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Former Trump ambassador nominee, Arizona AG Brnovich dead at 59
Former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, whose Trump administration ambassador nomination was withdrawn last year, died Monday at 59.
"It is with profound sorrow that the Brnovich family announces the passing of Mark Brnovich. Best known as Arizona’s 26th Attorney General, a state and federal prosecutor, and champion of justice, he will forever be remembered and cherished by us as a beloved father, husband, son, and brother," a representative of the family said in a statement to ABC15.
"We are heartbroken with this loss and are deeply moved by the outpouring of love and support from so many wonderful people across the state and country. The family asks for privacy during this difficult time. Memorial service arrangements will be made public as they become available."
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Katie Conner, a former press secretary to Brnovich, told The Associated Press he died of a heart attack.
Brnovich was nominated by President Donald Trump in March to become the U.S. Ambassador to Serbia.
His nomination was later withdrawn in October.
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He previously ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2022 and served as Arizona attorney general for eight years.
Brnovich was remembered by several state officials and senators for his long career in public service.
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"Angela’s and my deepest prayers and condolences are with Susan and the entire Brnovich family. It was an honor to campaign with and serve alongside Mark Brnovich. His passion for the law, justice, and victims were hallmarks of his career in public service," said former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. "For those of us blessed to call him a friend, his humor, positivity, and happy warrior spirit were infectious. May he rest in peace."
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., also paid his respects to Brnovich and his family, saying he was praying for his wife Susan and their two daughters.
California man sues McDonald's after homeless man accused of attacking wife in drive-thru
A California widower is suing McDonald’s, alleging employees stood by and refused to call 911 as a vagrant fatally attacked his wife while the couple waited in a drive-thru line.
Jose Juan Rangel filed the lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Law & Crime reported. The suit claimed a man described as a "known vagrant" approached vehicles and then attacked the couple in the drive-thru at a Boyle Heights restaurant in March 2024.
Rangel and his wife, 58-year-old Maria Vargas Luna, were in their car waiting for food when Charles Cornelius Green Jr. allegedly approached and began assaulting Rangel through the driver-side window. The complaint says Rangel’s wife, who was partially blind and trying to help, was pushed to the ground and suffered severe head trauma.
The family previously told Fox News that Vargas Luna then suffered a heart attack while being rushed to the hospital.
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She was hospitalized and placed on life support for several months, though ultimately died from her injuries, according to the lawsuit.
"We're all devastated because my father is beside himself, and he says he doesn't want to keep living without her because she was his world," Rangel’s daughter, Veronica Rangel, told "Fox & Friends First" in May 2024 when Vargas Luna was still on life support. "They've been married for 30 years, and all she did was give up her life trying to defend him, and my dad feels guilty. He feels sad. He feels angry. He feels like he's losing his life partner, his best friend, for something that should never have happened."
The lawsuit accuses McDonald’s Corp., McDonald’s Restaurants of California Inc., McDonald’s USA LLC and the franchise operators of failing to act despite visible warning signs of danger. It alleges employees watched Green loiter and approach cars in the drive-thru for at least 10 minutes and then failed to call 911 or intervene as the assault unfolded.
NEBRASKA GRANDFATHER KILLED IN 'FREAK ACCIDENT' AT MCDONALD’S DRIVE-THRU
"These visible warning signs required defendants to take protective action, but they did nothing," the complaint says. "Defendants’ failure to … recognize the danger and respond before the assault occurred directly contributed to the injuries and death."
Rangel's attorneys say the location has a long history of police calls for violent and criminal behavior, including assault and trespassing, which they say put McDonald’s on notice of the risk. The complaint asserts claims including wrongful death, negligence and premises liability, and seeks compensatory and other damages.
Green was initially charged with felony and misdemeanor battery, but prosecutors later dropped the serious count, saying surveillance video suggested Vargas Luna’s fall was accidental, FOX11 Los Angeles reported.
Green was released on his own recognizance, and the status of any misdemeanor charges is unclear.
Trump to tear up Obama-era school lunch rules blocking whole, 2% milk
The Trump administration is tearing up an Obama-era policy barring public schools participating in the National School Lunch Program from offering whole and 2% milk to students.
A White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital that President Donald Trump will sign the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act Wednesday afternoon.
The executive order dismantles restrictions laid out in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, signed by former President Barack Obama, which requires public schools in the National School Lunch Program to provide students with reduced-fat milk options.
"President Trump will sign into law a fix to the failed Obama policy that foolishly banned whole milk from public schools and barred children from the essential nutrients needed to grow, learn, and stay healthy," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"This is common sense and great news for America’s children, dairy farmers, and parents who deserve choice, not big government mandates," Rogers said. "President Trump is delivering on his commitment to Make America Healthy Again!"
The National School Lunch Program is federally funded, and offers low-cost or free meals to students. Reduced-fat or fat-free milk will still be offered to students under the new order.
The executive order comes just days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rolled out new dietary guidelines that prioritize healthy fats and full-fat dairy.
The new order also comes days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture shared an image of Trump with a milk mustache, harkening back to the 1990s and 2000s "Got Milk?" campaign, and said: "Drink up, America."
In January 2025, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed her affinity for whole milk during her confirmation hearing, during an exchange with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas.
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"Ms. Rollins, welcome. Would you agree with me that whole milk is the most nutritious drink done to humankind and belongs in our school lunches?" Marshall said as he pulled out a carton of milk and poured it into a glass for himself.
"Senator, I don’t know that you’ve met my mom yet, this is all we had in our refrigerator growing up," Rollins said. "Not anything else, just whole milk."
Fox News’ Emma Colton and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.
Democrats eye narrow path to capture Senate majority, but one wrong move could sink them
Senate Democrats are publicly laying out their roadmap to reclaim the chamber in the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that President Donald Trump’s agenda and an expanded battleground map give them multiple paths back to the majority.
Charging that "President Trump is creating a toxic agenda that's harming people," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital she's "optimistic that we have a shot to take back the majority."
Democrats are defending 47 seats after Senate Republicans flipped four seats in the 2024 cycle to secure a 53-47 majority. But party leaders say recent Democratic overperformances in the 2025 elections, combined with GOP-held seats now in play, have widened the map far beyond initial expectations — even as Republicans insist the political environment still favors them.
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A DSCC memo titled "Senate Democrats Carve Out Path to Senate Majority in 2026," which was released on Wednesday, highlights that "at the start of 2025, Democrats had two clear offensive targets: Maine and North Carolina. Over the past year, the DSCC expanded the battleground map significantly and created multiple potential paths to the majority."
Gillibrand charged that Trump "is creating this massive backlash because of his bad and hurtful and harmful agenda," which she said "adds more to the map."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the longtime party leader in the chamber, agreed, telling The Associated Press, "it’s a much wider path than the skeptics think, and a much wider path than it was three months ago and certainly a year ago."
Gillibrand, in her interview with Fox News Digital, and the DSCC in its memo, touted the party's top recruits for three GOP-held seats they're working to flip: former three-term Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, former two-term North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and two-term Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
And Gillibrand highlighted the DSCC's most recent recruiting success, Monday's landing of former Rep. Mary Peltola, who was twice elected statewide to Alaska's at-large House seat, which could potentially put the red-leaning state in play this year.
The DSCC also has its eyes on battleground turned red state Iowa, where there's an open GOP-held seat, and Texas, where longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn is trying to survive a competitive and combustible primary as he seeks re-election.
But Democrats are also facing crowded Senate primaries.
4 KEY SENATE SEATS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP IN 2026 MIDTERMS TO EXPAND THEIR MAJORITY
Mills is facing a formidable rival on the left in Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and military veteran who is backed by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders.
There are also competitive Democratic Senate primaries in Texas, Iowa and Michigan, where Democrats are playing defense as they aim to hold the seat held by retiring two-term Sen. Gary Peters, Gillibrand's predecessor at the DSCC. Republicans in the Great Lakes State are mostly rallying behind former Rep. Mike Rogers, who's making a second straight bid for the Senate.
Asked whether her party's Senate primaries will impede success in November, a confident Gillibrand said, "I think we will have the best candidates in each one of these states."
While the party in power — clearly the Republicans right now — traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterm elections, and with Democrats riding a wave of momentum following a slew of ballot box victories in 2025, a current read of the 2026 map indicates the GOP may be able to go on offense in some key states.
Gillibrand's counterpart, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, told Fox News Digital last month that "54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side."
GOP SENATE CAMPAIGN CHIEF AIMS TO EXPAND 2026 MAP IN THIS BLUE-LEANING STATE
Asked about Scott's aspirations to pick up one or two seats, Gillibrand quickly responded, "No chance."
"I’m very optimistic that with the quality of candidates that we have, with the recruiting failures and the poor candidates the Republicans have, and this very harmful climate that President Trump is creating, we have all the makings of a blue wave," Gillibrand emphasized.
NRSC's communications director, Joanna Rodriguez, argued that the "Democrats’ battleground map is littered with failed career politicians no longer aligned with the values of their states and messy, nasty primaries that will leave Schumer with a majority of candidates that have all pledged to vote him out."
Democrats are also playing defense in blue-leaning Minnesota, where Sen. Tina Smith is retiring, and the party faces another competitive primary, and in swing state New Hampshire, where former governor and longtime Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is retiring.
And in Georgia, Republicans see first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat up for re-election this cycle. But a nasty three-way GOP Senate primary may hurt the Republicans' chances of flipping the seat in the crucial southeastern battleground.
Deep concerns over inflation boosted Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories at the ballot box in 2024, as they won back the White House and Senate and kept their House majority.
But Democrats say their decisive victories in November's elections were fueled by their laser focus on affordability.
Don't expect any letup in Democrats' cost-of-living messaging.
"Candidates that connect with their voters, candidates that are listening to the concerns that their constituents have, those are the candidates that win elections, and we saw Democrats do that across the board in 2025," Gillibrand said. "Candidates that understand what people are going through are the ones that connect with voters, and that's the kind of candidates we are marshaling in this election, and we are supporting this election."
But Scott predicts the tide will turn for Republicans on the affordability issue.
"I've said 2026 is a year of affordability, and the great news is President Trump has been producing time and time again," the NRSC chair touted.
Pointing to the tax cut provisions in the GOP's sweeping domestic policy measure signed into law this past summer by Trump, Scott said "2026 is shaping up to be the year where Donald Trump's activities, his actions, the legislation we've passed, shows up for the American voter. And consumers all across the country will see a more affordable economy because of President Trump and the Senate majority and the House majority in the hands of the Republican Party."
NHL fans mock Italy's Olympic hockey arena for tiny jumbotron amid mounting criticism
NHL and NHLPA officials said they were encouraged by progress on Italy’s "still-under-construction" ice hockey rink for the 2026 Winter Olympics next month, even as fans on social media continue to mock the construction of the arena amid mounting scrutiny in the lead-up to the Games.
The NHL’s long-awaited return to the Winter Olympics has been clouded by criticism over the construction of the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, which will welcome the league’s players to the Games for the first time in over a decade.
Last month, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly doubled down on warnings about the league’s participation in the Games, stating that players would not travel to Italy if the rink was deemed unsafe.
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Concerns about the size and construction schedule of the primary rink had surfaced in the weeks leading up to his comments, with Daly noting that he was "cautiously optimistic" it would be completed in time.
But officials seemed pleased with the rink after test events this past weekend. Fans, however, continued their criticism, with many mocking the arena’s unusually small jumbotron.
"The Olympic Hockey rink in Milan is finally complete," one post on X read. "Instead of installing a jumbotron they opted for an iPad."
"UPDATE they finally completed the Olympic hockey rink by hanging a refurbished iPad Mini from the ceiling so people can watch the highlights," another post read.
The Athletic’s Chris Johnston shared several updates on social media from inside the rink. In one post, which featured the controversial jumbotron, Johnston commended the "good sightlines and acoustics."
But fans were quick to call out the size of the screen again.
"Thats not a jumbotron thats just a tron," one user commented.
"What is this, a Jumbotron for ants?!"
The NHL and NHLPA released a joint statement calling the weekend’s test events "a good trial run" which "provided important insight into the current status" of construction. But the statement also revealed that there’s still work to be done before play begins on Feb. 5.
"While challenges are inherent with new ice and a still-under-construction venue, we expect that the work necessary to address all remaining issues will continue around the clock," they said in a statement. "The NHL and NHLPA will continue to monitor the situation, standing ready to consult and advise on the work being done to ensure that the local organizing committee, the IOC, and the IIHF deliver a tournament and playing conditions befitting the world’s best players."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Kristi Noem faces impeachment effort in House as 70 Dems push obstruction of Congress charge
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and over 70 other Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives are signing on to three articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in the wake of the deadly shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week.
"Secretary Noem, you have violated your oath of office, and there will be consequences. I am watching you. Members of Congress are watching you. The American people, most importantly, are watching you," Kelly said as she announced her effort Wednesday.
Kelly described her impeachment articles. One accuses Noem of obstruction of Congress, a second charges her with a violation of public trust, and the last claims Noem engaged in self-dealing to personally benefit from her role.
NUMBER OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS BACKING NOEM IMPEACHMENT TOPS 60
Democrats said Good's death was the final straw but claimed Noem's abuses went well beyond last week's incident.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an ICE agent fired at Good when she had first attempted to disrupt an arrest, refused orders to exit her car and began driving away, placing an ICE agent in the path of her moving vehicle.
Democrats like Kelly allege Good’s death is emblematic of a lack of oversight and restraint at DHS under Noem’s leadership. They also believe Noem prematurely called Good a "domestic terrorist" after the shooting, putting the blame for the confrontation on her and failing to hold her agency accountable for potential misuses of force.
Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., who also joined Kelly at Wednesday’s press event, slammed Noem for the way she characterized the incident.
"She went on national television and smeared a dead American as a domestic terrorist," Velázquez said. "The articles we are filing today lay it all out."
Republicans reacting to the shooting last week rallied around Noem, defending the ICE agents' actions and calling for an investigation into the incident.
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"Secretary Noem has called my impeachment efforts silly," Kelly said. "If you believe impeachment is silly, then you are not taking your job or our Constitution seriously."
Kelly believes more Democrats will sign on to the motion. She said Democrats immediately began reaching out when they heard about her effort and that she hasn't encountered pushback.
Under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, any civil officer of the United States can be removed from office on impeachment and conviction of high crimes and misdemeanors.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), the framers are believed to have understood that to mean "uniquely ‘political’ offenses, or misdeeds committed by public officials against the state."
Under a Democrat-controlled majority and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the House impeached Trump twice for high crimes and misdemeanors — once for an abuse of power in 2019 and a second time for inciting an insurrection in 2021.
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In both cases, the Senate voted to acquit.
Even with the full support of the Democrat caucus, Kelly’s effort is unlikely to succeed in the House amid a Republican majority in the chamber. Democrats would need at least three members to cross the aisle to secure an impeachment and send the effort to the Senate for a conviction.
Justice Jackson presses Idaho lawyer on treating 'transgender women different than cis women'
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised concerns during Supreme Court oral arguments on Tuesday about how a pair of state laws blocking transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports could discriminate against transgender people.
Jackson asked the solicitors general of Idaho and West Virginia, who appeared in court to defend the laws, similar questions about whether their states were improperly treating transgender athletes who identify as girls differently than biological girls.
"I guess I'm struggling to understand how you can say that this law doesn't classify on the basis of transgender status," Jackson said to Idaho Solicitor General Alan Hurst. "The law expressly aims to ensure that transgender women can't play on women's sports teams. So why is that not a classification on the basis of transgender status?"
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Hurst replied that Idaho's Fairness in Women's Sports Act hinged on a student athlete's sex, not transgender status.
"The legislature did not want to exclude transgender people from sports," Hurst said. "It wanted to keep women's sports women-only and exclude males from women's sports."
Jackson continued to press Hurst, asking: "But it treats transgender women different than ciswomen, doesn’t it?"
In a separate case, Jackson asked West Virginia Solicitor General Michael Williams similar questions about his state's Save Women's Sports Act.
The high court heard arguments in both cases on Tuesday and is expected to issue a decision by the summer that could have far-reaching impacts.
A decision in favor of the states could allow the two states, as well as about two dozen others, to restrict transgender athletes who identify as women and girls from competing in female sports from elementary school through college. It could also influence other transgender policies across the country, depending on how broadly or narrowly the court rules.
"It's like a second-order discrimination, right?" Jackson asked Williams. "The first order is separating male from female. … The second order is separating transgender women from cisgender women, right?"
In West Virginia, a 15-year-old who identifies as a transgender girl and is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the state law violated Title IX and the Constitution's equal protection clause.
Williams told Jackson that the high court should only be carefully scrutinizing the law's requirement that the state distinguish between boys and girls in school athletics, not between biological girls and transgender athletes who identify as girls.
Jackson, a Biden appointee, continued to push the idea that West Virginia's law did not just divide boys and girls but also divided transgender people and those who identify as their sex at birth.
"You have the overarching classification — everybody has to play on the team that is the same as their sex at birth — but then you have a gender-identity definition that is operating within that, meaning a distinction, meaning that for cisgender girls, they can play consistent with their gender identity. For transgender girls, they can't," Jackson said.
The justice added that she wanted to examine the "notion that this is really just about the definition of who — that we accept that you can separate boys and girls, and we are now looking at the definition of a girl, and we're saying only people who were girl-assigned-at-birth qualify."
Williams argued that once the high court accepts that states are allowed to separate boys and girls in sports, disputes over how "girl" is defined could be reviewed under a less strict legal standard.
"But I don't think the Court needs to go as far as that," Williams added.
Jackson's focus on the definition of "girl" echoes a viral moment from her confirmation hearing to become a justice in 2022, when Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked Jackson to define "woman."
"I can’t, not in this context. I’m not a biologist," Jackson had replied at the time.
Conservatives have frequently posed the question to transgender rights advocates, who, like Jackson, typically do not offer direct responses to a question that critics have said is loaded and designed to attack transgender people.
Iran protests instigated by Israel to distract from Gaza 'genocide,' Columbia professor claims
An Iranian studies professor at an Ivy League university slammed Israel's alleged participation in protests in Iran, which have turned violent as the country's dictatorial regime fights back.
"What you are seeing today is Israel instigated revolt, because there are Mossad agents in the streets of Tehran hiding among Iranian demonstrators," said Columbia University professor Hamid Dabashi in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Dabashi pointed to a recent X post by former CIA director Mike Pompeo, in which Pompeo referenced Mossad agents among the protesters.
"The Iranian regime is in trouble. Bringing in mercenaries is its last best hope," Pompeo said in a Jan. 2 post. "Riots in dozens of cities and the Basij under siege — Mashed, Tehran, Zahedan. Next stop: Baluchistan. 47 years of this regime; POTUS 47. Coincidence? Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them..."
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"In addition, over the last few days we have seen Israeli flags in Tehran among the protesters," said Dabashi. "What is the Israeli flag doing in Iran?"
"So, when we study — when we look at the events unfolding in Iran, we have to be very careful making a distinction between a legitimate protest of Iranians against their government because of the economic crisis, and the imbalance between [the] Rial and dollar, and illegitimate Israel-instigated protests for their own nefarious reasons."
Dabashi finished by claiming that Israel is influencing the protests to "distract attention from the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and the continued theft of Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
"Professor Dabashi, like all members of the Columbia community, is entitled to express personal views, including those with which others may strongly disagree," a university spokesman told Fox News Digital. "The opinions he has expressed are his own and do not represent Columbia."
Dabashi did not return a request for comment.
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Columbia has been dogged by accusations of antisemitism, and was home to some of the most virulent anti-Israel protests and encampments during the two-year war stemming from Hamas' 2023 terrorist attack on Israeli concertgoers.
In July, President Donald Trump secured a $21 million settlement with the New York school specifically to settle claims of antisemitic employment discrimination against Jewish faculty after the Oct. 7, 2023. Overall, the school forked over a total of $221 million amid a flurry of other federal investigations.
The school established an antisemitism task force to tackle the allegations, culminating in a December report.
"In the course of its work, the Task Force has heard of the isolation and pain many Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates have experienced in recent months," the report said. "While mourning Hamas’s unspeakable atrocities on October 7, some Jewish and Israeli Columbia affiliates have been the object of racist epithets and graffiti, antisemitic tropes, and confrontational and unwelcome questions, while others have found their participation in some student groups that have nothing to do with politics to be increasingly uncomfortable."
In a message announcing the release of the report, Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, said the school is balancing academic freedom of expression and preventing discrimination.
Fox News' Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
USPS postmark timing may change for some mail, shipping prices also set to rise
Some mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service may no longer receive a postmark dated the same day it is mailed.
The shift comes as USPS moves ahead with operational updates tied to its long-term transformation plan, which also includes pricing changes scheduled for 2026.
In a statement on its website, USPS said adjustments to transportation operations mean some mail may arrive at those processing facilities later than in the past — which can affect the date reflected on a postmark.
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Most postmarks are applied by machines at originating processing facilities, not at local post offices, the agency said.
As a result, the date printed on a postmark may reflect when the mail is processed, rather than when a customer dropped it off or a carrier collected it.
Martha Johnson, a USPS spokesperson based in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital the update is intended to clarify what postmarks indicate and when they are applied.
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"It does not signal a change in postmarking procedures with regard to how or what we postmark, but is instead intended to improve public understanding of the information postmarks convey, when in the course of operations they are typically applied, and their relationship to the date of mailing," Johnson said.
USPS said customers who need a postmark that matches the date of mailing still have an option.
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"Customers who wish to obtain a postmark aligning with the date of mailing may request a manual (local) postmark at a retail location," the agency stated.
The Postal Service said the manual postmark is applied free of charge when mail is handed to a clerk at a retail counter.
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Separately, USPS announced it will increase shipping prices starting Jan. 18, 2026.
"The change would raise prices approximately 6.6 percent for Priority Mail service, 5.1 percent for Priority Mail Express service, 7.8 percent for USPS Ground Advantage and 6.0 percent for Parcel Select," the agency said.
The price of a first-class mail stamp will remain unchanged.
USPS said the pricing changes are part of its 10-year transformation plan to improve financial sustainability — adding that shipping rates are adjusted based on market conditions.
Journalist says it’s ‘terrifying’ to be a conservative in Minneapolis after anti-ICE protesters swarmed car
Independent journalist Nick Sortor described the "terrifying" reality for conservatives in Minneapolis during a "Hannity" appearance Tuesday, recalling a harrowing encounter over the weekend when anti-ICE agitators allegedly swarmed and attacked his car.
"My role as an independent journalist is to come out here and show what’s going on when the legacy media leaves," Sortor said. "Once it gets a little bit dicey, they pack up and go home and say, ‘Everything we saw was nice and peaceful.’"
Sortor said he refused to stop filming despite rising tensions, insisting he would not be intimidated into leaving.
However, the situation escalated when protesters allegedly tried to force him out of the area through violence.
"They decided that they were going to try to brutally assault me to get me to leave, which included throwing frozen water bottles, which are essentially bricks."
"This is an Antifa tactic, where they pre-position them, and they intend to use them against people like me, as well as federal agents, because in the past they have a history of doing brain damage to people that they throw these things at, so that's exactly what they did."
Sortor said he and his team refused to leave or turn off their cameras, even as the situation grew more dangerous.
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He can be heard requesting help and notifying a dispatcher that agitators had blocked his car and "threatened to kill" him in a tense 911 call played during the broadcast.
"Our vehicle is surrounded. We need help now," Sortor said in the call.
Sortor said in a video posted on X that his car windows were smashed, and he was forced to drive away from the scene as protesters surrounded him.
In another video posted to social media, Sortor shows his truck’s rear window bearing white spray-painted graffiti and takes frozen water bottles out of the bed of his truck.
He added that he and fellow influencer Cam Higby were safe despite being threatened during the encounter, and thanked officers with the Eagan Police Department for their help.
"It's terrifying. It's terrifying to be a conservative in Minneapolis right now," he said. "And that's exactly how Tim Walz and the mayor out here want it to be."
Fox News' Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.