Politics
Stefanik slams Harvard for 'cultural rot,' allowing suspect in antisemitic attack to graduate
FIRST ON FOX – House GOP Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., penned a scathing letter to the leaders of Harvard University, alleging that by slow-walking its investigation into the assault of a Jewish student on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the Ivy League school will effectively allow one of the perpetrators to graduate “despite having committed a well-documented antisemitic hate crime.”
The letter, addressed to Dr. Alan Garber, Interim President of Harvard University, and Penny Pritzker, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, referenced how on Oct. 18, 2023, Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee staged a “die-in” at Harvard Business School where students protested Israel’s efforts to defend itself following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, displaying a sign stating, “From the river to the sea.”
“During this event, an Israeli Harvard Business School student recorded the act and was quickly surrounded by a mob of anti-Israel protesters, who assaulted and harassed him,” Stefanik wrote. “These assailants blocked his path, repeatedly grabbed him, and shouted ‘Shame! Shame! Shame!’ at him. This assault is well documented and was denounced by many alumni who were rightly outraged by the actions of these protesters and called for accountability.”
Stefanik cited documents obtained by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce showing that Harvard engaged the law firm of Jenner & Block to conduct an independent investigation of the Oct. 18 incident. Jenner & Block met with the victims’ attorneys at the law firm Holtzman Vogel in early January 2024 and received relevant video evidence of the incident, Stefanik said.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN SUBPOENAS HARVARD LEADERS FOR ‘FAILING TO PRODUCE’ SUFFICIENT DOCS IN ANTISEMITISM PROBE
Anti-Israel protesters seen at Harvard University at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Oct. 14, 2023. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
“Further information shows that local prosecutors are currently in the process of negotiating court dates with two of the Harvard students who assaulted the victim. On March 25, Holtzman Vogel learned that the ‘Clerk’s Hearing’ in the criminal case has been postponed to May 7,” Stefanik wrote. “One of the assailants in the incident, a Harvard Divinity School graduate student, is scheduled to graduate in May 2024. Due to this postponement, the assailant will gain the lifelong distinction of being an alumnus of Harvard despite having committed a well-documented antisemitic hate crime against a fellow student.”
“Justice for this incident should have been served quickly, and the delay of justice that specifically allows an antisemitic student to graduate is an affront to accountability and demonstrates the cultural rot of Harvard University’s leadership that has allowed antisemitism to continue,” Stefanik wrote.
Stefanik noted that when now-former Harvard President Claudine Gay failed say that calls for genocide against Jews violated school regulations while testifying before Congress in December, she also claimed “disciplinary processes are underway” against those who committed antisemitic acts.
“This has proven to be false, with Harvard producing no evidence of punishment against those who have committed crimes and violated Harvard’s code of conduct.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
HOUSE COMMITTEE THREATENS HARVARD SUBPOENA, ACCUSES IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL OF ‘OBSTRUCTING’ ANTISEMITISM PROBE
“This same lack of accountability applies to a faculty member who recently threatened a Jewish student yet is still employed by the university,” the House GOP Chair added. “This recent case of Harvard protecting those who hate Jews is disgusting. As an alumna of Harvard University, allowing this student to gain the title of Harvard graduate disgraces all who have come before him and erodes the distinction of a once sought after degree. At a time when support and applications for Harvard have fallen, university leadership has continuously chosen to side with those who hate Jewish students and faculty and failed to keep them safe.”
In a separate March 22 letter to Jenner & Block, Holtzman Vogel demanded to know why “the internal University process appears to have stalled entirely” and the outside investigation initiated by Jenner & Block “has not progressed,” despite the incident having happened five months prior. Fox News Digital obtained a redacted version of the letter blocking out the names of the students involved.
An anti-Israel protest involving students and their supporters on the lawn of the Harvard Business School on Oct. 18, 2023. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“Indeed, you first contacted our offices over two months ago seeking additional information, and when we discussed this matter, you indicated that the University wanted to address it promptly. The time to act is now as one of the students rapidly approaches the potential of being awarded a degree at Harvard,” the letter says, charging that Harvard University “has not taken a single disciplinary action against any of the students involved in the wrongful treatment” of their client, with the exception of one student at the Harvard Divinity School (HDS), who reportedly lost his proctor privileges at Harvard College.
The firm goes on to say the Jewish student seen being assaulted “on video by multiple cameras at several different angles” further reported the incident to the school but continues to face online harassment.
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“Meanwhile, defamatory posts authored in the wake of the incident and directly targeting remain online as of today and are easily accessible to you at this precise moment,” the letter says. “In fact, Harvard PSC [Palestine Solidarity Committee] continues to maintain our client’s photograph on its official X feed, which has been retweeted more than 21,000 times and ‘liked’ by more than 45,000, which certainly implies approval of Harvard University. In addition, at least two postings by a current business school student on HBS affinity chats remain posted, though they refer to our client as ‘a Zionist aggressor’ and include his photograph.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
Politics
Warren tells Trump to ‘sign the damn bill’ as bipartisan housing package remains stalled in Washington
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., lashed out at President Donald Trump during a recent local television interview, labeling him a “man-child” throwing a “tantrum” over his refusal to sign a sweeping bipartisan housing package.
Appearing on WCVB’s “On the Record,” the left-wing senator did not hold back her frustration over the stalled legislation, delivering a blunt message to the president: “Sign the damn bill.”
“If he cared about the American people, he’d have already signed the damn thing,” Warren said during the interview, arguing that Trump “does not care about the economic survival of America’s working families.”
FILE – The Senate previously advanced the massive housing package geared toward lowering the costs of homes and supercharging the housing supply. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pitched it as legislation to prevent America from becoming a “nation of renters.” (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Protect Borrowers ; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
TRUMP-BACKED HOUSING BILL CLEARS HOUSE AFTER GOP DEFIES SENATE PRESSURE CAMPAIGN
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is an expansive bipartisan package that she said contains nearly 50 provisions designed to address the nationwide housing emergency.
Warren noted that decades of under-building have driven prices up, leaving the U.S. in need of millions of new units.
The primary focus of the bill is to lower the costs of construction and make it easier to build new homes.
FILE – President Donald Trump previously said lawmakers must first approve the SAVE America Act before he moves forward with the housing package. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg)
BIPARTISAN HOUSING PUSH ADVANCES, BUT TRUMP-BACKED INVESTOR BAN FACES RESISTANCE
The bill, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., also includes a secondary focus aimed at blocking corporate consolidation of the housing market.
Warren explained that the legislation is designed to keep private equity firms from buying up local neighborhoods and turning America “into a nation of renters.”
According to Warren, the legislation had widespread support from both sides of the aisle before it was stalled.
TRUMP VOWS BLOCK ON SIGNING NEW LAWS UNTIL SAVE AMERICA ACT PASSES SENATE
She claimed the bill was “handed to the president on a silver platter” and that lawmakers from both parties were eagerly taking credit for the legislation.
“Republicans were all going online, saying, ‘well, I helped write that bill. This bill is terrific,’” Warren said. “So everybody’s out there saying, ‘my bill, I helped make this happen,’ right up until the man-child has a tantrum and announces he will not be signing it.”
FILE – Sen. Elizabeth Warren called President Donald Trump a “man-child” during the interview, describing his refusal to sign the bill as a “tantrum.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Critics of the legislation claim it does not allocate fresh federal funding, directly address rising costs of homeownership, or go far enough to address permitting issues.
The president previously canceled a scheduled signing event, insisting lawmakers must first approve the unrelated SAVE America Act, a voting-focused measure, before he moves forward.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.
Veteran MS NOW anchor Alex Witt is leaving the news network, which is moving away from live evening programming on weekends.
The new weekend programming strategy announced Friday is a cost-saving measure that will give parent company Versant more resources for a new direct-to-consumer streaming offering that makes MS NOW available to consumers without a pay-TV subscription. The company is also looking to expand its live event business.
According to a memo from MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler, “The Weekend: Primetime,” a live discussion program launched last year, will have its final airing Saturday.
One of the program’s co-hosts, Antonia Hylton, will take over Witt’s midday shifts later this year. Hylton’s co-hosts Ayman Mohyeldin, Catherine Rampell and Elise Jordan will remain with MS NOW and continue to appear on other programs.
Kutler said job losses from the moves are minimal and encouraged staffers who lose their current roles to apply for 40 current job openings at the company with more on the way. MS NOW has been staffing up its news operation since separating from NBC News last year.
MS NOW changed its name from MSNBC in November. The network, along with other Comcast-owned cable channels, were spun off into Versant in January.
Weekends have long been a ratings weak spot for MS NOW, which while a distant second to Fox News, has seen audience growth in 2026 and remains ahead of CNN. The network has started to rely on podcasts such as “Pod Save America,” from Crooked Media, to fill some hours. The episodes have performed strongly enough for MS NOW to try similar deals with outside podcast producers.
“Throughout the summer, we will expand our taped strategy and announce new content partnerships,” Kutler said in her memo.
With the changes, MS NOW will still have 20 hours of live programming each weekend and will be staffed to handle breaking news.
Witt joined the network formerly known as MSNBC in 1999, long before it began its strong tilt toward progressive political commentary. Over the years, Witt’s weekend newscast became one of the few programs on the network that delivered straight news without opinion.
Kutler called Witt “a beloved longtime member of our MS NOW family” and “a continued, trusted, and steady presence for our audiences.”
While Witt works through the summer, Hylton will anchor the 11 a.m. weekday time period, which will eventually be handled by former NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander.
Politics
McCarthy says Trump will use ‘everything he can’ to force Senate action on SAVE America Act
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As infighting over the SAVE America Act throws congressional Republicans into disarray, President Donald Trump’s bid to get the stalled election bill across the finish line gained one notable ally.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital that he supports the election integrity measure and indicated that Trump should continue to use every available tool to pressure the Senate to pass it.
“He’s going to try everything he can to make sure he passes that through,” McCarthy said in a brief interview outside the U.S. Capitol.
The ex-speaker’s comments came after Trump abruptly called off a signing ceremony Wednesday for a bipartisan housing bill to pressure the Republican-controlled Senate to act on the SAVE America Act.
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he departs Reading Regional Airport in Reading, Pa., on June 23, 2026. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
IRATE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE TRUMP OF HANDING DEMOCRATS A WIN AFTER BLOWING UP HOUSING PACKAGE
The move surprised Republican lawmakers, some of whom were praising the bill’s passage at a press conference when Trump’s Truth Social post broke.
But Trump has repeatedly cast the election measure — requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and voter identification requirements — as his top legislative priority.
The legislation’s momentum, however, has slowed in the upper chamber, where Republican leadership insists the votes aren’t there amid widespread Democratic opposition. Senate Republicans have also been unwilling to eliminate the legislative filibuster, which requires a 60-vote threshold to pass the legislation.
Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy speaks during a ceremony honoring President Ronald Reagan on the 115th anniversary of his birthday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Feb. 6, 2026. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group)
TRUMP CALLS MAIL IN VOTING CORRUPT AS SENATE BEGINS DEBATE ON SAVE ACT REQUIRING VOTER ID
Amid the SAVE standoff, a group of conservative lawmakers effectively shut down the House floor in an effort to force Senate action on the election bill.
But the Senate recessed Wednesday for two weeks over the July 4 holiday, leaving the measure in limbo until lawmakers return.
The conservative-led blockade sparked fierce backlash, with several members inside the GOP conference telling Fox News Digital the move risked torpedoing their own legislative agenda.
Meanwhile, the House has also yet to pass a version of the legislation incorporating several of the president’s priorities, including a mail-in voting crackdown and provisions banning men from competing in women’s sports and child sex change procedures.
Trump has not indicated whether he will sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, despite the likely existence of a veto-proof majority.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Thursday that the housing bill had been transmitted to the White House for Trump’s signature following a meeting with the president.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol on June 10, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Trump now has 10 days to sign the package or veto it. If he does nothing, the legislation automatically becomes law at the end of the 10-day period.
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