Pentagon cracks open Biden’s botched Afghan withdrawal as sweeping report readies all the receipts

2026-04-24 12:25pm EDT / Fox News

Stu Scheller says the effort includes thousands of interviews and previously restricted findings from prior probes

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Published April 24, 2026 12:25pm EDT

Afghanistan review to expose ‘all the facts,’ Pentagon adviser says

Pentagon adviser Stu Scheller details the department’s sweeping declassification effort aims to bring transparency, accountability and prevent failures like Abbey Gate.

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EXCLUSIVE: A new Pentagon review of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is set to declassify previously restricted materials from earlier investigations, reopening scrutiny of key decisions made during the Biden administration’s botched 2021 exit from the country.

The review, which is planned for release in roughly three months, will include interview transcripts, internal documents and prior findings that officials say were overclassified, according to Pentagon adviser Stu Scheller.

“We plan to declassify all of the documents that we source in this investigation — all the interview transcripts, all the previous investigations that the Biden administration did that have been overclassified,” Scheller told Fox News Digital. “We’re going to declassify all of it so that everyone can make assessments for themselves.”

Unlike earlier reviews that cataloged failures but stopped short of pinning down individual responsibility, this Pentagon effort is examining a broader set of records and conducting extensive interviews with both senior military leaders and rank-and-file troops — a scope officials say could reopen unanswered questions about who made the key decisions during the 2021 withdrawal.

“There will be accountability,” Scheller said.

GOLD STAR FATHER SAYS PRIOR AFGHANISTAN REVIEW SMELLED ‘LIKE A COVER-UP’ AS NEW LOOK EXAMINES MILLIONS OF DOCS

(Fox News)

“We’ve talked to many people, all the key generals… and we also interviewed thousands of young service members,” Scheller told Fox News Digital of the report. “One of the things they said was that they didn’t feel like their experiences were validated.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly blasted the previous Biden administration over the Abbey Gate tragedy that killed 13 U.S. service members, calling the 2021 withdrawal “a Biden disaster” and “the lowest point in the history of our country.” The administration in May 2025 ordered a new Pentagon review as part of what officials described as his push for accountability.

Scheller’s role in the review marks a striking reversal for a Marine officer who was previously punished after publicly criticizing the military’s handling of the withdrawal.

Then a lieutenant commanding an infantry training unit at Camp Lejeune, Scheller drew national attention in August 2021 after posting a viral video in uniform demanding accountability from senior leaders. He was relieved of command, placed in pretrial confinement and later pleaded guilty at a court-martial.

“I just felt like there wasn’t another voice that was going to advocate for the emperor’s not wearing clothes,” Scheller said. “I didn’t do it haphazardly.”

“God was with me on that one. I got through it. Here I am influencing the changes I originally pointed out.”

British and American security forces maintain order among Afghan evacuees inside Abbey Gate in Kabul on Aug. 25, 2021, during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.(Marcus Lam/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Previous investigations by Congress, the Pentagon and federal watchdogs identified a range of failures in planning and executing the withdrawal, including gaps in evacuation efforts, intelligence assessments and senior-level decision-making.

A Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee report found the State Department failed to develop a plan to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies despite mounting warnings that Kabul could fall, delaying evacuation efforts until the Taliban entered the capital.

The report also said U.S. officials were tracking credible threats of a suicide attack in the days leading up to the Abbey Gate bombing — including intelligence pointing to a potential ISIS-K attack at the airport — but operations at the gate continued.

Those conditions are now being reexamined as part of the Pentagon’s review, including how actions by Marines on the ground were recognized.

FORMER ARMY CAPTAIN WARNS DEMS’ ‘UNPATRIOTIC’ VIDEO TELLING TROOPS TO DEFY ORDERS COULD SPARK CHAOS

Scheller said his team focused early on the unit stationed at Abbey Gate, where several Marines had been nominated for higher awards that were later downgraded during the approval process.

“They had actually submitted awards that were downgraded. So we didn’t create these awards out of nothing,” Scheller said. “All seven of these awards were submitted and we had the formal paperwork from the original write-up.”

Evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 23.(Sgt. Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps)

The upgrades affected Marines from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, including cases where commendation medals were elevated to include valor devices and, in one instance, a Bronze Star was upgraded to reflect combat heroism.

The bombing at Abbey Gate killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans, marking the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in years.

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The Biden administration has defended its handling of the withdrawal, arguing the decision ended America’s longest war and prevented further U.S. casualties, while accusing critics of politicizing the issue.

A spokesperson for former President Joe Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Neo-Nazis, ‘Sadistic’ bikers and Charlottesville organizer: 5 of the most shocking SPLC informants

2026-04-24T15:48:12-04:00 / Fox News

Southern Poverty Law Center paid informants tied to Klan leaders, violent extremists and others, according to a newly unsealed indictment

By Breanne Deppisch Fox News

Published April 24, 2026 3:48pm EDT

Southern Poverty Law Center charged with fraud over alleged extremist group payments

The Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted this week on federal fraud charges stemming from a years-long covert paid informant program, which Justice Department officials said allocated millions of dollars in donations to a network of informants affiliated with or closely tied to White supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.

The 11-count indictment accuses the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

According to the Justice Department, the SPLC sent some $3 million to its paid informants between 2014 and 2023 — including persons affiliated with the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, and the Aryan Nations-linked “Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club,” among others.

Senior Trump administration officials took aim at the covert paid informant program, which funneled outside donations, at least in part, to informants affiliated with the same extremist groups the SPLC was founded decades earlier to oppose.

SPLC FACES BLOWBACK FROM ‘HATE MAP’ TARGETS AFTER DOJ FRAUD INDICTMENT

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel at the Department of Justice on April 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C., following the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center on charges related to money laundering.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

​​”As the indictment describes, the SPLC was not dismantling these groups,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Tuesday at a press conference.

“It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

The SPLC’s paid informant program funded individuals with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist Party of America, and others — including a member of an online “leadership chat group” that helped plan the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, officials said.

Here are the top five most eye-popping paid informants revealed in this week’s indictment.

1. The Charlottesville coordinator

Among the paid informants identified in the indictment is a member of an online “leadership chat group” that Blanche said helped plan the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The individual, referred to only as “F-37,” attended the event at the direction of the SPLC and was paid more than $270,000 for his or her work as an informant between 2015 and 2023, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges that the individual shared “racist social media posts and helped organize transportation to events” associated with the deadly rally.

The news that the informant helped coordinate logistics, at least in some small part, for the deadly rally while under SPLC supervision is significant, especially given that the aftermath of the event prompted a new influx of donations to the nonprofit.

“They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups — even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “That is illegal — and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”

SUPREME COURT CLEARS PATH FOR DOJ TO ERASE STEVE BANNON’S JAN 6 CONVICTION

Clashes occurred at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017.(Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

2. A million-dollar burglar

One longtime member of the National Alliance, a White supremacist group tied to multiple violent attacks, profited handsomely from the SPLC in his role as a paid informant.

According to the indictment, SPLC paid the National Alliance member more than $1 million over a nine-year period for his role, which included clandestine activities such as breaking into the group’s headquarters to steal some 25 boxes of documents, which he photocopied and distributed to the SPLC.

The group appears to have later used those documents to create a report about the National Alliance.

After the stolen documents were utilized partly in public, SPLC paid another National Alliance member $6,000 to falsely take responsibility for the theft.

The National Alliance and the writings of its founder have been closely associated with a litany of violent attacks since the 1980s, including a 1999 multi-state shooting spree targeting minorities and Jewish Americans, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

TRUMP ADMIN AGENCIES COORDINATING TO EXPOSE BIDEN ADMIN’S ‘PROLIFIC AND DANGEROUS’ WEAPONIZATION OF GOVERNMENT

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for the Fraud Division Colin McDonald leave the Justice Department after a news conference on the Trump administration’s anti-fraud efforts in Washington on April 7, 2026.(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

3. The ‘extremist file’ chairman

The SPLC also shelled out more than $140,000 to a paid informant who chaired the National Alliance neo-Nazi group.

The indictment accuses the SPLC of funneling tens of thousands of dollars to the individual between 2016 and 2023.

At least some of the payments occurred at the same time the National Alliance chairman himself was listed on the SPLC’s website, as part of its public “Extremist File” website — a striking and somewhat ironic fact, given that the site was warning the public about how dangerous the individual was.

4. Klan ‘Imperial Wizard’

Among the paid informants was an “Imperial Wizard” of The United Klans of America, a White supremacist group that the SPLC has linked to the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young girls and injured more than a dozen others.

Martin Luther King Jr. described the bombing, which exploded 19 sticks of pre-laid dynamite beneath the steps of a local church, as “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.” It was unclear how much the paid informant received from the SPLC.

Separately, SPLC also funneled money to a Ku Klux Klan member and spouse of an “Exalted Cyclops” — or a local Klan leader tasked with overseeing membership, organizing meetings, and directing activities.

According to the indictment, the informant’s link to the SPLC became known during the KKK chapter’s application to partake in the “Adopt-A-Highway” program, resulting in the discovery of more than $3,500 in known payments from the SPLC.

‘WHITE SAVIORS” USE OF WHISTLES CAUSES BITTER INTERNAL RIFT INSIDE ANTI-ICE MOVEMENT

The Department of Justice building is seen in Washington, D.C.(Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty)

5. $300K ‘Sadistic Souls’ biker

During the six-year period between 2014 and 2020, the SPLC sent a staggering $300,000 to one paid informant, F-27, who was an officer in both the National Socialist Movement group and the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club.

The SPLC also sent some $160,000 to other extremist groups, including the former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

No individuals were named in the indictment, though Blanche noted during a press conference Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing.

According to federal prosecutors, the SPLC’s paid informant program began in the 1980s, shortly after its founding in the 1970s, and allegedly relied on a series of bank accounts set up for fictitious entities and used to funnel the covert payments to informants.

“They’re required to under the laws associated with a nonprofit to have certain transparency and honesty in what they’re telling donors they’re going to spend money on and what their mission statement is and what they’re raising money doing,” Blanche said.

The news comes as the SPLC has seen an increase in public support in recent years — including a groundswell of donations following the 2017 Unite the Right rally, and from prominent donors including George Clooney and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“Donors gave their money believing they were supporting the fight against violent extremism,” Kevin Davidson, the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, said in a statement.

“As alleged, the SPLC instead diverted a portion of those funds to benefit individuals and groups they claimed to oppose,” Davidson added.

“That kind of deception undermines public trust and social cohesion.”

A spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center told Fox News Digital earlier this week they are reviewing the indictment. The group has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

“Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do,” interim SPLC president Bryan Fair said this week in a statement. “The actions by the DOJ will not shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the Civil Rights Movement becomes a reality for all.”

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The spokesperson for the SPLC defended its work monitoring White supremacist groups and other violent extremist organizations — including via the paid informant program — telling Fox News Digital that their use has “saved lives.”

Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI and other national news. She previously covered national politics at the Washington Examiner and The Washington Post, with additional bylines in Politico Magazine, the Colorado Gazette and others. You can send tips to Breanne at Breanne.Deppisch@fox.com, or follow her on X at @breanne_dep.

Roommate arrested after 1 missing University of South Florida doctoral student found dead

2026-04-24 3:13 PM EDT / CBS News

By Cristian Benavides, Cristian Benavides Correspondent, CBS Newspath
Cristian Benavides is a CBS News correspondent based in Miami.
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Cristian Benavides, Nicole Brown Chau
Nicole Brown Chau Deputy Managing Editor
Nicole Brown Chau is a deputy managing editor for CBSNews.com. She writes and edits national news, health stories, explainers and more.
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Nicole Brown Chau

One of the missing University of South Florida doctoral students was found dead and his roommate has been arrested, local authorities said Friday.

Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Franklin Bridge in Tampa Friday morning, Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said. Investigators are still searching for Nahida Bristy, he said.

Limon and Bristy, both 27, were last seen in the Tampa area on April 16. Limon’s cause of death was pending autopsy results.

Deputies with the sheriff’s office took 26-year-old Hisham Abugarbieh, a roommate of Limon, into custody on Friday after responding to a domestic violence call at a home in the Lake Forest Community, a neighborhood near USF’s Tampa campus, officials said. He faces charges of domestic violence and evidence tampering, as well as a charge of failing to report a death to law enforcement.

Abugarbieh, a U.S.-born citizen, had been barricaded at the home, but ultimately came out peacefully, Maurer said. The entrance and exit of the Lake Forest Community was briefly shut down due to the law enforcement activity.

The sheriff’s office had elevated Limon and Bristy’s status to endangered on Thursday.

“Recently, information that has come to light has led detectives to consider the two endangered,” the HCSO said in a statement. It did not give details about the information.

Limon was studying the use of AI in environmental science and was set to present his doctoral thesis this week, his family said. Bristy is studying chemical engineering.

Bristy’s older brother, Zahid Pranto, told CBS News that Bristy would typically be in touch with her family on a daily basis.

“There has been no single day without contact with her,” Pranto said. “My family is just devastated.”

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Trump’s Justice Department is bringing back firing squads for federal executions

2026-04-24 12:35 PM ET / CNN

By Holmes Lybrand

3 hr ago

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice Allan B. Polunsky Unit sits in the distance July 14, 2018 in Livingston.

Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images

The Justice Department announced Friday it is continuing to clear the way for expediting federal death-penalty cases, including by expanding the manners of execution to include death by firing squad.

Under President Joe Biden, the Justice Department reversed much of the work done under President Donald Trump’s first administration related to expanding the death penalty in federal cases, which the Justice Department has been peeling back.

“Among the actions taken are readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration,” the Justice Department said in a release Friday, “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad, and streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases.”

Five states allow for death by firing squad for those convicted of the death penalty who have exhausted the appeal process. In March, a South Carolina man convicted of a double murder became the fourth person to be put to death by a firing squad since the 1970s.

“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Friday. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

The Department is also looking to “streamline the process for seeking death sentences” and cut down the number of years between conviction and execution, the announcement states.

This story is developing and will be updated.

Maine governor rejects first US state freeze on new data centers

2026-04-24 / Reuters

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Maine Governor Janet Mills gestures while speaking during a meeting of northeastern U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Sophie Park

April 24 (Reuters) – The Democratic governor of Maine, Janet Mills, on Friday vetoed a bill that would have made it the first U.S. state to impose a moratorium on large new data centers, even as local opposition to the electricity-hungry facilities grows.

If it had been signed into law, the bill would have frozen approvals until October 2027 for data centers requiring more than 20 megawatts of power, while a state-appointed council analyzed their impact on the local grid, electricity bills, air and water.

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In a letter to the Maine legislature, Mills said she supports a temporary moratorium on data center projects – and would have signed the bill if it had included an exemption for a data center project underway in the town of Jay.

“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates. But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region,” Mills said.

The Androscoggin paper mill shut down in 2023 after a boiler explosion, leading to hundreds of job losses.

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Work to develop a $550 million data center on that site is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs and at least 100 high-paying permanent jobs, and would contribute property tax revenue to the town of Jay, Mills said.

The decision on Friday reflects the difficult trade-off facing political leaders who must weigh data centers’ impact on the environment and household energy bills against the millions of dollars in investment and tax revenue they can bring.

Mills also said that she plans to issue an executive order establishing a council to examine the impact of data centers in Maine and has signed a bill to prohibit data center projects from Maine’s business development tax incentive programs.

American tech giants have pledged to spend more than $600 billion on artificial intelligence data centers this year as part of a spending spree that has boosted the U.S. economy and is considered the biggest since the telecom boom of the late 1990s.

But mounting opposition to that buildout has led at least 11 U.S. states to weigh legislation that would halt or restrain development of the facilities, even as the Trump administration pressures states to stay out of AI regulation.

To ease worries about rising electricity bills, Washington last month got big technology companies to sign a voluntary pledge at the White House that they would bear the cost of new electricity generation to power their data centers.

Two Democratic lawmakers – Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – have also introduced legislation to halt all construction on data centers until Congress passes AI safety legislation.

Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, Chris Thomas and Mrinmay Dey in Mexico City; Editing by Pooja Desai

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Updated Apr 24, 2026, 3:52 PM ET

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A billboard with a picture of Iran’s flag on a building in Tehran, Iran, on January 24, 2026.

Majid Asgaripour/Wana News Agency/Reuters

The Trump administration has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency it says was linked to Iran as the United States ratchets up pressure on Tehran.

The move, first reported by CNN, comes as shaky diplomatic efforts to reach a deal to end the war continue to stall and the global economy reels from its impact. The administration has sought to increase economic pressure on Iran during the tenuous ceasefire. It’s unclear if the large sum of money seized will have an impact on Tehran or its approach to the war and negotiations.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that the agency “is sanctioning multiple wallets tied to Iran.”

“We will follow the money that Tehran is desperately attempting to move outside of the country and target all financial lifelines tied to the regime,” he said in a statement.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

On Thursday, Tether, a digital currency company that facilitates crypto transactions around the world, announced it had “supported the US government in freezing” $344 million in cryptocurrency across two addresses, after information was shared “by several U.S. authorities about activity tied to unlawful conduct.”

A US official told CNN that the government had information linking the currency to Iran.

“Working with blockchain analytics experts, the US government has observed evidence of material links to the Iranian regime, including confirmed transactions with Iranian exchanges and a series of transactions routed through intermediary addresses that interact with Central Bank of Iran-associated wallets,” the official said.

CNN has not independently corroborated that the Tether accounts were linked to Iran.

“The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has used increasingly complex methods to obfuscate its involvement in cross-border transactions using digital assets, as they seek to stabilize the rial and facilitate international trade in an increasingly restricted environment,” the US official said Friday.

The Treasury Department “maintains an active dialogue with numerous US and foreign financial institutions, including digital assets exchanges,” the official said.

Heavily sanctioned regimes like Iran, Russia and North Korea have increasingly turned to cryptocurrency, which is less regulated that the traditional banking system, to generate revenue and skirt sanctions.

Cryptocurrency holdings in Iran reached $7.8 billion in 2025, growing at a faster rate for most of the year than in 2024, according to crypto-tracing firm Chainalysis. Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accounted for roughly half of those holdings on the blockchain in the last quarter of 2025, “mirroring its dominance in Iran’s economy more broadly,” Chainalysis said.

“When these wallets were regularly active several years ago, they engaged in frequent, large transfers of up to tens of millions of dollars, largely with other private wallets,” Chainalysis said in a statement to CNN on Friday, referring to the Tether accounts the US government that were frozen. “These patterns are consistent with how we’ve observed other known IRGC wallets move funds on chain.”

Daniel Tannebaum, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that the freeze of the assets is “meaningful,” but given how sanctioned Iran is, “I don’t think it necessarily moves the needle for thwarting Iran’s attempts to continue operating in the state of the conflict as it is right now.”

Iran has been sanctioned for decades and has put mechanisms in place to adapt, he said. Some countries have continued to do business with Iran despite the sanctions.

“The way to get at Iran at this point, because Iran is truly sanctioned out, is to go with the third country actors enabling them,” including China, he told CNN.

Later on Friday, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a China-based independent teapot refinery for purchasing billions in Iranian petroleum.

Tannebaum also noted that Iran has “been leveraging crypto-related funds for years.”

“They will use it with actors that are trying to stay outside of the US banking system,” said Tannebaum, who is also a partner at Oliver Wyman. Iran is “really trying to use any methods they can to pay for additional armaments, military support that they need at present.”

Last year, hackers widely believed to be operating in support of or on behalf of Israel stole the equivalent of about $90 million from Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange amid Israeli military strikes on Iran.

House Republican would ‘100%’ leave the GOP if red state changed primary rules

April 24, 2026 3:39pm EDT / Fox News

Fitzpatrick shared his ‘disdain for ideologues and partisans,’ calling it ‘ignorant to subscribe to a party’

By Elaine Mallon

A congressman in a competitive district in Pennsylvania said he’d leave the Republican Party if his state conducted open primary elections.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a Republican moderate who has bucked party lines on some of President Donald Trump’s key initiatives, including voting against the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, is seeking re-election in a purple district he has controlled for eight years.

Fitzpatrick shared in an interview with Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer his “disdain for ideologues and partisans” and said it was “ignorant to subscribe to a party.”

“Countless people go to the floor saying I really want to vote for this, but I got to worry about my primary,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s killing our country. It’s killing good policy, and we got to fix that.”

NEW POLL REVEALS HOW PENNSYLVANIA DEMS FEEL ABOUT FETTERMAN BUCKING HIS PARTY

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29, 2023, after the House failed to pass a temporary funding bill to prevent a government shutdown.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Sherman asked why he does not just run as an independent. Fitzpatrick said his state has a closed primary, meaning only registered party voters can vote in primaries, which he deemed a disadvantage. If Pennsylvania’s primary system were open, Fitzpatrick said he would “100%” leave the GOP.

“But you can run as an independent,” Sherman asked. “There’s some way to do it, isn’t there?”

Fitzpatrick said it wasn’t possible in Pennsylvania.

FETTERMAN RECEIVES NO SUPPORT FOR RE-ELECTION FROM PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE DEMOCRATS: REPORT

Sen. John Fetterman speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 2026, following a briefing by Trump administration officials on U.S. strikes on Iran.(Nathan Posner/Anadolu)

“Do you want to forfeit your right to vote in 50% of elections?” Fitzpatrick said, referring to what would happen if voters registered as Independent.

Fitzpatrick also mentioned that he was “upset” when people criticized Sen. John Fetterman, D-PA, who has often voted with Republicans on key issues. Fetterman has been vocal about his criticism of his Democratic colleagues such as their strategy to shut the government down to push for health care negotiations last Fall.

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Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s warning to Iran posted on social media Tuesday.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

In the 119th Congressional legislative session, there is only one U.S. House of Representative member who identifies as an Independent — Kevin Kiley, I-Calif. However, when Kiley was first elected, he ran as a Republican.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, there are two Independents: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.., and Sen. Angus Cloud, I-Me,. While they both maintain an Independent status, both senators caucus with the Democratic party.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:32 PM EDT, Fri April 24, 2026

Trump weighs in on Polymarket Insider trading arrest: ‘The whole world unfortunately has become somewhat of a casino.’

Inside Politics

The Justice Department alleges a special forces soldier who participated in the raid to capture Nicolas Maduro made a series of bets on the prediction market Polymarket that earned him more than $400,000. Trump signaled some sympathy for the soldier when he compared him to former baseball player Pete Rose, who received a lifetime ban from the MLB for betting on his own games. “Now if he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team,” Trump said.

Pentagon chief Hegseth says US blockade on Iran ‘going global’

2026-04-24 12:15:53 UTC / Reuters

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a briefing on the Iran war, amid a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 24, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

[1/2]U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a briefing on the Iran war, amid a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 24, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that a U.S. blockade on Iran is going global, adding Tehran had a chance to make a “good deal” with Washington.

“Our blockade is growing and going global,” Hegseth told reporters.

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“No one sails from the Strait of Hormuz to anywhere in the world without the permission of the United States Navy,” he said.

Peace talks between Iran and the United States could resume soon in Pakistan, three Pakistani sources told Reuters on Friday, after the last round of talks expected earlier this week fell through.

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Standing next to top U.S. General Dan Caine, Hegseth said the U.S. was “not anxious” for a deal with Iran, and repeated Trump’s previous comments of having “all the time in the world.”

“Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely … at the negotiating table. All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways,” he said.

Caine said the U.S. Central Command continues to maintain a strict blockade on all ports in Iran. Thirty-four ships had been turned around as of Friday morning, he said. The U.S. military would continue to interdict Iranian vessels in the Pacific and Indian oceans, Caine added.

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“We’re enforcing the blockade across the board against any ship of any nationality that is transiting to or from an Iranian port or territory,” Caine said.

“We’re closely tracking vessels of interest headed towards Iran and those moving away from Iran that were outside the blockade area when this blockade was ordered and … we’re prepared and postured to intercept them,” he said.

The U.S. naval blockade on Iran began on April 13.

Hegseth also warned that any attempts by Iran to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz would be a violation of the ceasefire.

“Transit (of the Strait of Hormuz) is occurring, much more limited than anybody would like to see and with more risk than people would like to see, but that’s because Iran is doing irresponsible things with small, fast boats … with weapons on them,” Hegseth said.

Reporting by Phil Stewart, writing by Bhargav Acharya Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Michelle Nichols

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump grants 90-day Jones Act waiver extension to curb energy costs

2026-04-24T12:00:46.35Z / Reuters

By Jarrett Renshaw

April 24, 2026 12:00 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

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The Rishiri Galaxy, an oil and chemical tanker sailing under the flag of Panama, at left, is docked at the Texas City docks next to the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act shipping law, in Texas City, Texas, U.S. March 18, 2026. REUTERS/Antranik… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

• Summary

• Extends time for foreign vessels to move key US commodities
• Highlights ongoing split over Jones Act shipping rules and costs
• Comes amid continued volatility in global energy markets tied to the Iran conflict

April 24 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump granted a 90-day extension to ‌a shipping waiver that makes it easier to move oil, fuel and fertilizer around the United States, the White House said on Friday, the latest effort to curb rising energy costs linked to the war with Iran.

The move reflects a broader push by the White House ​to dampen politically sensitive fuel price spikes ahead of November’s midterm elections, where affordability is expected to ​be a defining issue for voters. Recent polling shows Trump and Republicans losing ground on the economy — ⁠once a core political strength — with approval of his economic handling falling sharply and rising gasoline prices weighing ​heavily on public sentiment.

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The decision adds roughly three months to the existing waiver that was set to expire on May ​17, enabling foreign-flagged vessels to move commodities between U.S. ports through mid-August.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers confirmed on Friday that Trump had issued the extension.

“This waiver extension provides both certainty and stability for the U.S. and global economies,” Rogers said.

The administration is taking the step of ​extending the waiver three weeks before its expiration to allow ample time for the maritime industry to ensure sufficient ​vessels are available to keep moving applicable goods to where they are needed, a White House official said.

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The Jones Act has long ‌been ⁠a flashpoint between competing economic and national security priorities. Supporters, including U.S. shipbuilders, maritime unions and some lawmakers, argue the law is critical to maintaining a domestic shipping industry and merchant marine that can support military logistics and national security.

But critics — including energy producers, refiners and agricultural groups — say the requirement to use U.S.-built and -crewed vessels sharply raises shipping costs ​and limits capacity, particularly during ​disruptions, driving up prices ⁠for fuel and other goods.

“This extension of an already historically long and ineffective Jones Act waiver is not only an affront to hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans who put ​this country first every single day, it sabotages President Trump’s agenda to restore American ​maritime dominance,” said ⁠Jennifer Carpenter, president of the American Maritime Partnership.

The action is one of several steps Trump has taken to blunt elevated fuel prices and address growing supply concerns, as the U.S.- and Israeli-led war against Iran has triggered a global energy shock.

Trump ⁠has said ​crude and gasoline prices are likely to fall once the Iran ​conflict subsides, but analysts caution that costs could remain elevated even after hostilities end, as supply disruptions, higher shipping costs and a lingering geopolitical risk ​premium continue to ripple through global energy markets.

Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Editing by William Maclean, Tomasz Janowski and Andrea Ricci

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