But Reed chased her and dropped the bottle on the floor, the affidavit said.
The victim then ran to the rear of the train car, the affidavit said.
Lawrence Reed comes at a woman with a flaming bottle on a Blue Line train car. He is accused of setting the woman on fire.
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Reed then picked up the bottle, which was now on fire, the affidavit said. He approached the victim, set her on fire using the bottle, and stood and watched as he body was engulfed in flames, the affidavit said.
The woman, who was almost fully engulfed in flames, tried to put out the fire by rolling on the floor of the train car, the affidavit said. When the train stopped at Clark/Lake, the woman was still on fire.
The woman exited the train at the station and collapsed on the platform.
“She was running off the train towards the middle of it, completely engulfed in fire,” said witness Christopher Flores.
On the platform, bystanders attended to the woman, the affidavit said.
“I went over to see what’s going on, said Flores. “She’s on the ground crying. Burnt to a crisp.”
In an affidavit, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives Special Agent Adam Fitzgerald said investigators found the woman lying on her back with severe burns to her face and body.
Sources said more than half of the woman’s body was burned. CBS Chicago obtained video of the aftermath, which shows a woman with significant burns on her head.
The victim was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County, where authorities said she remained in critical condition as of late Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Reed also got off the train at Clark/Lake and left the scene after the attack.
Investigators found a partially melted bottle, a lighter, the ignitable liquid, and the burned remains of the woman’s clothing in the train car, the affidavit said.
Investigators also found surveillance video from a Citgo gas station at 3537 W. Harrison St. about 20 minutes before the attack. In this video, Reed is seen wearing the same clothing as he was wearing when he allegedly attacked the victim, the affidavit said.
Reed is seen in the video making a payment to a cashier and filling a small container with gasoline, prosecutors said. He is then seen getting on the Blue Line at the Kedzie-Homan station along the Eisenhower Expressway, a short distance away from the gas station, the affidavit said.
At 11:29 a.m. Tuesday, Reed was arrested at 140 W. Washington St. downtown, the affidavit said. He was still wearing the same clothing, and he had fire-related injuries to his right hand, the affidavit said.
Around noon on Wednesday, 24 hours after he was arrested by Chicago police, Reed was taken into federal custody by the ATF.
Multiple outbursts during initial court hearing
Reed appeared for an initial hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura K. McNally at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon. He entered the courtroom in handcuffs and a spit guard around his mouth.
During the hearing, Reed made multiple outbursts. One line he repeatedly stated was, “I am guilty, and I will be my own attorney!”
But the judge did not accept the plea, as the hearing was intended just to establish the basis for the federal charges.
When the judge started talking with Reed, he said, “Don’t talk to me!” and screamed, “La, la, la,” to prevent the judge from talking. He also said, “I don’t want an attorney,” and, “I’ll be my own attorney.”
Judge McNally told Reed he had a right to remain silent.
Federal prosecutors said in court that they were seeking to have Reed held in custody until trial because he is a danger to the community and a flight risk. Prosecutors said Reed could face life in prison if convicted. He could also face the death penalty if the victim dies.
When Reed heard he was facing terrorism charges, he was taken aback as he said: “Terrorism? What is this all about?”
He also claimed to be a citizen of China and asked the judge to notify the Chinese Consulate of his arrest.
Lawrence Reed had been released on electronic monitoring
Reed has a long criminal record. CBS News Chicago found 49 arrests — including 10 felony cases. Three cases were later dropped, six ended up with convictions ranging from probation to 30 days in the Cook County Jail — and in the case of one drug conviction from 2003, two years in Illinois state prison.
Among them was an active aggravated battery case from just this past August.
In that incident, Reed is accused of hitting a social worker at MacNeal Hospital Psychiatry and Behavioral Health in west suburban Berwyn. The attack caused loss of consciousness, ER visits, lasting memory issues, headaches, and daily nausea for the social worker, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said at the time.
Cook County prosecutors asked a judge to keep Reed in custody until his trial for the August battery, but the judge placed Reed on electronic monitoring, and then a different judge modified the monitoring hours.
Still, this latest incident happened at a time when Reed would have been under active monitoring.
“Frankly, there’s a presumption of release, but that can be overcome easily with someone like this particular defendant,” said CBS News Chicago Legal Analyst Irv Miller.
Miller said the SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail in Illinois, allows judges the discretion to decide if someone is detained. But this latest case is in federal court, as the U.S. Attorney’s Office vows to take a stronger stance on CTA crime.
“You know, both the State of Illinois and the United States government has jurisdiction over certain crimes, particularly when it comes to a crime that occurs on a public transit system,” Miller said. “In that case, both jurisdictions have legitimate rights to charge.”
CBS News Chicago also found Reed has been accused in other high-profile crimes, including a fire that was set outside the Thompson Center in April 2020, on a day that Gov. JB Pritzker was supposed to make an appearance. The felony charge in that case was later dropped.
Just two months prior, Reed was suspected of punching four women outside the Harold Washington Library downtown.
Reed is also suspected of lighting a fire outside Chicago’s City Hall just last week.
In 2019, he pleaded guilty to breaking windows on a CTA Blue Line train at O’Hare International Airport.
“Lawrence Reed had no business being on the streets, given his violent criminal history and his pending criminal cases. Reed had plenty of second chances by the criminal justice system, and as a result, you have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life,” said ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Chris Amon. “Because of the swift action of CPD, ATF, and our law enforcement partners, there will be no more chances for Mr. Reed.”
CBS News Chicago reached out to the Cook County Chief Judge’s office, which monitors the ankle monitoring system, to ask if they could explain any questions about the case — including whether he might have been violating court orders when he allegedly set the woman on fire. Chief Judge’s office representatives said they could not comment on pending or potential litigation.
Hamas’s popularity has edged up among Palestinians in Gaza since the cease-fire, ending a slide during the war and posing a challenge to President Trump’s plan to bring peace to the enclave by disarming the militant group.
A major reason is security. Last month, as a cease-fire took root and Israeli forces pulled back, Hamas fighters re-emerged on the streets as police and internal-security forces, patrolling and targeting criminals along with rivals and critics. While many Gazans have a dim view of the U.S.-designated terrorist group and don’t like seeing the group reassert itself, Palestinians have welcomed a reduction in crime and looting.
