FIRST ON FOX: Dan Osborn, a Nebraska «independent» Senate hopeful with deep ties to Democrats, has faced criticism for funneling a significant amount of campaign funds to his family members, including almost $250,000 to his wife and her political consulting firm. 

Across both his failed bid in 2024 and his current bid in the 2026 cycle, Osborn, his wife, daughter and sister-in-law have raked in north of $370,000, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings reviewed by Fox News Digital. The money originates from Osborn’s campaign and his affiliated political action committee, the Working Class Heroes Fund. 

In July, Osborn, who is trying to oust incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., faced heat over his FEC filings that showed his campaign made six payments to his wife, Megan, amounting to roughly $19,000 between April and June. 

«If you’re James Carville, and you’re running, and you hire your wife Mary Matalin, that’s one thing,» Perre Neilan, a longtime Nebraska political strategist and former executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party, said after the payments came to light. «But this one, I think – this one stinks.» 

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Several months later, it was revealed that Osborn also funneled over $100,000 to a shadowy political consulting firm co-owned by his wife last year. 

The FEC made it easier for candidates to pay themselves in 2023, a move meant to give less wealthy folks an easier shot at running. 

Osborn, who has been endorsed by leaders of the Nebraska Democratic Party and has received campaign cash from multiple Democratic campaigns, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has not been the only candidate to take advantage of this. However, while the payments are not illegal, critics have taken issue with the lack of political experience from Osborn’s wife, a former restaurant manager.

Across both Osborn’s 2024 and 2026 campaigns, his wife, who previously managed an Omaha sports pub, according to the Lincoln Journal Star, has raked in at least $246,000 directly from the campaign and from the Working Class Heroes Fund, FEC filings reviewed by Fox News Digital show. The money is going both to Megan directly and her Wyoming-based political consulting firm, which has faced transparency concerns. Her affiliation was only uncovered after Osborn filed an amended financial disclosure after the press started asking questions.   

When reached for comment, an Osborn campaign spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to comments Osborn made last year to the Lincoln Journal Star. 

Megan «has been instrumental in recruiting, preparing and supporting multiple working-class candidates across Nebraska and the country who share Dan’s vision to fix our broken politics,» an Osborn campaign spokesperson told the Lincoln Journal Star in November.

«I work 40, 50 and even 90 hours per week on the campaign trail,» Osborn added last year when he was facing heat over the matter. «Megan does too. Most Senators have millions, even billions. But we’ve learned that it’s almost impossible to run for Senate as a regular person who needs to pay the bills and put food on the table. That’s why the Senate has become a country club full of millionaires, and it’s why less than 2 percent of our politicians come from the working class.» 

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Osborn, a former steamfitter and industrial mechanic, has raked in a salary from his campaign of around $120,000, financial filings reviewed by Fox News Digital also show.

Independent Dan Osborn chats with guests at a brewery in Beatrice, Neb., July 30. (AP/Margery Beck)

Meanwhile, Georgia, Osborn’s daughter, and Jodi, his sister-in-law, have raked in thousands from Osborn’s campaign and political action committee. Georgia, a part-time dancer who Osborn says still needs help paying her bills, was given $4,200 after Osborn’s first campaign and before launching his 2026 bid for «assistant services» from the then-dormant campaign.

Osborn’s sister-in-law, Jodi, received $1,400 for «treasurer services» at the end of 2025, according to campaign disclosures which also show that she is listed as the Working Class Heroes Fund’s Treasurer.

Dan Osborn is running for a second election in a row to be a U.S. senator after losing in 2024 in a tight race against Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. (Leigh Vogel/Wire Image and Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In addition to questions about how Osborn is paying his loved ones, critics of the candidate have also balked at his decision to run as an Independent. Osborn has indicated he has no plans to caucus with either major party if elected and says on his website that, as an Independent, he is «uniquely positioned» to get things done in Congress. 

However, Osborn’s decision to cash in on national Democratic Party support, including utilizing the party’s main fundraising platform, ActBlue, have led to questions about how independent he really will be.

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In December, Osborn was slammed for hiring an anti-cop staffer seen at an anti-police event featuring severed pig heads, and the agency creating Osborn’s ads, Fight Agency, was also behind ads for the Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and other Democrats. 

One of the firm’s leaders said they were struck by Osborn’s «over performance» in 2024, leading him to surmise «that Democrats need to run a lot of different kinds of campaigns.»

The consulting firm co-owned by Osborn’s wife, Independent Campaigns, has also worked with Democrat candidates. FEC filings show Nathan Sage, a Democrat running for Senate in Iowa, has paid thousands to Osborn’s wife’s consulting firm.

Juan Pablo Guanipa, uno de los principales referentes de la oposición venezolana y quien es visto como mano derecha de María Corina Machado, recibió libertad plena durante la madrugada de este viernes. El propio Guanipa lo informó a través de su perfil en X (@JuanPGuanipa).

Guanipa ya había sido excarcelado una primera vez en tiempo reciente. Sin embargo, 12 horas después, fue detenido y condenado a prisión domiciliaria. Tras la aprobación de la Ley de Amnistía por la Asamblea Nacional (AN, Congreso), el referente de la oposición es uno de los primeros en tener libertad plena.

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“La liberación de presos políticos no es ningún acto de clemencia”

“Tras 10 meses en clandestinidad y casi nueve meses de injusto encarcelamiento, confirmo que estoy en libertad plena”, escribió Guanipa en su publicación. Luego, fue crítico con la aprobación de la denominada oficialmente Ley de Amnistía para la Convivencia Democrática. “Lo aprobado hoy (este jueves) en el Palacio Legislativo no es ninguna amnistía. Es un documento chucuto que pretende chantajear a muchos venezolanos inocentes y que excluye a varios hermanos que siguen injustamente tras las rejas”, dijo.

Y agregó: “La liberación de presos políticos no es ningún acto de clemencia. Ninguno de ellos debió estar preso. La dictadura los secuestró tratando de quebrar el espíritu del pueblo venezolano, pero no pudieron”.

En la publicación, Guanipa contextualizó su reclamo: “Los centros de tortura en Venezuela siguen abiertos, cientos de venezolanos siguen en el exilio, las leyes que usan para reprimir siguen vigentes y hay decenas de oficiales de nuestra Fuerza Armada Nacional que siguen presos por alzar la voz frente al saqueo de nuestra patria”.

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Las críticas a la Ley de Amnistía aprobada por la AN de Venezuela

Guanipa no es la única voz que critica la recién aprobada Ley de Amnistía en Venezuela. Distintos opositores venezolanos consideraron que es “insuficiente y sesgada” al contemplar solo coyunturas políticas específicas ocurridas entre 2002 y 2025.

“La ley aprobada hoy es insuficiente y sesgada, no podemos descansar ni ceder en los esfuerzos por la defensa de la libertad y una verdadera justicia transicional”, señaló el partido Primero Justicia (PJ) en una publicación en X.

Asimismo, indicó que no hay amnistía verdadera cuando las liberaciones dependen de los “mismos verdugos que persiguen inocentes”. PJ sostuvo que si la voluntad del Gobierno de Delcy Rodríguez es real, las liberaciones de los presos políticos podrían hacerse de inmediato y “no sería dilatada por debates estériles y procedimientos fingidos”.

“Una verdadera amnistía debe pasar por el desmontaje absoluto del sistema represor, tener mecanismos de reparación para las víctimas y garantías claras para la no repetición”, indicó la organización. Por su parte, la exdiputada Delsa Solórzano, quien recientemente salió de la clandestinidad, dijo en X que la cantidad de exclusiones en la ley son significativas.

Solórzano criticó que el texto no contemple la derogación de otras leyes, como la del odio, que “son usadas como instrumento de persecución política”. Pedro Urruchurtu, director de relaciones internacionales del partido Vente Venezuela, liderado por María Corina Machado, señaló en X que la ley es una excusa para ganar tiempo, “distraer y manipular, como los criminales que son”. Además, agregó: “No liberan a los presos políticos porque no les da la gana, no porque necesiten una ley”.

“Es una ley bastante restrictiva”

Tamara Sujú, abogada defensora de Derechos Humanos y Directora Ejecutiva de Casla Institute, también cuestionó la ley a través de X (@Tamara_Suju). Para Sujú, la AN aprobó “un panfleto al que llaman Ley de “Amnistía” que deja por fuera a todos los acusados de rebelión, civiles y militares. Es decir, las 3/4 partes de los presos políticos que siguen en prisión. No existe un delito más político que este».

Para Alfredo Romero, Director de la ONG Foro Penal, una de las principales organizaciones que ha hecho seguimiento a las detenciones y excarcelaciones de presos políticos, indicó (@alfredoromero): “Es una ley bastante restrictiva y excluye a un sector importante de personas que son perseguidas políticas, que están detenidas; incluso, muchos de ellos, arbitrariamente”.

Por su parte, Liliana Ortega, defensora de Derechos Humanos y cofundadora del Comité de Familiares de Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989 (COFAVIC), indicó (@LilianaOrtegaM) que “las amnistías solo son válidas en sus propósitos de reconciliación y paz si cumplen los estándares previstos en el Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos e incluyen los derechos de las víctimas. Ningún proceso de reconciliación es sostenible si se construye sobre la negación de los derechos de las víctimas”.

FIRST ON FOX: Last year, when President Donald Trump helped broker a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, he took a victory lap.

«Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war between two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’» he said.

Now, that agreement appears under strain. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told Fox News Digital that Thai forces have pushed into long-held Cambodian territory beyond the line of dispute. Thai soldiers have sealed off villages with barbed wire and shipping containers, leaving 80,000 Cambodians unable to return home, according to Cambodian officials.

«The occupation is beyond even Thailand’s unilateral claim,» Manet said. «Many of the villagers cannot go back to their hometowns.»

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Cambodia and Thailand have sparred for decades over sections of their 500-mile land border, much of which was drawn during the French colonial era and later interpreted differently by Bangkok and Phnom Penh. The dispute has periodically flared into armed clashes, particularly around areas near historic Khmer temple sites and rural villages where demarcation remains incomplete.

Tensions escalated again last year, with fighting breaking out along contested stretches of the frontier and displacing thousands of civilians on both sides. The clashes prompted diplomatic intervention and culminated in a ceasefire agreement brokered with U.S. involvement during an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Images and local reporting from the most recent fighting show damage to buildings near the frontier, including at or near the UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple complex, raising concerns about the safety of cultural heritage sites in contested zones. Cambodian officials have blamed Thai forces for the damage, while Thai officials have denied deliberately targeting religious or cultural landmarks, saying military operations were limited to contested security areas.

The Thai embassy could not be reached for comment on this interview.

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Still, Manet declined to threaten military retaliation. 

«Our position is to always stick to peaceful resolutions,» he said. «We don’t believe that using war to stop a war is sustainable or practical.»

Thailand, with a population of more than 70 million — roughly four times Cambodia’s 17 million — maintains a significantly larger and better-equipped military, raising the stakes of any renewed conflict.

With fighting again threatening fragile stability along the frontier, Manet traveled to Washington this week for the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace.

«The Board of Peace can play an active role in promoting peace, stability and normalcy between Cambodia and Thailand,» Manet said.

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Hun Manet took office in 2023, succeeding his father, Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades. The leadership transition marked the first formal handover of power in decades, though the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has maintained firm control over the country’s political system amid longstanding criticism from rights groups about limits on opposition activity.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Manet has sought to maintain close ties with China while cautiously reopening channels with Washington, including restoring joint military exercises that had been suspended in 2017.

As Cambodia navigates tensions with Thailand, it is also balancing relations between Washington and Beijing.

The Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, where cluster munitions, unexploded artillery shells and other ordnance are marked around the temple grounds, after clashes between the two countries, in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Feb. 12, 2026. (Soveit Yarn/Reuters)

Manet said navigating ties with competing world powers «doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game» and that Cambodia, as a smaller nation, cannot afford to «choose one country against the other.»

That balance has centered in part on Ream Naval Base, a strategic site on Cambodia’s southern coast rebuilt with Chinese financing.

The USS Cincinnati docked at Ream in late January, marking the first U.S. warship visit since the base was renovated with Chinese funding and technical support. The visit was marked by a striking visual, the USS Cincinnati docked roughly 150 meters from a Chinese naval vessel already moored at the base. For years, U.S. officials have raised concerns that Cambodia had granted China exclusive access.

But Manet insisted the base remains under Cambodian control. 

«Our constitution says that no foreign military base [can] be situated on Cambodian soil,» Manet said. 

Images and local reporting from the most recent fighting show damage to buildings near the frontier, including at or near the UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple complex, raising concerns about the safety of cultural heritage sites in contested zones.  (Soveit Yarn/Reuters)

Manet said navigating ties with competing world powers «doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game» and that Cambodia, as a smaller nation, cannot afford to «choose one country against the other.»  (Samrang Pring/Reuters)

The U.S. visit, he said, «clearly shows that Cambodia is not exclusively used as a naval base for cooperation with China.»

Manet also confirmed that annual U.S.-Cambodia military exercises known as Angkor Sentinel, suspended in 2017, will resume this year, signaling warming defense ties. 

«We hope to have expanding cooperation with the U.S.,» Manet said. 

In recent years, Cambodia has emerged as a hub for large-scale online scam operations, including so-called «pig butchering» schemes that have defrauded victims worldwide — including Americans — out of billions of dollars. U.S. authorities have sanctioned Cambodian-linked entities tied to crypto fraud and pressed Phnom Penh to intensify enforcement efforts amid concerns about trafficking and forced labor linked to some compounds.

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Manet said his government has stepped up cooperation with U.S. authorities and recently worked with the FBI to dismantle a major operation.

«We have recently worked with the FBI cracking on a major case involving one of the Oknyaks,» he said, referring to an influential Cambodian figure. «We arrested him, and we closed down one of the big compounds.»