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The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene and allow them to proceed with plans to slash the size of the federal workforce, arguing in an emergency appeal that the district court’s decision had inflicted ‘ongoing and severe harm’ on the executive branch.

In its emergency appeal to the high court, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower court ruling is ‘flawed,’ and hinges on an ‘indefensible premise,’ which is that the executive brach needs Congressional authorization to make personnel decisions, such as the Reductions in Force, or RIFs.

The district court order in question had barred the Trump administration from carrying out its large-scale, planned reductions in force across 21 federal agencies, and prevented the Trump administration from taking other, related actions – such as placing federal employees at those agencies on leave, or proceeding with job cuts that had already been in motion under previous RIFs. 

Sauer argued to the Supreme Court Monday that the lower court ruling ‘interferes with the executive branch’s internal operations and unquestioned legal authority to plan and carry out RIFs, and does so on a government-wide scale.’

‘More concretely, the injunction has brought to a halt numerous in-progress RIFs at more than a dozen federal agencies, sowing confusion about what RIF-related steps agencies may take and compelling the government to retain – at taxpayer expense – thousands of employees whose continuance in federal service the agencies deem not to be in the government and public interest,’ Sauer said. 

The request to the high court comes just days after a split panel for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused on Friday to freeze the lower court order that blocked Trump from fully enforcing its RIFs. 

In their decision, judges for the 9th Circuit wrote that the administration’s moves were ‘unprecedented,’ and noted: ‘The executive order at issue here far exceeds the president’s supervisory powers under the Constitution.’

The emergency appeal marks the 18th such appeal that lawyers for the Trump administration have submitted to the Supreme Court since Trump was sworn in to his second White House term.

It comes as the administration and federal judges have sparred in court over a number of executive orders and actions from the president, teeing up a high-stakes clash over the powers of the judiciary and the executive branch. 

The news comes after Elon Musk departed his official post heading up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which had been behind many of the widespread RIFs across federal agencies. 

His last official day was Friday, as Fox News reported. 

To date, however, there are no signs that the department will be winding down in his absence, and Musk himself said Friday that his departure does not mark the end of DOGE ‘but rather, the beginning.’ 

Fox News’ Diana Stancy contributed to this report.

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On June 2, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senator John Fetterman and his GOP counterpart Dave McCormick took part in a Fox News town hall event in a replica of the U.S. Senate chamber; you could tell it wasn’t the real Senate because the conversation was shockingly respectful, substantive and promising. 

With a light touch, moderator Shannon Bream’s questions raised an array of issues on which not only do Fetterman and McCormick more or less agree, but their shared positions are at the commonsense core of today’s American voter. 

On the question of recent antisemitic attacks, including a Molotov cocktail attack on a Jewish group in Boulder on Sunday, both senators not only condemned such violence but acknowledged its roots in the dangerous anti-Israel rhetoric on college campuses. 

As Fetterman put it regarding these attacks, ‘You know, the kinds of, the rank antisemitism, it’s out of control, and for me and as my friend just pointed out, this is just rampant across all the universities…’ 

Both senators made plain their solid support for Israel, something Fetterman was not shy about pointing to as a cause of the recent attacks leveled against his competence.  

Both senators agreed on forcefully stopping Iran’s nuclear program, securing the border and sanctioning Russia to firm up President Donald Trump’s hand in negotiating against Russian President Vladimir Putin. They also both gave a thumbs up to the sale of US Steel, celebrated by Trump in the Keystone State last week. 

Long story short, there was a lot of agreement on display, and while it might not be as sexy as two combatants screaming at each other, it might still be what the American people actually want. 

McCormick made the very key point that ‘there is a lot of overlap’ between the people who voted for him and Fetterman. Both men have strong ties to the steel industry, and both spoke about the need to lift up long-forgotten industrial towns. 

Sen. Dave McCormick and Dina Powell McCormick reflect on mentorship with new book

It is not an accident that Pennsylvania has been a swing state for as long as that term has existed, with two world-famous cities, major industry, major farming and everything in between. It is a cross-section of America. Centrisism comes naturally in the commonwealth. 

The two current senators harken back to Pennsylvania figures like Gov. Bob Casey Sr. one of the last loudly pro-life Democrats and Sen. Arlen Specter, who often tortured fellow Republicans before eventually leaving the party. 

For now, it has only been Fetterman angering members of his own party by aligning with some positions seen as pro-Trump, McCormick has not had occasion to disagree with Trump policies, but then again, it’s not McCormick’s party in the political wilderness. 

Fetterman has been a unique voice in the Democratic caucus urging calm, suggesting that freaking out like a teenage girl at a 1950s Elvis concert every time Trump opens his mouth isn’t working. 

Meanwhile, Democrats have been trying to spread outrage around the media every time Trump opens his mouth about anything. 

Sadly, some of this leftist outrage has been directed at Fetterman himself in supposed bombshell reports from anonymous sources about his unfitness for office. On this, the less said, the better. Fetterman’s appearance itself made it self-evident the claims are malicious smears that should never be spoken of again. 

It may be lonely in the center left for Fetterman right now, but I suspect it won’t be for long. Recent polling puts the favorability of the Democratic Party at a record-low 19%. If it gets much lower, we will have to add an asterisk and ‘if necessary,’ to references to the 2028 primary. 

The far-left approach, with its oligarchy tours on private jets and old 60s folk songs sung by folks in their 70s, and the constant cursing, none of it is working, it’s all making things worse for the Democrats. 

GOP Sen McCormick

Progressives understand this. That is why they blame sexism for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat last year, instead of her horrible candidacy and their failed policies, it is exactly why they are terrified not of Trump, but of more moderate Democrats who could kick them out of power in the party. 

For the progressives, continuing the lie that men can become women is more important than winning elections; continuing the lie that Israel is committing genocide is more important than winning elections. 

On issues such as these, the far left will never compromise, because to compromise is already to lose. 

Both parties saw a potential future in the town hall on Monday, two Pennsylvania politicians who both listen to and understand the concerns of working Americans trying to give their kids a better life, and in this political environment, that goes a long, long way. 

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Sen. John Fetterman is comfortable taking a sharp stance against his own party, a point that he reiterated during a forum moderated by Fox News’ Shannon Bream alongside his Republican counterpart, Sen. Dave McCormick.

The Democratic maverick has made a name for himself as willing to buck his party’s marching orders, oftentimes siding with Republicans on thorny policy issues since coming to the Senate two years ago. Indeed, the lawmaker agreed on many issues with his fellow Pennsylvanian McCormick during the roughly half-hour forum. 

Fetterman addressed the repercussions that tend to come from his brand of bipartisanship when discussing his agreement with President Donald Trump’s handling of nuclear talks with Iran or the president’s push for a rare earth minerals agreement with Ukraine.

‘That’s part of the bipartisanship where, you know, it’s getting more and more kind of, punitive to just agree with some of these things in the middle of the party right now,’ he said.

He also called out his own party for his colleagues’ stances on Israel and immigration, and worked in a subtle jab at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s handling of the government funding fight earlier this year.

Fetterman condemned the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado, and noted that parts of his party had ‘lost the argument’ when it came to bucking antisemitism and standing behind Israel.

‘For me, that moral clarity, it’s really firmly on Israel,’ he said. ‘I refuse to allow to try to turn Israel into a pariah state, and that’s right in the middle of that.’

Fetterman also dug in on his support of immigration policies pushed by the GOP.

He said that while he largely did not support Republicans’ efforts to ram Trump’s agenda through Congress, there was common ground to be had with his colleagues across the aisle when it came to putting a dent in the nation’s debt, and injecting more funding into the White House’s priorities at the southern border.

In fact, the only thing he said he supported among the sea of policy changes and spending would be the over $150 billion in the colossal package that would go toward building Trump’s border wall, bolstering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the building of new immigration detention centers and facilities, among others.

‘That’s a mistake that our party made, and that’s the border,’ he said. ‘I absolutely support those kinds of investments to make our border secure as well.’

He contended that Democrats did not handle the border properly when they controlled the White House, and noted the hundreds of thousands of migrants that were able to make their way into the U.S. under the Biden administration’s porous border policies.

‘We can all agree that’s wrong,’ he said. ‘Being very pro-immigration as [a] Democrat, it’s like you’re trying to think two things must be true, and sometimes that’s put me at the odds of my party and my base to assume that I changed my values, and that’s never changed. That’s never changed.’

He also levied subtle criticism of how Schumer, D-N.Y., handled the government funding showdown earlier this year, which saw the Democratic leader ultimately back down at the last minute from his desire to shutter the government over the GOP’s funding plan.

‘I refuse to ever shut our government down,’ Fetterman said. ‘And when we have that opportunity in September to do that, I will still be there, and … I’ll take the beating, because that’s, I think, what defines leadership.’

But Fetterman’s rogue-like tendencies have led to intensified scrutiny in recent weeks for alleged erratic behavior, skipping out on votes and droves of staff leaving his office, criticism that Fetterman has rebuked.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board argued in an opinion piece published on Sunday that if the lawmaker couldn’t handle the scrutiny, he should ‘step aside.’ In response, Fetterman couched the criticism as part of a campaign against him for his position on Israel, the border and his dances with bipartisanship.

‘It’s just part of a smear, and it’s just not accurate,’ he said.  

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Empire Metals Limited (LON:EEE), the AIM-quoted and OTCQB-traded exploration and development company,is pleased to announce the commencement of a major drilling campaign at the Pitfield Project in Western Australia (‘Pitfield’ or the ‘Project’). This programme will target high-grade titanium mineralisation within the in-situ weathered cap at the Thomas Prospect, with the objective of delivering a maiden JORC Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (‘MRE’).

Highlights

  • A total of 164 drill holes planned:
    • 124 Air Core (‘AC’) drillholes for approximately 6,700 metres, and
    • 40 Reverse Circulation (‘RC’) drillholes for approximately 4,000 metres,
    • totalling 10,700 metres of drilling.
  • The Thomas Prospect was selected for the maiden MRE due to the extensive, thick and high-grade titanium mineralisation hosted within the broad, in-situ weathered zone.
  • This programme, the largest at Pitfield to date, will cover over 11 square kilometres and aims to deliver a globally significant MRE.
  • Notable intercepts within the in-situ weathered cap from previous drilling at Thomas include:
    • 51m @ 7.88% TiO₂ from surface (AC25TOM039)
    • 57m @ 7.48% TiO₂ from surface (AC25TOM040)
    • 52m @ 7.43% TiO₂ from surface (AC25TOM042)

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said:‘We are pleased to commence this important drilling campaign at Pitfield, focused on delivering our maiden MRE from the Thomas Prospect.The Thomas Prospect contains broad, continuous, high-grade zones of high-purity titanium dioxide mineralisation within the in-situ weathered cap: confirmed by assay results from the February 2025 AC drill campaign, averaging 6.20% TiO₂ over an average depth of 54m (announced 28 April 2025).

‘This fully funded campaign, scheduled to run over the next four to five weeks, is the largest undertaken to date at Pitfield. With 164 holes planned over an 11 square kilometre area and to an average depth of 65 metres, this work is designed to deliver a globally significant Mineral Resource Estimate.’

MRE Drilling Programme

The location and spacing of the planned AC drillholes have been designed, with the input of mineral resource consultants Snowden-Optiro, to provide the necessary drill assay data density to allow the preparation of an MRE at the Thomas Prospect. The programme consists of 124 AC drillholes, on a 400 x 200m drillhole-spaced grid with an average forecast depth of 54.1m, for a total of 6,700 metres, and 40 RC drillholes within the AC drilling grid, to a depth of 100m, for a total of 4,000 metres. The overall drillhole grid extends 5.2km by 2.2km and totals an area of 11.4 sq km (refer Figure 1).

The drilling is targeting the near surface, highly weathered zones within the Thomas Prospect; drilling has now commenced and will run over several weeks, with laboratory analysis scheduled for completion in August.

Figure 1. Planned Air Core drill hole collar locations within the Thomas Prospect priority area.

The near-surface, in-situ weathered cap at the Thomas Prospect contains a high percentage of the key titanium bearing minerals, primarily anatase and rutile. The drilling targets areas were selected on the basis of three key parameters: high-purity TiO2 mineral assemblage, high average TiO2 grades and significant depth of weathering (refer Table 1).

The AC and RC drillholes will be geologically logged and sub-sampled on 2m intervals and geochemically analysed; this data will provide the basis for geological modelling and for the development of the MRE at the Thomas Prospect.

Air core drilling has previously been utilised at Pitfield to drill-test the weathered cap and collect bulk metallurgical samples (announced 28 April 2025). It is a cost-effective and efficient drilling method that is commonly used for shallow exploration projects and the success of the previous campaign confirmed its suitability for the preparation of the MRE.

Table 1: Weathered Zone drill intercepts from the Thomas Prospect (previously released results) including high-grade intervals to be followed up by MRE drilling

Hole ID

Easting

Northing

Depth From (m)

Depth To (m)

EOH (m)

Weathered Interval (m)

Grade TiO2 (%)

RC24TOM021

373699

6724326

4

76

154

72

6.75

including

4

58

54

6.90

including

4

12

8

9.03

including

8

10

2

9.98

RC24TOM022

373329

6724796

0

54

154

54

7.02

including

4

12

8

8.54

RC24TOM023

373639

6724978

0

58

154

58

5.68

including

6

20

14

6.09

DD24TOM006

373947

6724741

0

46.5

70.5

46.5

5.94

including

4.5

45

40.5

6.10

including

10.5

22.5

12

6.95

AC25TOM021

373250

6724746

0

49

49

49

7.49

including

20

26

6

10.71

AC25TOM036

373358

6725089

2

54

54

52

7.21

AC25TOM039

373506

6724612

0

51

51

51

7.88

AC25TOM040

373599

6724639

0

57

57

57

7.48

including

6

22

16

10.00

AC25TOM041

373572

6724737

0

54

54

54

7.19

including

4

18

14

10.06

including

4

12

8

11.67

AC25TOM042

373546

6724823

0

52

52

52

7.43

including

4

16

12

10.17

including

4

12

8

11.32

The Pitfield Titanium Project

Located within the Mid-West region of Western Australia, near the northern wheat belt town of Three Springs, the Pitfield titanium project lies 313km north of Perth and 156km southeast of Geraldton, the Mid West region’s capital and major port. Western Australia is ranked as one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world according to the Fraser Institute’s Investment Attractiveness Index published in 2023, and has mining-friendly policies, stable government, transparency, and advanced technology expertise. Pitfield has existing connections to port (both road & rail), HV power substations, and is nearby to natural gas pipelines as well as a green energy hydrogen fuel hub, which is under planning and development (refer Figure 2).

Figure 2. Pitfield Project Location showing the Mid-West Region Infrastructure and Services

Competent Person Statement

The technical information in this report that relates to the Pitfield Project has been compiled by Mr Andrew Faragher, an employee of Empire Metals Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire. Mr Faragher is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Faragher has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Mr Faragher consents to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:

Empire Metals Ltd

Shaun Bunn / Greg Kuenzel / Arabella Burwell

Tel: 020 4583 1440

S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nomad & Broker)

Ewan Leggat / Adam Cowl

Tel: 020 3470 0470

Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)

Damon Heath

Tel: 020 7186 9950

St Brides Partners Ltd (Financial PR)

Susie Geliher / Charlotte Page

Tel: 020 7236 1177

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed and OTCQB-traded exploration and resource development company (LON: EEE) with a primary focus on developing Pitfield, an emerging giant titanium project in Western Australia.

The high-grade titanium discovery at Pitfield is of unprecedented scale, with airborne surveys identifying a massive, coincident gravity and magnetics anomaly extending over 40km by 8km by 5km deep. Drill results have indicated excellent continuity in grades and consistency of the mineralised beds and confirm that the sandstone beds hold the higher-grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) values within the interbedded succession of sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. The Company is focused on two key prospects (Cosgrove and Thomas), which have been identified as having thick, high-grade, near-surface, bedded TiO₂ mineralisation, each being over 7km in strike length.

An Exploration Target* for Pitfield was declared in 2024, covering the Thomas and Cosgrove mineral prospects, and was estimated to contain between 26.4 to 32.2 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.5 to 5.5% TiO2. Included within the total Exploration Target* is a subset that covers the weathered sandstone zone, which extends from surface to an average vertical depth of 30m to 40m and is estimated to contain between 4.0 to 4.9 billion tonnes with a grade range of 4.8 to 5.9% TiO2.

The Exploration Target* covers an area less than 20% of the overall mineral system at Pitfield which demonstrates the potential for significant further upside.

Empire is now accelerating the economic development of Pitfield, with a vision to produce a high-value titanium metal or pigment quality product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.

The Company also has two further exploration projects in Australia; the Eclipse Project and the Walton Project in Western Australia, in addition to three precious metals projects located in a historically high-grade gold producing region of Austria.

*The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

Click here to connect with Empire Metals (OTCQB:EPMLF, AIM:EEE) to receive an Investor Presentation

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Colorado police responded to a terror attack at a pro-Israel event in Boulder Sunday, leaving multiple people injured. 

It was the latest incident being investigated by federal authorities as domestic terrorism.

The U.S. has seen an increase in antisemitic attacks and violent pro-Palestinian protests amid the war between Israel and Hamas. 

But the incidents of domestic terrorism aren’t limited to antisemitism. Extremists who hold anti-American sentiment have attempted attacks on vehicles, military bases and more. 

Here is a breakdown of the domestic terrorism incidents in the U.S. in 2025: 

Terror in Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado, Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said his department received reports early Sunday afternoon of a man with a weapon and people being set on fire on Pearl Street. A male suspect with minor injuries was taken into police custody at the scene, Redfearn said.

Suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman is now facing murder, assault and other charges following what the FBI called a ‘targeted terror attack’ in Boulder, Colorado. 

The violence against a pro-Israel group advocating for Hamas to release Israeli hostages left eight people, ages 52 to 88, with injuries, including one in critical condition, according to the FBI. Police responded to the area after receiving reports of a man with a weapon setting people on fire. 

‘Run for Their Lives,’ was the organization hosting the event. The group organizes run and walk events calling for the immediate release of all hostages being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Soliman was charged with murder in the first degree — deliberation with intent; murder in the first degree — extreme indifference; crimes against at-risk adults/elderly; 1st degree assault — non-family; 1st degree assault — heat of passion; criminal attempt to commit class one and class two felonies; and use of explosives or incendiary devices during felony.

Soliman was also in the United States illegally, Fox News has learned. Soliman is an Egyptian national who came into the country two years ago and overstayed his visa. 

Boulder Police Department confirmed Monday that no victims have died. 

Soliman was booked into the Boulder County, Colorado, jail Sunday evening and remains held on a $10 million bond. 

Shooting outside Capital Jewish Museum in Washington 

On Wednesday, May 21,Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two staffers of the Embassy of Israel to the U.S. — a couple set to be engaged — were shot and killed as they left the museum’s event focused on finding humanitarian solutions for Gaza. 

Lischinsky was born in Israel and grew up in Germany. His father is Jewish, and his mother is Christian. Milgrim was an American employee of the embassy.

Authorities took Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, into custody. Upon being taken into custody, Rodriguez began shouting, ‘Free, free Palestine!’ 

The FBI is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime and investigating any ties to terrorism. 

Steven Jensen, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington field office, said in a news conference that the federal law enforcement entity is working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to ‘look into ties to potential terrorism or motivation based on a bias-based crime or a hate crime.’

Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing

On May 17, a bombing took place at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California. The bombing killed the suspect and injured four others.

Authorities identified the perpetrator of the incident as a 26-year-old suspect motivated by a fringe ideology known as ‘pro-mortalism.’ 

‘Pro-mortalism,’ a radical offshoot of anti-natalism, views human reproduction as inherently immoral and embraces death as a moral corrective.

According to federal and local law enforcement, the suspect targeted the American Reproductive Centers facility specifically to destroy human embryos stored on-site.

Large explosion occurs outside Palm Springs fertility clinic

Surveillance footage and online postings suggest he parked in the rear of the building to remain unnoticed, ingested drugs and then detonated an explosive device — killing himself in the process. 

The FBI has classified the bombing as an act of domestic terrorism, citing the ideological motivation behind the violence. 

Officials have said that it is the first high-profile case linked to the pro-mortalist ideology and are now monitoring it as a potential emerging threat. Authorities have urged families and communities to remain vigilant for signs of ideological extremism, especially among those who may feel disenfranchised. 

Attempted mass shooting at Michigan military base 

In May, a former Michigan Army National Guard member, Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting near the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) center at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. 

Said planned to carry out the attack on behalf of ISIS. 

Said allegedly ‘launched his drone in support of the attack plan’ and told an undercover FBI agent in the lead-up to the foiled plot he recommended that ‘everyone have about seven magazines because you don’t want to be in there and run out of ammo,’ according to officials. 

Said is now facing charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years per count if convicted. 

The FBI disrupted the attempted attack, with FBI Director Kash Patel telling Fox News Digital that any individual targeting the U.S. military or conspiring with foreign terrorist organizations will be ‘prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’ 

‘Let this be a warning: Anyone who targets our military or conspires with foreign terrorist organizations will be found, stopped and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,’ Patel told Fox News Digital. ‘I commend the men and women of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and our law enforcement partners for their continued dedication to protecting the American people.’

Tesla attacks 

Since January, there have been a number of instances of vandalism, arson and targeted shootings against Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations across the nation. 

Tesla vehicles and dealerships have been targeted nationwide amid Elon Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been focused on slashing wasteful spending and fraud within the federal government. Musk is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla. 

The FBI launched a task force to crack down on violent Tesla attacks. 

The FBI’s task force was created in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and will coordinate investigative activity.

A threat tag has been created at the FBI to streamline reports and a command post at FBI headquarters has been created. It consists of a joint FBI/ATF task force to mitigate that threat stream. 

The FBI is treating the attacks as ‘domestic terrorism.’ Attorney General Pam Bondi called the attacks on Tesla ‘domestic terrorism,’ and the Department of Justice announced charges against suspects in Tesla arson cases. 

Musk spoke out against the ‘deranged’ attacks, suggesting that ‘there’s some kind of mental illness thing going on here, because this doesn’t make any sense.’ The billionaire even alluded to ‘larger forces’ potentially behind the attacks that have sprung up across the nation.

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After too many nights of pulling children from the rubble of Russian drone strikes, the weekend’s devastating attacks on Moscow’s military pride mark a moment of brief respite for Ukrainian morale, and yet another twist of the unexpected in the Kremlin’s war of choice.

It may be hard to fathom the precise impact of Ukraine’s wily drone assault on Russian air bases thousands of miles beyond the Ukrainian border. Kyiv said 41 long-range bomber jets were set aflame and that the attacks hit 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers at its main bases.

We don’t know how many bombers Russia had that were fully functional – after years of taxing nightly missions over Ukraine – and how many others had been cannibalized for spare parts, but some reports suggest Russia only had about 20 of the propeller-driven Tu-95s and about 60 supersonic Tu-22M3s in service.

It will become clear in the months ahead to what extent this really dents the terror the air raid sirens bring across Ukraine. But if what Kyiv says is true – 117 relatively cheap drones taking out dozens of planes and causing what one security source estimated to be $7 billion in damage – then the economics of the war have shifted.

And it marks another point in which guile triumphs over the giant. Russia’s main card is its vastness – of military resources, frontline manpower, tolerance for pain and financial reserves. But repeatedly, Kyiv has shown targeted pin pricks can burst these bubbles.

In late 2022, the Ukrainians struck supply lines across occupied northern parts of Ukraine, causing a swift and embarrassing collapse of Russian positions. In 2023, they hit the Kerch Strait bridge linking Russia to occupied Crimea. And last year they invaded Kursk, Russia proper, exposing the vulnerability of the Russian war machine’s borders.

On each occasion, the narrative of the war swung back in Ukraine’s favor. But no time is it needed more than this week, after months in which the vital plank of US support has been in doubt, and as Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for a second round of peace talks in Turkey.

It also brings to the forefront one of the key lessons of this war: the capacity for advances in technology, solid intelligence and bold execution to reverse military trajectories many observers felt were settled. Ukraine’s first use of attack drones in 2023 has evolved to a widescale tactic, enabling it to survive the onslaught of overwhelming Russian infantry attacks across wide, imperiled frontlines. It has sent sea-drones to hit Russia’s prized Black Sea Fleet.

And most extraordinarily, this weekend, Ukraine says its air defenses repelled, with unparalleled success, a record Russian drone attack of 472 Shaheds. Ukraine shot down or used electronic warfare to block 382 of them, according to the air force, a feat that again suggests a technological advance, and the possibility that dwindling air defense interceptor supplies from the United States may not be the immediate horrific threat thought a month ago.

But what of the wider impact of the bold drone attack inside Russia – one so deep, in Belaya, Irkutsk, that it was almost halfway across Siberia? What does it change in a war where Russia is slowly advancing, and showing little genuine interest in a ceasefire and the peace that might come with it? This is an unknowable, but not a zero. Losing these aircraft has a practical effect, and impacts upon Russian military pride and anxiety. Even airfields deep in Siberia are not safe.

Russia’s lumbering bulk of a military machine projects invulnerability and fearlessness towards the longest of wars as a tactic. It uses the idea of time being on its side as a key asset. But strikes like the weekend’s show its hardware is vulnerable, limited and probably not easy to replace.

Moscow may brush off this latest setback, its rigidly subservient state media able to sustain any narrative the Kremlin chooses. But that does not alter the reality of its troubles. It did not stop the short-lived Wagner rebellion of 2023, or the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk last year.

The damage is twofold: to the internal narrative that Moscow can do this indefinitely – it clearly cannot, if surprises like these keep coming. And secondly, to its ability to visit the sort of bulk destruction it has relied upon to grind forwards in the war. The latter can slow its progress, but former is more dangerous. Tiny cracks can spread. For now, they are all Ukraine is able to inflict, but their longer-term impact, like so much in this war, is utterly unpredictable.

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Progressive California Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign has agreed to pay a $68,000 fine after an investigation found it violated multiple election rules.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) said the longtime House lawmaker’s 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, ran afoul of several campaign finance laws in a tranche of documents released Friday.

The FEC accused Citizens for Waters of ‘failing to accurately report receipts and disbursements in calendar year 2020,’ ‘knowingly accepting excessive contributions’ and ‘making prohibited cash disbursements,’ according to one document that appears to be a legally binding agreement that allows both parties to avoid going to court.

Waters’ committee agreed to pay the civil fine as well as ‘send its treasurer to a Commission-sponsored training program for political committees within one year of the effective date of this Agreement.’

‘Respondent shall submit evidence of the required registration and attendance at such event to the Commission,’ the document said.

Citizens for Waters had accepted excessive campaign contributions from seven people totaling $19,000 in 2019 and 2020, the investigation found, despite the maximum legal individual contribution being capped at $2,800.

The committee offloaded those excessive donations, albeit in an ‘untimely’ fashion, the document said.

Waters’ campaign committee also ‘made four prohibited cash disbursements that were each in excess of $100, totaling $7,000,’ the FEC said. 

The campaign committee ‘contends that it retained legal counsel to provide advice and guidance to the treasurer and implemented procedures to ensure the disbursements comply with the requirements of the Act.’

Leilani Beaver, who was listed as Citizens for Waters’ attorney, sent the FEC a letter last year that maintained the campaign finance violations were ‘errors’ that ‘were not willful or purposeful.’

Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has served in Congress since 1991.

The new movements in the probe were first reported by OpenSecrets.

It is not the first time, however, that Waters has generated public scrutiny.

In 2023, a Fox News Digital investigation found that Waters’ campaign paid her daughter $192,300 to pay for a ‘slate mailer’ operation between Jan. 2021 and Dec. 2022.

It was reportedly just one sum out of thousands that Waters had paid her daughter for campaign work.

A complaint that Waters’ campaign had accepted illegal campaign contributions in 2018 was overwhelmingly dismissed by the FEC in a 5-1 vote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Beavers, Waters’ congressional office and Citizens for Waters for comment.

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Battleground Pennsylvania senators – Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dave McCormick – both spoke out against antisemitism during a bipartisan forum in response to a recent attack on a pro-Israel gathering in Colorado. 

‘This is something that I’m terribly worried about, the growth of antisemitism here in our country is something I know Sen. Fetterman and I share,’ McCormick said in the sixth installment of The Senate Project series, organized by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation and aired by FOX Nation.

‘We see this deeply seated in our society,’ said McCormick, who recently returned from a trip to Israel. ‘And it’s something that we have to stand up against with complete moral clarity. It’s something that we have to push back, and it’s something we have to, require, a mandate that our institutions extricate themselves of antisemitism.’

Fetterman also condemned the Colorado attack, along with the other high-profile attacks against Jewish people in recent weeks, and pointed out that he is at odds with many in his party on the issue. 

‘What happened yesterday in Boulder? It’s astonishing,’ Fetterman said. ‘ You know, the kinds of, the rank antisemitism, it’s out of control, and for me and as my friend just pointed out, this is just rampant across all the universities for all of these places, too. I mean, we really need to call it what it is. And now and for me, politically, being very, very firmly on the side of Israel, that kind of put parts of my party at odds for that.’

Suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman is now facing murder, assault and other charges following what the FBI called a ‘targeted terror attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, over the weekend after he allegedly attacked a pro-Israel group. 

Fox News Digital reported that Soliman is in the country illegally from Egypt.

‘Now we really lost,’ Fetterman continued, ‘we’ve lost the argument and – parts of my party, and for me – that moral clarity, it’s really firmly on Israel. And of course, we can all agree the tragedy in Gaza. Nobody wants that. But who does want that? And that’s Hamas. And if you have been troubled, as I am, the death and the misery, you know, I think we should blame Iran and Hamas, and other people blame Israel. I refuse to allow try to turn Israel into a pariah state.’

McCormick went on to say that ‘there needs to be constant pressure on Hamas, to destroy the military capability of Hamas.’

The Senate Project series brings together sitting senators from opposing parties for civil dialogue about current political issues, with the goal of identifying solutions and bridging partisan divides. The series reflects the shared mission of the Kennedy Institute and Hatch Foundation to advance bipartisanship.

‘Vigorous and open dialogue is an essential part of our democracy and having these two senators from opposite sides of the aisle discuss important issues of the day is a valuable contribution to the public discourse,’ Kennedy Institute Chairman Bruce A. Percelay said in a statement.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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As Elon Musk steps away from his official role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he joins a history of presidential administrations that have attempted to streamline government – with mixed results.

While former Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland all tried to downsize the judiciary, treasury and civil service, respectively, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the federal government grew into the bureaucratic behemoth it is that has drawn true DOGE-type attention.

Though often seen as the bigger spenders, some Democrats joined Republicans in the 1990s to shrink the size of government and make it more accountable to taxpayers.

‘We know big government does not have all the answers,’ former President Bill Clinton said during his 1996 State of the Union.

‘We know there’s not a program for every problem. We have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic government in Washington – and we have to give the American people one that lives within its means.’

‘The era of big government is over,’ he said, in a phrase that had largely been considered the closest emulation of DOGE thought until Musk arrived on the scene.

Clinton also sought welfare reform and emphasized personal responsibility over dependency on the state.

The Arkansan also called for slashing the bureaucracy by 200,000 jobs and worked with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., to balance the federal budget.

President Donald Trump’s efforts to do the same have received a very different response from the left.

Clinton, working with congressional Republicans – while also frequently sparring with them – was able to reduce the federal workforce somewhat and establish a budget surplus but also failed to realize entitlement reform, something that more recent fiscal hawks have also struggled with.

Clinton won his 1992 upset as a centrist, after incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush was lambasted for reneging on his ‘Read my lips – no new taxes’ pledge, with a statistical boost from industrialist independent H. Ross Perot, who won the votes of many erstwhile Bush supporters.

Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore established a National Performance Review (NPR) that drew some parallels to today’s DOGE, and cut the bureaucracy to 1960s levels.

Bill Clinton went on to win re-election over otherwise popular GOP stalwart Sen. Bob Dole, of Kansas, in 1996.

In 1980, actor-turned-California Gov. Ronald Reagan took the White House with promises similar to another celebrity-turned-politician who would do the same 36 years later.

The Gipper did not succeed in abolishing the Department of Education – created only a few years prior by President Jimmy Carter – something Trump has also sought.

But, he reinvigorated a new generation of conservatives who still praise him for slashing income taxes, seeking to ‘starve the beast’ via forced discretionary-spending cuts, and took on public-sector unions when he essentially won a dare against air traffic controllers who went on strike by firing them all and prohibiting their rehiring.

Reagan’s closest iteration of DOGE was the 1982 Grace Commission, studying cost-cutting and efficiency – and led by Maryland chemical executive J. Peter Grace along with dozens of ‘commissioners’ plucked from the private sector.

In the executive order creating the Grace Commission, it was tasked with examining ‘the entire federal government for areas of inefficiency, mismanagement and waste, and to recommend savings without raising taxes or cutting essential services.’

Within its three-year lifespan, the commission reported $424 billion in savings, including waste, fraud, abuse, over payments to government vendors and billions in unpaid taxes.

Reagan, however, faced the same resistance from the proverbial ‘Swamp’ in trying to implement the commission’s findings.

‘We’re not trying to hurt anyone. But the American taxpayer is being ripped off,’ Grace said at the time.

While ushered in as a conservative pragmatist, Reagan’s later years saw budget deficits grow, and the national debt more than double. The Dow also lost nearly one-quarter of its value on ‘Black Monday,’ Oct. 19, 1987.

The other contemporary president known for trying to ‘DOGE’ government was Texas Democrat Lyndon Johnson. LBJ was known for rapidly expanding government through his ‘Great Society’ social programs but also took aim at streamlining the Pentagon and Defense apparatus.

 Elon Musk announces his departure from DOGE.

Efforts at the Pentagon largely failed, as the ongoing Vietnam War also accentuated costly balance sheets.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, a Kennedy holdover and former Ford Motor Company chief, was employed to make changes at the Pentagon.

He instituted what was called the Planning Programming Budgeting System, which sought to bring a more streamlined approach to managing the Pentagon’s budget.

However, the vast size of the defense bureaucracy – along with resistance from some military leaders – undermined the effectiveness of Johnson’s and McNamara’s reform efforts.

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The Trump administration has rolled out a new rule with the aim of making it easier to terminate federal employees for serious misconduct by cutting through the red tape that currently impedes that process. 

‘The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing amendments to the Federal Government personnel vetting adjudicative processes for determining suitability and taking suitability actions,’ the rule, which went live for public comment on Monday morning, states. 

‘The purpose of the proposed rule is to improve the efficiency, rigor and timeliness by which OPM and agencies vet individuals for risk to the integrity and efficiency of the service, and to make clear that individuals who engage in serious misconduct while employed in Federal service are subject to the same suitability procedures and actions as applicants for employment.’

OPM says its new rule is part of President Trump’s ‘Implementing the Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative’ as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ‘Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce.’

OPM explains that the new rule will allow the federal government to take action against employees who engage in misconduct after being hired, giving agencies ‘broader authority’ to ‘flag conduct’ including tax evasion, leaking of sensitive information, and other behavior ‘inconsistent with the public trust.’

‘For too long, agencies have faced red tape when trying to remove employees who break the public’s trust,’ OPM’s Acting Director, Chuck Ezell, told Fox News Digital. 

‘This proposed rule ensures misconduct is met with consequence and reinforces that public service is a privilege, not a right.’

Under the new rule, federal agencies will be able to refer specific cases to OPM requesting ‘suitability action’ for employees who are believed to have committed post-appointment conduct that deserves disciplinary action. 

Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that under current law, the vast majority of the federal workforce is not at-will and may only be terminated for misconduct, poor performance, medical inability and reduction in force. Federal employees are also entitled to sweeping due process rights when fired which can create a cumbersome process for agencies to remove a worker.

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