A community in Kansas gathered to celebrate the life of Israeli Embassy employee Sarah Milgrim Tuesday after she was fatally shot alongside her boyfriend, fellow Israeli Embassy employee Yaron Lischinsky, leaving the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington last week. 

Lischinsky had purchased an engagement ring and was planning to propose to Milgrim before they were both killed, those close to the couple said. The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder; murder of foreign officials, a federal capital offense; and multiple gun-related counts. He could face the death penalty if convicted. 

The suspect shouted ‘Free Palestine’ while in police custody, and the fatal shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, according to the FBI. Lawmakers have condemned the violence as an act of antisemitism. 

Speaking with Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill, both Republican and Democratic senators condemned the fatal shooting. 

‘These two young people died senselessly. Israel’s engaging in a war for its very survival. My heart breaks for these two young people in the prime of their lives,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. 

Lischinsky was 30, and Milgrim was 26. 

‘There’s no room for violence in America,’ Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., told Fox News Digital. ‘I appreciate my colleague, Sen. Rosen, moving a resolution today that no colleagues objected to, bringing attention to antisemitism in America. Anytime anyone is targeted, we need to speak up, not just here, but around the world.’

Senators Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., last week on the Senate Floor condemned what they described as an ‘antisemitic attack’ and celebrated the passage of their bipartisan resolution that recognizes May as Jewish Heritage American Month. 

‘This is everybody’s worst nightmare that people would not only engage in antisemitic rhetoric, but act on it,’ Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said it ‘reminds us all how festering hate and prejudice leads to violence. We have to redouble our efforts to stop any form of prejudice or bigotry.’

‘Obviously, there’s been a rise in antisemitism over the last several years,’ Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. 

Gillibrand is one of two Democratic senators representing New York, which is home to the largest Jewish population in the United States and also includes Columbia University, the elite Ivy League school in Manhattan that has been accused of allowing antisemitism to fester on campus. 

President Donald Trump has condemned the anti-Israel protests at elite universities, threatening to cut federal funding to institutions that do not condemn antisemitism and threatening to revoke international students’ visas. 

‘It is disgraceful that two young people with their whole lives in front of them can’t go to a reception in a public building in Washington, D.C., and be safe. It is criminal. It is disgraceful. It is intolerable, and we have to do everything we can to stop antisemitism in its tracks and protect people,’ Gillibrand added. 

In an unusual move for active federal court judges, four of them said in a Dispatch opinion piece Wednesday, ‘Societies that persecute Jews are societies that are sick and dying. Societies that allow the moral rot of Jew hatred to proliferate are societies on their way out of the pages of history.’

The Associated Press contributed to this story. 

Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon condemned what he called a ‘shakedown’ by the U.N. to prevent Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) from working with the new U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

While addressing the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Danon claimed that the world body was using ‘threats, intimidation and retaliation’ against NGOs that dared to defy the international body’s call to boycott GHF. The Israeli diplomat described the U.N.’s response to NGOs cooperating with GHF as ‘mafia-like.’

‘Without any discussion, without due process, the U.N. removed those NGOs from the shared aid database. That database is the central system for tracking aid deliveries into Gaza,’ Danon told the Security Council. ‘This is the gravest violation of the U.N.’s own principles. It is extortion of well-meaning NGOs that refuse to kiss the ring.’

In the same Security Council meeting, Acting U.S. Alternate Representative John Kelley urged the U.N. to work with GHF and Israel ‘to reach agreements on how to operationalize this system in a way that works for all.’ Kelley also emphasized the need to ensure that Hamas cannot benefit from any humanitarian aid distribution system that is established. 

On Wednesday, GHF said in a statement that it had opened another secure aid distribution site ‘without incident.’ The organization also addressed some claims about its operations. GHF said that, contrary to reports, no Palestinians have been questioned or detained while receiving aid. Additionally, GHF said that no Palestinians had been shot or killed while trying to get aid.

GHF disputes reports that its sites were overrun on Tuesday: ‘GHF anticipated that the [safe distribution sites] may experience pressure due to acute hunger and Hamas-imposed blockades, which create dangerous conditions outside the gates.

‘According to established protocol, for a brief moment the GHF team intentionally relaxed its security protocols to safeguard against crowd reactions to finally receiving food. No beneficiaries were injured, no lives were lost and all food available was distributed without interference. Order was restored without incident. As in all emergency response situations, particularly in conflict zones, this type of reaction from stressed beneficiary populations is expected and we remain prepared to continue providing lifesaving assistance should disruptions occur.

‘Unfortunately, there are many parties who wish to see GHF fail. Conditions remain very difficult and the lives of both Gazans and aid workers are at stake,’ GHF said in a statement.

The international community has not relented in its push against GHF.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher — who once called the plan behind GHF a ‘fig leaf for further violence and displacement’ of Palestinians in Gaza — has made his objections to the program clear. Fletcher made an appeal in a post on X to let the U.N. take control of aid distribution in Gaza.

‘We have the supplies, plan, will, and networks to deliver massive amounts of lifesaving aid to civilians in Gaza, in line with humanitarian principles, as the world is demanding,’ Fletcher wrote.

Earlier this month, Fletcher urged the international community not to ‘waste time’ with a new plan when the U.N. already had one in place.

On Wednesday, as Israel marked 600 days since the Oct. 7 massacre, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) noted that ‘121 trucks belonging to the U.N. and the international community’ were allowed into the Gaza Strip. The IDF said that the trucks were carrying food and other aid.

Elon Musk is beginning the process of stepping down from his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted on X on Wednesday night that his time as a special government employee is coming to an end and thanked President Donald Trump for the opportunity to cut down on wasteful spending.

‘The ⁦‪@DOGE‬⁩ mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,’ 
Musk wrote in his post. The White House confirmed to FOX that Musk’s post is accurate and offboarding will begin Wednesday night.

Musk has been the public face of DOGE since Trump signed an executive order establishing the office Jan. 20. DOGE has since ripped through federal government agencies in a quest to identify and end government overspending, corruption and fraud.

He was officially hired as a ‘special government employee,’ which is a role Congress created in 1962 that allows the executive or legislative branch to hire temporary employees for specific short-term initiatives.

Special government employees are permitted to work for the federal government for ‘no more than 130 days in a 365-day period,’ according to data from the Office of Government Ethics. Musk’s 130-day timeframe, beginning on Inauguration Day, was set to run dry on May 30.

DOGE is a temporary cross-departmental organization that was established to slim down and streamline the federal government. The group itself will be dissolved on July 4, 2026, according to Trump’s executive order.

Musk and Trump have both previously previewed that Musk’s role was temporary and would come to end in the spring. 

‘You, technically, are a special government employee and you’re supposed to be 130 days,’ Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Musk during an exclusive interview Musk and DOGE team members in April. ‘Are you going to continue past that or do you think that’s what you’re going to do?’ 

‘I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame,’ Musk responded. 

Trump hinted at Musk’s departure in comments to the media on March 31, when asked if he wants Musk to remain in a government role for longer than the predetermined 130 days. 

‘I think he’s amazing. But I also think he’s got a big company to run,’ Trump said in March. ‘And so at some point he’s going to be going back.’

‘I’d keep him as long as I can keep him,’ Trump said. ‘He’s a very talented guy. You know, I love very smart people. He’s very smart. And he’s done a good job,’ the president added. ‘DOGE is, we’ve found numbers that nobody can even believe.’ 

More recently, Musk said during a Tesla earnings call on April 22 that he will take a step back from his work as DOGE’s leader. 

‘I think starting probably in next month, May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,’ Musk said during Tesla’s earnings conference call. ‘I’ll have to continue doing it for, I think, the remainder of the president’s term just to make sure the waste and fraud that we stopped does not come roaring back, which it will do if it has the chance. So I think I’ll continue to spend, you know, a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful.’

‘But starting next month,’ he added, ‘I’ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done.’

Amid Musk’s work with DOGE, Democrats and activists have staged protests against the tech billionaire and his companies, including working to tank Tesla stocks. 

Musk has been the public face of DOGE for months, but is not an employee of the United States DOGE Service and does not report to the acting DOGE chief, according to court filing in March that shed additional light on the internal workings of the office. 

‘Elon Musk does not work at USDS. I do not report to him, and he does not report to me. To my knowledge, he is a Senior Advisor to the White House,’ Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of DOGE, wrote in a declaration included in a court filing. 

Gleason previously worked for the United States Digital Service, which was founded in 2014 by former President Barack Obama as a technology office within the Executive Office of the President. Trump signed an executive order in January that renamed the office to the United States DOGE Service, establishing DOGE. 

Though Musk has been the public face of DOGE, he ‘has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself’ and is working as a senior advisor to the president, a White House official said in a separate court filing back in February.

Musk emerged as an ardent supporter of Trump’s at the height of the election cycle over the summer, officially endorsing Trump after the first assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. 

‘I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,’ Musk posted to X shortly after the attempt, accompanied by footage of Trump raising a fist and shouting ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ after he was left bloodied by the assassination attempt. 

Musk hosted Trump on X for an expansive interview while on the campaign trail 

Across Musk’s tenure as a special government employee, Trump has praised the tech billionaire for his efforts to streamline the government and cut it of overspending, including during his first address to a joint session of Congress since his second inauguration. 

‘Thank you, Elon. He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe. They just don’t want to admit that,’ Trump said in March during his address, quipping that Democrats were even grateful for Musk’s work at DOGE. 

President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is terminating awards totaling more than $750 million dollars that were provided to pharmaceutical manufacturer Moderna to help facilitate its production of mRNA-based bird flu vaccines. 

During President Joe Biden’s final week in office, his administration awarded $590 million to Moderna to help speed up its production of mRNA-based vaccines. The $590 million award followed a separate $176 million award Biden gave to Moderna earlier last year for mRNA vaccine technology.

Messenger RNA vaccines are a newer type of vaccine technology, which was utilized by companies like Moderna and Pfizer to develop their COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccine technology was at the center of a lot of criticism amid the coronavirus pandemic for potentially being associated with adverse side effects in some people who took them, such as myocarditis.

Trump administration officials previously hinted at the potential that this funding could be terminated, citing a lack of oversight during the Biden administration pertaining to vaccine production. 

‘After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,’ HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon said. ‘This is not simply about efficacy — it’s about safety, integrity, and trust. The reality is that mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public.’

The announcement reflects a larger shift in federal vaccine priorities, after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this week that COVID-19 vaccines would be removed from the federal government’s list of recommended vaccines for children and pregnant women. 

Meanwhile, a report from Senate Republicans released earlier this month suggested the Biden administration withheld critical safety data and downplayed known risks tied to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. In particular, the Senate report focuses on HHS’ awareness of, and response to, cases of myocarditis — a type of heart inflammation — following COVID-19 vaccination.

‘Rather than provide the public and health care providers with immediate and transparent information regarding the risk of myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration waited until late June 2021 to announce changes to the labels for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines based on the ‘suggested increased risks’ of myocarditis and pericarditis,’ the Senate report states. ‘Even though CDC and FDA officials were well aware of the risk of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration opted to withhold issuing a formal warning to the public for months about the safety concerns, jeopardizing the health of young Americans.’

In response to the Trump administration’s funding termination, Moderna put out a press release acknowledging the move, but also touting the ‘safety profile’ observed amid its work on a new mRNA bird flu vaccine.

‘While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program,’ said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. ‘These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats.’

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday the U.S. will begin ‘aggressively’ revoking visas of Chinese students.

‘Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,’ Rubio wrote in a statement. 

The State Department will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.

In March, House Republicans introduced the Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act, also known as the Stop CCP VISAs Act.

In an interview with FOX Business May 12, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., criticized providing student visas to Chinese nationals, citing a Stanford University report that uncovered the Chinese Communist Party’s alleged activity on U.S. college campuses.

The report, published by the Stanford Review, detailed an incident in which a man posing as a Stanford student targeted women at the university to gather intelligence for the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

‘How can we keep offering 300,000 student visas to Chinese nationals every year when we KNOW they are legally required to gather intelligence for the CCP? The answer is simple: we can’t,’ Moody wrote in a post on X. ‘@StanfordReview’s report on CCP espionage on campus should shock everyone and verify what I have been saying. We need to pass my STOP CCP Visas Act to protect our national security.’

Along with the new Chinese national policy, Rubio announced new visa restrictions Wednesday on foreigners ‘complicit’ in censoring Americans.

‘For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,’ Rubio wrote in a post. ‘Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans.

‘Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.