Thursday, October 9, 2025

Turning Point’s Church Ties Collide with Israeli Influence Network

Jose Nino
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Turning Point’s Church Ties Collide with Israeli Influence Network

(José Niño, Headline USA) When mourners filled Dream City Church in September to remember Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, few could have imagined that the same megachurch now stands at the center of a registered foreign influence operation.

A recent Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing by Show Faith by Works, LLC, a San Diego–based firm, discloses a $3.26 million contract with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to run what it calls the “largest Christian Church Geofencing Campaign in U.S. history”, according to a report by Israel-Palestine News. The campaign’s stated goal is to promote pro-Israel narratives and counter pro-Palestinian sentiment among American Christians, particularly across California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado.

The FARA filing describes a sophisticated operation combining digital surveillance, grassroots organizing, and targeted propaganda. It details the use of geofencing technology to track churchgoers’ mobile devices during worship services and Christian college gatherings, then deliver tailored ads and messaging supporting Israel’s position on the Gaza conflict. 

According to the filing, the project’s budget allocates $1.55 million for grassroots staff, $685,000 for media targeting, and $550,000 for “specialist purchasing.” The campaign targets 303 megachurches and more than 33,000 smaller congregations, along with 39 Christian colleges representing an estimated audience of 3.9 million worshippers and 100,000 students.

Among those churches is Dream City Church in Phoenix, one of the largest evangelical congregations in the Southwest with an estimated 20,000 regular attendees per Outreach Magazine. 

Dream City has long been intertwined with Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its late founder. The Phoenix New Times reported that the church hosted Kirk’s monthly “Freedom Night in America” events and major TPUSA conferences, including the annual AmFest gathering. Kirk also served on the church’s board and frequently appeared in its services and broadcasts.

Those ties took on new significance after TPUSA spokesman Andrew Kolvet told Fox News that the organization’s “tech partners tracked over 277,000 devices” at the service. Kolvet framed the figure as a testament to Kirk’s broad influence and the scope of public interest in his death. Yet in light of the FARA disclosure, that data point has raised questions about whether similar tracking tools were used to monitor worshippers and attendees across religious events connected to TPUSA.

The FARA filing does not mention TPUSA directly. But its methods — geofencing religious sites, harvesting mobile data, and retargeting attendees with online content — mirror the technology Kolvet described. 

The campaign’s activities extend beyond the digital realm. The filing details plans for “Pastoral Resource Packages,” influencer partnerships, and weekly podcasts promoting Israel’s narrative. Among the campaign’s priorities is recruiting high-profile Christian figures, including athletes and entertainers, to amplify pro-Israel messages to younger audiences.

The effort forms part of a larger Israeli public relations strategy. According to reporting from Israel-Palestine News and Headline USA, Israel has allocated at least $150 million for global information campaigns since 2024, contracting firms such as Clock Tower X, SKDK, and Bridges Partners to manage influence operations on social media and in faith communities.

The FARA filing can be found here.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

 

Report: Hunter Biden Sought to Sell Land Near U.S. Embassy to the Chinese

Luis Cornelio
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Report: Hunter Biden Sought to Sell Land Near U.S. Embassy to the Chinese

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Years after conservative outlets exposed Hunter Biden’s shady foreign business dealings, the New York Times has now acknowledged yet another case of potential corruption and conflict of interest — this time tied to Romania and the Chinese. 

According to the Times, Biden was part of a venture that sought sell land around the U.S. Embassy building in Romania to a group that included a Chinese company.

“The deal he was pursuing left open the possibility that the Chinese could have ended up with an ownership stake in a critical asset—the land around the embassy in Bucharest, and possibly the land on which the embassy sat,” the Times reported on Tuesday.

“The possibility concerned one of his former partners who sought to avoid the outcome at the time, while another partner later rejected the idea that it was ever on the table.”

The Times reported that the land deal collapsed in 2017, before the Chinese invested any money in it, due to a feud between Biden’s partners.

Still, Hunter’s work in Romania was one of the cases that left him vulnerable to possible foreign agent charges. In 2015, Hunter was recruited by Romanian real estate magnate Gabriel Popoviciu, who had been under investigation since the early 2000s, in an effort to sway U.S. officials on his behalf. 

Just one year earlier, in 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden had traveled to Bucharest to slam corruption as “a cancer.” Yet, his son would end up working with one of Romania’s most controversial real estate developers. 

Popoviciu enlisted both Hunter and his uncle James Biden, who sought to bring in funding from CEFC China Energy, a company tied to the communist government’s Belt and Road initiative. 

According to the Times, Hunter leveraged his family name to attract CEFC’s investment. Between 2015 and 2017, Popoviciu paid Hunter $1 million, while another $2 million were put aside for Hunter’s associates. 

Special Counsel David Weiss flagged the deal as a possible violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, alleging that Hunter had cunningly arranged the payments to avoid “political ramifications” for his father. 

Weiss used the Romania case in 2023 as leverage in negotiating an already lenient plea deal that would have spared Hunter from FARA charges. That deal collapsed amid scrutiny from the judge who presided over the case. 

Hunter “performed almost no work in exchange for the millions of dollars he received from these entities,” Weiss said. 

Hunter’s efforts in Romania proved unsuccessful. In 2016, Popoviciu was sentenced to seven years in prison. His sentence was vacated by a Romanian court in 2024. That same year, Biden became the first president in U.S. history to issue sweeping pardons to his family. 

The Times story is written by Kenneth P. Vogel as he promotes his upcoming book titled Devils’ Advocates; The Hidden Story of Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, and the Washington Insiders on the Payrolls of Corrupt Foreign Interests. The timing is notable because the outlet largely ignored the scandal for years.

 

FBI ‘Summer Heat’ Arrests Include ‘Most Wanted’ Fugitives, Gang Members

Headline USA Editor
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FBI ‘Summer Heat’ Arrests Include ‘Most Wanted’ Fugitives, Gang Members

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) During a three-month “Summer Heat,” operation, FBI and law enforcement partners made 8,629 arrests as part of a national initiative targeting violent crime.

Ten FBI field offices prioritized finding dangerous fugitives, leading to more than 750 arrests – including more than 30 wanted for murder.

Key arrests in California, Florida, Massachusetts and Texas netted dangerous fugitives on the FBI Most Wanted List, including violent gang members and Mexican drug traffickers.

In California, San Diego Field Office agents arrested 76 people, including a violent fugitive from Mexico wanted for supplying thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine to distributors throughout San Diego and Los Angeles.

FBI San Diego agents also seized five weapons, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine worth more than $1.9 million and located seven missing children in sexual exploitation situations. They also helped secure prison sentences “for an FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive behind a multimillion-dollar criminal empire that lured young women into pornography through lies, coercion, and manipulation,” and for those arrested and sentenced for sexual exploitation or abuse of a minor.

In Florida, FBI Jacksonville agents arrested 120 people, including dozens of violent gang members and two wanted for distributing child sex abuse material. They recovered more than 50 weapons and multiple drug seizures. In one operation in Daytona, they arrested 28 Mongols motorcycle gang members as part of a joint operation with the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and Seventh Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office.

In North Texas, FBI Dallas agents arrested several fugitives, including Ten Most Wanted fugitives Cindy Rodriguez Singh and Cesar Pascual Orozco, who were extradited from India and Mexico, respectively. They were wanted for child sex crimes, murder, and violent robberies, including robbing an armored vehicle. FBI Dallas agents made arrests for “possession, distribution, and production of child sexual abuse material; violent robberies; drug-related charges; and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.” They also seized seven kilograms of fentanyl and 29 firearms.

Boston Field Office agents arrested the third greatest number of people in the country, 404, in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. They also made 129 drug seizures, 38 weapons seizures and found 27 missing children.

One key arrest was made in western Massachusetts with multiple law enforcement agencies targeting neighborhood-based gangs operating in Holyoke and open-air drug dealing where shootings occurred. They arrested 52 and made multiple drug and firearms seizures.

In southern Maine, FBI agents arrested 35, seized multiple firearms and narcotics. In New Hampshire, FBI efforts led to the indictments of 12 people on charges of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and other drugs; five others were arrested in a robbery conspiracy in Londonderry.

In Rhode Island, 17 gang members, fugitives and drug traffickers were arrested. In one case, seven people were arrested on drug trafficking and firearms related charges, seizing large amounts of fentanyl pills, powder, cocaine, and seven firearms, including an AR-15, two semi-automatic handguns, three handguns, and a Glock switch, the FBI said.

In New York, FBI Buffalo agents arrested 207 dangerous fugitives and seized more than 10 kilograms of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine, eight firearms, and $243,000 in cash. In South Carolina, Columbia Field Office agents made 51 arrests and seized 15 firearms, 28 kilos of cocaine, and $620,000 in cash.

In Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Memphis and Miami, FBI agents and law enforcement partners arrested 417 people and seized 159 firearms.

In Philadelphia, FBI agents arrested three suspected of committing a June armed robbery of an armored truck; Kansas City Field Office FBI agents arrested three wanted for a violent car theft ring implicated in homicides, non-fatal shootings, and armed robberies.

Operation Summer Heat involved all 55 FBI field offices working with state and local partners targeting violent criminals, fugitives, gangs and transnational criminal organization members. The bulk of the arrests, more than 6,500, were gang members, the FBI said.

More than 1,000 child victims were found and violent crime cases in Indian Country were resolved. The operation also led to the seizure of nearly 45,000 kilograms of cocaine, 421 kilograms of fentanyl, and 2,281 weapons, the FBI said.

Unions Sue Trump over 100k H-1B Visa Fee

Headline USA Editor
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Unions Sue Trump over 100k H-1B Visa Fee

(The Center Square) – A coalition of employment unions filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from implementing efforts to charge a $100,000 fee for new H-1B worker petitions in the United States.

On Sept. 19, President Trump signed a proclamation imposing a one-time $100,000 fee for foreign workers coming to the country on H-1B visas. He cited wage suppression and a lack of jobs for American workers in his proclamation.

H-1B visas are typically issued for high-skilled foreign workers in science, technology and engineering fields.

The H-1B program operates on a random lottery system. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in 2025, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta were in the top five companies petitioning for H-1B visas. Amazon recruited more than 10,000 H-1B applicants in 2025 alone, according to USCIS.

University professor unions, automobile and agriculture unions, and nurse staffing groups were among those who filed the lawsuit against the Trump administration. The unions argue Trump went beyond his authority by imposing the fee against new H-1B visa applicants.

“Most fundamentally, the President has no authority to unilaterally impose fees, taxes or other mechanisms to generate revenue for the United States, nor to dictate how those funds are spent,” the lawsuit reads.

The unions also argue imposing a fee on new petitions will harm hospitals, churches, schools and universities, on the basis that the law will lead to a workforce shortage in critical industries.

In addition to several unions, two individuals, who are cited under aliases, joined the lawsuit against the Trump administration. One individual is a pastor in the Appalachia region originally from the United Kingdom and the other is a postdoctoral researcher in northern California originally from India.

Each individual is afraid they will incur a fee if they renew status as a visa worker in the United States, due to the Trump administration’s proclamation.

The unions and individuals argue Congress already implements fees for the adjudication and authorization of certain petitions for H-1B workers. The union petitioners argue an employer filing for an H-1B worker visa would pay less than $8,000 if it followed all statutory and regulatory fees mandated by Congress.

The unions also accuse the Trump administration of failing to properly account for the system it intends to set up to intake fee payments for H-1B visas.

“[The Department of Homeland Security] has also failed to explain what criteria or factors it will consider in determining whether an individual, an employer, or an industry will be exempt from the $100,000 requirement,” the lawsuit reads. “This failure invites arbitrary, selective enforcement of the new requirement.”

The lawsuit was filed Friday in the California Northern District Court and is set for discussion in January 2026, according to legal filings.

White House Says No Decision Yet on $2,000 Tariff Rebate Checks

Headline USA Editor
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White House Says No Decision Yet on $2,000 Tariff Rebate Checks

(, The Center Square) President Donald Trump and some GOP lawmakers have repeatedly floated the idea of sharing some of the government’s tariff revenue with taxpayers, but the White House said no checks are in the mail.

Trump said in an interview that he was considering sending Americans checks for between $1,000 and $2,000 from the tariff revenue.

“We’re going to do something, we’re looking at something. No. 1, we’re paying down debt. Because people have allowed the debt to go crazy,” the president told OAN. “We’ll pay back debt, but we also might make a distribution to the people, almost like a dividend to the people of America.”

The president said the $37 trillion national debt is “very little, relatively speaking” because the government is raking in tariff revenue.

Trump has said the tariffs will generate trillions in federal revenue, although other estimates are much lower.

In August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said federal debt is the top priority.

“We’re going to bring down the deficit to GDP,” he said in a TV interview. “We’ll start paying down the debt, and then at that point that can be used as an offset to the American people.”

Bessent has estimated the tariffs will generate about $300 billion a year.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump hasn’t decided yet.

“I think it’s an idea that the president has discussed and floated with his advisers, but no decision has been firmly made at this point in time,” Leavitt told reporters on Monday.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that Trump’s tariffs could bring in $4 trillion over the next decade, but would raise consumer prices and reduce the purchasing power of U.S. families.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced the American Worker Rebate Act, legislation that would send rebate checks to working Americans of at least $600 per adult and dependent child (or about $2,400 for a family of four).

That bill remains stalled in the Senate.

Earlier in his administration, Trump and former adviser Elon Musk floated the idea of returning money to taxpayers through the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk’s DOGE initially expected to find $2 trillion in savings by cutting waste fraud and abuse. However, Musk has since left the White House and DOGE was on track to save about $150 billion as of an April cabinet meeting.

Trump has made tariffs the centerpiece of his economic agenda during the first six months of his second term.

According to an analysis of federal data from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, the president’s new tariffs raised $80.3 billion in revenue between January 2025 and July 2025 before accounting for income and payroll tax offsets.

Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families, and pay down the national debt.

A tariff is a tax on imported goods that the importer pays, not the producer. The importer pays the cost of the duties directly to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a federal agency.

In the past 50 years, the federal government has ended with a fiscal year-end budget surplus four times, most recently in 2001. Congress has run a deficit every year since then.

According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. debt stands at $37.8 trillion.

Biden Officials Suppressed CIA Report on Hunter’s Ukraine Dealings

Luis Cornelio
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Biden Officials Suppressed CIA Report on Hunter’s Ukraine Dealings

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Aides to then-Vice President Joe Biden shielded Hunter Biden from scrutiny by blocking the circulation of an intelligence report to policymakers about his controversial business dealings. 

The February 2016 order was made directly by the official in charge of Biden’s Presidential Daily Brief, Just the News reported on Tuesday.  

“I just spoke with VP/NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated,” the briefer told the CIA. “Thanks for understanding.” 

A current CIA official told Just the News that the directive was “extremely rare and unusual.” Reporting from Headline USA further suggested the 2016 order was part of Biden’s broader effort to use his office to protect his son and other family members from scrutiny. 

The withheld CIA report documented the reactions of senior Ukrainian officials to Biden’s December 2015 visit. 

Those officials “privately mused” about the ongoing criticism of Hunter’s business with Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that was paying him up to $83,000 a month despite his lack of relevant experience. 

At the time, concerns mounted over conflicts of interest and whether Biden would push for policies that benefited his son. Among those concerns was Biden’s decision to demand the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma. Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees unless Shokin was removed from office. 

“These officials viewed the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power,” the CIA report said, according to Just the News. 

The Ukrainian officials also “expressed bewilderment and disappointment” about Biden’s visit for failing to adhere to the agenda items of the meeting. 

The document’s disclosure comes as the second Trump administration continues to expose scandals of corruption and government weaponization tied to former presidents Barack Obama and Biden

Wall Street’s Record-Breaking Rally Runs out of Steam as gold Tops $4,000 Per Ounce

Headline USA Editor
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Wall Street’s Record-Breaking Rally Runs out of Steam as gold Tops $4,000 Per Ounce

(Headline USA) Wall Street’s record-breaking rally is running out of momentum on Tuesday after the price of gold topped $4,000 per ounce for the first time.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.4% from its latest all-time high and was heading for its first loss in eight days The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 149 points, or 0.3%, with a little less than an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.

Markets are taking a pause following a rush higher for many investments on hopes that the economy will remain resilient and that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates.

Tesla was the heaviest weight on the market and sank 3.9% after unveiling a cheaper version of its best-selling model. The electric vehicle maker gave back most of its leap from the prior day, when hype and speculation built after it hinted at a coming product announcement through postings on social media.

Oracle also dragged the market lower. It fell 2.3% after a news report suggested it’s making thin profit margins on a key line of business related to artificial-intelligence technology.

The frenzy around AI has been one of the biggest trends guiding Wall Street to record after record recently. It’s been so strong that it’s raised worries that prices have potentially shot too high across the market.

On Tuesday, IBM rose 1.7% after announcing a partnership that will integrate Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot into some of its software products. 

Advanced Micro Devices rallied 3.6% to add to its surge from Monday, when it announced a deal where OpenAI will use its chips to power AI infrastructure. Dell rose 3.7% after executives talked up the company’s opportunity for growth because of AI at an investment conference.

Much is riding on expectations that the AI investment boom will pay off by making the global economy more productive and driving more growth. Without that increased efficiency, inflation could push higher due to upward pressure coming from the mountains of debt that the U.S. and other governments worldwide are building.

That has optimists on Wall Street buying tech stocks and pessimists buying gold, according to Thierry Wizman, a strategist at Macquarie Group.

Investors have traditionally seen gold as offering protection from high inflation. Its price has soared more than 50% this year not only because of governments’ huge debt loads but also because of political instability worldwide and expectations for lower interest rates from the Fed.

Investors looking to “hedge” themselves, meanwhile, may be buying both tech stocks and gold, Wizman wrote in a research report.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Intercontinental Exchange, the company behind the New York Stock Exchange, rose 2% after saying it had agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket.

Polymarket offers prediction markets that allow customers to profit from making predictions on events across politics, financial markets and popular culture, such as who will become New York City’s next mayor or whether the U.S. government will announce this year that aliens exist.

Constellation Brands added 0.6% after the beer and wine company reported results for the latest quarter that several analysts said were better than they expected. Sales of beer still dropped from a year earlier, though, as CEO Bill Newlands highlighted a “challenging socioeconomic environment that has dampened consumer demand.”

In Toronto, shares of Trilogy Metals more than tripled after the White House said late Monday that it’s taking a 10% equity stake in the Canadian company while allowing the Ambler Road mining project in Alaska to go forward.

President Donald Trump late Monday ordered the approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals used in production of cars, electronics and other technologies. Trilogy is seeking to develop the Ambler site along with an Australian partner, and its stock soared 250.9%.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 edged up by less than 0.1% a day after slumping due to the latest political upheaval in Paris. France’s prime minister abruptly resigned on Monday.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.12% from 4.18% late Monday.

 

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Graham: Political Weaponization of FBI ‘Should Bother Everybody’

Headline USA Editor
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Graham: Political Weaponization of FBI ‘Should Bother Everybody’

(Alan Wooten, The Center Square) Employees have been terminated, the CR-15 squad abolished, and an investigation is ongoing by the FBI.

Still, fourth-term Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says the discovery of he and seven other senators being surveilled by the FBI “is chilling.” A Sept. 27, 2023, memo is part of a discovery by the FBI forming the foundation of an accusation Jack Smith, special counsel in former President Joe Biden’s administration, tracked private communications and phone calls in his probe of the events on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol when Donald Trump was a first-term president.

“As chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” Graham said in a video statement he released late Monday, referring to 2021, “I did the job I felt necessary and to believe that the Department of Justice or a special council would subpoena who I called, where I called from should bother everybody. It certainly bothers the hell out of me.”

Fox News Digital was first with the story Monday. On Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media, “Transparency is important and accountability is critical. We promised both, and this is what promises kept looks like. This FBI is delivering.”

The CR-15 squad was a public corruption unit in the Washington Field Office of the FBI.

Graham said in 2023, his phone data was subpoenaed by Smith’s probe in connection to an investigation of Donald Trump. The memo includes a case identification number and is called, “Arctic Forst – Election Law Matters – Sensitive Investigative Matter – CAST.”

CAST is an acronym for the cellular analysis survey team within the FBI.

Graham said data was collected Jan. 4-7 in 2021, showing call participants, duration and general locations. He said phone companies were asked to provide the information. Graham said Smith was trying to determine “whether or not I should certify the election.”

“This was done in 2023 in the middle of a presidential election cycle where I’m supporting President Trump,” Graham said in his video message Monday.

Not only did he support him, he was first to endorse among sitting senators.

In addition to Graham, Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania are on the memo. All are Republicans.

“This FBI discovered and exposed the weaponization of law enforcement,” Patel wrote on social media midday Tuesday. “We are on it.”

Graham said Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino are to be congratulated.

“One way to make sure this doesn’t happen again is to fire the people who were behind it and hold the government accountable for violating the rights and separation of powers that exist in this country,” Graham said.

Mamdani Rips Israeli Government on Second Anniversary of Hamas Attack

Headline USA Editor
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Mamdani Rips Israeli Government on Second Anniversary of Hamas Attack

(Chris Wade, The Center Square) New York City mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani accused the Israeli government of “genocide” in a scathing statement Tuesday to mark the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack. 

“Two years ago, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more,” Mamdani said “In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war: a death toll that now far exceeds 67,000; with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble.”

Mamdani, a Queens Assemblyman and front-runner in the mayoral race, described Hamas’ attack as “horrific” and said “I mourn these lives and pray for the safe return of every hostage still held and for every family whose lives were torn apart by these atrocities.” He called for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza. 

“This must end. The occupation and apartheid must end,” he said. “Peace must be pursued through diplomacy, not war crimes, and our government must act to end these atrocities and hold those responsible to account.”

But Mamdani’s statement didn’t recant his previous support for the phrase “globalize the intifada” which his chief rival in the mayor’s race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and other top Democrats had demanded of him ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ attack. 

Over the weekend, Cuomo called on Mamdani to publicly condemn his previous support for the expression ahead of planned protests Tuesday, acknowledging the massacre and Israel’s years-long bombing campaign that’s left roughly 64,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-controlled Public Health Ministry. 

Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, refused to condemn the slogan during the 2025 primary election, sparking a backlash from Jewish leaders and community members. As a mayoral candidate, he has pledged not to support the phrase, but has declined to condemn it.

Pro-Palestinian groups have used it as a slogan — which means to “shake-off” in Arabic — to resist the Israeli government, but Jewish groups say it fuels antisemitic violence and hate speech. 

Mamdani’s latest comments are likely to provoke strong reactions in New York City, which is the world’s second-largest home to Jews behind only the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. He has also been criticized for saying he backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting the Israeli government, and has promised if elected to arrest Israeli President Netanyahu if he visits New York City, calling him a “war criminal.” 

“What we see is a war crime being answered with war crimes. And what we see is, every single hour, the Israeli military killing a Palestinian child for close to two years,” Mamdani told the popular daytime talk show “The View” during an appearance last Wednesday. “I can’t stop that as the mayor of this city. I can make clear my own values, my own commitments.” 

The latest polls showed Mamdani leading Cuomo by a commanding 15 percentage points, with less than two months to go until the mayoral election. He also faces Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels. Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, dropped out of the race last week.

Billions in GDP Lost During First Week of Government Shutdown, Johnson Says

Headline USA Editor
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Billions in GDP Lost During First Week of Government Shutdown, Johnson Says

(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square)  As the federal government shutdown hits the one week mark, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is urging Democrats to vote for Republicans’ funding bill to prevent permanent damage to the U.S. economy.

“Each week the shutdown continues, it will wipe out an estimated $15 billion in our Gross Domestic Product in our country,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday, referencing calculations released by the White House.

“A month-long shutdown would mean not just 750,000 federal civilian employees furloughed right now, but an additional 43,000 more unemployed Americans across the economy, because that is the effect, the ripple effect that it has in the private sector,” he added.

Congress, however, shows no signs of coming to a funding agreement to open the government anytime soon. Two options lay on the table: Republicans’ clean Continuing Resolution that would extend government funding for seven weeks, or Democrat’s $1.4 trillion spending bill.

Democratic leaders oppose Republicans’ bill because it does nothing to prevent the enhanced Obamacare Premium Tax Credits from expiring in December, a policy issue that they believe must be addressed now to prevent millions of Americans’ health care premiums from spiking.

Republican leaders have said they are willing to discuss the issue with Democrats, but only after the government reopens.

“We are pleading with Democrats in the Senate to do the right thing,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of end-of-year issues that are being conflated with this very simple issue of keeping the government open, and that is the first and most immediate priority.”

At least eight Senate Democrats need to vote for the clean CR for it to clear the chamber’s 60-vote threshold. So far, only three members of the Democratic Caucus have lent their support.

Senators may vote for the sixth time on both parties’ proposals Tuesday evening. As of the afternoon, the U.S. Senate Periodical Press Gallery says votes on the bills “are possible but they are not scheduled at this time.”

The last time federal funding lapsed occurred in late 2018, and the shutdown lasted a record 35 days.

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