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Trump raises millions in ritzy Atlanta neighborhood that wants to secede over violent crime

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Trump raises millions in ritzy Atlanta neighborhood that wants to secede over violent crime

Former President Donald Trump pulled in millions at a fundraiser in a swanky neighborhood of Atlanta that has for years railed against the Democrat-led city’s spiraling crime rate and lack of support for the police – even working to secede from the city altogether over the policies. 

“Our digital online fundraising continues to skyrocket, our major donor investments are climbing, and Democrats are running scared of the fundraising prowess of President Trump. We are not only raising the necessary funds, but we are deploying strategic assets that will help send President Trump back to the White House and carry Republicans over the finish line,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital of fundraising efforts this week. 

Trump attended a fundraiser Wednesday afternoon in Buckhead, a wealthy commercial and residential district in Atlanta, where local leaders joined the 45th president, including: former Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, as well as the co-founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus, and poultry industry tycoon Tommy Bagwell, Fox 5 reported. 

Trump pulled in more than $15 million on Wednesday, from both the Buckhead event and another fundraiser in Orlando, a campaign official said. Guests in Buckhead spent at least $6,600 per couple, and as much as $250,000 if they wished to be part of the event’s welcoming committee, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

TRUMP COULD HAUL IN MASSIVE AMOUNT OF CAMPAIGN CASH DURING ATLANTA, ORLANDO FUNDRAISING SWING: WHAT TO KNOW

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Former President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Georgia on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Trump is visiting the state to host a campaign fundraising event. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)

The Buckhead fundraiser comes after Trump has repeatedly hammered a return of law and order policies across the nation if he’s re-elected come Nov. 5.

For Buckhead residents, spiraling crime rates have been a hot-button issue they have not taken lightly. 

Dubbed the “Beverly Hills of the South,” residents of the Atlanta district tried to secede from the city back in 2021 through last year, as violent crimes such as homicides continued an upward trend, as well as when vehicle thefts and shoplifting spiked.

The wealthy district has a median household income of $109,774, with residents accounting for roughly one-fifth of Atlanta’s total population, according to the district’s website. Bloomberg calculated last year that the district produces about 38% of Atlanta’s tax revenue, meaning a secession likely would have been financially devastating for the city. 

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TRUMP ATTENDS SLAIN NYPD OFFICER JONATHAN DILLER’S WAKE: ‘NEED LAW AND ORDER’

Multiple young men have reported being drugged and robbed after going out in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood.  (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg)

Residents railed that city leaders weren’t properly handling crime as taxpayers paid the price. 

“We are really feeling like this is a war zone, and I don’t say that lightly, especially given what you experienced in a war zone,” Buckhead City Committee CEO Bill White told “Fox & Friends First” back in 2022. “This is murder and mayhem… We are dealing with a mayor who voted to defund the police.”

Atlanta recorded a 30-year record high in homicides in 2021, at 158 deaths, while reports of rape skyrocketed by 236% in the first few months of 2022 compared to the same time period the year prior, motor vehicle thefts shot up by 61% in 2023 and shoplifting increased by 22% last year. Violent crimes in the city have since ticked down, but just this week, police in Atlanta announced they were investigating a shooting outside a Buckhead furniture store that left a man in critical condition, Fox 5 reported. 

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The Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot burns during an Atlanta riot, June 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Violent crimes skyrocketed across the nation in 2020, when the pandemic’s lockdowns upended day-to-day life, and protests and riots spread across the nation following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. Activists and left-wing politicians echoed calls to defund the police in response to Floyd’s killing, including in Atlanta where the mayor at the time championed that the city had already been working on plans “reallocating” policing funds to c​​ommunity-based initiatives. 

GEORGIA GOV. KEMP DEALS BLOW TO BUCKHEAD SUBURB TRYING TO SECEDE FROM ATLANTA OVER VIOLENT CRIME

Experts who have previously spoken to Fox Digital have pinned blame on 2020’s crime trend in part on anti-police rhetoric that washed over the nation, spurring mass resignations and early retirements from the force, as well as cops pulling back from proactively policing. 

The downtown skyline in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“It’s obvious that police officers do not want to come work for a mayor or a city that does not back them, so Buckhead wants to take things into its own hands,” White said during the “Fox & Friends” interview in 2022. 

“We’re short 180 police officers, so what are we supposed to do?” White continued. “They said this has never been done taking a part of a city out and making its own city from that, but we’re going to do it, and we’re going to absolutely love our police.” 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN RAISES MORE THAN $50 MILLION AT FLORIDA FUNDRAISER: ‘HISTORIC’ HAUL

The effort to secede received support from some local Republican leaders, and notably received Trump’s backing, who railed against “RINO” politicians who did not come to the aid of residents demanding assistance with crime trends. 

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Georgia on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Trump is visiting the state to host a campaign fundraising event. (Robin Rayne for Fox News Digital)

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“What is happening in the City of Atlanta is nothing short of disgraceful. It’s national news and a regional embarrassment. The good people of Buckhead don’t want to be a part of defunding the police and the high crime that’s plaguing their communities,” Trump wrote in February of 2022. “However, RINOs like Governor Brian Kemp, the man responsible, along with his puppet master Mitch McConnell, for the loss of two Senate Seats and 2020 Presidential Vote, Lt. Governor Jeff Duncan, Speaker David Ralston, and State Senators Butch Miller, Jeff Mullis, and John Albers always talk a big game but they don’t deliver. 

“What good is having Republican leaders if they are unwilling to fight for what they campaigned on? Every RINO must go! Let the voters decide on the very popular City of Buckhead proposal!”

The effort to secede ultimately failed in the state Senate last year, when all Democrats and a handful of Republicans delivered the blow with a 33-23 vote. 

Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he arrives for a GOP fundraiser, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.  (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

This year, Trump has continued hammering the issue of crime trends and public safety, including in New York last month, when he attended the wake of an NYPD officer, Jonathan Diller, who was shot and killed allegedly by a career criminal. Trump called for “law and order” outside of the funeral home. 

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TRUMP PROMISES TO INDEMNIFY, PROTECT LAW ENFORCEMENT FOLLOWING NYPD JONATHAN DILLER’S DEATH

“The other day I was very honored to visit the family of an amazing man, New York Police Detective Jonathan Diller. You read about it, who was gunned down by a vicious thug, who was originally arrested by different law enforcement agencies over twenty-one times for very serious crimes. And the person with them was a known killer,” Trump said days later at a campaign stop in Wisconsin. 

“We will very importantly restore law and order to our country, and I’m going to indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials throughout the United States to protect them from being destroyed by the radical left for taking strong actions on crime,” Trump said.

Ahead of Trump’s fundraising event in Buckhead, the 45th president pulled in more than $50 million at a GOP fundraiser in Palm Beach on Saturday. 

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US military announces another deadly strike against ‘narco-terrorists’

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US military announces another deadly strike against ‘narco-terrorists’

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The U.S. military announced another deadly strike against a vessel that it alleges was involved in “narco-trafficking” efforts.

“On April 19, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” U.S. Southern Command indicated in a post on X.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the post continued.

US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED CARTEL OPERATIVES IN LATEST EASTERN PACIFIC LETHAL STRIKE, SOUTHCOM SAYS

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The U.S. military announced that it killed three “narco-terrorists” in a strike in the Caribbean on Sunday, April 19, 2026. (@Soutcom via X)

SOUTHCOM indicated that the attack killed three men.

“Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post noted.

President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out dozens of deadly strikes against vessels of alleged “narco-terrorists.”

US MILITARY CONDUCTS MORE DEADLY STRIKES AGAINST VESSELS OF ALLEGED ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’

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Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan, nominee for commander of U.S. Southern Command, testifies during his Senate confirmatino hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

In a completely different part of the world, amid ongoing tensions between America and Iran, the U.S. attacked an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on April 19.

“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” U.S. Central Command noted.

US SEIZES IRANIAN SHIP AFTER OPENING FIRE; PAKISTAN TALKS IN DOUBT

President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody,” CENTCOM noted.

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Uproar over mama bear killing could help launch a state wildlife coexistence program

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Uproar over mama bear killing could help launch a state wildlife coexistence program

A month after a public uproar over a mama bear being euthanized after swiping at a resident in Monrovia, state lawmakers are considering mandating the use of nonlethal ways to help allow wildlife and humans to coexist.

Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) said she believes the bear’s death, and the state’s decision to kill four wolves last year that were preying on cattle, raised public concern.

“That made everybody realize we have to do better here,” she told The Times on Thursday. “We need to recognize the importance of seeing ourselves, humans, as part of a larger ecosystem that includes animals and plants and our world and trying to protect it.”

Senate Bill 1135, introduced by Blakespear, would direct the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to create the Wildlife Coexistence Program, which would provide public education, offer technical assistance and maintain a statewide incident reporting system. It would help communities deploy nonlethal devices to deter predators, like barriers or noise and light machines.

At a legislative hearing on Tuesday, Blakespear told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water that a three-year state initiative offering similar services was seeing positive results — until it was discontinued two years ago after funding ran dry. She said it was time to implement a permanent program.

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“Human population growth, habitat loss and the growth of industry across California inevitably leads to interaction between humans and wildlife,” Blakespear told legislators. “No two animal species are the same and each has unique behavior patterns and territories. SB 1135 recognizes these differences and gives communities the tools to prevent conflict and respond when it occurs.”

The bill would also rename a state program that reimburses ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, calling it the Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program. It would require ranchers seeking compensation to show they were using nonlethal deterrents approved by the department.

Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) stressed that life in rural areas is different than living in a city. She said some families and cattle ranchers have a genuine fear of predators.

“When these baby calves drop on the ground and then two wolves start ripping them apart, it’s not the prettiest thing you’ve ever witnessed,” said Grove, who abstained from voting on the measure. “These wolves are not puppies.”

More than 30 organizations are supporting the legislation, including the National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, California State Assn. of Counties, Animal Legal Defense Fund and Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife.

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The California Farm Bureau and the California Cattlemen’s Assn. are in opposition due to concerns over funding.

Last month, Blakespear sent a letter to the chair of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review requesting $48.8 million to implement the legislation, with $25 million earmarked for addressing wolf encounters. Half of the money for wolf conflicts would go toward deterrents; the remainder would compensate ranchers for their losses.

Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs cattlemen’s association, said the organization is concerned about that division of funding — especially if funding is reduced.

Wilbur told legislators Tuesday that the organization supports some aspects of the bill and was having productive conversations with Blakespear to address their concerns.

The bill ultimately passed the committee with a 5-to-1 vote and now heads to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

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Human wildlife conflicts have made headlines in California recently, with a bear refusing to leave a basement for weeks in Altadena and a mama bear dubbed Blondie crossing paths last month with a woman walking her dog in Monrovia.

Blondie swiped the woman’s leg, and was subsequently euthanized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Her two cubs were sent to the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center. The bear’s death upset many in the community, as thousands had signed a petition calling for other solutions, like relocation.

Deadly wildlife attacks on humans, however, are rare in California.

There have been six reported human fatalities from mountain lions since 1890, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Department. The agency recorded one human fatality from a coyote in 1981 and another fatality from a black bear in 2023. The department has no recorded human fatalities from gray wolves.

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Trump ally diGenova tapped to lead DOJ probe into Brennan over Russia probe origins

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Trump ally diGenova tapped to lead DOJ probe into Brennan over Russia probe origins

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The Justice Department is turning to former Trump attorney Joeseph diGenova to spearhead a probe into ex-CIA Director John Brennan and others over the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, as the department reshuffles leadership of the sprawling inquiry.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has tapped diGenova to serve as counsel overseeing the matter, according to a New York Times report, putting a former Trump attorney in a key role in the high-profile probe. A federal grand jury seated in Miami has been impaneled since late last year.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

DOJ ACTIVELY PREPARING TO ISSUE GRAND JURY SUBPOENAS RELATING TO JOHN BRENNAN INVESTIGATION: SOURCES

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Joseph diGenova represented President Donald Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)

DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who represented Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, has repeatedly accused Brennan of misconduct tied to the origins of the Russia probe—allegations that have not resulted in criminal charges.

He also said in a 2018 appearance on Fox News that Brennan colluded with the FBI and DOJ to frame Trump.

The origins of the Russia investigation have been the subject of ongoing scrutiny by Trump allies, who have argued that intelligence and law enforcement officials improperly launched the probe.

BRENNAN INDICTMENT COULD COME WITHIN ‘WEEKS’ AS PROSECUTORS REQUEST OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS

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Joseph diGenova has previously said that ex-CIA chief John Brennan colluded with the FBI and DOJ to frame Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)

DiGenova’s appointment follows the ouster of Maria Medetis Long, a national security prosecutor in the South Florida U.S. attorney’s office. She had been overseeing the inquiry, including a false statements probe related to Brennan and broader conspiracy-related investigations.

As the investigation continues, federal investigators have issued subpoenas seeking information related to intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

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John Brennan has denied any wrongdoing related to the Russia investigation. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Brennan has previously denied wrongdoing related to the Russia investigation and has defended the intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election.

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