Author

admin

Browsing

The thousands of Ukrainian children abducted since Russia’s invasion began three-and-a-half-years-ago are once again at the forefront of international discussions as NATO leaders convened to discuss the war.

Following Russia’s deadly 2022 invasion, Ukrainian children have been among the war’s chief victims, with Kyiv confirming that there have been at least 19,546 cases of unlawful deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, Belarus, or Russian-occupied territory, by Russian authorities.

Some reports have suggested the number of forcibly transported Ukrainian children could be significantly higher, ranging closer to 35,000 abductions – many of whom are feared to have been illegally adopted. 

Fox News Digital could not confirm if NATO leaders, who convened on Wednesday for a debrief by U.S. military leaders, will include how to remedy the immense human rights violations targeting Ukrainian children as they look to establish security guarantees, possibly as soon as this week.

But President Donald Trump, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders on Monday, said the issue of forcibly deported Ukrainian children ‘is a subject at the top of all lists.’

The issue was reignited after First Lady Melania Trump sent a letter to Putin, which Trump hand-delivered during his meeting on Friday, in which she said, ‘it is time’ to restore children’s ‘dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.’

‘A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity—an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,’ she wrote. 

The first lady did not specifically mention the war in Ukraine, though her letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, was championed by Kyiv. 

Zelenskyy appeared to surprise Trump by in turn handing him a letter written by his wife, Olena Zelenska, intended for the first lady. 

The contents of the second letter have not been disclosed, but Trump noted his wife’s compassion when it comes to the issue of children – a topic Zelenska has also worked to address. 

‘She sees the heartbreak, the parents, the funerals that you see on television, always funerals,’ Trump said. 

Some children have been returned to Ukraine incrementally through the help of third-party mediators, like Qatar and the Vatican, though reporting suggests only some 1,500 have been released by Russian authorities. 

Ukrainian negotiators have been pushing for the return of the Ukrainian children for months as they meet with Russian counterparts in Turkey.

While prisoner-of-war swaps have been agreed to, Zelenskyy said Russian officials have refused to hand over any Ukrainian children directly to Kyiv. 

‘We cannot reach an agreement with them on the return of the children,’ Zelenskyy told reporters last week, adding that despite attempts it remains ‘impossible’ without the help of other parties involved. 

‘That is why we wanted to get certain matters settled in this trilateral track: ceasefire, an all-for-all exchange, and the return of children,’ he added. ‘This is something everyone benefits from: President Trump benefits, the Russians lose nothing, the Ukrainians lose nothing. It’s a fair compromise.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

  • The Big Ten, led by Tony Petitti, spent the offseason concocting absurd College Football Playoff proposals.
  • A 28-team playoff would increase television inventory, but devalue college football’s regular season.
  • Imagine unranked teams making the playoff. That’s the Big Ten’s latest idea.

The conference that once held itself aloft as a beacon of all things good and honorable about college athletics is now considering making a mockery of the College Football Playoff.

The Big Ten, led commissioner Tony Petitti, has jumped the shark.

Instead of capitalizing on the momentum of back-to-back national championships, the Big Ten spent the offseason concocting absurd College Football Playoff plans, with its latest idea even zanier than the last.

PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter

Petitti just will not rest until he gets every 8-4 Big Ten team into the playoff. His latest playoff idea, according to multiple reports, would expand the playoff to as many as 28 teams and include as many as seven automatic bids apiece for the Big Ten and SEC, with additional automatic bids for other leagues.

We’ve now zoomed past 8-4 Iowa toward an even lower rung on the totem pole for playoff mediocrity. Welcome to the playoff hunt, 7-5 Rutgers!

This idea doesn’t count as radical. It’s ridiculous.

Big Ten damages credibility in offseason of bad ideas

They say you are the company you keep. Well, Petitti spent the past few months keeping company with – and breathing life into – stupid ideas. He previously failed to gain support for his attempt to rig the playoff with a 16-team format that would have reserved four automatic bids for his conference and four more for the SEC. When that plan failed to gain traction, the Big Ten upped the ante by socializing this idea to shoehorn unranked teams into the playoff.

Petitti’s expanded playoff plans would increase television inventory, but at what cost? Growing the playoff to 28 teams would cheapen the regular season. That cannot be the end game.

A 28-team playoff does nothing for the Big Ten’s upper crust, either. Ohio State doesn’t need this. Neither does Michigan, not when it can cheat its way to glory. Oregon couldn’t win one playoff game, so now the solution is to shove the Big Ten’s champion into a 28-team maze?

When Petitti arrived on the college sports scene in 2023, he brought with him a Harvard law degree and a background as a television executive. He began his tenure overseeing the additions of Oregon and Washington to solidify the Big Ten’s western flank. A fine start. Since then, he’s moved to the back of the class and tarnished his credibility while raising his hand with goofy playoff suggestions, while his SEC counterpart, Greg Sankey, retains his grip on the king’s scepter.

Can Big Ten and SEC find a compromise to expand playoff?

Let’s assume there’s something behind this latest plan for playoff gluttony other than a desire to make the Big Ten a magnet for criticism.

What other motivation might the Big Ten have? Well, by floating a plan more ludicrous the last, the Big Ten might hope to reignite conversations toward a compromise.

Oh, so you don’t like a 28-team playoff that invites 7-5 Big Ten teams? OK, let’s make a deal!

Just one problem with that. Petitti remains intent on reducing the playoff selection committee’s role, in favor of a preassigning a bundle of automatic bids, but the SEC doesn’t seem too interested in making a deal toward playoff plans bloated with multiple automatic bids for conferences it believes are inferior.

The SEC backpedaled from Petitti’s past plan to rig a 16-team playoff with a stacked deck of automatic bids. The SEC’s coaches turned their eye toward a 5+11 playoff model that would add four additional at-large bids to the 12-team current playoff format. The Big 12 and ACC support the 5+11 plan.

The Big Ten stands in objection to the 5+11 model, in part because the ACC and SEC play one fewer conference game than the Big Ten. The Big Ten’s pushback on conference scheduling is not without merit, but it lacks the power to bring the SEC and ACC to heel on its scheduling.

Expanding the playoff would require the SEC and Big Ten to align behind a model. If they cannot agree on a new format, that would prolong the runway for the current model.

“The Big Ten has a different view (of what’s good for playoff expansion),’ Sankey said in July. ‘That’s fine. We have a 12-team playoff. … That could stay if we can’t agree.’

If you think Sankey’s bluffing about persisting with the current model, consider he was one of the architects of the 12-team playoff. He dubbed the first year of the expanded playoff “a success,” even though the SEC did not advance a team to the national championship game. The offseason tweak to introduce straight seeding benefits the SEC. There’s no reason for the SEC to rush to abandon this format.

The selection committee historically values the SEC. The more at-large bids, the better, for the SEC.

Maybe, Petitti believes flooding the zone with zany ideas will spur the SEC toward a suitable compromise. There’s another possibility, though. With each half-baked playoff idea, the Big Ten and its leader further diminish their credibility, and the opportunity for playoff expansion absorbs a gut punch.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

As the 2025 Little League World Series enters its crucial final four days of play, the anticipation and excitement are at an all-time high. Day 8 promises to be a thrilling spectacle with four high-stakes games taking center stage.

The international bracket games will kick off with a bang as Chinese Taipei and Venezuela go head-to-head in a double elimination game, setting the stage for a fierce battle. This will be followed by another intense match featuring Connecticut and Nevada, both determined to secure a victory.

In the afternoon, Aruba and Japan, both coming off wins yesterday, will return in a quick turnaround for a elimination game. Similarly, South Dakota and South Carolina take the field in the final game of the day, all battling to keep their Little League World Series dreams alive.

Here is how the bracket is shaping out as the Little League World Series heads into Day 8 of action.

Little League World Series schedule and results

*All times listed are Eastern

United States bracket

Wednesday, Aug. 13

  • Game 2: Las Vegas, Nevada (Mountain) 16, Clarendon Hill, Illinois (Great Lakes) 1
  • Game 4: Fairfield, Connecticut (Metro) 1, Richmond, Texas (Southwest) 0

Thursday, Aug. 14

  • Game 6: Irmo, South Carolina (Southeast) 13, Braintree, Massachusetts (New England) 0
  • Game 8: Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Midwest) 2, Upper Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania (Mid-Atlantic) 0

Friday, Aug. 15

  • Game 10: Las Vegas, Nevada (Mountain) 5, Bonney Lake, Washington (Northwest) 3
  • Game 12: Fairfield, Connecticut (Metro) 5, Honolulu, Hawaii (West) 1

Saturday, Aug. 16

  • Game 14: Richmond, Texas (Southwest) 3, Braintree, Massachusetts (New England) 7
  • Game 16: Clarendon Hill, Illinois (Great Lakes) 3, Upper Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania (Mid-Atlantic) 2

Sunday, Aug. 17

  • Game 17: Massachusetts (New England) 2, Washington (Northwest) 3
  • Game 19: Illinois (Great Lakes) 1, Hawai’i (West) 9

Monday, Aug. 18

  • Game 22: Nevada (Southeast) 1, South Carolina (Mountain) 0
  • Game 24: Connecticut (Metro) 13, South Dakota (Midwest) 1

Tuesday, Aug. 19

  • Game 26: South Carolina (Southeast) 3, Hawai’i (West) 0
  • Game 28: South Dakota (Midwest) 9, Washington (Northwest) 0

Wednesday, Aug. 20

  • Game 30: Connecticut (Metro) vs. Nevada (Moutain): 3 p.m. @ Lamade
  • Game 32: South Carolina (Southeast) vs. South Dakota (Midwest): 7 p.m. @ Lamade

Thursday, Aug. 21

  • Game 34: L30 v. W32: 7 p.m. @ Lamade

Saturday, Aug. 23

  • Game 36: W30 v. W34: 3:30 p.m. @ Lamade

International Bracket

Wednesday, Aug. 13

  • Game 1: Venezuela 5, Puerto Rico 1
  • Game 3: Panama 7, Australia 2

Thursday, Aug. 14

  • Game 5: Japan 12, Czechia 0
  • Game 7: Chinese Taipei 3, Mexico 0

Friday, Aug. 15

  • Game 9: Venezuela 4, Canada 0
  • Game 11: Aruba 8, Panama 2

Saturday, Aug. 16

  • Game 13: Australia 5, Czechia 3
  • Game 15: Puerto Rico 11, Mexico 5

Sunday, Aug. 17

  • Game 18: Canada 12, Australia 0
  • Game 20: Mexico 2, Panama 1

Monday, Aug. 18

  • Game 21: Venezuela 4, Japan 0
  • Game 23: Chinese Taipei 4, Aruba 0

Tuesday, Aug. 19

  • Game 25: Japan 6, Mexico 0
  • Game 27: Aruba 6, Canada 1

Wednesday, Aug. 20

  • Game 29: Chinese Taipei vs. Venezuela: 1 p.m. @ Volunteer
  • Game 31: Japan v. Aruba: 5 p.m. @ Volunteer

Thursday, Aug. 21

  • Game 33: L29 v. W31: 3 p.m. @ Lamade

Saturday, Aug. 23

  • Game 35: W29 v. W33: 12:30 p.m. @ Lamade

Championship/Consolation Games

Sunday, Aug. 24

  • Game 37 (Third-Place Game): L35 v. L36: 10 a.m. @ Lamade
  • Game 38 (Championship): W35 v. W36: 3 p.m. @ Lamade

How to watch 2025 Little League World Series

The Little League World Series will be broadcast across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, with some games being available to stream via ESPN+.

Stream the 2025 Little League World Series with ESPN+

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

A moderate House Democrat’s town hall devolved into chaos minutes after it began on Tuesday night, with pro-Palestinian activists clashing with both the congressman and fellow attendees in what became a near-constant torrent of interruptions and protests.

Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., who defeated far-left ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush in the Democratic primary last year, repeatedly pleaded with protesters to allow him to speak while defending his position on Israel and Hamas.

‘Stop talking. This is not your town hall. You can leave,’ Bell told protesters roughly 20 minutes after he began speaking. He said soon after, ‘While we’re sitting here being divided and fighting one another, we’ve got other folks out there who are taking our democracy from us.’

At another point, his assertions that Hamas’ initial attack on Israel ‘was not just a terror attack, October 7 was an invasion’ was met with boos and jeers from the crowd.

Even calls to ‘surge aid’ to Gaza were drowned out by demonstrators, prompting Bell to respond, ‘You disagree with that?’

Despite repeated pleas for calm from both Bell and his moderator, protesters continued to call him a ‘war criminal’ and accuse him of supporting genocide.

The event grew more heated as the hour went on, reaching a fever pitch toward the end when Bell disputed a questioner labeling Israel’s invasion of Gaza a ‘genocide.’

‘You don’t get to set the genocide definition,’ an activist yelled.

Bell responded, ‘No, I don’t… and here’s the thing, people can disagree, that’s what makes our country great.’

‘When it comes to the word genocide, I kind of disagree with you… because Israel was attacked by an openly genocidal terrorist group,’ he said while protesters attempted to drown him out.

‘Hamas said openly that they want to destroy Israel… and so you’re accusing somebody of genocide, you’re standing with an organization that says they want to commit genocide. You don’t see that?’

He continued over boos, ‘We need to see a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, we need to see an end to the war. We need to see every single hostage returned, and we need to see a viable future for Gaza without Hamas.’

And while pro-Palestinian protesters took up a majority of the attention, there did appear to be a significant number of attendees who were supportive of Bell, particularly when he attempted to bring the conversation back to local issues.

‘The number one killer of kids in St. Louis between [ages] 1 and 17 is gun violence, and there’s people who want to talk about that too,’ he said, earning applause.

At one point, a woman attempted to confront the demonstrators directly.

‘Shut up with your White privilege,’ the woman could be heard yelling. ‘You’ve never been hungry, you’ve never had a child be hungry, and yet you want to stand here and diminish the work he’s doing?’ 

It’s not clear how or if the activists responded.

The town hall’s moderator tried to deescalate the situation early on, calling security to escort an unruly demonstrator out minutes after it began.

‘Let’s do this the Democratic way, the democracy way. You can’t hear anyone yelling. I hear you. As a mixed-race person, I hear you,’ she told activists. ‘We can’t get through this if you are yelling and barking and acting like you want to get physical.’

At the end of the night, however, Bell released a statement thanking all attendees for coming.

‘I want to thank everyone that came out to our town hall this evening – yes the conversations were passionate at times, but Democracy is messy and we have to passionately defend it,’ Bell wrote on X. ‘At the end of the day we’re going to continue to fight for the ST. LOUIS region and for our country.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Bell’s office for further comment.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Longtime Trump political foe Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff for years has been accused of leaking classified documents — long before the release of a ‘bombshell’ whistleblower testimony claiming the California lawmaker approved leaking classified information in order to discredit the president during the Russiagate probe, Fox News Digital found. 

Schiff, who served in the U.S. House for more than two decades before securing his spot in the U.S. Senate in 2024, is facing heightened scrutiny following FBI Director Kash Patel declassifying claims from a Democrat whistleblower that Schiff approved the release of classified information on Trump that allegedly ‘would be used to indict President TRUMP,’ according to the report. 

The whistleblower, who reportedly had worked for Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee for more than 10 years, made the claims to the FBI in 2017. Schiff had access to classified information while serving on the House Intelligence Committee during his tenure in the lower chamber, including serving as its chair from 2019 to 2023. 

‘In this meeting, SCHIFF stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to indict President TRUMP,’ according to the whistleblower documents.

The whistleblower ‘stated this would be illegal and, upon hearing his concerns, unnamed members of the meeting reassured that they would not be caught leaking classified information,’ the report added.

Schiff has denied the allegations, with his office telling Fox News Digital Aug. 12 that the allegations were ‘absolutely and categorically false.’

But this isn’t the first time Schiff has been accused of leaking classified information to the public, with accusations following him since at least the first Trump administration. Fox News Digital took a look back at Schiff’s political history in recent years and gathered the times he previously had been accused of leaking classified materials. 

The August declassified whistleblower accusations are ‘just the latest in a series of defamatory attacks from the President and his allies meant to distract from their plummeting poll numbers and the Epstein files scandal,’ a Schiff spokesperson told Fox Digital when approached for comment on the allegations, after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the whistleblower’s account a ‘bombshell.’ 

‘These baseless smears are based on allegations that were found to be not reliable, not credible, and unsubstantiated from a disgruntled former staffer who was fired by the House Intelligence Committee for cause in early 2017, including for harassment and potentially compromising activity on official travel for the Committee,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘Even Trump’s own Justice Department and an independent inspector general found this individual to not be credible, have ‘little support for their contentions’ and was of ‘unknown reliability,’ and concluded that his accusations against Members of Congress and congressional staff ‘were not ultimately substantiated.’’ 

‘Leaked classified information that had been provided to him’ 

Just days after former President Joe Biden was sworn in as president in January 2021, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence and U.S. ambassador from his first administration, Ric Grenell, took to X to list out ‘facts’ regarding Schiff. 

‘Facts,’ a Jan. 22, 2021, post on X that is no longer available on the social media site read. The X post received media attention and was preserved in reports at the time, such as the Washington Examiner. 

He listed off: ‘Schiff wouldn’t return my call to coordinate on DNI reforms.– the reforms were asked for by career officials for years. – Schiff complained when I appointed the 1st female head of counterterrorism (a career person). – Schiff & team regularly leaked classified information.’

Grenell’s message was in response to Schiff claiming in an interview with The Hill that Grennell and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe under the first Trump administration ‘bent intelligence work products to the president’s will.’

‘The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, probably the most devastated of all of the agencies by terrible leadership of people like Rick Grenell and John Ratcliffe,’ Schiff said during a video interview at the time. 

Fast-forward to 2023, former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who served under the first Trump administration, also accused Schiff of leaking classified docs. 

‘Adam Schiff lied to the American people, and during my time as CIA director and secretary of State, I know that he leaked classified information that had been provided to him,’ Pompeo said in January 2023 during a Fox News interview.

Pompeo continued that he ‘held back’ sharing information with the House Intelligence Committee due to not feeling ‘comfortable’ when Schiff led the panel. 

A representative for Pompeo told Fox Digital in August that the former Trump official stands by his 2023 comments on Schiff. 

Schiff’s office slammed Pompeo’s remarks at the time as ‘another patently false and defamatory statement.’ 

Trump had also accused Schiff of leaking classified documents under his first administration, claiming in 2018, he was the ‘one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington.’

‘Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!’ Trump wrote in one X thread at the time. 

Schiff shot back at the time that Trump’s X post was a ‘false smear.’

‘Mr. President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of ‘Executive Time.’ Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or… really anything else,’ Schiff responded to Trump in February 2018. 

As Trump railed against the alleged leaks during his first term, reports spread that the Department of Justice subpoenaed Apple for account data of House Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, including Schiff, between 2017 and 2018. The DOJ, which was led by Jeff Sessions at the time, was searching for individuals who leaked to the media about Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. 

The investigation dragged, including after Bill Barr was tapped as Trump’s attorney general in 2019 through the end of Trump’s first term, the New York Times reported in 2021, citing sources familiar with the investigation. 

The Justice Department’s internal watchdog, under the Biden administration, opened an investigation into the subpoenas and published a report in 2024 that found the Trump DOJ did not comply with established procedures when it sought the records.

‘We are glad that the Department of Justice Inspector General conducted a thorough investigation, and that the Inspector General has recommended safeguards to further protect the media, and to safeguard the separation of powers,’ a spokesperson for Schiff said following the release of the report, according to Reuters in 2024. 

As the 2020 campaign heated up, Trump continued accusing Schiff and other House Democrats of leaking, with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence at the time scaling back its security briefings with Congress that year as high-profile Democrats promoted concerns that Russia was interfering in that election. 

‘Director Ratcliffe brought information into the committee, and the information leaked,’ Trump said in August 2020. ‘Whether it was Shifty Schiff or somebody else, they leaked the information.… And what’s even worse, they leaked the wrong information. And he got tired of it. So he wants to do it in a different forum, because you have leakers on the committee.’

Schiff denied leaking any classified intelligence in 2020, but said he could not confirm the same for other House Democrats.  

‘I haven’t. My staff hasn’t. I can’t speak for what all the members of the committee have done or not done, including a lot of the Republican members,’ Schiff told CNN’s Dana Bash in 2020, following Trump claiming ‘Shifty Schiff’ may have been behind another leak of intelligence given to the House Intelligence Committee at the time. 

The Trump administration continued its laser-focused hunt to identify and suss out internal federal government leakers during the second administration, with a White House official telling Axios in June, ‘We are declaring a war on leakers.’ 

The comment came in response to a leak of an internal assessment of the Trump administration’s bombing of a trio of Iranian nuclear facilities that claimed the strikes were not as effective as the president said. 

Federal agencies such as the FBI, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security have leveraged using polygraph tests on staffers suspected of leaking information under the second Trump administration. 

Alleged mortgage fraud, ‘Russiagate’ 

Trump and Schiff have long been political foes. 

This was underscored during Trump’s first administration when Schiff served as the lead House manager during the first impeachment trial against Trump in 2020. It also was highlighted when Schiff repeatedly promoted claims that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia

Schiff landed in hot water earlier this spring, when the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a letter to the Department of Justice in May sounding the alarm that in ‘multiple instances,’ Schiff allegedly ‘falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, impacting payments from 2003-2019 for a Potomac, Maryland-based property.’

He is currently under criminal investigation for mortgage fraud, Fox Digital previously reported. The California Democrat has denied any wrongdoing, claiming the matter is a ‘baseless attempt at political retribution.’

Trump accuses

Days after Trump first posted about Schiff’s mortgages in Maryland and California in July, the president’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declassified documents that reportedly show ‘overwhelming evidence’ that then-President Barack Obama and his national security team allegedly laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe after Trump’s election win against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. 

‘It lays out, these over 100 documents that you’re referencing, that I declassified and released, spells out in great detail exactly what happens when you have some of the most powerful people in our country directly leading at the helm, President Obama and his senior-most national security cabinet, James Comey, John Brennan, James Clapper and Susan Rice and others, essentially making a very intentional decision to create this manufactured, politicized piece of intelligence with the objective of subverting the will of the American people,’ Gabbard told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in July following the release. 

Gabbard touts more declassified documents backing up allegations against Obama’s ‘treasonous conspiracy

Schiff was an incredibly vocal lawmaker amid the Russian collusion claims, most notably when the House censured him in 2023 over his promotion that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. Schiff served in the House representing California from 2001 to 2024, when he was sworn in as a senator after his successful 2024 campaign to serve in the nation’s upper chamber.

Schiff also served on the Jan. 6 select committee, which investigated the breach of the Capitol building in 2021 by Trump supporters following then-President Joe Biden’s election win. 

At the 11th hour of Biden’s tenure on Jan. 20, Schiff was among lawmakers who served on the committee who were granted preemptive pardons. The subcommittee concluded Trump’s actions played a key role in promoting the breach of the Capitol and recommended Trump be criminally prosecuted. 

Biden specifically granted preemptive pardons to ‘Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.’

Schiff, however, had publicly railed against the prospect of Biden doling out preemptive pardons, saying it would set a poor precedent. 

‘First, those of us on the committee are very proud of the work we did. We were doing vital quintessential oversight of a violent attack on the Capitol,’ Schiff said during an interview on ABC News in December 2024. ‘So I think it’s unnecessary.’

‘But second, the precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don’t want to set,’ he added.

Charges stemming from the Jan. 6 case were dismissed following Trump’s decisive win in the 2024 presidential election against then-Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The White House responded to the whistleblower’s declassified testimony claiming Schiff approved the release of classified information to damage Trump, and doubled down on Trump’s stance that Schiff be ‘held accountable for the countless lies he told the American people in relation to the Russiagate scandal.’

‘This is obviously a bombshell whistleblower report,’ Leavitt said at a Tuesday White House press briefing. ‘Hopefully more people in this room will cover it as such.’

‘I understand Kash Patel, last night, declassified a 302 FBI document showing that a whistleblower, who is a Democrat, a career intelligence officer who worked for Democrats on the House Intel Committee for more than a decade, repeatedly warned the FBI in 2017 that then-Rep. Adam Schiff had approved leaking classified information to smear then-President Donald Trump over the Russiagate scandal,’ Leavitt said. 

In August, a representative for Schiff confirmed a legal defense fund was established for the senator in response to Trump and his allies. 

‘It’s clear that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies will continue weaponizing the justice process to attack Sen. Schiff for holding this corrupt administration accountable,’ Marisol Samayoa, a spokesperson for Schiff, told Fox News Digital Tuesday evening of the legal fund. ‘This fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job.’

Titled ‘Senator Schiff Legal Defense Fund,’ the fund was filed with the Internal Revenue Service Thursday, The New York Times first reported. 

White House spokesman Harrison Fields called Schiff a ‘fraud’ and ‘corrupt politician’ when approached for comment Tuesday regarding the legal fund.

‘Adam Schiff is a sleazy and corrupt politician who betrayed his oath to the Constitution by prioritizing his selfish and personal animosity toward the president over the interests of the American people,’ Fields told Fox News Digital. ‘No amount of money can shield Adam from the truth that he is a fraud.’ 

Fox News Digital reached out to Schiff for additional comment on the matter but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.  

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has firmly rejected proposals to concede land to Russian President Vladimir Putin, particularly the hotly-contested Donbas region.

The Donbas, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is Ukraine’s industrial heartland where coal mining and steel production are the main drivers of economic growth. Ultimately, control of the region’s mines and factories would hand Moscow powerful leverage over Kyiv’s post-war economic survival.

‘Donbas offers both a military advantage and significant economic resources, making it a high-value target for the Kremlin,’ explained Elina Beketova, a fellow with the Democratic Resilience Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

‘The Donbas alone holds vast reserves of coal – especially anthracite, crucial for energy and metallurgy,’ Beketova said. ‘Of 114 mines in Donetsk region, only 15 remain functional,’ she pointed out, as many have been flooded, destroyed, or left inoperable by the war.

Coal tells only half the story. 

Perhaps the crown jewel is salt: the Soledar salt mines, with an estimated 4.5 billion tons of rock salt – making it the largest reserve in Europe. These mines and the Artyomsol plant, Europe’s largest salt producer, fell to Russian forces in 2022.

Beketova underscored that, in the long term, natural gas could be the most strategically important resource in the region.

‘The region includes the Yuzivka gas field in Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts, with potential reserves of up to 4 trillion cubic meters – a direct challenge to Russian energy dominance, and likely another reason why Moscow wants full control of the area.’

‘Beyond coal, salt, and gas, the occupied territories of Donbas – as well as neighboring Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – are also rich in gypsum, chalk, marble, granite, sand and clay,’ Beketova said.

Russian forces currently occupy approximately one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory, primarily in the eastern and southeastern regions, including large swaths of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. These areas have been under partial or full Russian control at various points over the course of the Kremlin’s war. 

For Kyiv, the Donbas is more than contested ground – it is an economic lifeline, whose coal, salt and gas reserves could help bankroll recovery in a country already burdened with enormous post-war debts.

The most recent joint assessment by the United Nations, World Bank, European Commission, and Ukrainian government estimates that Kyiv faces $524 billion in postwar reconstruction over the next decade. 

Of the total long-term reconstruction and recovery needs, housing accounts for the largest share at nearly $84 billion, followed by $78 billion needed for the transportation industry and $68 billion for the energy sector.

Zelenskyy told reporters at the European Commission on Sunday that Putin has repeatedly tried and failed to seize the entirety of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine for a period of 12 years. 

Grace Mappes, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, noted that conceding the region would also mean relinquishing Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt,’ the fortified defensive line in Donetsk Oblast since 2014.

‘After trying and failing to occupy this strategically vital terrain for over a decade, Putin is now demanding that Ukraine concede this critical defensive position, which Russian forces currently have no means of rapidly enveloping or penetrating, apparently in exchange for nothing and with no guarantee that fighting will not resume.’

Mappes added that Ukraine’s substantial investment in reinforcing its ‘fortress belt’ with defensive structures, logistics hubs, and defense industrial facilities, underscores its central role in the country’s military resilience.

‘Putin’s proposal is not a compromise, rather a ploy to avoid the years-long, bloody campaign that would be necessary to seize the fortress belt and the rest of Donetsk militarily,’ she added.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Less than three months after its launch, Elon Musk’s ‘America Party’ appears to have been shelved.

Musk allegedly told associates that he wants to focus on his companies and avoid starting a party that could siphon voters from the GOP, the The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with his plans.

Musk has also allegedly worked to maintain ties with Vice President JD Vance, considered the heir apparent to the MAGA movement, according to WSJ. The outlet added that the tech billionaire reportedly told associates he was concerned that forming a new political party would damage his relationship with the vice president.

While the plan is paused at the moment, Musk’s allies told WSJ that he has not formally ruled out launching the America Party and could revisit the idea as the 2026 midterms approach.

After spending months working with the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk’s time at the Trump White House came to an end on May 30. Though they appeared on good terms, President Donald Trump and the tech billionaire began trading barbs almost immediately.

A few days after leaving the administration, Musk posted on X — the social media platform he owns — criticizing legislation the Trump White House was promoting.

‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,’ Musk wrote.

His criticism continued, including memes and jabs aimed at the administration. Musk stayed firm in his opposition to the bill, citing the amount of spending as his reason for objecting to it.

On June 5, Musk posed a question — and a poll — to his followers: Should there be a new political party? The next day, he announced that ‘the people have spoken. A new political party is needed in America to represent the 80% in the middle!’

Musk asked a similar question nearly a month later, on July 4, the day Trump signed the ‘big, beautiful bill.’

‘Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system! Should we create the America Party?’ Musk included another poll with his post. In the end, 65.4% of respondents voted ‘yes,’ while 34.6% voted ‘no,’ showing a drastic change from his June poll in which 80.4% voted ‘yes.’

Musk announced the next day that ‘the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.’

‘I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on July 6. ‘He even wants to start a third political party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The system seems not designed for them.’

However, the feud between the two appears to have cooled. The social media spats have stopped, and in late July Trump appeared to wish Musk well, writing on Truth Social that he wanted to see the tech billionaire’s businesses ‘thrive like never before.’

‘Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large-scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. government. This is not so! I want Elon, and all businesses within our country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that’s good for all of us,’ Trump wrote.

A spokesperson for Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

  • Mets have struggled since June, currently clinging to a wild-card spot.
  • Pitcher Nolan McLean dazzled in his MLB debut, giving NY hope for the final six weeks.

WASHINGTON — Anointing Nolan McLean the savior of their season is the last thing the New York Mets want to do.

After all, for as much energy and magic McLean provided in winning his major league debut at Citi Field on Aug. 16, he’s just a 24-year-old barely a year removed from putting the bat down for good and focusing full-time on pitching.

“We want him to be himself. We don’t want to add any extra pressure,” says manager Carlos Mendoza of McLean, who struck out eight in 5 ⅔ scoreless innings against the Seattle Mariners. “We want him to continue to go out there and give us a chance to win.”

Yet McLean’s assimilation will take on a heavier tone if the Mets’ veteran arms aren’t able to turn around a second half where hitting a collective wall has dented their NL East title hopes and imperiled their playoff outlook.

McLean’s gem stopped a slide in which the Mets lost 14 of 17 games, part of a two-month pattern in which their starting pitchers’ fortunes have virtually flipped.

Oh, Mets starters rank seventh in the majors in ERA (3.71), but due to a variety of factors, are just 27th in innings pitched. And their slide in output and quality coincided with the Mets’ struggle.

They held a 5 ½-game lead in the East on June 12 yet thereafter began the first of two seven-game losing streaks. And then Griffin Canning, a fill-in turned savior who posted a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts, tore his left Achilles June 26.

Clay Holmes, returning to a starting role after six years in the bullpen, was brilliant in his first 16 starts, the Mets winning 11 of them as he averaged nearly six innings a start with a 2.97 ERA.

But finishing this marathon has proven challenging: Holmes is averaging less than five innings in his last nine starts, the Mets losing five of them, as he’s posted a 5.02 ERA and his strikeout-walk ratio has shriveled to 1.66.

Sean Manaea? An oblique strain and loose bodies in his elbow delayed his debut until July 13, but the Mets have lost six of his seven starts as he’s thrown no more than 86 pitches. Frankie Montas has been relegated to long relief. Kodai Senga hasn’t made it past five innings in eight of his 19 outings.

And yet here the Mets are, 67-58, a discouraging 5½ games behind the Phillies yet holding a tenuous grip on a wild card spot, a fate they learned last year could lead to the NL Championship Series.

Hanging on may depend on a kid or two bailing them out.

From three-way player to one

McLean’s 6-2, 214-pound frame is straight from central casting for a pitcher it belies the fact he’s an absolute freak athlete.

Forget two-way player: McLean was a three-way guy when he reported to Oklahoma State, with designs on pitching, hitting and playing quarterback for the Cowboys. Yet it was apparent after his freshman year that he had a surefire future on the diamond.

He hit 19 homers as a sophomore and had OPS marks of .936, .992 and .911 in three seasons as a Cowboy. On the mound, he pitched just 57 innings but was selected in the third round by Baltimore as a draft-eligible sophomore.

The Mets bested that, drafting him in the second round in 2023 as a two-way player, figuring nature would take its course.

Come last summer at Class AA Binghamton, McLean was averaging a strikeout an inning as a pitcher – and a punchout in 52% of his plate appearances as a hitter.

For the Mets, nature was healing and McLean’s decision was easy.

“I’ve always been able to throw the ball. It’s just that last year, when I was hitting still, I was getting tired pretty early,” McLean tells USA TODAY Sports. “And as a starting pitcher, you want to get deep into ballgames. That was something I really wanted to get better at.

“I felt like the only way for me to do that was to have my legs and my full body underneath me which, luckily, once I set the bat down, I was able to get that second wind later in the year last year and carry it into this year.”

Indeed, McLean was a different cat when he returned to Binghamton, acing AA ball with a 1.37 ERA in five starts and getting summoned upstate to Syracuse, one stop shy of Queens.

He was even a little more dominant at Syracuse, punching out 10 batters an inning and posting a 1.10 WHIP, maintaining his stuff through 16 appearances. Blessed from a young age with the ability to spin the baseball, McLean threw a curveball that registered 3,511 rpm, more revolutions than any curve measured at the big league level this year.

Meanwhile, the Mets were taking on water, their staff incessantly dogged by injuries and poor performance. Veteran Paul Blackburn was designated for assignment, making room for McLean along with 15 friends and family who converged on Queens from North Carolina for his debut.

“It was special, just getting to see them after the game, they’d known how hard I worked to get to that point in my life,” says McLean, “Being able to see them at a pretty emotional point was pretty awesome to be a part of.”

It seemed almost equally emotional for Mets fans. They roared in approval when the video board caught McLean in the dugout on a couple of occasions, after his work was completed.

Their hunger for help has probably not been sated. Mets fans are keeping a close eye on the progress of Jonah Tong, who was promoted from Class AA to AAA last week and, pitching at Syracuse the same day McLean threw in Queens, posted an almost identical line: 5 ⅔ shutout innings, with eight strikeouts.

While it would certainly be a rush job to summon Tong before season’s end, the club also has invested around $420 million in payroll this season, including projected luxury tax penalties. There will be no shorts taken to ensure a playoff berth in this, the first year of Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract.

‘The team’s ready for it’

Of course, the best way to ensure October baseball would be for the Mets’ current starters to turn it around. To that end, All-Star lefty David Peterson, coming off the worst start of his season, dominated the Washington Nationals on Aug. 19.

After blowing a big lead and giving up six runs in 3 ⅓ innings to Atlanta, Peterson took a shutout into the eighth inning and dominated the Nationals in an 8-1 victory.

With 37 games left, they’re still up on Cincinnati for the last wild-card berth. Peterson’s gem kicked off a stretch of 16 games in 16 days where it behooves the starters to get deep – not just to preserve a bullpen stretched beyond belief but stabilize this season.

“The team’s ready for it. We know how to handle it,” says Peterson, who completed at least seven innings for the sixth time this season. “It’s really important where every guy goes out there and we’re trying to give the team a chance to win and go as deep as they can.

“Guys work their butt off and I’m confident we’ll keep the momentum rolling.”

Mendoza couldn’t suppress a grin pondering what Peterson’s eight innings and a blowout win meant to a side that saw 10 of its past 15 games decided by three runs or less.

“For him to go eight, it was really good. Solid, in complete control, and it was good to see, after his last outing, to see him bounce back that way,” says Mendoza. “Haven’t played a game like that in a while.

We’re going to need those guys. Especially in this stretch.”

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fastDownload for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

  • The immense hype and expectations surrounding Arch Manning are amplified by his family legacy and the pressure to succeed at Texas.
  • Arch Manning’s grandfather, Archie Manning, publicly stated that Arch will likely enter the NFL draft after two more years at Texas.
  • Arch Manning refuted his grandfather’s claim, stating he is focused on the present season and hasn’t made any decisions about his future.

If you think you’re already tired of all things Arch Manning, imagine actually being Arch Manning. 

Just do normal, man. Play football, go to class, hang out on Fifth Street. 

The next thing you know, grandpa has the next two years of your life mapped out, and he’s using the Texas Monthly magazine bullhorn so the planet knows it.

It’s bad enough that Arch has to deal with expectations of (in this order) an unbeaten season, an SEC championship, a Heisman Trophy, a national title, and the first pick in the NFL draft — or bust. 

PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter

It’s bad enough that one uncle is an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, and another uncle is on his way to Canton. And that’s all Arch has to live up to. 

It’s worse that grandpa, of all people – Archie Manning, the first true college football megastar of decades gone by and a fantastic NFL star who played on some truly lousy New Orleans Saints teams – joined Team Expectation and Speculation in July to declare Arch will spend two more years at Texas before leaving for the NFL. Book it.

Only there’s one teeny-weeny problem: Arch is only worried about the here and now. 

“I don’t know where he got that from,” Manning said Monday, in his first meeting with the media since last month’s SEC media days. “He texted me to apologize about that.”

Let me be the first to apologize to Arch for all of this nonsense. For the hype and the hyperbole, for Las Vegas and the Heisman odds, for failure is not an option, for putting the horse before winning a road game as an SEC starting quarterback. 

You know, that used to be a big deal. 

To be fair to Manning, he doesn’t want this circus. He said in July that he doesn’t deserve any of it. 

He can’t control what a talk radio host in Miami says anymore than a television bobblehead in Los Angeles. He knows Finebaum is chumming the waters, and the SEC Network is looking for the next soundbite, and everyone – I mean, everyone – is just waiting for him to fail. 

Because that’s what we’ve become in this twisted wash machine of gotta have it, gotta get it. Build ‘em up, tear ‘em down. 

He just probably never expected grandpa to join the party.

No one needs the season to begin quicker than Manning, whose first test out of the gate next week is on the road against defending national champion Ohio State. And that may as well be a welcome respite from this offseason of buffoonery.

Let’s not forget that Arch purposely avoided any connection to the past when, as the nation’s No.1 quarterback recruit, he chose a different college path. Avoid the spotlight, embrace the normal. 

Didn’t go to Ole Miss (where Archie and uncle Eli Manning played) or Tennessee (Peyton Manning), and didn’t choose Alabama or Georgia and their recent history of college football domination. 

Manning chose the one school where he’d blend in like any other student on an urban campus, and where he could lift a program back to championship glory. Texas hasn’t won a national title since Mack Brown’s team shocked Southern California in 2005.

That’s 20 long years for the hardcore Burnt Orange, two excruciatingly painful decades of underachieving ugly. Texas has changed everything – coaches, athletic directors, presidents, conferences – in those 20 years, and nothing has worked. 

Now it has a genuine difference-maker at quarterback for the first time since Colt McCoy got the Longhorns back to the national title game in 2009, but was knocked out of the game on the first drive. That eventual loss to Alabama still haunts Brown, who swears Texas had the better team and the perfect game plan to beat the Tide.

Now here we are in 2025, and the entire college football world hangs on all things Arch. We can’t get enough of it. 

Some because of tantalizing thoughts of what could be with all of that talent, and others just waiting for him to throw two picks in a loss to Ohio State. Because I told you so is such an attractive look. 

Here’s a novel idea: just let the kid play. 

Forget about his bloated NIL deals, or his famous last name or that he has started all of two games in two seasons at Texas. If he goes out and beats Ohio State, don’t start screaming about multiple Heismans or the first pick in the NFL draft. 

Stay in the moment and enjoy the ride. 

Even if Texas gets on a roll, and there’s no one stopping the train. Even if Arch looks like all the best parts of Archie, Peyton and Eli. 

Even if Nick Saban admits at some point this season – during one of ESPN’s many GameDay shows featuring Texas – that he’d have stayed at Alabama if he could’ve signed Arch.

Grandpa has already done enough damage.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

  • Ja’Marr Chase is the consensus No. 1 pick in fantasy football drafts this preseason.
  • The 2025 rookie running back class is strong, with several players projected to be significant fantasy contributors.
  • There’s a noticeable gap between the top five quarterbacks and the rest.

Heading into a new NFL season, it isn’t easy to try and catch up all at once.

For starters, there are seven new head coaches and many new offensive systems hoping to give skill players fresh starts around the league. Fantasy football managers have to account for all that as they formulate their own draft strategies and lock in on the key performers who can lead them to a championship.

But where to start?

Obviously, the best place to start is at the beginning – because everyone wants to know how the first round of this year’s drafts is likely to unfold.

2025 POSITION RANKINGS: QB | RB | WR | TE | K | D/ST

Who do you take in Round 1?

When there’s nothing but last year’s stats to shape our opinions, gravity pulls us toward the familiar. So it’s no surprise Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase is the consensus No. 1 pick this preseason. He won the receiving triple crown a year ago, leading the league in receptions, yards and touchdown catches.

This time last year, a seemingly healthy Christian McCaffrey, along with top wideout Tyreek Hill and emerging star Breece Hall were prime picks at the top of drafts following their strong performances in 2023. But we know now how quickly things went south for all three.

That’s not to say that Chase isn’t a deserving selection with the first overall pick. It’s just a reminder that nothing’s guaranteed. A credible case can be made for Saquon Barkley, Justin Jefferson, Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs at No. 1.

Judging from the way drafts have gone this preseason, those five appear to be in a class of their own. (With CeeDee Lamb occasionally sneaking into the elite tier.) The bottom line: Get a top-five (or six) pick, get a franchise cornerstone. Seems pretty simple.

Depth abounds at wide receiver

But what if you’re picking in the middle or at the end of the first round?

In that case, you might want to consider how your first two selections will mesh.

While running backs were plentiful in the first two rounds last year, receivers seem to have the upper hand in 2025 drafts. In our rankings, seven of the top 11 overall players are wide receivers.

One reason the receiver pool might seem particularly deep stems from the strength of last year’s fantastic rookie class, one that produced seven selections in the NFL draft’s first round (and two more to start the second).

Sophomores Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey are now solidly being taken in the first two rounds of 2025 fantasy drafts, with Xavier Worthy, Rome Odunze, Ricky Pearsall and Marvin Harrison, Jr. all expected to take a step forward.

With so many NFL teams deploying three- and even four-wideout sets, the overall receiving depth is excellent. Last season, there were 34 wide receivers who averaged more than 12 PPR fantasy points per game (minimum nine games).

Rookie RBs bolster this year’s options

We may have a similar bumper crop of rookies in 2025 – only this time it’s at running back.

While NFL GMs are more than willing to spend a high draft pick on a receiver or quarterback, first-round running backs have become extremely rare. There were none a year ago, and just two in 2023. Although to be fair, those two just happen to be Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs – who are now top-five picks in fantasy drafts.

So how high should expectations be for Ashton Jeanty, whom the Las Vegas Raiders selected at No. 6 overall?

Jeanty figures to be an every-down back under new head coach Pete Carroll. And his track record of being a workhorse in college bodes well for his usage as a pro. For that reason, Jeanty’s a borderline first-rounder in fantasy – despite the Raiders being a bottom-6 offense in both yards and scoring a year ago.

He’s far from the only rookie back who could be a significant fantasy contributor. Omarion Hampton (taken 22nd overall) is poised to open the season as the starter in a run-first Los Angeles Chargers offense.

Meanwhile, RJ Harvey (Broncos), Kaleb Johnson (Steelers), TreVeyon Henderson (Patriots), Cam Skattebo (Giants), Quinshon Judkins (Browns), Jaydon Blue (Cowboys) and Bhayshul Tuten (Jaguars) offer intriguing upside as they learn their teams’ offensive playbooks.

Rounds 4-7 seem to be the sweet spot for nabbing one of these lottery tickets.

Dare take a top QB, TE early?

Another trend we’re seeing in drafts so far is a distinct gap at the top of the rankings at both quarterback and tight end.

A popular way to construct a draft cheat sheet is by breaking down each position into tiers – grouping similar players together and identifying where the divisions in talent level take a noticeable drop.

This year, there seems to be an even greater difference than usual between the best and the rest at these two positions.

At quarterback, there’s a clear top five, with all of them going roughly between the 23rd and 40th overall pick. (Average draft position from NFFC as of Aug. 18.)

  1. Lamar Jackson (Overall ADP: 23.5)
  2. Josh Allen (24.6)
  3. Joe Burrow (31.2)
  4. Jayden Daniels (33.2)
  5. Jalen Hurts (39.5)

After them, Patrick Mahomes is the next-highest drafted quarterback with an ADP of 59.6.

The same is true with the top tight ends.

  1. Brock Bowers (Overall ADP: 18.9)
  2. Trey McBride (26.7)
  3. George Kittle (43.5)

From there, it’s another 20-plus spots to No. 4 Sam LaPorta (64.7), then another big gap to No. 5 T.J. Hockenson (80.9).

It’s certainly okay to wait a while on one or both positions – especially when those elite options are off the board. But if your game plan is to roster a top quarterback or tight end, you will likely need to pull the trigger by Round 4.

At the same time, resist the temptation to get a top-tier quarterback and tight end in the early rounds. There is ample depth at both positions – and in leagues that only start one of each, the cost of passing on highly productive running backs and wide receivers at that spot could torpedo your draft.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY