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Progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, made a second surprise appearance at the House Oversight Committee’s closed-door discussions with former Biden administration aides this week, once again criticizing President Donald Trump on the way out.

Crockett surprised reporters when she arrived roughly 15 minutes after House investigators’ transcribed interview with former White House advisor Ashley Williams began, declining to speak on the way in.

The Texas Democrat emerged just over 30 minutes later, saying little about what went on inside but telling reporters she still had ‘absolutely’ no concerns about Biden’s mental fitness while in office.

She said it was important to ‘be there physically’ for Biden allies being interviewed in the GOP probe – even going as far as suggesting the Trump administration created a threatening environment for members of Congress and its own political opponents.

‘It is important…in my mind, to be there for these witnesses. Unfortunately, we know what happens when this regime gets going. We know about the threats that come upon them, that come upon us as members of Congress,’ Crockett said.

‘I think it is important to stand there in solidarity and to at least be there physically so that they don’t feel like they’re alone as they are enduring egregious attacks consistently from this administration.’

Crockett was the only lawmaker seen going in or out of Williams’ meeting with investigators on Friday. The transcribed interview was expected to be staff-led, and lawmakers were not required to attend.

‘Right now, the Republicans continue to act as if this is a main priority. Yet none of them are showing up,’ she said.

‘I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander-in-chief, egregious allegations they continue to wage. I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record, because a lot of times they like to mischaracterize things.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the interview was still ongoing as she exited, however, Crockett answered, ‘It’s still going. I’m leaving early. I’ve got to get to another thing.’

A source familiar with the ongoing proceeding told Fox News Digital that Crockett came in during Republican investigators’ round of questioning and so was unable to make inquiries herself. Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for a response.

Williams was the former Director of Strategic Outreach under the Biden administration. She did not speak to reporters on the way into her transcribed interview.

Crockett initially caught reporters and potentially even staff off guard when she arrived for the closed-door deposition of Biden’s former White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., was there as well, as is the norm for sworn depositions.

Williams, unlike O’Connor, is not on Capitol Hill under subpoena.

During her Wednesday appearance, Crockett declared she never had any concerns about Biden’s mental state while he was president, though she did raise similar claims about Trump.

White House spokesman Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital in response to Crockett questioning Trump’s mental acuity: ‘The Democrats’ rising star has done more to cement the party’s demise than the President she breathlessly supported, the decrepit and feeble Joe Biden. Jasmine continues to prove she’d be better suited as a reality TV star on VH1 than an elected official on Capitol Hill.’

Comer is investigating accusations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back on those claims.

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Politics

David Gergen, trusted White House advisor to 4 US presidents across decades, dies at 83

David Gergen, who worked for four presidents, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, before becoming an academic and political TV pundit, has died. He was 83.

Gergen died in a retirement home in Massachusetts on July 10, his son said, according to several outlets.

The Washington, D.C., veteran had been suffering from Lewy body dementia, his son said.

Those who knew and admired Gergen took to X to express their condolences.

Former California first lady Maria Shriver wrote on X: ‘David Gergen was total professional and a really kind man. My thoughts are with his family. He loved politics and he loved being in service to this country.’

‘RIP, Mr. Gergen,’ CBS reporter Robert Costa wrote.

Former Democratic Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. wrote: ‘We lost a good one, a really good one – RIP, my friend David Gergen

Gergen came up with the line that then-candidate Reagan said in the 1980 election: ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ according to The New York Times.

He later said of the line: ‘Rhetorical questions have great power.’

Of his time with the Nixon administration, Gergen told the Washington Post in 1981, ‘I was young, and I was too naive. It hardened me up a lot. It was an extremely difficult experience emotionally, in terms of belief in people.’

After leaving public office, Gergen worked as an editor and columnist, as well as for the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the liberal Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was also a commentator for PBS, CNN and NPR.

‘To say that I rely on him is an understatement,’ Reagan’s White House Chief of Staff, James A. Baker III, told The Washington Post in 1981. ‘He’s the best conceptualizer, in terms of communications strategy, that we have.’

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Politics

Inside longtime Biden aide’s marathon closed-door grilling in House GOP cover-up probe

Ashley Williams, a longtime ally of former President Joe Biden, met with House investigators behind closed doors for nearly six hours Friday as Republicans probe allegations the Democrat’s top aides hid his mental decline.

A source familiar with the transcribed interview told Fox News Digital Williams said she did not ‘recall’ various things ‘an untold number of times.’

‘Examples include she could not recall if she spoke with President Biden in the last week, if teleprompters were used for Cabinet meetings, if there were discussions about President Biden using a wheelchair, if there were discussions about a cognitive test, if she discussed a mental or physical decline of President Biden, if she ever had to wake President Biden up and how she got involved with his 2020 campaign,’ the source said.

Williams told House investigators Biden is fit to be president today, the source said.

In addition to whether senior aides covered up Biden’s alleged decline, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is looking into whether any presidential orders were signed via autopen without the former commander in chief’s knowledge.

Any allegations of wrongdoing so far have been denied by the ex-president’s allies.

But Republican investigators have pointed to Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate and subsequent revelations in the media that there were more concerns from Biden’s inner circle about his fitness for office than previously known.

Williams, however, argued he was in command of himself during that debate, the source said.

The former White House aide said nothing to reporters when entering or leaving the committee meeting room for her voluntary interview.

Fox News Digital reached out to Williams’ lawyers for their account of events inside the room.

It was a staff-led meeting, but Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, briefly stopped in for just under 30 minutes to show ‘solidarity’ with the witness, the progressive told reporters afterward.

‘I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander in chief, egregious allegations they continue to wage, I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record because a lot of times they like to mischaracterize things,’ she said.

When asked by Fox News Digital if the interview was still ongoing as she exited, Crockett answered, ‘It’s still going. I’m leaving early. I’ve got to get to another thing.’

The source who spoke with Fox News Digital said Crockett had come in during the GOP’s questioning session and did not ask any questions herself. Fox News Digital reached out to her office for a response.

Williams is a longtime Biden ally whose time with the Democrat goes back to assisting second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration, according to a 2019 profile of Biden staffers.

Williams later worked for Biden’s 2020 campaign and presidential transition team. She served as his trip director before being hired by the White House as deputy director of Oval Office operations and a special assistant to the president.

Williams ended her White House tenure as deputy assistant to the president, senior advisor to the president and director of strategic outreach, according to her LinkedIn page.

Notably, the social media page also says Williams still works for the ex-leader as senior advisor in the Office of Former President Joe Biden.

She was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee last year during Republicans’ investigation into Biden’s cognitive health, but GOP investigators say the former White House blocked her from giving any information.

The Democratic staffer is the third person to appear before committee investigators in recent weeks.

Former Biden White House physician Kevin O’Connor appeared for a sworn deposition Wednesday after being subpoenaed by Comer.

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Business

Trump’s tariffs on Brazil could make your coffee even more expensive

President Donald Trump’s proposed 50% tariff on Brazilian imports is bad news for coffee drinkers.

Brazil, the largest U.S. supplier of green coffee beans, accounts for about a third of the country’s total supply, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Coffee beans need to grow in a warm, tropical climate, making Hawaii and Puerto Rico the only suitable places in the United States to farm the crop. But, as the world’s top consumer of coffee, the U.S. requires a massive supply to stay caffeinated. Mintel estimates that the U.S. coffee market reached $19.75 billion last year.

The increase in trade duties could leave consumers with even higher costs after several years of soaring coffee prices. Inflation-weary consumers have seen prices for lattes and cold brew climb as droughts and frost hit the global coffee supply, particularly in Brazil. Earlier this year, coffee bean futures hit all-time highs. They rose 1% on Thursday, although still well below the record set in February.

To be sure, there’s still time for Brazil to strike a deal with the White House before the tariffs go into effect on Aug. 1. Plus, food and beverage makers are hoping that the Trump administration will grant exemptions for key commodities. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview in late June that the White House is considering exemptions for produce that can’t be grown in the U.S. — including coffee.

But if that doesn’t happen, coffee companies like Folgers owner J.M. Smucker, Keurig Dr Pepper, Starbucks and Dutch Bros will face much higher costs for the commodity. Giuseppe Lavazza, chair of Italian roaster Lavazza, said on Bloomberg TV on Thursday morning that the latest tariff could mean “a lot of inflation” for the coffee industry.

Roasters will try to mitigate the impact of the higher tariff, but it won’t be easy.

“Every company is always trying to eke out the next efficiency, to dial into their operations or find the way to minimize inflationary pressures, but a 50% tariff on a commodity that fundamentally is not available in the U.S. — you can’t really do much with that,” Tom Madrecki, vice president of supply chain and logistics for the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group that represents the consumer packaged goods industry.

One mitigation tactic could be to import beans from countries other than Brazil, but companies will likely still be paying more for the commodity.

“A characteristic of tariffs, especially when you have tariffs on multiple countries at once, is that not just the inbound cost rises. It allows the pricing floor to also rise,” Madrecki said. “If you have cheaper coffee in a country different than Brazil, you’re not inclined to sell it at a 30% lower cost. You’re going to try to bump your coffee up a bit more, too.”

At-home coffee brands, like JM Smucker’s Dunkin’ and Kraft Heinz’s Maxwell House, have already been hiking their prices this year in response to spiking commodity costs. More price increases could be on the way for consumers, although retailers may push back.

Keurig Dr Pepper would consider additional price hikes in the latter half of the year to mitigate the impact of tariffs, CEO Tim Cofer said in late April, after Trump introduced his initial round of so-called reciprocal duties.

And Smuckers warned investors on its quarterly conference call in early June that tariffs on coffee were weighing on its profits. Coffee accounts for roughly a third of the company’s revenue.

“Green coffee is an unavailable natural resource that cannot be grown in the continental United States due to its reliance on a tropical climate,” Smuckers CEO Mark Smucker said. “We currently purchase approximately 500 million pounds of green coffee annually, with the majority coming from Brazil and Vietnam, the two largest coffee-producing countries.”

Vietnam, which announced a tentative trade deal with the White House earlier this month, supplies about 8% of the U.S.’s green coffee beans. Under the agreement, the U.S. will impose a 20% duty on Vietnamese imports.

Consumers who prefer a caramel macchiato from Starbucks for their caffeine hit will likely see a more muted impact on their wallets.

After several quarters of sluggish U.S. sales, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said in late 2024 that the company wouldn’t raise prices in 2025, in the hopes of winning back customers who had complained about how expensive its drinks had gotten. While it waits for its turnaround to take hold, Starbucks might choose to swallow the higher coffee costs.

The coffee giant also benefits from its diversity — both in suppliers and the breadth of its menu, which now includes the popular Refreshers line. Starbucks imports its coffee from 30 different countries, and roughly 10% of its cost of goods sold in North America comes from coffee.

The new trade duty could mean a 0.5% increase in Starbucks’ North American cost of goods sold, assuming about 22% of its beans come from Brazil, TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. Starbucks’ packaged drinks, which are distributed by Nestle, could see their cost of goods sold increase 3.5%. Altogether, that represents a 5-cent drag on annual earnings per share, according to Charles.

For rival Dutch Bros, higher coffee costs also wouldn’t hurt its bottom line much. Coffee accounts for less than a tenth of the drive-thru coffee chain’s cost of goods sold. Assuming that Dutch Bros sources more than half of its coffee from Brazil, its cost of goods sold would rise just 1.3%, according to Charles’ estimates.

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World News

Critics slam Mexico’s gentrification protests as xenophobic. Activists say they’re fighting for their human rights

The words “Get out of Mexico” are still visible on one shop window as protestors violently kicked in the glass pane. In another clip, “Kill a gringo” is spray-painted on a wall in Mexico City as demonstrators carried placards demanding western foreigners “stop stealing our home.”

These were some of the striking scenes at a mass protest last week against gentrification and the rising cost of living in the Mexican capital city, which some have blamed on an influx of foreigners from the United States and Europe.

While the demonstration was largely peaceful and reflected growing anger about inequality in the Mexican capital, those who vandalized stores in the city’s wealthier neighborhoods and used anti-immigration language were criticized by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as being xenophobic.

“No to discrimination, no to racism, no to classism, no to xenophobia, no to machismo, no to discrimination. All human beings, men and women, are equal, and we cannot treat anyone as less,” Sheinbaum said at a Monday press conference.

The US Department of Homeland Security, which has been carrying out an immigration crackdown in the US, reacted to Friday’s protests with an ironic post on X: “If you are in the United States illegally and wish to join the next protest in Mexico City, use the CBP Home app to facilitate your departure.”

The rallies in Mexico City mirror protests that have erupted in cities like Barcelona and Paris against skyrocketing costs, which have been blamed on overtourism, short-term home rentals, and an influx of people and businesses with higher purchasing power.

Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx, one of several groups that helped organize the protest on Friday, compared gentrification on its social media to a new form of colonization in which “the state, institutions, and companies, both foreign and local, provide differential treatment to those with greater purchasing power.”

Anti-gentrification activists say thousands of people in the Mexican capital have been forced out of their homes in recent years as tourists and remote workers, many of whom are believed to be American, take over popular neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa.

But a spokesperson for Frente Anti Gentrificación Mx pushed back against Sheinbaum’s suggestion that their campaign was xenophobic, saying the demonstration was meant to highlight the plight of those priced out of their homes and to demand reforms from the government.

“In Mexico, housing costs have risen 286% since 2005 … while real wages have decreased by 33%,” said Morales, citing data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography and the Federal Mortgage Society.

She acknowledged that many people have been moving to Mexico for a variety of reasons, from the appeal of its culture to the relative affordability of its houses. At the same time, she urged potential newcomers to consider how such a move could affect the local community.

Not a new phenomenon

Immigration is not the sole cause of Mexico City’s gentrification, which is a phenomenon that has happened for decades, say experts.

“In the debates, there’s a confusion about gentrification being when foreigners arrive. And that’s not true,” activist and lawyer Carla Escoffié said, noting that other causes include inequality, deficiencies in housing policy and land privatization.

“Not all foreigners gentrify, nor are only those who gentrify foreigners, nor is a significant migration process necessary for gentrification to occur. Gentrification is based on inequalities in such a way that it’s not the same thing,” she added.

But the arrival of short-term rentals like Airbnb, and remote work policies during the pandemic, have turbo-charged the gentrification debate in recent years.

“Since 2020, a new phase of gentrification has begun, one that has worsened,” said Escoffié. “It’s been driven by digital nomads and short-term rental platforms like Airbnb.”

Airbnb defended its activities in Mexico City on Tuesday, saying it helped generate more than $1 billion in the local economy last year, and arguing that guests who booked accommodations also spent money on shops and services in the capital.

Mexico City’s government signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO in 2022 to promote the capital as “a global hub for digital nomads and creative tourism.” Sheinbaum, who was the mayor of Mexico City at the time, presented the initiative as a way to boost the local economy.

The appeal was especially attractive for US citizens, who can stay in Mexico without a tourist visa for less than six months before requiring a special temporary residency permit, according to experts. In 2022, 122,758 temporary residency permits were granted to foreigners for Mexico, according to the National Institute of Migration, up from 97,825 in 2019.

But for many residents, the Mexico City initiative was another sign of the displacement happening around them.

A global trend

Anger about gentrification is not unique to Mexico City. Local governments from tourist destinations in Europe, such as Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin, have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in the past decade.

Barcelona’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, the government will scrap the licenses of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals in the popular tourist destination.

Residents in the Catalan capital have documented how renting by the day is more profitable for landlords than renting by the month, which has triggered evictions and the transformation of homes into short-term tourist accommodations.

In Mexico City, Airbnb has over 26,500 listings, according to the rental platform, many of which are concentrated in the areas most affected by gentrification. These listings are concentrated in the central neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Juárez and Polanco, according to Inside Airbnb, a project that provides data about Airbnb’s impact on residential communities.

In response to mounting criticism and the protests of 2022, the local government introduced new regulations, but experts argue they fall far short.

Airbnb, meanwhile, says the city needs regulations that support home sharing, not prohibition. It argues that many people in Mexico City rely on the platform as a financial lifeline, with 53% of its hosts saying the service helped them stay in their homes and 74% of hosts saying it helped cover essential expenses.

Activists are now bracing for when Mexico opens its doors to soccer fans for the next World Cup in 2026, which Morales fears could result in the state prioritizing business dealings over residents. “Given the critical state we’re in, who would come up with this?” she asked.

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Politics

Trump’s nominee to lead US Office of Special Counsel refutes antisemitic claims and ties to Holocaust denier

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sat down with Fox News Digital to address a barrage of attacks from Democrats and the media as he heads toward his Senate confirmation.

Paul Ingrassia, a Cornell Law School graduate from Long Island, New York, was nominated by President Trump at the end of May to lead OSC, a nonpartisan, independent agency mainly responsible for investigating and protecting federal whistle-blowers, and enforcing the Hatch Act, which restricts federal employees from using federal funds for political gain.

Ingrassia, who is just 30 years old and served as White House liaison to the Department of Justice before being reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security in Trump’s second term, has faced heavy criticism from Democrats and the mainstream media leading up to his Senate confirmation hearing.

Concerns mainly surround his young age paired with antisemitic allegations, which Ingrassia has sternly denied.

‘I’m not an antisemite,’ Ingrassia said on a call with Fox News Digital. ‘The hit piece and the smears that are being propagated by CNN is just a total lie.’

‘The fact that they’re smearing me as a Holocaust denier, I think it’s disgusting,’ Ingrassia continued. ‘I grew up in New York, New York, where there were within my own neighborhood survivors of the Holocaust three houses down from me and I [listened] to their stories. I understand that we can never go through something like that ever again.’

Ingrassia is alleged to have ties with fringe figure Nick Fuentes, an openly outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier.

Trump’s OSC nominee previously posted to X that Fuentes should be allowed to speak at a Talking Point USA conference last year, arguing that ‘conservatives should always uphold the first amendment,’ referring to Fuentes as a ‘dissident’ voice.

But when asked about antisemitism broadly, Ingrassia made clear that his views on the matter do not align with those of Fuentes.

‘I’ve done a lot currently in my role as a White House liaison to advance Jewish patriots and many jobs across the federal government,’ Ingrassia told Fox. ‘I think what happened on Oct. 7 was, you know, an atrocity, a tragedy, and I never want to see something like that happen again.’

CNN also claimed that various Jewish advocacy groups didn’t know who Ingrassia was and did not endorse him, with one of those groups being the Zionist Organization of America. However, the organization’s national president was quick to dispute the claim.

‘A CNN article [said] that I never endorsed Paul Ingrassia for his nomination of a position with OSC,’ Morton Klein, national president for the Zionist Organization of America, told Fox News Digital.

‘In fact, I merely stated that I didn’t clearly recall endorsing him. But upon further reflection, I now recall that I did endorse him during a recent Newsmax interview. And since then, I’ve had further conversations with Paul Ingrassia which only strengthened my support of having him confirmed.’

‘He also made clear to me that he finds ‘Fuentes views on denying the Holocaust and viciously and inappropriately condemning the Jewish State of Israel abhorrent and despicable,’’ Klein said.

CNN also quoted Jonathan Burkan, a Trump-appointed member of the Holocaust Memorial Council, as another Jewish advocate who does not support Ingrassia.

But Burkan told Fox News Digital: ‘On a personal level, I know Paul to be a good man who is not an antisemite nor a Holocaust denier.’

‘I am confident based on my conversations with him that he is a friend and an ally of the Jewish community, and anything to the contrary is a vicious and disgusting smear against him.’

The timeline for Ingrassia’s Senate confirmation hearing and confirmation is unclear, but he will likely face questions surrounding similar topics when facing Congress.

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

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Politics

Comer dismisses Biden doctor’s bid for pause in cover-up probe: ‘Throwing out every excuse’

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., appears to be shooting down a request by a key player in the former Biden administration to suspend his probe into whether ex-President Joe Biden’s top allies ‘covered up’ evidence of his mental and physical decline.

Former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor’s attorneys released a statement after his appearance before House investigators on Wednesday, calling for Comer’s probe to pause while a parallel federal investigation was ongoing.

Comer told Fox News Digital it was ‘another tactic to avoid testifying about the cover-up of President Biden’s cognitive decline.’

‘Dr. O’Connor doesn’t want to give the American people the truth about President Biden’s cognitive decline, and his attorneys are throwing out every excuse to see what sticks. We requested his testimony over a year ago, but the Biden White House blocked him from appearing before the Oversight Committee,’ Comer said. ‘Now that we’ve compelled him to come forward and the White House waived executive privilege, Dr. O’Connor has resorted to pleading the Fifth Amendment to keep the truth hidden.’

Comer argued there was ‘longstanding precedent’ for simultaneous probes between Congress and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Kentucky Republican subpoenaed O’Connor to appear before his committee, which is also investigating whether any Biden administration decisions were signed off via use of an autopen, and whether it was with the then-president’s knowledge.

Biden allies have pushed back, arguing the president was the final sign-off on every decision.

But unlike a previous deposition with ex-Biden aide Neera Tanden, which lasted hours behind closed doors, O’Connor’s sit-down lasted roughly 30 minutes before he and his lawyers left the room.

‘No comments to press,’ one of his lawyers said in response to Fox News Digital’s shouted question.

A video of the deposition shared by the House Oversight Committee shows O’Connor invoking the Fifth Amendment for all questions after his name.

His lawyers insisted he did so out of concerns that House investigators would press him to violate patient-physician privilege. An Oversight Committee aide responded, ‘Doctor-patient objection would have meant he would have stayed and answered questions that didn’t implicate such privilege. Instead, he took the Fifth to all and any potential questions.’

‘This Committee has indicated to Dr. O’Connor and his attorneys that it does not intend to honor one of the most well-known privileges in our law – the physician patient privilege. Instead, the Committee has indicated that it will demand that Dr. O’Connor reveal, without any limitations, confidential information regarding his medical examinations, treatment, and care of President Biden,’ the attorney statement said.

‘Revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of a physician, could result in revocation of Dr. O’Connor’s medical license, and would subject Dr. O’Connor to potential civil liability. Dr. O’Connor will not violate his oath of confidentiality to any of his patients, including President Biden.’

Pointing out that a similar investigation was launched by the DOJ, they added, ‘We believe that the Committee should hold its investigation in abeyance until any criminal investigation has concluded.’

Pleading the Fifth Amendment was not an admission of any guilt, the lawyers said.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who made a surprise appearance at the interview, similarly defended O’Connor while citing the DOJ probe.

‘As someone who has served as a criminal defense attorney and actually been in courtrooms, it’s kind of astounding to hear someone say, if you invoke the Fifth Amendment, that is only because you are guilty,’ Crockett said.

‘We have a constitutional right that anyone who may be under fire can invoke. And unfortunately, with this rogue DOJ, it has decided that it wants to run a contemporaneous investigation, criminal investigation, involving the doctor – I think he did what any good lawyer would advise him to do.’

But Comer’s Thursday statement to Fox News Digital signals he will press on with the probe.

O’Connor’s lawyers pointed Fox News Digital to their prior statement when reached for comment on Comer’s remarks.

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Politics

Hegseth tears up red tape, orders Pentagon to begin drone surge at Trump’s command

: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued sweeping new orders to fast-track drone production and deployment, allowing commanders to procure and test them independently and requiring drone combat simulations across every branch of the military.

As part of an aggressive push to outpace Russia and China in unmanned warfare, ‘the Department’s bureaucratic gloves are coming off,’ Hegseth wrote. ‘Lethality will not be hindered by self-imposed restrictions… Our major risk is risk-avoidance.’

In a pair of memos first obtained by Fox News Digital, Hegseth rescinded legacy policies that he believes restricted innovation. For the first time, commanders with the rank of colonel or captain can independently procure and test drones, including 3D-printed prototypes and commercial-off-the-shelf systems, as long as they meet national security criteria.

They can also operate and train with drones immediately, bypassing traditional approval bottlenecks, and are even authorized to test non-lethal autonomous UAS in controlled environments.

‘Small UAS resemble munitions more than high-end airplanes,’ one instruction stated. ‘They should be cheap, rapidly replaceable, and categorized as consumable.’

The memos redefine small drones (Group 1 and 2) as consumables — not durable military assets — removing them from legacy tracking systems and simplifying acquisition.

To date, Hegseth said, the Department of Defense has ‘failed to field UAS [unmanned aircraft system] at scale and speed.’

‘Small UAS are such critical force enablers that they must be prioritized at the same level as major weapons systems.’

Commanders are instructed to work with the FAA to ‘remove inappropriate range restrictions, fast-track and expand spectrum approval, and establish a variety of UAS training areas that include live fire, combined arms, and swarm testing.’

Training ranges will be expanded, with three new UAS national test sites mandated within 90 days.

Weaponization, long a sticking point, will also move faster: Weapons Boards must now respond to drone arming requests within 30 days, and battery certifications must be processed within a week.

While America’s adversaries have a ‘head start’ in the world of small UAS, Hegseth expect the U.S. to establish domain dominance by the end of 2027.

‘Next year I expect to see this capability integrated into all relevant combat training, including force-on-force drone wars,’ Hegseth said, adding that investment methods outlined in Trump’s Unleashing American Drone Dominance executive order are being investigated.

The Pentagon will now build a ‘dynamic, AI-searchable Blue List,’ a digital platform cataloging approved drone components, vendors, and performance ratings. By 2026, this system will be run by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and fueled by data from nightly AI retraining pipelines.

To jump-start the drone industry, the Pentagon will pursue advance purchase commitments, direct loans and other capital incentives within 30 days. Major purchases ‘shall favor U.S. companies,’ one memo said.

The move comes at a time when the lethal capabilities of modern drone warfare have been proven on the ground in Ukraine and in the Middle East.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drones have redefined modern warfare. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have used unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to reshape tactics on the battlefield and gather real-time intelligence. What started as basic surveillance and artillery targeting has rapidly evolved into lethal deployments of so-called ‘kamikaze drones’ — loitering munitions designed to hover before zeroing in on targets deep behind enemy lines.

READ THE MEMO BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Among the most prolific and controversial of these is Iran’s Shahed-136, a low-cost, GPS-steered drone supplied to Russian forces. Fired in large formations, the Shaheds have been instrumental in attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and residential zones, often bypassing expensive missile systems at a fraction of the cost. In response, Ukraine has modified commercial drones to deliver explosive payloads against Russian trenches, vehicles, and naval targets in the Black Sea.

Earlier this month, Israel relied heavily on drone strikes during Operation Rising Lion, coordinating them with manned air missions to target high-level Iranian military officials and nuclear infrastructure. Iran retaliated with its own barrage of drones.

The rapid adoption of drones has triggered major shifts in doctrine, spurred the development of electronic countermeasures and ignited debate over whether drones are poised to overtake manned aircraft as the dominant force in future air combat.

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Politics

SCOOP: Sen Ron Johnson readies subpoenas for FBI, DOJ in Butler shooting probe

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is gearing up to subpoena the FBI and Justice Department for more information on last year’s assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.

Johnson, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, was a co-author of last year’s bipartisan Senate Homeland Security Committee report on the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa.

But that report was not the final product. Now he’s plowing ahead with the investigation that he described as ‘maddening’ because of the roadblocks and barriers he has faced along the way. And last night, he approved a subpoena to get more information from the FBI and Department of Justice.

‘I’d like our report to be bipartisan, but everybody else seems to have been moving on here and not particularly interested in an investigation. I am,’ Johnson said. ‘Whether I have the other officers involved or not, I’m moving forward, which is why I approved a subpoena.’

Johnson accused the FBI and DOJ of ‘not sharing with us,’ and said that he needed documentation to move forward with his investigation and that he was ‘not getting it.’

‘We’re continuing to be stonewalled, and I’m not happy about it,’ he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and Justice Department for comment.

Nearly a year ago, gunman Thomas Crooks fired off eight rounds from a rooftop near the stage of Trump’s rally, grazing the then-presidential candidate on the ear and killing one rally attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore, and wounding others before being slain.

The previous preliminary report was the product of a joint investigation with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which at the time were led by Senate Democrats when they controlled the majority.

That report found that failures in the U.S. Secret Service’s ‘planning, communications, security, and allocation of resources for the July 13, 2024, Butler rally were foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day.’

Johnson reiterated that he hoped the final report, and his subpoena push, would be a bipartisan effort.

‘I’m hoping they all join on. But again, if not … I’ve got unilateral subpoena power, so, I will issue that subpoena,’ he said. ‘But if the other officers join in, great.’

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Politics

Jackson defends controversial, fiery SCOTUS dissents as telling people ‘how I feel’

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reflected on her role on the Supreme Court during an event in Louisiana over the weekend, saying she enjoyed making her opinion known through court cases.

‘I just feel that I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do,’ Jackson said.

Jackson, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, made the remarks during a sit-down with ABC News on stage during the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans as part of a tour for her book, ‘Lovely One.’

Despite being the most junior justice, Jackson has made her voice heard in the high court by going out of her way to write her own dissents in high-profile cases, even if she is not the principal dissenter, as she did in a recent major decision in which the Supreme Court found universal injunctions from judges were unlawful.

‘I write separately to emphasize a key conceptual point: The Court’s decision to permit the Executive to violate the Constitution with respect to anyone who has not yet sued is an existential threat to the rule of law,’ Jackson wrote in defense of universal injunctions.

In a biting rebuke, Justice Amy Coney Barrett responded in her majority opinion that Jackson’s remarks were ‘at odds’ with more than 200 years of court precedent and the Constitution and that they were not worth dwelling on.

Recently, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal justice who often sides with Jackson in prominent cases, went out of her way to disagree with Jackson in an emergency order that permitted President Donald Trump’s sweeping federal job cuts.

Jackson indicated during the interview that the justices have good relationships with one another. She noted that they have a ritual by which they shake each other’s hands before walking out into the courtroom and that some also have lunch together weekly.

‘The rule at lunch is that you don’t talk about cases, so you learn about people’s families and sports and books and movies and that kind of thing, and you get to know them outside of work,’ Jackson said.

Jackson, a Harvard Law School graduate and former federal judge, has also attracted attention for how frequently she chimes in during oral arguments. Analyses by the Empirical SCOTUS blog found Jackson spoke more than any of her colleagues during arguments in the 2022 and 2023 court terms.

‘It’s funny to me how people focus on how much I talk at oral argument,’ Jackson said during the interview.

‘I was always this person on the bench,’ Jackson said. ‘And so it’s been a bit of an adjustment, because, as a trial court judge, you have your own courtroom, so you can go on as long as you want. And, so, trying to make sure that my colleagues get to ask some questions has been a challenge for me, but I’ve enjoyed it. I really have.’

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