Author: Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: As the Trump administration and Republicans across the country push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies across the board, the executive director of a top consumer advocacy group spoke to Fox News Digital about what companies and institutions are doing to skirt those efforts.”Over the last few months, we’ve sort of seen a phase shift in the ways that they’re trying to keep this DEI grift going,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told Fox News Digital about companies, organizations, hospitals and other entities that are attempting to rebrand DEI and environmental, social and governance in the Trump era. “At first, they just pushed back on, tried to defend DEI itself, but when that became so obvious that what DEI really was was anti-White, anti-Asian, sometimes anti-Jewish discrimination in hiring and promotion, they abandoned that,” Hild said. “Now what they’re trying to do is simply change the terminology that has become so toxic to their brand. So we’re seeing a lot of companies move from having departments of DEI, for example, to ‘departments of belonging’ or ‘departments of inclusivity.’”Several major companies have publicly distanced themselves from DEI in recent months as the new administration signs executive orders eliminating the practice while making the argument that meritocracy should be the focus. RED STATE TREASURER REVEALS WHY STATE FINANCIAL OFFICERS HAVE ‘OBLIGATION’ TO COMBAT ESG, DEI Fox News Digital spoke to Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild about the state of DEI in the U.S. (Getty)However, FOX Business exclusively reported in April on Consumers’ Research warning that some businesses appear to be rebranding the same efforts rather than eliminating them. “It is the exact same toxic nonsense under a new wrapper, and they’re just hoping to extend the grift because a lot of these people, I would say most of the people working in DEI are useless,” Hild told Fox News Digital. KEY BIDEN AGENCY DROPPED $60K ON OVERSEAS CONFERENCE WITH DEI WORKSHOP: ‘SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN’ DEI = Diversity, equity & inclusion. (Dzmitry Dzemidovich)”They are mediocrities who have managed to get very high-level positions that they’re not qualified for by running this DEI grift, and they’re desperate,” he continued. “They can’t just move into running logistics for Amazon because that takes actual competence and intelligence and if you’re in a DEI department, you probably don’t have either of those things. So they are desperate to keep this grift going so they can justify their own existence. So they’re changing it into a new wrapper.”Hild, who spoke to Fox News Digital at the State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, Florida, also explained some of the other issues Consumers’ Research is focused on going forward, including fighting “woke” hospitals in three different areas.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, in Bethesda, Maryland, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Getty Images)”One is net zero pledges and activities that raise costs for consumers, patients having to pay more because these hospitals are investing millions, sometimes tens of millions of dollars, into green boondoggle projects that have nothing to do with the treatment of patients and the improvement of their health, but they do raise prices,” Hild said.Secondly, Hild said that his group is concerned about DEI quotas at hospitals.Hild explained that the third and “worst” issue is transgender surgeries and procedures being forced onto children.”Pushing of radical left transgender ideology onto kids, and not just pushing it ideologically and rhetorically, but pushing it physically, and what I mean by that is the injection of damaging, lifelong damaging hormones into children to, quote, unquote, change their sex, which is impossible, and even worse, the actual surgical application, removal and mutilation of their genitals, which is a grotesque violation of the Hippocratic Oath,” Hild said.Consumers’ Research has been actively involved in launching advertising campaigns against hospitals across the United States, including a recent campaign against Henry Ford Health in Michigan, calling out what it says are situations where hospitals are putting “politics over patients.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said Monday that local communities are facing “devastation” and that the state will need Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding “at the least” after violent tornadoes took dozens of lives over the weekend. Hawley, who spoke to Fox News Digital on the phone while walking through Missouri neighborhoods ravaged by the storms, emphasized that “a lot of people are hurting.””These aren’t just pieces of real estate,” Hawley explained. “I mean, these are homes that people grew up in. These are neighborhoods where families raise their kids going back two, three, four, generations. I talked to one guy who had been in the neighborhood. His family had been in the neighborhood since his great-grandmother came there at the turn of the last century.””Unless they’re going to need to be rebuilt, the federal government is going to need to play a big role here with FEMA relief, disaster relief, and we want to get all of that as soon as possible,” he said.53 MILLION BRACE FOR SEVERE STORMS MONDAY WITH WIND GUSTS UP TO 80 MPH LIKELY Sen. Josh Hawley toured storm damage in Missouri on Monday, May 19, 2025. (X/JoshHawleyMO)Fox Weather reported that the rating of the powerful storm was at least an EF-3, turning homes and businesses in its path into rubble.At least 26 people were killed over the weekend across the region. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the death count in Kentucky alone sits at 19, and Hawley’s office said the count in Missouri was at least 7.”We have lost 19 people to this weather event, each one a child of God who will be missed by their families,” Beshear said in a post on X. “Please keep praying for them, the 10 individuals being treated at UK Hospital, and for everyone affected by these storms.”DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS CONTINUE IN KENTUCKY, MISSOURI IN WAKE OF DEADLY TORNADO OUTBREAKHawley’s push for FEMA assistance comes as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has called for eliminating the agency as it exists today.In addition to calling for federal assistance, Hawley was also quick to point out private insurance providers will need to step up and fairly pay out claims to assist with recovery efforts, noting he is separately “in the middle of an investigation of the major insurance companies.””I talked to person after person today whose roofs have been ripped off, whose windows are bashed in,” Hawley told Fox News Digital. “These people need to get their policies paid out. They’ve been faithful premium holders, faithful premium payers. They need the policies paid out. And that’s something that’s going to make a huge, huge difference.”FEMA TRUMP, LAWMAKERS AT ODDS OVER WHETHER FEMA SHOULD BE ELEVATED TO CABINET-LEVEL AGENCY OR COMPLETELY OVERHAULEDRecovering from the devastation could take some time in local communities, and it was reported that roughly 700,000 lost power across the region during the height of the storm.HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER”I expect that our governor will soon make an emergency request for disaster relief, and we’d certainly hope that FEMA would act on that. ASAP,” Hawley added. Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Institute of Peace, writing in a ruling that the removal of its board members and the takeover of its headquarters by members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are actions that are “null and void.” The response this week from U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell comes after the Institute filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in March calling for “the immediate intervention of this Court to stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.” “The Administration removed the Institute’s leadership, including plaintiff Board members and its president in contravention of statutory limitations, and had personnel from a newly created federal office, called the Department of Government Efficiency, forcibly take over the Institute’s headquarters on March 17,” Howell wrote in her ruling. “With a newly installed USIP president, the Administration then handed off USIP’s property for no consideration and abruptly terminated nearly all of its staff and activities around the world.””Congress’s restrictions on the President’s removal power of USIP Board members are squarely constitutional, and the President and his Administration’s acts to the contrary are unlawful and ultra vires. The actions that have occurred since then – at the direction of the President to reduce USIP to its ‘statutory minimums’ – including the removal of USIP’s president, his replacement by officials affiliated with DOGE, the termination of nearly all of USIP’s staff, and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration, were thus effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void,” she added. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION GUTS INSTITUTE OF PEACE OF ‘ROGUE BUREAUCRATS’ AFTER DOGE STANDOFF IN GOVERNMENT OFFICE U.S. Institute of Peace employees hold an impromptu celebration on the steps of the U.S. Institute of Peace, on Monday, May 19, in Washington after federal district Judge Beryl Howell blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with dismantling the organization. (AP/Gary Fields)The Institute of Peace is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage. “Congress has endorsed USIP’s important work by continuing to fund the Institute through appropriations bills signed by seven different Presidents from both major political parties, including the current President during his first term in office,” Howell said in the ruling. “In a drastic and abrupt change of course, within the first month of his second term, President Trump unilaterally decided that USIP is ‘unnecessary,’ issuing Executive Order 14217 to this effect, and then his Administration rushed through actions, including removal of Board members, to reach the professed goal of reducing all of USIP’s operations and personnel to the bare minimum to perform only mandated statutory tasks, while ignoring the broader statutory goals set out for this organization to fulfill,” she also said. Ultimately, Howell concluded, the Trump administration’s actions “represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better.”JUDGE DENIES EMBATTLED GOVERNMENT-FUNDED AGENCY’S RESTRAINING ORDER REQUEST AGAINST DOGE George Moose, formerly the acting president and CEO of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), speaks to members of the media on Monday, March 17. (Getty Images)The White House did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. In March, it said the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace of “rogue bureaucrats” who held a tense standoff with a DOGE team that required police intervention. “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said at the time. “The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.” The administration now has 30 days to file an appeal to the ruling. The US Institute of Peace headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The United States Institute of Peace has existed for 40 years on a $50 million annual budget, but failed to deliver peace,” Kelly told the Associated Press. “President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and this rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter.” Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump is headed to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push Republicans toward passing his “big, beautiful bill.”Trump’s visit comes as House Republicans are split between spending hawks who want to cut more of the deficit and moderates who are seeking expanded tax deductions for Americans. Trump himself pushed tax cuts in a statement on Monday.”If we don’t get it, that means the Democrats will have stopped us. And that means people will get a 68% tax increase, the largest in history. And if we do get it, we’re going to have the largest tax decrease in history,” Trump said.The House Rules Committee is set to vote on the bill just after midnight tonight after the House Budget Committee approved the bill earlier this week.ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION President Donald Trump is headed to Capitol Hill for meetings with House Republicans voting on his “big, beautiful bill.” (Win McNamee/Getty Images)If the legislation passes through the House, it will face another – perhaps tougher – battle in the Senate, where some lawmakers have floated breaking up the bill to pass certain priorities more quickly.Trump urged Republicans to “STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE” in a post on social media this week.BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZYTrump will attend the House Republicans’ weekly meeting on the Hill, but it is not clear whether he will meet with individual holdouts directly. House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing lawmakers to pass President Trump’s massive budget bill. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)Meanwhile, Democrats argue the legislation is a handout for the wealthiest Americans.”They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday.”If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1 a.m. in the morning?” he added. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has derided Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” as a handout for the wealthy. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to put the kibosh on President Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. military to accept a Boeing airplane from Qatar to be used as Air Force One.The Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would prohibit utilizing Defense Department funding to procure, modify, restore, or maintain an aircraft for presidential flight if that aircraft was previously owned by a foreign government, foreign government-controlled entity, or foreign government representative.”None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2025 or fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Defense may be made available for the procurement, modification, restoration, or maintenance of an aircraft previously owned by a foreign government, an entity controlled by a foreign government, or a representative of a foreign government for the purposes of providing presidential airlift options,” the text of the measure reads.ESPIONAGE, CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS ABOUND FROM TRUMP DETRACTORS, ALLIES OVER QATARI JET OFFER Left: U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a press conference in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room at the U.S. Capitol on May 05, 2025 in Washington, DC; Right: U.S. President Donald Trump departs the White House on May 12, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Left: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; Right: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)Fox News Digital reached out to the White House to request comment on Tuesday morning but did not immediately receive a response.”Donald Trump has shown time and again – he will sell out the American people and the Presidency if it means filling his own pockets,” Schumer said, according to a press release. “Not only would it take billions of taxpayer dollars to even attempt to retrofit and secure this plane, but there’s absolutely no amount of modifications that can guarantee it will be secure. It is now on the Senate to prioritize our national security, protect Americans, and ensure that a foreign-owned plane never gets the call sign ‘Air Force One.’”QATAR DUMPED BILLIONS INTO US SCHOOLS OVER LAST FOUR DECADES: REPORTThe proposal stands little chance of passage: Even if it were to clear both chambers of Congress where Republicans hold the majorities, the president could veto the measure, in which case passage would require enough votes to surmount a presidential veto.”The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME! It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive,” President Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week.QATAR OFFERS TRUMP JUMBO JET TO SERVE AS AIR FORCE ONECLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP”Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added.Trump indicated last week that he does not plan to fly in the plane after leaving office, but that the aircraft would be placed in his presidential library.
FIRST ON FOX: In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at the annual Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler responded to a Washington Post report that claimed President Donald Trump threatened to abandon Israel unless the war ended as “fake news.” “That sounds like fake news to me,” he said. “I think the president has maintained a very high degree of support for Israel.” He added, “He may be saying, ‘Hey, listen, let’s try to end the war,’ he might speak strongly, but I think American president, in particular, this president’s support, President Trump’s support for Israel is ironclad.”Separately, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also rejected the claim. In an interview with Israel’s Ynet, he said, “Their reporting is nonsense. They need to listen to what the President says – not what some uninformed ‘source’ pretends to know.'”ISRAELI AMBASSADOR LASHES OUT AT UN OFFICIAL, CONDEMNS UK, FRANCE, CANADA STATEMENT ON AID United States Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler spoke at The Annual Jerusalem Post Conference in New York City on Monday, May 19, when he said a deal to return Israeli hostages is “closer than we ever were.” (Credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)Boehler emphasized that the U.S. government’s primary focus remains on securing the release of the 58 hostages still held by Hamas. “I think there’s obviously continued back and forth. The President made it very clear that he wants something to come to conclusion.””I know that he and Steve [Witkoff] are working very hard right now to try to bring that home. So, a very fluid situation, but our primary focus is number one, the hostages, and number two, Israel’s security,” he said.On the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Boehler addressed the recent development of opening borders to allow aid trucks into Gaza after two months of a blockade. He also discussed the new U.S.-backed mechanism that could potentially replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). “Perhaps there needs to be a replacement for UNRWA. We’ve had a lot of issues with the U.N. And if this works, if it gets food to the Palestinian people who need it, then I greatly favor it,” Boehler said.Later, in an interview on stage at the Jerusalem Post conference, Boehler recalled the tense moments surrounding the release of American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander. “It’s an unbelievable moment. It was an unbelievable moment on Sunday. The whole time, we couldn’t sleep. It was exciting, nerve-wracking. We watched pretty much real-time. We were waiting for Steve Witkoff to come. We were waiting the whole time for the Red Cross. When the helicopter landed, we saw it on TV. That first phone call was unbelievable. It was right on Mother’s Day when we went over. It had a lot of meaning — for me, Steve, and everybody.”ISRAEL TURNS TABLES ON UN OFFICIAL CLAIMING ‘GENOCIDE’ IN GAZA WITH BASIC QUESTIONS U.S. Special Envoy Adam Boehler and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met with the families of hostages for nearly two hours in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. (Paulina Patimer)As for the timeframe for the hostage deal, Boehler expressed cautious optimism: “I think it’s getting closer and closer to making a deal here. If Hamas wants to come forward and make a legitimate offer, they’re willing to stand by and release hostages, we’re always open to that.” He also credited the recent Israeli ground operations for increasing pressure on Hamas, saying, “I do think we’re closer than we ever were. Part of that is because of the movement of Israel and the IDF on the ground.”CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPFinally, addressing the recent joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada, which condemned Israel’s military operations in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire, Boehler responded firmly. “The United States has always been a fervent supporter of Israel. If I were a European country, I’d be particularly sensitive in how I criticize Israel.”
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Please enter a valid email address. Having trouble? Click here.FIRST ON FOX: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a fiery prerecorded video to be broadcast before the World Health Assembly, which gathers member states of the World Health Organization, on Tuesday outlining why President Donald Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO. “Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics,” Kennedy said in a video exclusively shared with Fox News Digital. “While the United States has provided the lion’s share of the organization’s funding historically, other countries such as China have exerted undue influence over its operations in ways that serve their own interests and not particularly the interests of the global public.”Kennedy’s video aired Tuesday, just after 7 a.m. Eastern Time. Fox News Digital had asked the WHO earlier on Tuesday if the group planned to air Kennedy’s video, and was directed to an ongoing livestream of health and foreign leaders addressing the body. Video messages from foreign leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte were aired during the meeting Tuesday morning, as well as live remarks from Vice Premier of China Liu Guozhong, according to Fox News Digital’s review of the assembly’s livestream. TRUMP ORDERS US WITHDRAWAL FROM WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a prerecorded video to the World Health Assembly May 20, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press)The World Health Assembly kicked off Monday in Geneva, where the WHO’s 194 member states convened its 78th annual meeting. Kennedy’s office sent the video to be featured during the assembly’s meeting Tuesday morning, alongside other videos of world and health leaders addressing the body. This year, the WHO member states are anticipated to sign a “pandemic agreement” that aims “to safeguard the world from a repeat of the suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the body. Kennedy’s video addressed the pandemic specifically, saying the World Health Organization’s handling of COVID-19 was riddled with “failures” and exposed that the WHO “capitulated” to China. The WHO is a specialized agency focused on international health that is overseen by the United Nations. “The WHO, under pressure from China, suppressed reports at critical junctures of human-to-human transmission and then worked with China to promote the fiction that COVID originated from bats or pangolins rather than from Chinese government-sponsored research at a biolab in Wuhan,” Kennedy said. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January announcing the United States’ intention to withdraw from WHO. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)”Not only has the WHO capitulated to political pressure from China, it’s also failed to maintain an organization characterized by transparency and fair governance. … The WHO often acts like it has forgotten that its members must remain accountable to their own citizens and not to transnational or corporate interests,” he continued. RFK JR’S HHS TO END ROUTINE COVID VACCINE GUIDANCE FOR CHILDREN, PREGNANT WOMEN: REPORT WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is seen on a screen delivering his report at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19, 2025. (Getty Images)Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office this year announcing the U.S.’ intention to withdraw from the WHO due to its mishandling of the pandemic, as well as a host of other issues the president took issue with, such as “onerous payments” that didn’t match contributions from other member states. “The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states. In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments,” Trump’s EO stated. BEN & JERRY’S CO-FOUNDER ARRESTED PROTESTING SENATE HEARING: ‘RFK KILLS PEOPLE WITH HATE’ (Reuters/Denis Balibouse/File)Kennedy continued in his video that “global cooperation on health is still critically important to President Trump and myself” while knocking the WHO for repeated “failures” during the pandemic that the body has since further embraced through its anticipated “pandemic agreement.” Robert F. Kennedy delivered a fiery speech to WHO member states over the U.S. withdrawal. (Jason Mendez/Getty Images)”It isn’t working very well under the WHO. As the failures of the COVID era demonstrate, the WHO has not even come to terms with its failures during COVID, let alone made significant reforms. Instead, it has doubled down with the pandemic agreement, which will lock in all of the dysfunctions of the WHO pandemic response.”CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP”We’re not going to participate in that,” Kennedy said. “We need to reboot the whole system, as we are doing in the United States. Here in the United States, we’re going to continue to focus on infectious disease and pandemic preparedness, but we’re also fundamentally shifting the priorities of our health agencies to focus on chronic diseases, which are prevalent in the United States.”
In the six-to-one Democrat stronghold of Philadelphia, winning a seat as a Republican is tough to say the least. There hasn’t been a Republican mayor since Bernard Samuel in the 1950s, for example. So it may not be that surprising that the local GOP has a plan it hopes will give a Democrat primary challenger to incumbent District Attorney Lawrence Krasner a crucial second round against the Soros-backed prosecutor should he get knocked out in Tuesday’s primary election.Krasner is facing fellow Democrat and former judge Pat Dugan, who also has the support of several Democrat ward committees and Philadelphia political stalwarts like state Sen. Tina Tartaglione, plus a slew of union groups like IAFF and the Teamsters.In his pitch to voters, Dugan drafted a “geographic prosecution plan” to crack down on crime in the city.2024: THE YEAR LAW AND ORDER WAS RESTORED BY VOTERS”This plan is about more than just fighting crime—it’s about rebuilding communities. [It] will hold criminals accountable, provide second chances when appropriate, and ensure every neighborhood feels the impact of a fair and just system they can trust and believe in again,” Dugan said in a statement on his campaign site.Krasner, seeking a third term, has been lambasted for his progressive criminal justice policies and faced impeachment proceedings from Republicans in the now-Democrat-controlled State House of Representatives.In 2023, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled the GOP-controlled Senate cannot hold a trial because the House’s articles of impeachment didn’t meet the bench’s standards.One top Republican, 2022 gubernatorial nominee Sen. Doug Mastriano, notably opposed Krasner’s impeachment, quipping, “Philadelphia: They want Krasner – they like him. That’s a huge mandate.”While there was a drop in homicides year-over-year in 2023, Philadelphia saw a spike from 351 the year he took office in 2018 to 562 in 2021. Krasner also ceased charges for certain offenses like marijuana possession, eliminated cash bail for some offenders and has sought generally more lenient sentences than conservatives want.In the city where then-Mayor James Kenney did a dance on social media to celebrate its inception as a sanctuary city, Krasner has followed up by refusing to honor ICE detainer requests, saying that letting the feds tell him who to jail is unconstitutional.PHILADELPHIA DA KRASNER SLAMMED BY MURDER VICTIM’S SISTER: WE’RE FED UP Philadelphia has seen looting, left, since DA Larry Krasner took office seven years ago. (Philadelphia Police)Krasner’s backing from about $1.45 million in political action committee support tied to Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros has also led to criticism.Last week, Dugan told PhillyVoice the city is feeling “Krasner fatigue” after eight years.”Many people come up to me and tell stories about how upset they are with some of the policies with the DA’s office,” he said.Republicans, largely out of power in the city for decades outside of two at-large city council seats that they – or independents – must statutorily be elected to, see Dugan’s candidacy as an opportunity to oust Krasner and have a way to give him a second chance should he fail in Tuesday’s primary.The city’s Republican Party funded a website advising voters to write-in Dugan on the Republican line. By law, if Dugan receives 1,000 write-ins, he will be named the Republican general election nominee unless he declines the opportunity. That would give more city voters a chance to turn out Krasner in the November general election.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP”This is about making crime in Philadelphia illegal,” PhillyGOP chair Vince Fenerty told the South Philly Review.Fox News Digital reached out to both Krasner and Dugan via their campaigns for comment but did not hear back by the publication deadline.
As she ran for the White House in the 2024 election cycle, Nikki Haley made her calls for “new generational leadership” a key component of her Republican presidential campaign.And front and center from day 1 of her campaign as the former South Carolina governor and former United Nations ambassador declared her candidacy in February 2023 was her call for “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”As Haley challenged then-76-year-old former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination in hopes of eventually facing off in the general election against then-80-year-old President Joe Biden, the proposal became one of the most visible and at times controversial parts of her campaign stump speech.DEMOCRATS RUN THE GAUNTLET AS THEY FACE QUESTIONS OVER BIDEN’S COGNITIVE ACUITY As she announced her run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at a campaign event in Charleston, S.C., on Feb. 15, 2023, former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for mental competency tests for politicians over age 75. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)Haley faced charges of ageism from a host of politicians opposed to the idea, including a now-83-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who at the time called her idea “absurd.”While Haley’s campaign took off, and she ended up being the last Republican candidate standing against Trump during last year’s primaries, she eventually bowed out of the race in March 2024 as Trump marched toward clinching the presidential nomination.BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEWFast-forward to today, and long-standing questions about Biden’s physical and mental fitness – and whether Democrats should have more forcefully urged him to bow out of the 2024 race – haven’t gone away; they’re front and center.This as Biden’s condition is once again making headlines, courtesy of excerpts from a new book being released this week, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” which offers claims of a White House cover-up of the then-president’s apparent cognitive decline. Then-President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid less than a month after a disastrous debate performance against then-former President Donald Trump in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)Additionally, last week’s leaked audio of Biden’s 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, in which the then-president appears to suffer memory lapses, is also fueling the conversation.Hur, who investigated whether Biden years earlier had improperly stored classified documents, made major headlines early last year when he decided not to charge Biden but described the then-president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”Last week’s developments were followed by Sunday’s blockbuster announcement that Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.The news, while eliciting sympathy from both sides of the political aisle, is unlikely to sidetrack the current firestorm over the former president’s mental acuity.BIDEN’S DIAGNOSIS: CANCER DESCRIBED AS AGGRESSIVE”While the media may have been shocked by Nikki’s call for mental competency tests, Americans never were,” a source in Haley’s political orbit told Fox News. “It was common sense. Nikki always believed our leaders should be completely transparent and remember who they serve: the American people. After a yearslong cover-up, those who hid President Biden’s mental decline must finally acknowledge what Nikki and the American people always knew to be true.”Haley, who was 51 when she announced her candidacy in 2023, reupped her calls for a mental competency test throughout her campaign.In January last year, during the heat of the primary battle, Haley pointed to some verbal stumbles by Trump on the campaign trail.”He’s not what he was in 2016. He has declined. That’s a fact,” Haley said at the time.Trump repeatedly fired back as he touted acing a cognitive test he took five years earlier and said, “I think I’m a lot sharper than her.” Nikki Haley, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a town hall in Rye, N.H., on Jan. 2, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)A month later, after the release of Hur’s written report regarding Biden’s mental acuity, Haley said, “Joe Biden can’t remember major events in his life, like when he was vice president or when his son died.””That is sad, but it will be even sadder if we have a person in the White House who is not mentally up to the most important job in the world,” she added as she reiterated her calls for Biden to take a mental competency test “immediately.”Haley, in a Fox News op-ed in May 2023, spelled out the specific test she recommended for politicians over age 75.”The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test is a widely used tool for detecting cognitive decline,” Haley wrote at the time.And she elaborated, “This is not a qualification for office. Failing a mental competency test would not result in removal. It is about transparency. Voters deserve to know whether those who are making major decisions about war and peace, taxation and budgets, schools and safety can pass a very basic mental exam.”CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance, noting the current media spotlight on Biden, said it has “renewed concerns many Americans have about the age and ability of our elected officials. Public service demands clarity of thought, sound judgment, and the ability to manage complex issues.”And Lesperance, president of New England College, said “Americans must conclude that a fair and nonpartisan cognitive assessment, perhaps irrespective of age, is important to ensure all who seek to lead are equipped to serve with the sharpness and clarity the role requires.”
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Despite entering the lottery with just 1.8% odds, the Dallas Mavericks landed the top selection for this year’s upcoming NBA Draft.The unexpected result sparked countless theories across the sports world. Many floated theories suggesting the NBA granted the Mavs a favor after the team traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. Dallas will now have the opportunity to draft Duke standout Cooper Flagg.Former Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal became one of the latest high-profile figures to chime in on the debate. The four-time NBA champion recalled a story from 1992 about late NBA Commissioner David Stern.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Shaquille O’Neal is interviewed during the PointsBet Built Differently Media Event at Cargo Hall on Aug. 28, 2022 in Sydney. (Brett Hemmings/Getty Images for TLA)O’Neal, who was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 1992, claimed Stern approached him before that year’s draft lottery and inquired about his preferred NBA destination.NBA GREAT SHAQUILLE O’NEAL FLOATS THEORY ON BLUE ORIGIN FLIGHT”[He] pulled me to the side. ‘You want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?’” O’Neal said. “He asked me that. I said, ‘hot’ and then he smiled and I smiled.” Former NBA Commissioner David Stern, a member of the 2014 class of inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame, listens to a question during a news conference in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Aug. 7, 2014. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)A few months later, O’Neal watched as Orlando, Charlotte and Minnesota landed the top three picks.”Minnesota was No. 3. Charlotte was No. 2 and then Orlando, Florida, was No. 1,” he said. “I was like (while making a questioning face). I didn’t think much about it. You hear a lot of these conspiracy theories. There are a lot of situations that can make these things sound good.”CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPO’Neal said he wanted to avoid using the phrase “conspiracy theory” but he did describe the situation as “very interesting.”Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.