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Biden officials go silent when asked about Afghan refugee program after guardsmen shooting

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Biden officials go silent when asked about Afghan refugee program after guardsmen shooting

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Former top Biden administration decision makers were silent on whether they stand by the vetting procedures deployed for “Operation Allies Welcome,” the Afghan resettlement program that was utilized by the alleged National Guard attacker to get to the U.S.

The heinous incident that claimed the life of one West Virginia National Guard member and gravely wounded another on Thanksgiving Eve sprung back to the forefront last week when House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., infuriated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when he referred to it as an “unfortunate accident.”

The attack renewed questions over whether Democrats still stand by the vetting processes put in place by the previous administration — and whether officials involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal and refugee resettlement would revise those decisions today.

Fox News Digital has reached out to several members of the Biden administration with roles directly or tangentially related to the Afghanistan withdrawal and the resettlement of Afghan refugees.

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SENATOR RENEWS PUSH TO MANDATE VETTING FOR AFGHAN EVACUEES AFTER NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING

Inquiries to former President Joe Biden’s office, former Vice President Kamala Harris and a second request to an individual listed as Harris’ literary agent were not returned within a week.

Messages sent to former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley [Ret.], as well as via an official at the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs – where he is listed as a visiting professor – also went unanswered.

Milley, though a general, was not in a command position – as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is an advisory role.

In that regard, he did not make any operational decisions, but instead was in the president’s ear when it came to military advice. Milley later told senators on Capitol Hill that he recommended maintaining a small, 2,500-troop force in Afghanistan.

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Fox News Digital also reached out to former Central Command (CENTCOM) commander, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie via his new role at the University of South Florida, for comment – which was not returned. 

AFGHAN EVACUEE ARRESTED BEFORE DC SHOOTING FEDERALLY CHARGED WITH THREATENING TERROR ATTACK

CENTCOM covers the Middle East and was tasked with overseeing security and evacuation operations out of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.

Messages sent to addresses listed for National Security Adviser Jacob Sullivan and Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer were not returned. Finer is now a visiting fellow at Columbia University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and Sullivan’s wife – Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., is in her first term in Congress.

Sullivan was a key adviser to Biden during the withdrawal and was later pressed by CNN whether he feels “personally responsible for the failures” therein.

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He replied that the “strategic call President Biden made, looking back three years, history has judged well and will continue to judge well. From the point of view that, if we were still in Afghanistan today, Americans would be fighting and dying; Russia would have more leverage over us; we would be less able to respond to the major strategic challenges we face.”

A woman who answered a line listed for former Secretary of State Antony Blinken redirected Fox News Digital to a press liaison. That request was not returned.

Blinken, as leader of the State Department, was the point person for the diplomatic aspect of the withdrawal. He advised Biden on what to do about the Taliban’s “Doha Agreement” that was forged by the previous Trump administration, while the department coordinated overflight rights, temporary housing and other issues regarding the refugee outflow from Kabul.

SENATE REPUBLICANS LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO BIDEN IMMIGRATION PROGRAMS AFTER DC NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING

Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command, testifies before the House Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Rod Lamkey/Pool via AP)

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A woman who answered an extension listed for former Pentagon chief Gen. Lloyd Austin III [Ret.] said she would take a message and that Austin would return the call if he wished.

As Pentagon chief, Austin was the top bureaucrat in the U.S. military structure at the time of the withdrawal.

After the Thanksgiving Eve attack, U.S. Citizenship for Immigration Services administrator Joe Edlow announced a review of the green card system, citing suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s situation.

His predecessor, Biden-appointed Ur Jaddou, did not respond to a request for comment.

AFGHAN EVACUEES WITH CHILD-FONDLING, TERROR ARRESTS SWEPT UP IN DHS CRACKDOWN AFTER BOTCHED VETTING EXPOSED

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Fox News Digital also reached out to alleged addresses linked to former Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, but did not receive responses. Fox News Digital also reached out to the Belfer Center at Harvard, which recently cited that Sherwood-Randall would be rejoining their ranks to lead their “Initiative on Bioconvergence, Biosecurity, and Bioresilience.”

Fox News Digital also attempted to reach Harris’ national security adviser, Phil Gordon, via his new role at a global advisory firm, but did not receive a response.

Efforts to reach Biden confidants Ronald Klain and Jeffrey Zients were unsuccessful.

FBI PROBES POSSIBLE TIES OF NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTER TO TABLIGHI JAMAAT, A ‘CATALYST’ FOR JIHAD

Gens. Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin III, left, join Alejandro Mayorkas, right, behind Joe Biden, center-front. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

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Tracey Jacobson, now the chargé d’affaires for the U.S. in Dhaka, Bangladesh, led the administration’s Afghanistan coordination task force charged with processing and relocating Afghan allies. She did not respond to an inquiry.

During the Afghan withdrawal, Jacobson was named by the Biden administration to lead an Afghanistan coordination task force as part of its “whole-of-government effort to process, transport and relocate Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants and other Afghan allies,” according to Biden.

2021 AFGHAN REMARKS HAUNT GOP LAWMAKER’S SENATE BID AFTER DC GUARD SHOOTING

Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus was asked by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign in 2022 or risk being the first Biden administration official fired, according to The New York Times.

DHS officials ultimately cut his access to the agency’s social media accounts, according to the paper, and a report from Heritage Foundation fellow Simon Hankinson cited that he ultimately left the job soon after.

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His role would have also placed him in the midst of the orchestration of Operation Allies Welcome and Operation Allies Refuge. He was also unable to be reached for comment.

Another Mayorkas deputy, then-FEMA Director Robert Fenton Jr., was reportedly tasked with setting up Operation Allies Welcome centers to help evacuees “integrate successfully and safely into new communities.”

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Fenton remains the Region 9 administrator for the agency, tasked with an area covering the west coast and South Pacific protectorates. An inquiry to Fenton was not returned.

Mayorkas himself could not be reached directly for comment. Efforts to reach him via a law firm he was or is connected to, as well as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he is a visiting scholar, were either unsuccessful or not returned.

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Video: The G.O.P. Rush To Break Up Majority-Black Districts

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Video: The G.O.P. Rush To Break Up Majority-Black Districts

new video loaded: The G.O.P. Rush To Break Up Majority-Black Districts

Republican-controlled legislatures in the South are breaking up majority-Black congressional districts in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. Our national politics reporter Nick Corasaniti describes what it means for the midterms.

By Nick Corasaniti, Laura Bult, June Kim, Edward Vega and Leanne Abraham

May 9, 2026

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Harris accuses Trump allies of trying to ‘rig’ 2026 midterms after Virginia court tosses redistricting measure

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Harris accuses Trump allies of trying to ‘rig’ 2026 midterms after Virginia court tosses redistricting measure

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of trying to “rig the 2026 elections” after the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated a voter-approved redistricting referendum, a ruling she said would “give a boost” to that effort.

“Today, the Virginia Supreme Court ignored the will of the people and overturned those democratically chosen maps,” Harris wrote on X on May 8.

“This ruling gives a boost to Donald Trump’s effort to rig the 2026 elections and the Republicans’ long game to attack voting rights,” she added.

The ruling marked a significant victory for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms and escalated an already intensifying national battle over redistricting and control of Congress.

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VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT RULES ON NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP

Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a fireside chat at MEET Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 7, 2026. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)

“We hold that the legislative process employed to advance this proposal violated Article XII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia,” the state’s high court said in its decision. “This constitutional violation incurably taints the resulting referendum vote and nullifies its legal efficacy.”

The measure, which passed by a narrow 51% to 49% margin, would have temporarily shifted redistricting authority from Virginia’s nonpartisan commission to the Democrat-controlled legislature through 2030 and was expected to yield a 10-1 Democratic advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.

Trump praised the decision in a post on Truth Social, calling it a “Huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia.”

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‘JUSTICE’: CELEBRATION, MOCKERY ERUPT AFTER SPANBERGER ‘GERRYMANDER’ IS BLOWN UP IN BLOCKBUSTER DECISION

Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a fireside chat at MEET Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 7, 2026. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)

“The Virginia Supreme Court has just struck down the Democrats’ horrible gerrymander,” he wrote.

Democrats sharply criticized the ruling. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said “a group of unelected judges on the Virginia Supreme Court chose to put partisan politics over the will of the people.”

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones also pushed back, saying the decision “silences the voices of the millions of Virginians who cast their ballots” and that his office is evaluating “every legal pathway forward.”

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ERIC HOLDER ACCUSES GOP OF ‘STEALING SEATS’ WHILE DEFENDING ‘FAIR’ DEMOCRATIC REDISTRICTING PUSH

A person votes in the Virginia redistricting referendum at Fairfax Government Center in Fairfax, Va., on April 21, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Harris echoed that sentiment in her post, writing, “We are rightfully outraged, but we will not give up. We must continue our fight to restore the power of the people.”

Her comments come as she has stepped up attacks on Trump in recent appearances while facing renewed questions about her political future.

At a recent event in Las Vegas, Harris said, “For far too many people in our country, the American dream, is not real. And in fact, for many people in their lived experience, it’s what they would consider an American myth.”

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KAMALA HARRIS’ TRAVELS AND COMMENTS CLEARLY POINT TO 2028

The approved referendum could result in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation, up from their current 6-5 edge, if the court’s do not ultimately strike it down. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

She also declined to downplay Trump, saying, “I’m not going to dismiss him as being an idiot. He’s dangerous.”

At the same time, top Democrats have been reluctant to weigh in on whether Harris should lead the party in 2028.

“I have no idea,” Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told Fox News Digital when asked about her future.

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“I have no idea who’s running, and we’ll focus on 2028 after 2026,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said.

Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said the decision ultimately rests with Harris but added he believes Democrats should have “a wide-open Democratic primary.”

The Virginia ruling is the latest flashpoint in a broader redistricting fight as both parties position themselves ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Harris, for her part, signaled she intends to remain engaged.

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“I firmly and strongly believe that when you feel powerless, you are powerless,” Harris said. “And when you feel powerful, you are powerful. And we are powerful and we are powerful. And so let’s just show ourselves, each other, our power around the midterms and every day.”

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Leo Briceno, Olivia Palombo, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this reporting.

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California abortion pill suppliers ready with workaround in case of Supreme Court ban

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California abortion pill suppliers ready with workaround in case of Supreme Court ban

The last time the Supreme Court threatened to end access to the country’s most popular abortion method, California’s network of online providers and their pharmaceutical suppliers scrambled to respond.

Now, with the fate of the cocktail used in roughly two-thirds of U.S. terminations once again in the balance, they’re not even breaking a sweat.

Dr. Michele Gomez, co-founder of the MYA Network, a consortium of virtual reproductive healthcare providers, said the supply chain is “ready to switch in a day” to an alternative drug combination.

“It’s not going away and it’s not going to slow down,” Gomez said.

On May 1, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to block the drug mifepristone from being prescribed virtually and shipped through the mail, making such deliveries illegal across the country. On Monday, the Supreme Court stayed that decision, allowing prescriptions to resume until the court issues an emergency ruling next week.

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Mifepristone is the first half of a two-drug protocol for medication abortion, which made up 63% of all legal abortions in the U.S. in 2023.

Between a quarter and a third of those abortion drugs are now prescribed by healthcare providers over the internet and delivered by mail — a path Louisiana and other ban states are fighting to bar.

“Abortion access has gone up with all the telehealth providers,” Gomez said. “We uncovered an unmet need.”

But the cocktail’s second ingredient, misoprostol, can be used to produce abortion on its own — a method that’s often more painful and slightly less effective.

It would be easy for suppliers to switch to a misoprostol-only protocol — and much harder for courts to block it, experts said.

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“We heard about this on Friday and organizations that mail pills were mailing misoprostol on Saturday,” Gomez said. “They already knew what to do.”

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022, California became one of the first states to enshrine abortion rights for residents in its Constitution and legislate protection for clinicians who prescribe abortion pills to women in states with bans.

Last fall, legislators in Sacramento expanded those protections by allowing pills to be mailed without either the doctor or the patient’s name attached.

But cases like the one being decided next week could still sharply limit abortion rights even in states with extensive legal protections, experts warned.

Even though California has built a fortress around its own constitutional protections of reproductive freedom, those [protections] become vulnerable to the whims of antiabortion states if the Supreme Court gives those states their imprimatur,” said Michele Goodwin, professor at Georgetown Law and an expert on reproductive justice.

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Coral Alonso sings in Spanish as protesters rally on the three-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade on June 24, 2025, in Los Angeles. The ruling ended the federal right to legal abortion in the United States.

(David McNew / Getty Images)

Legal experts are split over how the justices will decide the medication’s mail-order fate.

“This is a case where law clearly won’t matter,” said Eric J. Segall, a law professor at Georgia State University and an expert on the Supreme Court.

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“In a very important midterm election year, I think there’s at least two Republicans on the court who will decide that upholding the 5th Circuit would really hurt the Republicans at the polls,” he said. “If women can’t get this by mail in California or other blue states where abortion is legal, it’s going to have devastating consequences, and I think the court knows that.”

But he and others believe it’s no longer a matter of if — but when and how — the drugs are restricted, including in California.

“This is curating a backdrop for a legal showdown that may surely come,” Goodwin said.

The court’s most conservative justices could find grounds to act in the long-forgotten Comstock Act of 1873. The brainchild of America’s zealously anti-porn postmaster Anthony Comstock, the law not only banned the mailing of the “Birth of Venus” and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” but also condoms, diaphragms and any drug, tool or text that could be used to produce an abortion.

Though it hasn’t been enforced since the 1970s, the antiabortion provision of the law remains on the books, experts said.

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“The next move is with the Comstock Act, which Justices Alito and Thomas have already been hinting at,” Goodwin said. “In that case, it’s like playing Monopoly — we could skip mifepristone and go straight to contraception. The goal is to make sure none of that gets to be in the mail.”

That move would upend how Americans get both abortions and birth control, and put an unassuming L.A. County pharmacy squarely in the government’s crosshairs.

Although doctors in nearly two dozen states can safely prescribe medication abortion to women anywhere in the U.S., only a handful of specialty pharmacies actually fill those mail orders, Gomez explained. Among the largest is Honeybee in Culver City, which did not reply to requests for comment.

Even if the justices don’t reach for Comstock, a decision in Louisiana’s favor next week could create a two-tiered system of abortion across California and other blue states, experts said.

“The people this case hurts the most are the poor and the rural,” said Segall, the Supreme Court expert.

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National data show that abortion patients are disproportionately poor. Most are also already mothers. Losing mail access to mifepristone would leave many with the more painful, less effective option while those with the time and means to reach a clinic continue to get the gold standard of care.

“There are fundamental questions of citizenship at the heart of this,” said Goodwin, the constitutional scholar. “Under the 14th Amendment, women are supposed to have equality, citizenship, liberty. It’s as though the Supreme Court has taken a black marker and pressed it against all of those words.”

For Gomez and other providers, that’s tomorrow’s problem.

“The lawyers and the politicians are just going to do their thing,” the doctor said. “The healthcare providers are just trying to get medications to people who need them.”

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