Southeast
Snopes' debunking of Charlottesville hoax shows Biden lied, says Trump campaign
The Trump campaign says a recent fact-check report debunking the claim that then-President Trump spoke favorably of neo-Nazis in 2017 shows President Biden and his campaign had promoted a “lie” and called on them to not promote the “hoax” again.
Left-leaning fact-checking website Snopes published a piece Saturday debunking claims promoted by President Biden and some members of the media that following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump called neo-Nazis “very fine people.” Biden has repeatedly cited the false claim, even saying it was the impetus for his 2020 White House run against Trump.
Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the Snopes fact check shows Biden and other “corrupt Democrats” promoted a “lie” and “hoax.”
“The Charlottesville lie was another hoax perpetuated by the corrupt Democrats and their mouthpieces in the fake news media, just like the Hunter Biden laptop, the Russian collusion scandal and so many others, all in an attempt to smear President Trump. Joe Biden’s campaign must end any advertising that pushes this lie because President Trump has, once again, been proven right,” she said.
LEFT-WING FACT-CHECKER ADMITS TRUMP NEVER CALLED CHARLOTTESVILLE NEO-NAZIS ‘VERY FINE PEOPLE’ IN BLOW TO BIDEN
Former President Trump told Columbia Journalism Review he had to fight off “unbelievably fake stories” during his presidency. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik/File)
Snopes detailed in its fact check that Trump was clear he was not calling neo-Nazis “fine people” when he made the comment at a press conference that year.
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“While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and White supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,’” Snopes wrote.
The fact check, which comes just days ahead of the first debate between Trump and Biden, now aligns with Trump’s longstanding argument that the remarks were taken out of context before they quickly spread on social media and were promoted by the left and members of the media.
President Biden (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The protests in Charlottesville in 2017, which played out across two days in August 2017, included White nationalists descending on the city who were met by hundreds of counterprotesters. The protests devolved into violence, including three deaths and dozens of injuries stemming from a car plowing through people and other attacks.
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Protesters are shown during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For the Washington Post via Getty Images)
The protests were condemned by both Republicans and Democrats as a hateful display of bigotry, including Trump at the time, who said in a statement that such protests and violence have “no place in America.”
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“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” Trump said in August that year. Trump added days later in a press conference that he condemned the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence” and came under fire from Democrats for his remarks that there was “blame on both sides” and “very fine people, on both sides.”
Biden cast the events in Charlottesville, and his framing of former President Trump’s response, as the incentive to run for the White House in 2020.
Former President Trump and President Biden (Getty Images)
“With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden said in 2019 when announcing his candidacy.
Biden has repeatedly pointed to Charlottesville as a moment of shame for the nation, including on the fourth anniversary, when the White House released a statement saying the rally was a “battle for the soul of America was laid bare for all to see.”
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Earlier this year, Biden was slammed for having his own “Charlottesville moment” as anti-Israel protests spread on college campuses nationwide in the wake of Hamas’ attack on the nation in October, sparking an ongoing war.
“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” Biden told reporters in April as the protests raged.
Critics of the president soon sounded off on social media that Biden’s comments echoed claims of what Trump said in 2017 about the Charlottesville riots.
Student protesters gather at their encampment on the Columbia University campus, April 29, 2024, in New York City. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
“This sure sounds like he’s ACTUALLY saying there are very fine people on both sides,” OutKick founder Clay Travis said.
The Federalist’s editor-in-chief, Mollie Hemingway, wrote, “President Biden says there are good people on both sides of October 7.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign for comment on the Snopes fact check and the Trump campaign’s response but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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Southeast
High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student
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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Guy Fieri once had ‘nothing else to sign’ on the beach but postcards; now, he’s built a food TV empire
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MIAMI BEACH – Twenty years ago, a contestant named Guy Fieri on the second season of what was then “The Next Food Network Star” showed up at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with little more than spiked hair and ambition.
“He came to that festival that year and was walking around signing postcards because he had nothing else to sign,” recalled Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and its New York City counterpart.
Today, Fieri is one of the most recognizable faces in food on television. But, in 2006, he was just another up-and-comer working a crowd on the sand.
Speaking to “Fox & Friends” from Miami Beach, Florida, Friday morning, Fieri said he wasn’t chasing TV fame.
“I was doing what I wanted to do,” he told Steve Doocy while walking the beach. “I wanted to be a great dad. I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to own my own restaurant. So, I had accomplished the things I wanted in life and never really saw the other side of it.”
South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Brian Schrager and celebrity chef Guy Fieri pose for a photograph back in 2009. (South Beach Wine & Food Festival)
Two decades later, Fieri still comes back.
“He’s been part of our festival every year since he won ‘Food Network Star,’” Schrager told Fox News Digital.
The knack for spotting and elevating talent is part of the festival’s legacy as it marks its 25th year in Miami Beach.
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Schrager recalled a similar instinct with Giada De Laurentiis. When her agent suggested she might be ready the following year, Schrager pushed back.
“I said, ‘I don’t want her next year. I want her this year so she’ll remember where she got her big start,’” Schrager said.
Giada De Laurentiis, pictured here in 2015, was another celebrity chef who got her start at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)
Yet the festival doesn’t claim to have created celebrity chefs.
“We don’t take responsibility for turning anyone into a superstar,” Schrager told Fox News Digital. “We do take some credit for giving them a platform and putting them in front of their fans.”
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars.”
Over the past 20 years, the platform has grown alongside the broader transformation of food culture.
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars,” Schrager said.
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What began as a one-day wine event on the campus of Florida International University evolved after Schrager was tasked with reimagining it. His directive was to “make it better — not bigger, but better.”
Schrager had a solution.
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is where chefs like Fieri “became rock stars,” said Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“Move it to the beach, partner with the Food Network, get all their celebrities and make it more than just local,” Schrager said.
Today, the festival draws marquee names from the culinary world as well as from music and entertainment. Among those who showed up for Thursday night’s Burger Bash event were comedian Bert Kreischer and Cloud 23 hot sauce founder Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.
Chefs don’t get paid for appearances at the festival.
“If it’s somebody new, the first question out of their agent’s mouth is, ‘Oh, what’s the honorarium? What’s the fee?’ I’m like, ‘Zero,’” Schrager said.
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham is among the celebrities to attend the food festival for free. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The model works, Schrager said, because the festival operates as a nonprofit benefiting FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
“Everyone’s doing it to support the cause, or they’re doing it because they want to do it,” Schrager said. “It’s not a bad place to be in the middle of winter.”
Schrager, left, appears along with Rachael Ray and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The festival has raised more than $50 million for student scholarships.
“To me, that’s why we do it,” Schrager said.
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Along the way, the festival has outlasted many imitators and weathered shifting food trends by staying nimble.
“We listened to the consumers,” Schrager said.
Fieri, left, and a shirtless Bert Kreischer share a moment onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“There was never any ego involved in this festival.”
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He added, “Our goal was never to be the biggest.”
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“It happens that we turned out to be the biggest, but being the best, or at least doing our best, has always been the most important to me.”
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