Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced after a contentious nomination hearing Thursday that he would not support the Trump administration’s pick for ambassador to Kuwait.

Among other areas of concern, Cruz expressed alarm over Amer Ghalib’s refusal to outright condemn the Muslim Brotherhood, a group Cruz believes works against the geopolitical interests of the United States.

‘The Muslim Brotherhood is a global terrorist organization,’ Cruz said in a post on X. ‘Amer Ghalib refers to them as an inspiration. That is in opposition to President Trump and is disqualifying. I cannot support his confirmation for the Ambassador to Kuwait.’ 

Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., sparred with Cruz and other members of the Senate earlier that day, clashing with several lawmakers over issues like the United States’ relationship with Israel, comments he had made about the war in Gaza and more.

According to the Department of State, Ghalib was born and raised in Yemen before coming to the United States at age 17. After working full-time in an auto parts factory, he attended the Ross University School of Medicine from 2006-2011 and went on to work as a healthcare professional at the Hamtramck Medical Group until his entry into politics. 

Ghalib made news when he was elected as mayor in 2021, becoming the first Muslim to fill the role. In that capacity, he endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2023.

‘Mr. Ghalib’s journey began as a farmer in Yemen, then as an autoworker in the United States, a healthcare professional, and then as an elected mayor of his city. His multicultural experience, deep regional knowledge and demonstrated success as a politician, leader and community organizer, make him a well-qualified candidate to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the State of Kuwait,’ the State Department wrote in its summary of the administration’s nominee. 

On Thursday, when asked by Cruz if he still considered Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, a martyr, Ghalib initially skirted the question.

‘I was a private citizen in 2020,’ Ghalib answered, referring to the timing of a social media post when he had given that description.

‘I’m just asking your views. I asked you about today. Do you continue to believe that Saddam Hussein is a martyr today?’ Cruz asked again.

‘I don’t think that — there’s no doubt that Saddam was a dictator. I mean, I can say no. It wouldn’t matter. He’s in God’s hands; he’s going to get the treatment he deserves,’ Ghalib said. 

Hussein served as president from 1979 until his government was overthrown in the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the aftermath, an Iraqi tribunal found him guilty of willful killing, illegal imprisonment, deportation and torture, among other abuses. He was hanged on Dec. 30, 2006.

Ghalib and the Hamtramck City Council entered the spotlight in 2024 when the city voted unanimously to approve a resolution that, in response to the war in Gaza, required the city to avoid investing in Israeli companies. Citing that resolution, Cruz and other senators expressed reservations that Ghalib would be able to faithfully carry out positions held by the administration. especially if it were to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization or other policy issues that could conflict with Ghalib’s personal views on the Middle East. 

Those hesitations stretched across the aisle.

‘You liked a Facebook comment comparing Jews to monkeys,’ Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said. ‘You characterized leaders you don’t like as becoming ‘Jewish.’ As mayor, you failed to comment after one of your political appointees called the Holocaust ‘advance punishment’ for the War in Gaza, and you denied that Hamas used sexual violence as a weapon of war on Oct. 7.’ 

Ghalib did not deny authoring the posts. Instead, he defended himself by arguing that his comments had been taken out of context or that lawmakers had selectively misconstrued his actions. In response to Rosen’s remarks about liking a post comparing Jewish people to monkeys, Ghalib said that he had made it a practice to interact with all social media comments left on his page as a form of acknowledgment. He said those views did not reflect his positions. 

‘I think a lot of my posts were written in Arabic and mistranslated,’ Ghalib said in response to further questioning about some of the posts he had made himself.

The State Department and Ghalib’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rosen and other senators did not seem moved by Ghalib’s explanations.

‘That is beyond the pale. I will not be supporting your nomination,’ Rosen said. ‘And if you are confirmed — I want you to remember this, sir: You will be an ambassador for the United States of America. And, thus, as ambassador, we must show respect to everyone. We will be watching to see if that happens.’ 

No date has been set for a final vote on Ghalib’s nomination. 

President Donald Trump is heading off to Asia Friday evening, not long after North Korea fired off a ballistic missile for the first time in months and as questions loom regarding trade negotiations with China.

The White House confirmed that Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The meeting comes amid escalated tensions between the two countries on trade after Beijing announced Oct. 9 it would impose export controls on rare-earth magnets, which are used in a host of products ranging from electric cars to F-35 fighter jets. In response, Trump announced the U.S. would impose a new 100% tariff on all Chinese goods, which is slated to take effect Nov. 1.

Even so, Trump sought to diffuse tensions and has routinely touted his relationship with Xi in recent weeks. Additionally, he has voiced confidence both parties will walk away from the summit pleased and that a deal will be made.

‘I think we are going to come out very well, and everyone’s going to be very happy,’ Trump said Thursday.

The summit between Trump and Xi will mark the first time they’ve met in person since Trump took office in January. The two previously met in person in June 2019 in Japan.

Trump’s meeting with Xi will come on the tail end of a larger trip to the region. Trump is first headed to Malaysia to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim Sunday afternoon before participating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) dinner in the evening.

While in Malaysia, he will also meet with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.

Trump will then head to Tokyo Monday and is slated to meet on Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who was just elected earlier in October. Takaichi is the first woman to serve as the prime minister of Japan.

Trump will then close out his trip heading to South Korea, where he will meet with the South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and will deliver keynote remarks at the APEC CEO lunch.

Trump is scheduled to return to Washington Thursday.

Meanwhile, North Korea has upped its aggression in recent days, firing off multiple short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday, the first one Pyongyang has launched since May. Meanwhile, North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un showed off a new intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade in front of Chinese, Russian and other top officials Oct. 10.

‘We are aware of the DPRK’s multiple ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as other regional allies and partners,’ U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said in a statement on Wednesday.

‘The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts,’ INDOPACOM said. ‘While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory or to our allies, we continue to monitor the situation.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday accused President Donald Trump of ‘skipping town’ for a trip to Asia during the ongoing government shutdown.

Trump departed for Asia Friday night for a weeklong trip that will include stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. Republicans and Democrats remain divided on negotiations to end the shutdown that began earlier this month, with each side blaming the other as the GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.

‘In the midst of the longest full government shutdown in American history — a crisis of his own making — President Trump’s priorities are severely misplaced,’ Schumer said in a statement.

‘While Americans are struggling to make ends meet, federal workers are going without pay, and millions of families are bracing for soaring health care costs, the President is leaving the country,’ he continued.

Schumer added: ‘America is shut down and the President is skipping town.’

The senator said Democrats have sought to meet with Trump, but that the president is ‘abandoning’ his responsibilities.

‘Democrats have asked, again and again, for President Trump to meet with us to negotiate a bipartisan deal that would address the healthcare crisis, and find a path forward to reopen the government. But instead of doing his job, President Trump is abandoning it,’ Schumer said.

Schumer also called on GOP lawmakers in Congress to work across the aisle to reach a deal to end the shutdown.

‘With the President out of the country, the responsibility falls squarely on Congressional Republicans to act — to come to the table, to do their jobs, and to deliver an agreement that reopens the government and protects Americans from another health care disaster,’ he said.

‘Americans deserve a government that works as hard as they do— not a leader that flies away from responsibility at the time they need one most,’ the top Senate Democrat added.

While in Asia, Trump is expected to meet with regional allies about trade, including the trade war with China, as well as Beijing’s tightening of export controls on rare-earth minerals critical for certain technologies. 

The president is also expected to address security in the region and affirm America’s commitment to supporting its allies.

Analysts say China has developed a chilling strategy for fighting a war with the United States: destroy America’s fighter jets before they ever leave the ground.

In nearly every modern conflict, disabling enemy aircraft on the ground has been the first move. When Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites earlier this year, it began by destroying Iranian runways — grounding Tehran’s air force before it could take off. Russia and Ukraine have done the same throughout their ongoing war, targeting airfields to cripple enemy aircraft. And when India clashed with Pakistan, the opening salvos hit Pakistani air bases.

Beijing has taken that lesson to heart. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has spent years building an arsenal of long-range precision missiles — including ‘carrier killers’ like the DF-21D and DF-26 — capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers and striking American airfields across the Pacific. The goal: keep U.S. air power out of range before it can even launch.

Now, a U.S. defense technology firm says it has built a way to fight back. Shield AI, based in San Diego, has unveiled a new AI-piloted fighter jet designed to operate without runways, without GPS, and without constant communication links — an aircraft that can think, fly, and fight on its own.

Shield AI says the jet, called X-BAT, can take off vertically, reach 50,000 feet, fly more than 2,000 nautical miles, and execute strike or air defense missions using an onboard autonomy system known as Hivemind. It’s designed to operate from ships, small islands, or improvised sites — places where traditional jets can’t. The aircraft’s dash speed remains classified.

‘China has built this anti-access aerial denial bubble that holds our runways at risk,’ said Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft engineering, in an interview with Fox News. ‘They’ve basically said, ‘We’re not going to compete stealth-on-stealth in the air — we’ll target your aircraft before they even get off the ground.’’

The jet launches vertically, and three X-BATs can fit in the space of one legacy fighter or helicopter.

According to Harris, the U.S. has spent decades perfecting stealth and survivability in the air while leaving its forces vulnerable on the ground. ‘The way to solve that problem is mobility,’ he said. ‘You’re always moving around. This is the only VTOL fighter being built today.’

X-BAT’s Hivemind autonomy allows it to operate in denied or jammed environments, where traditional aircraft would be blind. The system uses onboard sensors to interpret its surroundings, reroute around threats, and identify targets in real time. ‘It’s reading and reacting to the situation around it,’ Harris said. ‘It’s not flying a pre-programmed route. If new threats appear, it can reroute itself or identify targets and then ask a human for permission to engage.’

That human element, he emphasized, remains essential. ‘It’s very important to us that a human is always involved in making the use of lethal force decision,’ Harris said. ‘That doesn’t mean the person has to be in the cockpit — it could be remote or delegated through tasking — but there will always be a human decision-maker.’

Shield AI says X-BAT will be combat-ready by 2029 and is designed to deliver fifth- or sixth-generation performance at a small fraction of the cost of manned fighters. The aircraft’s compact footprint allows up to three X-BATs to fit in the deck space of a single legacy fighter or helicopter, giving commanders more flexibility in launching sorties from limited space.

While Shield AI isn’t disclosing specific numbers, the company says X-BAT is priced in the same range as the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the next generation of autonomous wingmen meant to fly alongside — and eventually ahead of — manned fighters. Costs vary depending on mission systems and configurations, but the company’s goal is to scale production to keep the jet affordable and sustainable throughout its lifecycle, breaking what it calls the traditional ‘fighter cost curve.’

The company estimates the aircraft will deliver about a tenfold improvement in cost per effect compared to legacy fifth-generation jets, including the F-35, while remaining ‘affordable and attritable’ enough to be risked in high-end combat.

Shield AI is in discussions with both the Air Force and Navy about integrating X-BAT into future combat programs and with several allied militaries exploring joint development opportunities.

Harris said the company views X-BAT as part of a generational shift toward distributed airpower — one that mirrors what SpaceX did in space. ‘Historically, the United States had a small number of extremely capable, extremely expensive satellites,’ he said. ‘Then you had SpaceX come along and put up hundreds of smaller, cheaper ones. The same thing is happening in air power. There’s always going to be a role for manned platforms, but over time, unmanned systems will outnumber them ten-to-one or twenty-to-one.’

For Harris, that shift is about restoring deterrence through flexibility. ‘X-BAT presents an asymmetric dilemma to an adversary like China,’ he said. ‘They don’t know where it’s coming from, and the cost of countering it is high. It’s an important part of a broader joint force that becomes significantly more lethal.

In his Oct. 13 address to Israel’s Knesset in Jerusalem, President Donald Trump upset Israeli leftists when he called for Israel’s largely ceremonial President Isaac Herzog to use his one actual power – the power of pardon – and pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has been on trial for more than five years on absurd charges regarding cigars and champagne he received over 20 years ago from old friends.

Those charges fell apart in the opening months of the trial as one prosecution witness after another exposed the emptiness of Israel’s Netanyahu-hating prosecutors’ indictments against the country’s longest-serving and most successful leader. All the same, the Netanyahu-hating judge presiding over the trial is now requiring Netanyahu to appear in court three days a week for a total of 24 hours a week to testify.

Leftists in Israel dominate the country’s media and legal fraternity, much as they do in America. And they were incensed that President Trump dared to interfere in Israel’s ‘internal affairs.’ One anchorman referred to Trump’s call for a pardon as ‘disgusting, and revolting.’

But the truth is that by asking Israel’s left-leaning president to put an end to Israel’s Deep State’s assault on Netanyahu, Trump was defending America’s national interests.

This is true for two reasons.

First, the corrupt legal authorities involved in the trial are abusing their power over Netanyahu in a way that undermines American interests.

On Wednesday, just two days after President Trump gave his address, Netanyahu was back in the courtroom in Tel Aviv. He had asked the judges to let him delay his testimony so that he could hold certain meetings. The judges and prosecutors demanded to know what meetings could possibly justify delaying his testimony. He explained one was highly classified, and they demanded to know what it was about.

Within hours of the exchange, the story leaked that Netanyahu was scheduled to meet secretly with the president of Indonesia. The leader of the largest Muslim state in the world, President Prabowo Subianto, was scheduled to pay a top-secret trip to Jerusalem as a step toward opening diplomatic relations with Israel. This was to be one of the most important fruits of Israel’s U.S.-supported victory in its seven-front war against Iran and its axis of terror. But thanks to Israel’s corrupt legal fraternity, the meeting leaked to their press allies and President Subianto stayed away.

President Trump made clear in his speech that expanding the circle of peace between Israel and the Islamic world is a chief U.S. goal. Israel is America’s most powerful ally in the troubled Middle East. Trump sees it as an essential U.S. interest that the Arab and Islamic world accept Israel as a permanent entity and an allied state. But for Israel’s politicized Deep State, undermining and humiliating Netanyahu by chaining him to a courtroom and subverting his diplomatic actions is apparently more important.

These radical jurists must be stopped not only for Netanyahu to be able to devote himself entirely to serving his country, they need to be stopped to enable President Trump to secure America’s goals in the Middle East.

The second reason that ending this farce of justice against Netanyahu is in the United States’ interests is that there is a link between the forces of political warfare and lawfare in Israel and the U.S. If you scratch just beneath the surface, you’ll doubtlessly find that for the same billionaire agents of anarchy, who funded and brought the unprecedented lawfare against both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, working to undo Israel as a key way to unravel American society. For example, the Tides Foundation funds radical groups, including pro-Hamas protesters in America, and it funds groups involved in the protests and riots and political violence in Israel.

Tides is one of several foundations whose actions in the U.S. and Israel are the subject of multiple congressional investigations. One of the investigations focuses on well-documented claims that the billion-dollar, multi-year effort to criminalize Netanyahu that engulfed Israel in political instability for years, was funded in part by the Biden administration. That investigation must continue and the U.S. government officials who funded and facilitated political chaos in Israel should be forced to account for their actions.

Even more importantly, the IRS should investigate how U.S. non-profits groups that enjoy U.S. tax exemption valued in millions of dollars have abused their status to fund political violence, insurrection, and mayhem in Israel. In some cases, according to Hamas’s own internal documents, these U.S.-based non-profit-funded groups’ campaigns convinced the genocidal terror group that Israel was ripe for annihilation on October 7, 2023.

In his historic speech in Jerusalem, President Trump laid out great plans for building a new Middle East that will join Israel’s genius and power to the oil-wealth of its neighbors and transform the Middle East into a driver of global prosperity under American leadership. Trump would have been hard-pressed to lead this momentous undertaking if the Deep State were still persecuting him, his top aides and his children.

Netanyahu has miraculously been able to lead Israel to one of the most important military victories in its history. With Trump’s assistance, Israel destroyed Iran’s axis of terror across seven fronts. Netanyahu achieved this while forced to spend days on end in a courtroom answering asinine questions from shameless prosecutors before brazen judges.

Imagine what Netanyahu and President Trump would be able to do together if Netanyahu doesn’t have to spend 24 hours per week in a courtroom.

President Trump was right to ask President Herzog to put an end to the madness that is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s trial. And he would be right to order the IRS to start investigating the role American non-profits have played and continue to play in destabilizing Israel and corrupting its legal system. Israel’s leftists, like their American funders, may not like President Trump for doing it, but generations of Americans, Israelis, and peoples of the wider Middle East will thank him.