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Fani Willis’ ex-staffer testifies she was fired after blowing whistle on DA’s spending

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Fani Willis’ ex-staffer testifies she was fired after blowing whistle on DA’s spending

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A fourth Georgia state Senate investigation committee hearing as part of its probe into alleged misconduct by District Attorney Fani Willis concluded Thursday afternoon.

The Senate Special Committee on Investigations, chaired by Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert, considered sworn testimony from witness Amanda Timpson, who served as Willis’ director of juvenile diversion programs but says she was demoted and eventually fired. Cowsert says her termination was after she became a whistleblower and complained about the misuse of funds.

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Timpson testified that she was subject to “overwhelming retaliation” and “pushback” after notifying her direct boss that Willis’ office was knowingly misusing federal grant funds, which is illegal. 

Timpson helped to write and apply for a competitive federal grant focused on programming to help at-risk youth and grant prevention. She testified that when Willis took office in 2021, her new supervisor, Michael Cuffee, told her that he planned to use the funds to purchase “computers, travel and swag” as part of the office’s “rebranding” upon Willis’ administration.

NATHAN WADE’S PHONE DATA SHOWS HE MADE MIDNIGHT TRIPS TO FANI WILLIS’ CONDO BEFORE HE WAS HIRED: ATTORNEY

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arrives to speak after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Buckhead, Georgia. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

When Timpson told her boss that those purchases were not permitted under the grant, he persisted in his plans for the purchases, she said. He also told Timpson that Willis requires all her staff to refer to her as “madame” and that the swag and other purchases were Willis’ “vision,” Timpson testified. 

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Timpson said that after serving in the previous district attorney’s administration, she was required to interview again with Willis’ administration to keep her job in December 2020. Nathan Wade, who roughly a year later would be hired as a special prosecutor, was on Timpson’s interview panel, along with Willis and her communications official, Jeff DiSantis.

Timpson said she wanted Willis to be aware of the misuse of funds to “protect” her and “protect the integrity of the grants.” She said that after Willis was made aware of Timpson’s warnings, she was demoted to the position of file clerk. 

“I thought that I was going to ultimately retire from the DA’s office, and it made a place that I used to be proud of working at hell for me, essentially,” Timpson said. 

Timpson testified that after she escalated her claims of retaliation to the Office of Diversity and Civil Rights Compliance, she was eventually terminated and escorted out of the building by seven armed investigators. 

Timpson also testified that Willis made “completely slanderous and libelous statements” about her employment history, making it difficult to secure her next job.

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“[I]t made my life extremely hard and my family’s life extremely hard. And just, you know, for me, it’s I’m here today to fight for my reputation, to fight for the youth of Fulton County, but also for the truth,” she said.

Amanda Timpson, former Director of Juvenile Diversion and a member of Fani Willis executive leadership team, testified Thursday before the Georgia senate.

Timpson also said Willis’ office was the recipient of a federal Justice Assistant Grant intended to fun the DA’s summer program called the Junior DA Program. Those funds were allocated specifically to help Fulton County youth in middle and high school grades. 

But Timpson testified that the first summer program under Willis’ administration included students from other states, relatives of government officials, and one of Willis’ family members. 

“It was essentially a summer program for the most privileged youth in and around the country. There were elected officials’ grand kids there, Fani’s niece, or what she represented as her niece from Florida attended. We went and picked up the niece every morning from her office,” Timpson testified. 

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“This was not a crime prevention program for at-risk youth in Fulton County,” Timpson said, recalling that a child of a Dekalb County judge was also in attendance. 

EMBATTLED DA FANI WILLIS WINS GEORGIA PRIMARY ELECTION

Georgia’s GOP-controlled Senate voted in January to form a special committee to investigate Willis amid the revelations of her romantic affair with Wade.

Willis is spearheading the 2020 election interference case against former President Trump. She has been a lighting rod of criticism since the allegations that she had an “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the case. 

She is not expected to testify on Thursday and has previously called the committee “unlawful,” though the committee has subpoena power to compel her testimony.

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Previous state Senate committee hearings revealed that oversight of Willis’ $36 million budget was “like the Wild West, very little control,” Cowsert said.

At that hearing earlier this month, Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts and Fulton County Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whittmore testified that Willis has broad discretion over those taxpayer dollars, including whether to hire a special prosecutor and how much they should be paid.

“You don’t know how much of that is spent on professional services, who is hired, how much they’re paid per hour, what their total compensation is. Yet you’re being asked to provide $36.6 million a year that you know encompasses a number of those types of independent contractors that you know you’re funding with no oversight or control, right?” Cowsart asked Whittmore at one point. 

Pitts also testified that Willis did not have to get any pre-approval for hiring an independent special counsel to assist with her activities. 

Former special prosecutor Nathan Wade arrives before Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in Buckhead, Georgia. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

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Ashleigh Merchant, lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, testified at the committee’s first hearing that Willis was awarded a $780,000 increase in the DA’s budget on Sept. 15 2021, through the end of that year, with the next year not to exceed $5 million.

The budget increase was just a few months before Wade was hired in November 2021, and roughly eight months before the special grand jury in this case was impaneled in May 2022.

She said that the DA claimed this money was to hire extra people to help with the backlog of homicide cases the office was seeing at that time.

FANI WILLIS SUGGESTS SHE WON’T TESTIFY IN ‘UNLAWFUL’ GEORGIA SENATE INVESTIGATION

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on Feb. 15, 2024 in Atlanta. (Photo by Alyssa Pointer-Pool/Getty Images)

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Merchant testified that when she made open records requests to confirm that her office hired new employees and not special contractors, her request was denied by the DA’s office. 

Willis won her primary election on Tuesday by a sweeping margin over her Democratic challenger. 

“Tonight they delivered a strong and a powerful message,” Willis said in her acceptance speech. “They want a district attorney that believes everyone deserves to be safe. And everyone is entitled to some dignity. And it’s a message that’s pissing folks off. But there is no one above the law in this country. Nor is there anyone beneath it.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Willis’ office for comment on Timpson’s testimony.

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Fox News’ David Lewkowict and Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

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Virginia prosecutor’s record on violent offenders scrutinized after illegal immigrant charged in mom’s murder

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Virginia prosecutor’s record on violent offenders scrutinized after illegal immigrant charged in mom’s murder

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A prosecutor in Virginia is facing criticism after a Fairfax County Police Department officer warned the county’s commonwealth attorney about a criminal illegal immigrant who has racked up over 30 arrests before allegedly killing a mother.

Abdul Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s office, however, was warned several times about how dangerous Jalloh is, and dismissed many of his previous criminal charges.

Jalloh’s case is far from the only controversial actions by Descano’s office, which even includes a plea deal with a murder suspect that allows him the chance at freedom.

POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED VIRGINIA MOTHER

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Here’s a list of controversial cases handled by Descano’s office:

Abdul Jalloh

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop.  (Fox 5 DC)

Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. The victim, 41-year-old Stephanie Minter, was found dead with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Jalloh has a violent rapsheet dating back to 2014 and includes over 30 arrests with several charges dismissed by Descano’s office.

Jalloh was arrested the next day while he was allegedly trying to steal from a liquor store when an employee called 911. Officials said Jalloh came to the U.S. illegally in 2012 from Sierra Leone under the Obama administration.

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Jalloh in 2020, and he was later issued a final order of removal allowing him to be deported to any country other than Sierra Leone. Despite that order, he was not deported.

A police major for the Fairfax County Police Department even warned Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano about Jalloh on at least three separate occasions, according to emails obtained by WJLA.

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In one email to Fairfax County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands, the police major said Jalloh “is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders” that they had discussed before. 

TRAVIS COUNTY DA FACES RENEWED ‘SOFT ON CRIME’ CRITICISM AFTER CAREER CRIMINAL CHARGED WITH MURDER

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano speaking at an event. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)

“I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe 5 years) was pursued by your office? Unfortunately, based on MTV Station’s numerous dealings with him, it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe, prompts me to follow up on his status,” the major wrote.

A Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the office “was aware of Jalloh’s criminal history and shared police concerns about potential future dangerousness. That is why our Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney personally handled these cases.”

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The spokesperson added that prosecutors “will often explore many different pathways to successful prosecution, but, at the end of the day, our decisions are constrained by what testimony is available and what is legally permissible and practicable in Fairfax courts.”

Joshua Danehower

In 2022, Joshua Danehower was arrested for the murder of Gret Glyer. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)

In 2022, Danehower was charged with Gret Glyer’s murder. According to WUSA 9, Glyer, who owned the donation platform DonorSee, was shot 10 times as he slept next to his wife on June 24, 2022. 

Prosecutors alleged Danehower killed Glyer because of an obsession with his wife. The suspect allegedly became fixated with her after a church function, and according to her family, the two had gone on a date about a decade ago.

Danehower was given a plea deal by Descano’s office, which found him not guilty by reason of insanity in February.

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DHS RIPS DEM-RUN COUNTY AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERER RELEASED: ‘BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS’

Virginia law requires Danehower to be sent to a psychiatric hospital, where his status will be evaluated on an annual basis for the next five years, then every two years afterward. If he’s deemed no longer a threat to himself or others, he’d have an opportunity to be released from the psychiatric hospital.

Heather Glyer, the victim’s wife, said while on the witness stand, “I was robbed of my life partner.”

“My kids were robbed of their father,” she added.

Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron

Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron pleaded guilty to lesser charges. (DHS)

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In January 2025, according to a report by former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Ramos-Giron, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, choked his ex-wife during an argument and pulled out a knife.

He was charged with felony abduction by force, felony strangulation, and misdemeanor assault and battery against a family member after the incident, but Descano’s office allowed him to plead to lesser charges of misdemeanor battery and brandishing a bladed weapon.

In a statement released by Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Deputy Chief of Staff and Public Information Officer Laura Birnbaum, according to the report, the plea agreement “achieved the outcomes that the victim wanted.”

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However, when the victim spoke with 7News, she refuted Birnbaum’s statement, saying she didn’t agree to the plea deal.

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“He’s dangerous,” she said, fearing another violent incident would happen.

“If I die, who is going to take care of them?” the victim asked, referring to her children.

Ronnie Reel

Ronnie Reel accepted a plea deal by Fairfax county prosecutors. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)

In July 2021, Reel was arrested on charges of sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual battery against a minor, according to the Fairfax County Times.

During Reel’s trial on Sept. 13, 2022, Chief Judge of the Fairfax County Circuit Court Penney Azcarate ruled that the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s office had missed an evidentiary deadline, meaning confessions, including a call from Reel to a defendant’s mother where he allegedly confessed, as well as other evidence and witnesses couldn’t be used in court.

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According to the outlet, that meant the case would rely on the victim’s testimony entirely.

As a result, Reel was offered a plea deal and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and was sentenced to one year in prison, but was released on time served. He also wasn’t required to register as a sex offender, according to FOX 5.

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The mother, who asked to be identified as Amber, told FOX 5 the case has had a big impact on her son.

“I was really upset. This is my child, this is my baby,” she said while crying. “And he got no justice. So he continues to see me cry and everything. He held his own, he stayed strong. He’s always trying to be strong for mom.”

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“He was confessing every little detail that he did, and it was making me sick to my stomach,” she added. “It was horrible. He literally confessed to me why he did it.”

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

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MIKE DAVIS: Virginia returns to the Confederacy with a seditious conspiracy against ICE

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MIKE DAVIS: Virginia returns to the Confederacy with a seditious conspiracy against ICE

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Immigration enforcement is a core federal power. Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress has the duty to write our federal immigration laws. Under Article II, the President has the duty to enforce them. States cannot meddle and certainly not obstruct. Unfortunately, many Democrat states, especially Virginia, are on a deadly collision course with the federal government.

American voters gave President Trump and the Republican-led Congress a broad electoral mandate to reverse the disaster the Biden-Harris border policy caused in every state in America by mass importing as many as 20 million illegal aliens, including the worst of the worst around the world. 

Activist judges and other Democrat politicians and election deniers have done everything they can fathom to thwart Trump’s constitutional duty to expel these dangerous illegal aliens.

TRUMP URGES DHS, ICE TO PUBLICIZE ARRESTS, SAYS CRACKDOWN IS ‘SAVING MANY INNOCENT LIVES’

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The latest example is Virginia, which is passing a series of unconstitutional laws that would dangerously and illegally obstruct ICE. These proposals include criminal penalties, meaning that state law enforcement would attempt to arrest and jail ICE agents for simply doing their jobs. 

This effort is seditious, insurrectionist, extremely dangerous and blatantly unconstitutional. For the sake of the Republic, the Justice Department must immediately and aggressively quell this Virginia seditious conspiracy.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Davis Spanberger laughs aloud during a ceremony in a Virginia court in Richmond. (Mike Kropf-Pool/Getty Images)

Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano is the Soros puppet Democrat prosecutor in the DC suburb, an uber-wealthy Democrat enclave that is an albatross around Virginia’s neck. Abdul Jalloh is an illegal alien who invaded our country in 2012. Jalloh settled in Virginia and began wreaking havoc on the good citizens there, racking up a whopping 30 arrests. These included one for rape and four charges for stabbing Americans. 

Yet, thanks to the willful ineptitude of Fairfax County’s Democrat regime, Jalloh only had one felony conviction. He violated his probation, spent three months in jail and went free because of a deal between his lawyer and Descano’s office. Sanctuary jurisdictions like Fairfax County do not notify ICE when detaining or releasing illegals like Jalloh, who had a final order of removal from 2020. 

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Police in Fairfax repeatedly warned Descano’s office via email that Jalloh’s release would endanger the public, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Earlier this week, Jalloh allegedly stabbed to death 41-year-old innocent mother Stephanie Minter at a bus stop.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran as a moderate Democrat. But after her inauguration this year, she immediately showed her true leftist colors. She issued an order prohibiting cooperation between state officials and ICE. 

Several anti-ICE bills await Spanberger’s signature: (1) a prohibition against ICE arrests at courthouses (where these alleged dangerous criminal illegals visit daily); (2) a prohibition against ICE arrests within 40 feet of polling places (where illegals violate federal criminal laws by voting); and (3) criminal penalties for ICE agents who wear masks (because they don’t want to get doxxed and killed).

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)

If Spanberger signs these unconstitutional state laws, the Trump Justice Department should immediately sue and seek to enjoin them in court. A Virginia federal judge should issue an injunction, following the lead of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which fully stayed California’s unconstitutional prohibition against ICE agents’ use of masks.

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But civil enforcement is not enough. Virginia Democrat officials plotting to arrest ICE agents for doing their jobs (seditious conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 2384) — and especially those who cause the arrests (insurrection under 18 U.S.C. § 2383, assault, kidnapping, harboring, conspiracy, and more) — must go to federal prison for their serious federal felonies. If anyone gets killed in a deadly standoff between these new Virginia confederates and ICE, these Virginia Democrat officials must face felony murder charges.

VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS UNLEASH ON VCU NURSE FIRED OVER ‘HEALTHCARE TERRORISM’ ENCOURAGING HARMING ICE AGENTS

Former President Biden and his missing-in-action border czar Kamala Harris allowed millions of illegal immigrants, including the most violent and dangerous criminals in the world, to pour across our borders. Trump is doing everything in his power to fulfill his broad electoral mandate and undo the damage by arresting and deporting these illegals.

Virginia’s proposed laws do not merely prohibit communication between state officials and ICE; rather, they criminalize federal law enforcement actions that are plainly within the scope of federal immigration enforcement power.

Abdul Jalloh has racked up over 30 arrests since entering the U.S., according to officials. (DHS)

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States do not have to help ICE by, for instance, providing law enforcement resources to assist in ICE apprehensions of illegals. But states certainly cannot subvert or obstruct these federal efforts. This is especially true of Virginia’s attempt to arrest ICE agents in the line of duty, which could justify their use of deadly force.

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Virginia’s attempt to subvert and obstruct federal law must fail. We fought the Civil War because the Confederacy, headquartered in Virginia, sought to nullify federal law with respect to slavery. Today’s Virginia Democrats are reverting to their confederate roots. 

Just as the federal government did during the Civil War and for a century after when segregationist states continued their efforts to nullify federal law, the federal government now must stand strong against Virginia’s sedition and insurrection. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution makes plain that federal law is supreme in areas where the federal government has authority.

If Virginia gets away with effectively nullifying federal immigration enforcement, other states can nullify any other federal law that it finds distasteful. Let’s hope Abigail Spanberger comes to her senses and vetoes this insanity. If she does not, the federal government must use all tools at its disposal, including the Insurrection Act of 1807 and other federal criminal statutes, to preserve federal law. 

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Virginia state officials must go to federal prison for engaging in seditious conspiracy, insurrections and other very serious federal felonies. Anything less would threaten the existence of the Republic.

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South Carolina pastor describes evacuating members from Middle East after war broke out during Israel trip

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South Carolina pastor describes evacuating members from Middle East after war broke out during Israel trip

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Dozens of members of a South Carolina church are finally back in the United States after Operation Epic Fury left them stranded in Israel for nearly a week after their flight was supposed to depart.

Forty members of Calvary Chapel Summerville landed in Israel on Feb. 20 for eight days of exploration in the Holy Land. 

The group was set to fly home on Feb. 28 and had arrived at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. The attack prompted the closure of Israel’s airspace and the group had to evacuate the airport.

“It felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders and I just prayed and prayed and prayed and asked God to give me wisdom,” said Vic Carroll, pastor at Calvary Chapel Summerville in South Carolina.

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TRAVELERS STRANDED IN DUBAI PAYING HUGE SUMS TO FLEE ON PRIVATE CHARTER FLIGHTS AMID OPERATION EPIC FURY

Members of Calvary Chapel Summerville visit Al-Khazneh in Petra. (Melanie Carroll)

Carroll said the group had to shelter-in-place in Israel, going in and out of bomb shelters for several days. He then had to face the decision of the group staying or taking a bus to Jordan to have a shot at getting a flight back to the United States.

“We ultimately, you know, made the decision between what was bad and what was worse. I thought the worst would be to stay,” the pastor said. 

“We were instructed that if a siren goes off while we were on the road, the bus would pull over, we would all need to get on the ground, lay on the ground face-down for at least 10 minutes until the threat was gone, and then be on our way,” he continued.

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STATE DEPARTMENT USES PATRIOTS TEAM PLANE TO EVACUATE AMERICANS FROM MIDDLE EAST

The members of Calvary Chapel Summerville sightseeing in the Holy Land. (Melanie Carroll)

Fortunately, that did not happen and the group made it to the airport in Jordan to hop on a flight out of the Middle East Thursday morning.

Before the flight, Carroll said it was frightening, but their faith was greater than their fear.

“We’re just having to trust that we’re making the right decision, and this is our only option to get home, so we [were] just trusting in God,” he said.

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AMERICAN STUCK IN MIDDLE EAST ESCAPES IN RACE TO REACH CRITICALLY ILL HUSBAND IN CALIFORNIA

The group returned to the U.S. on Thursday night, landing at JFK in New York.

Melanie Carroll, the pastor’s wife, texted, “We are so thankful!!!!! It’s surreal!!” 

Melanie and Vic Carroll while visiting The Holy Land. (Kailey Schuyler)

The unexpected extension of the trip caused the price tag to increase significantly. Melanie created a GoFundMe, writing, “The path to get us home between lodging, flights and transfers will be upwards of $2500 per person.”

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The group was able to raise their goal of $100,000 in less than three days.

Melanie said the group is continuing to pray for everyone trying to get out of the Middle East. 

Nearly 24,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. after fleeing the Middle East since Operation Epic Fury began last week, according to the State Department.

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