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Veteran and astronaut Mark Kelly went into politics after wife Gabby Giffords was shot

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Veteran and astronaut Mark Kelly went into politics after wife Gabby Giffords was shot

Astronaut, author and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., appeared to be a top contender as Vice President Kamala Harris’ Democratic running mate pick at least as of Monday morning — and if he were yet to be picked, could bring a dramatic life story to the ticket.

Harris is aiming to defeat Republican former President Donald Trump and his vice-presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, in the race to take the Oval Office.

Kelly enjoyed the triumph of rocketing into space four times as a NASA astronaut — and also suffered gut-wrenching tragedy when his wife, former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head in a 2011 assassination attempt. 

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He shared details of his life as an author of two books written with Giffords (he’s also the author of four astronaut-themed children’s books). 

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“Whether it was from my time in the Navy and at NASA, serving in the United States Senate, or visiting our troops overseas: I’ve learned that when your country asks you to serve, you always answer the call,” Kelly posted to X on Sunday, leading many to think she could be adding him to the ticket. 

Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to swear in Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., with his wife Gabrielle Giffords in the old Senate chamber for the Ceremonial Swearing on Jan. 3, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

The choice of picks appeared to be narrowing down quickly on Monday. 

Kelly was born in New Jersey in 1964. 

He flew 39 missions as a U.S. Navy aviator during the Gulf War, and served aboard four space shuttle missions, two as commander of the spacecraft. 

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He defeated Republican incumbent Martha McSally to win his Senate seat in 2020. 

Kelly and Giffords married on Nov. 10, 2007. She was nearly murdered little more than three years later, on Jan. 6, 2011, while greeting constituents in Tucson, Arizona. 

Commander Mark Kelly, right, is assisted by United Space Alliance suit technician Andre Denard prior to the April 2011 launch of space shuttle Endeavour. (NASA via Getty Images)

“Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope,” released at the end of 2011, chronicled their journey together before and then after the tragedy, which ended Giffords’ political career.

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“Gabby always loved playing with my wedding ring,” Kelly writes. “At almost every meal, she’d slip the ring off my finger and move it from her thumb to her forefinger to her middle finger. It was her little ritual, her way of fidgeting.”

“Her eyes remained closed, tubes were everywhere …”

That ritual proved the first sign of hope as she lay unconscious five days after she was nearly killed. 

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“Suddenly, as she held my hand … she actually pulled the ring off and began to move it around in her fingers, just like always … Her eyes remained closed, tubes were everywhere, but she was somehow able to direct the fingers of her one good hand to rediscover her old pastime.”

He added, “I was more than surprised. I was overwhelmed.”

Gabby Giffords, former representative from Arizona, left, and Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, in Statuary Hall ahead of a State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, March 7, 2024.  (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Just four months after his wife was nearly murdered, Kelly was “awaiting the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.”

Kelly was the commander of the spacecraft, which proved to be the last mission into space for both the Endeavour and for Kelly. 

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Kelly and Giffords tackled the experience from a more politically entangled in “Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence,” which they co-authored with Harry Jaffe in 2014.

Sen. Mark Kelly and Vice President Kamala Harris. Kelly was considered a finalist as a vice presidential pick for the 2024 Democratic ticket.  (Getty Images)

The book is framed, of course, by the horrific shooting in Tucson, when a man unleashed a torrent of bullets from a handgun. 

Giffords survived. But six people were killed and 15 others were wounded.

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“Gabby and I fear the country has veered off course when it comes to one important issue: how we relate to guns,” the couple wrote in the book.

“A basic freedom that both Gabby and I wholeheartedly embrace, the right to bear arms, has become radicalized.”

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Oklahoma man accused of threatening federal agents online

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Oklahoma man accused of threatening federal agents online

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released an image Friday showing a suspect accused of threatening federal agents being taken into custody by an officer from Homeland Security Investigations.

The agency said, “Threatening to assault, murder or interfere with a federal agent is a FELONY.”

“Logan Murfin of Tulsa, OK, has been charged with ten counts after posting on social media that federal agents need to be gunned down, shot & executed,” ICE wrote on X.

“Welcome to the find out stage, Logan,” it added.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shared an image Friday of suspect Logan Murfin being taken into custody, after he allegedly threatened federal agents on social media. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images; ICE)

The image shows Murfin being detained by a federal officer. In the background is a holiday decoration with the message “Season’s Greetings.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma said Thursday that Murfin is charged with five counts of threatening to assault and murder federal law enforcement officers with intent to impede, intimidate, interfere and retaliate and five counts of interstate communication with a threat to injure.

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Federal agents search for undocumented immigrants on Nov. 17, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)

“According to court documents, Murfin knowingly posted several threatening and intimidating statements on social media advocating for the assault and murder of federal agents,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Federal agents detain a person after attending a court hearing at immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York City on July 1, 2025. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“He stated that federal agents need to be gunned down, shot, and executed. Further, Murfin encouraged people to stay armed and to kill agents when seen because the agents don’t deserve to live,” it added.

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Republicans protest double standard after judges call Texas redistricting plan ‘racially gerrymandered’

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Republicans protest double standard after judges call Texas redistricting plan ‘racially gerrymandered’

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Republicans are accusing federal judges and Democrats of a double standard — arguing that they are branded racist for redrawing political maps while Democrats face no scrutiny for doing the same in blue states like California and Illinois.

“For years, Democrats have engaged in partisan redistricting intended to eliminate Republican representation. But when Republicans respond in kind, Democrats rely on false accusations of racism to secure a partisan advantage,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued on Tuesday.

Paxton made the comments after a trio of federal judges delivered a ruling that blocked Texas from using a new congressional map drawn by Republicans earlier this year which would have created up to five more right-leaning U.S. House districts. “To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map,” the judges said in the majority opinion. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

Republicans found this reasoning as hypocritical.

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“Both parties are redistricting to increase their political advantages, but only one party is being accused of doing it for nefarious reasons. It’s a double standard and I think most voters can see that,” veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News Digital. “The parties are simply trying to increase their representation in Congress.”

FEDERAL JUDGES BLOCK TEXAS FROM USING REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAP

Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general, during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, 2024. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The distinction between political and racial motivations for redistricting is crucially important. That’s because of a Supreme Court ruling that emphasizes states cannot allow race to be the main reason for redrawing district lines. But the ruling gives states a green light when it comes to political motivations.

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Paxton is appealing the ruling, which will head to the Supreme Court.

And Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also sharply criticized the ruling, saying in a statement that Texas legislators “redrew our congressional maps to better reflect Texans’ conservative voting preferences — and for no other reason.”

“Any claim that these maps are discriminatory is absurd and unsupported by the testimony offered during 10 days of hearings,” Abbott argued.

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But the ruling suggested that in calling on Texas state lawmakers to draw new maps, the governor pointed to a Justice Department letter that alleged the state’s existing 2021 congressional map was unconstitutional because of the racial makeup of certain districts.

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The judges’ opinion argued that by pointing to that letter, Abbott had “explicitly directed the Legislature to redistrict based on race.”

Gov. Greg Abbott on Nov. 14, 2025, in Midlothian, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

Democrats praised the ruling as a victory for the party — and for the Democratic state lawmakers who broke quorum for two weeks this summer and fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill in the Republican-dominated state legislature.

“Texas Democrats and the DNC fought valiantly for fair representation, and now, with this decision, the court has ruled that Texas Republicans cannot implement this blatant gerrymander in the next election,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.

And John Bisognano, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee president, argued in a statement to Fox News that “Texas Republicans drew a mid-decade gerrymander that was not only immoral, but also clearly illegal, as a Trump-appointed judge pointed out in his opinion blocking the map. The national gerrymandering crisis Republicans started this year in Texas threatens to draw voters out of a meaningful role in the electoral process – that’s why the American people’s rejection of this scheme has been so forceful.” 

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While Texas was the first red state to redraw its map this year at Trump’s urging, others have followed, including Missouri and North Carolina. And Ohio Republicans, thanks to a state requirement to redraw their maps, did just that, improving the GOP’s chances in two more congressional districts. A push is also underway in Indiana, with Florida and Kansas also mulling redrawing their maps.

Democrats are fighting back, led by California.

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California voters two weeks ago overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative which will temporarily sidetrack the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.

That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.

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“Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned — and democracy won,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who masterminded the redistricting push in the Golden State, wrote on social media following the Texas ruling.

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an election night press conference at a California Democratic Party office on Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)

Illinois and Maryland, two blue states, and Virginia, where Democrats control the legislature, are also taking steps or seriously considering redistricting.

And in a blow to Republicans, a Utah district judge last week rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of next year’s elections.

And while Trump, to date, hasn’t weighed in on the ruling, Attorney General Pam Bondi predicted an eventual victory for Republicans.

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“Texas’s map was drawn the right way for the right reasons,” she said on X. “We look forward to Texas’s victory at the Supreme Court.”

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The Texas ruling comes as the Supreme Court is actively weighing states’ use of race in the drawing of congressional maps. Justices heard a second round of oral arguments last month in Louisiana v. Callais, a case centered on that very issue. 

A majority of the court seemed poised to significantly weaken a key Voting Rights Act provision that prohibits states from diluting the power of minority voters, though the court has not yet issued a final ruling. 

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Social media erupts after far-left firebrand botches Epstein claims: ‘Insane accusation’

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Social media erupts after far-left firebrand botches Epstein claims: ‘Insane accusation’

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is facing backlash on social media and labeled the “worst candidate possible” after she botched her facts while trying to tie Republicans to donations from Jeffrey Epstein during remarks on the House floor. 

After a tranche of Epstein-related documents were released earlier this week, Delegate Stacey Plaskett, the non-voting congressional representative for the U.S. Virgin Islands, came under fire for texting with the disgraced financier during a 2019 congressional hearing about Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interest. 

Plaskett was fervently defended by several of her Democrat colleagues in the House after Republicans tried to censure her, including Crockett, who sought to accuse Republicans of their own ties to Epstein but failed miserably.

Crockett said she had her team “dig in” to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, which she claimed showed Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator and former member of Congress from New York, had accepted campaign donations from the disgraced financier in the past. However, the donations were from a different Jeffrey Epstein, prompting backlash from both parties against Crockett.

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Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, left, quickly clapped back after Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, inaccurately claimed he had received campaign donations from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Getty Images)

“If you’re looking for a good way to light $50 million on fire and lose by 15 points, then Jasmine Crockett is your candidate,” a Democratic strategist told Fox News Digital following Crockett’s floor remarks. Crockett has indicated she will decide by the Dec. 8 filing deadline whether she will throw her hat in the ring to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

“She’s got no shot to win that Texas Senate race, and screw-ups like this show why she’s probably the worst candidate possible,” the Democratic strategist continued.

Republicans did not hold back on their criticism of Crockett. 

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“Crockett should get censured for this and staff should be fired,” GOP strategist Matt Whitlock posted on X. “What a shocking embarrassment to go to the floor with this kind of insane accusation, and have the WRONG JEFFREY EPSTEIN.”

“Crockett getting this so badly wrong is I guess why politicians usually outsource their oppo research to the professionals,” Chuck Ross, a Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter, wrote on X. “But you also would expect a member of Congress to know more about FEC filings.”

“Jasmine Crockett completely misrepresented, indeed outright lied, about various GOP politicians’ potential past donor relationships with Epstein,” former New York GOP Congresswoman Nan Hayworth said. 

Zeldin was also quick to respond to the inaccuracy, noting the person he received campaign donations from was a physician also named Jeffrey Epstein.

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“NO [clapping emoji] FREAKIN [clapping emoji] RELATION [clapping emoji] YOU [clapping emoji] GENIUS!!!”

Jeffrey Epstein with ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who sits in jail on sex charges related to her time with Epstein.  (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

In addition to Zeldin, Crockett sought to claim other Republicans, such as Mitt Romney, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), George Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin and others also received donations from the disgraced financier.  

“This is a distraction. … Why are y’all more interested in talking about Stacey Plaskett than Trump’s relationship with the man?” Crockett asked on the House floor, calling Trump and Epstein “besties” amid a resolution to censure Plaskett. 

“Miss me with your moral high ground. Folks who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly: Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin. George Bush, Win Red, McCain-Palin, Rick Lazio. … If this is the standard that we are going to make, just know we’re going to expose it all and just know that the FEC filings are available for everybody to review,” Crockett said.

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Crockett had to be fact-checked just a few weeks ago for comments that attempted to make Republicans look like they were trying to hide facts about President Trump as it pertains to Epstein’s crimes. 

Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 22, 1997. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)

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During an interview on CNN, Crockett attempted to claim Republicans redacted important information from documents about Epstein’s crimes. However, the hosts of the segment jumped in to correct the record, telling Crockett that it was actually Democrats who decided to black out the name of one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre, who did not accuse President Trump of any wrongdoing. 

“Her recitation of the facts is simply, that, ‘I’m not going to trust Republicans. They probably made that up. And, by the way, we would never redact the name of somebody who is deceased anyway,’” conservative radio host Vince Coglianese said of Crockett’s CNN debacle. 

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“Jasmine Crockett was trying to — literally, on the spot — come up with a conspiracy theory in order to defend the callous and disgraceful behavior of Democrats. Where have we seen this before? Well, I don’t know, every Democrat made-up scandal about Donald Trump we’ve seen ever. They’re constantly trying to defame him. It’s the wrap-up smear constantly delivered over, and over, and over again.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for comment but did not receive a response.  

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