A former spokesperson for then-President Joe Biden admitted to Congress in August testimony, which surfaced on social media Wednesday, that he had only met with the aging president between one and five times in over two years despite previously claiming he was ‘sharp’ ‘every single day.’

In a July 2, 2024, interview on MSNBC, then-Biden spokesperson Ian Sams said of the former president that ‘When I deal with him, he is sharp, he is asking tough questions, that’s the President Biden that so many of us experience every single day.’

Pressed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on how many times he had met with Biden, Sams admitted that he had ‘interacted with him pretty infrequently’ and ‘met with the president a handful of times during my tenure in the White House.’

He further admitted that some of these interactions were online or over the phone. During his testimony he recalled two in-person meetings with Biden.

Sams worked in the White House from 2022 to 2024, serving in the roles of special assistant to the president, spokesperson and senior advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office.

Sams was pressed on whether the basis of his statements on Biden’s mental fitness was from his ‘handful’ of interactions with the former president.

‘You said that you met him personally maybe a handful of times. Are those the interactions that you were discussing when you say, ‘I deal with him’?’ a committee staff member asked, to which Sams responded, ‘Yes.’

‘Do you think that’s a bit misleading?’ Sams was asked.

He answered, ‘I think it was pretty direct and honest and said that when I do deal with him, he’s, you know, sharp and he was asking incisive questions during my meetings with him.’

‘But you dealt with him five times in 24 months. That’s not exactly a large scope of knowledge on how he interacts with staff,’ the committee staffer pressed, adding, ‘Do you think that statement suggests that you deal with him more than you did?’

Sams shot back, ‘I don’t think so. I mean, I spoke about my own interactions with him.’

Despite this, Sams maintained that though he ‘definitely noticed some aging’ in Biden, ‘I had no reason to think that he was anything other than capable of being the president and executing his duties.’

The House Oversight Committee GOP posted on its official X account, ‘Ian Sams, one of Joe Biden’s spokespersons, met with him only TWICE in over TWO YEARS. Then he would go on live television and say he interacted with him EVERY SINGLE DAY.’

‘He was LYING to the American people to cover up for Biden’s decline,’ the GOP account wrote.

Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., also posted on X, writing, ‘Biden’s top spokesman, Ian Sams, admitted to Congress he met Joe Biden only twice in two years. But that didn’t stop him from loudly insisting Joe was ‘fit.’’

‘Ian was just reading from a script written by Biden’s handlers,’ added Comer.

In a statement released by the Oversight Committee, Comer went on to say, ‘The Biden Autopen Presidency will go down as one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. As Americans saw President Biden’s decline with their own eyes, Biden’s inner circle sought to deceive the public, cover-up his decline, and took unauthorized executive actions with the autopen that are now invalid.’

‘Our report reveals how key aides colluded to mislead the public and the extraordinary measures they took to sustain the appearance of presidential authority as Biden’s capacity to function independently diminished,’ he went on, adding, ‘Executive actions performed by Biden White House staff and signed by autopen are null and void. We are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough review of these executive actions and scrutinize key Biden aides who took the Fifth to hide their participation in the cover-up.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Sams for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Two major phone carriers took sharply different paths when former special counsel Jack Smith’s team subpoenaed phone records tied to Republican lawmakers in 2023, according to the redacted subpoenas and letters first shared with Fox News Digital.

The documents, provided by the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveal Verizon’s compliance and AT&T’s resistance when faced with Smith’s requests, which were part of Arctic Frost, the FBI probe that led to Smith bringing election charges against President Donald Trump.

The 12 phone numbers on the subpoena to Verizon are redacted and replaced by Grassley’s office with the names of the lawmakers associated with them. They include one House member and 10 senators, including Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fl., whose name was not previously reported.

AT&T received a similar request, according to a second subpoena. The company told Grassley the subpoenaed phone records were associated with two lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, according to a source directly familiar with the matter. The source said AT&T declined to disclose the second person.

Accompanying the two subpoenas were gag orders, signed by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of Washington, D.C., that directed the two phone companies not to disclose the subpoenas to the lawmakers for one year. Prosecutors can seek such gag orders to temporarily keep investigative matters confidential.

The phone companies also wrote letters to Grassley, first shared with Fox News Digital, explaining how they handled the subpoenas they received, revealing two different approaches.

Verizon justified complying with the subpoenas, saying they were ‘facially valid’ and contained only phone numbers, not names. Verizon said that with the ‘benefit of hindsight’ and recent discussions with the Senate Sergeant at Arms, which handles congressional phone services, it has modified its policies so that it puts up more of a challenge to law enforcement requests pertaining to Congress members.

AT&T, meanwhile, did not comply with the subpoenas.

‘When AT&T raised questions with Special Counsel Smith’s office concerning the legal basis for seeking records of members of Congress, the Special Counsel did not pursue the subpoena further, and no records were produced,’ David Chorzempa, general counsel for AT&T, wrote.

The release of copies of the subpoenas and new details from phone companies comes after Grassley published earlier this month a one-page FBI document that said eight senators and one House lawmaker had their phone data subpoenaed. They included Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham, Bill Hagerty, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Ron Johnson and Cynthia Lummis.

Cruz later revealed that he was in the mix, and Scott announced on Thursday that he too was a target.

Grassley said in a press conference Wednesday that Smith’s subpoena to Verizon included Cruz’s office’s landline. In Verizon’s letter to Grassley, it noted that there were no records to give Smith pertaining to that landline.

The two subpoenas to Verizon and AT&T sought toll records for a four-day period surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. They did not include the contents of phone calls or messages, which would require a warrant, but they did include ‘[call] detail records for inbound and outbound calls, text messages, direct connect, and voicemail messages’ and phone number subscriber and payment information.

News of the subpoenas sparked outcry from the senators, who claimed Smith improperly spied on them and that Arctic Frost was ‘worse’ than the Watergate scandal. They have raised numerous constitutional concerns, including claims that the subpoenas violated the speech and debate clause, which gives lawmakers an added layer of immunity from investigations.

Smith, in response, said in a letter through his lawyers that he mentioned subpoenaing senators’ phone records in his public, final special counsel report and that the subpoenas were narrowly tailored to a four-day period surrounding the Jan. 6 riot and ‘entirely proper.’

Smith has asked House and Senate lawmakers to allow him to testify before them in a public hearing to speak about his special counsel work. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, however, wants to question Smith behind closed doors and Grassley has said he needs more information before he hosts Smith in a public setting.

The DOJ has issued subpoenas for lawmakers’ information in the past, but former inspector general Michael Horowitz cautioned against it in most circumstances in a report published last year, saying that doing so ‘risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch.’

Horowitz’s warning came in response to the first Trump administration subpoenaing phone records of Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and then-Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and dozens of congressional staffers from both parties as part of an investigation into classified information being leaked to the media.

Despite enjoying additional constitutional protections, members of Congress are not immune from investigation and prosecution. Former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s phone records were seized while he was serving in office. Menendez is now serving in prison after being found guilty by a jury last year of corruption charges.

Read copies of the letters from Verizon and AT&T and the subpoenas below. 

App users: 

Click to read the Verizon letter

Click to read the Verizon subpoena

Click to read the AT&T letter

Click to read the AT&T subpoena

President Donald Trump on Thursday called for Republicans to end the filibuster in order to end the month-long government shutdown.

In a late-night Truth Social post, Trump argued that Democrats had sought to eliminate the Senate procedure when they had control of both chambers of Congress and the White House during the Biden administration, but then-Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema helped block the effort.

Trump suggested using the ‘nuclear option,’ following his return to the U.S. after his trip to Asia.

‘The one question that kept coming up, however, was how did the DemocratsSHUT DOWN the United States of America, and why did the powerful Republicans allow them to do it? The fact is, in flying back, I thought a great deal about that question, WHY?’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.

‘Majority Leader John Thune, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, are doing a GREAT job, but the Democrats are Crazed Lunatics that have lost all sense of WISDOM and REALITY,’ he continued. ‘It is a sick form of the now ‘legendary’ Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) that only comes from losing too much. They want Trillions of Dollars to be taken from our Healthcare System and given to others, who are not deserving — People who have come into our Country illegally, many from prisons and mental institutions. This will hurt American citizens, and Republicans will not let it happen.’

Trump added that it is ‘now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!’

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday met with his Chinese counterpart in Kuala Lumpur, using the high-profile encounter to reaffirm that the United States will ‘stoutly defend’ its interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

Hegseth characterized the session with Chinese Admiral Dong Jun as ‘good and constructive.’ The pair met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense summit, which convened top military officials from across the region. 

The Pentagon chief said he raised concerns about China’s growing aggression in the South China Sea and around Taiwan – as well as its posture toward American allies and partners.

‘I highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,’ Hegseth wrote on X. ‘The United States does not seek conflict, but it will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so.’

China’s Defense Ministry responded in measured terms, reiterating Beijing’s long-held stance that Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland is an ‘unstoppable historical trend.’

The meeting face-to-face marked the first in-person meeting between the two defense leaders since a video call in early September. It signaled continued efforts on both sides to manage a tense relationship even as disputes over Taiwan, maritime boundaries and navigation rights persist.

Hegseth said the U.S. will ‘continue discussions with the People’s Liberation Army on matters of mutual importance.’

Hegseth also announced a 10-year defense cooperation framework with India following talks with Defense Minister Rajnath Singh — part of Washington’s push to expand security and technology ties with New Delhi as a counterweight to Beijing’s influence.

The secretary later met with Malaysia’s defense minister, reaffirming the two nations’ commitment to upholding maritime security in the contested South China Sea, where China’s expansive territorial claims overlap with those of several Southeast Asian countries.

ASEAN defense ministers will continue talks Saturday with dialogue partners including the United States, China, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea and Russia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Senate Republican accused Google and its AI of targeting conservatives with false allegations and fake news stories, including allegations of a sexual assault that never happened.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital that Google’s large language model AI Gemma allegedly produced false and defamatory allegations against conservatives, including herself.

Specifically, she alleged that the AI generated a fabricated sexual assault allegation against her and a series of links to fake news articles to support the false claim.

Her letter to Pichai came on the heels of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing earlier this week that zeroed in on ‘jawboning,’ the practice of government officials using indirect coercion to get tech companies, like Google or social media platforms, to censor posts or speech.

During the hearing, Blackburn went after Google Vice President for Government Affairs and Public Policy Markham Erickson over AI ‘hallucinations’ that allegedly produced false allegations against conservative activist Robby Starbuck.

AI hallucinations are when a generative AI or large language model, like Gemma, creates false, misleading or inaccurate information that is then presented as fact.

Starbuck sued the company after Google’s AI tools allegedly linked him to false accusations of sexual assault, child rape and financial exploitation.

That spurred her to enter a prompt into Gemma asking, ‘Has Marsha Blackburn been accused of rape?’

The AI then produced a story, she wrote, that alleged that during her run for Tennessee State Senate in 1987 she had a sexual relationship with a state trooper, and that, ‘the trooper alleged that she pressured him to obtain prescription drugs for her and that the relationship involved non-consensual acts.’

Blackburn noted, however, that she ran for seat in 1998 and that, ‘There has never been such an accusation, there is no such individual, and there are no such news stories.’

‘This is not a harmless ‘hallucination,’’ she said. ‘It is an act of defamation produced and distributed by a Google-owned AI model. A publicly accessible tool that invents false criminal allegations about a sitting U.S. senator represents a catastrophic failure of oversight and ethical responsibility.’

She charged that there was a consistent pattern of bias against conservatives by Google’s AI, and whether on purpose or the result of ‘ideologically biased training data, the effect is the same: Google’s AI models are shaping dangerous political narratives by spreading falsehoods about conservatives and eroding public trust.’

Blackburn demanded that by Nov. 6, Google provide how the company identifies how and why Gemma generated the false claims about her, what steps Google has taken to prevent political or ideological bias in AI, what guardrails failed to stop this incident, and what Google will do to remove defamatory material and prevent similar occurrences.

‘During the hearing, Mr. Erickson said, ‘[large language models] will hallucinate,’’ she said. ‘My response remains the same: Shut it down until you can control it.’

Google did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Halloween is only days away, and parents and children are flooding stores in search of the best costumes and the scariest monster, vampire and ghoul decorations.

But the author of new children’s book ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ is calling on families to search for something else: the true spiritual meaning of Halloween.

‘By writing this story, I wanted to try to do my little part to reclaim Halloween for what it truly is: a deeply spiritual holiday centered on prayer, penance, remembrance of the dead,’ said Anthony DeStefano, an author known for his Christian-themed books for adults and children.

‘I wanted to give children and their parents an engaging way to celebrate Halloween in line with their faith without losing the fun, the mystery, and even the scary excitement that kids naturally love about that season.’

DeStefano said he wants his faith-based book to put ‘the ‘hallow’ back in Halloween’ as celebrations and spending hit record highs. In 2025, Americans are expected to spend a record $13.1 billion on celebrating Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation.  

DeStefano says his message is especially relevant today, pointing to the death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and the shooting at a school Mass at Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic Church, as reminders of the reality of evil and risks that can come with openly expressing one’s faith.

‘I do not think these are isolated events,’ he said. ‘I think they’re symptoms of a deeper hostility toward faith that’s been very apparent in the way Hollywood, the legacy media, the academic world, and the left have been mocking religion for decades.’ 

‘Halloween isn’t about glorifying darkness,’ DeStefano said. ‘It’s about shining a light on the reality of death, the fact that eternal life has triumphed, and that’s what makes it so powerful if we understand it correctly.’ 

DeStefano warned that modern culture has distanced itself from those roots. He said Halloween has become a ‘festival of evil,’ and embracing the dark side of the holiday can be ‘fundamentally unhealthy.’ 

Halloween has long been marked by ghost stories, cursed dolls and evil spirits. Films and tales often center on exorcisms, haunted houses and witches casting spells from bubbling cauldrons to curse others. 

He said that there has been a growing fascination within the media that ‘glorifies’ evil and that this kind of entertainment can ‘dull our moral senses.’

‘All Hallows’ Eve’ tells the story of a group of friends who stumble upon a mysterious old woman who sweeps graves in a cemetery every night, according to the book description. She prays for the souls of the dead buried below, who are stuck in purgatory, and teaches the children the true meaning of the holiday. 

Purgatory is understood as a temporary and intermediate afterlife state that provides spiritual cleansing to souls before entering heaven, per Catholic doctrine. 

In the Catholic tradition, All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day take place over three consecutive days known collectively as Allhallowtide, a time to honor the saints and pray for the souls of the dead.

DeStefano said he’s not discouraging families from enjoying the usual Halloween traditions but urged parents to teach their children about the holiday’s origins and the importance of honoring the dead.

He said Halloween can also carry a message of hope. He said dressing up as a mummy, ghost, or skeleton can be a good reminder that Halloween is also a time to pray for loved ones who have passed away.

‘If someone we love has died, if our grandmother or grandfather has died, someday we’re going to get to see them again in heaven, and we’re going to be able to run up to them again, kiss them, hug them, and feel the warmth of their skin and hear their voices again,’ he said. ‘That’s what this holiday is about.’

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released on Wednesday 197 subpoenas that the Biden administration’s FBI used to seek testimony and documents related to hundreds of Republicans and GOP entities as part of the bureau’s Arctic Frost probe, the precursor to former special counsel Jack Smith’s election investigation.

‘Arctic Frost was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus,’ Grassley said at a press conference. ‘Contrary to what Smith has said publicly, this was clearly a fishing expedition.’

Standing alongside Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called the subpoenas ‘nothing short of a Biden administration enemies list.’

The subpoenas included nonpublic, confidential grand jury material that Grassley said he obtained through whistleblower disclosures.

They sought certain communications with media companies, including Fox News, CBS, Sinclair and Newsmax and with ‘any’ members and aides in Congress. They also sought sweeping financial information from conservative entities.

Grassley has been releasing troves of documents related to Arctic Frost, a probe he says was politicized and lacked basis. Smith used the probe to bring criminal charges against Trump related to the 2020 election.

Lenny Breuer, a lawyer for Smith, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that Smith stands by his offer to appear publicly before the Senate and House to testify about his special counsel work.

‘As we informed congressional leaders last week, Jack is happy to discuss his work as Special Counsel and answer any questions at a public hearing just like every other Special Counsel investigating a president has done,’ Breuer said, adding that Smith wants a public hearing ‘so the American people can hear directly from him.’

House lawmakers have called on Smith to interview with them behind closed-doors, while Grassley has said he is still seeking more information from Smith and not ready for a public hearing.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also raised at the press conference the controversial subpoenas for eight Republican senators’ phone records, which did not include the contents of phone calls but rather details about when calls were place and to whom. Cruz said he was also among the targeted senators, but he said his phone company, AT&T, resisted complying with the request and that AT&T was ordered by a federal judge not to inform Cruz about the request for a year.

‘We are going to get the answers of every person who signed off on this abuse of power, and mark my words, there will be accountability,’ Cruz said, signaling that the senators’ inquiry into Arctic Frost was far from over.

Smith brought four charges against Trump in 2023 alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the election, but the former special counsel encountered numerous hurdles during the federal court proceedings in D.C. and eventually was forced to dismiss the case after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.

As President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepare to meet Thursday, one soft-spoken U.S. export star will take center stage: soybeans. The humble crop, a $30 billion pillar of U.S. agriculture exports, has become a powerful symbol of the economic interdependence and political tension between Washington and Beijing. 

In short, soybeans have come to embody the volatility of the U.S.–China trade war. Beijing halted purchases of American soybeans on the heels of retaliatory tariffs on the crop, responding to Trump’s earlier duties on Chinese goods. 

China pivoted to suppliers in Brazil and Argentina, a move that underscored how quickly global trade patterns can shift and how vulnerable U.S. farmers are to diplomatic rifts between Washington and Beijing.

What began as tit-for-tat posturing between the world’s two largest economies has turned into a symbolic and economic gut punch for Trump’s rural base, whose livelihoods depend on the very trade ties now caught in the crossfire.

According to the American Soybean Association, the U.S. has traditionally served as China’s leading soybean source. Prior to the 2018 trade conflict, roughly 28% of U.S. soybean production was exported to China. Those crop exports fell sharply to 11% in 2018 and 2019, recovered to 31% by 2021 amid pandemic-era demand and eased back to 22% in 2024.

But some policy experts argue that China’s shift away from U.S. soybeans was already underway.

‘China was always going to reduce its reliance on the United States for food security,’ Bryan Burack, a senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation told Fox News Digital. ‘China started signing purchase agreements with other countries for soybeans well before President Trump took office,’ he said, adding that Beijing has ‘been decoupling from the U.S. for a long time.’

‘Unfortunately, the only way for us to respond is to do the same and that process is painful and excruciating,’ Burack said.

But for farmers thousands of miles from Washington and Beijing, those policy shifts translate into shrinking markets and tighter margins.

‘We rely on trade with other countries, specifically China, to buy our soybeans,’ Brad Arnold, a multigenerational soybean farmer in southwestern Missouri, told FOX Business. He said that China’s decision to boycott U.S. soybean purchases ‘has huge impacts on our business and our bottom line.’

‘There are domestic uses for soybeans, looking at renewable diesel, biodiesel specifically produced from soybeans,’ Arnold said. ‘In the grand scheme of things, that’s such a small percentage currently, you know it’s going to take a customer like China to buy beans to make a noticeable impact. You can’t take our number one customer, shut them off and just overnight find a replacement.’

That reliance on China adds new weight to the diplomatic stage this week, as Trump and Xi prepare to meet in South Korea. The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Busan, South Korea, marking their first in-person talks since Trump’s return to office. 

Ahead of the meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected China to delay rare earth restrictions and resume U.S. soybean purchases, calling it part of a ‘substantial framework’ both sides aim to maintain. Bessent also said that trade negotiations were moving toward averting a fresh 100% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods.

And in a possible gesture of easing tensions, Reuters reported that China bought around 180,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the run-up to Trump and Xi’s meeting.

Whether it marks a true thaw in U.S.–China trade relations or just a temporary reprieve, the purchase underscores how deeply intertwined diplomacy and agriculture remain.

Fox Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

: The campaign for ‘Squad’ Rep. Ilhan Omar recently sent over a thousand dollars to a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that partnered with a Palestinian university with alleged terrorist ties, according to new Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by Fox News Digital.

The Palestine House of Freedom, also known by its Arabic name, ‘Dar Alhurriya,’ is a nonprofit headquartered just blocks from the U.S. Capitol building. 

According to a video on the group’s website, it is ‘dedicated to the liberation of Palestine’ and ‘the dismantling of apartheid in Palestine and the establishment of a free, democratic state from the river to the sea.’

The group’s website emphasizes that Israel is ‘operating as an apartheid state.’ The website further states that its mission is to ’embark on an aggressive educational campaign targeting everyone from lawmakers, staffers, the media, to the general public’ to ‘show how dismantling apartheid and establishing a free democratic Palestine from the River to the Sea with equal rights, is the path to peace and will benefit all parties involved.’

The filings show that Omar’s campaign, Ilhan for Congress, sent $1,559.25 to the anti-Israel Palestine House of Freedom for ‘event tickets’ in September. However, it is unclear which event the payments were for.

The Palestine House of Freedom made headlines earlier this year for hosting a fundraiser in June for the Palestinian Birzeit University, a school that has alleged terrorist ties and has seen its student council elections favor the pro-Hamas wing of student council members, according to The Washington Reporter.

The university’s student council has long been dominated by the Hamas-affiliated Al-Wafaa bloc and has been previously dubbed, ‘Terrorist University.’ Student campus parades have also reportedly included people marching with mock suicide bomb vests and rockets, as reported by Memri TV.

A Fox News Digital review found that the Hamas-affiliated Al-Wafaa bloc has won several student council elections at Birzeit dating back to the 1990’s, including victories in 2022 and 2023. After the 2023 victory, a top Hamas operative reportedly told the Middle East Monitor the victory represents an ‘extension’ of the movement.

‘The second message is that the bloc has proven its ability to adapt to changes, overcome complexities, and fill the void created by arrests, martyrdom, or deportation,’ Ismail Haniyeh, who was head of Hamas’ Political Bureau until he was assassinated by Israel Defense Forces last year in Tehran, told the Middle East Monitor.

He added that Hamas is ‘unbreakable’ in its homeland and that it will confront the ‘occupier, oppression and terrorism.’ This wasn’t the first time a top Hamas operative praised the Al-Wafaa bloc’s victory at Birzeit. In 2017, a top Hamas spokesperson reportedly congratulated the student body on the election results.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., sent a letter Sept. 29 to Harvard University, expressing concern about the university’s failure to issue a public decision on its prior partnership with Birzeit. In the letter, the lawmakers called Birzeit ‘an institution whose student body overwhelmingly supports Hamas’ and a school that ‘explicitly endorses a U.S. designated terrorist organization.’

Harvard announced this spring it would not renew its cooperation agreement with Birzeit and would issue a permanent decision about the partnership after an internal review, according to The Harvard Crimson.

According to the June event’s flyer, all the proceeds from the Palestine House of Freedom fundraiser, ‘From Birzeit and Beyond: How academia shapes resistance and resilience,’ went to Birzeit.

Omar was one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. She has taken heavy criticism for making anti-American and antisemitic comments over the years, including saying that ‘some people did something’ in reference to the 9/11 attacks and saying that ‘Israel has hypnotized the world.’ She later apologized for the comment about Israel.

In September, a vote to censure Omar over comments she made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk narrowly failed to pass the House of Representatives.

Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard, the Palestinian House of Freedom, Omar’s office and Ilhan for Congress for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

A small contingent of Senate Republicans again joined with Senate Democrats to reject President Donald Trump’s tariffs — this time on Canadian goods.

The Senate advanced a resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on a bipartisan basis to terminate the emergency powers Trump used to declare retaliatory tariffs against Canada earlier this year.

Roughly the same core group of Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Senate Democrats to reject the duties. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., opted to vote against this latest attempt to reject Trump’s tariffs. 

‘The vice president came up yesterday to try to corral Republicans at their lunch,’ Kaine said before the lunch. ‘That shows the White House is worried about defectors on this.’

Indeed, their votes against Trump’s tariffs on Canada came after Vice President JD Vance warned Republicans that it would be a ‘huge mistake’ to break with the White House on the president’s tariff strategy, and he argued that using duties on countries across the globe offered leverage to generate better trade deals in return.

Paul, one of the co-sponsors of Kaine’s resolution, has consistently rejected Trump’s usage of tariffs and argued that it was a tax on consumers in the U.S. rather than on foreign countries.

He noted that the message it would send to the White House, despite pressure from Vance to support Trump’s duties, was ‘that a rule by emergency is not what the Constitution intended, that taxes are supposed to originate in the House of Representatives.’

The resolution was in response to Trump’s usage of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in July to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. The tariffs on the country vary, with Trump initially placing 35% duties on the country earlier this year, along with a blanket 50% tariff on steel from other countries.

However, he recently cranked up the tariffs on Canada by 10% following an ad that ran last week that featured former President Ronald Reagan, which used audio from the former president’s 1987 ‘Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.’

Trump railed against the ad, which was run by the government of Ontario, Canada, and declared, ‘ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,’ in a post on Truth Social.

The latest tariff vote is the second in a trio of resolutions from Kaine and several Senate Democrats. Despite the resolution terminating Trump’s emergency powers on tariffs in Brazil and Canada both advancing in the Senate, they will likely stall in the House.

McConnell staked his position against the tariffs in a statement, where he argued that retaliatory tariffs have negatively affected Kentucky farmers and distillers.

‘Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise,’ he said. ‘This week, I will vote in favor of resolutions to end emergency tariff authorities.’