INTERNACIONAL
Soros-backed prosecutor set for Capitol Hill grilling as sanctuary policies face reckoning
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Steve Descano, the George Soros-backed prosecutor in Fairfax County, Virginia, will make his first Capitol Hill appearance next month as House Republicans press him on the county’s immigration policies following a murder tied to a repeat illegal immigrant offender.
Descano and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid are set to appear May 14 before the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee, according to letters provided to Fox News Digital confirming their participation. The hearing, titled «Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies,» will examine whether the county’s policy limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities threatens public safety.
The hearing will put new federal scrutiny on Descano and Fairfax County’s limits on cooperation with immigration authorities as Republicans argue the county’s policies and prosecutorial decisions helped allow accused killer Abdul Jalloh — whom the Department of Homeland Security says had been arrested 30 times — to remain free before Stephanie Minter’s fatal stabbing.
Minter’s case spurred the federal oversight and calls for legislative reforms, and Minter’s family is now also backing a recall effort against Descano that could threaten his tenure, according to local reporting.
ANGEL MOM, GOP BLAME SPANBERGER AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH 30 ARRESTS CHARGED IN KILLING
Steve Descano, Commonwealth’s Attorney of Fairfax County, Virginia, speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia’s Newly Elected Progressive Prosecutors on Tuesday, December 17, 2019. (Getty Images)
Descano has previously testified in state-level legislative hearings, including before the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee, but the May 14 hearing would mark his first known appearance before a congressional committee.
«CA Descano is looking forward to the opportunity to discuss Fairfax’s record as one of the safest large jurisdictions in the country,» Descano’s office told Fox News Digital on Monday when asked about his upcoming testimony.
Upon first announcing the hearing in April, prior to the committee confirming Descano’s attendance and a finalized date, Republican leaders said Descano’s testimony would help inform possible reforms targeting sanctuary jurisdictions.
The scrutiny was driven largely by the murder of Minter, a Fredericksburg mother who was stabbed to death at a Fairfax County bus stop earlier this year. Jalloh, her alleged killer and a Sierra Leone national, is an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal history whose prior encounters with law enforcement had raised concerns.
Fairfax County police had previously warned Descano’s office multiple times, including last year, about Jalloh’s potential for violence, including one officer who cautioned in an email that it was «not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again.»
Despite those warnings, prosecutors dropped multiple charges against Jalloh, allowing him to remain free. DHS authorities said Jalloh had been arrested 30 times, including for violent offenses, before targeting Minter.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a bus stop in Virginia. (Fox 5 DC)
ILLEGAL ALIEN MURDER SUSPECT AVOIDED SYSTEM AS ICE PUSHES DEM GOVERNOR TO KEEP HIM LOCKED UP
Descano has also faced criticism for his broader posture on immigration after campaigning on what he said was a two-tiered justice system that disadvantaged noncitizens, who could also see deportation as a consequence for their crimes.
Descano, for his part, has received more than $600,000 in campaign support from the Justice and Public Safety PAC, a committee primarily funded by Democratic megadonor George Soros that supports progressive prosecutors, according to public records.
George Soros, Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations, arrives for a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on April 27, 2017. (Olivier Hoslet/AFP)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
DHS and House Republicans have also pointed to Fairfax County plea deals involving noncitizens, including a high-profile 2024 murder case where two defendants received five-year sentences, which they linked to Descano’s avoidance of immigration-related outcomes.
Kincaid, who will also testify, has drawn separate scrutiny for declining to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers and instead requiring judicial warrants before transferring inmates to federal custody once they leave local jails, a policy federal officials have said conflicts with how ICE operates.
immigration, migrant crime, illegal immigrants, sanctuary cities
INTERNACIONAL
Crisis en Bolivia: el pujante comercio en El Alto pone un freno a los piquetes y busca volver a la normalidad
Democrats’ Hasan Piker Problem
Democrats rally around Hasan Piker as the emerging thought leader of the party. Senate candidate Adam Schwarze joins the progrum to make his case for Minnesota. #hasanpiker #MinnesotaPolitics #2026Election
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Marxist political influencer Hasan Piker is lashing out over a federal inquiry into his recent trip to communist Cuba, calling it an «intimidation tactic» prompted by his harsh stance on Israel and the U.S.
The response by Piker — echoed by other leaders from Democratic Socialists of America and pro-communist and anti-Israel leaders — illustrates how quickly the Cuba «solidarity» movement, pro-communist influencers and anti-Israel activist networks converged online to frame the federal inquiry not as a sanctions or foreign influence investigation, but as political repression aimed at broader anti-capitalist, anti-Western, anti-Israel activist movements.
Piker told followers during a livestream on Twitch Sunday afternoon that he is being targeted for being a «loudmouth» and «rabble-rouser,» criticizing Israel and the «fascist» United States.
Fox News Digital reported Saturday that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sent administrative subpoenas to Piker and leftist CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin to get documents about the financial, logistical and communications details of their March trips to Cuba, in possible violation of laws and regulations about doing business with the government of Cuba.
«It’s not great,» Piker told his followers in the early minutes of his livestream on Sunday afternoon. «The news is not great, okay? Um, I mean, it’s bulls—. But still not great…I mean it’s bulls— but still not great that they’re after your boy. They’re up my a–.»
Piker didn’t respond to requests for comment, although he acknowledged receiving the queries as he spoke to his followers during his livestream. He said that he got his trip cleared by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, saying, «Everything we did was cleared by Treasury.»
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control didn’t respond to a request for comment.
By the end of his segment on the federal inquiry, Piker pivoted from the Cuba sanctions inquiry to argue that the scrutiny was really driven by backlash to his comments on Israel.
«A lot of this, by the way, does still have a lot to do with Israel,» he said, charging that his critics «don’t like that I talk s— about Israel» and «don’t like that I am a loudmouth, a rabble-rouser.»
He claimed the investigation was not «just about Cuba» but also about his role in boosting anti-Israel voters and candidates.
«They recognize that Democrats and young people are against Israel» and see him «campaigning with candidates who are anti-Israel, and they are winning their races,» he said.
FEDS SUBPOENA HASAN PIKER, MEDEA BENJAMIN OVER CUBA TRIPS
Marxist political influencer Hasan Piker stands outside his home in West Hollywood, Calif., on May 12, 2026, pointing silently to his dog Kaya to direct her back into his home. (MB/Splash for Fox News Digital)
Piker’s response followed a pattern that has become common among online activist influencers under scrutiny: reframing a legal or regulatory inquiry as political persecution while broadening the issue into a sweeping ideological struggle. Rather than focus narrowly on the sanctions questions surrounding the Cuba trip, Piker repeatedly cast himself as the victim of a coordinated campaign by «Israel first» Democrats, pro-Israel activists, mainstream media figures and the «fascist» Trump administration.
He frequently shifted the conversation away from the specifics of Treasury’s inquiry and toward a larger narrative in which the federal government is allegedly criminalizing anti-Israel activism, anti-capitalist politics and opposition to U.S. foreign policy. He sought to portray the investigation as evidence that powerful political and media institutions are targeting dissenting voices who challenge establishment positions on Israel, Cuba and American foreign policy.
At one point, Piker said he created a mini-documentary about life in Cuba during his March trip, saying he was serving as a journalist. In other moments, he has described the mission as a «humanitarian» effort, framing his trip as providing «humanitarian aid» to the people of Cuba.
Piker also characterized the controversy using language increasingly emerging from socialist, communist and anti-capitalist movements online, where activists have used the phrase «Epstein class» as shorthand for wealthy elites and the supposed moral corruption of American capitalism. The rhetoric repeats the propaganda of U.S. adversaries, including Cuba, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia.
He read a comment from a fan, who wrote, «We’ll free you, my brother.»
POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM
Hasan Piker, a Democratic Socialists of America member, and CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans meet in Havana, Cuba, as part of a «United Front» supporting the communist regime. (CodePink via Storyful)
Piker responded, «I’m seemingly going to be made an example of…in America’s galloping toward fascism.»
He batted away suspicions that Elon Musk made a «boss call» to subpoena Piker after he did an interview yesterday with Ashley St. Clair, the mother of a baby with Musk. The two are going through a custody dispute.
«I haven’t gotten anything yet,» said Piker.
«Yes, I’ll get lawyered up,» he said, in response to a follower.
He said he needed a lawyer with expertise on the First Amendment and «knowledgeable on OFAC.»
«I haven’t had anything happen to me yet,» he said. «And it’s not like anything I’ve done.»
Saturday evening, Piker posted on X that «the American govt would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we’d starved, than punish the Epstein class.»
MEDIA TAPS TWITCH STAR WHO TOLD VIEWERS TO ‘KILL’ REPUBLICANS FOR COMMENT ON CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION
CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin arrives home in Washington, D.C., on May 11, 2026, with her partner TIghe Barry. (LG for Fox News Digital)
At 10:51 p.m., CodePink’s Benjamin posted: «Taking medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba is now a crime? Saving the lives of babies is a crime? The administration is beyond grotesque.»
Benjamin repeated the movement’s broader framing of the Cuba trips as «humanitarian» missions, even as organizers and participants repeatedly paired the aid campaigns with overt political rhetoric condemning the Trump administration, U.S. sanctions policy and what activists described as «imperialism» and «settler colonialism» in Cuba and Latin America.
Piker’s uncle, far-left commentator Cenk Ugyur, the co-founder of Justice Democrats, a socialist organization that helped elect Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress in 2018, defended him online Saturday night.
«Government apparently sent some bullshit subpoena to Hasan,» Ugyur wrote. «They’re tightening the noose on speech. Remember, they’ll always have an excuse or some technicality. It’s not like they’re going to tell you, ‘We did it because we don’t like what you’re saying.’»
Uygur then linked the investigation to broader left-wing claims about suppression of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel speech, arguing the government was using legal and procedural mechanisms to target political dissent rather than directly censoring viewpoints.
WHO IS HASAN PIKER? MEET THE FAR-LEFT STREAMER WHO IS STIRRING UP CONTROVERSY ONLINE AND DIVIDING DEMOCRATS
Piker called CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans a «wonderful person.» He took a photo in Havana with Evans, which she shared on her Instagram account from Cuba.
A little after 3 p.m., one hour and 12 minutes into his livestream, Piker acknowledged, «I would much rather not have to deal with this.»
Half an hour later, he insisted that he was being targeted for his strong opposition to the existence of the state of Israel, playing a clip of Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., as they spoke about the growing tide of anti-semitism, including from Piker.
At one point, Piker scoffed as the two lawmakers discussed increasing reports of antisemitism in the U.S.
Piker later moved on to a segment supporting the the Islamic Republic of Iran in its talks with the U.S. and Israel to end the war in Iran, mocking the Israel delegation’s «chirping,» critiquing U.S. foreign policy for allegedly letting «Israel take control over our entire Middle East policy» and moving the focus of his monologue to a critique of the «Zionist» state of Israel and the «rogue» United States.
Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
cuba, fox news, investigations, fox news investigates, sanctions
INTERNACIONAL
‘Bibi’s hair on fire’: Trump-Netanyahu public ‘rift’ masked unified front against Iran, analyst says
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Intensifying leaks and tense phone calls between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting a relationship breakdown over Iran were part of a calculated strategic effort to keep Tehran guessing, a leading defense analyst told Fox News Digital on Sunday.
The public display, which projected American diplomatic patience while shutting out Jerusalem, covertly laid the groundwork for a unified front, he said.
The strategy culminated in a weekend synchronization phase, with Trump and Netanyahu showcasing total alignment by Sunday, suggested Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Misgav Institute.
TRUMP, NETANYAHU TO MEET AT WHITE HOUSE IN HIGH-STAKES TALKS ON IRAN, GAZA PLAN
President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the White House on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Axios had reported Thursday that a difficult call between the leaders focused on a revised U.S. proposal sent to Iran via Pakistan, which Netanyahu reportedly rejected in favor of renewed military action to degrade Tehran’s infrastructure.
One U.S. source told the outlet that «Netanyahu’s hair was on fire» after the exchange.
Separately, weekend reports suggested Israeli leaders were being marginalized from U.S.-Iran negotiations after Netanyahu’s prewar push for a joint campaign to topple the Iranian regime failed to materialize.
Netanyahu broke his silence Sunday, posting on X to declare absolute solidarity with the White House and project a unified stance.
IRAN’S NEW SUPREME LEADER IS ‘HIS FATHER ON STEROIDS,’ EXPERTS WARN OF HARDLINE RULE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on April 7, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
«The partnership between us and our two countries has been proven on the battlefield and has never been stronger,» Netanyahu shared on X. «My policy, like President Trump’s, remains unchanged: Iran will not have nuclear weapons.»
Michael viewed the public friction and targeted leaks as a calculated tactical feint designed to keep Tehran blindsided.
«Neither President Trump nor Prime Minister Netanyahu has any interest in any crisis, but by leaking the story of a crisis between Trump and Netanyahu, the Iranians might find themselves surprised by the timing of the next military attack,» Michael said.
«The leak created a sense of disagreement between the two leaders and positions Trump as the leader who gives another chance to the diplomatic path despite the pressures of Prime Minister Netanyahu,» he said.
«Trump understands who the Iranians are.»
The final synchronization followed a weekend phone call in which Trump reassured Netanyahu that any final agreement with Iran would fully dismantle Tehran’s nuclear program.
UN’S NUCLEAR WATCHDOG WARNS ITS UNABLE TO CONFIRM IRAN’S PROGRAM IS ‘ENTIRELY PEACEFUL’
President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Feb. 28, 2026, alongside several Cabinet members. (White House)
Netanyahu also said Trump also «reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against threats on every front, including Lebanon.»
Washington has been keeping Jerusalem updated on the negotiations «over a memorandum of understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and enter negotiations toward a final agreement on the points that remain in dispute,» an official statement read.
Following the Sunday call, Netanyahu also thanked Trump for his «exceptional commitment to Israel’s security.»
«Netanyahu’s last post about his last conversation with Trump can be understood as the ultimate closure to this deception and any accusations,» Michael added.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«This is trying to prepare the Israeli public for the idea that everything was fully coordinated with the U.S., and the diplomatic developments will serve the Israeli interest.»
Michael added, however, that skepticism remained in Jerusalem over whether the gaps between the U.S. and Iran will be bridged, or whether «Trump will accept the Iranian position.»
benjamin netanyahu, nuclear proliferation, war with iran, iran, israel
Caso Andis: nuevas pruebas apuntan a que los intermediarios se llevaban hasta el 20% de las compras en coimas
La profunda reflexión de Donato de Santis acerca de por qué se volvió budista: “A mí me salvó la vida”
Zona Fría: el Gobierno cruzó a Kicillof y defendió los cambios en el régimen de subsidios al gas
En el primer trimestre, las ventas de los supermercados cayeron en 21 provincias argentinas
Mohammed VI indulta a los hinchas senegaleses condenados tras el caos de la final de la CAN
Crisis en Bolivia: el pujante comercio en El Alto pone un freno a los piquetes y busca volver a la normalidad
Fractura total: el Gobierno no invitó a Victoria Villarruel al Tedeum
Milei lanza «operativo» urgente para que el salto de inflación mayorista no explote en góndolas
El FMI aprobó la revisión del acuerdo con la Argentina y destraba el desembolso de USD 1.000 millones
VIDEO | Un especialista demostró que la cuenta de X que desató la interna libertaria pertenecía a Martín Menem
-
POLITICA1 día agoFractura total: el Gobierno no invitó a Victoria Villarruel al Tedeum
-
ECONOMIA2 días agoSiguen los problemas de endeudamiento de las familias: la mora se triplicó en los últimos doce meses
-
INTERNACIONAL3 días agoPolémica en un prestigioso concurso literario: investigan si un relato ganador fue creado con IA