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Delta Air Lines has cut off special services for members of Congress at airports, as the industry continues to feel the effects of the government’s failure to pay Transportation Security Administration workers.

On Tuesday morning, Delta issued a statement saying it would temporarily suspend specialty services for members of Congress “due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown.”

Members of Congress are given special treatment at airports, including expedited screening, escorts through airports to bypass long security lines, and dedicated reservation desks that, among other things, allow them to make last-minute changes.

TSA workers hit their third period without a paycheck since funding for parts of the Department of Homeland Security was halted because of an impasse between the White House and Congress over immigration enforcement and voting policies.

“Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment,” the airline said in a statement.

NBC News has requested comment on the ongoing situation from other major airlines.

A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said the company is watching the lines closely at its stations and is “working with Customers who might miss flights as the result of unexpected delays. For those Customers, we do our best to accommodate them without penalty on the next flight to their destination,” the spokesperson said.

“Southwest continues to engage with our federal partners and joins the airline industry in urging Congress to fund the TSA and CBP without further delay,” the spokesperson said.

Two industry sources pointed at the amount of business that airlines have before Congress — one of them specifically cited periodic bailouts — in contending that the companies should avoid alienating or angering lawmakers as they push for a solution.

“Get through this,” said one airline lobbyist. “Don’t be doing things to members.”

Several airports have been hit with security lines that are so backed up they snake through check-in areas and have taken travelers over four hours or more to clear.

As of Monday, 10.93% of TSA employees across the country had called in sick or notified employers they couldn’t work their scheduled shifts — what is known as a callout rate.

In Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport as of Monday, the callout rate was 40.3% and in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, it was 37.4%.

Meanwhile, TSA employees have said they are unable to pay bills and feed their families because they have not been paid. Airports, unions and charities have been holding food drives, meals and collections for TSA workers.

Johnny Jones, a member of American Federal Government Employees Council for TSA workers and a local unit that represents workers at Texas airports, noted in a press call on Tuesday that employees have contended with shutdowns on and off for months.

He said employees have told the union that they are paying fees of about $75 a day for late rent for apartments or other amounts for car loans. They also are charged bank fees when payments can’t be automatically paid from their accounts.

“Even after the [last] shutdown was over … the back pay doesn’t cover the fact that you just lost and have lost pay to all these fees,” Jones said.

AFGE national president Everett Kelley said Coast Guard workers also are doing their jobs, including rescues, not knowing whether they will have the money for groceries. He called it a “national embarrassment and a disgrace.”

And he warned members of Congress, “Don’t even think about going home for Easter recess while tens of thousands of American families are going without paychecks.”

On Monday, the administration deployed ICE agents to several airports to help with some security tasks, while trained TSA agents focus on screenings.

“People are not quitting the job because they want to quit the job. They love the job. They aren’t showing up to work because they have no choice,” said Hydrick Thomas, president of AFGTSA Council 100, which represents TSA officers.

One union leader said some TSA employees are selling plasma to pay for food, another said some members are now experiencing hunger.

Duncan McGuire, AFGE Region 5 vice president, said he’s been asked about the federal employees’ insurance policies regarding suicide.

“Some people are actually considering suicide as the only option to get their loved ones money when they can’t bring in anymore,” McGuire said.

Other union leaders said people can’t pay for child care, gas to get to work, copays for doctor’s appointments, medicine or food.

“This is what happens when the system is strained and staffing stretched too thin,” said Kelley said. “But instead of solving the problem of paying [transportation officers], the administration sent ICE agents to airports as replacement workers.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org, to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

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“TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie has opened up about the ongoing search for her mother, detailing the “agony” her family is going through more than seven weeks after her disappearance from her home in Arizona.

“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable,” Savannah Guthrie told Hoda Kotb in an interview previewed Wednesday that will be broadcast throughout the week.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing by her family Feb. 1 from her home near Tucson, Arizona, after failing to attend a virtual church service at a friend’s house, authorities said. She was last seen the night before, around 9:45 p.m., after having dinner at her daughter Annie Guthrie’s home.

Watch Savannah Guthrie’s interview Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on “TODAY.”

Authorities have described the case as a possible kidnapping or abduction, but clues have been scarce.

“And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night,” Savannah Guthrie said. “And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home now.”

Days after their mother disappeared, Savannah Guthrie — flanked by her sister and her brother, Camron Guthrie — posted a tearful video on Instagram begging for more information from their mother’s possible kidnapper and saying her family is “ready to talk.”

In the video, the siblings also thanked the public for “the prayers for our beloved mom.”

“We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them, too,” they said.

Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb during the interview.
Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb during the interview.TODAY

Amid the ongoing search that includes both state and federal agencies, authorities released video of a person whom they have described as a suspect, showing a masked, armed figure appearing to tamper with a security camera on Guthrie’s Tucson-area home.

The FBI has said it is looking for a male who is 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with an average build. In the doorbell camera images, he was wearing a black Ozark Trail Hiker Pack 25-liter backpack.

That doorbell camera disconnected at 1.47 a.m. Feb. 1, according to a timeline previously released by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

Forensic testing showed that Guthrie’s blood was found on the porch of her home, authorities have said. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said that investigators may use genetic genealogy to try and identify the source of unknown DNA recovered from inside the house.

Image: Nancy Guthrie.
Nancy Guthrie.Pima County Sheriff’s Department

The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for her recovery. Separately, the FBI has offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to her recovery or to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.

Earlier this month, Savannah Guthrie, who has been on leave from her position at the “TODAY” show, visited the studio in New York City and said she plans to return to her post.

“While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home,” a spokesperson for the show said in a statement.

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This article is part of “Unaffordable America,” a series examining rising economic inequality in the U.S. and the policies that drive it.

How’s the economy?

Not bad if you’re rich.

Demand for luxury yachts and private jets is surging thanks to last year’s tax law. Sales of $10 million-plus mansions are booming as stocks hit new highs. And the wealthy and powerful will get to enjoy a new ballroom for galas at the White House.

What if you aren’t rich?

The typical American can’t afford the median-priced home. A new car is out of reach for many, with the average monthly payment exceeding $700. Food banks are seeing a growing number of people skipping meals because they can’t afford groceries, and more middle-class Americans are selling their plasma to make ends meet.

The divide between rich and poor in America is the widest it’s been in at least a generation — and growing. The amount of wealth held by the top 1% increased at more than double the rate of the bottom 90% in the first nine months of last year, according to Federal Reserve figures. At the very top, Elon Musk’s fortune is approaching that of legendary 19th-century businessman John D. Rockefeller when looked at as a share of the overall U.S. economy.

A variety of factors have shaped the struggles of everyday Americans and fueled the gains of the wealthy: The pandemic disrupted the housing market, making it harder to afford a home. Stocks have surged, driven by enthusiasm over AI. Manufacturing has waned, hiring has slipped and costs continue to rise.

President Donald Trump’s policies are amplifying these trends. One year into his second term, his administration has cut programs helping lower-income households while advancing policies benefiting the wealthy and corporations. He’s signed legislation to cut food stamps and Medicaid benefits and put new restrictions on low-income housing assistance and student loans. To cope with higher costs from tariffs, he has suggested Americans buy fewer dolls for their children.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has given billions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy and loosened regulations on banks while easing rules around cryptocurrency, which he’s benefited from personally.

“Donald Trump talks a lot about the working class, his MAGA base is primarily working class, but if you look at the data, the working class is doing very badly in the second Trump administration,” said Robert Reich, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the Labor Department during the Clinton administration. “The real growth in the second Trump administration has been in corporate profits and in the wealth of the people at the top.”

Trump has defended his economic record, referring to concerns over affordability as a hoax and blaming weakness in the economy on Democrats. He’s dismissed numerous polls showing increasing economic anxiety, saying in his State of the Union address in February that he has ushered in a “golden age of America.” As evidence, he cited rising 401(k) balances, a drop in mortgage rates and lower gas prices — though gas prices have since spiked after his attacks on Iran disrupted the global flow of oil. The S&P 500, fueled by an AI boom, grew around 13% during the first year of his second term.

Trump’s allies argue that, while it may take time, all Americans will benefit from last summer’s tax cuts, with the average refund rising by around $1,000 this year, according to data cited by the White House. They also say that Trump’s still-evolving tariffs will eventually boost U.S. manufacturing jobs, which declined last year, noting announcements by foreign governments and corporations about plans to invest in the U.S.

A White House official also pointed to signs of improvement, including a lower rate of inflation than in the past several years and wages that are rising faster than inflation.

Some economists, including those who have served in past Republican administrations, have questioned whether those improvements will be enough to offset pressures elsewhere in the economy, including from a slowing job market, which shed 92,000 jobs in February across a broad range of industries.

For “Unaffordable America,” a yearlong series on the causes and effects of rising economic inequality, NBC News asked readers how they were faring and heard from hundreds of people. In interviews and written responses, many described struggling to find a job and afford higher food prices and health care costs, while others said they were benefiting from gains in the stock market and lower interest rates.

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The clock that was ticking toward a dramatic new escalation in the Iran war may now be counting down to a deal that would end it.

That’s the latest stunning turn of events delivered by President Donald Trump’s social media account.

Trump announced Monday that he was postponing his threatened military strikes against Iranian power plants for at least five days, hours ahead of his deadline for Tehran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

He said the U.S. and Iran were in “productive” talks toward a “complete and total” resolution of the war, though Tehran denied any direct talks.

Follow live updates

Now in its fourth week, the conflict has consumed the Middle East, pushed up the prices of energy and food and threatened the global economy with a far-reaching crisis.

Trump’s reversal delays what many feared would be a significant new escalation for civilians across the region.

Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry appeared to counter Trump’s version of events, though, saying in a statement published by the semiofficial news agency Mehr News that there was “no dialogue between Tehran and Washington.”

It said Trump’s delay was “part of efforts to reduce energy prices and buy time to implement his military plans” but acknowledged “there are initiatives from regional countries to reduce tensions.” Iranian state media said Trump had “backed down” after Iran vowed swift retaliation for any attacks on its energy infrastructure.

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WASHINGTON — On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., discussed an off-ramp with President Donald Trump to reopen TSA and end the long lines and delays at airports.

It would fund all of the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE, which Democrats have refused to support without new limitations on immigration enforcement operations, two sources with knowledge of the conversation told NBC News.

White House aides initially conveyed the idea to Trump and, after that briefing, Thune spoke with the president, the two sources said. Thune discussed the idea with Republicans on Capitol Hill, one of the sources said. The second source said it’s seen by numerous Republicans as a viable path to break the logjam.

ICE would be funded separately by Republicans in a party-line “reconciliation” bill that can pass without the need for any Democratic support later in the year.

The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for more than a month, and while key operations, such as TSA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are still operating, many of those employees are working without pay. As NBC News reported this weekend, more than 400 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also shut down, but its employees are being paid through Trump’s big beautiful bill passed last year.

Republicans believe that the off-ramp Trump and Thune discussed would win support from Democrats, who have offered to fund noncontroversial parts of the Department of Homeland Security on the Senate floor while the two parties continue to negotiate on immigration.

But Trump rejected it — as he made clear in a Truth Social post Sunday night.

“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump wrote, while instead calling on Republicans to “Kill the Filibuster, and stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary.”

Trump’s first two ideas aren’t viable. Democrats are determined to sink the SAVE America Act, which doesn’t have enough support to pass. And Republicans have made clear they lack the votes to nuke the filibuster. They may, however, cancel recess if there’s still no deal by the end of this week.

The conversation with Thune and Trump was first reported by Punchbowl News.

Speaking Monday in Memphis, Tennessee, the president doubled down on his demands to pair Homeland Security funding with the voting bill.

“You don’t have to take a fast vote. Don’t worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus. OK, make this one for Jesus,” Trump said, adding: “The most important part of homeland security is voter ID and proof of citizenship. Nobody can vote on Homeland Security without voter ID or proof of citizenship.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said that Democrats will again seek unanimous consent to fund just the TSA on the Senate floor Monday, for the eighth time.

Republicans have so far rejected those stand-alone bills.

If Trump were to change his mind and accept the Thune-GOP idea, it carries benefits for both parties. For Republicans, they could avoid giving into Democratic demands, such as requiring immigration enforcement officers to remove their masks and requiring judicial warrants to conduct raids. For Democrats, they could keep their fingerprints off ICE funding, which has become toxic with their base since Homeland Security agents killed protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

“We can be out of this shutdown by the end of the week,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Sunday. “Here’s what we do. The Democrats are amenable to opening up everything at DHS but ICE. We should accept that. The very next day, we should file a budget resolution through reconciliation that funds ICE as we deem appropriate. We don’t need Democratic votes to do that.”

Democrats are also planning to seize on the Trump social media post to argue that he owns the shutdown and travel chaos.

Reconciliation bills are arduous, requiring near-unanimous support among Republicans, especially given the tiny House majority. There has been deep skepticism that the party could pull it off, even if it tried. But needing to fund an agency like ICE would raise the impetus to use that path.

Under the “big, beautiful bill” passed by Republicans last year, ICE received a cash infusion of about $75 billion for the next four years to help carry out Trump’s mass deportation program.

The path comes with another possible upside for the White House: Some Trump allies have proposed reconciliation to approve supplemental funding for Trump’s war in Iran. It’s not clear that could win enough Democratic support.

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U.S. stocks surged Monday, after President Donald Trump announced that he was postponing all military strikes on Iranian power plants for a five-day period.

Trump said the U.S. and Iran had engaged in what he called “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”

Reporting about the nature and timing of these “conversations” evolved over the course of the day, and included conflicting accounts from various stakeholders.

But for markets, the talks offered a glimmer of hope that a path toward the de-escalation of the conflict — and the oil crisis it created — were within reach.

Iranian state media responded to Trump’s post by saying the U.S. president has “backed down” after Iran’s firm response.

Trump, however, said that Iran had “called” to discuss trying to resolve the war diplomatically.

“They want to make a deal, and we are very willing to make it,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Florida.

The Strait of Hormuz, a crucial transit point for global oil supplies, could be “open very soon,” Trump added, but he provided few details.

Experts and analysts quickly pointed out that even if the fighting were to end this week, it would still take months for the strait to reopen.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures initially soared about 3% on Trump’s post shortly after 7 a.m. ET. By the time the closing bell rang, both indexes still recorded significant gains, but less than futures had indicated early in the morning. The S&P 500 closed up 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite ended the day higher by 1.4%.

The gains were also broad based, with every S&P sector ending the day higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also shot higher immediately after Trump’s statement. By the end of the trading session, the Dow was higher by 631 points, and the Russell 2000 index closed up 2.7%.

It was the best day for the S&P, Nasdaq and Dow since Feb. 6.

Oil prices plunged around 11% and U.S. crude oil settled for the day at $88.13 per barrel. International Brent crude oil fell to $99.94 per barrel, settling under $100 per barrel for the first time since March 11.

Still, crude oil prices have risen more than 30% since the war began on Feb. 28, and more than 50% since the start of the year.

Trump’s Monday announcement on social media came after the president on Saturday said that he had given the Iranian regime 48 hours to “fully open, without threat, the Strait of Hormuz.” That ultimatum was set to expire Monday night.

U.S. natural gas prices dropped 6% Monday, European natural gas futures slid 9% and heating oil prices dropped 12%. Heating oil futures can also be a proxy for the price of jet fuel.

U.S. Treasury bonds also rose in the minutes after Trump’s comments, and the yields which guide borrowing rates for consumers dropped after posting big moves higher on Thursday and Friday on rising inflation fears stemming from soaring energy prices. Yields were down only slightly in mid-morning trading after the statements from Iranian media and Trump.

Investors were already grappling with how to trade headlines about the war before Monday’s volatility.

“Investors have two related problems in pricing risks around the Gulf war,” UBS economist Paul Donovan said in a note on Monday before Trump’s post. “Statements from top U.S. administration officials give different and at times contradictory assessments of the war; in the absence of measurable objectives, this is all markets have to respond to. The result is volatility.”

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The Defense Department will remove media offices from the Pentagon after a federal judge sided with The New York Times in a lawsuit challenging limits on reporters’ access to the building, a department official announced Monday.

An area of the Pentagon known as “Correspondents’ Corridor” that reporters have used for decades to cover the U.S. military will close immediately, department spokesperson Sean Parnell said. Journalists will eventually be able to work from an “annex” outside the building, which he said “will be available when ready.” He offered no detail about how long that will take.

The Pentagon Press Association said the announcement “is a clear violation of the letter and spirit of last week’s ruling.”

“At such a critical time, we ask why the Pentagon is choosing to restrict vital press freedoms that help inform all Americans,” the association said.

The new policy is the latest dispute over press access to President Donald Trump’s administration, which has limited legacy media while boosting conservative and pro-Trump outlets.

The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December, claiming the agency’s new credentialing policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. Dozens of reporters had walked out of the building rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., last week sided with the newspaper. He ordered the Pentagon to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times journalists and struck down some of the agency’s restrictions on news reporting.

Friedman said the “undisputed evidence” shows that the policy is designed to weed out “disfavored journalists” and replace them with those who are “on board and willing to serve” the government, a clear instance of illegal viewpoint discrimination.

Parnell said the Defense Department disagrees with the ruling and is pursuing an appeal. He said security concerns prompted restrictions on press access, a claim that journalists have rejected.

Under the latest Pentagon rules announced Monday, journalists will still have access to the Pentagon for press conferences and interviews arranged through the department’s public affairs team, but they will have to be escorted, Parnell wrote on social media.

The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Reporters from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, including from The Associated Press, have continued reporting on the military.

The AP, meanwhile, is awaiting a decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals on its separate lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration. The AP contends that Trump’s White House team punished it by reducing its access to presidential events because the outlet hasn’t followed his lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

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Philadelphia County District Attorney Lawrence Krasner criticized the Trump administration for dispatching ICE agents to airports to assist TSA officers who have gone unpaid for weeks amid a Democrat-forced funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security.

Krasner, a Democrat whose campaigns received funds tied to left-wing Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, has criticized President Donald Trump and DHS for months over their immigration enforcement measures and previously threatened to “hunt down” ICE agents he believed violated city laws if there were to be a Minnesota-style situation in Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, Krasner spoke from the airport, saying Trump administration officials have tried to confound the public and agents themselves as to what is legal behavior and what is not.

Krasner said he will not accept any phone calls from President Donald Trump asking for leniency:

IGNORED ICE DETAINERS ‘PUT LIVES AT RISK,’ DHS SAYS, TARGETING NEWSOM, PRITZKER, HEALEY

“The president cannot pardon you and yes I will put you in handcuffs, and I will put you into a courtroom, and if necessary, I will you put you a jail cell if you decide to make the terrazzo floor of this airport anything like what you did in the streets of Minneapolis,” Krasner said, addressing agents.

He claimed that situation involved “the criminal homicide of unarmed, innocent people” and that Philadelphia would not accept such actions.

“My job is to enforce the law: so this is how that works — because I know there have been efforts to confuse you, including by the Vice President of the United States. This is how it works. You commit crimes within the jurisdiction that is the city and county of Philadelphia, I prosecute you.”

Vice President JD Vance declined to comment. But, the White House lambasted separate comments from Krasner as he stood in front of a “Wooder Ice” mural for a video message.

Backed by ominous music, Krasner said Philadelphians enjoy Water Ice because it “doesn’t break the law [nor] bother us at an airport.” The “Rapid Response 47” team called Krasner’s video “sick and deranged,” adding, “If you don’t like it, Larry, tell your fellow Democrats to fund DHS.”

Krasner also noted during his airport remarks that there are law-abiding agents within DHS ranks.

FETTERMAN SLAMS DEMOCRATIC ‘MESS’ AS TSA WORKERS MISS PAYCHECKS DURING DHS SHUTDOWN

Larry Krasner, Donald Trump

“I have a message for the good people, and there are a lot of good people [in] ICE… Keep your oath. Uphold the United States Constitution. Uphold the laws. It does not matter whether I personally approve of policies that you are following,” Krasner began, adding he believes DHS’ “mass deportations” are “immoral.”

“To any agent who might think of doing in an illegal way, I’ll be seeing you in court and you’re not going to like it because a Philly jury is not going like what you did if it is illegal.”

When a reporter appeared to mention that the city cannot instruct ICE agents, Krasner said he is not suggesting Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) agents or ICE should not be present in Philadelphia, but that there appears to be “sort of an escalation” in the novel concept of using ICE to do the work of TSA.

DEMOCRATS BROKE AIRPORT SECURITY. NOW THEY’RE CALLING THE SOLUTION DANGEROUS

Krasner claimed ICE’s presence at airports and elsewhere has given foreigners cold feet.

He said the city saw 2,000 hotel rooms canceled for FIFA’s World Cup in June, and that he heard from Scottish fans that they would stay home because of high gas prices, airline ticket prices and the idea that their brogue could make them a target for ICE.

TSA agent at LaGuardia

“There are Scottish soccer fans who do not want to come here for fear their accent will be overheard and they’re going to get a bunch of grief from ICE agents in the airports, which they’ve never experienced before. This is a direct economic hit to FIFA and all the cities where it applies. This is a direct economic hit to the city of Philadelphia.”

“It is just one more thing that this president is doing to basically wreck our economy. I wish he wouldn’t do it. Having said that, I cannot blame an ICE agent who is following orders, has come here and is standing in the corner, basically doing nothing,” he said, calling ICE’s work as TSA agents “stupid but lawful.”

Krasner’s comments come as other top Democrats have lambasted ICE’s presence in airports, including remarks from one senator who claimed people will die because of them.

“ICE agents at airports will only aggravate delays & lines — disrupting checks, interrogating travelers, dragging parents from children, detaining citizens, brutalizing families, shooting & even killing,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote on X.

“Brutal, lawless tactics common in communities across the country by masked, unidentified agents, violating basic rights — no way to help TSA or travelers,” he continued.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York added separately that the last thing “the American people need is for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them.”

“We have already seen how ICE conducts itself,” Jeffries continued. “These are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job they have, for the most part, let alone deploying them in close proximity in highly sensitive situations at airports across the country,” the East New York lawmaker added.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Elaine Mallon contributed to this report.

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving to block new foreign-made internet routers from entering the U.S. market, citing mounting concerns that overseas supply chains could expose American networks to cyber threats inside their own homes. 

The move expands the agency’s “covered list,” which bars equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security and will effectively prevent new foreign-manufactured routers from being authorized for sale in the U.S. 

The order means new routers must be built in the United States or clear a national security review that scrutinizes ownership, supply chains and software control to be sold domestically.

“Effectively, the FCC would ban all new routers, because there are no domestic routers that meet that standard today,” Matt Wyckhouse, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Finite State, told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “There’s no one who can clear the bar right now.”

LAWSUIT CLAIMS SECURITY CAMERAS SOLD IN THE US CARRIED UNDISCLOSED SURVEILLANCE RISKS

The list includes communications equipment and services considered “to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons,” the FCC said.

The agency warned that “malicious actors have exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers to attack American households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft,” citing multiple cases in which such devices were used in cyberattacks targeting U.S. infrastructure.

The rule applies broadly to devices produced outside the country but largely targets routers with Chinese origins. The world’s networking hardware supply is largely dependent on China for manufacturing and engineering.

Estimates in recent years indicate that devices with significant Chinese supply chain ties account for the majority of home routers used in the U.S.

TP-Link, a China-founded router manufacturer and one of the top-selling brands on Amazon, has faced growing scrutiny in Washington amid cyber incidents and broader concerns about foreign-linked networking equipment.

“Because nearly every manufacturer in this sector produces hardware abroad or relies on a global supply chain, this new requirement will set a bar for the entire industry,” a TP-Link spokesperson told Fox News Digital, calling the rule a “positive step” toward making the router industry more secure. “TP-Link has been committed to making further investments in America and has already been planning to establish U.S.-based manufacturing to complement our existing company-owned facilities in Vietnam.”

GOOGLE DISMANTLES 9M-DEVICE ANDROID HIJACK NETWORK

A review of router manufacturing and supply chains by Fox News Digital indicates that nearly all major router brands sold in the United States depend extensively on Chinese manufacturing, engineering talent or components, even when marketed as American or allied products.

Companies that have shifted production to countries like Vietnam often still rely on Chinese-owned manufacturers and engineering teams, meaning the supply chain footprint remains largely unchanged.

Core elements of router development — including firmware and hardware design — are frequently supported by engineering teams based in China, raising concerns about vulnerabilities within widely used networking equipment.

“The country where a device is manufactured does not necessarily determine the security of that product,” said Wyckhouse. “There’s a pretty large global supply chain involved — from chipsets to software to final assembly.”

FCC ANNOUNCES BAN ON NEW CHINESE-MADE DRONES OVER NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

Those risks have already surfaced in real-world cyber operations.

In 2023, the Justice Department disrupted a network of hundreds of compromised U.S. home and small-business routers that had been hijacked by Chinese state-backed hackers known as “Volt Typhoon.” The infected devices were used to conceal the origin of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, allowing malicious traffic to appear as if it came from inside the U.S.

A wlan router on desk with notbook in background

By routing activity through compromised devices, hackers can make attacks harder to trace and maintain access inside targeted networks.

A single router often connects dozens of devices inside a home or small business, including phones, laptops, security cameras, smart TVs and baby monitors. A compromised device can give attackers visibility into network traffic and provide a foothold to move across connected systems or launch additional attacks.

U.S. officials say the broader campaign targeted sectors including energy, water, telecommunications and transportation, part of an effort to establish access that could be used to disrupt systems during a future conflict.

The FCC’s move is the latest step in a broader push in Washington to reduce reliance on foreign — and particularly China-linked — technology across critical sectors, including telecommunications equipment, semiconductors and consumer applications.

A Ring doorbell camera is seen next to a glass door.

Supporters of the policy say it addresses long-standing supply chain risks and reduces the chances of foreign adversaries gaining access to U.S. networks. But the rule could strain supply chains and push up prices, given that most routers sold in the U.S. are manufactured overseas.

Wyckhouse said there are no domestic suppliers for all products involved in router manufacturing.

 “This will definitely increase prices,” he said. “Companies will have to invest in U.S. manufacturing or retool existing operations, and that’s a major cost shift.”

The policy does not apply to routers already legally purchased or currently in use. Companies can continue selling routers that are already in the U.S. and previously approved, but once that inventory runs out, new foreign-made models would be effectively blocked unless they pass a national security review.

The rule does not mean routers already in American homes are known to be compromised. But cybersecurity officials have long warned that outdated or unpatched devices can be vulnerable, and in some cases have been used as part of larger botnet networks that support cyberattacks.

“The primary problem with routers is not where they’re made, it’s that consumers don’t update them,” said Wyckhouse. “It’s far more important to choose a router that updates automatically than one marketed as a U.S. product.”

The Chinese Embassy and relevant router companies could not immediately be reached for comment. 

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Part 3 of a five-part Fox News Digital series investigating the House of Singham documents the “Propaganda Work” that Mao Zedong taught as critical to winning the People’s War. This reporting includes analysis using cutting-edge technology, including large-language modeling.

Early Tuesday, CodePink professional activist Olivia DiNucci raised her fist as she stood on the deck of a boat renamed “Granma 2.0,” in a tribute to the yacht Fidel Castro’s guerrillas used to launch the Cuban Revolution in 1956.

Standing behind a banner reading “LET CUBA LIVE” as the boat arrived at the port of Havana, DiNucci, who normally organizes protests in Washington, D.C., mugged for the cameras with her fellow revolutionaries, chanting and pumping their fists in the air, as camera crews rolled.

Activists from the Singham network join an aid flotilla arriving in Cuba

Luis De Jesús, who writes for a site called BreakThrough News, recorded the arrival, part of days of coverage promoting the cause of pro-communism activists, including the Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap, and packaging the week’s activities not just as activism, but as revolutionary political “resistance” against the U.S. “empire.”

By afternoon, BreakThrough News posted a video of De Jesús’ report on the boat’s arrival, with a beaming DiNucci on board. Other pro-communist media platforms turned the staged event into a media moment, from the Cuban News Agency to Brazil de Fato.

The scene offered a real-time glimpse of how a network built by an American-born, China-based tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, turns activism into propaganda and then propaganda into political and psychological weapons. In this case, the story of the Granma 2.0 framed Cuba as a victim of the imperialist U.S., and Cuba’s communist benefactor and trading partner – China – as a liberator, providing rice to a hungry citizenry.

As he fought the People’s War in the late 1930s in China, infamous communist leader Mao Zedong emphasized the importance of “Propaganda Work” and “the practice of changing reality.”

Decades later, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping announced a strategy of “telling China’s story well.”

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

Last fall, pro-China academics, like Vijay Prashad, a trusted communist in Singham’s inner circle, spoke at a conference of the Global South Academic Forum about creating a “New World Information and Communication Order,” an idea popularized in the 1980s by Third World countries now called the “Global South.” 

The conference was co-sponsored by Singham, Prashad’s Tricontinental Ltd. think tank and the Shanghai-based East China Normal University, and administered by the Chinese Communist Party. The university features a School of Marxism and teaches “Marxist journalism.” Singham, Prashad and conference attendees closed the conference, standing at attention as “The Internationale,” a communist anthem played, attendees pumping their fists in the air in solidarity.

A Fox News Digital investigation found that the “new information” strategy operates through a network of organizations that produce, fund and amplify messaging across borders. 

Fox News Digital has identified at least 200 organizations in Singham’s network of about 2,000 organizations that directly work on propaganda that parrots the anti-American messaging of the Chinese Communist Party but is dramatically homegrown in digital shops from New York City to Los Angeles.

The investigation found that three Singham-linked U.S. nonprofits sent a total of $9.1 million in seven payments to a pro-China propaganda firm, Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications Co. Ltd. The payments haven’t been reported before.

Using large-language models, Fox News Digital analyzed 223 transactions that moved $591 million in total across five continents from 2017 through 2025, the latest year for which figures are available, in the Singham network and found the money flows through five concentric rings of an ideological pipeline that spreads pro-China propaganda.

Eleven U.S. nonprofit organizations form a core hub of the work that pumps pro-China, anti-America propaganda into the world, with a total of about $401 million flowing from Singham and his network into these organizations. The organizations didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Fox News Digital previously documented $278 million that flowed directly from Singham into organizations that “sow discord” in the U.S., as House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith put it recently at a hearing on foreign malign influence in the nonprofit industry. The rest went through layers of funding.

The 11 nonprofits and their total revenue from within the Singham network, including direct contributions from Singham himself, make most of these organizations well-funded: 

  • BreakThrough BT Media: $3.5 million, with $1.1 million directly from Singham
  • CodePink Women for Peace: $1.8 million, with $1.3 million from SIngham
  • Inter-Religious Foundation for Community Organization Inc.: $420,000
  • Justice and Education Fund Inc.: $74.2 million, with $68.7 million from Singham
  • People’s Dispatch: $1.9 million
  • People’s Forum Inc.: $28 million, with $22.4 million from Singham
  • People’s Support Foundation: $181.8 million, with $167.5 from Singham
  • People’s Welfare Association: $70 million
  • Progress Unity Fund: $442,524, with additional revenues from other sources
  • Tricontinental Ltd.: $16.8 million from Singham
  • United Community Fund: $21.8 million

Mao’s strategy relied on embedding revolutionary actors within social, cultural, labor and educational organizations to shape public consciousness, normalize radical narratives and gradually erode the legitimacy of the state from within. 

Similarly, experts say, Singham’s network cultivates activist ecosystems, using nonprofits and advocacy groups as force multipliers and framing local political and social conflicts as part of a broader systemic struggle. 

That same dynamic is visible in real time, as protests, trips and political events are filmed, packaged and circulated as part of a broader narrative. DiNucci is a key figure, for example, regularly getting filmed and then broadcast on Singham network social media channels, interrupting the dinners, hearings and events of Trump administration officials.

In this model, disruption and polarization aren’t incidental but strategic, designed to weaken societal cohesion and authority over time, precisely the conditions Mao argued are necessary for victory against a stronger adversary.

“There is a war waging for the brains of Americans. It’s critical that America shore up its defenses before the nation is hijacked by confusion, manipulation and malign narratives,” psychologist Orli Peter told Fox News Digital.

RED WEALTH, DARK MONEY: HOW AN AMERICAN TYCOON DEPLOYS MAO’S PLAYBOOK AGAINST THE WEST

Neville Roy Singham next to protests in Minneapolis

‘Information Laundering Operation’

A Fox News Digital investigation, scouring scores of financial filings, writings and social media posts, shows not only money moving from Singham-funded entities into U.S. nonprofits, but these nonprofits in turn funding media production, political education and organizing campaigns that promote the narrative of the Chinese Communist Party. The U.S. nonprofits pushing the anti-America agenda benefit from tax-exempt status and tax-deductible donations.

What begins as content — videos, livestreams and commentary — often feeds directly into organizing and protest activity, creating a feedback loop between messaging and action.

“Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans are running an information laundering operation,” said Adam Sohn, co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, a multidisciplinary lab in Princeton, N.J. “It’s a narrative laundering operation that is selling China’s story to the world and sowing discord in America.”

“Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans are running an information laundering operation. It’s a narrative laundering operation that is selling China’s story to the world and sowing discord in America.” – Adam Sohn, co-founder of the Network Contagion Research Institute, a multidisciplinary lab in Princeton, N.J.

A wedding in Jamaica in February 2017 between Singham and Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink Women for Peace, brought together ideologues who would later appear on the boards, funding streams and public messaging of this network. Tax filings document the transfers. The emergence of a network of “Liberation Centers” document the physical infrastructure.

That network has matured into a transnational protest and media machine. Nearly a decade later, its infrastructure is visible on American streets, coordinated, funded and amplified by groups built quietly, deliberately and in plain sight. Singham and Evans didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Last week, BreakThrough News broadcast DiNucci outside the White House protesting to support the regime that the U.S. and Israel are targeting with missile strikes in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

FAR-LEFT ACTIVIST GROUP FACES BACKLASH OVER ‘TONE-DEAF’ PROTESTS AT CUBA LUXURY HOTEL

Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications Co.

Part of that system operates overseas, where funding supports media production aligned with Chinese Communist Party narratives. Significantly, there are a series of two line items that reveal just how closely this supposed charitable network works with organizations tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

Buried inside the tax filings are the receipts on how three U.S. nonprofits from the Singham network sent seven payments totaling $9.1 million in money back to Shanghai to pay a pro-China propaganda firm, Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications Co. Ltd., housed in the same luxury building as Singham’s operation. It’s not far from the university where Singham’s sister holds an academic position.

Guo Xiao, a former executive at Thoughtworks, the tech company founded by Singham and sold in 2017 for nearly $800 million, sits on the board of Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications, according to company records. Xiao didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications Co. identifies itself as producing content aligned with Chinese Communist Party narratives. 

Beginning in 2021, according to Fox News Digital analysis, three organizations from Singham’s network sent over $9 million directly to Shanghai Maku Cultural Communications Co. in seven payments for “production of online news program,” according to its tax filing.

BreakThrough BT Media Inc. 

One of the key organizations inside the broader transnational media apparatus in the Singham network is BreakThrough News, whose reporter met the Granma 2.0 at the port in Havana.

In a letter he sent to BreakThrough News last month, Smith said the House Ways and Means Committee is concerned that BreakThrough News is “part of a larger multipronged effort from the CCP to sow discord in our country” and that it has been “funded and influenced by Mr. Singham’s CCP affiliations.”

In early December 2019, BreakThroughNews.org was registered online. Early the next year, in early March 2020, “Breakthrough / BT Media Inc.” was registered in Delaware as a new company. It got IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in June 2020 as Breakthrough BT Media Inc. 

Singham gave a total of $1.1 million to BreakThrough BT Media Inc. over two years with the purpose of the tax-deductible donations written simply as “public service” and “medical / public services” in IRS Form 990 filings.

In its first IRS filing, documenting its 2020 work, Breakthrough BT Media Inc. listed familiar names among its three-person board of directors. Ben Becker, the son of another trusted Singham adviser, Brian Becker, was the chairman of the board. Today, Becker is on the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s “Central Committee.” Becker was also in Cuba this week to support the communist regime.

Another director was Claudia De La Cruz, a leader at the Party for Socialism and Liberation with Becker and a wedding guest.

Finally, a socialist leader named Karla Reyes was on the board. She is the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and rose in the ranks from joining Occupy Wall Street protests to landing a spot on the Central Committee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. She is today an active member of “ICE Out of New York,” started by the People’s Forum, its protests filmed regularly by BreakThrough News.

Split image of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith

In his letter to Reyes, Smith demanded records related to the organization’s ties to Singham and the Chinese Communist Party. He requested that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remove the nonprofit status of organizations in the Singham network. 

While BreakThrough News doesn’t usually name the Chinese Communist Party directly, it regularly lauds Xi’s regime. In 2021, BreakThrough News’ host Rania Khalek promoted the “Chinese government” and its “eradication of extreme poverty within its border.” She co-hosted the session with Tings Chak, a researcher at Tricontinental, the arm of the House of Singham that pumps out pro-China academic work.

The Singham network functions like a coordinated unit. In 2022, People’s Forum gave BreakThrough a “non-cash” lease worth $318,596 for studio space at its W. 37th Street address. 

BreakThrough’s mission statement claims to be “unbiased towards any political candidates,” but the far-left outlet even created videos during the 2024 presidential election highly critical of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris as wanting to “out-Trump Trump.”

What began as a small, ideologically driven news platform became a broad multimedia machine producing documentaries, podcasts and social media content that amplified protest movements, international solidarity campaigns, especially around Palestinian issues and “anti-imperialist,” anti-America narratives. 

It’s a member of the International People’s Media Network, another part of the global House of Singham and a coalition of media platforms often publishing anti-America, pro-China content and sharing personnel with Tricontinental.

In 2023, BreakThrough News sent representatives to a conference hosted by the School of Communications at the East China Normal University, the public institution funded by the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Education. Singham’s sister, Shanti Singham, and his friend, Prashad, work closely with those institutions. 

Following the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, groups in Singham’s network organized protests within hours. BreakThrough News posted videos from the demonstrations. It did the same with protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

WATCH: People's Forum leaders walk away when questioned about funding protests

NewsClick

Fox News Digital has also tracked $10.5 million the Justice and Education Fund sent to New Delhi-based PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt. Ltd. in five payments from 2019 through 2023 when the government of India shut the operation down for allegedly using donations improperly to run an anti-India, pro-China propaganda media outlet.

The government of India has sent Singham a criminal summons for alleged election interference, money laundering and terrorism, alleging he engaged in schemes to sow discord in India. The NewsClick case is still awaiting a trial date.

National security experts say it is critical to understand the big picture to fully value the command control of this global propaganda war with a tech tycoon as the motherlode.

Olivia DiNucci in Cuba

Back in Havana, as DiNucci stepped onto the dock and cameras rolled, the moment reflected more than a single act of activism.

It showed how the Singham network’s messaging system works in real time, capturing events, shaping narratives and distributing them to audiences far beyond the street or, in this case, the dock.

In Mao’s terms, it is “Propaganda Work,” not just reporting on the news, but helping define it.

From the dock in Havana, DiNucci played her role, shouting, “Viva la Cuba.”

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Caruto, Nikolas Lanum and Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.

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