A Democratic House hopeful vying for one of the nation's most competitive districts is staying silent after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., voiced support for her campaign. Ocasio-Cortez, a leftist firebrand with growing influence in the Democratic Party, congratulated former Biden administration official Cait Conley on her primary victory in a social media post Wednesday. "I look forward to working together as a delegation as we fight for working families across New York," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. The post also celebrated a Democrat vying to succeed retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., alongside three socialist candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. RISING SOCIALIST STARS ON TRACK TO CONGRESS: WHO ARE DARIALIZA AVILA CHEVALIER, BRAD LANDER AND CLAIRE VALDEZ? Conley has yet to comment on Ocasio-Cortez's support or address the trio of far-left candidates — longtime New York official Brad Lander, State Assembly member Claire Valdez, D-N.Y., and activist Darializa Avila-Chevalier — who have called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are outspoken critics of Israel and have vowed to advance the Palestinian cause in Congress. Conley's general election opponent, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., insists she should have to answer for it. "Which is it, Cait: do you reject AOC and the candidates who want to abolish ICE, defund the police, and tear down our borders, or do you embrace them?" Lawler campaign manager Ciro Riccardi said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The Hudson Valley deserves an answer, and so far all we've heard is your damning silence," he continued. Lander and Avila-Chevalier previously called for defunding the police, while the latter has continued to advocate for abolishing prisons and stopping all deportations. Avila-Chevalier also reposted a tweet denying Israel's right to exist and helped form a pro-Palestinian group at Columbia University that called for "the total eradication of Western civilization." The three Mamdani-backed candidates are expected to double the ranks of the left-wing group known as "the Squad," an informal bloc closely aligned with Ocasio-Cortez, who also supports abolishing ICE. Fox News Digital reached out to the Conley campaign for comment. DEM CANDIDATE CLEARS CROWDED FIELD TO FACE TRUMP-BACKED INCUMBENT IN NY The scrutiny comes after Conley avoided criticizing the socialist candidates during an interview with MS NOW on Thursday. Asked about socialist candidates who support prison abolition and have suggested the United States deserved 9/11, Conley talked about her own background rather than directly addressing the question. "I joined the Army and went to West Point because of 9/11 because I watched the suffering and pain that we as a nation, we as a state, we as the Hudson Valley, experienced that day," Conley said. "And so when you talk about the American government's responsibility to the people, it is to keep it safe." "While, you know, folks were elected down in New York City, in New York-17, Democratic voters chose a West Point grad and 16-year Army combat veteran to be their representative in this fight this fall," Conley added, referring to herself. Aber Kawas, a socialist and pro-Palestinian activist who won a Democratic primary for a New York State Senate seat Tuesday, appeared to justify 9/11 in a resurfaced 2017 video. Conley has previously faced scrutiny over her role on former President Joe Biden's national security team. Lawler has argued that she downplayed her alleged involvement in the former president's botched 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, which coincided with her time on the National Security Council. The battleground race is expected to be one of the most hotly-contested races in the country, with national Republicans expected to aggressively defend Lawler’s bid for a third House term. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest as a "toss-up" after shifting the race in favor of Democrats earlier this year. In 2024, former Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly won the purple district, where Democrats hold a sizable voter registration advantage. View the full article

Bolton faces a prison sentence of up to five years and has agreed to pay $2.25m in fine, prosecutors say.View the full article

A federal judge declared a mistrial for the man accused of deliberately igniting the Palisades Fire after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict. Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested in October 2025 and charged with destruction of property by means of fire and pleaded not guilty after being charged in the Palisades Fire in January 2025. Ten of the California jurors thought Rinderknecht was not guilty, while two thought he was. "The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades fire," United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a post on X. "We fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts." On Thursday afternoon, jurors said they had reached a verdict only to come back 30 minutes later to say that they had no verdict. LISTEN TO THE NEW 'CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO' PODCAST "Would an additional instruction or the re-reading of any testimony help the jury in their deliberations?" the judge asked. "There is nothing the court can do to assist the jury in their deliberations. Additional instructions or rereading the testimony would not help in deliberations. Unfortunately, we cannot reach a unanimous verdict," the jury replied. In total, estimates say the fire caused $35 billion and $45 billion in damage and led to the deaths of 12 people. During the trial, behavioral analyst Kevin Kelm testified he believes Rinderknecht's behavior is similar to someone who is driven by "societal revenge." Kelm said that in cases of societal revenge, the suspect typically focuses on personal problems such as finance, relationships, work, lifestyle or anything they're not capable of dealing with on a daily basis. He said Rinderknecht's use of ChatGPT was to make a "dystopian image" of the world, where he designed an image representing a barrier between rich people and other individuals who don't have as much money. Rinderknecht was partly inspired by Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, prosecutors say. LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB "In the months leading up to the fire, he had become increasingly angry with his life and society at large," prosecutors wrote in a court filing. "For example, in the weeks and hours leading up to the fire, defendant fixated on Luigi Mangione, who allegedly murdered the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York City on December 4, 2024." Rinderknecht searched the terms "free LuigiMangione," "lets take down all the billionaires" and "reddit lets kill all the billionaires" on Dec. 12 and 13, 2024, federal prosecutors said. "When investigators asked defendant why someone might commit arson in the Pacific Palisades, he responded that it would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as 'we’re basically being enslaved by them' and compared such an act of 'desperation' to the murder for which Mangione was charged," prosecutors wrote. Mangione's attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, told Fox News Digital in a statement: "As we have stated before in multiple public court filings, Mr. Mangione does not support violent actions and does not condone past or future political violence. These repeated attempts to connect him to unrelated acts or to insinuate that he condones or supports these acts are irresponsible, dangerous and prejudicial." Fox News' Amanda Gillilan contributed to this report. View the full article

Exposed records from the private group included the personal information of a senior White House intelligence official and an active-duty special operations officer.View the full article

Per ESPN’s David Purdum and Jeff Passan, the Major League Baseball Players Association is proposing a few sports betting-related measures in the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the MLB. First, the union wants to ban player props to reduce harassment from butt-hurt gamblers. Second, the MLBPA is asking the league for clarity on obtaining endorsement and sponsorship deals with legal sportsbooks and prediction markets. Third, the players are pushing the MLB to adjust how sports betting investigations and punishments are dealt with. ORIOLES PITCHER CADE POVICH CALLS OUT ONLINE HARASSMENT AFTER WIFE THREATENED I have pushback for the first two proposals, with the last being a nonstarter, and that’s coming from someone who almost always sides with the players. In fact, I'd understand if the MLBPA went on strike over the owners' salary cap proposal. As my colleague, Ian Miller, wrote earlier this month: Anyway, the player props thing is pretty straightforward; players are sick of getting sh-- from the fans for losing their bets. Unfortunately, there are several instances of bettors harassing players lately. Last year, I wrote about Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., his wife and their two daughters receiving death threats after Lance’s bad outing. There is just no defending that behavior, and the harasser/scumbag should walk the plank, so to speak. Period. End of discussion. Also, there is a credible argument for reducing the surface area of fixing these player props by removing them altogether. Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are on unpaid leave while awaiting trial for allegedly rigging pitches. However, seeing if sportsbooks and prediction markets can use their name, image, likeness, and jersey number, aka "asking for clarity," while urging them to worsen their product by banning player props is shrewd negotiating on the union’s part. I agree that the players should get a cut of the money the MLB gets from partnering with sportsbooks and prediction markets. Like, obviously. Yet, being endorsed by those companies while pushing for fewer betting markets just feels wrong. Doesn’t it? CONGRESS INVESTIGATES BETTING SCANDALS ROCKING NBA AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FOLLOWING FEDERAL CHARGES Maybe I’m being insensitive and cruel, but part of playing professional sports is dealing with fans booing. Whether it’s related to playing against their favorite teams or going Under their scoring prop. Now, if that fan crosses the line with death threats and extreme profanity, by all means, kick them out of the ballpark. "Back in my day," that didn’t happen often, but it seems like players get fans red-carded all the time nowadays. So, it can be done. Especially in the NBA. I’m taking a hardline stance against the MLBPA’s third proposal. According to ESPN, "the union asked that players punished for sports betting violations be allowed to go on a 15-day unpaid rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues near the end of their suspension." That said, any player who bets on or against the team they play for should be permanently banned by that league. No "suspension"; excommunicated. Nothing tarnishes a league’s integrity more than a player or coach of that league gambling on it. Ultimately, the union's demands cross into hypocrisy. Asking for sportsbook revenue while simultaneously watering down the product and coddling rule-breakers with minor-league rehab is a terrible look. Protecting players from extreme abuse is vital, but compromising baseball's integrity is a swing and a massive miss. _____________________________ Follow me on X @Geoffery-Clark, and check out my "OutKick Bets Podcast" for more betting content and random rants. View the full article