FIRST ON FOX: Several celebrities and media figures turned out in New York City on Wednesday night for liberal mega donor Alex Soros and former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s engagement party.
Fox News Digital obtained photos of guests leaving the engagement party, which took place at the SoHo home of Vogue executive Anna Wintour, showing former President Bill Clinton and Hillary attending the party along with MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
Also in attendance were Hollywood couple Adrian Brody and Georgina Chapman, as well as fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg and her husband, media mogul Barry Diller.
Soros and Abedin announced their engagement on social media over the summer, with Soros sharing a photo of himself down on one knee.
"This happened…we couldn’t be happier, more grateful, or more in love," Soros wrote in an Instagram post.
Abedin, the 48-year-old longtime aide to former Secretary of State Clinton, revealed to the public earlier this year that she was getting romantic with the 38-year-old Soros in a Valentine's Day post on Instagram, showing the pair cozying up behind a table full of roses at a restaurant booth in Paris.
The engagement of the progressive power couple comes seven years after Abedin separated from her first husband, disgraced Democratic politician Anthony Weiner. She filed for divorce in 2017, although it was not finalized until years later.
Abedin has been a staunch Clinton ally since she began interning for the former first lady in the White House back in 1996. She went on to work for her as a top aide in the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, as well as Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. She joined MSNBC in 2022.
Soros, 39, has been making headlines ever since he took control of his father's mammoth multibillion-dollar Open Society Foundations in June 2023. Since then, he has been jet-setting around and meeting with top Democratic officials, former President Clinton and even attending meetings with Pope Francis. Soros has also visited President Biden's White House at least 20 times, records show.
Soros has posted dozens of photos of himself and leading House and Senate Democrats since 2018. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California appear the most often on his social media feeds. He also posted a photo with Vice President Kamala Harris, writing, "Great to recently catch up with Madame Vice President, [Kamala Harris]!"
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
A conservative research group has sent a letter to President-elect Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi, calling on her to fire a number of Department of Justice (DOJ) workers who it says are "woke radical leftists and donors" who cannot be trusted to carry out Trump’s agenda.
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) wrote to Bondi urging her to sack the individuals who currently work for the agency’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, claiming that they have pushed transgender issues, worked for George Soros-linked organizations and donated to radical left-wing politicians and groups. The voting section is tasked with enforcing federal laws that protect the right to vote.
"These people are woke radical leftists and donors who have no place in the Department of Justice," the group writes in the letter signed by AAF President Thomas Jones. "In order to restore the American people’s trust in election integrity and a neutral civil service, they must be fired and replaced with America-first attorneys who will execute on the agenda the American People voted for in November."
The letter, which rails against the "deep state" terrorizing the country and "threatening democracy itself," was also addressed to Harmett Dhillon, President-elect Trump’s nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Bondi is the former Florida Attorney General.
The letter zeroes on DOJ employees Janie Sitton, Catherine Meza, Daniel Freeman, John "Bert" Russ IV and Dana Paikowsky, and attempts to make a case as to why they are unfit to work at the agency. AAF also promises to share more information on "problematic staff" in the future.
Sitton, the group says, is being singled out for her promotion of the transgender agenda and donating to leftist politicians.
In 2000, while working for the DOJ, Sitton authored an article that called for the adoption of a new legal system deemed "transgender jurisprudence" and stated the need to "rethink" the basic known "assumptions and constructs upon which our society and laws are based."
Sitton even took issue with common traditions such as identifying a newborn infant as a boy or girl based on the child’s sex, arguing that society has been wrong to assume or assign a gender to infants, the AAF says.
Paikowsky, the group says, has worked for years advancing far-left political agendas, including pushing for prisoners to vote, and has deep ties with Soros-linked organizations.
In addition to donating to liberal politicians, Paikowsky’s LinkedIn shows that she worked as a policy associate for the Open Society Foundations, an organization founded by the billionaire financier.
Shortly after graduating from Harvard Law School, Paikowsky then went to work for the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) as a fellow for the Equal Justice Works program while also working as a legal intern for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. The CLC has received significant funding from Soros in recent years, according to the AAF.
A 2019 law review article Paikowsky wrote for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review suggested an extensive framework to turn "jails into polling places" and described numerous examples of local elections across the nation, including local district attorney races, where a small number of inmate voters could have changed the election results, according to the AAF.
The group also slams Meza, who is an attorney at the voting division, for supporting gun control while she was chief counsel for the NAACP and claiming that she had accused people of not wearing masks or observing proper social distancing rules as forms of voter intimidation in 2020.
Russ made the list for being an attorney for the DOJ who had filed a 2021 complaint against Georgia’s election integrity initiatives. The complaint accused the state of having racist intentions by prohibiting unsolicited absentee ballots from being mailed to voters, requiring voter identification and prohibiting the potential bribing of voters with food and drinks at polling places.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ’s Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Fox News Digital also asked the agency whether each of those named in the letter would like to respond.
It's not the first time the AAF has sought to influence the makeup of the federal government under Trump. Last week, the group compiled a list of "woke" senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to sack, should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.
"Hot Ones" host Sean Evans doing a version of his interview show with Jimmy Fallon and Priyanka Chopra Jonas in 2019. Now the show will be owned by George Soros.
Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
BuzzFeed used to be a high-flying digital publisher. Now it has shrunk considerably.
BuzzFeed needed to find a way to pay off a big debt obligation due this month.
It solved that problem by selling the company behind "Hot Ones" for $83 million to a fund controlled by investor George Soros.
Good news for BuzzFeed: It no longer has a huge debt problem looming over its head.
Slightly less good news for BuzzFeed: Solving the debt problem means the company needed to sell one of its buzziest assets — First We Feast, the production company that owns the "Hot Ones" interview show.
And now Hot Ones — the show where celebrities answer questions while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings — is going to be owned by … investor George Soros and his family.
There's a bit going on here. We can break it down in a minute. But the big picture is that BuzzFeed, once considered a world-beating digital publisher, has staved off a potential extinction event (and, for what it's worth, has likely extinguished a threat posed by investor and political player Vivek Ramaswamy). And in addition, George Soros has added another asset to an interesting collection of media investments he has assembled in the past few years.
But now BuzzFeed has sold First We Feast/Hot Ones to what it's calling a consortium "led by an affiliate of Soros Fund Management LLC" for $82.5 million in cash. Then it took the proceeds from that sale, threw in some cash it already had on hand, and paid back some $90 million of its debt obligations. BuzzFeed says it has $30 million in debt remaining, and that money is due in a year.
"BuzzFeed says its remaining businesses — BuzzFeed, the pop culture site best known for listicles, quizzes, and celebrity news; Huffington Post, the left-leaning news site; and Tasty, its food vertical — will power the company in the future, along with what CEO Jonah Peretti calls "new AI-powered interactive experiences."
First We Feast, meanwhile, says it will now operate as a standalone company. It says the deal and its new ownership structure will let it "fuel existing and new content franchises" and fund "future partnerships and acquisitions with other creators." A press release from the company says "Hot Ones" host Sean Evans is one of the investors in the new company, which suggests he's going to be sticking around for a while.
And while it might seem weird for Soros, who is worth a reported $7.2 billion and whose funding of liberal causes has made him a bogeyman for some US conservatives, to own a celebrity interview show, it's not a total shocker, for a couple of reasons.
For starters, Soros' empire — now run by his son Alex — has been making movies into media over the last few years. In 2022, it acquired a minority stake in Crooked Media, the podcast company best known for its "Pod Save America" show. And earlier this year, Soros acquired a controlling stake in Audacy, a bankrupt radio company with more than 200 stations in the US — a deal that incensed some Republicans.
There's also some connective tissue between Soros and BuzzFeed at play here via media executive Michael Del Nin. Back in 2021, Del Nin put together the deal that allowed BuzzFeed to go public, and he was set to become one of BuzzFeed's top executives in 2022. Instead, Del Nin went to Soros, where he leads the investment company's media unit.
The deal also means that BuzzFeed has reduced its risk that Ramaswamy, an investor and soon-to-be DOGE cochair advising the next Trump administration, will have meaningful influence in its future.
Earlier this year, Ramaswamy bought up a 9% stake in BuzzFeed and told Peretti he should bring a group of conservative media types onto BuzzFeed's board and turn BuzzFeed into a Twitter-style platform. Then he suggested that when BuzzFeed's debt came due this month, the company would be unable to pay it back and that somehow Ramaswamy would end up controlling the company. That doesn't seem like an option anymore.
FIRST ON FOX: Austin, Texas, police officers past and present are speaking out against the county’s progressive district attorney after a fellow officer was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for what they say was a case of him performing his job the right way.
Austin police officer Christopher Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of deadly conduct, after originally being charged with murder in the shooting death of 46-year-old Mauris DeSilva in 2019.
DeSilva was in the midst of a mental health episode, walking around an apartment complex, threatening to harm himself and holding a knife to his throat, when he failed to drop the knife after being instructed by officers to do so.
Fox News Digital spoke to several members of the law enforcement community in Austin who say that Taylor’s prosecution represents a malicious targeting of police officers on the part of the county’s progressive district attorney, Jose Garza.
"The weaponization of our Justice System by Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza has taken away the life of Officer Chris Taylor today," Austin police officer Justin Berry told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"Chris knew that by wearing the badge of a police officer he may be called to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service and protection of another officer or his community. I do not believe he, nor his family, ever thought his life would be taken by a malicious District Attorney with a spiteful agenda against a police officer trying to protect himself and others. I have spoken with Law Enforcement leaders from around Texas and we all stand behind Officer Chris Taylor and the other maliciously persecuted officers against the ongoing weaponization of the justice system for rogue District Attorneys to abuse with impunity."
Garza has long faced criticism from law enforcement in Austin for an alleged "war on cops" after the Soros-backed district attorney campaigned on indicting police officers and "reimagining" policing in Austin. Soros contributed $652,000 to the Texas Justice & Public Safety PAC in the months leading up to the 2020 Travis County DA election, according to campaign finance records. That same PAC spent almost $1 million on digital and mail advertisements to help Garza’s campaign.
Berry, who was one of over a dozen police officers indicted by Garza for their role in quelling Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, told Fox News Digital that Taylor’s situation "highlights the historic abuse of office by Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza to further his personal war against the men and women of the Austin Police Department."
"Today Garza sent a clear message that police officers in Travis County, Texas are prohibited from defending themselves and others (to include members of this very community)," Berry told Fox News Digital. "When an armed subject charges at an officer to harm or kill that officer, every police officer has always been trained and taught they are legally justified in defending themselves or others from serious bodily injury or death. Today that is no longer the case in Austin, Texas. Jose Garza has set the policy that no police officer should respond to ANY call involving anyone in a mental health crisis, especially if they are armed with a weapon."
A second Austin police officer, who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely, called Tuesday a "sad" and "dark day" for Austin.
"No one wants to go to these mental health calls anymore and, if we do go, there will be some hesitation," the officer said. "This conviction will cause people to get hurt when they otherwise wouldn’t have.
"We’re all heart broken for Chris and his family. Chris showed up, answered the call, utilized sound tactics and decision-making, and is now looking at a two-year prison sentence. We haven’t gotten any meaningful guidance because — what do you change when Chris did it the right way?"
The officers who spoke with Fox News Digital maintain that Taylor followed his training, which was backed up by testimony in Taylor’s defense from former Austin police chief Brian Manley and former Austin assistant city manager Bruce Mills. Additionally, an internal police department review of the incident concluded Taylor followed protocol, and he was allowed to return to work.
The prosecution argued that Taylor, believed to be the first police officer in Travis County to be convicted for use of force, could have defused the situation without deadly force and that DeSilva was not a threat at the time deadly force was used.
"We lost him because of your ignorance," DeSilva’s father said in court. "You were reckless. You know very well that he was not a danger to you, Mr. Taylor, or anyone else. I have no idea why you decided to shoot him."
Dennis Farris, president of Austin Police Retired Officers Association, pointed Fox News Digital to evidence in the trial that DeSilva had meth in his system, a blood alcohol level of over .20 and testimony that DeSilva was moving toward the officers armed with a knife from a short distance away.
"We as a society cannot expect police officers to go out every day and protect us while they worry if they will be indicted by some elected DA who decides what they did was criminal," Farris told Fox News Digital. "Chris Taylor followed the law and his training in dealing with this situation and somehow the prosecutors convinced a jury that it was unlawful."
"This verdict and sentence are absolutely a miscarriage of justice by a DA who is targeting police officers for doing their job and letting real criminals off with little or no punishment," he said.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT) said Garza has "set out on a mission and has engaged in the political persecution of nearly 30 brave law enforcement officers across this county."
"Officer Taylor followed his training and written procedures and acted exactly as any reasonable officer would have," the statement from CLEAT said. "That was made clear by several witnesses to include the former Chief of Police of the Austin Police Department. Countless experts in use of force and police procedures testified that his actions were justified and well within nationally recognized training standards and protocols. On behalf of our organization and its 28,000 members, we stand by Officer Taylor, his family, and the members of the Austin Police Department."
When contacted by Fox News Digital regarding the concerns from law enforcement, Garza’s office responded with a statement saying, "In this case, Mr. Taylor was convicted by a Travis County jury and sentenced by a Travis County Judge."
"We are grateful for our devoted team who worked diligently to ensure accountability for the defendant and to seek justice for the victim and their family," Garza’s office said in a statement Tuesday night, KVUE-TV reported. "We truly hope this outcome brings comfort and support to the DeSilva family as they continue their healing journey."
Garza's office had previously charged Taylor with murder in an unrelated case shortly after taking office in 2020. That case ended in a mistrial in November of last year, and his office has said that case will not be brought again.
Roughly half a dozen police officers are currently facing charges in Travis County and Berry told Fox News Digital that the families of those officers are in dire need of support.
"Chris is not the only officer under Garza’s hit list, there are many other Austin Police Officers awaiting their sham trials in this political miscarriage of justice," Berry said. "These officers and their families have had their entire lives ripped from them and are left waiting for their trial date to have Jose Garza take his shot at ending their lives too. Enough is enough with this abuse of power and miscarriage of justice. These officers and their families also need our support in what seems like a hopeless time for them."
Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock, in a statement posted on X, wrote that he believes Garza is playing "political games."
"Throughout this trial they have ignored and tried to discredit their own experts, claimed to be tactical experts, gone after other officers who were called in to testify, and made every attempt to vilify the Austin Police Department," Bullock wrote. "Tonight, Dexter Gilford from the DA’s office went as far as saying the DA’s office knows more about tactics than the officers who actually face these realities every day.
"This District Attorney has given sweetheart plea deals to rapists and violent criminals; while ignoring victims, he has spent untold amounts of taxpayer money to repeatedly go after Detective Taylor who was put in an impossible situation and forced to defend himself and others against someone high on meth and armed with a knife. No matter how much Garza will try to convince people otherwise, he is actively making our city more dangerous by freeing criminals and targeting cops."
Scott Bessent was nominated to be the Treasury secretary.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
A 2017 presentation for macro investor Scott Bessent's hedge fund explains his research process and "edge."
Bessent, the nominee for Treasury secretary by President-elect Donald Trump, said his "guiding research principle is change."
His firm, Key Square Capital, struggled to generate returns despite its strong pedigree.
As Scott Bessent's political profile rose, so did the chatter around his macro hedge fund's relatively poor returns.
Bessent — the former righthand man for billionaire George Soros and now the nominee for Treasury secretary by President-elect Donald Trump — saw billions of dollars leave his firm, Key Square Capital, after its 2016 launch, Reuters reported. The manager lost money in 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021 before notching double-digit gains in the last three years. This year's gains were helped by a bet on Trump's reelection.
In macro investing though, performance can be choppy, and Bessent's investing process is a throwback to old-school macro traders like his former boss, according to a 2017 Key Square presentation reviewed by Business Insider.
It's not clear if there have been any changes to the investment process in the seven years since the presentation was created. Bessent worked for Soros for 15 years and, before that, was the first-ever analyst for legendary short-seller Jim Chanos' Kynikos Associates.
The presentation details how Bessent might go about crafting his views on fiscal policy in his new role, should he be confirmed by the Senate following Trump's inauguration.
"Key Square views its research process as a think tank that is bolted on to disciplined trading and risk management," one slide reads. The manager describes the team as "aggressive intellectuals" who "organize frequent teach-ins" and have a constant stream of outside experts coming to the office to speak to the team.
"Our guiding research principle is change," the presentation continues, stating that there isn't a "singular framework" for evaluating potential investments, but instead an evolving view that changes when new information is available.
The firm prides itself on finding that new information. The presentation claims that the Key Square team reads "voraciously," travels frequently, and taps the firm's "unparalleled global network of contacts consisting of policymakers, political advisors, industry leaders, corporate management teams, consultants, academics, and market participants."
Sell-side analysts, though, do not factor heavily into Key Square's process.
"We finish rather than start with the Street," the presentation states, tapping the research teams at big banks only to "understand consensus or seek alternative views."
The presentation also said that it considered the firm's patience and investment horizon a part of its "competitive edge."
"We are investors, not traders," the presentation reads. The typical investment is held for one to three years, and the firm is comfortable waiting to put money to work until the timing is right.
"We invest in the future, study the past, and focus on current pricing."
Scott Bessent has been nominated to serve as Treasury secretary, a highly sought-after position.
DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a billionaire investor, for Treasury secretary.
Bessent spent years working for George Soros before founding a hedge fund.
He's signaled support for many of Trump's proposals, including deregulation and tariffs.
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a Wall Street veteran and campaign ally, for Treasury secretary, one of the biggest Cabinet prizes.
Trump made the announcement Friday evening in a Truth Social post after multiple news organizations reported the plans. Trump's spokesperson did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.
"Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists," Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, "we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America."
Bessent, 62, founded and runs the macro hedge fund Key Square Group and emerged as a key economic advisor to Trump on the campaign trail.
Bessent was a top choice for Trump early in the cabinet selection process. He widened his search, however, adding Kevin Warsh and billionaire investor Marc Rowan to the mix after growing frustrated by the "knife fight" jockeying between Bessent and Howard Lutnick over the position, The New York Times reported.
Elon Musk chimed in during that time, throwing his support behind Lutnick for Treasury secretary.
"My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change," Musk wrote.
But Trump nominated Lutnick for commerce secretary on Tuesday. Axios reported Monday that Warsh was eyeing Fed chair in the future.
Bessent's journey to the top tier of the GOP financial world hasn't been entirely linear, though — it includes years working for the liberal philanthropist George Soros and hosting a fundraiser for Al Gore, a former Democratic vice president.
The billionaire investor spent his childhood in South Carolina. His father went bankrupt investing in real estate, which Bessent later said led him to get his first summer job when he was 9 years old, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bessent attended Yale and broke onto the investing scene after working for Soros' first partner, James Rogers. He joined Soros Fund Management in 1991.
By 2011, Bessent was Soros' chief investment officer, and he was instrumental in the fund's hugely successful bets against the British pound and Japanese yen. In 2015, Bessent broke off to start Key Square. He hasn't talked to Soros in years, The Wall Street Journal said.
In 2011, Bessent married his husband, John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor. They primarily live in Charleston, South Carolina, with their two children. They spend their spare time preserving historic mansions and used to own an 1880s-era house in Southampton, New York.
Despite his nomination that would put him at the center of Trumpworld, Bessent has a somewhat checkered political history. He disagreed with much of the work Soros did through his nonprofit and has primarily donated to Republican candidates, though he's helped Democrats on occasion. In 2000, Bessent held a fundraiser at his home for Gore's presidential bid.
By 2016, Bessent was inching toward Trump, telling people they weren't taking Trump seriously enough as a candidate. After Trump won, Bessent donated $1 million to his inaugural committee. Though Bessent has known Trump's family for decades, the 2024 election brought him closer to the former and future president — Trump has called Bessent "one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street" and "a nice-looking guy." Rather than slam Bessent for his previous connections to Soros, a favorite right-wing punching bag, Trump appears impressed by how successful he was at Soros' firm.
Bessent donated $3 million to Trump-aligned PACs and Republican committees this election cycle. His support extended beyond his pocketbook, as he frequently conferred with campaign officials on economic plans. Known for his interest in niche economic data, Bessent helped draft speeches and write policy proposals for Trump's economic ideas. By the end of the race, Bessent was fully woven into Trump's orbit; he attended the last two rallies and watched from Mar-a-Lago as election results rolled in.
As treasury secretary, Bessent would face a mixed economic landscape. While unemployment is low and the economy is growing at a healthy clip, Americans remain frustrated by high prices and what they see as runaway inflation. Dubbed a "Trump whisperer" by Forbes, Bessent has signaled support for some of Trump's key proposals.
Among Bessent's top priorities is shrinking the country's significant debt, primarily through increasing growth and, in turn, boosting tax revenues. He has also supported Trump's tariffs proposal, telling CNBC that they should be "layered in gradually" to spread out any inflationary impact. At one point, Bessent floated the idea of a shadow Federal Reserve chair — under his theory, Trump would nominate a replacement to lead the central bank before Jerome Powell's term ends in 2026. After facing blowback, Bessent walked back the idea.
Bessent has advised Trump on a "3-3-3 policy," which the Journal described as "cutting the budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2028, spurring GDP growth of 3% through deregulation, and producing an additional 3 million barrels of oil or its equivalent a day."
On November 10, the Journal published an opinion piece by Bessent that praised Trump's economic vision. The markets, he wrote, were evidently giddy about the former president's return to the White House. Beyond lavishing praise on Trump, he said that the US should slash bank regulations, overhaul the Inflation Reduction Act, and reinvigorate American energy investment.
"Mr. Trump has turned around the economy before, and he is ready to do so again," Bessent said.
A video that recently circulated online showed Musk raising his hand after someone asked where there was a "George Soros of the right."
Musk, who strongly supported President-elect Donald Trump's 2024 White House bid, has likened himself to a centrist version of Soros.
"More accurate would be that I'm ‘George Soros’ of the middle. I don’t want the pendulum to swing too far right, but right now it’s just too far left," he posted.
During a 2023 appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience," Musk said that in his view, George Soros "fundamentally hates humanity."
Alex Soros is chair of the board of directors of the Open Society Foundations, which was founded by his father.
"The Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros, are the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights," according to opensocietyfoundations.org.
Trump has tapped Musk and former GOP presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to work for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The president-elect said in a statement that DOGE "will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before."
