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Military experts reject Harris' claim of 'no US soldiers in combat zones' as misleading

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Military experts reject Harris' claim of 'no US soldiers in combat zones' as misleading

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Critics have offered a fact-check on Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that the U.S. has “not one member of the United States military who is on active duty” in a combat zone “for the first time this century,” indicating that the statement is misleading.

Harris made the claim in Tuesday’s debate with former President Trump. While her phrasing left room for interpretation, it is clear that there are U.S. troops in harm’s way around the globe.

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“As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is on active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century,” Harris said during the Presidential Debate on ABC. 

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital service that members are stationed in various dangerous locations but noted that those deployments are made by the Executive Branch and not due to wars declared by Congress.

“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” a Defense Official said. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense.”

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“However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war,” the official added. “The U.S. is not currently engaged in a war and does not have troops fighting in active war zones anywhere in the world.”

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Vice President Kamala Harris went viral with her response to a question about how she would bring down prices, in an interview with Philadelphia’s 6 ABC anchor Brian Taff. (Screenshot/6 ABC Philadelphia)

Mark Montgomery, senior director for the Center on Cyber and Tech Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital that the U.S. has “quietly shut down designations of war zones over the past few years.”

“I would ask: Is anyone getting combat-related hazardous duty pay?” Montgomery added. “The answer is yes,” and noted Syria as an example.

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The Pentagon did not comment on whether troops in countries such as Syria, Jordan or Iraq or on other bases around the Middle East have received hazardous duty pay over the past 10 months as Iran has backed proxies including the Houthis and Hezbollah. 

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A transfer case is unloaded during the dignified transfer ceremony of the remains of three U.S. service members killed in the drone attack on the U.S. military outpost in Jordan, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, on February 2, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Hazardous Duty Pay is distributed at a monthly rate of $225 and is payable to a member who is subjected to hostile fire, explosion of hostile mines or other hostile action while performing duty in a hostile fire area, exposed to a hostile fire event or killed, injured or wounded by hostile fire or explosion, according to Military.com.

Military members serving in Lebanon have been eligible for hazardous duty pay since 1983, while those in Syria have been eligible since 2003 and 2014 for land and air combat, respectively. Iraq has remained an eligible region since 1990. 

Robert Greenway, former senior director for the National Security Council (NSC) during the Trump administration, noted that the U.S. has “continuously” deployed troops to combat zones since the 1991 Gulf War.

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“The assertion is especially egregious, as she is the current VP and should know that we recently conducted a raid in Syria killing a senior ISIS commander, several U.S. troops had to be medically evacuated after another raid against ISIS in Syria,” Greenway told Fox News Digital. “Several servicemembers were wounded in Iraq when Al Asad Airbase was attacked by Iranian sponsored terrorists less than a month ago, and our ships are under near-daily attack in the Red Sea.”

This picture taken on January 4, 2024, shows a view of the headquarters of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) paramilitaries in Baghdad, which was targeted on the same day by a U.S. strike.  (Ahmad al–Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images)

“A current VP unaware of our military operations in combat overseas is a dereliction of duty,” Greenway added. 

The U.S. has roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq alone, although Iraqi officials this week revealed that they have worked out a tentative plan for the U.S. to withdraw most of its troops by 2025 and leave a residual force, The Washington Post reported. 

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“The first phase will begin this year and continue until 2025, while the second phase will conclude in 2026,” Iraqi Defense Minister Thabit al-Abbasi said during an appearance on television. 

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ICE renews hunt for El Chapo’s last two fugitive sons with massive reward

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ICE renews hunt for El Chapo’s last two fugitive sons with massive reward

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“Two down and two to go” blared the new wanted poster targeting the two remaining fugitive sons of infamous Mexican cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera, who is serving life-plus-30-years in Colorado’s federal supermax prison.

On Monday, ICE posted a new wanted poster for two members of “Los Chapitos” — Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, two of El Chapo’s sons with his first wife, Alejandrina Maria Salazar-Hernandez.

After El Chapo’s final capture in 2016, control of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel shifted to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Following Zambada’s arrest during the Biden administration, leadership passed to Guzman’s four sons.

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Both the Trump administration in the U.S. and the Sheinbaum administration in Mexico have said they are focused on cracking down on cartel’s new leadership.

“Two down and two to go with $10 million reward,” the wanted poster read, with Xs over the faces of the already captured Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez.

The two captured Chapitos are reportedly cooperating with authorities and have not yet been sentenced, but Ivan and Jesus remain “armed and dangerous,” according to ICE.

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El Chapo Guzman arrives in the United States after his capture in Mexico. (AP File)

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The two fugitives are charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and operating a continuing criminal enterprise.

Two of Guzman’s four sons have already been captured through Operation Take Back America, an initiative seeking the “total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations” in order to protect U.S. communities from violent crime.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros said in a recent statement that efforts to capture El Chapo’s sons are the latest steps “in our efforts to bring to justice drug lords and other dangerous criminals who poison the American public with illegal and harmful drugs and who otherwise engage in violence and corruption to carry out their and their enterprises’ wide-reaching criminal activities.”

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Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, center, is escorted by soldiers during a presentation at the Navy’s airstrip in Mexico City. (Reuters/Edgard Garrido)

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In his plea agreement, Guzman Lopez admitted that he and his cartel associates committed violence against law enforcement officials, rival drug traffickers and members of their own organization to protect the Sinaloa Cartel’s trafficking operations.

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Fox News Digital reached out to ICE and DHS for additional comment and information on the mission to capture the two at-large Chapitos.

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Trump says he disputed U.S. star player’s suspension, calling it ‘stain’ on World Cup

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Trump says he disputed U.S. star player’s suspension, calling it ‘stain’ on World Cup

President Trump said Monday that he called the president of FIFA to dispute a red card that would have barred the American striker Folarin Balogun from playing in Monday’s elimination game with Belgium, acknowledging an extraordinary intervention by a head of state in the sport’s disciplinary process.

“I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters during an event in the Oval Office. “I am good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.”

FIFA subsequently rescinded Balogun’s suspension, the first time the governing body has reversed a red-card penalty during a World Cup in 64 years. Belgium has protested the decision, and a hearing is scheduled for Monday to determine whether Balogun’s reinstatement will stand.

Trump said it would be a “stain” on the World Cup to let the penalty stand, and even called the referee who issued the card “suspect” with a questionable past, though he did not provide evidence to support the accusation.

While many in the United States joined the president in celebrating the reversal, others blasted its adverse impact on the integrity of the sport.

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The Belgium team has protested the penalty reversal, with the country’s soccer federation saying it was “astonished” by the ruling.

“We are not defending the national team or federation. We are defending football,” Belgian coach Rudi Garcia said.

The episode has drawn attention to Trump’s close relationship with Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA. In December, Infantino presented Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, an award the governing body created after Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize. That decision is now the subject of an ethics complaint, backed by members of the European Parliament, who argue it compromised FIFA’s political neutrality.

Trump appeared to downplay the significance of his call to Infantino.

“I can’t tell him what to do, and I don’t believe he made the decision,” Trump said. “I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision, because number one, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”

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But he said it would be “very unfair” and “terrible” to not let Balogun play. He said it would be the equivalent of barring Argentina’s Lionel Messi or Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo — both global superstars — because they “ran” or “bumped” into someone on the field.

“We have to have our best players, and they have to have their best players. And if we win or we lose, it’s fair,” Trump said. “Let’s say we lost [Balogun] and we lose the game — it would be a terrible thing.”

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Trump shares news of ‘crystal clear’ Reflecting Pool, calls for vandalism suspect’s arrest

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Trump shares news of ‘crystal clear’ Reflecting Pool, calls for vandalism suspect’s arrest

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President Donald Trump and his Interior Department are declaring an America 250 victory over algae in the Lincoln Reflecting Pool.

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Trump shared photos on Truth Social on Sunday showing the pool and the reflection of the Washington Monument appearing clear and blue, and made a call out with a “Wanted” poster for vandals.

“The U.S. Park Police is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the individual in the notice below in connection with a Destruction of Government Property investigation related to the Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social.

Trump also shared an Interior Department statement crediting “advanced nanobubbler technology” and National Park Service cleanup work.

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President Donald Trump is touting the algae cleanup and the prosecution of vandals from the Lincoln Reflecting Pool, with the water proving clear and refective in this July 3 photo. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

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“The advanced nanobubbler technology very effectively killed the algae that has plagued every Lincoln Reflecting Pool reopening — most infamously Obama’s reopening — since 1922,” Dei Gratia Minerals founder Greg Wischer, Interior’s deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, wrote in a letter shared with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Trump.

“The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool — just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf.”

The photos shared by Trump show the Reflecting Pool stretching toward the Washington Monument under blue skies. One image appears to show the pool from the Lincoln Memorial end, while a second closer view shows the Washington Monument reflected in the water.

Trump also shared a U.S. Interior Press social media post hailing the technological success, quoting that Wischer memo.

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Pete Folch carries an American flag during a morning run past the Reflecting Pool as the city prepares for July 4th festivities on July 3, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“The vacuuming is the final maintenance step after refilling the pool, and it will be complete in a few days,” his memo continued. “Already, the section of the Reflecting Pool closest to the Lincoln Memorial has been vacuumed up, and the beautiful American Flag Blue coating on the bottom of the pool can be seen clearly.”

Trump’s Interior Department has praised the technology for overcoming past challenges in keeping the pool clear, including dunking on former President Barack Obama.

“Previous administrations — most notably under Obama — failed to maintain the Reflecting Pool, and after refilling the pool, the water would quickly become murky and thick with massive clumps of algae floating on the surface,” the memo concluded.

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Police said the incident happened on Friday at around 3:36 p.m. at the Reflecting Pool on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial in the nation’s capital. (U.S. Park Police)

“The photos below show how the nanobubbler technology and vacuuming have been incredibly effective, making the water crystal clear with the American Flag Blue coating shining brightly on the bottom of the pool.

“As our National Park Service team noted, the Reflecting Pool is now so ‘blue’ that the Fake News Media, which has been staked out at the Reflecting Pool for weeks, has fled!”

The 6.75 million-gallon pool has been targeted by Trump critics and leftist anti-Trump activists for attacks both verbally and physical, Burgum discussed with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

“The Reflecting Pool has been a big success,” he said. “And we’ve got 340 million people in this country that are celebrating 250. We did have a few vandals, but all that’s going to be repairable, and that’ll all be fixed in the coming weeks as we go forward.”

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People look out at the Reflecting Pool and Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial ahead of July 4 festivities on July 03, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Burgum now believes that the pool might not require a full draining after its “multiple gashes that add up to 350 feet,” he added.

“We don’t know if we need to drain the whole thing or not because, you know, the cutting happened on the edge, and, of course, it slopes from the edge,” according to Burgum.

“We may be able to partially drain it and do the repair. To be able to fix it, we may not have to drain the whole thing, but it could go very quickly.”

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While the media and Trump critics are pointing to added costs of the reflecting pool refurbishment, Burgum pointed to the vandalism causing that.

“We weren’t expecting that we were going to have a small group of people that wanted to try to destroy effectively what is part of the Lincoln Memorial,” Burgum told ABC. “There’s plenty of cameras around the Lincoln statue and around the memorial, but the Reflecting Pool had gone for, you know, decades without vandalism.”

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