A New York prosecutor accused state Attorney General Letitia James’ office of directing employees to “find and pursue crimes” involving President Donald Trump and entities tied to him, according to a report.

The allegation stems from an email sent by Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld, who works in the Investor Protection Bureau of the New York Office of the Attorney General, which is led by Shamiso Maswoswe, the Times Union reported. The email was allegedly later wiped from the office’s servers, according to the outlet, while James’ office dismissed the matter as a personnel issue and rejected claims that the office was targeting people based on political beliefs.

Wiesenfeld alleged that Maswoswe directed him to target “Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard (DOJ approved merger)… without having a credible reason for targeting [these] organizations and individuals,” according to the Times Union.

Maswoswe previously worked as a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section from January 2016 until her termination in December 2017, under Trump’s first term. In February 2021, she filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Justice Department, alleging she was unfairly terminated and subjected to discrimination based on her race, pregnancy and caregiving responsibilities.

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Wiesenfeld reportedly sent an agency-wide email to colleagues Friday with instructions “to find and pursue crimes committed by specific individuals and organizations affiliated with Donald Trump,” the Times Union reported.

The email reportedly was then allegedly wiped from servers, with a subsequent email sent from James’ general counsel, Kumiki Gibson, informing employees that it was an “internal” matter and no employees were “in danger,” the Times Union reported.

“This is a personnel matter. The Office of the Attorney General is committed to upholding New York’s laws and protecting the rights and freedoms of all New Yorkers, regardless of political beliefs. We strongly reject any assertion to the contrary,” a spokesperson for the Office of the New York Attorney General told Fox News Digital.

The New York Post reported Wiesenfeld was placed on paid administrative leave.

“This is more proof of the weaponization of the justice system by Letitia James to target President Trump and her political opponents. The far-left Democrats lawfare against President Trump, his family, and allies must stop,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

Before Maswoswe joined James’ office in February 2022, she filed a discrimination suit against the DOJ.

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She filed a complaint in February 2021 alleging she was unfairly fired during the Trump administration in 2017 and discriminated against for being Black and having a child.

Maswoswe accused the DOJ of race discrimination due to her Zimbabwean descent and was scrutinized over her pregnancy, breastfeeding and caregiving responsibilities – seeking reinstatement, back pay and damages, according to court docs.

In 2023, the two parties reached a settlement with Maswoswe, awarding her $795,000 to resolve all claims related to her employment and lawsuit. 

DOJ expressly denied that Maswoswe’s claim were true and the agreement says the payment was a compromise of disputed claims – not an admission that discrimination or retaliation occurred.

James has been a longtime critic and legal adversary of Trump, launching a civil fraud lawsuit against him and the Trump Organization in 2022 after campaigning on investigating his business practices.

The case initially resulted in more than $450 million in penalties, though an appeals court later upheld Trump’s liability while voiding the financial penalty.

DETROIT — A propaganda newspaper that once accepted a massive grant from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation falsely described beleaguered leftist Michigan U.S. Senate candidate as a veteran, according to a copy of that paper obtained by Fox News Digital.

“El-Sayed — veteran, doctor, and former health official — is Democratic Senate pick,” reads a headline in the August 2026 edition of The Michigan Independent.

The papers were distributed in Michigan, and photos of the headline made the rounds on social media last week. The breadth of the paper’s circulation is unclear, but Fox News Digital obtained a physical copy in Michigan.

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The purportedly independent paper circulating in Michigan has a Washington, D.C. non-profit’s name and address — The American Independent Foundation at 800 Maine Ave SW — emblazoned in the bottom left corner of the front cover.

As it turns out, the papers aren’t independent at all.

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In 2024, The American Independent Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, received a $500,000 grant from George Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society, according to that organization’s IRS 990 disclosure form.

Soros, a billionaire businessman, investor and philanthropist, is a renowned leftist mega donor known for his support of progressive and Democratic causes. The Washington Free Beacon first reported the Soros connection.

The content of the Michigan Independent story mentions nothing of El-Sayed being a veteran, nor does it clarify that while El-Sayed holds an M.D., he has never been a physician.

El-Sayed’s campaign forcefully condemned the publication’s classification of the candidate.

“Abdul has never claimed to be a veteran, he never would out of his respect for those who served, and any outlet or group writing about our campaign should do their homework and not allow this to happen again,” spokesman Cole Wozniak told Fox News Digital.

The American Independent did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Twelve other state-based newspapers are part of the network Soros helped fund, including papers in key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia and others that have become increasingly important in the 2026 midterms due to competitive U.S. Senate races, including Maine and Alaska.

Some of the outlets share the same featured stories. At the time of this writing, both The Ohio Independent and The Pennsylvania Independent feature a story titled “Report: Trump and Big Oil see financial windfall as Americans pay more at pump”.

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An associated 501(c)(4) political activism organization, American Independent Media, is also affiliated with the network of news outlets. Each state-based website says it is a project of American Independent Media whose mission is “to use journalism to educate the public, giving them the information they need about local and federal issues.”

David Brock, founder of the far-left media watchdog Media Matters and a high-profile Democratic operative, is also connected to the shadowy network of papers.

He is the founder of the 501(c)(3) American Bridge, also a titan in left-wing politics. American Bridge’s 501(c)(4) arm, the AB Foundation, donated $23.5 million to American Independent Media in 2024.

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The story about El-Sayed was penned by Alyssa Burr, whose LinkedIn page says she’s the Michigan Politics Reporter at The American Independent.

She previously worked at MLive Media Group, which publishes prominent state newspaper Michigan Live, and before that, the New York Times.

President Donald Trump revived speculation over regime change in Iran Tuesday night, openly asking when Iranians would “rise up and fight” as his administration intensified military and economic pressure on a government US officials say is increasingly vulnerable.

“I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday. “I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing.”

“They are just playing out the inevitable,” Trump added. “When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”

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Trump sharpened those remarks later Wednesday when Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked whether he would send the CIA to arm Iranians if he wants them to “rise up and fight.” 

“I’d love to tell you that, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to say,” Trump responded from the Oval Office.

Trump said he understood why Iranians have not risen in larger numbers, arguing that protesters face deadly repression from the government. 

“Most people can’t kill their own people like that. Most people try and reason when they talk. And then there might be an overthrow. In Iran, they kill people. … They shoot them right between the eyes. They have two forms: machine guns and snipers. … They like the snipers better because all they do is have a crowd of 200,000 people, and a person goes down here right between the eyes, and they’ll have three snipers doing it. And, it’s a horrible thing to watch,” he said. 

“So that’s why it’s not happening,” the president added, “And who can blame them? Who can blame them? But the regime is getting weaker by the day… And at some point, they’re not going to be able to shoot so easily because I think the people aren’t going to take it,” Trump said. “But I did pose that question because, you know, it would be time.”

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described Iran as being in a “death spiral” during remarks Monday, arguing that economic pressure was rapidly narrowing the government’s options.

“They are panicked. They are resorting to kinetic because they are getting squeezed economically,” Bessent told Ed Lawrence on Fox Business.

Bessent said Iran could eventually face one of three outcomes: “Either the IRGC are going to turn on each other, the people are going to turn on them, or they are going to come to the table and want to do a deal that they can stick with.”

“They are in the death throes,” he added, comparing Iran’s deterioration to bankruptcy occurring “slowly, then quickly.”

Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Treasury sanctions official, told Fox News Digital that Washington does not need to choose between invading Iran to overthrow the government and striking another agreement with Tehran.

“It’s very clear U.S. government is not in the business of regime change anymore,” Maleki said. “And I think it’s very clear that we’re not going to have boots on the ground to invade Iran. And I don’t think we need that.”

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Instead, Maleki argued Washington should “contain this regime, cut off its economic lifelines, empower the Iranian people” and prepare for another wave of demonstrations inside Iran.

“We need to be prepared to support the Iranian people in a way that they can be empowered and take the government back,” he said, stressing the importance of ensuring protesters maintain access to the internet so they can communicate, mobilize and make their voices heard.

Maleki described Iran’s leadership as the weakest it has been since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and argued that further Iranian military escalation could deepen its vulnerability rather than restore lost leverage.

The debate comes as reports of localized economic protests continue to emerge from inside Iran.

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The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled Iranian opposition coalition, said Tuesday that workers, retirees, drivers and job-seeking young people demonstrated in several cities on Aug. 31. The group alleged security forces opened fire on job seekers in Gachsaran and Ahvaz and reported separate demonstrations over unpaid wages, inflation, fuel shortages and working conditions. Those specific claims have not been independently verified by Fox News Digital.

Iran analyst Benny Sabti also told Fox News Digital that deteriorating living conditions could become a catalyst for broader unrest. “People are hungry,” Sabti said, predicting Iranians would “take the streets again.”

“Hunger is humiliating,” he said, arguing that economic desperation could eventually outweigh fear of the government’s security apparatus.

The political stakes are rising alongside a dramatic military escalation. US forces carried out another wave of strikes Tuesday against Iranian air-defense systems, radar installations, maritime assets and mine-laying capabilities, according to US Central Command, while Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against US assets across the region.

For Trump, however, Tuesday night’s post suggested the question may no longer be only whether economic pressure brings Tehran back to negotiations — but what happens inside Iran if it does not.

Former state Sen. Troy Jackson, who has replaced Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, backed bills seeking to send millions of dollars in public funds to a college while his son lobbied on its behalf, documents show.

Jackson’s son, Chace, was registered as a lobbyist for the Maine Maritime Academy at the same time his father was serving as president of the Maine Senate, according to state lobbying records. 

In 2024, the elder Jackson co-sponsored legislation that would have sent $13.4 million to the maritime academy after pushing a bill providing the institution with an additional $2 million per year in 2023. Both pieces of legislation were drafted while Jackson’s son was lobbying for the college.

“Troy Jackson authored Augusta’s failed status quo and has turned public office into a family affair of self-enrichment,” National Republican Senatorial Committee press secretary Bernadette Breslin told Fox News Digital. “He’ll always prioritize personal kickbacks over the needs of working Mainers.”

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Before his son was lobbying on its behalf, Jackson also supported legislation in early 2022 that provided the academy with a one-time $6.8 million payment to fund repairs to one of its buildings.

Jackson’s son first registered as a lobbyist for the Maine Maritime Academy in December 2022, according to public records. He renewed his lobbying registration in January 2024, just as his father was co-sponsoring legislation that would have sent over $10 million to the academy.

While the Maine Maritime Academy funding boost Jackson backed in 2023 went into effect, his 2024 bill passed the Maine Senate but was never signed into law.

“Troy Jackson has fought for working Mainers and [is] guided by one goal: fixing our broken system, so Maine’s working families stop getting squeezed while the rich get richer,” a spokesperson for the Jackson campaign told The Washington Free Beacon, which first reported on the lobbying records.

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In April, Jackson justified his failed run for governor by claiming that the “status quo isn’t working” in Maine because of “special interests, high-priced lobbyists and corporate greed.” In addition to representing the Maine Maritime Academy, Chace Jackson works as one of the expensive lobbyists his father has criticized, at one point representing the multinational alcohol company behind premium beverages such as Johnnie Walker whiskey and Don Julio tequila.

In 2024, while his father was the Maine Senate president, the younger Jackson represented nine clients. That sum dropped to five clients after his father left the chamber in 2025.

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A bill targeting an oil and gas giant died in the Maine Senate during Jackson’s Maine Senate tenure and while his son was lobbying on behalf of the fossil fuel corporation in question.

The former state senator is facing off against incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November. Jackson replaced Platner as the Democrat on the ballot after his campaign was hit with a series of controversies, ranging from crude deleted Reddit posts to a Nazi-linked tattoo, which culminated in an allegation of rape, prompting the self-identified oyster farmer to drop out of the race.

Jackson, his son and the Maine Maritime Academy did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

Americans remain starkly divided on whether President Donald Trump should be allowed to build a ballroom on the site of the White House’s East Wing, according to people who spoke with Fox News Digital last week.

Trump has called the ballroom an improvement and a necessity for the White House, arguing it would help avoid another near-death experience for himself, the press and dignitaries after a gunman charged into the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in May.

“No, definitely not,” Frank of Kansas City, Missouri, said of the ballroom project’s necessity.

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“Tearing down the East Wing without all proper authorizations was improper. The way the money is being raised is improper, so I’m ‘no’ to all of it.”

Frank appeared to allude to the litigation the administration is fighting to keep its project afloat.

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Danisha from Washington, however, said she approved of the new project in her hometown.

She professed to be an ardent supporter of Trump’s and said he deserves to have a ballroom.

“I think the White House definitely should use the ballroom to be beautiful and nice. Because, I think that the president should be able to have fun and invite people to the ballroom,” she said.

Sherry and Bill from Knoxville sided with the president on the project:

Bill called the U.S. the “greatest country in the world” and therefore a ballroom for the president is a great idea.

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“It’s brilliant,” Sherry added. “We need it.”

“Who cares who’s in the administration, Democrat or Republican? They’re gonna use the ballroom,” Bill said. Sherry noted the ballroom is privately funded, suggesting that aspect should assuage tax-sensitive critics.

Meanwhile, Chuck from Washington called the ballroom a “horrible idea” in the present and in the future.

“There’s so much more we have to tackle. And building a ballroom should not be a priority one or a priority two,” he said.

As of Monday, the Supreme Court allowed construction to proceed as litigation makes its way through the appeals process, with plaintiffs seeking relief from the high court if it chooses to hear the full case, according to reports.

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