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FBI boss Kash Patel details how agency and partners secured record-shattering FIFA World Cup
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EXCLUSIVE – Seventy-eight Super Bowls in 38 days. This was the scale of the task facing the Federal Bureau of Investigation going into the first World Cup final the United States has hosted in more than 30 years.
«That’s what we executed on,» FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview detailing the largest commitment of the agency’s resources ever devoted to securing a sporting event – the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
«We’re proud to report that, thank God, and thankfully to the men and women of the FBI and our partners, we had no significant criminal attacks during this World Cup,» Patel said. «And just to put that in perspective, we had 6.5 million people attend the 78 matches in the U.S. across 11 venues.»
Patel said the planning and execution had to be «mathematically precise.»
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Exclusive: FBI Director Kash Patel details how the agency and its partners secured the FIFA World Cup at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., on July 18, 2026. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
The tournament shattered previous attendance records and brought millions of international visitors to the country. The FBI dedicated nearly 5,000 personnel to the effort, including more than 4,000 from field offices, 800 from FBI headquarters and two legal attaché offices, along with support from 59 Homeland Security task forces.
The bureau also conducted approximately 300,000 background checks on players, coaches and other accredited personnel. All told, nearly 7 million fans from all over the world attended World Cup games in the United States, Canada and Mexico, all with no reported major security incidents. In fact, getting into the stadiums often took fans less than 15 minutes for games that averaged more than 65,000 in house.
A defining element of the FBI’s security operation was its aggressive response to the rapidly evolving drone threat. Recognizing that even a low-cost unmanned aircraft could be used to surveil players practicing at the dozens of team base camps around the country, track their movements to and from hotels, probe for security tactics at stadiums or fan zones, disrupt an event or deliver an explosive or chemical device, the bureau treated every unauthorized incursion as a potential threat.
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Exclusive: FBI Director Kash Patel views a large screen filled with data inside the FBI’s Intelligence Coordination Center. Patel praised the agency and its partners that helped secure a record-shattering World Cup. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
«If you’re in the space, we’re gonna take you down. And that’s why we took down over 700,» Patel said. «Some of these folks were maybe borderline nuisances, while many of them were criminal in terms of violations of FAA airspace and also failing to register their drones… We’re not taking any chances.»
The FBI established its first dedicated counter-UAS (unmanned aircraft system) school at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama to train state and local officers in detecting, tracking and intercepting unauthorized drones. Those officers were then deployed on FBI-led ground-intercept teams at World Cup venues, creating a nationwide counter-drone capability built for a threat that barely existed when the U.S. last hosted the tournament in 1994.
Exclusive: FBI Director Kash Patel speaks with personnel at the agency’s Intelligence Coordination Center. Patel praised the FBI and its partners for safely securing the World Cup. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
«We, the FBI, specifically train for the worst of the worst,» Patel said, pointing to the possibility of drones being used to deploy explosives or chemical agents. Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was instrumental in developing the bureau’s counter-drone program.
That preparation was tested as the World Cup was getting underway, when investigators uncovered an alleged coordinated attack targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.
5 CHILLING DETAILS FROM THE ALLEGED WHITE HOUSE ATTACK PLOT TIED TO UFC EVENT
Exclusive: An FBI employee works inside the agency’s Intelligence Coordination Center, monitoring threats and coordinating security operations for the World Cup. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Federal prosecutors allege the suspects planned to use explosive-laden drones to trigger panic and force crowds to evacuate into areas where armed attackers could strike. Patel said the FBI launched a six-state operation, tracked the alleged threat through online communications and began a coordinated takedown «before the first punch was thrown,» allowing the event to proceed without an attack.
Eight defendants have since been charged, although the allegations remain unproven and the defendants are presumed innocent.
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International cooperation was another critical component of the World Cup security operation.
«They’re working overseas in their home locations and giving us information back in real time on any single threat that’s coming in,» Patel said.
Exclusive: FBI Director Kash Patel interacts with personnel inside the agency’s hub that was established to secure the World Cup. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
The FBI hosted the International Police Cooperation Center in Northern Virginia, deploying more than 70 personnel to work alongside officers from U.S. host cities and security officials representing the nations sending teams to the tournament.
The FBI also assembled a Joint Operations Center with foreign police representatives from 46 of the 48 participating countries, allowing investigators to receive real-time threat intelligence from officials who understood their teams, fan bases and domestic security concerns. That information was supported by the FBI’s Intelligence Coordination Center, where more than 400 personnel processed an average of 26 incidents per day and produced nearly 100 intelligence reports for federal, state, local and private-sector partners, according to the FBI.
Patel credited the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup with bringing federal, state and local agencies together under a unified security strategy. Established by President Donald Trump and led by Andrew Giuliani’s team, the task force served as a central hub for interagency planning, intelligence sharing and the rapid deployment of law enforcement resources across the tournament’s 11 U.S. host cities.
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«Like anything in government, to succeed, you need tremendous leadership,» Patel said. «President Trump had the foresight to establish the White House Task Force… and what they were able to do was bring in the interagency, at least at the federal level, and then work with us at the state and local levels through our partnerships and put everybody under one roof.»
Patel said the coordinated structure allowed the FBI to quickly send bomb technicians, evidence teams, tactical operators, SWAT personnel and hostage-rescue capabilities wherever additional resources were needed.
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«President Trump set the standard: Not only were we going to have the largest and safest sporting event in the history of the world, but we were going to make sure everyone had a great time. Those were the marching orders,» Patel said.
He pointed to the social media videos showing international fans enjoying restaurants, pubs, sporting venues and other distinctly American experiences — even joking that Europeans fell in love with ranch dressing.
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«These are small vignettes, but they quantify and qualify how awesome America did,» Patel said. «And I don’t just mean government. I mean the private sector. They came in and partnered with us as well.»
Exclusive: Large screens display data inside the FBI’s command center. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Patel said those partnerships helped generate billions of dollars in revenue across the country while giving visitors a memorable experience.
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«They wanted not just safety and security, but to show off America to the world,» he said. «And I think we did it brilliantly.»
fbi, kash patel, the world cup, white house, donald trump, sports, america 250
INTERNACIONAL
Johnson’s strategy to bypass Democrats’ SAVE Act blockade survives key vote, handing GOP big win
President Trump urges lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act
President Trump used his nationwide address to demand Congress pass the Save America Act, believing it will tighten election security. Chad Pergram, Chief Congressional Correspondent, reports on the legislation’s challenging path forward. While most House Republicans are on board, some GOP Senators remain skeptical, highlighting concerns about its implementation and potential impact on election integrity.
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Speaker Mike Johnson’s latest bid to skirt Democrats’ opposition to an election integrity bill backed by President Donald Trump survived a key hurdle on Monday evening.
The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has faced significant headwinds in Congress despite having Trump’s full-throated support. While it passed the House, the legislation has struggled in the Senate where at least several Democratic votes are needed to break a filibuster and advance to final passage.
But the new plan by Johnson, R-La., which would allow key parts of the bill to skirt Democrats entirely, is one step closer to getting a House-wide vote sometime this week.
TRUMP INTERVENES AS HOUSE GOP REVOLT PUTS SAVE AMERICA ACT AT CENTER OF SPENDING SHOWDOWN
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., attend the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance ceremony in Emancipation Hall on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Republicans would erase the need for any Democratic buy-in by putting key elements of the SAVE America Act into a larger budget reconciliation bill. The reconciliation process allows the party in power to pass sweeping fiscal policy reforms without input from their opposition by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage to line up with the House’s simple majority requirement.
But there are strict guidelines for what can be in a reconciliation bill. Such legislation must deal with yearly federal spending and revenues, meaning issues that do not directly affect fiscal policy are generally excluded.
House Republicans are aiming to use this reconciliation bill to fund states’ election integrity efforts, replenish military funding amid the U.S. war with Iran, and dole out aid to American farmers.
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In total, the legislation would set the stage for $95 billion in new federal spending across the next 10 years.
The first chamber-wide step in the reconciliation process is to pass a framework that directs the relevant committees to then craft details dealing with their allocated budgets. Those details are then put back into a single sweeping bill that must pass the House and Senate before getting to Trump’s desk for his signature.
Passing the House Rules Committee means the bill will see a chamber-wide test vote that, if adopted, will set the stage for lawmakers to debate the bill before a final vote.
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That vote is expected to occur Tuesday afternoon, with the final vote taking place the following day at 3:30 p.m., according to a preliminary schedule obtained by Fox News Digital.
Trump urged Republicans to advance the bill earlier Monday, arguing it would «get AS MUCH of THE SAVE AMERICA ACT as possible in a Budget Bill, along with aid to our incredible Farmers, and funding for our Military.»
Democrats, meanwhile, have accused Republicans of trying to unfairly sway elections with their SAVE America Act push.
«This is a phony issue that Donald Trump is creating. What’s amazing to me is that Donald Trump had the nerve to say to the Speaker of the House, who apparently didn’t object, that the most important thing that Republicans should focus on is voter suppression legislation, and that housing doesn’t matter, healthcare doesn’t matter, grocery bills don’t matter,» House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said earlier this year.
Voting booths are seen at Glass Elementary School’s polling station in Eagle Pass, Texas, on November 8, 2022. (MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has repeatedly referred to the legislation as «Jim Crow 2.0.»
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«While the specific policies may have changed since the days of the Jim Crow South, the goal of the SAVE Act is the same: disenfranchising American citizens and making it harder for eligible people to vote, particularly low income Americans and people of color,» he said in February.
Republicans argue that the SAVE America Act — which would implement federal voter ID requirements and a proof of citizenship mandate in the voter registration process — would make American elections safer and more secure.
elections, congress, voting, mike johnson, politics
INTERNACIONAL
Basado en hechos reales: cuando el dolor se transforma en un libro capaz de iluminar a sus lectores
Las tres parten de una tragedia íntima. Y las tres de circunstancias distintas: un aborto clandestino, la supervivencia al Holocausto y la muerte de un ser amado. ¿El punto de contacto? la escritura como forma de procesar lo vivido y encontrar un sentido que trascienda lo personal.
En El acontecimiento, la francesa Annie Ernaux, Premio Nobel de Literatura, reconstruye el aborto clandestino al que debió someterse en la Francia de 1963, cuando interrumpir un embarazo era un delito. Y lo hace con una honestidad brutal. Ernaux no pretende despertar compasión ni hacer un alegato sentimental. Solo escribe y, de esa forma, rescata de la oscuridad una experiencia compartida por miles de mujeres, demostrando cómo la memoria individual puede convertirse en colectiva.
“Una tarde salí decidida a encontrar un médico que aceptara ayudarme a abortar. Ese ser tenía que existir en algún lugar. (…) Las chicas como yo estropeábamos el día a los médicos. Sin dinero y sin relaciones – de lo contrario no hubiéramos ido a parar a ciegas a su consulta- les obligábamos a recordar la ley que podía llevarles a la cárcel y prohibirles para siempre el ejercicio de su profesión. No se atrevían a decir la verdad: que no iban a arriesgarse a perderlo todo por la cara bonita de una señorita lo bastante estúpida como para haberse dejado preñar. (…) Y como de costumbre, era imposible determinar si el aborto estaba prohibido porque estaba mal, o si estaba mal porque estaba prohibido. Se juzgaba con relación a la ley, no se juzgaba la ley”.
Diferente es la travesía de la sicóloga húngara Edith Eger, con La bailarina de Auschwitz. Deportada al campo de concentración nazi, con solo 16 años, pudo sobrevivir al horror después de perder a sus padres y de convivir con el hambre, el miedo y la muerte.
“El doctor Menguele es un asesino refinado y amante de las bellas artes. Por las noches busca entre los barracones a presas con talento para que lo entretengan. Esta noche entra con su séquito de ayudantes y lanza una mirada sobre las recién llegadas. (…) Permanecemos inmóviles, con las espaldas pegadas a las literas de madera que rodean la habitación. Nos examina. (…) Los ojos de Menguele me miran fijamente. (…) ¡Baila! Me ordena. (…) Puedo oír su voz por encima de la música. Habla con el otro oficial acerca de cuáles de las cien chicas presentes serán las próximas en morir. Si doy un mal paso, si hago algo que le desagrade, podría ser yo”.
Décadas más tarde, convertida en psicóloga clínica, encontró en la escritura una manera de integrar el pasado y de transmitir una enseñanza que atraviesa todo el texto: incluso después del sufrimiento más extremo, siempre está la posibilidad de elegir cómo vivir con eso que nos pasó. Su relato evita el resentimiento y apuesta por la resiliencia como una forma de libertad interior. La historia real que escribe Eger, es un análisis exhaustivo del alma humana y de cómo recuperarla luego de un episodio traumático. Y es posible. Al menos así lo asegura.
“Estamos abrumados por la pérdida y creemos que nunca recuperaremos el sentido de identidad y de realización, que nunca mejoraremos. Pero, a pesar de las dificultades y las tragedias de nuestras vidas y, en realidad, gracias a ellas, todos tenemos la posibilidad de adoptar una perspectiva que nos transforme de víctimas en triunfadores. Podemos elegir asumir la responsabilidad de nuestras dificultades y nuestra curación. Podemos elegir ser libres.”
En línea con la pérdida y el duelo, en El año del pensamiento mágico, la periodista y escritora norteamericana Joan Didion enfrenta una tragedia diferente pero igualmente devastadora: la muerte repentina de su esposo, el escritor John Gregory Dunne. Con la lucidez que la caracteriza, Didion registra el desconcierto del duelo, “la vida cambia en un instante, Te sientas a cenar y la vida que conocías se acaba”, esa etapa en la que la razón convive con la idea irracional de que el ser querido pueda regresar.
“Todavía no estaba preparada para enfrentarme a los trajes camisas y chaquetas, pero sí pensé que podía encargarme de los zapatos que quedaban, lo cual era un principio. Me detuve en la puerta de la habitación. No pude dar el resto de los zapatos. Me quedé allí un momento plantada y entonces me di cuenta de por qué: si John quería volver, le iban a hacer falta zapatos. El ser consciente de esta idea no la erradicó en absoluto. (…) Cómo podía volver John si le sacaban los órganos, ¿cómo iba a volver si no tenía zapatos?”.
La obra es una exploración minuciosa de la pérdida, pero también un testimonio contundente sobre los mecanismos con los que la mente intenta sobrevivir cuando el mundo conocido se derrumba.
Final. Más allá de sus diferencias, las tres obras comparten una convicción: contar la verdad, incluso cuando duele, puede ser un acto profundamente transformador. Y que el medio para ese relato sea la literatura pone de relieve la función catalizadora que puede llegar a tener la acción de contarlo, pero por escrito.
Las tres autoras eligieron escribir desde la herida, convirtiéndose en protagonistas y narradoras de su propia tragedia. Esa condición les permitió construir textos reflexivos y de alto impacto emocional a la vez. En tiempos en que las fronteras entre ficción y realidad son cada vez más difusas, Ernaux, Eger y Didion demuestran que la experiencia propia puede alcanzar una dimensión universal. Sus relatos hablan de ellas, pero también de cualquier persona que haya atravesado la pérdida, la incertidumbre o el miedo. Porque, al final, estas lecturas celebran algo valioso: la capacidad humana para encontrar sentido en medio del dolor y transformar una vivencia límite en una obra capaz de acompañar, consolar e iluminar la vida de los lectores.
INTERNACIONAL
Sinaloa Cartel boss ‘El Mayo’ sentenced to life, ordered to pay $15B in drug trafficking profits
Mexico questions FBI role in Sinaloa Cartel abduction
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum strongly criticizes the U.S. government for its alleged involvement in the 2024 abduction of former Sinaloa Cartel boss ‘El Mayo’ Zambada. Sheinbaum explicitly states the U.S. lied about its participation, claiming a violation of Mexican sovereignty. This incident raises serious questions about diplomatic relations between the two nations and American intervention in Mexico.
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Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael «El Mayo» Zambada Garcia, of Mexico, was sentenced on Monday to life in a U.S. prison and ordered to forfeit $15 billion in drug trafficking profits, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan said that while he had no choice but to give a life sentence since the charges carried a mandatory term of life imprisonment, he believed it was the right punishment.
«The almost unimaginable amount of drugs attributable to him and the number of murders that we can document is enough to justify Congress’s decision to make this a mandatory life sentence,» the judge said.
He is one of the most high-profile Mexican drug traffickers to be sentenced by a U.S. judge since fellow Sinaloa leader Joaquin «El Chapo» Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019.
ICE RENEWS HUNT FOR EL CHAPO’S ;AST TWO FUGITIVE SONS WITH MASSIVE REWARD
A photo of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael «El Mayo» Zambada Garcia being detained by federal agents is displayed next to a Beechcraft King Air aircraft, used in July 2024 to transport Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of notorious narco leader «El Chapo» Guzman, to the U.S., at the War Eagles Air Museum, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. (REUTERS/Paul Ratje)
Garcia, 76, agreed to plead guilty in August 2025 to multiple charges, including racketeering conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise, after the DOJ said it would not pursue the death penalty.
He was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of Guzman’s sons, after their plane landed in the U.S. Guzman Lopez has since pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including drug trafficking and a July 2024 kidnapping.
Joseph Nocella, a federal prosecutor, told reporters after Garcia’s sentencing that Guzman Lopez had admitted to kidnapping Garcia in an attempt to secure leniency and credit from U.S. law enforcement.
A reward sign for former Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael «El Mayo» Zambada Garcia standing next to a Beechcraft King Air aircraft, used in July 2024 to transport Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of notorious narco leader «El Chapo» Guzman, at the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. (REUTERS/Paul Ratje)
«The United States made perfectly clear that we do not condone kidnapping and that he would receive no credit,» Nocella said.
Guzman Lopez has not yet been sentenced.
Garcia told the court during his sentencing on Monday that he took responsibility for the harm he had caused.
«No one wins in a war like this. To the next generation, I say, choose a different path,» he said.
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Cogan suggested that Garcia be placed in a facility where he would receive adequate medical care since he was suffering from several progressive health ailments.
«Ismael Zambada Garcia spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way. Today, that chapter closes for good,» Nocella said in a statement.
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael «El Mayo» Zambada Garcia was sentenced to life in a U.S. prison. (REUTERS/Gustavo Graf)
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«He will spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison, exactly where he belongs,» he added. This sentence was made possible by the tireless bilateral cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement, who refused to let El Mayo’s years of evading justice become a permanent state of affairs. We hope that today’s sentence brings some measure of justice to the countless victims of the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics trafficking and violence.»
Reuters contributed to this report.
mexican cartel violence, mexico, world, crime, justice department, us
Johnson’s strategy to bypass Democrats’ SAVE Act blockade survives key vote, handing GOP big win
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