INTERNACIONAL
Trump pulls back curtain on White House ballroom’s fortress-like defenses above and deep below
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President Donald Trump gave reporters a fresh look Tuesday at construction of the new White House ballroom, touting it as a hardened security structure that runs six stories into the ground.
«This goes down very deep,» Trump said Tuesday from outside of the White House, motioning for reporters to check out construction updates. «You get a better view right over here. … These are already down two floors. That is down about six stories deep. That’s big stuff. Normally, when you build a ballroom, you build it flat. You just throw the ballroom. It would have been built.»
Trump said the future White House ballroom not just as an event venue, but as a hardened security structure designed to support presidential operations and large gatherings amid heightened concerns following a shooting tied to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
‘SHARK TANK’ STAR BACKS TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PLAN AMID SECURITY CONCERNS: ‘IT’S BIPARTISAN’
Trump gave a tour of the White House Ballroom construction to the press on Tuesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump revealed that the ballroom will run about six stories deep, describing the building as made of «impenetrable» steel and four-inch-thick glass. He said 9,000 pounds of concrete is being used.
He said the building would include a military hospital research facilities, various meeting rooms and security infrastructure tied to drone and missile defense.
The roof is «dead flat» with «absolutely nothing but strength on it,» said Trump as he went on to describe the roof as a «drone port» with «unlimited numbers of drones» and military positioning capacity.
A view of the construction site of US President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom as he speaks to the press at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2026 (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
«I hate to use the word snipers, but we have great sniper capacities built for our snipers. Not the enemy snipers, our snipers. And because of the height, we get a very clear view of everything all over Washington,» said Trump.
PHOTOS: THE MAKING OF TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM, A LOOK AT THE CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS
Workers are seen as Trump speaks to the press at the construction site of the White House ballroom. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
Responding to questions about the ballroom funding, Trump said Congress is approving funds for security enhancements, while stressing that he and donors, who are funding the project, «put up a lot of money to build» the new ballroom.
The Senate parliamentarian rejected Republicans’ effort to include a $1 billion White House and Secret Service security funding proposal in a reconciliation package on Sunday, with the request tied in part to security upgrades for Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom and broader White House security needs.
TRUMP’S DC BEAUTIFICATION PUSH WINS RARE DEM PRAISE AS PRESIDENT SNAPS LANDMARKS BACK TO LIFE
«The money that’s being put up to build the ballroom and again, the ballroom, it’s necessary for the ballroom to be built with what you see over here. It’s all knitted. The air conditioning, the heating, the drone capacity, the shield. You know, the ballroom becomes a shield for everything that you see right here,» said Trump. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
The ballroom is also facing a National Trust for Historic Preservation lawsuit arguing the administration lacked authority in demolishing the East Wing, though the litigation has not fully resolved the project’s future.
Construction and landscaping projects across Washington, D.C., have accelerated in recent months as the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday in July, with many fountains across the city being restored.
During the press preview, Trump also revealed he made a «multimillion» contribution toward restoration work around Lafayette Park and nearby White House grounds during an exchange on the beautification projects he is doing around Washington, D.C.
«We built it all inside the building… because we don’t want to have anything having to do with air or air quality or any problems playing with the air,» said Trump. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
New fountains in Lafayette Park, located in downtown D.C., were turned on for the first time last month.
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Nine fountains are being rehabilitated and returned to service, while nine other operational fountains are set to receive maintenance and system upgrades, according to the National Park Service.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment Tuesday.
white house, national security, drones, washington dc, a250 innovation, donald trump
INTERNACIONAL
Italy shuts down effort linked to Gaza flotilla group to track Jewish, Israeli tourists
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Italian authorities shut down an anonymous online effort that asked the public to report the locations of Israeli tourists, Italian Jews and businesses believed to have ties to Zionism, drawing condemnation from senior government officials and Jewish leaders who compared the initiative to fascist-era persecution.
«I think we’re going back to the 1930s, to hunting Jews,» Walker Meghnagi, president of the Jewish Community of Milan, said after the Google form began circulating on social media and messaging platforms.
The questionnaire said it was intended to «map Zionist tourism,» property purchases and what it described as «Zionist neo-colonization» in Italy, according to reports. It asked users to identify Jews, Israelis and people believed to be connected to Zionism at hotels, vacation rentals, businesses and other public places.
ISRAEL, JEWS TARGETED WORLDWIDE AS WELL-FUNDED LEFTIST, ISLAMIST GROUPS JOIN FOR ‘NAKBA 78’ PROTESTS
People take part in a flash mob entitled «In the same boat» to protest the detention and treatment of activists participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla in Milan, northern Italy, on May 21, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
«The online mapping of so-called ‘Zionist tourism,’ rightly denounced by the president of the Jewish Community of Milan, Walker Meghnagi, is an aberrant initiative, in direct violation of fundamental human rights and the constitutional principles on which our nation is founded,» Italian Senate President Ignazio La Russa wrote in a statement, as translated to English.
«No form of cataloguing of persons on the basis of their religious belief or their connection with Israel is acceptable or justifiable. Behind all this lies a profound anti-Semitism that must be unanimously, firmly, and determinedly rejected,» he added. «We cannot remain motionless in the face of such serious facts that recall the ghosts of the past. To the Jewish Community all my closeness.»
The form was removed following the intervention of Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, Italy’s national coordinator for the fight against antisemitism, according to Italian and Israeli media reports.
‘NOT ON OUR WATCH’: GLOBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT LEADERS UNITE IN POLAND AGAINST HATE
A view of participants in a May 21 flash mob demonstration in Milan, northern Italy, with people gathered in public space to show solidarity with detained Global Sumud Flotilla activists. (AFP via Getty Images)
«This form is intended to record cases of Zionist tourism, property purchases, and, more generally, Zionist neo-colonization in Italy,» the questionnaire stated.
It said the information collected would be received by the Global Sumud Movement, an activist network associated with flotilla efforts to reach the Gaza Strip, and would remain confidential. Respondents were asked to provide sources so the reports could be verified and used to coordinate unspecified «initiatives.»
The Global Sumud Movement denied commissioning the form or knowing about it before the controversy erupted, according to The Jerusalem Post.
«Zionism is one of the issues we work on, but we do not hunt Jews, and we know nothing about this questionnaire,» the group told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. «We did not commission it and had not even seen it before it was taken offline.»
EXILED MUSLIM SCHOLAR WARNS FAR-LEFT–ISLAMIST ALLIANCE BEHIND ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ECHOES IRAN’S RISE
Seen Oct. 2, 2025, in Piazzale Loreto in Milan, Italy, demonstrators participate in a protest supporting the Global Sumud Flotilla after its interception by the Israeli army off the Gaza coast. (Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto)
The organization said it learned about the questionnaire through news reports and reserved the right to take further action, including issuing a formal statement.
According to La Repubblica, later sections of the form asked respondents to name locations where Jewish or Israeli visitors had been seen and to indicate whether local organizations or activist groups were already «managing the phenomenon.»
Meghnagi warned that collecting and circulating such information could encourage extremists to target Jews and Israelis.
«What is happening today shows that there are unbalanced individuals out there, and if this kind of message spreads widely enough, you are certain to find someone willing to act on it,» he said. «For this reason, mapping where Jews are is extremely serious.»
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Alessandro Morelli, an Italian deputy secretary of state, ripped the form as «abhorrent» and said those responsible should not go unpunished.
italy, anti semitism, israel, hate crime, religion, world, world politics
INTERNACIONAL
Mamdani dodges on ‘political theater’ of empty Netanyahu arrest threat, calls for US action and NYC protests
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined Wednesday to say when he learned the city had no authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after repeatedly campaigning on a promise to detain the Israeli leader if he came to New York.
Pressed over whether the now-abandoned arrest threat amounted to «political theater,» Mamdani said his administration had reviewed the applicable laws and concluded that only the federal government could execute the International Criminal Court warrant.
«It’s clear that the city does not have the authority to execute this warrant,» Mamdani admitted at a New York City Hall news conference Wednesday, urging the federal government to act on the ICC warrant even though the U.S. is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction in the U.S. or over Israel, which is also not a member.
With the Trump administration already fully rejecting his call to arrest Netanyahu for being a «war criminal,» Mamdani called for New Yorkers to take to protest «if anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition.»
MAMDANI GOES BACK ON CAMPAIGN PROMISE, SAYS NYC CAN’T ARREST NETANYAHU
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been forced to admit his threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no force or measure in the law. (Getty Images)
«I believe that this is an arrest warrant that should be executed, and also that I would follow the laws that we had, and I would be respectful of those laws,» he added. «And that is why I asked my administration to review of all applicable laws. And I believe, however, in that same finding, that the United States government does have the ability to both joining the International Criminal Court and executing that work, and that is something that I want to see happen.»
Short of that, Mamdani suggested that people protest when the Israeli leader visits for the United Nations General Assembly, potentially in September.
«This is a city where, if anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition, protest is something that we will always respect,» Mamdani told reporters. «I leave it to New Yorkers themselves to make that decision.»
The mayor was repeatedly asked why he did not resolve the legal question before taking office, given that experts had challenged the legality of his arrest pledge during the campaign.
HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH FLAGS FLY AT ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST MINUTES AFTER MAMDANI CONDEMNS TERROR PLOT AGAINST JEWS
Mamdani would not provide a date for when his administration informed him that the city lacked the power to carry out the ICC warrant.
«That’s a review that I asked them to do,» he said. «They made it clear that this is not possible through applicable law.»
Mamdani said Palestinian New Yorkers disappointed that he cannot fulfill his arrest promise had reason to be frustrated, declaring that Netanyahu would no longer be welcomed by City Hall.
«I understand it because we are talking about someone who has been charged with crimes against humanity, someone who has visited the city on many an occasion and who has been welcomed by previous mayors,» Mamdani said.
«I want to make it very clear that that welcome ends with me,» he continued. «I will not be welcoming Benjamin Netanyahu or any other war criminals when they come to this city.»
NYC REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER SLAMS MAMDANI ANTISEMITISM OFFICE AS A ‘BLACK HOLE’ LACKING PUBLIC-FACING RESOURCES
President Donald Trump has forcefully rejected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under an unenforceable International Criminal Court arrest warrant that the U.S. nor Israel are a party to. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
Mamdani also faced questions over criticism that his focus on Netanyahu created a one-sided account of the Israel-Hamas war.
Asked directly whether he considered Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack to be genocide, Mamdani did not use that term.
«I consider Oct. 7 to be a horrific war crime,» he said. «I’ve considered it to be something that should be deeply opposed with every single fiber of our being.»
Mamdani said his approach was rooted in what he called the «universality of humanity,» arguing that officials should not «pick and choose which crimes against humanity we oppose.»
The mayor also said he would support honoring ICC warrants against Hamas leaders as well as Netanyahu.
«My interest in executing that warrant is not specific to Benjamin Netanyahu, but to anyone who they put a warrant towards for war crimes and crimes against humanity,» Mamdani said.
He accused Netanyahu of having «orchestrated this genocide» in Gaza and described the Israeli prime minister as a «war criminal.» Israel has repeatedly rejected genocide allegations and condemned the ICC case as illegitimate.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration is exploring whether the city has legal authority to arrest Netanyahu if he visits for the U.N. General Assembly. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
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Mamdani said he remained committed to protecting Jewish New Yorkers, including those who disagree with his position.
«My responsibility to them is to ensure that they are cherished, they are celebrated and they are safe in their city,» he said, «and that never are they made to feel as if their opinions on any one issue is the precondition for that safety.»
zohran mamdani, benjamin netanyahu, new york city, international law, politics
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