Category: Politics

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the U.S. would respond after former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after his loss in the 2022 election, although the secretary did not go into detail about what a U.S. response would look like.

‘The political persecutions by sanctioned human rights abuser Alexandre de Moraes continue, as he and others on Brazil’s supreme court have unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro,’ Rubio wrote on X.

‘The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt,’ he continued.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry argued that Rubio’s comment represented a threat that ‘attacks Brazilian authority and ignores the facts and the compelling evidence in the records.’

The ministry said Brazilian democracy would not be intimidated by the U.S. government.

Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison when he was convicted by the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.

The former Brazilian leader was a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration.

‘Well, I watched that trial. I know him pretty well. I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that could happen very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,’ Trump told reporters, noting the legal cases against the U.S. president in recent years at the state and federal level, which included his conviction in New York.

‘But I can always say this: I knew him as president of Brazil. He was a good man,’ he added.

Trump has criticized the Brazilian judicial system and threatened tariffs on the country for its case against Bolsonaro.

In July, the U.S. president placed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian goods in response to a ‘witch hunt’ against Bolsonaro. He later exempted some Brazilian exports, including passenger vehicles and numerous parts and components used in civil aircraft.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, his unspecified allies on the court and his immediate family members will face visa revocations, according to Rubio, who criticized what he called a ‘political witch hunt’ against the former president.

That same month, Rubio announced visa revocations on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over Bolsonaro’s criminal case, and his unspecified allies on the court after the court issued search warrants and restraining orders against Bolsonaro.

The U.S. Treasury Department had also sanctioned the judge over allegations of authorizing arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression.

Bolsonaro’s son, Brazilian Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, said he anticipates additional U.S. sanctions against Brazilian justices following his father’s conviction.

‘We are going to have a firm response with actions from the U.S. government against this dictatorship that is being installed in Brazil,’ he told Reuters on Thursday.

He warned that justices who voted to convict the former president could face sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, which was previously used by the Trump administration against de Moraes.

‘If these Supreme Court justices keep following Moraes, they also run the risk of facing the same sanction,’ he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Republicans from the House Oversight Committee released a report outlining what they allege are conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement and oversight failures associated with a Biden-era green energy grant program that sent $20 billion to just 8 different nonprofits.

The money stems from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which budgeted roughly $27 billion to advance clean energy and ‘environmental justice’ under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). An undercover recording of a former Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) political appointee, who described disbursements made through GGRF as akin to tossing gold bars off the Titanic at the end of Biden’s term, was cited by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in February when he announced that the agency would be looking into the matter. Republicans are currently trying to claw back the funds, which they claim were rushed out the door at the end of the Biden administration with little oversight and steered toward Democratic allies. 

‘Today’s report from the House Oversight Committee exposes the Biden administration’s sweeping green energy scheme, designed to funnel tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to enrich Democratic allies and fund partisan, politically motivated projects,’ House Republican Oversight Chairman James Comer told Fox News Digital. ‘Americans deserve better than this green energy scam disguised as environmental justice, and Oversight Republicans will continue to hold the Biden administration accountable to ensure the EPA operates as intended and that taxpayer dollars are spent transparently, responsibly, and in the best interest of the American people.’

The EPA terminated most of these grants after the Trump administration took office, but the move was met with legal pushback from Democrats. However, last week, a federal appeals court judge struck down a lower court’s ruling that blocked the Trump administration’s move to freeze the funds, arguing the administration was acting in accordance with its role to provide ‘proper oversight’ of how funds are distributed.

The EPA has referred the matter to the agency’s inspector general. The Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are also running concurrent investigations, the EPA has indicated. However, up to this point, no criminal wrongdoing has been uncovered.   

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., declined to comment on the matter. Additionally, several other top ranking Democrats, including the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., did not respond to requests for comment.

However, in an Aug. 11 letter to Zeldin signed by several ranking Democrats, including Clarke, they accused Zeldin of ‘lying’ about the Inflation Reduction Act funding. 

‘Time and again, you have boasted about the unlawful activities EPA is conducting under your leadership without any credible evidence to justify your actions,’ the letter stated.

While there may not be any criminal wrongdoing alleged thus far, the picture painted by the investigation by House Oversight Republicans shows the Biden administration ‘turned the Environmental Protection Agency into a vehicle for rewarding political allies, all while risking the stability of our energy infrastructure,’ according to Comer.

‘Today’s report from the House Oversight Committee exposes the Biden administration’s sweeping green energy scheme, designed to funnel tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to enrich Democratic allies and fund partisan, politically motivated projects,’ Comer added.

The report released by Oversight Republicans details how committee staff reviewed ‘tens of thousands’ of documents produced by the GGRF awardees in question. The documents also included EPA materials for reviewing and awarding the GGRF funds, among other records.

The report shows how the EPA judged the applicants using a scoring system that awarded points for different parts of the nonprofits’ proposals. For example, flawless ‘financial risk management’ awarded a total of 85 points, while flawless ‘legal and compliance risk management’ could provide an applicant up to 40 possible points. Meanwhile, the EPA weighted ‘equity and environmental justice’ the same way it did ‘financial statements’ and more than it weighted good ‘governance’ or ‘legal and compliance risk management,’ among other categories. 

‘By doing so, the EPA all but ensured that the grants would go to President Biden’s political allies. All awardees of the GGRF had ‘climate equity’ or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in place or committed to putting equivalent policies in place,’ the House Oversight report argues. ‘EPA criticized multiple applicants because their targeted reductions in emissions were too low. In other cases, the EPA staff complained that there was not enough ‘environmental justice’ expertise represented in leadership or on the boards of the nonprofits. The Biden EPA insisted on climate equity metrics over merit.’

After receiving their scores, the program provided a ‘reconciliation process’ for EPA staff to discuss their assessments and adjust their scores, according to the Oversight report. The ultimate decision was then passed to a single ‘selection official’ who made the final determination.

The report also claims that the disbursement review process was ‘full of contradictions.’ It says documents showed EPA officials had concerns about the groups receiving the funds related to overly optimistic projections for financial benefits or emissions reductions, lack of access to private capital, high uninsured cash balances, and lack of transparency. Simultaneously, in other documents, the EPA justified the GGRF recipients as entities ‘with track records, staff, risk management policies, and other programmatic capabilities,’ according to the House Oversight report.

One of the groups under scrutiny, Climate United Fund, was established for the purpose of utilizing the GGRF, according to the Oversight report. The report points to claims from EPA staff indicating the group is ‘a new-entity purpose built for the execution of our program plan and does not have a robust reporting history.’

Climate United, reported just $95,557 in assets for fiscal year 2023 but received $6.97 billion from the EPA, representing a 7,293,980% increase in reported assets since 2023, the Oversight report points out.

Other groups also saw similarly significant increases.

Power Forward Communities received $2 billion as part of the GGRF disbursements. The group, not established until after the Biden administration announced the GGRF application process, reported just $100 in assets in its first and only tax filing – meaning that following the $2 billion GGRF award, the entities’ assets increased 2,000,000,000%, according to the House Oversight report.

‘These tired allegations distract from the fact that EPA’s illegal funding freeze will drive up energy costs for hardworking Americans across the country. When household bills are skyrocketing, Congress should be focused on deploying cheap, clean energy technologies rather than resurfacing false claims,’ Brooke Durham, a spokesperson for Climate United told Fox News Digital when reached for comment. ‘Climate United welcomes the opportunity to explain our work and the benefits of the NCIF program to Congress, federal agencies, and to the public.’

The spokesperson also noted that while the Climate United coalition – which is made up of three separate organizations – is new, the organizations that make it up are not.

‘The organizations that make up Climate United have been investing in communities for over 30 years, and are experts in the capital markets who have collectively managed more than $30 billion in institutional and public funds,’ Durham said. She added that the group was proud to tout a 946.5 point evaluation score by the EPA out of a possible 1050 points, which Durham noted was among the highest of all the awardees.

Power Forward declined to comment. However, the group’s CEO, Tim Mayopolous told CBS News last month that the GGRF award process ‘was a highly structured, competitive process that the United States government went through.’

‘The organizations that are part of our coalition that actually do this work – they have been around collectively for nearly a century, and they have invested or disbursed over $100 billion of capital into communities all over America over those years,’ Mayopolous added. ‘We’re not inexperienced people.’    

Climate United, along with some of the other groups in question, are also under fire for allegedly inflating their executives’ salaries and travel benefits in proposed budgets. The CEO’s salary at Climate United was slated to be over $500,000, and at Power Forward $800,000, with an increase to over $900,00 in a year. One group produced a budget that paid its executive staff of seven employees a total of $24,862,419 over three years, according to the report.

Meanwhile, conflicts of interest, which Zeldin has described as ‘blatant,’ were also laid bare in the report. The director of the GGRF selected by the Biden White House was a former policy director at the group that wanted to pay their executive staffers close to a combined $25 million over three years, according to the report. The report says the director had to recuse himself from the award process because of the conflict.   

At Climate United, the group currently staffs a former Biden climate advisor who worked during the last two years of the former president’s term. Their board makeup while pursuing the GGRF award also had ties to the Obama administration. However, Durham contested the implication that there were conflicts of interest, telling Fox News Digital that no staff or board members at Climate United helped with the design of the program, or the selection of the award recipients.

Power Forward’s GGRF application process was also accused of being led by Democrat allies in the Republican Oversight report. Power Forward was founded by executives at nonprofit Rewiring America, co-founded by top Obama administration advisors, the report states. It also claims that Power Forward had planned on awarding Rewiring America with nearly $500,000,000.

‘The nonprofits receiving awards are littered with connections to Biden Administration staff and allies. The executives and board members at some of the GGRF’s awardees even helped write the policies that created the GGRF and are now benefitting from exorbitant salaries provided by taxpayers,’ the House Oversight report states. 

‘The GGRF was a huge step for the Left in realizing the Green New Deal. The program is a National Green Bank that will flood the economy with billions in taxpayer dollars to fund partisan projects regardless of whether they merit investment or not.’

Former Vice President Kamala Harris admits that former President Joe Biden got ‘tired’ while in office, but she insists there was no ‘big conspiracy’ to cover up his decline.

Harris made the claims in a newly released excerpt from her upcoming book, ‘107 Days,’ which details her experience running for president with frequent throwbacks to her time as number two in the White House. The excerpt, published by The Atlantic, focuses on her relationship with Biden and her frustration with how she was treated in the Biden-Harris administration.

‘Many people want to spin up a narrative of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity. Here is the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a smart guy with long experience and deep conviction, able to discharge the duties of president,’ Harris wrote. ‘On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best. But at 81, Joe got tired.’

‘That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles. I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country,’ she added.

Harris went on to complain that Biden’s staff didn’t give her the support she felt was necessary as vice president, on issues from foreign policy to illegal immigration.

She complained that getting the White House press office, including then-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, to defend her was ‘almost impossible.’

‘Worse, I often learned that the president’s staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me. One narrative that took a stubborn hold was that I had a ‘chaotic’ office and unusually high staff turnover during my first year,’ Harris wrote, going on to say that some people just can’t hack it in a White House role.

‘Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well,’  she added regarding Biden’s staff. ‘That given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital. It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him.

The former vice president also said Democrats across the board should have been more aggressive in pushing Biden not to run, saying it was ‘reckless’ to leave the decision in his hands for so long.

”It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision,’ Harris wrote.

In comments to Fox News Digital, the State Department’s position on Sudan’s warring parties has hardened, as a 500-day siege of the Darfur city of El Fasher has trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians. 

Sudan suffers from the world’s largest displacement: Between 13 million and 15 million people have been ripped from their homes, and an estimated 150,000 people have been killed since the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) started fighting in April 2023. The civil war’s roots lie in tensions following the 2019 ousting of President Omar al-Bashir.

‘The RSF, during the siege of El Fasher and surrounding areas, committed myriad crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence, forced displacement and persecution on ethnic, gender and political grounds,’ an Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan reported to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council last Friday. 

The report agreed with other accounts that the RSF is trying to starve El Fasher’s residents to death, stating, ‘The RSF and its allies used starvation as a method of warfare.’

Aid is being blocked from going into El Fasher, the U.N. Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, stated Aug. 29  ‘Supplies are pre-positioned nearby but efforts by the United Nations and its partners to move them into El Fasher continue to be hampered.

‘The situation in El Fasher remains dire,’ Mariam Wahba, research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.  ‘The RSF has effectively encircled the city, cutting off key supply routes and subjecting civilians to indiscriminate shelling. Satellite images indicate a wall is being built to trap civilians inside, consistent with RSF tactics used elsewhere. These ‘kill zones’ leave residents with no means of escape. El-Fasher is the last major SAF-held city in Darfur. If it falls, the RSF would control nearly all of Darfur, consolidating both territory and economic assets, particularly lucrative gold mines.’

President Donald Trump’s Special Advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos, met Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Switzerland last month. From the tone of the State Department’s responses to Fox News Digital’s questions on Sudan this week, there appears to be little progress on the path to peace. 

A spokesperson stated, ‘since the April 2023 outbreak of conflict in Sudan, we have witnessed significant backsliding in Sudan’s overall respect for fundamental freedoms, including religious freedom.

‘In order to safeguard U.S. interests, to include the protection of religious freedom in Sudan, U.S. efforts seek to limit negative Islamist influence in Sudan’s government and curtail Iran’s regional activities that have contributed to regional destabilization, conflict, and civilian suffering.’

Wahba is also concerned about the activities of foreign ‘bad actors’ in Sudan. ‘Iran has provided the SAF with drones and technical support. Emerging reports point to Iranian interest in helicopter facilities. Iran sees its involvement in Sudan as a gateway for extending its footprint in Africa.’

Wahba continued, ‘Russia has played both sides of the conflict. It has pursued a naval base on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, which would give Moscow direct access to critical shipping lanes, while also profiting from gold smuggling through RSF-linked networks.’

‘Regional powers are also advancing their own interests. Egypt has publicly backed the SAF, aligning with Sudan’s ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Saudi Arabia is aligned with Egypt in backing al-Burhan. The United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, has provided significant support to the RSF, viewing its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – widely known as Hemedti – as the custodian of Sudan’s gold exports and the path to its plans for port development along the Red Sea coast.’

Wahba concluded, ‘Burhan’s willingness to engage with Washington is a potential opening. This does not mean the U.S. should unconditionally back the SAF, but it could form the basis for a more defined U.S. strategy, one that makes U.S. engagement contingent on the SAF reining in, or removing, its Islamist militias and leadership.

A small group of Republican lawmakers who did not feel their leaders were pushing a conservative enough agenda first began meeting in secret a decade ago, huddling in small rooms both inside and outside the U.S. Capitol, while closely guarding their membership for fear of punishment by top House GOP leaders.

Fast-forward to Thursday morning, and the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) was welcoming its members, top GOP donors, Trump administration officials and even Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to an ornate room inside Washington, D.C.’s Willard Hotel to mark its decade anniversary and its first annual policy summit.

‘It’s a big celebration and an anniversary for them, and I want to be a part of it,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital just before addressing the group. ‘Some of my closest friends are in this room.’

The caucus that former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, once called ‘legislative terrorists’ are now at the center of key Republican policy fights in Washington. And while they’re still a source of frustration for many GOP lawmakers – who find the group to be disruptive to Republicans’ agenda – HFC is hiding no more and has the ear of some of the most powerful people in D.C.

‘This was never our goal, you know, but we wanted to have an impact,’ Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., a founding member of HFC who left Congress and returned in 2025, told Fox News Digital of the event at the Willard. ‘There’s always a lot of agreement in the conference, like, ‘Oh yeah, we would like to get there,’ but…sometimes you kind of need the difficult people to help move it a little bit further to the right than what you thought you might be able to.’

And rather than being a thorn in the side of Republican leaders, HFC is trying to work hand-in-hand with President Donald Trump to push for conservative policies.

They are not going against the grain any longer, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital.

‘We’re driving the grain,’ he said. ‘We work with the president to advance his agenda in the most conservative way possible, and we’ve been successful.’

Border czar Tom Homan, who also addressed the event along with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, told Fox News Digital that HFC was key to advancing Trump’s border agenda.

‘They’re on the right side,’ Homan said. ‘They want to secure the border because they know a secure border, a strong border, gives us strong national security…they want us to enforce the laws.’

In late 2023, a group of HFC members were key to successfully pushing out a House speaker mid-congressional term for the first time in U.S. history.

They’ve also played significant roles in pushing Republican spending bills and the recent One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to the right – at least in the House.

Even in the middle of their two-day event on Thursday, some HFC members threatened to sink a GOP-led spending bill as a warning shot to House leaders to keep on a conservative path.

The approach has been seen as divisive for years, and this year is no different.

‘They act as if they are the only principled conservatives in the conference. It’s almost as if they would rather be in the minority,’ one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital. ‘They love the attention they get when they hold out, only to fold in the end. It’s why no one respects them.’

Another GOP lawmaker said, in the context of current talks to avert a government shutdown, ‘The Freedom Caucus is not what it was two years ago or even four years ago. I don’t know what you call them, but Andy Harris speaks for himself.’

‘What is the goal of the Freedom Caucus? Is it to win? Is it to fold?’ they asked. ‘I mean, have they lost their teeth? From an outside perspective, no, I still think they get heard.’

Current HFC members brushed off the criticism.

‘We’re willing to negotiate with Donald Trump and the Senate to beat Democrats with the most conservative bill possible, so please keep assuming that we’re dead, and please keep writing that obituary, because we’re winning,’ HFC Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

Harris said of the critics, ‘If winning is folding, then I’ll fold every time.’

Indeed, the group does have the ear of the White House.

Former HFC Chair Scott Perry, R-Pa., who gave opening remarks during a portion of the summit exclusively viewed by Fox News Digital, revealed that White House aides attended the group’s recent meeting with conservative senators.

‘Last night, with representatives from the White House, we were asked, ‘What is the plan?’ I’m not exaggerating, this is your Freedom Caucus, the ‘legislative terrorists’ in the room where it happened,’ Perry told the audience.

But the group is expected to see some high-profile departures in the next congressional term: Roy is running for Texas Attorney General, and Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., are both running for governor, among others.

Roy told Fox News Digital of the turnover, ‘We’ve had a conversation. We have things we want to do to help kind of make sure and ensure the longevity. Right now, we’ve got to make sure the good people are running. We have to make sure we continue to grow the ranks of the Freedom Caucus.’

And newer members have signaled they’re ready to fill the ranks of those left behind.

‘Now that I’ve been here, and it’s my third year, and I get comfortable with this, it gives me a lot more confidence to know what is the right path or what’s the wrong path,’ said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., whose profile in HFC has risen in his short time in Congress. ‘And I think there’s other members like me that are – as these guys step away, there’s plenty of really talented members to step in their shoes.’

Following unrelenting criticism from the United Nations, the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is once again being targeted by NGOs, even as it delivered its 155 millionth meal to Gazans on Saturday.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF has launched ads criticizing GHFMeta’s Ad Library shows that in August it ran several Facebook ads targeting the foundation. One ad read ‘This is not aid. This is orchestrated killing.’ Another said, ‘In MSF’s 54 years, rarely have we seen such levels of systemized violence.’

Both allegations are taken from an Aug. 6 article on MSF’s website in which General Director Raquel Ayora describes accounts received from patients reportedly injured around GHF sites. Ayora says aid seekers claimed to have witnessed ‘children shot in the chest while reaching for food. People crushed or suffocated in stampedes. Entire crowds gunned down at distribution points.’ 

GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay called MSF’s accusations, ‘false and disgraceful,’ saying that it is ‘amplifying a disinformation campaign orchestrated by the Hamas-linked Gaza Health Ministry. They know better. By repeating these lies, they’re not aiding civilians, they’re aiding Hamas.’

‘No civilians have ever been shot at any of our distribution sites,’ Fay told Fox News Digital.

Fay said that ‘Nearly every day, Nasser Hospital issues false reports to the media of civilians killed near our sites, based solely on testimony from others. Not a single MSF doctor has ever witnessed an incident near our sites. Any conflict between Israel and Hamas, sometimes several kilometers away, the Gaza Health Ministry falsely links to GHF.’

In response to questions about whether MSF employees have witnessed injuries or deaths at GHF sites firsthand, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital that, ‘MSF has documented the impacts of violence and chaos at GHF sites in Gaza, based on firsthand accounts of our personnel and patients at two clinical sites, as well as a body of medical data.’

MSF declined to respond to questions about how much money it has spent on ads targeting GHF, or whether it has advocated for medical care for Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. 

The MSF spokesperson added, ‘For the past 22 months, humanitarian organizations working in Gaza and the West Bank have consistently faced baseless and inaccuratesmear campaigns.’

Though there is growing outcry about purported violence near GHF sites, reporting from the United Nations indicates that there were twice as many deaths surrounding humanitarian aid convoys (576) as there were deaths around GHF sites (259) between July 21 and Aug. 18. 

A U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs update from August states there were 1,889 deaths near aid sites between May 27 and Aug. 18, 1,025 ‘near militarized distribution sites’ and 864 ‘along convoy supply routes.’ As of July 21, U.N. News reported there were 1,054 deaths at food distribution sites, with 766 near GHF sites, and 288 near U.N. and humanitarian aid convoys.

The U.N. Human Rights Office did not respond to a request for confirmation of these figures by press time. 

Amid tensions between GHF and humanitarian aid organizations, Fay said that GHF nonetheless provided support to MSF in early August after it requested help to ‘safeguard their medical aid from the elements.’ A GHF post on X from Aug. 7. showed what it said were pallets of MSF aid in GHF care. MSF did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request to confirm that they asked GHF for assistance with their supplies. 

When GHF staff were brought to Nasser Hospital after a Hamas attack in June that killed eight, they did not receive care from MSF staff, according to Fay.

A GHF employee’s written statement provided to Fox News Digital describes how wounded workers were taken to Nasser Hospital, where doctors refused to treat them. The witness said survivors were placed in a courtyard, where hospital staff incited others to beat them. One GHF employee was reportedly stabbed.

‘Three more GHF staff died due to their lack of treatment by Nasser Hospital. MSF doctors work there, yet claim they weren’t aware of the situation,’ Fay said.

In an Aug. 25 report following the Israeli bombing of Nasser Hospital, MSF said that it ‘has been operational in Nasser since before the conflict escalated in October 2023, providing trauma and burn care, physiotherapy, neonatal and pediatric services, and treatment for malnourished children, among other critical services.’

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has reported multiple times since October 2023 that Hamas fighters have been operating out of Nasser Hospital. On Aug. 26, FDD senior research analyst Joe Truzman shared photos on X of two Hamas summonses that reportedly ordered individuals to come to Nasser Hospital for questioning.

MSF did not respond to questions about GHF employees failing to receive care or whether its staff at Nasser Hospital were aware of Hamas’ operations at the site.

In an online statement about the incident, MSF said it ‘has seen no credible evidence that healthcare was refused by Ministry of Health or other medical staff.’ The group also said ‘MSF staff have not been present in the emergency department of Nasser Hospital since 2024.’
 

On Saturday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced a new initiative to provide medical care to Gazans through a program with Samaritan’s Purse.

In a statement on X, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said that in addition to treating wounds, injuries and infections, it was also helping pregnant women.

Just over a year ago, Matthew Thomas Crooks nearly blew off President Trump’s head at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Only by the grace of God did Crooks’ bullets miss their target by millimeters because President Trump had turned his head ever so slightly to look at an immigration chart. Crooks did manage to murder a rallygoer and seriously wound two others before the Secret Service killed him. Just under a year ago, Ryan Wesley Routh took his shot at President Trump, establishing a sniper’s nest at the Doral golf course where he knew the president would play later that day. Routh was a hole ahead of Trump when Secret Service agents spotted him. A gun battle followed, and Routh escaped, yet he was captured 50 miles away. He now sits in jail awaiting trial before Aileen Cannon, a superb federal judge.

While Cannon epitomizes the gold standard of the federal judiciary, Obama-appointed D.C. Chief District Judge Jeb Boasberg represents the garbage standard. Throughout the January 6 saga, Boasberg had no problem keeping defendants—even nonviolent ones—locked up before their trials, in part based on social media posts. He let off disgraced former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith with probation after Clinesmith had altered an email to secure a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign official Carter Page. Boasberg claimed that Clinesmith would receive punishment from the disciplinary authorities (the D.C. Bar) in the form of possible disbarment; yet, Clinesmith kept his license. Then, Boasberg made clear early in the second Trump administration that he was itching for a fight, expressing his baseless concern to Chief Justice John Roberts that President Trump and his subordinates would violate court orders.

This March, Boasberg instigated the fight he had longed for when he illegally ordered planes full of Tren de Aragua terrorists and vicious MS-13 gang members to turn around after they had departed for Honduras and El Salvador. This was an ongoing military operation. The planes would have been in danger trying to fly back over the Gulf of America with minimal fuel. Additionally, there were not the appropriate security resources in place in the United States to deal with the return of hundreds of foreign terrorists and violent gang members, unlike the situation in El Salvador and Honduras where the proper resources were in place. The planes did not turn around, and Boasberg ‘found’ probable cause to hold administration officials in contempt. A D.C. Circuit panel reversed; yet, Boasberg, undaunted by the smackdown he had received, mused at a hearing about disciplinary proceedings against Trump Justice Department lawyers before the jurisdictions in which they hold law licenses.

This past week, Boasberg has outdone himself. Nathalie Rose Jones is a nutcase from Indiana who is staying in New York City. She thinks that President Trump is a Nazi and a terrorist, and she blames him for the deaths caused by the coronavirus. Earlier this month, Jones posted on Facebook that ‘I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with [former] U.S. Representative] Liz Cheney and all the affirmation present.’ Jones then told the Secret Service that she would kill President Trump at ‘the compound’ (presumably the White House) if she had to and that she had a bladed object to accomplish her ghastly goal. The next day, law enforcement arrested Jones at a protest that had begun at Dupont Circle and wound up near the White House.

A magistrate judge correctly ordered Jones detained without bail. It is hard to imagine a clearer case of someone who poses a danger, but Jones found an ally: Boasberg. He decided to send Jones back to New York with an ankle bracelet, and he ordered her to see a shrink. Boasberg found the case hard because Jones had not brought a gun. Never mind that Jones had referred to a bladed object that she had somewhere ready to kill President Trump. Never mind that guns are easy to procure, even for convicted felons who are prohibited from possessing them by federal law. Never mind that Jones could have returned to the White House at any time after the day that she showed up without a gun. Francisco Martin Duran, a former Army sergeant, gave no warnings before he showed up at the White House early in President Clinton’s first term and fired off dozens of shots outside the gate. These maniacs often strike without warning, as Crooks and Routh also did. Jones has telegraphed what she wants to do to President Trump, and still it is not enough for Boasberg.

Boasberg has established a pattern of utterly horrific judgment. After his illegal order in March, Congressman Brandon Gill of Texas filed an article of impeachment. It is time to move forward with that article—and add to it based on the Jones farce, as well as the revelation of Boasberg’s grossly improper comments to Chief Justice Roberts. President Trump is only alive thanks to divine intervention; a millimeter and a millisecond could have changed the course of history.

Reckless robed partisans like Boasberg, however, do not appear to care about the danger the president faces.

Trump-deranged judge refuse to accept that he won the election, and they have put up roadblock after roadblock in an appalling effort to overturn the will of American voters. The disgrace of the Jones case is just the latest example. The time has come for the House to exercise its core Article I power and use a legal tool to curtail these judges: impeachment.

President Donald Trump has never played by the stale rules of Washington and Americans are grateful for it. His bold call for a 2026 pre-midterm convention is a political masterstroke that will cement America First policies, energize the Republican base, and ignite Generation Z voters. 

This convention is a seismic shift that sends a clear message to every politician: fight for the American people or step aside.

The GOP’s victories, from retaking the White House and strengthening congressional majorities to delivering real wins on border security, tax cuts, a stronger economy and energy independence, set the stage for Trump’s call for a pre-midterm national convention that breaks political tradition. 

While establishment Republicans cling to fundraising dinners, closed-door sessions and tired speeches that leave voters disengaged, Trump has mastered turning rallies into movements, from the electrifying 2016 campaign that flipped battleground states to the packed arenas of 2024 that reenergized the base. A pre-midterm convention would unite delegates from all 50 states to celebrate achievements, set a clear agenda and ignite voters. 

The contrast is clear. Conservative values of law and order through Trump’s National Guard blueprint to combat crime, economic freedom that fuels innovation, and family-first policies that honor tradition stand in sharp contrast to Democrat failures, including 9.1% inflation in 2022, open borders that allowed more than 11 million illegals, and foreign policy disasters that emboldened adversaries. 

By highlighting Republican successes like cutting gas prices through energy independence and appointing judges who defend constitutional rights, this convention would rebuke the Washington elite and prove Republicans deliver results while Democrats deliver excuses.

Unity is part of the strategy, but this is also a pivotal opportunity to mobilize Gen Z, the 68 million young Americans born between 1997 and 2012 who are increasingly open to conservative policies but need a reason to show up. A midterm convention can be that reason. 

Their frustration with the Left is clear: sky-high inflation, record crime and the relentless push of woke ideology. The 2025 Harvard Youth Poll found that 75% of young voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, with 62% citing a worsening economy under current policies and nearly half naming cost of living such as housing, food and gas as their top concern. A Yale Youth Poll revealed 35% now favor Republicans in the midterms, a notable increase from past cycles. 

Gen Z does not trust institutions and is disillusioned by political posturing. They crave authenticity while being bombarded by liberal propaganda in schools, on social media and from Hollywood. They see through empty promises of equity, knowing it means higher prices, fewer jobs and more division, with nearly 60% of Gen Z college graduates unemployed compared to just 25% of prior generations. 

President Trump understands this. A high-energy convention featuring conservative stars like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., along with influencers such as Charlie Kirk and Anthony Raimondi, known as Conservative Ant, can deliver messages tailored for TikTok and X. 

These voices can speak directly to Gen Z’s entrepreneurial spirit with policies that support small business tax cuts, energy independence to cut gas prices and unapologetic defenses of freedom. That spark could boost Gen Z turnout by 10% to 15% in the midterms, making them the GOP’s secret weapon. Failure to capture their energy risks apathy or a drift toward third parties.

This convention will energize the grassroots and unify the Republican Party. The GOP is already outpacing Democrats in record-breaking fundraising, but a unified front delivers more than dollars. It locks in a clear midterm agenda, quashes internal battles and promises a surge of support as Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other Republican stars deliver high-profile speeches that draw major contributions. 

By showcasing Republican successes in safety, job growth, lower gas prices and judicial appointments that protect constitutional rights, against Democrat failures like open borders and green energy disasters, the convention will mobilize voters. With the economy rebounding and Trump’s approval rising, it ensures Republicans avoid complacency and secure dominance.

A midterm convention also challenges GOP lawmakers to deliver results or leave Washington. Voters are demanding accountability, expecting politicians to prove their commitment to the America First agenda by securing the border, cutting red tape and prioritizing American workers, while elevating rising stars who represent the next wave of conservative leadership. This moment is an opportunity to purge establishment Republicans who align with elites and replace them with fighters for the American people, reshaping the future bench of Congress. 

Meanwhile, Democrats are leaderless and floundering in internal chaos and deeply unpopular policies. A 2025 CNN poll shows that while 72% of Democrats say they are motivated to vote, only 58% view their party favorably, compared to 76% for Republicans. Trump’s call for a midterm convention is another power move that highlights Democratic disarray, exposing their lack of leadership, failed policies and overall weakness.

Trump’s midterm convention is not just about exposing Democratic failure, it is about building the future of the movement and securing a foundation that lasts for generations. It is now or never for conservatives. 

A pre-midterm GOP convention led by Trump represents the next chapter in his revolution, timed to capture Gen Z’s openness to conservative ideas. By rallying young voters with authenticity and real solutions to their everyday struggles, amplifying momentum, and holding Republican leaders accountable, this convention can turn frustration into lasting America First policies. 

The GOP cannot afford to let woke politics or establishment complacency derail America’s future. Seizing this moment ensures 2026 delivers not just a victory but a generational turning point that will shape the direction of this country for decades to come.

A group of anonymous federal judges is criticizing the Supreme Court for overturning lower court rulings and siding with President Donald Trump’s administration with little to no explanation, NBC News reported Thursday.

NBC spoke with 12 federal judges, appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents including Trump, who pointed to a trend of lower court decisions being overturned by emergency rulings from the high court. These cases often see prominent members of Trump’s administration lashing out at lower court judges before their cases are overturned.

Ten of the 12 judges argued the Supreme Court should offer more explanation when overturning such decisions, saying emergency rulings in such cases imply poor work on the part of lower court judges.

‘It is inexcusable,’ one judge said of the Supreme Court. ‘They don’t have our backs.’

That judge also said they have received death threats for issuing rulings that counter Trump’s agenda. Trump himself and some of his top officials have spoken out against judges issuing unfavorable rulings.

When Judge James Boasberg sought to block the administration’s deportation flights to El Salvador, Trump argued he should be ‘IMPEACHED’ on social media.

When various judges issued rulings blocking Trump’s tariff agenda in March, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller argued it was a ‘judicial coup.’

The judge who described the Supreme Court’s actions as inexcusable predicted that ‘somebody is going to die’ if criticism from top Trump officials continues, according to NBC.

Another judge said lower courts are being ‘thrown under the bus.’

‘It’s almost like the Supreme Court is saying it is a ‘judicial coup,’’ a third judge told the outlet.

A fourth judge, however, appointed by President Barack Obama, conceded that several judges had been out of line with their rulings against Trump.

‘The whole ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ is a real issue. As a result, judges are mad at what Trump is doing or the manner he is going about things; they are sometimes forgetting to stay in their lane,’ that judge said.

‘Certainly, there is a strong sense in the judiciary among the judges ruling on these cases that the court is leaving them out to dry,’ the judge continued. ‘They are partially right to feel the way they feel.’

The Supreme Court’s public information office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

More than 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed a letter calling on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign on Wednesday.

The employees cited Kennedy’s recent ousting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Susan Monarez. They also accused Kennedy of appointing ‘political ideologues’ to positions of authority.

‘We believe health policy should be based in strong, evidence-based principles rather than partisan politics. But under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS policies are placing the health of all Americans at risk, regardless of their politics,’ the letter says.

‘Should he decline to resign, we call upon the President and U.S. Congress to appoint a new Secretary of Health and Human Services, one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science. We expect those in leadership to act when the health of Americans is at stake,’ the letter continues.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The letter comes just days after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also called on Kennedy to resign, citing his actions at the CDC. The Trump administration announced the removal of Monarez last week, less than a month after she was confirmed, after she refused Kennedy’s directives to adopt new limitations on the availability of some vaccines, including for approvals for COVID-19 vaccines.

Four other senior CDC officials resigned in protest after Monarez’s ouster, pointing, in part, to anti-vaccine policies pushed by Kennedy. Hundreds of workers at the agency also walked out of the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta in support of their former colleagues.

Sanders wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times that Kennedy is ‘endangering the health of the American people now and into the future,’ and accused the secretary of firing Monarez because she refused ‘to act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous policies.’

‘Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts,’ Sanders wrote.

‘It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective,’ he added. ‘That, of course, is not just my view. Far more important, it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities.’

The Trump administration has defended Monarez’s ouster, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Thursday that the president has the ‘authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.’

‘The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases, investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats,’ Leavitt told reporters.

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report