President Donald Trump condemned Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones as an “animal” on Sunday, saying anyone else would find themselves “in prison” for his text messages wishing death on political opponents.
Trump made the comments while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, just days after Jones had repeatedly bashed the president in a campaign debate in Virginia last week. Reporters pressed Trump on whether he planned to weigh in on the attorney general contest.
“You mean the one that wanted to kill some of his children and kill somebody? You mean the animal that wanted to kill somebody who should not be allowed to be running for that office?” Trump said when asked about Jones.
“He’s a third-rate intellect, he’s a guy who – I’ve never seen anybody say what he said, that he wanted to kill his opponent’s children – he wanted to kill his opponent,” Trump said. “I can’t imagine anybody voting for Jay Jones. Look, you would think he’s totally discredited. I would think he wouldn’t even be allowed to do that; anybody would be put in prison for what he said.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press on October 19, 2025 aboard Air Force One. The President is returning to Washington, D.C., after spending his weekend at Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“He can join a long list of attorney generals that have been suing and losing,” Trump added.
In messages first reported earlier this month, Jones texted Virginia state lawmaker Carrie Coyner in 2022, imagining a scenario where he would choose to “fire two bullets” into then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert’s head, describing Gilbert as worse than dictators Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler.
Jones also referred to Gilbert’s young children as “fascists” in the exchange.
Jones has since apologized for the text messages and says he is now “embarrassed” by them.
Jay Jones, who is running to become Virginia’s attorney general in 2025, has come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the death of political opponents.(Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
The controversy hasn’t stopped prominent Virginia Democrats from endorsing Jones, however. Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger endorsed Jones prior to the controversy and has since declined to withdraw the endorsement. Her campaign website is also still selling Jones-branded merchandise.
The Republican Governors Association, which is backing Spanberger’s opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, slammed Spanberger’s campaign for continuing to market Jones-branded merchandise more than a week after texts surfaced depicting him envisioning the murder of a GOP leader and his children.
Abigail Spanberger declined to withdraw her endorsement of Jay Jones following his text controversy.(Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
“Jay Jones threatened to murder his political opponent and their children, and Abigail Spanberger still fully endorses him and is trying to make money off it,” RGA rapid response director Kollin Crompton told Fox News Digital.
“If Spanberger is willing to put partisan politics above doing the right thing and standing up to political violence, how can she be trusted as governor?” Crompton asked.
Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
President Donald Trump said he believes Venezuela is “feeling heat” amid his administration’s war against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, which has taken out at least two vessels in just the past week.
Although Trump has said the strikes are intended to curb the influx of drugs into the United States, experts and some lawmakers contend that they serve another purpose: to exert pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro so he’s ousted from power.
“The Trump administration is likely attempting to force Maduro to voluntarily leave office through a series of diplomatic moves, and now military action and the threat thereof,” Brandan Buck, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said in an email to Fox News Digital Thursday. “Whether this constitutes a ‘regime change’ or something else is a question of semantics.”
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro gestures as he holds a press conference, amid rising tensions with the United States over the deployment of U.S. warships in the Southern Caribbean and nearby waters. (Reuters)
The Trump administration repeatedly has said it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, but instead, a leader of a drug cartel. In August, the Trump administration upped the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, labeling him “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.”
So far, the Trump administration has been tight-lipped when asked about Maduro, and Trump declined to answer Wednesday when asked if the CIA had the authority to “take out” Maduro.
However, Trump confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, after the New York Times reported Wednesday he signed off on the move. Trump told reporters he did so because Venezuela has released prisoners into the U.S., and that drugs were coming into the U.S. from Venezuela through sea routes.
Additionally, Trump confirmed Friday that Maduro offered to grant the U.S. access to Venezuelan oil and other natural resources, claiming the Venezuelan leader didn’t want to “f*** around” with the U.S.
Still, these recent strikes are unlikely to majorly undermine drug flow into the U.S., according to Buck.
“It is more likely that those strikes are part of this incremental effort to dislodge Maduro than merely an effort to wage war on the cartels,” Buck said. “Pacific and overland routes through Mexico are considerably more prolific, and Venezuela itself is a relatively minor player, especially when it comes to fentanyl.”
The Trump administration has employed maritime forces to address drug threats, and has bolstered naval assets in the Caribbean in recent months. For example, Trump has sent several U.S. Navy guided missile destroyers to enhance the administration’s counter-narcotics efforts in the region starting in August.
The U.S. killed six alleged drug traffickers on a boat in international waters near Venezuela, President Donald Trump announced Oct. 14, 2025.(realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)
Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council international affairs think tank, said that the Trump administration wants these additional forces to encourage the Venezuelan military to take matters into their own hands.
“What President Trump is hoping is that this deployment will signal to the Venezuelan military that they should rise up against Maduro themselves,” Ramsey said in a Thursday email to Fox News Digital. “The problem is that we haven’t seen this approach bear fruit in twenty years of trying. Maduro is terrible at governing, but good at keeping his upper ranks fat and happy while the people starve.”
“What is needed here is some kind of a road map, or a blueprint for a transition, that can be more attractive to the ruling party and those around Maduro who might secretly want change but need to see a future for themselves in a democratic Venezuela,” Ramsey said.
Meanwhile, the second Trump administration has adopted a hard-line approach to address the flow of drugs into the U.S., and designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
Additionally, the White House sent lawmakers a memo Sept. 30 informing them that the U.S. is now participating in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug smugglers, and has conducted at least six strikes against vessels off the coast of Venezuela. The U.S. seized survivors from the most recent strike Thursday — the first one involving survivors. At least 28 other individuals have died from previous strikes.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns over the legality of the strikes, and Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a war powers resolution in September to bar U.S. forces from engaging in “hostilities” against certain non-state organizations.
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., pictured here, and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a war powers resolution in September to bar U.S. forces from engaging in “hostilities” against certain non-state organizations.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The resolution failed in the Senate by a 51–48 margin on Oct. 8, but Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted alongside their Democratic counterparts for the resolution.
On Friday, Schiff, Kaine and Paul introduced another narrower war powers resolution that would block U.S. armed forces from participating in “hostilities” against Venezuela specifically. The lawmakers said the resolution came in response to Trump’s comments considering land operations in Venezuela.
“The Trump administration has made it clear they may launch military action inside Venezuela’s borders, and won’t stop at boat strikes in the Caribbean,” Schiff said in a statement Friday. “In recent weeks we have seen increasingly concerning movements and reporting that undermine claims that this is merely about stopping drug smugglers. Congress has not authorized military force against Venezuela. And we must assert our authority to stop the United States from being dragged—intentionally or accidentally—into full-fledged war in South America.”
When asked about lawmakers’ concerns about the legality of the strikes, Trump dismissed them and said that lawmakers were informed the vessels carried drugs.
“But they are given information that they were loaded up with drugs,” Trump said on Tuesday. “And that’s the thing that matters. When they’re loaded up with drugs, they’re fair game. And every one of those ships were and they’re not ships, they’re they’re boats.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
Bluesky is a social media platform loved by liberals, leftists, progressives, woke people, or whatever you want to call dislikers of Donald Trump. When a bunch of Donald Trump-associated accounts started using Bluesky ahead of this weekend in order to provoke a food fight, some were outraged or trolled back, but Bluesky’s robust blocking feature and cultural norms around ignoring right-wing trolls and harassers made their presence mostly a non-issue.
On Friday afternoon, the Trump 2.0 White House account, @whitehouse-47.bsky.social, announced its momentous arrival by posting a vaguely triumphalist montage of clips that referenced a lot of inside jokes for Republicans that probably don’t even register for outsiders, like one about Joe Biden’s autopen.
To clarify that this was not meant to earnestly signal the opening of a channel for information exchange between citizens and the head of the U.S. federal government, the text of the post was a sarcastically cheerful provocation: “What’s up, Bluesky? We thought you might’ve missed some of our greatest hits, so we put this together for you. Can’t wait to spend more quality time together! ❤️🇺🇸”
Mostly, however, the account got blocked. According to the Bluesky block tracking site Clearsky, @whitehouse-47.bsky.social is already the second most blocked account on Bluesky, just below Vice President J.D. Vance, who joined the site over the summer and has since secured a durable position atop the ranking.
The White House’s bid for attention was accompanied by similar introductory posts from the departments of State, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Commerce, the so-called “Department of War,” and many other cabinet departments and executive branch offices. Their posts and videos mostly just greet the users of Bluesky and hint at future dialogue in the same sarcastic tone at the initial White House post.
These accounts all show tens of thousands of blocks in the past 24 hours as of this writing—more blockers than followers in most cases. Some, like the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, earned themselves follower counts under 1,000. Most have spent the weekend posting platitudes, and receiving double-digit repost counts as users avoid taking the bait.
If the White House communications people who likely orchestrated all this were hoping to be able to generate epic lib meltdown content, it’s doubtful the mostly muted reaction was worth their effort. That’s because blocking on Bluesky is public, conspicuous, and designed to be total. Embeds will break. Reply chains will crumble. Further clashes, friction, and cognitive dissonance will drop off abruptly. The blocker and blockee will basically vanish from one another’s universes.
Bluesky blocking culture also includes the use of block lists, one-stop-shopping for blocking all accounts in some category or group with a single tap. There is even, somewhat more controversially, at least one block list of all users who interacted with the White House account rather then simply blocking it. The many, many blocked nodes in the network weaken the network effect of posting on a platform, which in turn appears to have resulted in low engagement for a bunch of accounts associated with the most powerful person in the world.
Bluesky critics like Mark Cuban call Bluesky an echo chamber, and it’s hard to argue that they’re entirely wrong. But all the Trump White House set out to do this weekend in that echo chamber was make a screeching noise, and since users are equipped with very effective earplugs, it wasn’t even all that annoying.
President Donald Trump on Sunday said he will halt financial aid and subsidies to Colombia, citing the South American country’s failure to curb its growing cocaine production.
Trump called Colombian President Gustavo Petro “an illegal drug leader” and accused him of “strongly encouraging the massive production of narcotics” across the country, adding that it “has become the biggest business’ in Colombia.
This image shows President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro.(Getty Images)
“Petro does nothing to stop it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that U.S. payments and subsides aimed at helping Colombia address drug production are “nothing more than a long-term rip-off of America.”
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLUMBIA,” Trump added.
Trump warned that Colombian drugs are “causing death, destruction and havoc” as his administration steps up efforts to tighten the border and fight the nation’s ongoing drug epidemic.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro is one of the most vocal critics of the Trump administration’s use of deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean.(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Trump also warned that Petro “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
The Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, and the White House did not respond to a separate request for further comment.
Last month, the Trump administration revoked Petro’s U.S. visa following “reckless and incendiary actions” in New York City.
Petro has also strongly criticized the Trump administration for authorizing deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean that U.S. officials said were transporting narcotics.
U.S. and Guyanese law enforcement seized approximately 5,200 pounds of cocaine from a self-propelled narco sub operating off the coast of Guyana on March 21, 2024.(U.S. Department of Treasury)
“Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials who are from the U.S. even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump,” Petro said during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly.
He added that the boat’s passengers were not members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, as the Trump administration claimed after the first attack.
Amanda covers the intersection of business and geopolitics for Fox News Digital.
Millions of protesters are gathering across the United States and internationally on Saturday for coordinated “No Kings” demonstrations opposing President Donald Trump’s policies and agenda enforced by his administration.
Over 2,600 rallies are taking place simultaneously in cities large and small, with at least one event scheduled in every U.S. state and demonstrations unfolding across multiple continents, including Germany, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Prague.
When Newsweek inquired by email on Saturday about the global protests, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded: “Who cares?”
Why It Matters
The “No Kings” movement has previously organized mass rallies against the policies of the president, coordinating 1,800 protests across the United States on June 14, the birthday shared by Trump and the U.S. Army, as the military branch marked 250 years in the spring.
While many of the protests remained peaceful, there were some instances of violence, including a vehicular assault in Virginia.
The demonstrations come as the federal government enters its 18th day of shutdown, which has paralyzed federal programs and services while testing the constitutional balance of power. For Democrats and progressive organizers, Saturday’s protests signal a potential turning point after six months of internal division and demoralization following Trump’s return to office.
Organizers view the movement as a critical moment for democratic resistance and an antidote to what they characterize as authoritarian governance.
What To Know
The “No Kings” movement is organizing Saturday’s campaign to “defend democratic norms and reject authoritarianism,” with protest leaders framing the demonstrations as a choice between “democracy versus dictatorship.”
Organizers have emphasized nonviolent action and conducted a 90-minute safety and security training session earlier this month to help protest hosts practice de-escalation techniques. The movement’s website explicitly discourages participants from bringing weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted.
The protests come amid a broader immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, with the Department of Homeland Security pledging to deport people who do not have proper documentation. Trump has authorized the deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago and previously to Los Angeles.
Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S. for “ No Kings ” demonstrations — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.They rallied with signs like “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism,” and in many places it looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, a huge banner with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People,” preamble that people could sign, and protesters in frog costumes, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.Demonstrators packed places like New York City’s Times Square, the historic Boston Commons, Chicago’s Grant Park, Washington, D.C., and hundreds of smaller public spaces.Many protesters were especially angered by attacks on their motives. In Washington, Brian Reymann said being called a terrorist all week by Republicans was “pathetic.”“This is America. I disagree with their politics — but I don’t believe that they don’t love this country. I believe they are misguided. I think they are power hungry,” Reymann said, carrying a large American flag.Trump himself is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.Organizers hope to build opposition movementMore than 2,600 rallies are planned Saturday in cities large and small, organized by hundreds of coalition partners.“Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.While protests earlier this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts in the spring and Trump’s June military parade — drew crowds, organizers say this one is uniting the opposition. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining in what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, among the key organizers. In April, the national march against Trump and Elon Musk had 1,300 registered locations. In June, for the first “No Kings” day, there were 2,100 registered locations.Before noon, several thousand people had gathered in Times Square, chanting “Trump must go now,” and waving sometimes-profane signs with slogans insulting the president and condemning his immigration crackdown. Some people carried American flags.Retired family doctor Terence McCormally was heading to Arlington National Cemetery to join others walking across the Memorial Bridge that enters Washington directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. He said the recent deployment of the National Guard made him more wary of police than in the past.“I really don’t like the crooks and conmen and religious zealots who are trying to use the country” for personal gain, McCormally said, “while they are killing and hurting millions of people with bombs.”Republicans denounce ‘Hate America’ ralliesRepublicans have sought to portray Saturday’s protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.” They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”Many demonstrators responded to such hyperbole with silliness in part because they say Trump leans heavily on theatrics — like claiming cities he sends troops to are war zones — said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester.“So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy,” said Kalbaugh, who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.Democrats try to regain their footingDemocrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.But for many Democrats, the government closure is also a way to stand up to Trump, and try to push the presidency back to its place in the U.S. system as a co-equal branch of government. It’s also a way to draw a moral line in the sand, said Murphy, the senator from Connecticut.“Trump does think that he’s a king,” Murphy said at the Washington rally, “and he thinks that he can act more corruptly when the government is shut down. But he cannot.”The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said march organizer Levin. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”___Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking, and Chris Megerian in Washington, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Safiya Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON —
Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people gathered Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S. for “ No Kings ” demonstrations — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.
They rallied with signs like “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism,” and in many places it looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, a huge banner with the U.S. Constitution’s “We The People,” preamble that people could sign, and protesters in frog costumes, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.
This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.
Demonstrators packed places like New York City’s Times Square, the historic Boston Commons, Chicago’s Grant Park, Washington, D.C., and hundreds of smaller public spaces.
Many protesters were especially angered by attacks on their motives. In Washington, Brian Reymann said being called a terrorist all week by Republicans was “pathetic.”
“This is America. I disagree with their politics — but I don’t believe that they don’t love this country. I believe they are misguided. I think they are power hungry,” Reymann said, carrying a large American flag.
Trump himself is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.
Organizers hope to build opposition movement
More than 2,600 rallies are planned Saturday in cities large and small, organized by hundreds of coalition partners.
“Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.
While protests earlier this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts in the spring and Trump’s June military parade — drew crowds, organizers say this one is uniting the opposition. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining in what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, among the key organizers. In April, the national march against Trump and Elon Musk had 1,300 registered locations. In June, for the first “No Kings” day, there were 2,100 registered locations.
Before noon, several thousand people had gathered in Times Square, chanting “Trump must go now,” and waving sometimes-profane signs with slogans insulting the president and condemning his immigration crackdown. Some people carried American flags.
Retired family doctor Terence McCormally was heading to Arlington National Cemetery to join others walking across the Memorial Bridge that enters Washington directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial. He said the recent deployment of the National Guard made him more wary of police than in the past.
“I really don’t like the crooks and conmen and religious zealots who are trying to use the country” for personal gain, McCormally said, “while they are killing and hurting millions of people with bombs.”
Republicans denounce ‘Hate America’ rallies
Republicans have sought to portray Saturday’s protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.” They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”
Many demonstrators responded to such hyperbole with silliness in part because they say Trump leans heavily on theatrics — like claiming cities he sends troops to are war zones — said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester.
“So much of what we’ve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy,” said Kalbaugh, who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.
Democrats try to regain their footing
Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
But for many Democrats, the government closure is also a way to stand up to Trump, and try to push the presidency back to its place in the U.S. system as a co-equal branch of government. It’s also a way to draw a moral line in the sand, said Murphy, the senator from Connecticut.
“Trump does think that he’s a king,” Murphy said at the Washington rally, “and he thinks that he can act more corruptly when the government is shut down. But he cannot.”
The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.
“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” said march organizer Levin. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”
___
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking, and Chris Megerian in Washington, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Safiya Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people will gather Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S. for “No Kings” demonstrations — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and it is expected to be the largest. It comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday. He later departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. super PAC fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.While the earlier protests this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts in spring, then to counter Trump’s military parade in June — drew crowds, organizers say this one is building a more unified opposition movement. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining in what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, among the key organizers.As Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally of radicals, Levin said their own sign-up numbers are growing. More than 2,600 rallies are planned in cities large and small, organized by hundreds of coalition partners. They said rallies are being planned within a one-hour drive for most Americans.Overseas, a few hundred Americans already gathered in Madrid to chant slogans and hold signs at a protest organized by Democrats Abroad, with similar rallies planned in other major European cities.Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s rallies as far outside the mainstream of American politics, and a main reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.”They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.But for many Democrats, the government closure is also a way to stand up to Trump, and try to push the presidency back to its place in the U.S. system as a co-equal branch of government.In a Facebook post, Sanders of Vermont, himself a former presidential contender, said, “It’s a love America rally.”“It’s a rally of millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and,” he said, pointing at the GOP leadership, “are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent, unsure about how best to respond to Trump’s return to the White House. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.In April, the national march against Trump and Elon Musk had 1,300 registered locations. In June, for the first “No Kings” day, there were 2,100 registered locations. The march Saturday will have more than 2,600 registered locations, Levin said.“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” Levin said. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he wasn’t sure if he would join the rallygoers Saturday, but he took issue with the Republicans’ characterization of the events.“What’s hateful is what happened on January 6th,” he said, referring to the 2021 Capitol attack, as Trump’s supporters stormed the building to protest Joe Biden’s election victory. “What you’ll see this weekend is what patriotism looks like, people showing up to express opposition to the extremism that Donald Trump has been unleashing on the American people.”Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed.
WASHINGTON —
Protesting the direction of the country under President Donald Trump, people will gather Saturday in the nation’s capital and communities across the U.S. for “No Kings” demonstrations — what the president’s Republican Party is calling “Hate America” rallies.
This is the third mass mobilization since Trump’s return to the White House and it is expected to be the largest. It comes against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services, but is testing the core balance of power as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that organizers warn are a slide toward American authoritarianism.
Trump himself is away from Washington at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
“They say they’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” Trump said in a Fox News interview airing early Friday. He later departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. super PAC fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Protests are expected nearby Saturday.
While the earlier protests this year — against Elon Musk’s cuts in spring, then to counter Trump’s military parade in June — drew crowds, organizers say this one is building a more unified opposition movement. Top Democrats such as Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining in what organizers view as an antidote to Trump’s actions, from the administration’s clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.
“There is no greater threat to an authoritarian regime than patriotic people-power,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, among the key organizers.
As Republicans and the White House dismiss the protests as a rally of radicals, Levin said their own sign-up numbers are growing. More than 2,600 rallies are planned in cities large and small, organized by hundreds of coalition partners. They said rallies are being planned within a one-hour drive for most Americans.
Overseas, a few hundred Americans already gathered in Madrid to chant slogans and hold signs at a protest organized by Democrats Abroad, with similar rallies planned in other major European cities.
Republicans have sought to portray participants in Saturday’s rallies as far outside the mainstream of American politics, and a main reason for the prolonged government shutdown, now in its 18th day.
From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders disparaged the rallygoers as “communists” and “Marxists.”
They say Democratic leaders, including Schumer, are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut down to appease those liberal forces.
“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
“Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, listing groups including “antifa types,” people who “hate capitalism” and “Marxists in full display.”
Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.
But for many Democrats, the government closure is also a way to stand up to Trump, and try to push the presidency back to its place in the U.S. system as a co-equal branch of government.
In a Facebook post, Sanders of Vermont, himself a former presidential contender, said, “It’s a love America rally.”
“It’s a rally of millions of people all over this country who believe in our Constitution, who believe in American freedom and,” he said, pointing at the GOP leadership, “are not going to let you and Donald Trump turn this country into an authoritarian society.”
The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent, unsure about how best to respond to Trump’s return to the White House. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.
In April, the national march against Trump and Elon Musk had 1,300 registered locations. In June, for the first “No Kings” day, there were 2,100 registered locations. The march Saturday will have more than 2,600 registered locations, Levin said.
“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” Levin said. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he wasn’t sure if he would join the rallygoers Saturday, but he took issue with the Republicans’ characterization of the events.
“What’s hateful is what happened on January 6th,” he said, referring to the 2021 Capitol attack, as Trump’s supporters stormed the building to protest Joe Biden’s election victory. “What you’ll see this weekend is what patriotism looks like, people showing up to express opposition to the extremism that Donald Trump has been unleashing on the American people.”
Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed.
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives attacked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a slew of insults on Friday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Republican officials of unjustly going after Democrats amid a controversy over a swastika flag found in a House GOP lawmaker’s office this week, though the lawmaker denied he or his staff played any role. Jeffries made the comments during a press conference with reporters on day 17 of the ongoing government shutdown.
“You’ve got Karoline Leavitt, who’s sick. She’s out of control. And I’m not sure whether she’s just demented, ignorant, a stone-cold liar, or all of the above,” Jeffries said.
“But the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals, and undocumented immigrants makes no sense, that this is what the American people are getting from the Trump administration in the middle of a shutdown.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attacked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as “sick” and “demented” on Friday.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response.
Jeffries had been asked about the swastika, which was reportedly embedded into a small American flag that was hanging on a cork board in the office of Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio. It was first reported by a local Ohio social media reporter who goes by the X handle “The Rooster.”
Taylor said in a statement to Fox News that several offices were targeted with the flag, which he said was the work of an “unidentified group” in a coordinated opposition campaign.
An American flag altered with a swastika in an office on Capitol Hill.(Obtained by Politico)
“New details have emerged from a coordinated investigation into the vile symbol that appeared in my office. Numerous Republican offices have confirmed that they were targeted by an unidentified group or individual who distributed American flags bearing a similar symbol, which were initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye,” Taylor said.
“After a full-scale internal investigation, I am confident that no employee of this office would knowingly display such a despicable image, and the flag in question was taken down immediately upon the discovery of the obscured symbol it bore.”
It’s not immediately clear why the events made Jeffries invoke Leavitt specifically, however.
Tensions have run high on both sides as the shutdown drags on, and the standoff shows no signs of slowing down.
Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tanked the GOP’s funding bill ten times.(Reuters)
In fact, it’s expected to roll into its fourth week after Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s federal funding measure for a fourth time on Thursday before leaving Washington for the weekend.
Republicans put forward last month a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal for FY2026.
But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in those talks. The majority of Democrats are refusing to accept any deal that does not include serious healthcare concessions, at least extending COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
A U.S. military drone strike in the Caribbean against a drug smuggling vessel Thursday left two to three survivors, a U.S. official tells Fox News.
The U.S. military launched search and rescue assets, including a rescue helicopter, but it is not clear if any of the survivors were rescued, the official said. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known, the official added.
President Donald Trump has targeted Venezuelan drug boats with military strikes. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social/AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
As Reuters first reported, Thursday’s incident marks the first known instance of survivors since U.S. forces began its campaign of lethal strikes against suspected drug boats.
The commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), whose area of operations includes the Caribbean waters where the strikes against the alleged drug boats have been conducted, announced he is retiring suddenly by the end of the year.
Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, who became the commander of SOUTHCOM in November 2024, announced Thursday that he would retire from the Navy in December. No reason for his abrupt departure was provided.
“The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation, and will continue to do so,” Holsey said in a statement SOUTHCOM shared on social media. “I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.”
The New York Times first reported that Holsey was departing his post.
Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth commended Holsey for his service, and wished Holsey and his family continued success.
“Throughout his career—from commanding helicopter squadrons to leading Carrier Strike Group One and standing up the International Maritime Security Construct—Admiral Holsey has demonstrated unwavering commitment to mission, people, and nation,” Hegseth said in a post on social media on Thursday. “His tenure as Military Deputy Commander and now Commander of United States Southern Command reflects a legacy of operational excellence and strategic vision.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
The new policy, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is a dramatic departure from historic standards at the department, which previously required credentialed reporters to sign a simple, single-page document laying out safety protocols.
Replacing that document is a 21-page agreement that warns reporters against “soliciting” information, including unclassified material, without the Pentagon’s official authorization, characterizing individuals who do so as a “security risk.”
The policy would force journalists and media organizations to refrain from publishing any material that is not approved by the military — a clear violation of 1st Amendment protections to free speech, lawyers for media outlets said.
Major news organizations including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, as well as right-leaning outlets such as Newsmax and the Washington Times, have refused to sign the document, with only one far-right outlet — the cable channel One American News — agreeing to do so.
The Los Angeles Times also will not agree to the policy, said Terry Tang, the paper’s executive editor.
In a rare joint statement, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said that the policy “is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.”
“We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press,” the news outlets said.
But Hegseth, who has aggressively pursued leaks and sources of unfavorable news stories since the start of his turbulent tenure as secretary, has doubled down in recent days, posting emojis on social media waving goodbye as media organizations have issued statements condemning the policy. Journalists were given a deadline of 2 p.m. PDT on Tuesday to either sign the document or relinquish their credentials.
It is unclear whether it will be viable for the Pentagon to maintain the policy, leaving the secretary without a traveling press corps to highlight his official duties or public events. And it is also uncertain whether President Trump approves of the extreme measure.
At a White House event Tuesday, Hegseth said that the policy was “common sense” and that he was “proud” of it. He said credentials should not be given to reporters who will try to get officials “to break the law by giving them classified information.”
Asked last month whether the Pentagon should control what reporters gather and write, Trump said “no.”
But Trump said Tuesday that he understands why Hegseth is pushing for the new policy.
“I think he finds the press to be very destructive in terms of world peace and maybe security for our nation,” Trump said. “The press is very dishonest.”
The widespread revolt has generated a show of solidarity from the White House and State Department correspondents associations, which characterized the Pentagon policy in a joint statement Monday as an attack on freedom of the press.
“Access inside the Pentagon has never been about convenience to reporters,” the statement reads. “The public has a right to know how the government is conducting the people’s business. Unfettered reporting on the U.S. military and its civilian leadership provides a service to those in uniform, veterans, their families and all Americans.”
Beyond the restrictions on media outlets, the Pentagon has taken a series of steps this year to try and identify officials who are deemed disloyal or who provide information to reporters.
In April, the Pentagon dismissed three top officials after an investigation into potential leaks related to military operational plans. That same month, Hegseth’s team began subjecting officials to random polygraph tests, a practice that was temporarily halted after the White House intervened, according to the Washington Post.
Then, in October, the Pentagon drafted plans to renew the use of polygraphs and to require thousands of personnel to sign strict nondisclosure agreements that would “prohibit the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process.” The nondisclosure agreements include language that is similar to what reporters are being asked to sign by Tuesday.
Notably, many of Hegseth’s plans to target leaks have been leaked to news outlets, probably contributing to the Defense secretary’s suspicion about whom he can trust.
The timing of his efforts are also noteworthy, as they gained traction after he personally shared sensitive details about forthcoming strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that mistakenly included a reporter from the Atlantic. Hegseth also shared information about the attacks in a separate Signal chat that included his wife, a former Fox News producer who is not a Defense Department employee.
Hegseth denied that any classified information was shared in the chat. Yet the situation led to an internal review of whether the disclosures were in violation of Defense Department policies.
The Pentagon has taken an even more aggressive approach to restricting reporters’ access than the White House, which months ago took control over press operations from the White House Correspondents Assn. — an independent group that had organized the White House press corps for decades.
Still, the White House has refrained from implementing changes to the briefing room seating chart, evicting outlets from workspaces within the White House complex or revoking press passes, after facing a legal challenge over an attempt to bar one major outlet — the Associated Press — from covering some presidential events at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to single out individual outlets he dislikes. On Tuesday, for example, the president refused to take questions from ABC News because he said he did not like how a news anchor had treated Vice President JD Vance.
“You’re ABC Fake News,” Trump said at a public appearance in the White House. “I don’t take questions from ABC Fake News!”
The Treasury Department reportedly eliminated 1,400 positions on Friday, including all staff members of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. The CDFI Fund, first established in 1992, injects capital into distressed areas nationwide and is a resource utilized by some small businesses struggling to find capital.
Housed under the Treasury Department, the program offers funding to CDFIs such as banks, credit unions, and venture capital funds. This funding from Congress helps support the CDFI networks lending capabilities, either helping expand them or modernize existing systems.
“Laying off the entire staff of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund at the U.S. Department of the Treasury is a devastating – if not fatal – blow to a critical apparatus that supports small businesses,” says John Arensmeyer, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, Small Business Majority.
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It’s an unusual move considering that the CDFI Fund historically received bipartisan support, though the Trump administration already attempted to do away with it back in March, albeit unsuccessfully.
CDFIs don’t simply just offer capital, but extend other services such as business coaching, training programs, incubator help and mentor services. They’re propped up in all 50 states, plus all 435 congressional districts, according to CAMEO Network, a California-based business network focused on small business growth.
CDFIs are considered lifelines to some communities, especially those operating in banking deserts–though their utilization rates among small businesses could be improved. A 2023 survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Board shows that just six percent of small businesses surveyed had sought out capital from a CDFI.
That said, CDFIs are still pulling their weight among the entrepreneurial community. The CDFI Bond guarantee program dispersed $54.5 million to small businesses during fiscal year 2024.
While CDFIs may not be the first stop for capital for most entrepreneurs, stripping it of its team is a blow to access to capital. That, in turn, could result in one less bucket of capital for entrepreneurs already navigating an economically tense environment hampered by tariffs and other uncertainties.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino is poised to play an even larger role in President Donald Trump’s administration, the president announced Sunday.
Trump says Scavino, in addition to his current role, will now lead the White House Presidential Personnel Office. The office was previously held by Sergio Gor, who is now transitioning to become the U.S. Ambassador to India.
“I am pleased to announce that the great Dan Scavino, in addition to remaining Deputy Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration, will head the White House Presidential Personnel Office, replacing Sergio Gor, who did a wonderful job in that position, and will now become the Ambassador to India,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Dan will be responsible for the selection and appointment of almost all positions in government, a very big and important position. Congratulations Dan, you will do a fantastic job!” he added.
Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino arrives to speak during an inauguration event at Capital One Arena on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Scavino’s new appointment comes as the Trump administration is in a pitched fight with Democrats to define the cause of the ongoing government shutdown.
Trump allies have pointed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s refusal to work with Republicans.
The president also sought to mitigate damage on Saturday by ordering War Secretary Pete Hegseth to make sure military service members get paid next week, regardless of the shutdown.
President Trump ordered Secretary Hegseth to ensure military service members get paid despite the government shutdown.(Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
“Chuck Schumer recently said, ‘Every day gets better’ during their Radical Left Shutdown,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of ‘Leader’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.”
He said he directed Hegseth “to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th. We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”
The Trump administration is blaming Sen. Schumer and Democrats for the government shutdown.(Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
The government shut down on Oct. 1, after Democrats and Republicans failed to pass a spending bill to fund the government, with Democrats concerned expiring Affordable Care Act tax cuts could raise premiums and that Medicaid cuts could leave people without coverage.
Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
CARACAS, Venezuela — Some viewed the news as signaling the beginning of the end of the economic, political and social calamity that, for the last decade, has engulfed Venezuela, prompting millions to flee their South American homeland.
“When I saw the news, I cried, hugged my children and prayed,” said Mari Carmen Bermúdez, 34, a supermarket cashier in Caracas. “I feel like our nightmare will end soon.”
Others said the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado — a veteran antigovernment activist who lives here in hiding — was just the latest chapter in the U.S.-led plot to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.
“In my opinion, señora Machado has never called for peace in the country, only for war,” said Yober David Avalos, 28, an appliance repairman and motorcycle taxi driver. “I don’t think she’s a persecuted politician. From her hideout she has called for an invasion of Venezuela.”
The mixed reactions to Machado’s award, both in Venezuela and across the continent, reflect the complicated politics and shifting alliances in the region. The conservative president of Argentina and the leftist leader of Colombia both congratulated Machado. Cuba denounced as “shameful” the decision to honor “a person who instigates military intervention in her Homeland.” Mexico’s leftist President Claudia Sheinbaum, the region’s top woman leader, declined comment.
Some observers wonder whether the award could encourage more aggressive U.S. behavior against Maduro, whom the White House has branded a “narco-terrorist.”
There was no immediate official reaction in Venezuela to Machado’s award. The news generated international headlines, but was ignored by official news channels.
On social media, Machado declared that the opposition was “on the threshold of victory,” and pointedly dispatched verbal bouquets to Trump.
“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!” Machado wrote.
It was a nod to a president who had campaigned openly for the award for himself, and was clearly indignant that he lost out. The White House complained that the Nobel Committee had chosen “politics over peace.”
In an apparent bid at conciliation, Machado reached out by telephone to Trump.
“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said, ‘I’m accepting this in honor of you, because you really deserved it,’” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office. “It’s a very nice thing to do. I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me,’ though I think she might have. She was very nice.”
While extolled by supporters as Venezuela’s “dama de hierro” — the iron lady, a sobriquet bestowed decades ago on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — Machado is a controversial figure, even within the Venezuelan opposition. Critics assail her unequivocal praise for Trump and his policies — and her refusal to renounce potential military intervention in Venezuela.
Whether the prize will affect Washington’s evolving policy on Venezuela remains unclear. Though the U.S. raised a bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million, Washington and Caracas are still cooperating on several levels: Venezuela has been accepting deportees from the United States, and the Trump administration allows U.S. oil giant Chevron to operate in the country.
“I think the U.S. is still where it was before,” said Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela analyst with the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. “Ultimately, Washington’s policy towards Venezuela is at a crossroads. The White House needs to decide whether it wants to escalate military strikes, engage directly with Caracas, or simply declare victory and move on.”
Machado has said that her political movement is prepared to take over should Maduro fall, and has a plan for the first 100 days of a transition.
In selecting Machado, the Norwegian Nobel Committee cited “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
The specifics behind Nobel deliberations remain secret. But one line of speculation held that Machado was picked in part because she would be acceptable to the White House, perhaps tempering Trump’s annoyance at not winning the prize.
Machado, 58, is conservative and openly advocates for regime change in a government that is in Washington’s crosshairs.
Still, Machado “has a legitimate cause behind her, and the prize means a lot to Venezuelans who have committed to democracy in an authoritarian context,” said Laura Cristina Dib, Venezuela analyst for the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy group.
Amid widespread allegations of fraud, Maduro claimed victory at the ballot box in July 2024, but refused to present definitive data backing his claim. According to the opposition, the candidate backed by Machado, Edmundo González Urrutia, was robbed of the presidency. Washington recognizes him as the winner.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado and the opposition’s presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia at a news in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 25, 2024, a month before that year’s presidential election.
(Cristian Hernandez / Associated Press)
On Friday, Machado declined to answer when asked by the Spanish daily El País if she ruled out a U.S. military incursion in Venezuela. Governments, she said, must make a choice: “To be with the people of Venezuela or with a narco-terrorist cartel.”
In a recent appearance on Fox News, Machado didn’t object to the Trump administration policy of blowing up suspected drug-ferrying boats in international waters off the coast of Venezuela — attacks that have left 21 people dead and that human rights activists assailed as extrajudicial killings.
In her Fox guest slot, Machado echoed White House talking points. “Maduro has turned Venezuela into the biggest national security threat to the U.S. and the stability of the region,” she said.
In addition, Machado has failed to condemn Trump’s controversial immigration policies, including the deportation in March of more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to a prison in El Salvador, a move denounced by human rights activists — and by Maduro — as illegal.
Machado has also not weighed in on Trump’s plan to end protected status for more than 500,000 Venezuelans in the United States, a move that could lead to their deportations.
One hope, said Dib, is that “giving her the award is a way to hold her to a higher standard of trying to achieve a democratic transition.”
The award resonated with many in Florida — home to the largest Venezuelan population in the United States — where both Republican and Democratic leaders praised Machado.
Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Fla.) called her the “world’s bravest freedom fighter,” adding: “Maria Corina inspired us all and dedicated her win to President Trump — the strongest ally the Venezuelan people have ever had.”
But some worried that Trump supporters, enraged at a perceived snub, could hold the award against Venezuelans in the United States.
“We were already being criminalized and singled out,” said Maria Puerta Riera, a Venezuelan-American political science professor in Orlando and Colorado. “This is not going to help our image.”
Special correspondent Mogollón reported from Caracas, Times staff writers McDonnell and Linthicum from Mexico City and Times staff writer Ceballos from Washington. Times staff writer Andrea Castillo in Washington contributed to this report.
Mery Mogollon, Patrick J. McDonnell, Kate Linthicum, Ana Ceballos
Former President Joe Biden is entering a new phase of treatment for the prostate cancer he was diagnosed with in May.
Biden is now undergoing radiation therapy, a spokesperson for the former president told Fox News on Saturday. Previously, he had been receiving routine scans, the spokesperson added.
“As part of a treatment plan for prostate cancer, President Biden is currently undergoing radiation therapy and hormone treatment,” the spokesperson said.
Biden was diagnosed four months ago with an “aggressive form” of metastatic prostate cancer after health officials detected a prostate nodule following increasing urinary symptoms. His office said the disease, though aggressive, is hormone-sensitive, meaning it may be effectively managed.
Then-President Joe Biden speaks at a news conference on the final day of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Biden, who turns 83 years old next month, also underwent surgery on Sept. 4 to remove cancerous skin cells through a procedure known as Mohs surgery, according to his spokesperson.
During his presidency, Biden had a cancerous skin lesion removed from his chest, the White House previously said. Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor noted in February 2023 that a biopsy of skin tissue taken during a health assessment revealed cancerous cells, all of which were successfully removed.
Former President Joe Biden shared an image of him and his wife, Jill, following an announcement that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.(X/JoeBiden)
Biden, who became the oldest U.S. president to serve in office, had placed a major focus on cancer treatment.
While in office, he and former first lady Jill Biden revamped the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative to accelerate progress in cancer research. The project aimed to reduce the cancer death rate by 50% over the next 25 years.
Then-President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden previously placed a strong focus on cancer initiatives through the “Cancer Moonshot” project.(AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
In 1988, Biden had two life-threatening brain aneurysms at 45 years old. Doctors said he had a 50% chance of surviving while serving as a U.S. senator for Delaware.
The news of Biden’s radiation treatment comes as President Donald Trump was reported to be in “excellent overall health,” according to a memo released by the White House on Friday.
Trump underwent a routine semiannual physical last week at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
In the evaluation summary, the president’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, stated that Trump, “remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.”
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
Bonny Chu is a Digital Production Assistant at Fox News Digital.
Last week, the White House fired all but four members of the National Council on the Humanities. The counsel advises an independent federal agency that helps fund public programs with a focus on art and history called the National Endowment for the Humanities. Robin Bronk, the CEO of the Creative Coalition, joins “The Daily Report” to discuss.
It’s day 10 of the government shutdown, and the Trump administration is finally starting to make good on its plans to permanently lay off federal workers.
“RIFs have begun,” Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought wrote in a X post on Friday, using the acronym for “reductions for force”—the technical jargon for government layoffs.
The administration has offered no details on the layoffs, beyond the OMB’s comment to Semafor that they will be “substantial.”
Any permanent firings of government workers during a shutdown would also be unusual. Typically, federal workers are temporarily furloughed when Congress fails to agree on appropriations bills to keep the government open, and then given back pay once funding resumes.
In September, as Politico first reported, Vought circulated a memo to government agencies instructing them to prepare more permanent “reduction in force” plans should a shutdown occur.
In the event of a shutdown, agencies were told to eliminate employees working on “programs, projects, or activities” whose funding had lapsed during the shutdown, and which were not “consistent with the President’s priorities.”
Once funding resumes, Vought’s memo instructed agencies to “revise their RIFs as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions.”
In short, the Trump administration is hoping to use the shutdown to permanently reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, with an immediate focus on eliminating employees who might be working on programs that conflict with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
This is just the latest example of the Trump White House arm-twisting Democrats during the shutdown. Last week, federal departments announced they’d be pausing the release of funds for transportation and energy projects in Democratic states.
Whether the president has the legal power to unilaterally fire employees en masse during the shutdown is controversial.
Vought asserted in his RIF memo that since funding has lapsed for discretionary programs, there’s no statutory requirement that they be carried out. Staff dedicated to those programs can therefore be let go at the executive branch’s discretion.
In a lawsuit filed at the beginning of the shutdown, the major public sector unions rejected this argument. They asserted that a temporary lapse in funding for a program does not mean the legal authorization for the program has lapsed.
Additionally, they argued that since federal law prohibits the executive branch from devoting resources to activities for which there’s no funding, the Trump administration can’t devote resources to firing employees during the shutdown.
In short, this is yet another battle in the constant war Trump and Vought have been fighting with government employees, their union representatives, and liberal litigants more generally, over the extent of the president’s power over executive branch employees.
Vought has consistently asserted that the president has effectively unlimited authority to hire and fire at will. Laws to the contrary are unconstitutional and can more or less be ignored.
His critics argue that Congress has substantial power to shape and regulate the federal bureaucracy, including on matters of personnel, and that creates significant legal limits on the president’s personnel decisions.
Government unions are already preparing to challenge the shutdown layoffs. The AFL-CIO, which already sued over Vought’s initial memo, intimated on X that they’d sue to challenge the actual layoffs as well.
Reducing federal headcount has been one of the few areas where the Trump administration’s government-slashing efforts have produced significant results.
Trump took over a federal bureaucracy numbering some 2.4 million civilian federal employees in January. Between firings, retirements, and the administration’s deferred resignation program, it’s estimated that there are 201,000 fewer federal workers as of September 23.
The layoffs Vought announced Friday would be in addition to that figure.
The Trump administration has said it plans to end the year down some 300,000 employees, which would amount to a 12 percent cut in the federal workforce. Depending on how many workers are let go during the shutdown and whether their firings are allowed to stand, the federal workforce could end up being even smaller still come 2026.
That’d be much to the good. The federal government does too many things. By definition, it employs too many people as well.
A smaller federal workforce equates to a smaller government. Workers who leave non-productive federal employment for productive private sector work enrich the entire economy.
To be sure, there’s only so much firing federal workers can achieve in the pursuit of a leaner state. Reducing federal headcount doesn’t by itself eliminate federal laws, regulations, or programs.
It also has a relatively marginal impact on the cost of government, given that the vast majority of government spending is not going toward civil servants’ pay and benefits.
Still, most shutdowns end with no real change to the size or scope of the federal government. Eventually, appropriations are passed, spending resumes, and government employees go back to work.
This time, if the Trump administration’s shutdown layoffs are allowed to stand, the government that reopens will be smaller than the one that closed down.
The documentary will also reportedly be supported by a three-part making-of docuseries about the documentary, which according to a representative at Amazon was filmed “during the 20 days before the inauguration, while she travels between New York City, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C.” What will they call it? Melania and Melania are taken.
The rights to the documentary, on which Melania is credited as an executive producer, were bought for $40 million by Jeff Bezos in December 2024 before Trump took office, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sources with knowledge of the deal said that Melania will see some 70% of that fee.
In January, Melania told Fox News that the response to her book was so positive that people wanted to see more about her life.
“My life is incredible, it’s incredibly busy, and I told my agent, I have this idea so please, you know, go out and make a deal for me,” she said. The film, she said then, will be about her “day-to-day life, what I’m doing, what kind of responsibilities I have. It’s day to day, from transition team to moving to the White House, packing, establishing my team, the First Lady office, moving into the White House, what it takes to make the residence your home, to hire the people that you need.”
Representatives from the White House and Skyhorse Publishing did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s requests for comment.
WASHINGTON — Chicago is emerging as the latest testing ground for President Trump’s domestic deployment of military force as hundreds of National Guard troops were expected to descend on the city.
The president said Wednesday that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed for failing to support federal agents, and continued to paint a dark and violent picture of both Chicago and Portland, Ore., where Trump is trying to send federal troops but has so far been stonewalled by the courts.
“It’s so bad,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. “It’s so crazy. It’s like the movies … where you have these bombed-out cities and these bombed-out people. It’s worse than that. I don’t think they can make a movie as bad.”
Pritzker this week characterized Trump’s depiction of Chicago as “deranged” and untrue. Federal agents are making the community “less safe,” the governor said, noting that residents do not want “Donald Trump to occupy their communities” and that people of color are fearful of being profiled during immigration crackdowns.
Trump has taken issue with Democrats in Illinois and Oregon who are fighting his efforts, and has twice said this week that he is willing to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 if local leaders and the courts try to stop him. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also contended this week that a court ruling blocking Trump’s deployments to Portland amounted to a “legal insurrection” as well as “an insurrection against the laws and Constitution of the United States.”
In a televised interview Monday, Miller was asked about his remarks and asked whether the administration would abide by court rulings that stop the deployment of troops to Illinois and Portland. Miller responded by saying the president has “plenary authority” before going silent midsentence — a moment that the host said may have been a technical issue.
“Plenary authority” is a legal term that indicates someone has limitless power.
The legality of deployments to Portland and Chicago will face scrutiny in two federal courts Thursday.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear an appeal by the Trump administration in the Portland matter. A Trump-appointed judge, Karin Immergut, found the White House had not only violated the law in activating the Oregon National Guard, but it also had further defied the law by attempting to circumvent her order, sending the California National Guard in its place.
That three-judge appellate panel consists of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee.
Meanwhile, in Illinois, U.S. District Judge April Perry declined Monday to block the deployment of National Guard members on an emergency basis, allowing a buildup of forces to proceed. She will hear arguments Thursday on the legality of the operation.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Trump’s top political foes, has joined the fight against the president’s deployment efforts.
The Trump administration sent 14 members of California’s National Guard to Illinois to train troops from other states, according to court records filed Tuesday. Federal officials have also told California they intend to extend Trump’s federalization of 300 members of the state’s Guard through next year.
“Trump is going on a cross-country crusade to sow chaos and division,” Newsom said Wednesday. “His actions — and those of his Cabinet — are against our deeply held American values. He needs to stop this illegal charade now.”
In anticipation of the deployment, Pritzker warned that if the president’s efforts went unchecked, it would put the United States on a “the path to full-blown authoritarianism.”
The Democratic governor also said the president’s calls to jail him were “unhinged” and said Trump was a “wannabe dictator.”
“There is one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump: If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me,” Pritzker said in an interview with MSNBC.
As tensions grew in Chicago, Trump hosted an event at the White House to address how he intends to crack down on antifa, a nebulous left-wing anti-facist movement that he recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization.
At the event, the president said many of the people involved in the movement are active in Chicago and Portland — and he once again attacked the local and state leaders in both cities and states.
“You can say of Portland and you can say certainly of Chicago, it is not lawful what they are doing,” Trump said about the left-wing protests. “They are going to have to be very careful.”
Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, slammed Trump for saying he should be jailed for his actions.
“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested,” Johnson posted on social media. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Pritzker continued to attack Trump’s efforts into the evening, accusing the president of “breaching the Constitution and breaking the law.”
“We need to stand up together and speak up,” the governor said on social media.
Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez in Sacramento contributed to this report.
The White House ramped up its feud with Democratic leaders in Illinois Wednesday, releasing a video blasting Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
In the video, which appears to show police and immigration authorities, President Donald Trump described Chicago as “a mess.”
“You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent,” Trump said. “We have a governor that refuses to admit he has problems. Everybody knows how bad it is. This open borders nightmare flooded our country with fentanyl and with people that shouldn’t be here, some of the worst people on earth and illicit drugs decimated American communities and left us with the largest law enforcement challenge in our country’s history.”
President Donald Trump, left, called for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, center, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to be jailed for “failing to protect” ICE officers on Wednesday.(Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The White House then skipped to an audio clip of Pastor Corey Brooks speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” in August, where he noted violent crime wasn’t improving in Chicago and urged the president to send in the National Guard.
“We need to invite President Trump in,” Brooks said in the clip. “We invite the National Guard in. … We’ve had 254 deaths in 233 days, and for anyone in our community to say people are safe, that is an outright lie.”
The focus shifted back to Trump, as he added Chicago “needs help.”
“They need help, badly,” the president said. “Chicago desperately needs help. We don’t want to lose Chicago. We’re going to lose Chicago. We want to save these folks. We’re going to lose them. We’re not going to allow this kind of savagery to destroy our society anymore. We’re stopping it. One by one.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is opposed to federal deployments in Chicago.(Kamil Krazaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
The video was posted hours after Trump called for Johnson and Pritzker’s arrests on Truth Social.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote in a post.
Pritzker fired back on X, saying “what else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism,” and noting he would not “back down.”
The two Illinois leaders have clashed with the president over immigration enforcement and Trump’s decision to send National Guard troops to the state to protect federal personnel and property amid escalating anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests in Broadview.
Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois this week and were mobilized for an initial 60-day period.
Law enforcement detains a protester near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 3. (AP/Erin Hooley)
Pritzker on Tuesday accused Trump of being a “man who’s suffering dementia,” alleging the president “doesn’t read,” according to The Chicago Tribune.
“This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head,” Pritzker said. “He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.”
“And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing,” he added.
Alexandra Koch is a Fox News Digital journalist who covers breaking news, with a focus on high-impact events that shape national conversation.
She has covered major national crises, including the L.A. wildfires, Potomac and Hudson River aviation disasters, Boulder terror attack, and Texas Hill Country floods.
