The Trump administration’s decision to declassify a batch of UFO and UAP files Friday drew unexpected praise from a prominent Democratic lawmaker. 

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., the leader of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, cheered the release of dozens of never-before-seen images and videos, stating, «Transparency is the only path to truth.» 

«I am encouraged that the administration has finally heard my call and the call of millions of Americans to begin unsealing these files,» Gillibrand wrote on social media, adding that she has long advocated for the declassification and release of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) files.

«This is another important step, but there is much more work to do,» the New York Democrat went on. «I will continue to fight to ensure the administration finally meets its legal obligation to the American people.»

DECLASSIFIED APOLLO MOON DOCS DESCRIBE UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES, UFO LIGHTS ‘LIKE THE FOURTH OF JULY’

The Trump administration’s file dump, available on the newly created website war.gov/UFO, contains records related to UAP, including inexplicable lights and phenomena captured during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969 and Apollo 17 in 1972.

President Donald Trump in February directed the Department of War and other agencies to declassify and publish files related to alien and extraterrestrial life. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Friday that the administration would continue its declassification work.

GOP lawmakers widely praised the administration’s effort to bring more transparency to UAP-related material.

«This is a massive first step in the right direction,» Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who has long pushed for the file release, said Friday.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., also called the move «historic» and said he hoped the file release would be the first of many.

The Pentagon’s disclosure also prompted tepid enthusiasm from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who omitted the Trump administration in his statement.

«For decades, UFO disclosure has been a distant object — unidentified and unexplained,» he said. «That’s starting to change. I’ll keep pushing until we land on the truth.»

The Apollo 11 spacecraft orbits the moon during NASA’s 1969 mission, marking a significant milestone in space exploration. (The Pentagon)

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Trump argued Friday that his administration’s transparency efforts related to government secrets far surpassed those of his predecessors.

«Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, «WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?» Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social announcing the release of the files. «Have Fun and Enjoy!»

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on the declassification and release of records related to the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

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The Trump administration also declassified records last year related to former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the 1937 disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

Three people are dead and five others were injured Friday when Mount Dukono erupted on a remote Indonesian island, where the hikers were in a restricted area, authorities said.

About 20 climbers set out Thursday to climb the nearly 1,355-meter (4,445-foot) volcano in Halmahera, Indonesia, despite safety restrictions, North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu said.

«They were aware that climbing was prohibited as the mountain is a restricted zone due to its high alert status, but insisted on going ahead,» Pasaribu said.

Despite warnings on social media and signs at the site, «many people remain determined to climb, driven by the desire to create online content,» Pasaribu said.

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Pasaribu said that three people, including one local resident and two Singaporeans, were killed in the eruption. The Indonesian victim was from Ternate, which is in the same province as Mount Dukono.

The three victims’ bodies remain on the volcano, with ongoing eruptions and difficult terrain preventing them from being evacuated by rescue teams, Pasaribu said.

The group became stranded when the volcano erupted at 7:41 a.m. local time, sending a column of ash over six miles into the sky.

STUNNING PHOTOS CAPTURE MOMENT ONE OF INDONESIA’S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES ERUPTS

Rescue teams were deployed after receiving an emergency signal from the mountain area.

Joint search and rescue (SAR) teams prepare to evacuate victims affected by the eruption of Mount Dukono in North Halmahera, Maluku Province, Indonesia, on May 08, 2026. At least three Singaporeans have been killed, while 17 others are still being searched for. (Basarnas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

As of Friday afternoon, 17 climbers had been safely evacuated, including seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesians who joined the rescue operation and provided information on climbing routes of the victims before the eruption, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.

Five of those evacuated were reported injured.

MORE THAN 20 ‘ILL-PREPARED’ HYPOTHERMIC HIKERS RESCUED FROM SNOWY CONDITIONS ON NEW ENGLAND’S HIGHEST PEAK

Joint search and rescue (SAR) teams prepare to evacuate victims affected by the eruption of Mount Dukono in North Halmahera, Maluku Province, Indonesia, on May 08, 2026. At least three Singaporeans have been killed, while 17 others are still being searched for. (Photo by Basarnas/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Basarnas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Pasaribu said that police will question those who joined the hikers up the mountain. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Indonesian National Police for additional information.

According to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, Mount Dukono has been continuously erupting since 1933.

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«Friday’s eruption was among the strongest during this period,» said Lana Saria, who heads Indonesia’s Geology Agency at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A top Virginia Democrat’s support for his state’s redistricting referendum ironically backfired after a judge he previously appointed helped torpedo his party’s bid to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who endorsed the referendum and appeared at pro-referendum events, gave $100,000 to the campaign behind Virginia Democrats’ redistricting effort, which voters approved in April. On Friday, a judge Warner appointed when he was governor in 2002, D. Arthur Kelsey, was among the four justices who voted to strike the referendum down on constitutional grounds. In fact, Judge Kelsey authored the 4-3 prevailing opinion.

The voter-approved ballot measure was poised to give Democrats a major advantage heading into November’s midterm elections, and they vastly outspent Republicans in their bid to get it passed. However, Kelsey wrote in the prevailing opinion that the sequencing in which Democrats held the referendum vote violated the state’s Constitution, which requires an intervening election between the state legislature’s mandatory first and second passage of the proposed constitutional amendment.

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Warner, who was the Governor of Virginia from 2002 until 2006, previously appointed Kelsey, then a Circuit Court judge, to the Virginia Court of Appeals. Kelsey served two terms before a GOP state legislature elevated him to the state’s Supreme Court, where Kelsey has been serving since 2015.

When Warner appointed Kelsey to the Virginia Court of Appeals in 2002, he praised the then-Suffolk circuit judge as having shown «a keen intellect, a strong work ethic and a commitment to equal justice,» according to a report from Virginia Lawyers Weekly at the time.

«Although I had not met Judge Kelsey before this process began, I have spoken to him at length, reviewed his numerous opinions and consulted with those who know him well,» Warner added in 2002.

Following the ruling by Virginia’s Supreme Court, Warner put out a statement in a news release saying he respected the decision, but added that «it’s impossible to ignore that more than three million Virginians already cast their ballots on the amendment and deserved to have their voices heard.»

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Fox News Digital reached out to Warner to inquire whether he felt the ruling was fair, but a spokesperson for the senator only referred Fox News Digital to the news release with his public statement.

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey speaks during the investiture ceremony of Chief Justice Cleo E. Powell, the first African-American woman Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, inside the chamber of the Supreme Court of Virginia, on March 2, 2026, in Richmond, Virginia.  (Mike Kropf-Pool/Getty Images)

«Donald Trump assumed he could tilt the playing field and lock in political advantage before a single ballot was cast. But Virginians are paying attention,» Warner also said in his public statement. «They want leaders who will protect their rights, defend their freedoms, and actually focus on lowering costs and getting things done. Democrats will still show up this November, we will still compete everywhere, and when the votes are counted, Virginians will send a strong message about the kind of leadership they want.»

The prevailing opinion written by Kelsey said that Democrats’ proposed map would have replaced Virginia’s current 6-5 congressional split «with a highly partisan gerrymandered map» expected to create a 10-1 advantage for a single party.

Kelsey went on to highlight that under Democrats’ proposed new map, roughly 47% of Virginians who voted for one political party during the last congressional election would end up being represented by just 9% of Virginia’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, while 51% of Virginians who voted for the other major political party would be represented by 91% of Virginia’s congressional delegation.

Signs urged early voters to vote yes or no in the Virginia redistricting referendum at the Ellen M. Bozman Government Center in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said Friday she was «disappointed» with the Supreme Court’s decision and, along with other Democrats, blasted the state’s High Court for invalidating the will of voters.

«More than three million Virginians cast their ballots in Virginia’s redistricting referendum, and the majority of Virginia voters voted to push back against a President who said he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress with a temporary and responsive referendum. They made their voices heard,» Spanberger said after the ruling.

«I am disappointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling, but my focus as Governor will be on ensuring that all voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard this November in the midterm elections because in those elections we — the voters — will have the final say.»