Nick Shirley never planned to become one of the nation’s best known independent journalists, making videos that would dominate the national conversation and be retweeted by vice presidents and CEOs.

Yet in the wake of his Minnesota fraud investigation, Shirley has exploded onto the national scene as a one-man journalism machine. 

Recently, he sat down with Fox News Digital at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas to discuss his unconventional rise, his reporting philosophy, and the stories the mainstream media is still ignoring.

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«Well, when I was younger, I’d make vlog pranks, and then I started to get a little bit older and wanted to see what was happening in the world. And it turned into journalism,» Shirley said about his start in reporting. «I didn’t know it was journalism at the time. I thought I was just making YouTube videos on more interesting topics. 

«And now I’m one of the biggest and most well-known journalists in America, in the world, actually.»

Shirley conceded that his particular style is hard to define.

«I think that’s a good mix, like an…independent YouTube journalist, like it’s journalism with a bit of documentary style as well, so it’s kind of different than what anyone has ever done before as far as this new realm of YouTube journalism,» he said.

Shirley said he realized that he had an explosive story as the Minnesota fraud video «Feeding Our Future» scandal cracked nine-digit views on X.

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NIck Shirley’s brand of independent reporting has caught the eye of Vice President JD Vance, among other luminaries. (Urs Flueeler, Pool Photo via AP, File)

«When I saw it hit 100 million views, I had never seen a video get to 100 million views on X before. And then it became shared by some of the biggest voices in the world as well,» said Shirley, who boasts 1.7 million followers on the platform, and nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube.

Among them were Vice President J.D. Vance, Elon Musk and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Shirley said he believes in zeroing in his investigation on primary sources when he is devoting time and resources to new stories.

«I take all the information that’s public from the government and I go straight to the source,» he said.

Despite the massive success Shirley has seen, he still comes across stories that do not get the exposure he feels is warranted.

«On a national level, I think the fentanyl crisis in the United States is really bad,» Shirley said. «I’ve done a few videos on that, but people seem to not want to stop the fentanyl crisis from happening.»

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Unsurprisingly, from time to time, Shirley said his journalistic work takes him to the limits of his comfort zone.

«In the favelas of Brazil, I thought I was going to die. That was a little scary,» he said. «In Kenya and Philadelphia as well, that was pretty dangerous.»

Shirley cited his Spanish language skills as a motivating factor in his coverage of the Biden administration border crisis, which he witnessed firsthand.

«I had heard about what was happening. I was living in Chile at the time. And I started to see what was happening with Venezuelan migrants coming into Chile,» Shirley said. «When I came back to the United States, I started looking into what was going on at the southern border. 

«And since I could speak Spanish, I started to reveal what was actually happening. And people didn’t know that children were being smuggled. 17-year-old girls were coming over all by themselves. 12-year-old girls were all coming over all by themselves. And I kind of started to showcase what was happening from the border all the way to the shelters in New York City.»

Nick Shirley upended the news cycle last month with a 42-minute video investigating Minnesota daycare centers that appeared inactive despite receiving millions of dollars in government funding.  (Nick Shirley)

Shirley did a two-year mission with the LDS Church, and credits his faith as a motivation for his work.

«Well, I think our faith invites us to look for the truth and expose evil,» he said. «Like, the scriptures, the Bible, everything, it’s a bunch of strong men exposing what’s happening as well, and I think that’s kind of lost.»

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Shirley said the recent guilty plea of Fahima Egeh Mahamud — the woman tied to Minnesota’s massive «Feeding Our Future» scandal and daycare fraud scheme — as evidence of the veracity of his work, as the mainstream media and Democratic establishment have worked hard to discredit his investigations.

«Well, numbers don’t lie, and convictions don’t lie either,» he said. «The largest daycare in Minnesota, government funded, just pleaded guilty today.»

La cadena hotelera española Meliá, con 34 hoteles en Cuba, cesará el viernes próximo toda su actividad en la isla ante las “notables dificultades” operativas, legales y económico-financieras en el país a causa del bloqueo petrolero de Estados Unidos.

Meliá comunicó este martes a la Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) que su filial en Portugal, Ilha Bela Gestao e Turismo, a través de la que opera en Cuba en régimen de gestión, tomó la decisión de concluir a partir del viernes 24 de julio la prestación de servicios en todos los establecimientos en la isla.

Esta decisión es consecuencia de las “notables dificultades de carácter operativo, legal, económico y financiero que, persistentemente, han venido y vienen afectando” a Cuba, tras el embargo decretado por el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, que imposibilitan “de hecho y de derecho” una “mínima estabilidad operativa”, señaló la compañía.

Meliá es una de las mayores hoteleras en Cuba y la principal de las cadenas extranjeras.

La isla enfrenta apagones interminables y la paralización de sus industrias y el transporte a causa del bloqueo petrolero impuesto por Trump después de la captura de Nicolás Maduro en enero en Venezuela, hasta entonces principal socio ideológico y económico de La Habana.

En 2025 la caída del turismo fue brutal. El desplome llegó al 25%. Solo llegaron 1,8 millones de turistas.

Qué implica la salida de Meliá de Cuba

El cese de actividad se extiende al uso de marcas autorizadas, a la actividad de recepción de turistas y a la cadena de suministro local vinculada al abastecimiento de los establecimientos.

En su comunicado, Meliá explica que está evaluando los impactos financieros de esta decisión, incluyendo la eventual revisión del valor en libros asociado a la operatividad en Cuba, que concretará cuando publique las cuentas del primer semestre.

La filial portuguesa trabaja para garantizar una transición ordenada para que la salida tenga el menor impacto posible en colaboradores, proveedores y clientes, señaló la cadena hotelera.

El 7 de mayo pasado, cuando presentó los resultados del primer trimestre del año, Meliá comunicó que había cerrado el 50% de su capacidad operativa en Cuba como consecuencia del bloqueo comercial de Estados Unidos.

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Según explicó entonces, tenía en cartera 34 hoteles (algunos de ellos ya cerrados por esas fechas, aunque no precisó la cifra exacta), con 14.053 habitaciones y tenía otros dos en proyecto, que en principio tenía previsto abrir este año.

Fuentes de Meliá indicaron que el portfolio total estuvo operativo una media del 60% de los días del trimestre, que se vio comprometido “de forma significativa” tras la intervención de Estados Unidos en la región a principio de año.

Esa intervención generó una “dificultad sobrevenida” para la obtención de combustible, lo que, junto al estricto bloqueo comercial, afectó con fuerza al mercado turístico.

La hotelera reportó una ocupación en sus establecimientos en Cuba del 34,1%, 6,5 puntos por debajo del primer trimestre del año pasado y muy por debajo de la media de su cartera (58,8%, con un alza de 1,7 puntos).

El ingreso por habitación disponible, que da una idea de la rentabilidad de la operativa al tener en cuenta la ocupación, se situó en la isla en 34,4 euros, el 8,6 % menos que un año antes, frente a una media de 84 euros en el conjunto de sus hoteles.

La principal hotelera extranjera en Cuba

Meliá es una de las mayores hoteleras en Cuba y la principal de las extranjeras, con un portfolio de 34 hoteles, aunque ya había cerrado casi la mitad en el primer trimestre del año, por la crítica situación que se vive en la isla tras el embargo petrolero anunciado por Trump.

El 3 de junio anunció el cese de la gestión y uso de la marca en 15 hoteles en Cuba y este martes comunicó el fin de la gestión de los hoteles restantes a partir del viernes 24 de julio.

No obstante, la compañía española no es propietaria de los hoteles, que son de titularidad estatal a través de grupos como Gaesa (ligada al Ejército cubano), Cubanacan o el propio Ministerio de Turismo, y únicamente gestiona los establecimientos.

Este sistema supone que la cadena aporta, además de la marca, sus sistemas de reservas, sus medios de comercialización y los procedimientos operativos, y cobra una tarifa por la gestión y un bonus en función de los resultados.

Normalmente el personal directivo es de la compañía española, en tanto que el resto de los trabajadores dependen de las operadoras públicas cubanas, con lo que la salida de Cuba apenas tiene impacto en el empleo, según fuentes de la compañía.

(Con información de EFE)

President Donald Trump’s allies are warning that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s appointment of Ed Miliband as foreign secretary could strain the U.S.-U.K. relationship, citing Miliband’s history of attacking Trump and his support for net-zero energy policies.

Burnham appointed Miliband Monday, replacing Yvette Cooper and completing a remarkable political comeback for the former Labour Party leader. Miliband led Labour from 2010 until the party’s defeat in the 2015 general election and most recently served as energy security and net-zero secretary under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The appointment makes Miliband Britain’s top diplomat and a principal counterpart to Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a time when Burnham is seeking to preserve close ties with Washington. Burnham spoke with Trump shortly after becoming prime minister and reaffirmed the importance of the bilateral relationship, according to Reuters.

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The Daily Telegraph reported that Trump administration officials had warned Burnham’s team against giving Miliband a senior role. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House chief strategist and a political ally of the president, told the newspaper that the administration viewed Miliband’s appointment as «very injurious» to the special relationship. Bannon does not hold an administration position, and the White House has not publicly confirmed that such a warning was delivered.

The London Times separately reported before the appointment that the administration had signaled opposition to Miliband and was even more concerned about the prospect of him becoming foreign secretary. That reporting was not attributed to a named administration official.

Miliband has previously condemned Trump in unusually personal terms.

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British Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband walks on Downing Street before a cabinet meeting after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a timeline for his resignation in London, Britain, June 23, 2026.  (Toby Melville/Reuters)

During Trump’s first presidential campaign, Miliband described him as a «racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper.» The comment resurfaced after Trump won the 2024 election, when BBC Breakfast presenter Jon Kay questioned Miliband about how he would work with the incoming president.

«How are you going to build a relationship with someone you described in the past as a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper?» Kay asked during the Nov. 12, 2024, interview.

«I’ve said some things in the past,» Miliband responded. «My job now as a government minister is to work with people.»

The differences extend beyond Miliband’s rhetoric about Trump. As energy secretary, Miliband became the public face of the Labour government’s net-zero agenda and its opposition to issuing new licenses for North Sea oil and gas exploration. Trump and members of his administration have pushed Britain to increase domestic fossil-fuel production.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation and a former foreign policy aide to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, told Fox News Digital Miliband’s appointment was a «disastrous» decision.

«I think the appointment of Ed Miliband as U.K. foreign secretary is disastrous for Britain,» Gardiner said in an interview Tuesday. «It’s a demonstration of a real lack of strategic thinking on the part of Andy Burnham.

«Ed Miliband is no friend of the United States,» Gardiner continued. «He has been an outspoken critic of President Trump. Miliband is also widely viewed by U.S. conservatives as the architect of the whole net-zero agenda, which is viewed as completely poisonous by the U.S. administration.»

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British Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband, left, and California state governor Gavin Newsom pose after signing a clean energy agreement at the Foreign Office in London on Feb. 16, 2026.  (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Gardiner called the appointment a «very high-risk move» that «makes no sense.»

«Burnham is already off to a very bad start with this appointment,» he said. «I’m in no doubt there will be very significant tensions between President Trump and Prime Minister Burnham, and Miliband’s appointment is quite possibly the worst appointment that Burnham could make as foreign secretary.»

As he delivered his first remarks following the appointment, Miliband mentioned his family’s experience as Holocaust survivors.

«It’s the honor of my life, being asked by the prime minister to be the foreign secretary of our country,» Miliband said in a statement Tuesday. «My parents came here, Jewish refugees fleeing from the Nazis and, for them, Britain provided sanctuary and a beacon of hope in the fight against fascism.

«At a time when the values of democracy, the rule of law and freedom are under threat as never before, I will carry that spirit, their spirit, into my work as foreign secretary,» he said. «And now I’m going to go and get on with the task.»

Miliband also pledged to nurture Britain’s «strong, enduring and essential alliance» with the United States while deepening its strategic relationship with the European Union, according to the Financial Times.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham assumes the leadership role without being elected, a fact not lost on critics of his democratic-socialist agenda. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

His appointment has also raised concerns among some British Jewish and pro-Israel commentators.

Stephen Pollard, a former editor and current columnist for The Jewish Chronicle, argued in an opinion piece published Tuesday that Miliband’s record as Labour leader, including changes to party leadership rules that preceded Jeremy Corbyn’s rise, should concern British Jews and supporters of Israel. Pollard predicted that the Burnham government would pursue additional sanctions against Israel with the support of a Jewish foreign secretary.

The Burnham government had not announced additional sanctions against Israel as of Tuesday.

Conservative Member of Parliament Priti Patel separately criticized Burnham and Miliband over plans to proceed with the Chagos Islands agreement.

«Burnham and Miliband are wrong to press ahead with Labour’s appalling Chagos Surrender,» Patel wrote on X, arguing that the agreement would transfer British territory and cost taxpayers £35 billion (approximately $47 billion.)

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Andy Burnham delivers his inaugural speech as the U.K.’s new Prime Minister on July 20, 2026, in London, England. The member of Parliament for Makerfield became the U.K.’s 59th prime minister, succeeding Sir Keir Starmer, who resigned as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister in June.  (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

«Once again, the same old Labour Party is undermining our national security and making Britain weaker on the international stage,» she added.

On Monday, President Donald Trump said he spoke with Burnham shortly after he took office, calling the conversation «very good.» Trump added that he and Burnham plan to meet in the «not too distant future» to discuss issues of mutual interest.

The White House, State Department, Miliband’s office and Burnham’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News’ Bonny Chu contributed to this article.