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Top Dem operative brushes off latest scandal plaguing Maine Senate candidate as 'salacious gossip'
High profile Democrats aren't backing off their support for Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson following reports he fathered children with his cousin.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile was among the chorus of party voices throwing cold water on the claims about Jackson in a scandal-plagued Senate race that was already upended after former far-left candidate Graham Platner was forced to drop out earlier this summer following a series of controversies that culminated in a rape allegation.
And now, Jackson is facing even more turmoil with the most recent revelations of a 1988 police report accusing him of assault.
"There’s a lot of people who are doing a lot of gossip as news, and I don't want to break news that might not be true — especially on something so personal — that's not what I do," Brazile told Fox News Digital when asked about the report Jackson had two children with his cousin and longtime partner Lana Pelletier.
Jackson became the Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine despite Platner winning the June 9 primary race. Platner formally dropped out on July 10 — just in time for the Democratic Party to select a replacement for the November general election ballot.
But just weeks after being nominated to step into the race, Jackson came under fire when a shocking report hit the internet claiming his longtime partner, with whom he shares two children, is his cousin.
Brazile, a veteran Democrat and longtime operative for the party, told Fox News Digital she doesn’t "know anything about Mr. Jackson," when asked about the relationship with his cousin.
"I wish him the best of luck. I don't know many… some of the nominees, but I wish them the best luck," Brazile said, remaining agnostic to those particular claims.
"There are so many lies," Brazile went on. "I don't really want to comment on salacious gossip — innuendos."
"All I know is that that's going to be one of the most competitive races, and we'll all be watching in the fall," she concluded.
The bombshell report introduces another threat to the already tumultuous race where Democrats are trying to flip the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
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The Maine Wire editor Steven Robinson reported that Jackson shares two children with his second cousin "by blood" and alleged high school sweetheart, Lana Pelletier. In posting the genealogical findings, the independent journalist claimed Pelletier's father is a cousin of Jackson's mother.
"I think it's important to get the facts," Brazile said about the report.
A longtime political strategist, Brazile served as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and again in 2016. She has remained an influential voice within Democratic politics through multiple midterm election cycles and has often weighed in on candidates and the party's overall direction following major electoral setbacks.
Shortly after Brazile and other Democrats refused to abandon their support for Jackson in the Maine Senate race, a police report from 1988 resurfaced accusing Jackson of assaulting a man in an altercation over Pelletier.
The same report states that Pelletier told the police that Jackson "pushed her around."
Jackson said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital said, "I took responsibility for [the fight] then, and I take responsibility for it now."
Pelletier, for her part, claimed the statements attributed to her in the report are "not accurate," and defended Jackson in a separate statement to Fox News Digital.
"I do not remember making the statements attributed to me and they are not accurate," she said. "This is the first time I have seen this report from 40 years ago. Troy and I have built a life and family together and I know the person he has been through the decades since, both as a caring partner and father."
Jackson is up against Collins, who has held her Senate seat since 1997. The Democrat candidate accused Collins' team of being responsible for the accusation that he fathered his second cousin's children as a "shameful and desperate" attempt to bruise his campaign.
But he has never directly denied in previous statements to Fox News Digital the claims that Pelletier, the mother of his two children, is his cousin.
"Susan Collins will do anything to distract from the fact that she votes with Trump 96% of the time and has sold out working people in Maine. Personal attacks on Troy's family are shameful and desperate," Jackson’s campaign said in the statement.
Jackson’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s most recent requests for comment.
Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
‘The Odyssey’ reminds us of the nightmare we are leaving for American children
In Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," the most uncomfortable scenes aren't the cyclops or the shipwreck. They're the ones set at home.
Dozens of men have moved into Odysseus's palace on Ithaca. They slaughter his herds. They drain his wine. They lounge in his hall demanding his wife choose one of them, and every day they consume a little more of an estate none of them will ever own. Telemachus watches it happen. He is a boy. He has no standing, no army and no idea when — or whether — his father is coming back.
That is not a Bronze Age problem.
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We will soon be over $40 trillion in national debt. I have spent my career as an mergers-and-acquisitions banker valuing what things are truly worth, and I can tell you what that number is: it is a claim on people who cannot yet vote — taxation without representation.
I became a grandfather last year. When I watch my grandson playing, there is one question that never once crosses my mind — how could I steal from him? I don't know a single person who thinks that way. And yet, collectively, year after year, our politicians buy votes with money belonging to people who haven't been born.
That is the hall on Ithaca. The suitors were not monsters. They were ordinary men, following ordinary incentives, in a house where nobody could stop them.
Socrates proposed that "lovers of wisdom" should make decisions for society. Two and a half millennia later, how are we doing? He would say we never understood his "ship of state." The skill that gets a person elected is not the skill required to govern, and we keep being surprised by this.
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Cut the time frame by 90%, to 1776. The Founders were so wary of faction they warned us about it in the founding documents themselves. They made Congress Article I — not merely one branch among three, but the body meant to write the laws. They would be stunned at how much of that work now happens in the other two branches, and how comfortable Congress has become with the arrangement.
Cut 90% again, to 2001. Those Americans had just watched a Democratic president and a Republican Congress run a budget surplus while expanding trade. Tell them we would arrive here, in just two and a half decades — $40 trillion in debt, in the middle of a global trade war — and they would simply not believe you.
Three data points, each a tenth of the distance of the last, and the trend does not improve.
How did we get here? At bottom: incentives.
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People respond to them, and our system gives citizens almost none to really understand the issues — because understanding does not translate into any real say. We hand our authority to a proxy selected largely on partisan soundbites, then root for our political team the way we root for a ball club.
Wealth and civic health are twin engines. The nations with the strongest safety nets don't have them because their politicians are nicer; they have them because their economies are richer and their systems reward productivity over plunder. If we align citizen incentives with actual legislative understanding, capitalism and democracy can do what they do best: make the poor ever richer.
Nolan's ending is not Homer's. His Odysseus clears the hall and discovers he cannot stay in it. He has killed the sons of noble houses under his own roof, and a man who does that cannot govern the place afterward. So, he abdicates. He puts the crown on Telemachus and sails west into exile.
That is our arrangement exactly. We are handing the next generation an estate with a great deal eaten out of it.
Plato distrusted democracy because he doubted ordinary people could become lovers of wisdom. In his world, with no printing press and no schools, he had a point. We have an information age that can educate anyone, issue by issue, better than the best minds in ancient Athens — but little incentive for anyone to use it.
So, we need to build those incentives. We have the tools to give our citizens incentive to truly learn the issues and have their voices mean something. Make understanding an issue worth the hour it takes. A Congress receiving that kind of informed feedback would be answerable. A Congress that spends more time listening to constituents spends less time listening to lobbyists. A Congress with that standing might start reclaiming the ground Article One has quietly surrendered.
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If we would just harness our amazing technologies, we could make our ancestors of 2,500, 250, and even 25 years ago proud. Imagine if we used these tools to attack some of our 80/20 issues for starters.
Nobody is sailing home to clear our hall. Our grandchildren are getting the house. We have spent 25 centuries asking who should make decisions for society. Perhaps we've been asking the wrong question. Perhaps we should instead ask how to give ordinary citizens stronger incentives to become "lovers of wisdom." My grandson wants lovers of wisdom to make decisions for society. So does yours.
Meghan Markle, Prince Harry box-office flop shows 'infamy' doesn't equal success: expert
Though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may still dominate headlines, their latest Hollywood venture is raising questions about whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's names can convert all that attention into paying customers.
Following the recent release of "Cookie Queens" — a documentary executive produced by the couple through Archewell Productions that follows four Girl Scouts navigating the highly competitive world of cookie sales while examining ambition, leadership and adolescence — the movie's opening weekend failed to produce strong box-office numbers.
"Cookie Queens" earned approximately $354,000 from 446 theaters, according to reported box-office figures. The documentary was beaten by "CatVideoFest 2026" — a compilation of viral internet cat videos — which earned approximately $569,000 despite playing on just 255 screens.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Archewell for comment.
The result has royal experts questioning whether Harry and Meghan's ability to dominate the news cycle still carries the same weight it once did.
"Harry and Meghan remain extraordinarily effective at generating headlines, but headlines and paying customers are two very different things," royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube's "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered," told Fox News Digital. "There was a period when simply attaching their names to something guaranteed enormous curiosity. I’m not convinced that’s true anymore."
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"And there’s no getting around the optics of finishing five places behind a 70-minute compilation of internet cat videos. Hollywood can forgive a lot, but being beaten by ‘CatVideoFest’ is the sort of indignity that writes its own punchline."
The Duchess of Sussex personally promoted the documentary ahead of its theatrical debut, discussing the movie and her own childhood experience as a Girl Scout.
Schofield said that involvement makes the opening numbers particularly noteworthy.
"Meghan certainly has enormous name recognition, but I think at this stage it’s fair to ask how much of that is fame and how much is infamy," she said. "There’s a significant difference commercially."
"People may click on a Meghan Markle headline because they’re fascinated by her or irritated by her. That doesn’t mean they’re going to buy a movie ticket because her name is attached to the project. ‘Cookie Queens’ gives us another interesting data point on that distinction."
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British royals expert Hilary Fordwich shared the same sentiment in that the performance raises questions about the couple's ability to attract audiences when their projects are not centered on the royal family.
"The extremely underwhelming box office is a clear indication that, yet again, unless they are bashing the royals and sharing inside stories, secrets and betraying the privacy of the family, there isn’t much they have that is at all in demand nor popular," Fordwich told Fox News Digital.
"Meghan certainly doesn’t have the commercial pull she has so desired," she added.
Fordwich argued the couple now face increased pressure to demonstrate they can produce a genuine mainstream hit.
That question has followed the Sussexes throughout their post-royal entertainment career.
After stepping back from royal duties in 2020 and relocating to California, Harry and Meghan signed major deals in Hollywood. Their Netflix docuseries "Harry & Meghan," released in 2022, generated enormous attention by focusing heavily on the couple's departure from royal life and their relationship with the monarchy.
Harry's 2023 memoir, "Spare," similarly produced worldwide headlines with its claims about life inside the royal family.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital those projects remain the couple's most significant attention-grabbers.
"We all know their huge hits were the three infamous betrayals of the royal family, on Oprah, the Netflix series ‘Harry & Meghan’ and Harry’s memoir ‘Spare,’" Fitzwilliams said. "What is undoubted is the publicity that accompanies everything they do."
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"The world knows who they are, but isn't curious enough to tune in and watch Meghan's ghastly series 'With Love, Meghan,' their series on the Invictus Games, 'Polo' or, it seems, 'Cookie Queens.' Reports vary on the exact level of success or failure of Meghan's brand As Ever, but the jam, flower sprinkles and scented candles have become a bit of a joke."
"So it’s all about buzz and nothing else, save their link with real royalty," Fitzwilliams claimed.
Still, for Schofield, the numbers connected to "Cookie Queens" add to a broader question involving Archewell as Harry and Meghan move further away from the royal-family drama and focus more on their American ventures.
"Harry and Meghan are a fascinating case study in the difference between attention and commercial influence," Schofield said.
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"Infamy can be extremely valuable to newspapers, television shows and social media platforms because people will click, argue and engage. Monetizing that attention yourself is a completely different challenge."
"People want to consume content about Harry and Meghan," she added, "but are they equally interested in consuming content from Harry and Meghan?"
Schofield said Hollywood's expectations have changed considerably since the couple first arrived in California.
"When Harry and Meghan first arrived in California, they were the story," she said. "Hollywood was essentially buying access to two people who had just walked away from the Royal Family, and the curiosity surrounding them was enormous."
"Six years later, the novelty has diminished. The questions are much more conventional now: What can you produce? What can you sell? Can you build an audience around something that isn’t royal drama?"
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"They’ve had the deals, resources and access," she continued. "At this stage, tangible results matter."
Schofield believes the couple's future standing in Hollywood may depend less on announcements and more on execution.
"Hollywood is full of projects that die in development, so individually none of those are necessarily remarkable," she said. "But when you establish a pattern of big announcements without finished products, you risk damaging your credibility."
"You cannot build a serious production reputation on press releases and announcements," Schofield added.
And that, she said, is why even a relatively small documentary such as "Cookie Queens" matters.
"When a project does reach audiences, its performance becomes part of the résumé," Schofield said.
"Being beaten at the box office by ‘CatVideoFest’ is funny, but against this larger backdrop, it makes the need for a genuine success that much more urgent."
Lindsay Clancy murder trial becomes social media obsession as TikTokers, sleuths debate controversial case
"It's kind of a cultural obsession," said Boston-based criminal defense attorney Peter Elikann.
The Massachusetts mother at the center of an ongoing murder trial for the killings of her three children is captivating the internet and social media.
Lindsay Clancy, 35, faces three counts of first-degree murder after her three children, Cora, Dawson and Callan – all under 6 years old – were found strangled to death in the family's Duxbury home in 2023.
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She doesn't deny killing them; Clancy and her defense team maintain she was suffering from ongoing postpartum psychosis at the time of their deaths. She entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
"This isn't a case of having the blues, being down in the dumps and being depressed," Elikann, who is not involved in the trial, told Fox News Digital.
He explained that the world is just beginning to understand the impacts of postpartum psychosis – which differs from postpartum depression.
He referenced the Andrea Yates case from the early 2000s in Houston, Texas where the mother drowned her five children in a bathtub and was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
"This psychosis is really kind of an emerging field," he says.
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Some TikTokers and social media sleuths are jumping to Clancy's defense, developing conspiracy theories and claiming she did not have the support she needed.
Clancy's attorney is hoping to have one TikToker testify, asking the judge to allow Emily Thorndike, a former McLean Hospital clinical social worker, to be added to the witness list. Thorndike had publicly accused witnesses of spreading "lies and misrepresentations" about the psychiatric facility where Clancy was treated weeks before she killed her three children.
Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, said he tracked down Thonrndike after she posted about the case on TikTok.
"I saw her video saying that she could not stand for, and I quote, ‘the lies and the misrepresentations from that witness stand about McLean Hospital’," Reddington said.
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Speaking about the high interest on social media, Elikann said, "It's kind of a cultural obsession and people feel that they're part of some kind of community."
LINDSAY CLANCY’S HUSBAND COULD TESTIFY FOR HER AT TRIAL OVER DEATHS OF THEIR THREE CHILDREN
Elikann went on to say, "With the advent of not just the internet, but now social media, it's like on steroids now, and everybody's an expert."
While unsubstantiated claims and speculation circulate online about what led to the killings, Elikann emphasized the importance of following official facts over social media speculation.
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He mentioned one positive about the social media obsession.
"The public is getting educated as to this issue of postpartum psychosis and trying to understand how a supposedly loving mother—who always indicated great interest in her children, was happy with her life, liked her job, liked her marriage, lived in this great community by the water south of Boston—why she would suddenly, out of the blue, commit this horrific, monstrous nightmare of an incident," Elikann said.
Clancy's trial resumes on Monday.
Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
Iran jails psychologist over Trump plea as regime demands he make Americans ‘look stupid’: family
FIRST ON FOX: An Iranian psychologist who publicly appealed to President Donald Trump to stand by Iranians protesting the Islamic Republic has been sentenced to seven months in prison, while his relatives say authorities tried to pressure him into recording a video insulting Trump and Americans.
Seyed Ahmad Seyedabdollahi, a 32-year-old psychologist and counselor from Borujen who had been living in Tehran, posted an English-language video on Jan. 4 directly addressing Trump. In the video, reviewed by Fox News Digital, he urged the president to act quickly on his pledge to support Iranian protesters, saying young Iranians had trusted his words and that those who helped the Iranian people would be remembered.
""...To prove your good intentions to the Iranian people, either do something without saying anything or act very quickly on your words, because many young people trust what you say. And, as you probably know, many things are useless to people who are dead.I assure you that the Iranian nation remembers good deeds well, and they will try to repay their friends in the future."
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Ten days later, on Jan. 14, Seyedabdollahi was arrested at his father's home in Borujen, according to Iran International, Iran Wire, Harana human rights activist news agency, and the Hana Human Rights Organization. Hana reported that plainclothes agents confiscated phones and electronic equipment and that Seyedabdollahi was subsequently held in solitary confinement and at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence detention facility in Isfahan.
A relative of Seyedabdollahi told Fox News Digital that the video triggered sustained pressure from Iranian security authorities.
"Since that day, he has faced serious pressure from Iranian security authorities. He was arrested twice and subjected to repeated interrogations," the relative said. "During his detention, he spent extended periods in solitary confinement. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to seven months in prison, and in July 2026 he was transferred to prison to begin serving his sentence."
Branch One of the Borujen Revolutionary Court convicted Seyedabdollahi of "engaging in media activities against national security," sentenced him to seven months in prison and barred him from government and public services for five years, Iran International reported Aug. 6. He was detained again July 7 to begin serving the sentence and remains in Borujen Prison.
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Hana Human Rights Organization said he was denied contact with his family for 17 days following his first arrest and that his family initially did not know where he was being held. Iran International reported that he was denied access to a lawyer of his choosing during his detention and at times was prevented from communicating with his family.
Iranian authorities have also opened a second case against Seyedabdollahi on a charge translated as "propaganda against the establishment" or "propaganda against the system of the Islamic Republic." The case, opened in June, remains at the preliminary investigative stage, according to Hana.
Court documents obtained by Fox News Digital appear to detail the authorities' investigation of Seyedabdollahi and contain references to alleged foreign contacts and financial transactions involving the United States and Israel. His relative said interrogators accused him of being connected to the CIA and Mossad and of receiving money in exchange for making the video.
"They told him you are a member of the CIA and Mossad and you took money from them for this job," the relative said.
The relative also alleged that Iranian authorities pressured Seyedabdollahi to record another video repudiating his original message and attacking Trump and Americans.
"He did not give in to numerous pressures to publish a clip that contradicted the first video," the relative said. "He was asked to sexually insult Trump and make the American people look stupid and ignorant so that we could broadcast your clip on the national media."
The relative further alleged that Seyedabdollahi endured solitary confinement and mistreatment during interrogations, and said he continues to face pressure in prison after refusing authorities' demands. Those allegations also could not be independently verified.
"His situation in Borujen Prison is not good because he has been out of solitary confinement for a few days, but sometimes they take him to solitary confinement under various pretexts," the relative said, adding that monitored telephone calls make it difficult for him to speak openly about his treatment.
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The relative said the five-year prohibition on public and government employment has compounded the punishment by threatening Seyedabdollahi's ability to work after his release.
"You understand the economic conditions of Iran. Now imagine that in this situation someone has been deprived of their social rights, i.e. job and income, and he is imprisoned," the relative said.
The relative described Seyedabdollahi as a psychologist and popular speaker with a following among young Iranians, and said he remained focused on those who suffered more severely during the government's crackdown.
In the brief period when he was free, the relative recalled him saying, "Don't feel weak. Our problems are insignificant compared to the thousands of people who have lost their lives."
Seyedabdollahi was one of several Iranians who directly appealed to Trump during January's nationwide protests. Iran International reported that he posted his video Jan. 4, two days after Trump warned Iranian authorities against firing on peaceful demonstrators. Trump again warned Tehran on Jan. 9 and on Jan. 13 urged Iranians to continue protesting, writing that "help is on its way."
Iran International reported that the crackdown resulted in mass arrests and cited the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency as saying more than 50,000 people were arrested during a period of just over six weeks. The outlet also reported that U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said at least 56 people had been executed on national-security-related charges since March 19, including 27 in cases linked to the January protests.
The Iranian mission to the U.N. declined to comment.
Killer ex-cop executed for child's slaying as sheriff says he’s sure same monster murdered another girl
After almost four decades, the execution of James Duckett brought closure for two families who believe they both lost young girls to the same killer.
The 68-year-old was executed by lethal injection July 28 for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee while on duty as a cop for the Mascotte Police Department.
McAbee’s family attended his execution at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.
They were joined by family and friends of 14-year-old Jeanifer Weldon. Authorities believe she also was killed by Duckett four months after he murdered McAbee.
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But law enforcement officials stopped pursuing a conviction out of fear it would prolong his life, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a news conference.
It had been decided that piecing together evidence on the case could "jam up" the process or "create more defense, or more arguments, or more excuses why he shouldn't be executed," Judd told reporters on July 30.
So once Duckett was sentenced to die for McAbee’s murder, authorities stopped pushing to secure a conviction for the killing of Weldon, Judd said.
McAbee went missing in May 1987. She was last seen with Duckett in his patrol car on an evening when he was the only officer working the streets.
When her body was found, evidence showed she’d been sexually assaulted, strangled and drowned, according to court records.
A month later, Duckett was named a suspect and was fired from his job as a cop. Very strong fingerprint and DNA evidence linked Duckett to the case, Judd said.
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Then three months later, another girl went missing in Central Florida.
Weldon disappeared on Sept. 19, 1987, in Polk County, about an hour south of the town where Duckett had worked as a police officer.
It was three days before her 15th birthday.
She’d spent the Saturday with friends on a trip to town to Tampa, where she’d bought a fluffy kitten to add to the stuffed animal collection in her bedroom, Judd said.
Around 9 p.m., she left her friends to walk about two miles home, carrying her new stuffed kitten in a green plastic bag, Judd said. She never made it home.
For "13 frantic days, we looked for Jeanifer to no avail," Judd told reporters almost 39 years later. There were few leads, until a phosphate miner pulled over to investigate a pair of shoes he spotted on the side of the road in Fort Meade. It had been about two weeks since Weldon had disappeared.
When he got out of his car, he was hit with the pungent smell of a decomposing body, Judd said.
Weldon’s "skeletonized" remains were found behind tall grass and a berm in a wooded area away from the road, Judd said.
Duckett eventually became a suspect in that killing, too.
Investigators believed Duckett had used his old law enforcement uniform to convince Weldon he could provide a safe ride home.
Family members and investigators felt Weldon wouldn’t have gotten in a car with Duckett without that reassurance and confidence that he was a police officer and someone she could trust, Judd said.
She died by strangulation, he said.
Investigators suspect she was raped before her death.
A month after Weldon’s death, Duckett was arrested for the killing and sexual battery of McAbee.
He quickly became a suspect in Weldon’s killing, too. But the evidence wasn’t as strong, and was more circumstantial, Judd said.
The night Weldon disappeared, Duckett had left for work at his new mining job five hours early. He drove down the highway "exactly past where Jeanifer Weldon would have been walking home," Judd said.
He arrived at work sweaty and two hours late, saying that he’d had car trouble. But investigators learned that his hands weren't "greasy or nasty or dirty," Judd said. The next day, Duckett brought home a gift for his children—a stuffed kitten in a green plastic bag.
It matched the one purchased by Weldon.
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There also were "fingernail marks or scratches on his back," Judd said. When his wife asked him about the marks, he told her, "I was climbing under a barbed wire fence at work," Judd said. Polk County investigators spent tens of thousands of hours working to pursue a conviction in the Weldon case, Judd said.
Then a few years ago, after Duckett was convicted of McAbee’s murder and had received the death sentence, they questioned whether they should continue pursuing it, he said.
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They continued to "chip away" at finding DNA evidence, Judd said. And they hoped Duckett would confess during one of his interviews before his execution.
He declined to talk.
Though he was never convicted of her killing, Duckett’s execution still brought some sense of closure to Weldon’s still-grieving family.
"I'm confident the right person was executed," said Amy Weldon, Jeanifer Weldon’s younger sister. "I don't like how long it took, but I am confident 100% that the right person died."
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Judd was less satisfied with the execution of the former cop.
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"The problem is we didn't put him to death soon enough," Judd said. "You know, it's never too soon to kill a psychopathic, child predator … It's never too soon."
For 38 years, Duckett was given multiple appeals.
"He just didn't pay soon enough, but he did pay," Judd said.
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Judd also suggested that controversial surveillance cameras on roadways might have prevented Weldon’s death.
"Today, we may have found him before he ever got a chance to rape and murder her," he said. "We would have found him within hours."
Addressing the debate over the cameras, Judd railed, "Yet there's some nut jobs that don't think we should be able to look at a camera that's on a public right of way, only looking at a tag and the color of a car.
"We're going to find lost children, lost Alzheimer's patients, warrant suspects, and we're never going to invade your privacy to do it."
Gun rights gets 'greatest restoration' in 100 years with latest Trump DOJ move, lawmaker hails
Gun rights advocates are cheering a recent ruling that will make it easier for people to obtain firearm suppressors and certain weapons, with a business founder-turned-lawmaker calling it "the greatest restoration" of Second Amendment rights in almost a century.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who founded Clyde Armory in his home state of Georgia before he was elected to Congress, argued that the regulatory barrier was wrong in the first place because it taxed a constitutional right.
"If you can tax something legitimately, then you can actually destroy it through increased taxation. You might, quote, 'have a right on paper,' but you don't really have a right because you can't afford the right. Is that really a right? It's not," Clyde told Fox News Digital.
"So here we are removing the taxation on a constitutional right from a bill that was passed in 1934. And once you remove the tax aspect of it, then you remove the constitutionality of the registration aspect."
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Clyde led the charge last year to roll back part of the National Firearms Act of 1934, a push that was ultimately successful in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
Under the 92-year-old law, a $200 tax was established on silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and other firearms that also required additional federal registration to obtain.
Republicans reduced that tax to $0 in the OBBBA, which gun rights groups then used to successfully argue that the added registration was unconstitutional. The ruling affects the parties that brought the lawsuit and is not a national injunction on the law, however, according to the Associated Press.
But Clyde said it was an "incredible win for the Second Amendment," adding he hoped "more wins" would come in the future.
"When you protect the Second Amendment, which protects every other amendment in the entire Constitution — I think that's the teeth behind the Constitution," Clyde said.
"The right to free assembly, the right to freedom of religion, the rights of freedom of speech, the right of the free press, and the right to take your grievances to the government without fear of persecution or prosecution — that's the First Amendment, and that's what the Second Amendment protects," he added.
Clyde later led 47 Republican lawmakers in a letter urging Attorney General Todd Blanche not to appeal the ruling.
The letter reads: "An appeal would prolong regulatory uncertainty for law-abiding gun owners and businesses and would consume DOJ resources defending a position that this Congress and now a federal district court has said cannot stand."
CLARENCE THOMAS' CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT AGAINST FEDERAL GUN LAW GETS FIRST MAJOR COURT TEST
Gun right activists' celebrations were compounded on Thursday when the Trump administration did not file an appeal to the judge's ruling, meaning the order could go into effect without pause.
Gun violence prevention groups panned the inaction, however.
"Today, our government is failing us. At midnight, uniquely lethal weapons and devices — including silencers, short-barreled rifles, and shotguns — were deregulated for the first time in nearly a century," Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence said in a statement on Thursday.
"The Department of Justice had the opportunity to act to protect our safety, but it failed to do so...Today, the gun industry and silencer dealers are celebrating, while Americans are left less safe."
DSA brand on trial as El-Sayed struggles where Dems can least afford it
A combustible and divisive Democratic Senate primary in battleground Michigan is giving Republicans an early edge as they aim to flip a crucial Democrat-held seat in the midterm elections.
A Fox News poll conducted after this month's primary showdown, in which left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged more moderate Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens to capture the party's nomination in the race to defend the seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters, indicates El-Sayed is having difficulty unifying the Democratic base.
That appears to be giving Republican nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers more ammunition to court Democrats uncomfortable with some of El-Sayed's controversial past comments and far-left policy positions. Democrats must hold the swing state seat as part of their uphill climb to win back the Senate majority from the GOP.
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According to a Fox News survey of Michigan registered voters conducted Aug. 6-10 and released this week, Rogers held a 51%-47% edge over El-Sayed, within the survey’s margin of sampling error.
Rogers’ edge is fueled largely by stronger party unity among Republicans. Nearly all Republicans (96%), including both MAGA (99%) and non-MAGA Republicans (89%), backed Rogers, the poll indicates.
El-Sayed's support among Democrats is slightly lower, at 91%. While 98% of self-described Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) supporters backed El-Sayed, that number dropped to 69% of non-DSA Democrats and independents.
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Meanwhile, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the more moderate Democratic gubernatorial nominee in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, grabbed 81% support among non-DSA Democrats and independents. That helped fuel Benson's overall 52%-47% advantage over Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. John James.
"El-Sayed is clearly underperforming in some groups...There is damage done from the primary," veteran pollster and strategist Chris Anderson, the Democratic partner on the Fox News Poll, said.
Anderson told Fox News Digital that El-Sayed "needs to bring home Democrats...He has his work cut out for him and he needs to convince some folks, but I think there’s favorable ground for him to be playing on despite the concerns that a lot of voters hold."
Rogers, in an interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the primary, said "we've unified the Republican Party in a way I haven't seen in decades here on this particular race."
"We're building our team, our resources, and ready for the fight...in a way I don't think Democrats are expecting," Rogers, who is backed by President Donald Trump as he runs for the Senate for a second straight cycle, touted.
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A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation's first Muslim senator. He is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for "Medicare-for-all" a major component of his campaign.
He has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is a vocal critic of Israel during its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide" against Palestinians. El-Sayed, who was endorsed and joined on the campaign trail by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has also vowed not to accept PAC donations.
Republicans argue that El-Sayed is too far to the left and too radical for the Great Lakes swing state.
Rogers, in his Fox News Digital interview, called El-Sayed "way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy."
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In a campaign video released last week, Rogers reached out to Democrats he called "hopeless, because the person who won [their party's primary] does not represent your values, well, just know, there is still hope" and said they have a "home" with his campaign.
El-Sayed, speaking to Fox News Digital on the eve of the primary, was confident that he would be able to unite Democrats.
"I think we all understand the risk of Donald Trump. We all understand the risk of Mike Rogers," El-Sayed said.
Referring to voters who supported Stevens, he emphasized, "I think everybody understands what the stakes are. So I'm looking forward to welcoming everybody who might have voted differently in the primary."
Anderson, the veteran Democratic pollster, said he expects El-Sayed to better unify the Democratic base as Election Day nears.
"These are folks who in highly partisan environment are going to be faced with do they vote for a Democrat or a Republican," Anderson said.
Socialist in Trump country gives Karl Marx vision thumbs-up before ducking key tax question
Florida socialist congressional candidate Oliver Larkin repeatedly declined to say how much he would raise taxes on high earners while defending his call to tax billionaires "out of existence" during a contentious interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.
Larkin, who volunteered for then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in 2008 and led a New Hampshire presidential campaign field office for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in 2016, sparred with Hannity over his Democratic Socialists of America-aligned platform as Florida voters prepare to vote Tuesday.
When asked about the idea of an economy based on the promise of "to each American based on their needs from each American based on their ability," Larkin replied, "I think that’s a fine concept."
The axiom was popularized in 1875 by German political theorist Karl Marx in his "Critique of the Gotha Programme."
Larkin, who is challenging moderate Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., in a district considered a prime Republican target in November’s general election, said he was less concerned with ideological labels than with meeting his potential new constituents every day.
"I'm coming at the race from a pragmatic point of view of what the American people and the people of South Florida need, and that is Medicare-for-all, that is universal child care, that is the policy proposals that you just articulated on your show," Larkin told Hannity.
Before introducing Larkin, Hannity listed a series of policies he said the millennial left-winger supported, including abolishing the Electoral College, automatic same-day voter registration, shunning fossil fuels, abolishing ICE and prosecuting its agents, free public college, an end to sanctions on Iran and Cuba and a "passionate hatred of Israel," in the conservative host’s words.
THE MEDICARE FOR ALL TRADE-OFFS SOCIALISTS AREN'T TALKING ABOUT, ACCORDING TO EXPERTS
Hannity challenged Larkin to go beyond the proposals and explain how he would achieve each of his policy objectives, starting with higher federal taxes
"Out of every dollar these so-called ‘evil rich people’ make, how much should they be able to keep…?" he asked.
Instead of offering a figure, Larkin praised former Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower for presiding over extremely high top marginal tax rates.
"Give me a number," Hannity demanded.
PROGRESSIVES WANT TO TAX BILLIONAIRES FIRST, AND YOU'RE NEXT ON THE LIST
"What percentage of every dollar should every American be able to keep after they pay the government, local, state, federal [taxes]?"
Larkin replied that the figure depends on income, but did not specify any income ranges except to say that "billionaires should be taxed out of existence."
Hannity countered that most billionaires are among the "most brilliant" people and argued that it is wrong to take money from the most creative Americans through higher taxes.
Larkin replied that X CEO Elon Musk — the world’s richest person — has received billions in government subsidies that helped build his wealth, arguing that billionaires should therefore face higher taxes and calling the South African immigrant a "vulture" for buying Tesla and presiding over its largesse himself.
Hannity returned to pressing the candidate for specifics about his plans, including what tax rates Americans at different income levels should pay under a socialist system:
"How much are you willing to let the government take? How much? Give us a number," he said, asking for an example with an American making $100,000 per annum.
"I want to see a return on our taxpayer investment," Larkin replied without offering a specific figure.
"I'm not interested in changing the tax rate on middle-class Americans on people making a hundred grand," he later added, prompting Hannity to ask what tax rate should apply to people making $500,000.
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"Give me a number," he insisted. "The DSA people talk a lot about fairness. What is fair for a guy that makes a half a million dollars a year out of every dollar -- how much should the government get? Answer the question."
"It’s not that simple," Larkin argued. After crosstalk, the candidate said the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes should be raised, but did not specify an amount.
Moskowitz’ and Larkin’s district — which has changed numbers several times — has been represented by Democrats for most of the modern era.
Over the past two decades, including when it was numbered the 22nd District, Col. Allen West has been the only Republican to represent the district. West served one term.
From its inception in 1993 through the early years of George W. Bush’s presidency, the district was represented by Republican Rep. Eugene Clay Shaw Jr.
After socialist candidates lost in Wisconsin but won in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota, Florida Democrats will decide Tuesday whether to follow the same trend.
Fox News Digital reached out to Larkin for comment.
Trump scores major immigration victory as judge clears way to end TPS protections for thousands of Somalis
President Donald Trump scored a major legal victory Friday after a federal judge cleared the way for his administration to terminate temporary legal protections for thousands of Somali nationals living in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston lifted a stay that had prevented the Department of Homeland Security from terminating Somalia's Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, citing a June Supreme Court ruling that sharply limited judicial review of similar administration actions.
The decision allows the Trump administration to move forward with ending TPS for Somalia, potentially exposing affected migrants who lack another lawful basis to remain in the U.S. to deportation.
SUPREME COURT'S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO 'DIE AND SUFFER' ATTORNEY WARNS
Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, had previously blocked the termination from taking effect in a lawsuit brought by four Somali nationals and two advocacy groups, including African Communities Together.
The Trump administration announced in January that it planned to terminate Somalia's TPS designation, with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arguing that conditions in the country had improved enough to end the humanitarian protections.
The Supreme Court ruled in June in Mullin v. Doe that the TPS statute bars judicial review of certain non-constitutional decisions by the administration to terminate TPS designations. The court also found that the plaintiffs' equal protection challenge in that case was unlikely to succeed.
The ruling curtailed lower courts' ability to review Trump administration efforts to terminate TPS designations for nationals of multiple countries.
SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTS
Plaintiffs challenging the termination of Somalia's designation argued that the administration's decision was motivated by bias against non-White immigrants, pointing to Trump's previous descriptions of Somalis as "garbage" and "low IQ people."
Following the Supreme Court's ruling, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint raising new constitutional claims and sought emergency relief in another effort to prevent Somalia's TPS protections from ending.
Burroughs issued an administrative stay earlier this month after African Communities Together and other plaintiffs alleged that the administration violated the Fifth Amendment by terminating Somalia's TPS designation based on racial and national-origin discrimination.
In Friday's ruling, Burroughs said the plaintiffs had presented a compelling case but concluded that the Supreme Court's decision constrained her ability to continue blocking the administration's action.
BIDEN JUDGE OVERRULED ON KEY TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICY
Burroughs wrote that she was "bound … to view things through the Mullin prism," referring to the Supreme Court case.
"Plaintiffs have made a convincing showing that they will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is withheld … and the balance of hardships and the public interest also favor Plaintiffs, given that the government has made no showing that maintaining TPS status for the duration of this litigation would impose an undue burden," she wrote.
Despite those findings, Burroughs lifted the stay, allowing the administration's termination of Somalia's TPS designation to move forward.
The Trump administration's decision affects several thousand Somali nationals currently living in the United States.
Sources at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services previously told Fox News Digital that 2,471 Somali nationals in the U.S. currently have TPS, while another 1,383 have pending TPS applications.
Fox News Digital's Preston Mizell and Elaine Mallon, along with Reuters, contributed to this report.