Unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) whistleblower and former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch accused intelligence agencies Tuesday of hiding billions of dollars in secret government spending from Congress, as lawmakers renewed demands for records they say federal officials continue to withhold.   

His investigation uncovered what he described as “slush funds” — pools of money allegedly operating outside normal congressional oversight channels — worth billions of dollars annually that were allegedly used to support activities operating outside normal oversight channels, Grusch said speaking at a Capitol Hill event alongside members of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. 

“This is also a real fraud, waste and abuse issue,” Grusch said. “During my investigation, I found slush funds to the tune of billions of dollars per annum for these activities.”

TASK FORCE TO EXPOSE ‘FEDERAL SECRETS’ ON JFK ASSASSINATION, EPSTEIN, UFOS PACKED WITH GOP REBELS

The allegations come as lawmakers and the Trump administration have intensified efforts to declassify government unidentified aerial phenomena records, releasing hundreds of pages of previously secret files and renewing pressure on agencies to disclose what they know about unexplained aerial incidents.

Grusch, who served on the Pentagon’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force and later as the National Reconnaissance Office’s representative to the task force, first gained national attention in 2023 when he testified before Congress about alleged government efforts to recover and study unidentified craft. 

The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget includes nearly $132 billion in military and national intelligence spending, much of it contained in classified programs accessible only to a limited group of cleared officials and lawmakers.

Asked what the government knows about nonhuman intelligence, Grusch claimed the government is aware of “several” different alien species. 

“It’s a continuum from corporeal bipedal type life to, you know, what I would consider is like sentient plasma life,” Grusch said. “But there are several that this government is aware of.” 

He did not elaborate on the claim or provide evidence during the event.

Grusch specifically accused the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon’s primary military intelligence agency, of obstructing congressional oversight efforts, arguing that records requested by lawmakers have not been fully provided despite what he described as lawful requests from Congress. He urged the agency to release additional documents for review and declassification.  

The DIA could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The Pentagon has consistently said investigations have not uncovered verified evidence of extraterrestrial technology, and previous government reviews have disputed claims that secret crash-retrieval programs exist.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers joined Grusch during the press conference, arguing that agencies have continued to resist congressional efforts to obtain information related to unidentified anomalous phenomena.

“We would ask questions, and they would then push back. We would ask more questions, and the pushback became more significant,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. “We would try to put language in an amendment, in a bill, and they would oppose it.”

“There must be real penalties for officials who knowingly withhold information from Congress,” added Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.

Moskowitz also tied the debate to broader concerns about Pentagon accountability.

“There’s trillions of dollars missing at the Pentagon. Where does that money go?” he said.

The Pentagon has failed seven consecutive annual audits, though defense officials have said those findings reflect longstanding challenges tracking assets and accounting systems across the department.

REP TIM BURCHETT CONVINCED THAT ALIENS EXIST, SAYS HE’S ‘SEEN TOO MUCH’ IN GOVERNMENT BRIEFINGS

Grusch said additional witnesses remain reluctant to come forward because of concerns about retaliation and legal exposure.

Burlison called on President Donald Trump to waive nondisclosure agreements for individuals with knowledge of alleged government UAP programs and grant immunity to those willing to testify.

“Grant immunity to anyone who has already come forward, and everyone who will come forward,” Burlison said. “Open the door and let them speak.”

“Congress is requesting specific records and videos,” Burlison added. “These agencies and contractors know that we know that they exist, and we’re going to get them released.”

Burlison said lawmakers have continued pressing agencies and defense contractors for records they believe remain classified despite recent disclosure efforts.

He said his office obtained MQ-9 footage of a UAP incident off the coast of Yemen that was delivered through what he described as a “Tom Clancy-style dead drop.”

Lawmakers argued that additional disclosures may depend on persuading more witnesses to come forward.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who chairs the House task force examining the issue, said lawmakers are discussing immunity protections for individuals with knowledge of alleged craft locations, recovered materials or advanced technologies.

The renewed push comes as lawmakers seek greater access to information tied to some of the government’s most closely held programs.

Federal investigators recently alleged that former CIA official David Rush used a fraudulent “special access program” as part of a scheme involving more than $40 million in gold bars and millions in government funds, drawing renewed attention to how highly restricted government programs can operate with limited outside visibility.

The event comes weeks after the Trump administration released a major tranche of previously classified UAP records, including military reports, sensor data and witness accounts that had long remained hidden from public view.

Lawmakers and disclosure advocates have pointed to those releases as evidence the government is becoming more transparent about UAP investigations, while arguing that significant amounts of information remain classified.

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Officials in America’s most populated township are taking urgent action to stop a Democrat-backed bill that would replace “mother” and “father” in New York State law with gender-neutral parental terms.

The emergency resolution from Hempstead Township comes just days after New York State Legislature passed a bill that would replace “mother” with the term “gestating parent” and “father” with “non-gestating parent.” It would also change “paternity” to “parentage.”

Democrats say the measure is an effort to be more “inclusive” of the state’s residents with non-traditional “gender identities.” It is now awaiting action from Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Hempstead Township Supervisor John Ferretti told Fox News Digital the legislation is “woke nonsense.”

“As a father of two, it was an insult to me and to my wife,” Ferretti said in an interview on Tuesday. “As soon as I learned, the first thing I did was bring my wife into our bedroom and say, ‘Look what they did up in Albany. They’re eliminating the terms mother and father from state law.’”

His nine-year-old daughter overheard the conversation and got upset, asking Ferretti: “Can I still call you dad?”

BILL REPLACING ‘MOTHER’ AND ‘FATHER’ WITH GENDER-NEUTRAL TERMS PASSES IN NEW YORK, HEADS TO HOCHUL’S DESK

“It really hit close to home,” he continued. “We need to take a stand in the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in America, and make sure that we make it clear not just to residents in the Town of Hempstead, but to residents throughout New York State, that we won’t stand for this kind of woke nonsense.”

While the 2026 legislative session ended last week, Hochul has until the end of the year to sign the bill into law. Hochul told reporters last week that she had not yet reviewed the proposal.

“I have until the end of the year to review them and make a decision, so I won’t be commenting on pending legislation,” Hochul said during a news conference, according to FOX 5 New York.

Ferretti said he hopes Hochul ultimately rejects the bill, but said she’ll wait to act until after the election “because she’s not brave enough to take a stand.”

He said that the emergency resolution in Hempstead is intended to ensure the town continues recognizing the terms “mother” and “father” in its own laws and policies, regardless of whether the state measure ultimately becomes law.

LONG ISLAND COUNTY EXECUTIVE VOWS TO ‘PROTECT’ WOMEN’S SPORTS AFTER APPEALS COURT HALTS TRANS ATHLETE BAN

“We’re taking a stand because we will not allow woke Democrat liberals in New York State and the New York State Legislature to erase the traditional family,” Ferretti said. “They did not pass a law that adds language. They passed a law that erases mother and father from certain statutes under New York state law, and that’s completely unacceptable.”

“If Albany wanted to add additional language to their state laws, they could have added additional language, and we would not be discussing this right now,” Ferretti continued. “Instead, they chose to erase mother and father and replace it, and we won’t stand for that.”

Ferretti said the resolution has garnered support from Republican lawmakers representing Nassau County, including Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra, state Sen. Steve Rhoads, Assemblywoman Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and other members of the county’s Republican legislative delegation.

GOP LAWMAKERS, RILEY GAINES SLAM DEMOCRATS FOR VOTING AGAINST PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS ACT

Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman also blasted the proposal on social media.

“In Kathy Hochul’s New York, ‘mom’ is now defined as ‘gestating parent,’” Blakeman wrote. “Not when I’m Governor! I’ll stand up for moms and dads against this insanity.”

The fight marks the latest cultural flashpoint involving Hempstead, a Republican-led township of roughly 800,000 residents located on Long Island and within Nassau County. Hempstead officials previously backed measures include a push to keep biological males from competing in girls’ and women’s sports athletic facilities operated by Hempstead Township.

Conservative groups are also mobilizing against the parental-language bill.

“It’s just absurd, but also inherently dehumanizing,” Maggie McKneely with Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee told Fox News Digital.

“It reduces women to just their reproductive organs, but women are so much more than that. They are individuals with unique abilities and capabilities, and yes, motherhood is one of the greatest things that a woman can be. Being a mother is an incredible gift,” McKneely continued.

“Women do so much more than that, and to reduce them to just whether or not they are capable of gestating a child is really sad and dehumanizing. To reduce men to being just non-gestating people is just really sad.”

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

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FIRST ON FOX: A left-wing nonprofit accused by the Department of Justice of secretly funding the extremism it claims to combat is facing a new threat from Capitol Hill.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced legislation Wednesday that would revoke the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) tax-exempt status, ramping up pressure on the civil rights nonprofit organization amid a federal probe into alleged financial crimes. 

The measure’s introduction comes after Roy vowed Tuesday to target the law center’s tax-exempt status after grilling Bryan Fair, the SPLC’s interim chief executive, about its record of targeting mainstream conservative organizations during a contentious oversight hearing.

“The SPLC has built a business in smearing Christian conservatives and profiting from labeling its ideological opponents as ‘extremists’ and ‘hate groups,’” Roy said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “Tax-exempt status should be reserved for charitable organizations serving the public good — not groups engaged in partisan political warfare.”

FIRST ON FOX: SPLC’S LEGAL WOES GROW AS JIM JORDAN FIRES LATEST SALVO AT LEFT-WING GROUP

“The Stop SPLC Act would simply revoke the SPLC’s tax-exempt status and end the special tax benefits it has enjoyed for far too long,” he added.

A spokesperson for the nonprofit did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The legislation comes as the SPLC is accused of routing $4.1 million in tax-exempt donor funds to various extremist organizations — including the Ku Klux Klan and the United Klans of America — between 2010 and 2023, using fictitious accounts and committing bank fraud to conceal the payments.

The group has insisted its informant program “saved lives,” but federal prosecutors allege hate groups that received the donor money used a portion of it for recruitment purposes and to purchase materials, such as wood for cross burnings and KKK paraphernalia.

Fair has denied that the SPLC did anything wrong and largely declined to discuss the allegations Tuesday.

The law center has 501(c)(3) status as a nonprofit organization, which means financial contributions to the group are tax-deductible.

HOW MUTINY AT SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER TRIGGERED LEADERSHIP COLLAPSE

Roy’s bill could threaten the group’s flush finances, as donations surged during the period it operated the now-defunct informant program. 

“Advancing hatred has become quite profitable for the SPLC, as in 2024, the organization had over $829 million in assets and an endowment of approximately $730.8 million and $120.9 million in revenue,” Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wy., said Tuesday. “The bulk of this money comes from the contributions of the SPLC donors.”

Turning Point USA, the Family Research Council and Moms for Liberty are among the conservative organizations listed on the law center’s annual “hate map” database alongside neo-Nazi and White supremacist groups.

GOP lawmakers pressed Fair Tuesday about those designations and the notable omission of leftist groups.

“How many leftist anti-Jewish groups do you have listed on your website,” Roy asked Fair. “How many extremist Islamic groups do you have?”

Fair did not name an organization that fit either criteria, prompting Roy to suggest that the left-wing nonprofit intentionally targets conservative Christian groups.

“So you think there’s a bunch of Islamic groups that are pro-LGBTQ?” the Texas lawmaker then asked Fair, triggering laughs from the hearing room. “Is that the position of the SPLC? I just want to make sure the record is reflecting that.”

“We target no group or label … because of its religion,” Fair insisted.

Fair also defended the law center’s decision to designate Turning Point, a conservative youth activism powerhouse founded by the late Charlie Kirk, as an extremist organization.

“It is our position that TPUSA expresses views and vilifies other people based on immutable characteristics, exposing them to our listing,” Fair told Roy. 

Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk slammed Fair’s comments during a post on social media Tuesday.

“Turning Point USA has, from the beginning, stood for open conversations and respectful debate regardless of creed or color,” Kirk, the wife of the late Charlie Kirk, said. “All along, the real hate group is the SPLC, which recklessly sows hate every day with its lies.”

Roy has also introduced legislation to revoke the tax-exempt status of the national Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), but the bill has since stalled in committee. Republicans have sharply criticized the nonprofit over alleged ties to terrorism.

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Europe’s most ambitious effort to build a homegrown sixth-generation fighter jet has collapsed, dealing a major blow to the continent’s push for military independence just as NATO allies pledge historic increases in defense spending.

France and Germany have abandoned the fighter jet portion of the Future Combat Air System project (FCAS), according to French and German officials — a roughly $116 billion project launched in 2017 to develop a next-generation combat aircraft intended to replace France’s Rafale fighter and Germany and Spain’s Eurofighter fleets by 2040. 

“The German authorities considered that it was not possible to put further pressure on the companies concerned,” the Élysée Palace, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron, said in a statement.

The program was envisioned as Europe’s answer to future U.S. and Chinese airpower, combining a stealth fighter with advanced networking capabilities, artificial intelligence and accompanying drone aircraft. European leaders also viewed it as a cornerstone of the continent’s push for greater defense autonomy and a stronger domestic defense-industrial base.

TRUMP PUSHED NATO TO SPEND BIG — NOW COMES THE HARDER QUESTION: CAN EUROPE ACTUALLY FIGHT?

Concerns about the project’s viability had been building for months. Earlier in 2026, European Union Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius described the program as a “failure” and warned that Europe lacked successful examples of major multinational defense projects.

Its collapse now raises fresh questions about whether Europe can translate promises of rearmament and strategic autonomy into the complex multinational weapons programs needed to compete with the United States and China.

Sixth-generation fighters are expected to combine stealth technology, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, networking systems and teams of accompanying drones. Military planners view them as the future of air combat and a key capability in potential conflicts involving major powers such as China or Russia. 

European leaders viewed the program as a test of whether Europe could develop cutting-edge military technology without relying on American defense contractors, making its collapse a setback for broader ambitions of defense self-sufficiency and strategic autonomy.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had publicly questioned whether Germany would even need a manned sixth-generation fighter by the time the aircraft entered service and argued that Berlin’s requirements differed from France’s, which wanted a future jet capable of carrying nuclear weapons and operating from aircraft carriers.

The collapse comes at a pivotal moment for NATO, as alliance members have committed to sharply increase defense spending and expand military capabilities in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing concerns about long-term European security.

“It’s hardly ideal signalling either to Washington or to Moscow,” Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Reuters.

PENTAGON SLASHES NATO COMBAT COMMITMENTS AS TRUMP PUSHES EUROPE TO DEFEND ITSELF

The collapse underscored the depth of disagreements between the governments and industrial partners involved in the program.

Macron’s office said France would continue pursuing European defense cooperation despite the setback.

“The French authorities will continue to encourage our companies and armed forces to explore ways and means of pursuing ambitious European projects that are consistent with our national security interests,” it added.

The fighter program’s collapse also is raising questions about the future of other major European defense initiatives. 

France and Germany have struggled to maintain momentum on the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), a next-generation tank project, while several other joint defense efforts have faced delays, restructuring or cancellation in recent years.

Defense analysts say the Future Combat Air System failure is the latest example of Europe’s struggle to convert political commitments to military self-sufficiency into large-scale multinational defense programs, despite growing pressure to reduce reliance on U.S. military capabilities.

German War Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin already is evaluating alternatives following the program’s collapse. 

“One is ordering more F-35s as a bridge solution or for whatever reason,” Pistorius told reporters Tuesday. Other options include joining another international fighter program already underway or pursuing a separate aircraft effort under German leadership with Airbus and other partners.

Pistorius also offered a blunt assessment of the failed effort. 

“With what we know today, we would no longer launch this project in the way it was originally set up,” he said, describing FCAS as “an ambitious European project” that had “crashed into reality.” 

He attributed the collapse largely to tensions between Airbus and Dassault and differing military requirements between France and Germany.

Germany and France launched the Future Combat Air System project in 2017, with Spain joining two years later. The aircraft was designed to operate alongside drones and a highly networked “combat cloud,” but the program had been edging toward collapse for months amid disputes over design authority, technology sharing and industrial control.

French President Emmanuel Macron has long championed the concept of European “strategic autonomy,” arguing that Europe should reduce its dependence on the United States for critical defense capabilities. The Future Combat Air System was widely viewed as one of the most important tests of that vision.

But disagreements emerged over industrial leadership, intellectual property rights, technology sharing and the future design of the aircraft itself. France sought to preserve key sovereign capabilities tied to its nuclear deterrent and aircraft carrier operations, while Germany pushed for a more equal industrial partnership.

The program’s failure leaves uncertainty over how France, Germany and Spain will pursue future air combat capabilities. It also comes as a rival sixth-generation fighter effort — the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), led by the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan — continues to advance.

The failure could also reinforce Europe’s dependence on American defense technology at a time when many European leaders say they want to reduce it.

Germany already has committed to purchasing U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, while numerous NATO allies have turned to American-made aircraft, missile defenses and long-range weapons systems since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

INSIDE AMERICA’S 6TH-GEN ARSENAL: B-21, F-47, AND THE FUTURE OF AIR DOMINANCE

While France is unlikely to abandon its domestic aerospace industry, analysts say the demise of the Future Combat Air System project could make it harder for European governments seeking alternatives to American defense technology in the coming decades.

The Pentagon repeatedly has welcomed greater European defense spending but also has emphasized the need for allies to deliver tangible capabilities rather than make promises that take decades to materialize.

The Pentagon and NATO could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The U.S. is pursuing multiple next-generation combat aircraft programs. 

Earlier in 2026, President Donald Trump announced the Air Force’s new F-47 fighter jet, while the Navy continues development of its separate F/A-XX carrier-based fighter program.

China also is pursuing next-generation air combat systems and has conducted highly publicized test flights of advanced aircraft that defense analysts believe could be connected to Beijing’s sixth-generation fighter efforts.

The collapse leaves Europe without a clear continental path toward a sixth-generation fighter capability while both the United States and China continue advancing next-generation combat aircraft programs. 

France, Germany and Spain must now decide whether to pursue separate national efforts, seek new industrial partners or deepen reliance on existing aircraft and foreign-made systems as pressure mounts to deliver on Europe’s rearmament ambitions.

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House lawmakers are turning their focus to billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates as congressional investigators press ahead with their probe into Jeffrey Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. 

Gates will participate in a voluntary interview with the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Members on the panel are expected to pepper him with questions about his relationship with Epstein, which occurred years after Epstein’s 2008 prison term for soliciting a minor for prostitution. 

The interview will take place behind closed doors, though a transcript is expected to be made available at a later date.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., invited Gates to testify before the committee after he appeared multiple times across millions of documents released by the federal government as part of its criminal probe against Epstein.

EPSTEIN FALLOUT GROWS AS DOJ WATCHDOG DIGS DEEPER INTO HANDLING OF THE CASE

Gates and Epstein were shown corresponding, including discussions about the tech billionaire’s philanthropy work and socializing between 2011 and 2014. Epstein later killed himself in 2019 after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges. 

According to the files, Epstein appeared to discover Gates’ extramarital affairs with two Russian women during his marriage to Melinda French Gates, which the tech billionaire has said did not involve Epstein’s victims.

Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has denied knowledge about Epstein’s sex crimes against minors.

“I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” Gates said, according to a town hall recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, adding it was a “huge mistake” to spend time with Epstein.

BILL GATES: ‘FOOLISH’ TO SPEND TIME WITH JEFFREY EPSTEIN

A spokesperson for Gates previously told Fox News Digital that he welcomed the opportunity to testify before the committee.

“While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work,” the spokesperson said.

The Microsoft founder is the latest influential figure to testify before the oversight panel in connection to the Epstein probe. Billionaire businessman Les Wexner, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have also participated in interviews with the committee.

Kathryn Ruemmler, former White House counsel to former President Barack Obama, and Leon Black, co-founder of investment firm Apollo Global Management, are expected to sit for interviews in the coming weeks.

Lawmakers have pointed to Gates’ association with Epstein after his conviction as a key focus of their inquiry.

“We’ve said we don’t care if you are a Republican or a Democrat or who you are, the fact that Mr. Gates still had a relationship with Mr. Epstein, even after knowing about the conviction, knowing actually what he had done, I think is very concerning,” House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia, D-Calif., told reporters Tuesday. “So we want to know what did Mr. Gates know, who else was around that orbit and why Mr. Gates continued to have a relationship with Mr. Epstein. I think those are important questions.”

Fox News’ Dan Scully contributed to this report.

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BLUE HILL, Maine – Graham Platner, the progressive left, and Donald Trump appear to be the big winners in Tuesday’s high-profile primaries in Maine and South Carolina.

Platner, the oyster farmer and military combat veteran who has been facing plenty of incoming fire amid mounting controversies, cruised to the Democratic nomination Tuesday in left-leaning Maine and will now face longtime moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a key race that is among a handful which will likely determine if Republicans hold their Senate majority in the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, in solidly red South Carolina, Trump-backed Sen. Lindsey Graham won a majority of the vote in the Senate GOP primary and will avoid a runoff against a primary challenger from the right.

And the candidate the president endorsed in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, finished on top of a crowded field of contenders and will advance to a runoff election in two weeks against longtime South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who came in second.

Here’s what we learned in the key June 9th primaries.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

The left storms back

The convincing victory by Platner, who was backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, looks to be another feather in the cap for the left in their intra-party face-off with the establishment.

The primary in Maine was held a week after Iowa state Rep. John Turek, who was supported by longtime Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, won the Democratic Senate primary and will face Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in another crucial midterm showdown.

Turek, a wheelchair basketball player who won two Paralympic gold medals, defeated the more progressive candidate, state Sen. Zach Wahls. The divisive and expensive primary battle was viewed as a proxy war between the establishment and anti-establishment wings of the party.

Fast-forward a week and the ballot box performance by Platner, who promotes an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class, gives a boost to the left.

“The Democratic establishment and powerful interests spent months trying to stop Graham Platner. Instead, they demonstrated that voters in Maine and across America want to elect shake-up-the-system outsiders,” Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green emphasized.

And Green warned that Platner’s victory “should be a wake-up call for a Democratic establishment that has spent too long underestimating the appeal of economic populism and outsider politics.”

EMBATTLED PLATNER WINS DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY TO TEE UP CRUCIAL MIDTERM SHOWDOWN

What controversies?

Platner in recent weeks has been facing one of the roughest stretches of his bid for the U.S. Senate.

The candidate has been playing defense the past month, amid multiple controversies. They include inflammatory online comments made on Reddit, a well-publicized and now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol, recent reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married, and new allegations last week from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes. Platner has called the latest allegations of violence untrue.

On Monday, a day before the primary election, a former high-level staffer from the Platner campaign wrote in the Washington Post that Platner “is not someone who would be good for Maine or for the country.”

While the mounting controversies triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods and needed to be replaced, the candidate this past weekend thanked Maine voters for continuing to support him.

“When hurtful things I said on the internet a decade ago came out into the public as I shared my personal journey through PTSD and darkness of recovery and accountability and growth. Maine had my back,” Platner said at a rally Friday not far from his hometown in Down East Maine. “Now, as every single piece of that past and journey gets dug up, litigated, and weaponized, you have my back. And when politically motivated, serious and false accusations are made against me. Maine, you have my back.”

THE GROWING LIST OF CONTROVERSIES THREATENING DEMOCRAT GRAHAM PLATNER’S MAINE SENATE BID

And voters in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary seemed to shrug off the controversies.

“In trying so hard to understand me, they failed to understand that this is not about me at all,” Platner said in his victory speech as he dismissed news reports about his past misdeeds as immaterial to the Senate election.

“This is a movement about us, about the far too many working far too hard and struggling far too much.”

Trump has a big night

The president wasn’t on the ballot in South Carolina, but he had plenty on the line in the GOP Senate and gubernatorial primaries.

One week after Trump’s endorsement-winning streak in high-profile Republican primaries was snapped, the president’s immense clout over the GOP was on the line again, this time in South Carolina.

And the president easily passed the test.

The candidate Trump endorsed in the Palmetto State’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, finished first in a crowded field of candidates and clinched one of the two tickets in the race for the nomination.

TRUMP ALLY LINDSEY GRAHAM SURVIVES CHALLENGE FROM GOP’S ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT WING

Evette, who repeatedly spotlighted Trump’s support, now advances to a Republican runoff election in two weeks against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, the second place finisher, in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Henry McMaster. 

Since no candidate topped 50% of the primary vote to land a majority, Evette and Wilson will battle for the nomination in the June 23 runoff, and the winner will be considered the clear favorite in the general election in the solidly red southeastern state.

Meanwhile, in the South Carolina GOP Senate primary, longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham did win a majority of the vote, and will avoid a runoff, the Associated Press reported.

Graham, who was endorsed by Trump, was facing primary challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who took aim at the senator over his support for the war in Iran. Lynch was backed by some MAGA leaders who have been critical of the president.

Graham’s campaign and allied political groups spent nearly $20 million to highlight Trump’s support. And the president joined Graham and Evette for a primary eve tele-rally.

The brute force of the president’s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past month, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that grabbed plenty of national attention.

But his 11th-hour endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa a week and a half ago — which came on the same day he also backed Evette — in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn’t enough to muscle the three-term congressman to victory.

Feenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

In the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, the major contenders had long been highlighting their support for Trump and his agenda, in hopes of landing his support.

Trump, after staying neutral for months, endorsed Evette, praising her as an “America First Patriot” and a “WINNER” in his announcement.

In her primary night speech, Evette thanks the president and touted that she’s a “Trump-endorsed businesswoman and conservative who’s going to take the fight to the radical left.”

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić says relations between Serbia and the United States have undergone a dramatic transformation under President Donald Trump, a shift he says has changed public perceptions in a country where memories of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign remain deeply rooted.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Vučić praised Trump’s approach to the Balkans, arguing that the administration’s focus on economic cooperation rather than political pressure resonated with many Serbs. “President Trump and his team so far were working very diligently and dedicatedly on the Western Balkans,” Vučić said, adding that many Serbs view his administration very differently from previous U.S. governments.

“If you ask people in Serbia just to make a comparison between Clinton and Trump’s administration, or Democrats to Republicans, you wouldn’t believe it,” Vučić said. “It would be 90 to 10 or 95 to 5.”

FORMER TRUMP ADVISORS WAGE BALKAN CAMPAIGN AS MAGA MOVES INTO EUROPE

The comparison is particularly striking in Serbia, where many still associate the United States with NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign during the Kosovo conflict, launched to stop Serbian forces’ crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and which remains one of the most consequential events in modern Serbian history.

Vučić said he recently extended an invitation to Trump to visit Serbia and predicted the American president would receive an enthusiastic welcome.

“I hope that we’ll be able to host him,” Vučić said. “More people will be ready to greet him and wait for him than he might even expect…I dare to say even more than hundreds of thousands of people.”

The Serbian president said the improving relationship between Washington and Belgrade is increasingly centered on economics, investment and technological cooperation, and mutual conservative values.

According to Vučić, Serbia and the United States are preparing to launch a strategic dialogue that will focus on energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, defense cooperation and investment opportunities. Among the projects under discussion are energy infrastructure, liquefied natural gas cooperation, data centers and advanced computing technologies.

EUROPEAN LEADER PRAISES TRUMP’S ‘PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH’ FOR KEEPING COUNTRY SAFE FROM CONFLICT

The growing relationship comes as Serbia seeks to position itself as a regional economic hub while continuing its long-standing ambition of joining the European Union.

Vučić pointed to preparations for Expo 2027 in Belgrade with nearly 150 participating countries, as evidence of Serbia’s growing international profile and economic ambitions.

Vučić, who has served as Serbia’s dominant political figure since becoming prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017, pointed to the country’s economic growth as evidence of its transformation. “Our GDP was 32 billion (euros) when I became the prime minister,” Vučić said. “This year it’s going to be over 100 billion euros., which is $120 billion.”

Vučić’s relationship with Trump dates back to the president’s first term, when the White House brokered a series of economic normalization agreements between Serbia and Kosovo. Rather than focusing first on the politically explosive question of Kosovo’s status, the Trump administration emphasized infrastructure projects, transportation links and investment aimed at improving ties between the two sides.

In September 2020, Vučić and then-Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti signed U.S.-brokered economic agreements at the White House that included commitments to expand rail and highway connections and promote investment. Trump described the deal as a breakthrough achieved by focusing on “job creation and economic growth” rather than longstanding political disputes.

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Asked whether he would consider recognizing Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has been recognized by the United States under President George W. Bush and most European countries, if doing so unlocked Serbia’s economic future and accelerated its path toward membership in the European Union, Vučić pushed back on the premise, arguing that economic cooperation and improved relations should come before discussions about political status.

“I’m not saying that I’m ready to violate my constitution… I have always been open to talks or compromising solutions, I have always been open to developing great economic ties and no doubt much better political ties. But I was not speaking about recognition of someone’s independence,” he said.

While Serbia continues to pursue membership in the European Union, the country has also maintained ties with Russia and China, a balancing act that has drawn scrutiny amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing geopolitical tensions worldwide.

Asked whether Serbia could continue navigating between East and West in an increasingly divided world or would eventually need to choose a side, Vučić rejected the notion that countries must choose between competing geopolitical camps. Instead, he pointed to both his own visit to China and Trump’s engagement with Beijing as examples of what he described as pragmatic diplomacy focused on national interests.

“President Trump didn’t go there because of his vanity,” Vučić said of Trump’s visit to China. “He brought with him all the leading people of the United States of America for making better businesses, for earning more money for their companies.”

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Vučić said he adopted a similar approach during his own visit, arguing that leaders should prioritize economic opportunities for their citizens rather than ideological alignments. “I’m coming from a small country. I was asking for more investments and was fighting for the interests of my people,” he said.

The Serbian president said the same pragmatic approach should guide efforts to resolve ongoing conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East.

“It’s always better to have thousands of days of negotiations than one day of war,” he said.

Asked about tensions involving Iran and the wider conflict in the Middle East, Vučić reiterated Serbia’s support for Israel, a position that increasingly distinguishes Belgrade from some European governments.

“I am the president of the country that is one of the very rare countries in Europe that is not hesitating to cooperate and collaborate with Israel,” he said. “And it is proud to say this publicly and openly.”

Vučić warned about what he described as rising antisemitism around the world.

“From time to time, I’m very much afraid to see a lot of antisemitic slogans and antisemitic banners,” he said.

“The Serbian president said Serbia has resisted those trends and pledged that it would continue to do so under his leadership.”

“It does not happen in Serbia, and it won’t happen as long as I’m the president.”

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