In late September 2017, Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, once the darling of the Women’s March and the self-declared face of the ‘resistance’ against Donald Trump, was facing mounting criticism for antisemitic remarks and her embrace of extremist views. 

But, beaming in a photograph taken on a city sidewalk, Sarsour appeared unfazed, her iconic fist pumped in the air as she knelt shoulder-to-shoulder with campaign volunteers for City Council candidate Khader El-Yateem. The photo was posted by El-Yateem on the Facebook page he used to promote his campaign, which he lost, but among the smiling faces was a young organizer named Zohran Mamdani.

That photo would mark the start of a carefully constructed political project that, in less than a decade, would propel a now-34-year-old socialist newcomer to the precipice of running America’s largest city – even while campaigning with radical imams, some of whom have supported terrorists and terrorist financiers.

A Fox Digital investigation reveals that Mamdani’s rise was no accident. It was engineered.

A database of 110 groups backing Mamdani exposes a tight inner circle of organizations that identify as Muslim or socialist, working hand-in-glove with 76 Democratic Party affiliates, allied groups and unions. Particularly important in this political machine are two networks – Sarsour’s MPower organizations and another constellation of groups called Emgage, with which she works closely.

The organizations have been generously funded. In total, billionaire George Soros’ Open Society philanthropies have given MPower and Emgage nearly $2.5 million in recent years, according to tax filings. 

‘We fund a range of civil society organizations that work to deepen civic engagement through peaceful democratic participation, counter discrimination including against Muslim Americans and advance human rights,’ a spokesperson for Open Society Foundations told Fox News Digital. ‘The grants that you cite all occurred years before the mayoral race, and we are a nonpartisan organization that does not fund political candidates and their campaigns.’

Mamdani, Sarsour and the groups supporting Mamdani’s campaign didn’t return requests for comment.

MPower and Emgage have been part of a tight inner circle of 30 ethnic and religious groups, that also includes CAIR Action, the 501(c)(4) political wing of the 501(c)(3) Council on American-Islamic Relations nonprofit, the Islamic Circle of North America,’ ‘Muslim Action Coalition,’ Yemeni American Merchants Associations Inc., the ‘Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group’ and ‘Desis Rising Up and Moving.’ They have pumped up Mamdani’s campaign with social media campaigns, canvassing, voters and buzz.

Altogether, they have annual revenues of about $24 million, and they have worked to promote Mamdani’s campaign with endorsements, fund-raising, social media campaigns and canvassing.

The result: a carefully constructed political career that mainstreams the socialist goals long embraced by Sarsour and fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

It’s a machine that is expressing itself in races from New York to Virginia, Minnesota, Texas and California with MPower and Emgage aligning with the Democratic Socialists of America and the Democratic Party to propel candidates who may share their views. In a campaign called ‘Defend and Advance,’ Emgage SuperPac is pushing Mamdani and Democratic Virginia Lt. Governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi as its ‘star candidates.’

Emgage’s ‘Defend and Advance’ roster of supported candidates and office holders includes Dearborn, Mich., Mayor Abdullah Hammoud.

‘I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here,’ Hammoud recently told a Christian pastor who objected to a proposal to name a street in honor of a local man who had allegedly praised terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. ‘And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.’

Emgage’s donations include $175,000 from a group little-noticed by political observers but important in Islamist circles: Sterling Charitable Gift Fund, based in Herndon, Va. It is part of a network of groups that FBI agents raided in 2002 as part of wider investigations into the funding of Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas. Federal prosecutors ultimately didn’t file criminal charges against any officials at Sterling Charitable Gift Fund.

Over almost a decade, Sarsour and her allies have orchestrated a network of well-financed and tightly connected socialist activists, radical imams, political organizers and nonprofit organizations funded with millions of dollars by major philanthropies, including Foundation to Promote Open Society, the Ford Foundation, Macarthur Foundation and the Tides Foundation.

The confluence of big philanthropy, partisan operatives and clerical authority has helped drive Mamdani’s ascent. Its architecture combines nonprofit activism with faith-based politics and the precision of a professional campaign operation. 

‘To the casual observer, Zohran Mamdani’s rise might appear meteoric – a story of grassroots energy and demographic change in America’s largest city,’ said Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American Muslim who is running against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, with Omar supported by the same kind of political machine being unleashed to propel Mamdani to office.

‘The data, the money trail and the affiliations, from the Democratic Socialists of America to the Islamists, tells a different story.’

‘Mamdani’s ascent is the product of deliberate design: a sophisticated collaboration between socialist activism and Islamist organizing, lubricated by millions in foundation grants and political donations and normalized through a revolving door of political operatives and nonprofits who embrace Islamists, the destruction of the state of Israel and hostilities to the police, the U.S. and the West,’ Al-Aqidi said.

The timeline of Mamdani’s rise tracks precisely with the growth of this network. In 2012, as a student at Bowdoin College, in Maine, he cofounded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the campus organization known for its rabid anti-Israel activism. By 2017, he was canvassing for El-Yateem’s campaign with Sarsour’s mentorship.

In 2018, Mamdani formally entered Sarsour’s orbit through the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, an organization she co-founded in 2013 to mobilize Muslim voters and elect progressive Democrats to local office. The Muslim Democratic Club of New York served as both incubator and amplifier for Sarsour’s political brand, one that fused progressive politics with an explicitly Islamist social identity. By December 2018, Mamdani joined the board, in an announcement in which the group said, ‘Help build Muslim power across the city with us!’

With his new role, Mamdani gained access to an emerging infrastructure of influence: voter lists, donor networks and organizing muscle that would later power his campaign to a seat on the New York General Assembly. The Muslim Democratic Club endorsed Mamdani.

Around that time, Sarsour was building her own empire, founding MPower Change as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit housed at Neo Philanthropy Inc. Public filings show MPower Change took in at least $2.4 million between 2017 and 2024, the latest year available, with Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society giving her organization $1.125 million and the Macarthur Foundation funneling her $450,000. It would become a flagship digital organizing hub for not just Sarsour but Mamdani. 

Meanwhile, Emgage Action was expanding its footprint nationally. Also backed by the Open Society network, Emgage Action received a share of $42.5 million that Soros’ foundations pledged to Muslim, Arab and South Asian civic groups beginning in 2021. It has received $1.8 million from the Open Society Policy Center and another $1.35 million from the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Together, MPower Change and Emgage created an unprecedented financial and political ecosystem, leveraging big philanthropy’s dollars and digital strategy to elevate candidates like Mamdani under the banner of Muslim empowerment.

In 2020, Mamdani won his first election to the New York State Assembly, with Sarsour’s explicit endorsement and fundraising help.

By 2020, Mamdani was being featured in Sarsour’s #MyMuslimVote summit, promoted by MPower Change as the face of a new generation of unapologetic Muslim progressives. By this year, his campaign for mayor became the culmination of that project — backed by PAC money, boosted by clerical endorsements and legitimized by an activist ecosystem that had spent a decade grooming him for this very moment.

To push Mamdani toward the helm of the nation’s biggest city, the network extended far beyond activist circles. Central to Mamdani’s political ascent was a series of carefully cultivated relationships with clerics with some troubling views.

In January, Mamdani courted Imam Muhammad Al-Barr of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, visiting his mosque just months after Al-Barr had publicly prayed to ‘annihilate’ Israel.

In May, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, the longtime imam of Brooklyn’s Masjid At-Taqwa, personally donated $1,000 to the Unity and Justice Fund. More recently, Mamdani met with Wahhaj and called him ‘one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community.’

Wahhaj, who served as a character witness in the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the ‘Blind Sheikh’ later convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has a long history of calling for the exploitation of America’s democracy to further a conquest for Islam.

‘You don’t get in politics because it’s the American thing to do,’ he said in a videotaped 1991 sermon. ‘You get involved in politics because politics can be a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.’ 

Wahhaj has also denounced the U.S. government as ‘controlled by Shaitan,’ the Arabic word for the devil, urged Muslims not to befriend ‘non-believers,’ condemned homosexuality as ‘a disease of this society,’ and supported Islamic laws that punish sex outside of marriage with 100 lashes and stoning. In 2011, Wahhaj urged Muslims to donate to the legal defense of the since-convicted Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist dubbed ‘Lady Al Qaeda’ for attempting to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Over the years, Wahhaj’s sermons have praised ‘jihad’ without ‘a gun,’ called for an Islamic America governed by sharia law and urged the creation of an ‘army of 10,000 men in New York City.’

Other imams now backing Mamdani’s mayoral run have also been controversial. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, a cleric leading the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, co-founded the Muslim Alliance in North America, alongside Wahhaj. In 2005, Abdur-Rashid publicly defended Rafiq Sabir, an American doctor who joined al Qaeda and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In 2008, Abdur-Rashid defended Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian American professor whom the U.S. later deported to Turkey for ‘conspiring to provide services’ to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Still in the U.S., Al-Arian’s wife joined the anti-Israel encampments at Columbia University.

In September, Mamdani appeared as the special guest speaker at Abdur-Rashid’s annual gala. A month earlier, Muslim Association of North America’s social media featured Abdur-Rashid visiting Wahhaj’s mosque, underscoring the continued collaboration between the two imams.

In Manhattan, Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director of the Islamic Center at New York University, has been another prominent Mamdani backer. Latif publicly endorsed Mamdani on Facebook in June, calling him ‘a bearer of compassion in a time where it is far too rare.’

In 2012, Latif led a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia that included Omar Mateen, who would later murder 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the deadliest anti-LGBTQ attack in U.S. history. He has denied radicalizing Mateen and he hasn’t faced the same type of allegations that surround the other imams.

For many Muslim political organizations backing Mamdani, these clerics are not liabilities but assets, serving as trusted gatekeepers to the city’s growing community of Muslim voters.

After Mamdani visited Wahhaj’s mosque earlier this month, he tweeted out a photo of the two with the caption: ‘Pleasure to meet Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders.’ When a firestorm ensued, several allies rose to his defense: Sarsour, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the leaders at Emgage Action.

Sarsour shared a selfie with Mamdani, beaming, like they did back in 2017, and wrote, ‘May Allah continue to bless and protect you.’

A defiant Wa’el Alzayat, the executive director of Emgage Action, sent out a dispatch to followers on Tuesday, amid criticism for their political work, promising, ‘We are in this for the long haul.’

Back in Minnesota, Al-Aqidi closely watched the defense of Mamdani.

‘For over a decade, Linda Sarsour and her network of allies have built the Mamdani machine piece by piece: the institutions, the donors, the narratives and now, the candidate. There was no way they were going to throw him under the bus for one photo with one imam whom they happen to love,’ said Al-Aqidi. ‘Mamdani is the fresh face of a radical coalition, and I hope New Yorkers will reject him. Win or lose, one fact remains undeniable. His rise was not spontaneous. It was engineered and the machinery behind it is only getting stronger.’

Al-Aqidi said; ‘I hope New Yorkers will shut the Mamdani machine down.’

President Donald Trump is shifting his attention to key allies Japan and South Korea as his Asia tour enters its next phase, with trade, regional security and military cooperation expected to top his agenda this week.

Trump’s five-day Asia tour will include talks with Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo and a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the final stop in South Korea.

The trip comes at a time of renewed uncertainty in the region, with North Korea ramping up missile tests and China asserting greater control in the South China Sea.

Economic ties are expected to play a central role in Trump’s meetings, with trade imbalances, technology cooperation and energy security topping the agenda. The administration has signaled an interest in expanding semiconductor and critical minerals partnerships with Japan and South Korea to counter China’s dominance in global supply chains.

The Trump administration said Sunday that the world’s two largest economies are close to reaching an agreement to avert a new 100% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods, with both sides expected to meet in person soon.

‘President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100% tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’

Before heading north, Trump began his trip in Malaysia, where he was greeted with traditional music and dancing, even joining performers in celebration. 

He also oversaw the signing of a peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand on Sunday, a development viewed as a key step in reducing regional tensions and bolstering U.S. diplomatic influence in Southeast Asia.

As part of the agreement, Thailand agreed to release 18 Cambodian soldiers held captive and for both countries to begin removing heavy artillery from their shared border. The Thai prime minister called the signing of a ceasefire deal ‘the building blocks for a lasting peace,’ and Cambodia’s prime minister described the events as a ‘historic day.’

‘We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done,’ Trump said. 

The White House has framed the trip as a showcase of Trump’s foreign policy approach: ending conflicts, striking deals and reasserting U.S. leadership abroad.

President Donald Trump discussed the results of a recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan he had with reporters on Air Force One while on his way to Tokyo on Monday.

‘It was perfect, yeah,’ he said. ‘I mean, I gave you the full results. We had an MRI and the machine, you know, the whole thing. And it was perfect.’

Trump, 79, was the oldest person to be inaugurated as U.S. president when he retook the White House in January, and he is the second-oldest person to serve as U.S. president.

Earlier this month, the president’s doctor said Trump was found to be in ‘exceptional health’ following a ‘routine’ semiannual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said Trump ‘remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.’ 

Barbabella also said Trump received updated COVID-19 and flu shots in preparation for international travel.  

The medical checkup was Trump’s second this year. He had a similar exam in April, during which his physician stated that he ‘remains in excellent health.’

In July, the president was diagnosed with a vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency. At the time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had noticed ‘mild swelling’ in his lower legs and was evaluated by the White House medical unit.

Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when veins in the legs struggle to allow blood to flow back up to the heart.

Leavitt also attributed bruising on the president’s hand to ‘frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin,’ which Trump takes as part of a ‘standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.’

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and Reuters contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump kicked off the week meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and closed out the week jetsetting to Asia. And at home, the White House launched constructing its new ballroom — much to the ire of many Democrats. 

Trump said construction started Monday and that the project would be funded privately. The project is estimated to cost $300 million, up from the $200 million estimate first provided in July when the project was unveiled. 

‘For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc. I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway — with zero cost to the American Taxpayer!’ Trump said in a social media post. ‘The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come!’

Still, the project has faced criticism as the White House’s historic East Wing was completely demolished. The wing has served as the official entrance to the White House, and is designated as space for the first lady. 

On Monday, Trump signaled he wants to expedite outfitting Australia with nuclear submarines under the trilateral agreement between the U.S., Australia and the U.K. that seeks to enhance Australia’s submarine force to deter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The agreement, known as AUKUS, stipulates the U.S. will sell up to five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia that are scheduled for delivery as soon as 2032. The deal also outlines that Australia and the U.K. will work to build additional attack submarines for Australia’s fleet.

However, Trump told reporters that he is looking at equipping Australia with the submarines soon, when asked if he was interested in speeding up the process.

‘Well we are doing that, yeah … we have them moving very, very quickly,’ Trump told reporters Monday.

However, Trump also said that he didn’t believe the deal was necessary to undermine China.

‘I don’t think we’re going to need it,’ Trump said about the trilateral agreement. ‘I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that. First of all, the United States is the strongest military power in the world by far. It’s not even close, not even close. We have the best equipment. We have the best of everything, and nobody’s going to mess with that. And I don’t see that at all with President Xi.’

Meanwhile, Trump departed for Asia Friday, as he is slated to meet with Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The meeting comes amid ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries, which escalated when Beijing announced Oct. 9 it would impose export controls on rare-earth magnets. Rare earth magnets are used in products ranging from electric cars to F-35 fighter jets. 

As a result, Trump said the U.S. would impose a new 100% tariff on all Chinese goods, which is slated to take effect Nov. 1.

However, Trump has sought to neutralize tension, and has regularly spoken highly of his relationship with Xi in recent weeks. Additionally, he has said he believes a deal will be reached between the two countries.

‘I think we are going to come out very well and everyone’s going to be very happy,’ Trump said Thursday.

Trump and Xi have not met in person since Trump took office in January. Their last meeting took place in June 2019 in Japan.

Trump will also visit Malaysia, Japan and South Korea as part of the trip.

Trump also met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday, just after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and after calling off a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said that he didn’t want a ‘wasted meeting’ with Putin in Hungary, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump didn’t see enough progress toward peace from Russia.

‘We canceled the meeting with President Putin,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with Rutte Wednesday. ‘It just it didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it. But we’ll do it in the future.’

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for painting himself as a victim because he is a Muslim, saying the rival mayoral candidate has spent his campaign offending 9/11 families, Jews and various other groups of New Yorkers. 

‘He claims that he is the victim of attacks because he is a Muslim. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is not a victim, he is the offender,’ Cuomo said Saturday. ‘This entire campaign, he has been dividing and attacking and offending different New York groups.’

While speaking at an event in which he received the endorsements of several faith leaders, Cuomo lambasted Mamdani, who he called his ‘main opponent.’ Cuomo listed a number of groups he says have been hurt by Mamdani, including Jews, Blacks, Italians, members of the LGBTQ community and even some Muslims.

Cuomo first addressed the Jewish community, saying Mamdani had hurt it ‘in a truly painful way.’ The former governor recounted a recent interaction with a Jewish New Yorker who said he was afraid of wearing a Star of David in the city. In 2023, the UJA-Federation of New York said in a report there were just over 1.3 million Jews living in New York City. 

He then took issue with Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase ‘globalize the intifada,’ which many see as a call for violence against Jewish people. Mamdani has faced criticism for his refusal to condemn the phrase early in the mayoral race.

The former governor also said his opponent, who could become New York City’s first Muslim mayor, hurt the Sunni Muslim community by advocating for the decriminalization of prostitution. Cuomo added that, according to the Quran, prostitution is haram, which means ‘forbidden’ in Arabic.

After condemning Mamdani’s gesture toward the Columbus statue and invoking its offense to Italian Americans, Cuomo broadened his criticism. He pointed to a photo of Mamdani with a Ugandan official who backs harsh anti-gay laws, framing it as an affront to the LGBTQ community.

He didn’t stop there. Mamdani’s friendship with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said ‘America deserved 9/11,’ also drew scrutiny from the former governor.

‘You offend 9/11 families. You offend every New Yorker because 9/11 was an attack on all New Yorkers, and it traumatized all New Yorkers. So, no, he’s not the victim. He is the offender, and he has done a great deal of damage,’ Cuomo said.

On Friday, Mamdani accused Cuomo of using ‘Islamophobic rhetoric’ after the former governor joined a radio show in which the host said Mamdani would be ‘cheering’ if New York City faced another 9/11-style attack.

‘While my opponents in this race have brought hatred to the forefront, this is just a glimpse of what so many have to endure every day across the city,’ Mamdani said. ‘And while it would be easy for us to say that this is not who we are as a city, we know the truth. This is who we have allowed ourselves to become.’

Cuomo and Mamdani also took several jabs at each other on Wednesday night during the final debate of the NYC mayoral race. Mamdani focused on Cuomo’s past scandals, such as the sexual harassment allegations that led to his abrupt exit from office. Cuomo, on the other hand, blasted self-proclaimed socialist Mamdani over his lack of experience and past anti-law enforcement statements.

New Yorkers began casting their ballots Saturday and have until Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. to decide which of the three candidates — Cuomo, Mamdani or Republican Curtis Sliwa — will be the next to lead America’s most populous city.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Saturday said he won’t waste time meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin again unless a deal on the war in Ukraine is likely.

‘I’m going to have to know that we’re going to make a deal,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after taking off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, when asked about securing a meeting with Putin. ‘I’m not going to be wasting my time. I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing.’

He said he thought the war in Ukraine would have been resolved ‘long before’ the peace deal between Israel and Hamas.

‘We have Azerbaijan and Armenia. That was very tough,’ Trump added, referring to the peace summit he hosted at the White House between the two countries last summer.

He continued, ‘In fact, Putin told me on the phone, he said, ‘Boy, that was amazing,’ because everybody tried to get that done, and they couldn’t. I got it done. You had others. If you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I’ve already done, I thought would have been more difficult than Russia, than Ukraine, but it didn’t work out that way.’

‘There’s a lot of hatred between the two, between [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and Putin, there’s tremendous hatred.’

Earlier this week, Trump said he had called off a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest to discuss the war because he saw it as a ‘waste of time.’

Trump announced the Budapest meeting last week, saying it could happen within the next two weeks.

He also announced sanctions against Russia this week.

Trump and Putin last met in Alaska in August, but no deal was reached following the summit.

Trump met with Zelenskyy last week at the White House, where he seemingly denied Ukraine’s request for Tomahawk long-range missiles. 

The president also said that in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week he wants a ‘complete [trade] deal.’ 

‘I want our farmers to be taken care of, and he wants things also,’ Trump said. ‘We’re going to be talking about fentanyl, of course. Fentanyl is killing a lot of people, a lot people. It comes from China, and we’ll be talking a lot about that. We’ll be talking about a lot things. I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal.’

The anonymous donor who gave $130 million to the Pentagon to pay troops during the government shutdown has been identified as Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and a major financial backer of President Donald Trump, according to a report.

Trump announced the donation on Thursday, but declined to reveal the donor’s identity, only describing him as a ‘patriot’ and a friend. The president again refused to name the person on Friday while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after departing Washington for Asia, calling the donor ‘a great American citizen’ and a ‘substantial man.’

‘He doesn’t want publicity,’ Trump said on Friday. ‘He prefer that his name not be mentioned, which is pretty unusual in the world I come from, and in the world of politics, you want your name mentioned.’

But the two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times that the man is Mellon, a wealthy banking heir and railroad magnate.

It remains unclear how long the donation will cover the troops’ salaries. The Trump administration’s 2025 budget asked for about $600 billion in total military compensation, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The $130 million donation would equal about $100 a service member, according to The New York Times.

Mellon, a grandson of former Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, is a backer of Trump who gave tens of millions of dollars to groups supporting the president’s 2024 campaign. Last year, he gave $50 million to a super PAC supporting Trump, making it one of the largest single contributions ever disclosed, the newspaper noted.

The billionaire was not a prominent Republican donor until Trump was first elected but has given hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years into supporting the president and the GOP.

He is also a significant supporter of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also ran for president in 2024, first as a Democrat and later as an independent before dropping out to endorse Trump. Mellon donated millions to Kennedy’s presidential campaign and has also given money to the secretary’s anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, according to The New York Times.

Despite his political contributions, Mellon has sought to keep a low profile.

In an autobiography published in 2015, Mellon described himself as a former liberal who moved from Connecticut to Wyoming for lower taxes and fewer people.

The Pentagon said it accepted the donation under the ‘general gift acceptance authority.’

‘The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost of service members’ salaries and benefits,’ Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The New York Times.

But the donation may be a potential violation of the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending money in excess of congressional appropriations or from accepting voluntary services.

President Donald Trump on Saturday said Hamas needs to start returning the bodies of deceased hostages held captive by the terror group during the war in Gaza ‘quickly, or the other countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action.’

While all the living hostages have been returned from Gaza, the remains of 13 deceased hostages have not been handed over by Hamas.

‘Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not,’ Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. ‘Perhaps it has to do with their disarming, but when I said, ‘Both sides would be treated fairly,’ that only applies if they comply with their obligations. Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.’

Hours before Trump’s post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with the families of Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, two U.S. citizens who were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

Their bodies are among those still being held by Hamas.

‘We will not forget the lives of the hostages who died in the captivity of Hamas,’ Rubio wrote in an X post. ‘We will not rest until their—and all—remains are returned.’

Authorities believed Chen, a 19-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, but was later declared dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Neutra, 21, an American-Israeli from New York, was killed in battle on Oct. 7, 2023.

Huckabee noted Rubio’s visit to Israel was ‘very productive in moving forward’ the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan, adding the plan cannot work until all hostages, living and deceased, are released.

While traveling to Asia Saturday, Trump met with Qatari leaders aboard Air Force One while refueling at Al-Udeid Air Base.

Qatar has played a significant role in efforts to negotiate peace and ceasefires in Gaza.

After a meeting with Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Trump said ‘The Emir is one of the great rulers of the world … and the Prime Minister has been my friend.’

Referencing the peace deal, the president said, ‘What we’ve done is incredible — peace in the Middle East.’

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said that the U.S., Israel and other mediators of the Gaza peace deal had shared intelligence to avoid a possible attack last weekend and would do so going forward. 

‘We put out a message through State Department, sent it to our mediators as well, about an impending attack, and it didn’t happen,’ he told reporters while flying from Israel to Qatar. ‘So that’s the goal here, is ultimately to identify a threat before it happens.’

This comes a week after the State Department said it had ‘credible reports’ that Hamas was planning an attack on Palestinian civilians in violation of the agreement.

Rubio said Saturday the U.S. has talked with countries like Qatar, Egypt and Turkey who are interested in contributing to an international stabilization force in the region. He added that Indonesia and Azerbaijan are also interested.

But, he said, ‘Many of the countries who want to be a part of it can’t do it without’ a United Nations resolution supporting the force.

Rubio also met with President Donald Trump in Qatar ahead of the president’s Asian tour.

Vice President JD Vance was also in Israel earlier this week along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner in an attempt to solidify the ceasefire deal, which took effect earlier this month.

Next week, Rubio said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is expected to travel to Israel as well.

Trump thanked Qatar for their part in helping secure the peace deal while meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thanimet and Qatar Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

‘This should be an enduring peace,’ Trump told reporters of the deal.

His visit to Qatar was part of a refueling stop before heading on to Asia.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

For decades, the United States has fought the war on drugs as if it were exclusively a law enforcement issue. It never was. It has always had national security implications. 

After years of inaction, drugs now kill more Americans each year than every modern war combined. Fentanyl alone claimed more than 100,000 lives in 2021, a number that continues to rise despite billions spent on interdiction, prevention and policing. That is not a criminal nuisance. That is a sustained mass-casualty event inside the homeland.

President Donald Trump’s new approach finally treats the crisis for what it is. By designating major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorizing the use of military force against them, his administration has drawn a clear line between criminality and warfare. 

The cartels are not ordinary traffickers. They are transnational powers that control territory, wield military-grade arsenals and use terror as a tool of governance. In Trump’s words, they are ‘the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere.’

The numbers already justify the policy. In the first weeks of operations, the new Homeland Security Task Force has arrested more than 3,200 gang and cartel members, seized 91 tons of narcotics and captured over 1,000 illegal weapons. Those seizures represent tens of thousands of American lives saved. Every boat stopped and every shipment intercepted means fewer overdose deaths, fewer funerals, and fewer communities shattered by addiction and violence.

For too long, Washington treated the cartels as criminals who could be prosecuted rather than enemies who had to be defeated. That approach failed. The cartels wage war on America for profit. They assassinate, extort and kidnap while basking in riches captured through intimidation and terror.  They destabilize our neighbors and corrupt governments from Mexico to Venezuela. If America had the right to strike al Qaeda and ISIS abroad for killing Americans, it has an equal right to strike the cartels that kill Americans at home. 

The legal foundation is clear. In February 2025, the State Department designated Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación, MS-13 and others as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. A presidential determination in September formally declared that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these groups. 

No court has challenged the policy because it aligns with both domestic and international law. When foreign networks deliberately kill American citizens, the president has not only the authority but the obligation to act.

The ethical case is equally strong. The Just War tradition requires a just cause, competent authority, proportionality and last resort. Every criterion has been met. The cause could not be more just when drug overdoses in the United States claimed more than 100,000 lives for a third consecutive year by 2023. 

Years of law enforcement, education campaigns and international coordination have not slowed the killing. When nonviolent means have failed, the duty of a government is to protect its citizens by every lawful means available.

Each go-fast boat in the Caribbean and each semi-submersible in the Pacific carries more than cocaine or methamphetamine. It carries a body count of Americans. These are not fishing vessels. They are militarized smuggling platforms crewed by combatants in a foreign network that profits from death. To treat them as anything less is to deny reality. The era of denial is over.

Critics argue that military strikes risk escalation. The cartels crossed this line long ago when they began murdering, intimidating and corrupting their way into power. These transnational criminal enterprises now operate as shadow governments. To continue treating them as mere criminal syndicates would be absurd.  In truth, it would be to accept defeat. 

Trump’s use of force is not about vengeance. It is about national defense. The Department of War, the CIA, the intelligence community, the DEA, FBI and Coast Guard are now unified in a single mission to dismantle the cartels’ capacity to kill Americans. 

Every strike on a drug boat denies the enemy profit and saves lives. As Secretary Pete Hegseth said, each destroyed vessel represents roughly 25,000 Americans who will not die from the poison it carried.

The cartels’ economic reach rivals that of small nations, generating hundreds of billions annually. They corrupt officials, weaponize migration and flood American streets with narcotics. This is not commerce. It is organized war for profit.

A government that fails to confront such an enemy is unworthy of the people it serves. Trump’s use of military force against the cartels is justified both legally and morally. It is long overdue. The United States has every right to defend its borders, its citizens and its sovereignty against a foreign network that profits from American death.

For decades, America fought this war with hesitation and half-measures. Now it is being fought with purpose. This is not a new war. It is the same one that has been killing Americans for generations. The difference is that, at last, America is fighting to win.