President Donald Trump hosted a swanky dinner last night for the top investors of his $TRUMP meme coin project, telling them "The Biden administration persecuted crypto innovators and we’re bringing them back into the USA where they belong," reports said.
The event at the Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Potomac Falls, Va., was open to the 220 largest buyers of Trump’s meme coin, with the top 25 getting "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President."
The Wall Street Journal, citing blockchain analytics firm Inca Digital, reported that around $148 million worth of $TRUMP was purchased by investors to win seats at the dinner, where guests had to pass background checks.
"The Biden administration persecuted crypto innovators, and we’re bringing them back into the U.S.A. where they belong," it quoted Trump telling the audience Thursday night, who dined on filet mignon and halibut.
Protesters gathered outside the club holding signs that said "stop crypto corruption" and "no corrupt fools."
"The past administration made your lives miserable," Trump was also quoted by the New York Times as saying, in reference to President Biden’s regulations against cryptocurrency.
"There is a lot of sense in crypto. A lot of common sense in crypto," Trump reportedly added. "And we’re honored to be working on helping everybody here."
According to participants' posts on social media, Trump spoke for about half an hour before dancing to the song "YMCA."
Despite the White House insisting that Trump would be attending the event "in his personal time," he stood behind a lectern with the presidential seal.
Three days before Trump took office on Jan. 20, he announced the creation of the $TRUMP meme coin, describing as a way for his supporters to "have fun."
Trump’s meme coin saw an initial spike in value, followed by a steep drop. Its creators, which include an entity controlled by the Trump Organization, have made hundreds of millions of dollars by collecting fees on trades, according to the Associated Press.
Critics have raised concerns that the president's connection with cryptocurrency ventures could open the door to conflicts of interest and influence peddling.
When asked by a reporter Thursday if "anyone in the White House or in the White House counsel's office advise the president against holding this sweepstakes, whereby people who spent the most money on his Trump coin would then have access to the president at this time", Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump "is abiding by all conflict-of-interest laws that are applicable to the president."
"And I think everybody, the American public, believe it's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency," she added. "This president was incredibly successful before giving it all up to serve our country publicly. And not only has he lost wealth, but he also almost lost his life. He has sacrificed a lot to be here, and to suggest otherwise is, frankly, completely absurd."
The biggest investor in Trump’s meme coin, Chinese billionaire Justin Sun – who spent more than $40 million -- told the New York Times outside of the event Thursday that "I’m very excited to meet him and discuss about crypto’s future."
Among those protesting outside the golf club were Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon.
"This is the crypto corruption club," Merkley was quoted by the Times as saying. "This is like the Mount Everest of corruption."
FOX Business’ Eric Revell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Harvard is taking the Trump administration to court over its decision to terminate the university’s student visa program.
Harvard said the policy will affect more than 7,000 visa holders and is a "blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act," per its court filing.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moved to terminate the program after Harvard allegedly failed to provide it with the extensive behavioral records of student visa holders the department requested. DHS offered Harvard 72 hours on Thursday to come into compliance with the request.
As of now, Harvard may no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025–2026 school year, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins.
The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the last five years.
Requested records also include footage or documentation of illegal, dangerous or violent activity by student visa holders, any records of threats or the deprivation of rights of other students or university personnel.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said the U.S. should be "more fearful of white men" amid threats of domestic terrorism, which are comments from 2018 that resurfaced in May and attracted scrutiny from Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance.
Omar, who walked away from reporters on Thursday when asked about the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C., the previous night, previously said the U.S. should be more concerned about white men.
"I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country," Omar said in a 2018 interview with Al Jazeera.
Omar’s remarks came in response to questions about the threats of domestic terrorism and "jihadism" in the U.S.
"And so, if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men," Omar told Al Jazeera.
A spokesperson for Omar did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital asking if Omar stood by her previous statements.
The comments resurfaced in May after conservative influencer accounts, including Libs of TikTok, shared video footage of the interaction. Republicans, including Vance, condemned the statements.
"This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language," Vance said in an X post May 5. "What a disgrace this person is."
In response to Vance, Omar said in an X post that she was "referring to the rise of white nationalism in an annual report issued by the Anti-Defamation League that said white supremacists were responsible for 78 percent of ‘extremist-related murders.’"
"PS you should look up what ‘genocidal’ actually means when you’re actively supporting a genocide taking place in Gaza," said Omar, who has been an outspoken advocate for the Palestinians in Gaza.
On Wednesday evening, two Israeli Embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were leaving a museum event when they were gunned down and killed. A pro-Palestinian man identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago was arrested, according to authorities.
Police said he chanted "Free, free Palestine" as he was arrested.
Yaron, born in Israel, grew up in Germany. While his father is Jewish, his mother is a Christian and the family is considered Christian. Milgrim was an American employee working for the Israeli Embassy.
Omar originally dodged reporters asking for her reaction to the shooting but later posted on X that she was "appalled" by the attack.
"I am appalled by the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum last night," Omar said in a Thursday post on X. "Holding the victims, their families, and loved ones in my thoughts and prayers. Violence should have no place in our country."
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said the U.S. should be "more fearful of white men" amid threats of domestic terrorism, which are comments from 2018 that resurfaced in May and attracted scrutiny from Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance.
Omar, who walked away from reporters on Thursday when asked about the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, D.C., the previous night, previously said the U.S. should be more concerned about white men.
"I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country," Omar said in a 2018 interview with Al Jazeera.
Omar’s remarks came in response to questions about the threats of domestic terrorism and "jihadism" in the U.S.
"And so, if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men," Omar told Al Jazeera.
A spokesperson for Omar did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital asking if Omar stood by her previous statements.
The comments resurfaced in May after conservative influencer accounts, including Libs of TikTok, shared video footage of the interaction. Republicans, including Vance, condemned the statements.
"This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language," Vance said in an X post May 5. "What a disgrace this person is."
In response to Vance, Omar said in an X post that she was "referring to the rise of white nationalism in an annual report issued by the Anti-Defamation League that said white supremacists were responsible for 78 percent of ‘extremist-related murders.’"
"PS you should look up what ‘genocidal’ actually means when you’re actively supporting a genocide taking place in Gaza," said Omar, who has been an outspoken advocate for the Palestinians in Gaza.
On Wednesday evening, two Israeli Embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were leaving a museum event when they were gunned down and killed. A pro-Palestinian man identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago was arrested, according to authorities.
Police said he chanted "Free, free Palestine" as he was arrested.
Yaron, born in Israel, grew up in Germany. While his father is Jewish, his mother is a Christian and the family is considered Christian. Milgrim was an American employee working for the Israeli Embassy.
Omar originally dodged reporters asking for her reaction to the shooting but later posted on X that she was "appalled" by the attack.
"I am appalled by the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum last night," Omar said in a Thursday post on X. "Holding the victims, their families, and loved ones in my thoughts and prayers. Violence should have no place in our country."
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
In a speech Thursday in North Carolina to soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pledged to restore what he called the U.S. military’s "warrior ethos" and announced pay raises for paratroopers.
Speaking during All American Week at Fort Bragg, Hegseth laid out President Donald Trump's vision focused on combat readiness, merit-based standards, and investment in the American warfighter.
"We’re going to bring it back to the basics," Hegseth said. "We’re going to restore the warrior ethos… and we are across our formations, a standard that’s set here every single day."
According to the Department of Defense, Hegseth used the occasion to announce an increase in hazardous duty incentive pay, known as jump pay. It will rise from $150 to $200 per month for paratroopers, and for the first time, jumpmasters will receive an additional $150 on top of their existing pay.
"For the first time in 25 years… we are increasing jump pay," Hegseth said. "Not only are we increasing jump pay, but… jumpmasters… are going to receive an additional $150 a month in incentive pay."
He added: "Here’s to our paratroopers, our jumpmasters, who do the difficult things in difficult places that most Americans can never imagine."
"Inside the corridors of the Pentagon, you are on our minds, with the decisions we make in budgets, in planning, in deployments, in orders, in reorganizations. We have you and your families in mind."
In his remarks, Hegseth shared a core defense strategy promoted by Trump: prioritize readiness, reject identity politics, and reassert American deterrence.
"We will focus on readiness, on training, on warfighting, on accountability, on standards. Black, white, male, female, doesn’t matter. We’re going to be colorblind and merit-based warfighters just like you are here in the 82nd."
This return to fundamentals, Hegseth argued is necessary to rebuild the force and deter growing global threats.
"President Trump is committed to historic investments inside our formations. Our promise to you is that when the 82nd Airborne is deployed… you will be equipped better than any other fighting force in the world."
Drawing a contrast with prior administrations, Hegseth referenced global instability, including the war in Ukraine, the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"Unfortunately, for a number of years, the world watched and wondered where American leadership and American strength was," he said. "By putting America first, we will reestablish peace through strength."
Hegseth closed by honoring the legacy and future of the 82nd.
"Like those who came before you, you keep showing the world the stuff you’re made of. Because we know you are ready for the important work that lies ahead."
The Army office of Public Affairs did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s removal of two Democratic appointees from federal boards, handing the administration a legal victory and settling a high-stakes dispute over the president's power to fire agency officials.
The Thursdayrulingcomes after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to temporarily halt the reinstatement of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) member Cathy Harris, two Democrat appointees who were abruptly terminated by the Trump administration this year.
Both had challenged their terminations as "unlawful" in separate lawsuits filed in D.C. federal court.
However, the high court suggested that it could block attempts to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who, according to Trump, has complained has not cut interest rates fast enough.
The issue confronting the justices was whether the board members, both appointed by President Joe Biden, can stay in their jobs while the larger fight continues over what to do with a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, in which the court unanimously ruled that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
"Not since the 1950s (or even before) has a President, without a legitimate reason, tried to remove an officer from a classic independent agency," Justice Elena Kagan wrote, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Kagan wrote that her colleagues were telegraphing what would happen.
"The impatience to get on with things—to now hand the President the most unitary, meaning also the most subservient, administration since Herbert Hoover (and maybe ever)—must reveal how that eventual decision will go," she wrote.
Lawyers for the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to either keep Wilcox and Harris off the job while the case moves through the lower courts, or to resolve the issue directly. They asked the justices to grant certiorari before judgment – a fast-track procedure the court uses occasionally to bypass the appeals process in cases of significant national importance.
They urged that Wilcox and Harris not be reinstated to their positions, arguing in their reply brief that the "costs of such reinstatements are immense."
They argued that keeping both Wilcox and Harris in place would "entrust" the president's powers "for the months or years that it could take the courts to resolve this litigation," something they said "would manifestly cause irreparable harm to the President and to the separation of powers."
"The President would lose control of critical parts of the Executive Branch for a significant portion of his term, and he would likely have to spend further months voiding actions taken by improperly reinstated agency leaders."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 7–4 to restore Wilcox and Harris to their respective boards, citing Supreme Court precedent in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States and Wiener v. United States – landmark rulings that upheld limits on the president’s power to remove members of independent federal agencies.
The majority noted that the Supreme Court has never overturned the decades-old precedent upholding removal protections for members of independent, multimember adjudicatory boards – such as the NLRB and MSPB – and said that precedent supported reinstating Wilcox and Harris.
It also rejected the Trump administration's request for an administrative stay, which would have allowed their removals to remain in place while the challenge proceeds in court.
"The Supreme Court has repeatedly told the courts of appeals to follow extant Supreme Court precedent unless and until that Court itself changes it or overturns it," judges noted in their opinion.
The ruling would have temporarily returned Harris and Wilcox to their posts – but the victory was short-lived. The Trump administration quickly appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted an emergency administrative stay blocking their reinstatement.
In their own Supreme Court filings, lawyers for Wilcox and Harris argued that the court should reinstate them to their roles on their respective boards until a federal appeals court can consider the matter.
Both Wilcox and Harris opposed the administration’s effort to fast-track the case, warning against skipping the normal appeals process and rushing arguments. "Rushing such important matters risks making mistakes and destabilizing other areas of the law," Harris’s lawyers told the Supreme Court this week.
Wilcox, the NLRB member, echoed this argument in her own brief to the high court.
Counsel for Wilcox cited the potential harm in removing her from the three-member NLRB panel – which they argued in their filing could bring "an immediate and indefinite halt to the NLRB’s critical work of adjudicating labor-relations disputes."
"The President’s choice to instead remove Ms. Wilcox does not bring the Board closer in line with his preferred policies; it prevents the agency from carrying out its congressionally mandated duties at all," they said.
Harris and Wilcox's cases are among several legal challenges attempting to clearly define the executive's power.
Hampton Dellinger, a Biden appointee previously tapped to head the Office of Special Counsel, sued the Trump administration over his termination. Dellinger filed suit in D.C. district court after his Feb. 7 firing.
He had maintained the argument that, by law, he could only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post.
Dellinger dropped his suit against the administration after the D.C. appellate court issued an unsigned order siding with the Trump administration.
The Justice Department, for its part, said in February a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that it was seeking to overturn Humphrey's Executor.
Far-left progressive billionaire Alex Soros is being slammed online for his statement condemning the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers despite funding anti-Israel groups through his Open Society Foundation (OSF).
Soros, who is the son and heir to George Soros’ fortune and philanthropic empire, condemned the killings in an X post, saying "the murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky at the Capital Jewish Museum was evil in its most basic form" and that "this brutal antisemitic act must be condemned in the strongest terms."
Milgrim and Lischinsky, two Israeli Embassy staffers who were set to be engaged, were killed outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.
D.C. police identified the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, who was taken into custody after the shooting attack. He was allegedly seen pacing outside the museum before he approached a group of four people, including the two victims, and opened fire. Rodriguez then reportedly went into the museum, where he was detained by security. He allegedly shouted "Free, free Palestine!" while in custody.
Though Soros condemned the killings, his statement was flooded with replies calling out his funding of radical anti-Israel groups that foment anti-Jewish sentiments.
"Alex, you and your father created this problem through the ruthless and international silencing of critics to open borders policies," said one X user named Joseph Janecka. "Their blood is on your hands as much as their murderers. We will never forget."
Carl Wheless, another user, commented, "You are behind the hate, so excuse us if you don't wish to hear from you on the matter."
Another, Eitan Fischberger, asserted that Soros "funds the revolutionary Marxist group the shooter belonged to."
Though the details of Rodriguez’s affiliations are currently unclear as chair of OSF, Soros has helped to fund several leftist groups that have accused Israel of genocide and called for the end of the Jewish state.
In 2023, Israel's minister of diaspora affairs and social equality, Amichai Chikli, told Fox News Digital that Soros is a mirror image of father George’s anti-Israel agenda.
When asked if Soros would continue to fund anti-Israel entities that bash the Jewish state, Chikli said it "looks like the son is a replica of his father. We have no expectation that his son will be a big Zionist."
Chikli added that OSF funds Human Rights Watch, which he said, "is attacking Israelis heavily and attacking Israel as an apartheid state and delegitimizing and demonizing Israel."
He also said OSF funds "J Street," an organization that claims to be pro-Israel but has faced criticism because of its support for positions that allegedly favor Iran’s regime and the Palestinians.
Chikli also noted that the Soros foundation "gives money to radical small Palestinian organizations in Israel that describe Israel as a colonial state and a moral sin." He cited the NGO Adalah, which means "justice" in Arabic, as an organization "denying the vision of Israel as a Jewish state" in its "published vision for Arab society in Israel."
The elder Soros has also faced intense criticism from Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. for pumping over $15 million into a network of nongovernmental organizations that allegedly support Hamas.
"George Soros’ donations to organizations that seek the destruction of the State of Israel as a Jewish state is shameful. However, I am not surprised," Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan told Fox News Digital in December 2023.
"For years, Soros has backed and transferred money to organizations supporting BDS that want to isolate Israel," added Erdan, who has been leading the diplomatic campaign at the U.N. to spell out Hamas’ crimes against humanity. "They have never been about real peace or any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here's what's happening…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to "pro-terrorist conduct" at campus protests, Fox News Digital has learned.
It's a severe consequence for what DHS claims is Harvard's refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders.
"This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. "It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country."…READ MORE
Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) event Thursday that the Trump administration is making history with its approval of numerous waivers that will eliminate junk food from food stamp programs.
Rollins was in Nebraska on Monday to sign the first alongside Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. She has also signed a waiver for Indiana and Iowa, "with half-a-dozen more coming down the line," she said.
"We are on track to sign multiples of snap waivers to get junk food and sugary drinks out of our food stamp system," Rollins said at the Thursday afternoon event, centering around the release of a 69-page report from the Trump administration's MAHA Commission on how to effect change around childhood chronic disease.
"That has never happened before under Republican or Democrat administrations," Rollins added. "We have never made that happen before. So I am so proud and so grateful."
On average, 42 million low-income Americans receive food stamp assistance each month, according to the MAHA report released at Thursday's event. It added that 1 in 5 American children under 17 receive SNAP benefits.
With Nebraska's waiver, it became the first state in the nation to bar recipients of federal food stamp programs from using the money to buy junk food, soda and other high-sugar items. The exemption will begin as a two-year pilot program, local media reported.
Other GOP-led states, including Texas and West Virginia, have applied for this waiver.
"SNAP was created to increase access to nutritious food; however, many SNAP purchases are for food with little to no nutritious value," Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott wrote in a letter to Rollins requesting a waiver last week.
"Under the Trump administration, for the first time since the program was authorized, states can take steps to eliminate the opportunity to buy junk food with SNAP benefits and assure that taxpayer dollars are used only to purchase healthy, nutritious food."
West Virginia's Governor Patrick Morrisey, one of the leaders requesting a waiver, has also been spearheading other MAHA efforts in his state. In March, Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 into law, which made it the first state in the nation to begin prohibiting certain synthetic dyes and additives used in food items sold in the state.
EXCLUSIVE: The Trump Department of Homeland Security is calling out a Biden-appointed "activist" judge in Massachusetts who paused the deportation of an illegal alien who DHS says sexually assaulted a disabled woman with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old.
The DHS shared a filing from the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry that says Burmese illegal Nyo Myint was convicted of attempted first-degree sexual assault of an individual incapable of consent.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that Myint, who was living in Lincoln, Nebraska, sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman "with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old."
"This ‘Lincoln man’ is an illegal alien and one of the monsters that the activist Massachusetts district judge is trying to bring back to the United States after he was deported yesterday," McLaughlin said.
DHS has said Myint had a final order of removal issued against him Aug. 17, 2023.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Massachusetts issued the ruling Tuesday night, ordering President Donald Trump's administration to maintain custody of eight illegal immigrants deported to South Sudan in case he rules the removals unlawful and they must be transferred back to the U.S.
Murphy's ruling said the government must "maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful."
After the ruling, McLaughlin called the decision "deranged," saying "these depraved individuals have all had their day in court and been given final deportation orders."
"A reminder of who was on this plane: murderers, child rapists, an individual who raped a mentally and physically disabled person," McLaughlin added. "The message this activist judge is sending to victims and their families is we don’t care. President Trump and Secretary Noem are working every day to get vicious criminals out of our country while activist judges are fighting to bring them back onto American soil."
According to DHS, the other illegals on the plane were Enrique Arias-Hierro, a Cuban national convicted of homicide and other crimes; Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, another Cuban convicted of attempted first-degree murder with a weapon; Thongxay Nilakout, a citizen of Laos, convicted of first-degree murder and robbery; Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, a Mexican national convicted of second-degree murder; Dian Peter Domach, a citizen of South Sudan convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm; Kyaw Mya, a citizen of Burma convicted of lascivious acts with a child victim less than 12 years of age; and Tuan Thanh Phan, a Vietnamese national convicted of first-degree murder.
The White House also issued a statement in response, saying the ruling is "another attempt by a far-left activist judge to dictate the foreign policy of the United States — and protect the violent criminal illegal immigrants President Donald J. Trump and his administration have removed from our streets."
Trump chimed in on Truth Social, saying the ruling has forced the deportation flight to pause in Djibouti.
Trump slammed Murphy as "a Federal Judge in Boston, who knew absolutely nothing about the situation, or anything else," and "ordered that EIGHT of the most violent criminals on Earth curtail their journey to South Sudan."
The president urged the Supreme Court to end the trend of judges inhibiting his administration’s deportation agenda.
"The Judges are absolutely out of control, they’re hurting our Country, and they know nothing about particular situations, or what they are doing — And this must change, IMMEDIATELY!" he said. "Hopefully, the Supreme Court of the United States will put an END to the quagmire that has been caused by the Radical Left."
