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Dem senator faces DOJ probe after allegations of spending campaign funds on luxury lifestyle
An embattled Democrat Senator from Arizona is facing a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation after allegedly using campaign donations to fund lavish vacations with his family.
A source familiar with the investigation confirmed to Fox News Digital that Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is subject to the probe for potential violations of campaign finance laws.
A week ago, Politico reported that Gallego used campaign money on family trips to Miami, Saint Barthélemy, Disneyland, Disney World and Chicago. He also used funds to attend the 2023 Super Bowl in Arizona, but the senator insisted that the tickets were a legitimate campaign fundraising expense.
The report last week also said that the senator, who was just cleared Monday by the Senate Ethics Committee after a complaint about the alleged campaign finance violations and suspected sexual misconduct, also used $18,000 in funds from his leadership PAC to reimburse himself for childcare costs.
SWALWELL FRIEND GALLEGO DEFENDS CAMPAIGN-FUNDED SUPER BOWL, MIAMI TRIPS: ‘GO WHERE THE MONEY IS’
Gallego brushed off the allegations in the Politico story.
"This is not breaking news," he reportedly told the outlet. "With the rising costs of child care and the burden it has on the budgets of American families, Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the White House alike regularly travel with their wives and children, as is permitted by the FEC."
Monday afternoon, after the ethics complaints were dismissed, Gallego said they were merely "right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists," according to NPR.
DOJ OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO ERIC SWALWELL OVER SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
Less than a day after he was cleared by Congress, the DOJ investigation was revealed.
Fox News Digital reached out to Gallego's office for comment.
Gallego was close friends with disgraced former Democratic lawmaker Eric Swalwell of California, who was forced to resign from Congress following a wave of sexual misconduct allegations against him, including claims of rape and sexual assault.
Swalwell admitted to making "mistakes," but denied the allegations of criminal behavior.
The former congressman, who was running for governor of California at the time of his undoing, attended the 2023 Super Bowl with Gallego.
Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal concert tickets from Bad Bunny's label, millions in book payments
One Supreme Court justice accepted more than $4,300 in concert tickets from Bad Bunny's record label during a private trip to Puerto Rico last year, while several other justices collected millions in book deals and other outside income, according to financial disclosures.
The annual reports released on Monday cover activity in 2025 for eight of the nine justices. Justice Samuel Alito received a 90-day extension to file his disclosure.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor reported receiving concert tickets valued at $4,333 from Puerto Rican record label Rimas Entertainment, stating the company "provided tickets for a concert for me and guests while I was on a private trip to Puerto Rico in August 2025."
Sotomayor's disclosure did not identify which concert she attended. Rimas Entertainment represents several artists, including global music star Bad Bunny, who was holding a residency with more than 30 shows in San Juan during that period.
ALITO BLASTS LATEST SCOTUS BALLOT RULING AS INVITATION TO 'VOTER FRAUD' RISKS
The disclosures also showed four justices earned more than $2 million combined in book payments during the year.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported receiving a $1.18 million book advance from Penguin Random House for her memoir, "Lovely One," published in 2024. The payment came after she disclosed nearly $2.07 million in book advance income from the same publisher the previous year.
Jackson also reported receiving a painting valued at $2,500 from Chicago artists Paul Branton and Kristen Williams. The portrait, titled "Worthy," is displayed in her Supreme Court chambers.
Sotomayor disclosed $88,100 in royalties from Penguin for her children's books, "Turning Pages" and "Just Ask!" Her filing noted those figures reflected earnings after her literary agent's commission and that the publisher spent $7,473 to support sales of her book "Just Shine!"
Justice Amy Coney Barrett reported earning $849,071 in royalties tied to her 2025 book, "Listening to the Law."
FEDERAL JUDGE WHO HAD SEX IN CHAMBERS APOLOGIZES TO FORMER CLERK AS IMPEACHMENT PUSH RAMPS UP
Justice Neil Gorsuch disclosed $300,361 in book royalties, primarily from HarperCollins, which recently published the children's book he co-authored, "Heroes of 1776: The Story of the Declaration of Independence."
Several justices also reported income from teaching positions.
Barrett and Justice Brett Kavanaugh each earned $33,285 for teaching at the University of Notre Dame Law School, where both serve as adjunct professors.
Chief Justice John Roberts reported receiving $25,000 from New England Law after teaching a two-week course in Galway, Ireland. Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed $18,000 in teaching income from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, while Gorsuch reported $30,380 for teaching at George Mason University.
The financial disclosure reports have come under increasing public scrutiny in recent years after revelations that some justices failed to disclose luxury travel and certain real estate transactions, prompting calls from lawmakers and ethics advocates for greater transparency and stricter oversight of the Supreme Court.
Trump reacts to Supreme Court ruling on trans athletes
President Donald Trump called the Supreme Court's Tuesday ruling on transgender athletes a "big win."
The justices ruled in favor of West Virginia and Idaho on Thursday, 6-3, against trans athletes who sued to gain access to girls' sports.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
"BIG WIN: The United States Supreme Court just RULED AGAINST MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS. Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!!" Trump posted to Truth Social.
As Trump celebrated the ruling, the Supreme Court said it was up to the states to make the decision on trans athletes in women's sports.
Justice Sotomayor filed an opinion concurring with the judgment in part and dissenting in part, which Justices Kagan and Jackson joined. Jackson filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.
Consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the States may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex.
The states were backed by the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), while the trans athletes were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Cooley Legal.
Now, more than half of the states in the U.S. are empowered to enforce the protection of women's sports without fear of a legal challenge.
However, there are still 23 states that don't have any such laws, and some of those have laws to protect trans athletes in girls' sports.
Trump signed the "No Men In Women's Sports" executive order on Feb. 5, 2025, prompting more restrictions on trans athletes and states to abide by Trump's order. On the flip side, it also welcomed a highly-publicized spat shortly after the order was signed between Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
Trump continuously threatened to halt federal funding to states who did not abide by his executive order. Trump froze funds to Maine, but a federal judge ruled that the funds had to be unfrozen.
But now, those states are protected by law.
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Education Secretary Linda McMahon released a statement later.
"Today’s ruling affirms the common sense right of states to prohibit men from competing in women’s sports, safeguard the integrity of female spaces, and ensure no woman faces discrimination on the basis of sex," she said. "For years, ideologues distorted Title IX to advance a radical transgender agenda, subjecting women to immeasurable harm.
"The Trump Administration has fought to restore Title IX’s protections for women and girls since Day One. Today’s ruling cements those reforms and builds on decades of work to secure equal educational opportunities for women and girls. This is a tremendous victory, and we look forward to ensuring that every educational institution in America abides by the law of the land."
Surveys have shown that roughly 80% of Americans do not believe biological males should compete against girls and women.
Fox News' Jackson Thompson and Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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Republicans declare war on 'organized theft' with government fraud crackdown
FIRST ON FOX: A cohort of Senate Republicans are launching an anti-fraud task force to mirror the efforts of the Trump administration in its multibillion-dollar fraud crusade.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is leading the group of nine Senate Republicans in their formation of the Anti-Fraud Task Force, a group that will examine fraud, waste and abuse across federal programs, identify vulnerabilities in those programs and ensure that the buck stops where the flow of funding begins: Congress.
"The fraud epidemic burdening our country is one of the most pressing issues facing Americans today," Schmitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "It’s organized theft on a national scale, and the Americans paying the price are the ones swinging the hammer and driving the trucking, working their tails off to make ends meet."
TRUMP SAYS ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS ARE UNCOVERING BILLIONS IN WASTE, CLAIMS SAVINGS COULD BALANCE BUDGET
"Our Task Force will go after the fraud rings and bad actors exploiting our systems and robbing Americans," he continued. "Following President Trump's lead, we’re declaring war on fraud."
Schmitt has recruited Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Katie Britt, R-Ala., Ashley Moody, R-Fla., Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
SENATE REPUBLICAN PUSHES OVERHAUL TO CUT RED TAPE AND SPEED UP AMERICAN ENERGY PROJECTS
Johnson contended that depending on the database you accessed — like the Government Accountability Office or LexisNexis — the amount of federal government fraud fluctuated between $250 billion and $1 trillion per year.
"It’s nearly impossible to recover those funds through prosecutions, so we must focus on preventing the money from getting to the fraudsters in the first place," Johnson said.
Schmitt’s task force is meant to align with the Trump administration’s anti-fraud efforts led by Vice President JD Vance, whom President Donald Trump tapped to be his anti-fraud czar, that were launched earlier this year.
SENATE REPUBLICAN EXPANDS CHILDCARE FRAUD CRACKDOWN TO MORE BLUE STATES
Vance’s operation hit the ground running in April and identified nearly $6.3 billion in government contracts believed to be tied to potentially fraudulent businesses. Those findings showed nearly 400 businesses would be required to prove they had legitimate operations and physical addresses.
In May, the task force withheld $1.4 billion in federal funding from home health and hospice providers nationwide.
Schmitt’s effort isn’t the only one in the Senate, either. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been ramping up anti-fraud efforts since the beginning of the year in the wake of the Minnesota fraud scandal.
Cassidy launched an anti-fraud task force cracking down on abuses in Minnesota that has since expanded to other blue states, including New York, Michigan and Oregon.
Caitlin Clark's teammate called 'wildly unprofessional' for airing true thoughts on Mercury
Sophie Cunningham is throwing more fuel onto the WNBA fire.
Caitlin Clark's sidekick is never one to hide from anything, and on the latest episode of her "Show Me Something" podcast, she did not shy away from her true feelings about her former team.
Cunningham once played for the Phoenix Mercury, but last week the Mercury was Public Enemy No. 1 after Alyssa Thomas' hard foul on Caitlin Clark.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
The foul went uncalled before the WNBA reviewed the play, upgraded the foul to a Flagrant 2, and suspended Thomas. But the Mercury also poked fun at the incident in a since-deleted social media post.
Continuously having Clark's back, Cunningham said "no one" likes the Mercury.
"I know people in their own organization — no one likes their team this year. They say that they're the unfriendliest group," Cunningham said. "So we're not the only ones who feel that way. Internal people feel that way too."
That, however, drew the ire of USA TODAY WNBA reporter Meaghan L. Hall, who said Cunningham should keep her comments to herself.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER RIPS WNBA’S ‘THUG TREATMENT’ OF CAITLIN CLARK AFTER LATEST ON-COURT CONTROVERSY
"Goodness gracious. I — 1) This is wildly unprofessional," she began in an X post.
"2) How is this helping with the points at everything current discourse? 3) There is not any scenario that exists where a player should be saying this about any organization."
Cunningham spent six seasons with the Mercury before joining the Indiana Fever last year. She was named in a lawsuit last year that claimed she had a sexual relationship with Phoenix Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein, which she denied.
The Fever and Mercury will face off again on July 9, but Clark's status remains in question due to a lingering back issue.
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Supreme Court strikes down limit on party campaign spending in coordination with candidates
The Supreme Court struck down a longstanding federal campaign spending limit, ruling that political parties can now spend unlimited amounts in coordination with their federal candidates, as long as they otherwise comply with campaign finance laws.
The 6-3 vote in the case National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission saw all the conservative justices in the majority, ruling against the restriction in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA).
"In short, constitutional text, history, and precedent establish that the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion. "Importantly, by holding FECA’s political-party coordinated-expenditure restrictions unconstitutional, the Court’s decision today treats all political parties equally."
Then-Senator J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, was among those who brought the original lawsuit to remove the spending limits in 2022, along with the Republican senatorial and congressional committees.
TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Democrats had called on the court to uphold the law, even though there is wide agreement that the spending limits have hurt political parties in an era of unlimited spending by other organizations.
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Kagan wrote in her dissenting opinion that "today, the Court rewrites the rules, to allow circumvention of the contribution limits."
"The majority invalidates Congress’s restriction of coordinated expenditures, thus enabling a party to serve as an alternative checking account for a campaign," Kagan wrote.
SUPREME COURT MAKES RULING ON TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN'S SPORTS
The limits on party spending stem from a desire to prevent large donors from skirting caps on individual contributions to a candidate by directing unlimited sums to the party, with the understanding that the money will be spent on behalf of the candidate.
The Supreme Court had previously upheld the limits in 2001.
The ruling comes ahead of the November midterm elections, as President Donald Trump and Republicans work to maintain their congressional majorities.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears, along with The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UAP whistleblower Luis Elizondo details congressional staffer's warning of a plot to 'eliminate' him
A whistleblower's brush with death, a congressman's dive into one of America's biggest mysteries and chilling warnings for their safety have taken center stage on the latest episode of the "Hang Out With Sean Hannity" podcast.
Former Pentagon official and UFO whistleblower Luis Elizondo recalled a startling warning he received from a congressional staffer regarding him and fellow whistleblower David Grusch.
"There was a plan to eliminate you," Elizondo said, recounting the warning.
UFO WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS BILLIONS IN SECRET SPENDING HIDDEN FROM CONGRESS
According to Elizondo, the "inebriated" staffer had left a classified briefing on Capitol Hill where government officials had disclosed the information just prior to the call.
Though no details were provided regarding how the plan had been formulated or exactly what it entailed, he indicated he was prepared for such a faceoff.
"It's the reason why I have five German shepherds, and I'm heavily armed," he said.
A call from another staffer immediately followed, offering another ominous warning related to the news.
EX-PENTAGON OFFICIAL SAYS UAP FILES REVEAL 'TREASURE TROVE' OF INTELLIGENCE DATING BACK TO THE 1940S
"[The] first thing he says, 'Lou, are you okay?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm fine, why?' He's like, 'Well, you need to really watch yourself. Because there was discussions involving you and Grusch, that some people were very upset with what you guys did,'" he recounted.
Both Elizondo and Grusch were former intelligence officials who helped spearhead calls to disclose classified information regarding UFOs or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).
Their calls have been met with some resistance, he says, including the alleged plan.
Tennessee GOP Rep. Tim Burchett, also appearing on the podcast, similarly touched on the dangers of pressing for transparency,
"I was sitting at the house and I got a call from... a friend of the administration. It told me that I'd kicked a hornet's nest, and it said, you need to get bodies around you," he recalled.
"I'm in East Tennessee, I've got bodies around me. There's enough good old boys out there..." he continued.
"Lou will tell you we have kicked a virtual hornet's nest, and these people don't want this stuff out, and I have my own theories about that as well. I'm sure Lou does, too."
The full "Hang Out With Sean Hannity" episode with Elizondo and Burchett is available now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Trump suffers major Supreme Court defeat as justices uphold birthright citizenship
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restrict birthright citizenship, preserving the long-standing constitutional interpretation that most children born in the United States are automatically U.S. citizens, including children born to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present in the country.
The ruling is a major setback for Trump, who made curbing birthright citizenship a key part of his immigration agenda.
"Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause," the court said.
"The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land.' We keep that promise today."
The Supreme Court decision was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the majority. The court found that a person's citizenship status is not dependent on their parents', citing the 14th Amendment. Roberts wrote that the Court's 1898 precedent in Wong Kim Ark had settled the issue.
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office that would eliminate birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or are in the country temporarily.
Multiple lawsuits followed the executive order. After the Supreme Court curtailed the use of nationwide injunctions, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit on behalf of families affected by the policy. The suit, led by a Honduran woman identified only as "Barbara" to protect her identity, challenged the order as unconstitutional and argued it violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
WATCH: Fights break out at Russian gas stations as Putin admits fuel shortages
Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly acknowledged that Ukrainian long-range strikes are creating fuel supply problems inside Russia, as videos obtained by Fox News Digital show long lines, angry motorists and fights erupting at filling stations across several Russian regions.
Speaking at a meeting with government ministers and other officials after a wave of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, Putin said on Sunday that strikes on "critical infrastructure" and energy facilities were creating "problems," including shortages affecting motorists, businesses and agricultural producers, but said Russia was dealing with them, according to Reuters.
The remarks marked a rare admission from the Kremlin that Ukraine’s long-range campaign is having an impact beyond the battlefield.
UKRAINE LAUNCHES WHAT APPEARS TO BE ONE OF ITS LARGEST DRONE ATTACKS AGAINST RUSSIA: REPORT
For Ukraine, the fuel crisis is evidence that its long-range strike campaign is doing more than damaging individual facilities. The attacks are forcing Moscow to manage visible problems at home, exposing a vulnerability in a country whose global power has long rested on its energy sector.
Ukraine increasingly has used long-range drones to target Russian oil refineries, depots and supply routes hundreds of miles from its border. Ukraine hit two Russian oil refineries overnight, Reuters reported Sunday, including one in Krasnodar, Russia, and another in Yaroslavl, Russia, as Kyiv continues targeting infrastructure linked to Moscow’s war effort.
Fuel shortages have spread across Russia, including occupied Crimea, southern Russia, Siberia and Moscow. Moscow also is weighing emergency measures, including temporarily allowing the production and import of lower-quality fuel, according to a draft government document reported by the Kommersant daily newspaper.
Maxim Katz, a Russian opposition figure and former Moscow municipal deputy, told Fox News Digital that the fuel shortages are real and increasingly difficult for Russians to ignore.
"There are fuel problems in Russia right now — real ones," Katz told Fox News Digital. "I’m getting a lot of reports, and I can see it too: It’s hard. You can’t find fuel, or you have to stand in line. In some cities, you have to spend half a day looking for fuel, and then they give you only a little, and you have to get back in line again."
Katz said the shortages appear tied directly to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refining capacity.
"They are bombing the refineries very effectively," he said. "Putin doesn’t have a way to defend them. Right now, it looks like there is no way to defend them, and that is a major pressure point on Putin."
Videos obtained by Fox News Digital from East2West news agency show scenes of frustration at Russian filling stations, where drivers are seen waiting in long queues and arguing as shortages bite. In one video, two women appear to argue over a place in line, with one insisting, "I was in the queue," before the confrontation escalates into shouting and threats.
'PURE HELL' IN MOSCOW AS UKRAINIAN DRONES STRIKE MAJOR REFINERY SUPPLYING CAPITAL'S FUEL MARKET
In Serov, Russia, police were called after a male driver was seen shouting obscenities at several women before punching one of them, according to a video.
In Ryazan, Russia, video shows a fight breaking out near a forecourt as drivers waited for fuel. In Irkutsk, Russia, a man is seen leaning into the open window of a hatchback and repeatedly hitting another motorist.
One woman, identified only as Tanya, 29, told east2west she waited 13 hours in Siberia to get half a tank of fuel and blamed Putin’s war for the chaos.
"He should stop this senseless conflict and let us live normally," she told the outlet.
'PURE HELL' IN MOSCOW AS UKRAINIAN DRONES STRIKE MAJOR REFINERY SUPPLYING CAPITAL'S FUEL MARKET
Katz said the fuel disruption comes alongside deeper economic pressure caused by the Russia–Ukraine war, including high domestic borrowing, steep interest rates and a budget increasingly built around military spending.
"The whole economy is now built on war," Katz said. "War does not produce anything. Nothing comes back from it. So what remains is a big hole."
He said Russia is not yet on the verge of collapse, but the strain is "growing and growing," with economic officials warning that spending may need to be cut as the budget deficit becomes harder to close.
This assessment was also confirmed to Fox News Digital by a European intelligence source, who said the economic pressure is effectively working.
Fox News Digital reached out to Russian and Ukrainian spokespeople for comment.
Reuters contributed to this story.
Dave Portnoy left 'stunned' by NYC socialist victories, says the American Dream is under siege
Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy had an answer Monday about whether he is weighing a potential mayoral run in the Big Apple: "Maybe."
Speaking with Fox News Digital following a 92NY event promoting his new book, the New England native debated whether he’d be the best candidate to take on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose socialist brand is rising in the Democratic Party.
"Depends what day you ask me," Portnoy told Fox News Digital. "I don’t know that I could win, but somebody’s got to take that guy and beat him."
"So I don’t know," he added. "Maybe I’m the guy to do it. Depends on how much more he keeps pissing me off."
DAVE PORTNOY CELEBRATES NOT LIVING IN NYC AFTER DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MAMDANI'S MAYORAL WIN
The comments came following a panel promoting Portnoy’s new book, "Cancel Me If You Can," in which the Barstool founder left no stone unturned when it came to topics of discussion — including touching on the recent sweep by three far-left socialists in New York City’s primary elections last week.
"I don't want to say, ‘We don't do politics,’ and then I jump into politics," Portnoy said during the panel, in response to a question submitted by Fox News Digital. "And I can't stay out of it, because it is blowing in my mind what's going on [in New York City] right now."
Portnoy went on to blast previous comments from Mamdani-backed candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier that have resurfaced in light of her primary win.
DEM SOCIALIST'S NYC PRIMARY UPSET SIGNALS 'GENERATIONAL' SHIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, STRATEGISTS SAY
"That lady, Chevalier, just got elected," Portnoy said. "The things she has said are unbelievable."
"She said all Arab men [and] Black men shouldn’t date ugly colonizers," he continued. "She said no prisons, no quarters, no jails. She started a group at Columbia that’s goal was to overthrow Western society — she just got elected."
Although Chevalier has not been elected to office, her victory is effectively a certainty in her deep-blue district after winning the Democratic nomination.
He also pointed to resurfaced remarks made by Mamdani-backed Aber Kawas, who won her primary race in New York State Senate District 12, in which she appeared to suggest the United States deserved the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"[Kawas], who just got elected, said America deserved 9/11," Portnoy said. "Like that to me, is just — I can’t even wrap my brain around it."
"I don’t know if it’s scary or if I should be scared or like, [if] I gotta get into politics," he added. "I am stunned by some of the things that are happening now."
Kawas’ previous comments stemmed from a 2017 episode of the Asian American Writers' Association podcast titled "Islamophobia beyond 9/11 with Aber Kawas," in which she said, "The system of capitalism and racism and White supremacy… and Islamophobia have all been used to colonize lands, to take resources from other people and so this is a long trajectory, and we're just seeing the manifestations of that continuation with 9/11."
The socialist candidate later walked back her comments days after her win, telling Fox News Digital, "I’ve always been outspoken about the wrongful scapegoating of Muslim Americans, both before and after 9/11, and in this interview I was speaking about the harmful notion that Muslims should have to apologize for an act of violence they have nothing to do with."
The pizza critic known as "El Presidente" took aim at Mamdani, blasting the sitting mayor’s socialist agenda while refusing to confirm whether a mayoral run was off the table.
WATCH: DAVE PORTNOY DISCUSSES WHETHER HE'D RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFIC
"I’d want to go right for Mamdani," Portnoy told the audience at 92NY, in response to Fox News Digital’s question.
RAPPING, ACTING CAMEO AMONG FRINGE ACTIVITIES LINING MAMDANI'S THIN WORK RESUME
"Unlike Mamdani, who’s never had a job, I’ve had a real job," he added. "And I’ve actually done a lot of good when I wasn’t doing it to run for office. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do."
"I don’t know if I could win this city with a Democrat, but [Mamdani] has said what he wanted to do before he got elected. And I trust what people say before they’re running, and he said some pretty crazy things about what he wants to do."
Portnoy lamented that he believes entrepreneurship — a fundamental principle of the American Dream — has been demonized by far-left candidates throughout Democratic cities in the country.
MAHER DEFENDS CAPITALISM AS BETTER THAN 'REVERSE,' CALLS OUT MAMDANI'S SOCIALIST BELIEFS
"To me, I think Barstool is the American Dream. I really do," Portnoy said. "It’s like, you work your a-- off, you build a company, you employ 400 to 450 people who enjoy it. I’ve become wealthy beyond my reach. It kind of is the American Dream."
"I don’t like when I hear that people should be ashamed for being successful — that bothers me greatly," the Barstool founder continued, earning a round of applause. "A lot of things [Mamdani] says really do bother me."
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Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's office for comment.
Speaking to the audience in response to Fox News Digital’s question, Portnoy paraphrased a famous line from philosopher Plato to emphasize his belief that Americans should run for office if they are unhappy with the politicians elected to represent them.
"If you don’t do your job in public service, then you’re doomed to be ruled by people dumber than you," Portnoy said.
Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.