The White House News

A mentally ill homeless man who attacked a Democratic congresswoman in an elevator was sentenced Thursday to 27 months in prison, according to authorities.

Kendrid Khalil Hamlin, 26, assaulted Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., inside her Washington D.C., apartment building on the morning of Feb. 9. 

Hamlin followed Craig into an elevator inside her Mount Vernon Triangle apartment building after she walked past him and said, “Good morning,” according to police. While inside the elevator, he began doing random push-ups, Craig told police. 

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He then asked Craig if he could use her bathroom, and when she declined, he punched her in the chin before grabbing her by the neck.

The congressman was able to fight off the attack by throwing her morning cup of coffee at him. He then fled the scene.

Later in the day, he attacked two police officers who were arresting him, according to authorities.

Hamlin did not live in Craig’s apartment building, but he was able to enter the lobby of the building at 6 a.m., when he defecated and paced around until Craig showed up about an hour later, the Star Tribune reported. He was reportedly acting erratically while he waited for her. 

Authorities said the attack was not politically motivated.

Hamlin pleaded guilty in June to assault on a member of Congress and two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer. Assaulting a member of Congress can carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, while assaulting a police officer carries a statutory maximum sentence of six months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. 

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He was handed down a 27-month prison sentence on Thursday, followed by 36 months of supervised release, prosecutors said.

His attorney said he suffered from a history of schizophrenia and substance abuse.

Craig detailed the physical and mental effects she was left with after the assault. She suffered bruising and a cut to her lip. 

“While my physical recovery was days, my mental and emotional recovery has taken much longer and is ongoing. My sense of safety and security has been significantly impacted,” she wrote.

“Following the attack, I have developed strategies with professional help to combat and address periodic anxiety. I have sought self-defense training.”

She also said she was “doxed” by a media outlet resulting in her breaking her lease and moving due to “targeted security concerns.”

Days after the attack, MSNBC briefly aired a copy of the police report that contained Craig’s address.

“I received a flurry of additional targeted physical violence and death threats to myself and my staff,” she wrote.

Craig wrote she hoped the sentence would ensure Hamlin is “held accountable for his actions” and that he would be provided with mental health services during his incarceration that will allow him to “become a productive member of society.”

Craig has served as the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district since 2019.

She is the first openly gay member of Congress from Minnesota and the first lesbian mother to serve in Congress. She and her wife have four children.

President Biden’s re-election campaign is reportedly weighing privately whether to join the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.

Axios first reported on Friday that Biden’s team was considering using the platform, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, though a spokesman for the president’s re-election downplayed the story.

The president’s talks about potentially joining TikTok come after his administration banned the app from being used on federal devices earlier this year.

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The Biden administration set a 30-day deadline in late February for government agencies to purge the app from federal devices.

The Chinese-owned social media platform is incredibly popular among younger Americans. Biden has joined forces with TikTok influencers amid his re-election run, and the Democratic National Committee itself joined the platform.

However, the president’s campaign joining the Beijing-based social media platform could present a unique security risks for Biden.

Most notably, the Chinese Communist Party’s cybersecurity law allows government authorities to access companies’ data.

Many Republicans resist using TikTok due to data security concerns, while an increasing number of Democrats, notably those with aspirations for higher office, have adopted the platform.

The Biden campaign pointed to a social media post published by spokesperson TJ Ducklo, who appeared to confirm that the campaign had at least discussed the possibility. Responding to the report on X, Ducklo wrote, “[laugh out loud] this is not a scoop.”

“Campaigns talk about a bunch of stuff and some we do and a bunch we don’t,” Ducklo wrote. 

“If we have news to share we’ll let yall know!” Ducklo added.

Parents Defending Education founder and president Nikki Neily connected the story to a recent revival of a terrorist’s defense of 9/11.

“Two days ago: Young people on TikTok are proudly spreading Osama Bin Laden’s infamous ‘Letter to America’ that blames America for 9/11 and calls for the destruction of Israel,” Neily wrote.

“Today: Biden campaign is considering joining TikTok to ‘reach more young voters,’” she continued, sharing screenshots of a pair of posts.

TikTok said it will remove videos promoting bin Laden’s infamous pro-terrorism “Letter to America,” citing violations of its rules on supporting any form of terrorism.

The anti-American and antisemitic letter went viral this week after being unearthed by social media users, prompting Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., to call for a ban on TikTok. 

“Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism. We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform,” a TikTok spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

The spokesperson also said “the number of videos on TikTok is small and reports of it trending on our platform are inaccurate.”

FOX Business’ Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfohn contributed reporting.

The Biden administration launched an investigation late Thursday into six top U.S. universities and one local school district over alleged antisemitic and anti-Muslim discrimination.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said in an announcement that five of the complaints launched Thursday evening allege antisemitic harassment while the other two allege anti-Muslim harassment. The list of schools include three Ivy League colleges — University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Cornell University — in addition to Lafayette College, Wellesley College, Cooper Union and the Maize Unified School District in Kansas.

“Hate has no place in our schools, period,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “When students are targeted because they are — or are perceived to be — Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, or any other ethnicity or shared ancestry, schools must act to ensure safe and inclusive educational environments where everyone is free to learn.” 

“These investigations underscore how seriously the Biden-Harris Administration, including the U.S. Department of Education, takes our responsibility to protect students from hatred and discrimination,” Cardona continued.

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Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon added that the agency recognizes the “fear students and school communities experience as hate proliferates in schools.”

Thursday’s announcement comes amid an uptick in anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses nationwide in the aftermath of Hamas militants’ surprise attack on innocent Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. Several protests have turned violent and Jewish students have reported feeling fearful attending classes or walking on campus.

“We have received the letter from the Department of Education and look forward to cooperating fully with the Department,” a University of Pennsylvania spokesperson said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “The University is taking clear and comprehensive action to prevent, address, and respond to antisemitism, with an action plan anchored in the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.”

“President Magill has made clear antisemitism is vile and pernicious and has no place at Penn; the University will continue to vigilantly combat antisemitism and all forms of hate,” they added.

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Alleged antisemitism on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks has led to multiple high-profile donors halting their giving to the school. And earlier this month, the school notified the FBI of threatening messages its staff members received targeting the university’s Jewish community.

Columbia and Cornell, the two other Ivy League colleges on the Education Department’s list, declined to comment.

“On Thursday morning, Nov. 16, the College received notification from the OCR of this complaint,” Lafayette College spokesperson Scott Morse told Fox News Digital. “We do not know why the OCR decided to include the College in this investigation. To the contrary, as recently as last week, students of differing views shared a peaceful gathering on campus to honor all those who have died in the recent violence in the Middle East.” 

“This event was typical of how our campus community has acted with care and kindness during this time,” he said. “The College maintains a firm stance against antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hate speech of any kind. The College is cooperating and will continue to cooperate fully with the DOE in their investigation.”

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A Wellesley College spokesperson said in a statement that it was informed by the Education Department that it was under investigation as a result of a complaint filed last month by two large Jewish student groups. On Oct. 19, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Jewish on Campus organization requested a federal civil rights investigation into an alleged antisemitic email that was blasted to students.

The Boston Globe reported that, after college administrators met with those responsible for the email, a subsequent apology was sent to students. However, one of the students responsible later said the apology was only made because administrators had “a gun to her head.”

“Wellesley was recently notified by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that it will be conducting a review into the complaint filed by the Brandeis Center,” Wellesley College said in a statement. “OCR is a neutral agency tasked with ensuring that higher education institutions are complying with the law; OCR’s decision to investigate does not presume that Wellesley has violated any federal civil rights laws.” 

“Wellesley responded quickly and decisively to the incident involving student leaders in a residence hall detailed in the Brandeis Center complaint and has shared its response in multiple communications to our community, while making clear antisemitism has no place at Wellesley,” it continued. “The Brandeis Center complaint also refers to a teach-in in which several Wellesley faculty shared historical context and perspective on the Israel/Palestine conflict with students.”

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“Reports from faculty who participated in the teach-in do not support these allegations. We welcome OCR’s review of both these matters,” it concluded. “Wellesley has been committed to addressing issues of antisemitism on our campus and will continue to work to create an environment that supports free expression and rejects all forms of hate and discrimination.”

And the Maize Unified School District, a local public school district headquartered in Maize, Kansas, confirmed it received notification of the investigation, but wasn’t aware of specific allegations.

“Maize USD 266 can confirm that the district received an email from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights at 6:38 p.m. on Nov. 16,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “A copy of the complaint was not provided to Maize USD 266 by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, so we are unable to make any further comment regarding this matter.”

“Maize USD 266 takes allegations of discrimination seriously and is committed to cooperating fully with any investigation. The school district is dedicated to providing a place for teaching and learning that prioritizes and champions respect and inclusivity and where all students and employees feel safe and valued.”

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art didn’t respond to a request for comment.

An anti-Israel protest at The Cooper Union, which is located in New York City, turned violent late last month and resulted in Jewish students being forced to barricade themselves in a school library on campus. One of the Jewish students targeted said protesters were “calling for the murder of Jews.”

Retired Army Col. Eugene Vindman, a key figure in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, is running for an open seat in the House of Representatives. 

Vindman had been a senior ethics lawyer on the National Security Council (NSC) in July 2019 when his brother, fellow NSC official and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, reported Trump’s now-infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Eugene Vindman alluded to his role in the controversy in a Thursday campaign announcement: “Soldiers are trained to run towards fire, no matter the personal cost. That’s why I’m running for Congress – to defend our nation against the clear and present danger of Donald Trump and the 147 Members of Congress who voted to overthrow the will of the American people.”

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“I want America to remain the land of opportunity, a refuge for families like mine, where hard work makes a difference, truth prevails, rights are protected, and we are all free to be who we are and pursue our dreams,” he said in the statement.

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Eugene Vindman is running for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which is being vacated by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., as she prepares to run for governor. 

“Abigail Spanberger served our district with integrity and passion, and I hope to follow her example,” he said. “Families are struggling to pay for gas, groceries and housing, while Republicans in Congress fight among themselves. They have no interest in governing. America’s enemies relish in their dysfunction and the divisions they sow.”

He’s the first Democrat to jump into the race, which is expected to be among the most closely watched House elections of the 2024 cycle. The district went to President Biden in 2020, but before that, Spanberger clinched it by unseating a Republican incumbent. 

Eugene Vindman launched his bid just as the former president is seeking to reclaim the White House for a second term.

He said that he and his twin brother were key to kicking off Trump’s impeachment over accusations of trying to get a foreign power to influence the 2020 election and obstructing Congress’ subsequent probe into the matter.

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Alexander Vindman had testified during a 2019 congressional hearing about Trump’s phone call with Zelenskyy, in which Trump pressed Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine.

Both brothers were dismissed from the NSC shortly after Trump was acquitted.

A May 2022 report by the Pentagon’s inspector general found that Eugene Vindman likely faced retaliation from his superiors after raising alarms about Trump with his brother.

President Biden signed a temporary spending bill that will push the ongoing federal budget battle into the next year.

Biden signed the bill Thursday after it was passed by both the House and Senate this week with bipartisan support.

The spending measure — conceived to avoid a government shutdown — will allow the government to stay open through the holiday season.

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While a more long-term solution is debated, the spending measure will maintain current government funding for approximately two months.

House Speaker Mike Johnson championed the spending package, and it passed 336 to 95 — just two Democrats voted against the bill, along with 93 Republicans. 

It also received votes from all but 10 Republicans and one Democrat in the Senate, passing on Wednesday.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described Wednesday as “a very, very good night for the American people” before announcing a government shutdown had been avoided, which he credited to “bipartisan cooperation.”

“Obviously, the Republican-led House needed Democratic votes to avoid a shutdown, and I was pleased to see that the speaker was willing to work with Democrats and resisted the siren song of the hard right in the House,” Schumer said to reporters. “And if that continues, we can avoid further shutdowns and finish the work of funding the government.”

Left out of the temporary spending measure was wartime aid for embattled U.S. allies Israel and Ukraine.

The White House is requesting approximately $106 billion in aid for the two nations as Israel continues its ground invasion of Gaza and Ukraine continues its war of defense against neighboring Russia.

Biden signed the bill while still in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Biden’s team announced the development late Thursday night after the president signed the bill at the Legion of Honor Museum, where he was hosting APEC summit attendees.