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Trump senior campaign advisor slams left: Taking Vance's ‘cat lady’ comments ‘blatantly out of context’
Trump 2024 senior campaign advisor Chris LaCivita slammed the left’s new attacks on vice presidential candidate JD Vance for appearing to disparage "childless cat ladies" in the Democratic Party, saying that critics are being "absolutely absurd."
During an episode of Fox News’ "The Brian Kilmeade Show," LaCivita stated that all the noise over Vance’s comments – which he made during an interview three years ago – was overblown and clarified to the radio host that the Trump/Vance campaign is not against "childless women" as the liberal media is saying.
"The fact of the matter is, it’s been blatantly taken out of context," the Trump advisor said during the radio segment that aired on Friday.
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During the 2021 interview, Vance originally stated, "We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too."
He then specifically called out Vice President Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as being part of this group in that interview.
This week, the Harris campaign, and various other prominent liberals, including Hillary Clinton, actress Jennifer Aniston and others blasted Vance, accusing him of devaluing women that don’t have children, or can’t have them under normal circumstances.
LaCivita pushed back against the new attack against Vance, suggesting his words were being overblown and suggesting they’re being interpreted in bad faith.
The senior advisor also turned the media’s attacks on Vance here against them. "As a matter of fact, there was a discussion today, where the follow up – the Democrat follow-up attack is that JD Vance believes that only people with children should get certain tax breaks."
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"Well, that’s called the childcare tax credit," he continued, noting, "So now we have the Democrat Party and the Kamala Harris campaign on record as opposing something that has been law for years which is, you know, the childcare tax credit."
LaCivita also slammed the Democratic Party strategy employed to take down the Republican vice-presidential candidate, stating, "Look, we expect this kind of thing. You know, they drag out their has-been actresses of Jennifer Aniston to come out and make these attacks."
"We’re about fighting for the working women of the United States, the forgotten people of the middle class. JD Vance is the perfect representation of that. They know it. It scares the hell out of them… They’re going to peddle in fiction and we’re going to have to deal with it as we go forward."
Kilmeade followed by asking if the Trump campaign is "against childless women," to which LaCivita replied, "No, that’s absurd. It’s absolutely absurd."
Israel airstrike hits Gaza shelter, leaving 30 dead
Israeli airstrikes hit a school being used by displaced people in central Gaza on Saturday, killing dozens of people, as the country’s negotiators prepared to meet international mediators to discuss a proposed cease-fire.
At least 30 people sheltering at a girls' school in Deir Al-Balah were taken to Al Aqsa Hospital and pronounced dead after a strike that Israel's military said targeted a Hamas command and control center used to store weapons and plan attacks.
Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 11 people had been killed in other strikes on Saturday.
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Near the hospital, Associated Press journalists saw an ambulance rushing through a dusty road as a few people ran in the opposite direction. An injured man lay on a stretcher on the ground. A body covered with a blanket and a dead toddler lay inside the ambulance.
Inside the school, classrooms were in ruins. People were seen searching for victims under the rubble and some were gathering remains of those who were killed.
Earlier, Israel's military ordered the evacuation of a part of a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza ahead of a planned strike on Khan Younis on Saturday.
The evacuation order was in response to rocket fire that Israel said originated from the area. The military said it planned an operation against Hamas militants in the city, including parts of Muwasi, the crowded tent camp in an area where Israel has told thousands of Palestinians to seek refuge throughout the war.
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The planned strike comes a day before officials from the U.S., Egypt, Qatar and Israel are scheduled to meet in Italy to discuss the ongoing hostage and cease-fire negotiations. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, Mossad director David Barnea and Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel on Sunday, according to officials from the U.S. and Egypt who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the plans.
It’s the second evacuation order issued in a week that has included striking part of the humanitarian zone, a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. Israel expanded the zone in May to take in people fleeing Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population at the time had crowded.
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According to Israeli estimates, about 1.8 million Palestinians are currently sheltering there after being uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel’s punishing air and ground campaign. In November, the military said the area could still be struck and that it was "not a safe zone, but it is a safer place than any other" in Gaza.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it was increasingly difficult to know how many people would be affected by the evacuation order because those sheltering under there were constantly being displaced.
"Referring to the orders as evacuation orders don’t do any justice to what this means," said Juliette Touma, the agency's director of communications. "These are forced displacement orders. What happens is when people have these orders, they have very little time to move."
Further north, Palestinians mourned the deaths of seven killed by Israeli airstrikes overnight on Zawaida, in central Gaza. Members of two families — parents and their two children as well as a mother and her two children — were wrapped in traditional Islamic white burial shrouds as community members gathered to perform funeral rights. As men lined up to pray in front of the bodies, weeping friends and neighbors approached individually to pay their final respects.
Deir al-Balah’s Al Aqsa hospital confirmed the count and Associated Press journalists saw the bodies.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The U.N. estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.
The war began with an assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
Samoa boxing coach dies in Olympic village after suffering cardiac arrest
Lionel Elika Fatupaito, the national boxing coach of Samoa, died at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest while at the Olympic village. He was 60 years old.
The International Boxing Association confirmed the news of Fatupaito’s passing in a statement on Saturday.
"We at the International Boxing Association (IBA) extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Lionel Elika Fatupaito, the national boxing coach of Samoa, who tragically passed away during the Paris 2024."
"Lionel’s dedication and passion for the sport have left an indelible mark on the boxing community. His legacy will continue to inspire future generations. Our thoughts and prayers are with Team Samoa and all those affected by this profound loss," the statement continued.
According AFP, Fatupaito died while at the Olympic village, where he was treated by emergency services. His cause of death was listed as "natural causes."
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Measles cases surge to triple last year's — with 5 months to go
The United States' rate of measles infections in 2024 is more than triple that of 2023, despite almost half the year still remaining.
There have been 188 reported cases of measles in the U.S. this year, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated on Thursday.
It's a significant increase from last year, when only 58 cases were reported nationwide.
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Approximately 65% of this year's cases are associated with outbreaks, which the CDC defines as three or more related cases. There have been 13 outbreaks in the U.S. in 2024, compared to 4 outbreaks in 2023 that made up 48% of national cases.
About half of cases this year required hospitalization for the purposes of isolation or management of complications.
According to the CDC, 85% of infected individuals this year were "unvaccinated or unknown," while 10% had received one Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccination and 5% had received two doses.
Medical professionals say the risk of contracting measles is extremely low after getting vaccinated.
Measles is a highly contagious and serious airborne disease that can lead to severe complications and even death, especially in children. It is characterized by a fever as high as 105°F and malaise, cough, coryza and conjunctivitis followed by spots and a rash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Despite the drastic increase in the rate of infection, it comes nowhere near 2019, when almost 1,300 cases of measles were reported across the United States in a single twelve-month period.
Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
On this day in history, Adam Walsh disappeared from department store, marking start of 27-year case
July 27, 1981, quickly went from a normal day for the Walsh family to one that seeped into tragedy.
Reve Walsh and her 6-year-old son, Adam, went to Sears in Hollywood, Florida, on that day. While at the store, the boy went into the video game aisle while his mother browsed just a few aisles over, History.com reported.
When his mother went to the aisle to retrieve her son, he was gone. Investigators discovered that Adam left the store with a group of older boys who were asked to leave for causing trouble, according to the source.
Adam's parents launched a massive hunt to find him, and they even put up a $100,000 reward to draw attention to the case.
"When Adam was kidnapped … the FBI did not help us," Walsh previously told Fox News Digital. "… The FBI refused to enter Adam in the NCIC, or the National Crime Information Computer, which, at the time in 1981, stored millions of records of convicted felons, stolen boats, stolen cars, stolen planes. … There was no unidentified dead file, no missing children’s file, nothing."
Less than two weeks after Adam went missing from the department store, his severed head was found by two fishermen in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, about 100 miles from where he was abducted, according to History.com. His body was never found.
SERIAL KILLER SURVIVOR WONDERS WHY HE WAS SPARED AFTER CHILLING CAR RIDE: ‘HE WAS A MONSTER’
"I was dying of a broken heart," Walsh told Fox News Digital when the tragic discovery was made.
It would take 27 years for Adam's case to finally close.
Ottis Elwood Toole would eventually confess to Adam's murder, but his story was given and recanted many times over the years after the discovery of Adam's murder.
In October 1983, Toole, who was an inmate at a Florida prison, originally confessed to Adam's abduction and murder, according to History.com. He alleged that serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was also involved in the crime, though it was later discovered that Lucas was in jail at the time of the kidnapping.
Investigators were unable to locate Adam's body in the location Toole claimed to have buried it, providing no physical evidence to the case.
Several months after his confession, Toole recanted.
In the following years, Toole continued a cycle of confessing and taking back his story. Another possible suspect of Adam's murder was serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who was living in Florida at the time, according to History.com.
Toole, who was convicted of six murders, died behind bars in 1996. It wasn't until Dec. 16, 2008, when the police department announced that the case was closed with enough evidence to declare Toole responsible for Adam's death, according to History.com.
Since then, Adam's family, including younger brother Callahan, who was not yet born at the time of Adam's disappearance, have dedicated themselves to a life of advocacy.
John is the creator and host of the show "America's Most Wanted," which has been hunting down criminals for more than 40 years. He launched the series in 1988 after his son's murder.
"I grew up in a nice, gated community [and] didn’t think crime would touch us," Walsh previously told Fox News Digital. "… I’ve learned in all of these years that the bad guys will come right into your area. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are. They can do something to you and get you."
The show has helped capture more than 1,190 criminals.
"What drove me was that no one helped us look for Adam," Walsh previously told Fox News Digital. "We put a man on the moon, and we couldn’t put missing children into the big FBI computer. But we persevered. We loved that little boy so much, and we didn’t have a clue who murdered him. It took 27 years to find out. It was a wonderful retired detective and DA who looked at those files, discovered Adam’s murder and solved Adam’s case. But it’s that driving force, our love for him, that has pushed me."
Walsh is also a co-founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization for which Callahan serves as the executive director of its Florida branch.
On July 27, 2006, 25 years after Adam's disappearance, President George W. Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection Safety Act into law, "which created a national database of convicted child sex offenders, strengthened federal penalties for crimes against children and provided funding and training for law enforcement to fight crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children via the internet," per History.com.
Three members of Gospel Music Hall of Fame quartet, the Nelons, among 7 killed in plane crash
Three members of the Nelons, a Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame quartet, were among seven people killed in a plane crash in Wyoming, according to the surviving member who was not on the aircraft.
The Nelons co-founder, Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark, and their daughter, Amber Nelon Kistler died in the crash Friday afternoon, daughter and fourth band member Autumn Nelon Streetman said in a statement.
"Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark," Nelon Streetman said. "We appreciate your continued prayers, love and support as we navigate the coming days."
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Also killed in the tragic accident were Amber's husband Nathan Kistler, their assistant Melodi Hodges, and the pilot, Larry Haynie and his wife, Melissa, according to Nelon Streetman.
There were no survivors.
The Atlanta-based Gospel music family was en route to join the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska when the plane went down, cruise sponsor Gaither Music Group said. Autumn, the family's youngest daughter, and her husband, Jamie Streetman, were not on the plane and learned of the crash when they arrived safely in Seattle.
The couple was brought to a hotel where gospel singers Bill and Gloria Gaither had gathered with several other artists to pray, sing and mourn with Autumn and Jamie.
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"Autumn and Jamie will return home for now to Kelly’s brother, Todd Nelon and his wife, Rhonda, to begin the hard tasks that lie ahead. Please keep them, the Kistler family, the Haynie family and the family of Melodi Hodges in your prayers," Gaither Music Group said.
The aircraft was identified as a single engine turboprop Pilatus PC-12/47E, according to the Associated Press.
The crash occurred about 1 p.m. in Campbell County, Wyoming, north of Gillette and about 250 miles north of Cheyenne, according to a statement from Campbell County spokesperson Leslie Perkins.
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National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said Saturday the incident is under investigation.
"The aircraft is in a remote location and once they gain access, they will begin documenting the scene, examining the aircraft," Holloway said. "The aircraft will then be recovered and taken to a secure facility for further evaluation."
A preliminary report on the crash is expected in about 30 days while a final report with the probable cause of the crash could take up to two years to complete, Holloway told the AP.
The Nelons were inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016 and were winners of 10 GMA Dove Awards, including multiple song of the year and album of the year awards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chiefs’ Harrison Butker slams Paris Olympics parody of Last Supper: ‘This is crazy’
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker slammed the Paris Olympics opening ceremony after one of the performances included drag queens among other performers parodying "The Last Supper."
Butker, who went viral back in May for sharing his faith-based views during a commencement speech at a Catholic college in Kansas, took to social media to share his take.
"This is crazy," he wrote on a post in his Instagram Stories.
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He also added a scripture from the Bible.
"Be not deceived, God is not mocked."
In a clip of the post shared by Butker on his social media, several drag queens and other performers can be seen mocking the scene famously painted by Leonardo da Vinci, which depicts Jesus and his apostles sharing a final meal before the crucifixion.
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The performance, which also included a young child, drew harsh criticism.
Other acts during the opening ceremony also received mixed reviews from viewers on social media. In one scene, a woman and two men were seen embracing – seemingly suggesting a ménage à trois.
A headless depiction of Marie Antoinette, the last queen prior to the French Revolution, also received criticism.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the opening ceremony, said the inspiration behind all the performances was to reinterpret the way the world sees France.
"The extraordinary thing is that everyone in France and the rest of the world has an idea of what France is all about. And I want to play with that, that's where I want to start from - breaking down clichés, because clichés come along other things," he said, according to the Olympics website.
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Legendary college football coach makes Deion Sanders coaching prediction
Deion Sanders came on strong at Colorado and revamped the team through the transfer portal as he brought in his sons and some top players from Jackson State to the Buffaloes’ football program.
Colorado was the talk of the nation almost immediately at the start of the season as it upset No. 17 TCU to start the season and then won its next two games against Nebraska and Colorado State.
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Losses against the best of the best in the Pac-12 brought Colorado down to Earth. The team finished 4-8 on the season, losing its last six. While Sanders has insisted he’s in Colorado for the long haul, the door of opportunity will always be open for him.
Former Dallas Cowboys and Oklahoma Sooners head coach Barry Switzer believes that Sanders will eventually leave Colorado for some place that fits him.
"Deion is going to go what fits Deion," Switzer said on OutKick’s "Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich." "I don’t say he is tied to Colorado; he is going to try and establish himself there, but Deion is going to go what fits Deion, and I understand.
"All coaches do that. I didn’t when I was at Oklahoma. Hell, I had one of the best jobs in the country when I was here in the ‘70s and ’80s. I wasn’t going anywhere. I wished they paid me more, but it was different times and a different era."
Sanders will likely be in the rumor mill for the Cowboys’ head coaching job once the 2024 NFL season ends. His sons, Shedeur and Shilo, will likely enter the NFL Draft after the college football season, which could make the professional jump even more enticing.
Coach Prime told Robert Griffin III in January that he doesn’t want to coach in the pros.
"I'm good. I would never coach pros," he said on the ex-NFL quarterback’s podcast. "You played with guys that was getting a handsome check that didn't want to play. How am I going to handle that as a coach? … Here [in college], I can regulate that. At the next level, come on, man. These cats don't even want to practice no more.
"I think the game is getting better and better because the athletes are phenomenal nowadays, but I can't do it. I love the college game. I love still having influence on the minds and the games of these young men. I love shaping them and molding them. I couldn't do that on the next level."
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NCAA releases details of proposed $2.78 billion settlement with former athletes
The NCAA and its power-five conferences filed a plan to pay out nearly $3 billion to former athletes in a settlement of an antitrust class-action lawsuit.
The proposed deal also paves the way for schools to directly compensate athletes while attempting to regulate payments from boosters.
"NCAA college athletes have waited decades for this moment, and their right to receive the full value of their hard work has finally arrived," said Steve Berman, managing partner and co-founder of the Hagens Berman law firm. "We are incredibly proud to be in the final stages of historic change."
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"College athletes will finally be able to share in the billions of dollars their compelling stories and dynamic performances have generated for their schools, conferences, and the NCAA," the filing said. "This is nothing short of a seismic change to college sports following more than four years of hard-fought victories in this case."
The $2.78 billion would be paid out over a 10-year period. Payouts will be determined based on the sport and length of athletic career, with most football and men's basketball players able to receive nearly $135,000 each.
However, the highest estimated payout is expected to be nearly $2 million, thanks to "Lost NIL Opportunities," according to the law firm.
The deal covers three antitrust cases — including the class-action lawsuit known as House vs. the NCAA — that challenged NCAA compensation rules dating to 2016. The plaintiffs claimed that NCAA rules denied thousands of athletes the opportunity to earn millions of dollars off the use of their names, images and likenesses.
The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes earning money through endorsement and sponsorship deals in 2021.
The agreement does not settle the issue of whether college athletes should be deemed employees, but it does include language that would suggest the deal would be subject to change if "a change in law or circumstances permits collective bargaining."
"This settlement is an important step forward for student-athletes and college sports, but it does not address every challenge," the commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, Southeastern Conference and NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a joint statement. "The need for federal legislation to provide solutions remains. If Congress does not act, the progress reached through the settlement could be significantly mitigated by state laws and continued litigation."
The filing still needs to be approved by a judge, but attorneys say they will file a motion for preliminary approval and, if granted, a public website will go up in about two months, where former college athletes can determine how much they are eligible to receive.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Giffords group to spend $15 million to support Harris and anti-gun candidates
Gun control activists are ramping up spending to elect presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris president and help Democrats capture the House of Representatives in November.
GIFFORDS, a gun violence prevention group founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, on Friday announced a $15 million campaign targeting battleground state voters. The ad buy is for television, digital advertising and direct mail, as well as for sending Giffords and surrogates to stump for Harris and down-ballot candidates who support tougher gun laws.
"With just over 100 days until election day, GIFFORDS will redouble its efforts to support champions who are committed to saving lives — including ensuring that Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the next president of the United States," said Emma Brown, executive director for GIFFORDS.
The multi-million dollar campaign will focus on swing states like Michigan and Arizona for the presidential election, and swing congressional districts in California and New York, which could determine control of the House of Representatives next year, NBC News first reported.
"Across the country, Americans are crystal clear: they want elected leaders who stand up to the gun lobby and put public safety first," said Brown.
GIFFORDS pointed to internal polling conducted in June that found 70% of American voters in battleground districts are "extremely" or "very" concerned about gun violence. The group argues that key groups of voters — particularly women, Latino and Black Americans — strongly support tougher gun laws and will make the difference in close races if motivated to get to the polls.
"This year is critically important, and we look forward to supporting allies committed to preventing gun violence at every level of government — from the state legislative level to Congress, and giving Vice President Harris effective governing partners when she wins in November," Brown said.
A Fox News poll conducted in June found that 45% of Americans ranked guns as an "extremely important" issue, making it the 7th most "extremely important" to voters out of a list of 10 issues. The highest-ranked issues were "Future of American democracy" (68%), "Economy" (66%) and "Stability and normalcy" (58%).
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Erich Pratt, the senior vice president for Gun Owners of America, a Second Amendment group, cast doubt on the contention that gun control is a motivating issue for large swathes of voters.
"It’s undeniable that the policies of Kamala Harris and this administration are responsible for the crime crisis our nation currently faces. Threatened confiscation of common self-defense firearms, coupled with soft on crime officials at the state and local levels in major urban centers across the country, have not helped Americans feel safe," Pratt told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"If groups like GIFFORDS really cared about reducing violence, they’d be urging Harris, a former prosecutor herself, to mobilize U.S. attorneys offices against violent criminals. But instead, they would prefer to push unconstitutional disarmament that leaves everyday Americans defenseless. That won’t play well with swing state voters."
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Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic representative from Arizona, was grievously wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt when a gunman shot her in the head at an event in her district. The former congresswoman co-founded her eponymous group a decade ago to "end the gun lobby's stranglehold on our political system," according to the GIFFORDS website.
Her husband is Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who is reportedly one of the top contenders to be Harris' running mate.
Giffords appeared at an event for Harris on Thursday at the Salt & Light church in Pennsylvania, where she met with community activists in Philadelphia. The predominantly Black neighborhood where she spoke has been impacted by gun violence, including an incident last weekend in which three people were killed and at least six others wounded.
Giffords spoke briefly about her long recovery from the shooting in 2011, which killed six people during a meeting with constituents at a Tucson grocery store. Harris’ other surrogates, including Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, framed the November presidential contest as a choice between Harris, who would sign a ban on assault weapons, and more gun violence under Republican Donald Trump, who gun-rights groups back.
"We are overwhelmed with violence all across America from rural Pennsylvania to inner city neighborhoods like where we are today," McClinton said. "We as voters can make a decision on having a more violent United States or safer communities in every part of America."
Both Giffords and McClinton, an ally to Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is also under consideration for the Democratic vice presidential nomination — dodged questions about the veepstakes. Giffords aides told the Associated Press the event had long been planned before President Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris for his job, and certainly before her husband emerged as a potential candidate to run on the 2024 ticket.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.