Why John Bolton is trending

2026-06-04T20:48:02.936Z / CNN Politics

Why John Bolton is trending

By Katelyn Polantz and Mounira Elsamra, CNN

Updated 5:06 PM EDT, Thu June 4, 2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/video/john-bolton-plea-deal-trending-cli-hrzn

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Why John Bolton is trending

The former national security adviser during President Donald Trump’s first term is expected to plead guilty to mishandling sensitive national security information. CNN’s Katelyn Polantz explains what investigators found in Bolton’s home that led the Justice Department to file charges. Discover more videos, including live streams and exclusive storytelling, on our Watch page.

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Sen. Ron Wyden wants to know why Leon Black paid Epstein $170 million for tax planning over 5-year period

June 4, 2026 / 6:10 PM EDT / CBS News

By

Graham Kates Reporter
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com

Read Full Bio

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon is demanding that a House panel question billionaire Leon Black over the extraordinary sums he paid Jeffrey Epstein for tax advice when he testifies before the House Oversight Committee later this month.

In a letter Thursday to the committee’s chairman, GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, and Democratic Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia, Wyden outlined the results of a four-year investigation into Black’s relationship with Epstein.

Wyden wrote in his letter that Black paid Epstein $170 million between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate planning advice.

“To date, I do not believe Black has provided a credible explanation as to why he paid Epstein amounts that vastly exceeded those paid to other professional advisors involved in his tax and estate planning,” Wyden wrote.

Wyden’s letter notes that in 2013 and 2014, Black also paid a law firm $2 million for estate planning, a small fraction of what he paid Epstein during those years.

“Black’s attorneys from premier law firms demand rates exceeding $1,000 an hour, yet Epstein was paid exponentially more than a small army of high-priced lawyers from firms,” Wyden wrote.

Wyden had written to Black in March to demand answers to questions related to revelations from the so-called Epstein files about Black’s “significant personal and financial entanglements with Epstein.”

Adam Fridman, an attorney for Black, responded in April, writing to Wyden that, “those materials do not contain any credible evidence that Mr. Black was aware of, or involved with, Mr. Epstein’s then-ongoing criminal activities.”

Fridman also accused Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, of seeking information outside the committee’s jurisdiction.

“We see no discernable legitimate legislative purpose underpinning the March 20 Letter,” Fridman wrote. “Congressional investigations are not vehicles for public inquiries about an individual private citizen’s personal life.”

Still, Wyden said Black has “refused” to respond to questions about “outstanding irregularities” related to his payments to Epstein.

A spokesperson for Black declined to comment Thursday.

Susan Estrich, an attorney for Black, told CBS News in December that Black requested an internal investigation at Apollo of his relationship with Epstein. The law firm, Dechert LLP, “investigated and reviewed more than 60,000 documents and concluded that Mr. Black paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice, no more, no less,” Estrich said.

Wyden also claimed that recently unsealed DOJ records “appear to indicate that Black may have funneled hush money payments to women using Jeffrey Epstein as a middleman,” and that Epstein “kept close tabs of women who Black had reached settlements/NDAs with and reached out to Russian government officials to help Black with these so-called problems.”

Wyden’s letter refers to an October 2017 email exchange in which a woman, described as an associate of Black’s, wrote to Epstein, “L mentioned he’s going to transfer me $100,000 but I’ve received $28,000.”

“The ‘L’ here seemingly refers to [Leon] Black,” Wyden wrote.

Wyden also flagged a $62 million legal settlement between Black and the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands “for all issues related to Jeffrey Epstein.”

“It is unclear what potential conduct this criminal immunity was intended to cover,” Wyden wrote.

美国总统特朗普的长子小特朗普星期四（6月4日）在瑞士苏黎世一场面向投资者的活动上说，他不会选择投资中国。图为小特朗普（左）与特朗普5月3日在白宫散步。 （法新社）

尽管美国总统特朗普政府正在推动改善美中经贸关系，他的长子小特朗普星期四（6月4日）在瑞士苏黎世一场面向投资者的活动上说，他不会选择投资中国。

据彭博社报道，小特朗普在活动上问及是否会投资中国时回答：“我不会。我认为我们不能假装中国是盟友，那样做是愚蠢的。”

与弟弟埃里克（Eric Trump）共同担任特朗普集团执行副总裁的小特朗普，在父亲重返白宫后积极推动多项海外投资与开发项目。他向现场投资者说，自己尤其担忧中国的法律体系，并认为这一体系对外国企业不利。

他说：“我想不出有哪个非中国企业在中国做生意时，曾赢得过一场诉讼。”

小特朗普发表上述言论之际，美国贸易代表办公室当天刚启动公众意见征询程序，准备落实特朗普与中国国家主席习近平上月在北京会晤期间提出的“贸易委员会”（Board of Trade）构想。

美国官员透露，双方正寻求确定各约300亿美元（385亿新元）的商品清单，确保相关贸易不涉及国家安全风险，并以此为基础降低部分商品关税。

特朗普去年初重返白宫后，美中一度陷入针锋相对的关税战。不过，双方随后达成协议，同意相互降低部分关税，美中贸易关系也因此出现缓和迹象。

Pentagon hires man who pleaded guilty in Jan. 6 riot for sensitive civilian job in special operations policy office

June 4, 2026 / 6:18 PM EDT / CBS News

A man who pleaded guilty to participating in the Jan. 6 riot as a 19-year-old — and later described the events of that day as a “disgrace” — works in a sensitive job in the Defense Department, a defense official confirmed to CBS News.

Elias Irizarry serves as a special assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense Derrick Anderson, who leads the military’s Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict policy office, a division that oversees special operations and irregular warfare capabilities, the official said. As part of that role, Irizarry has a top-secret security clearance.

He has worked as an employee at the Defense Department since early last year.

Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed that Irizarry works for the department, writing on X: “Mr. Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee at the Department of War.”

CBS News has reached out to Irizarry’s attorney for comment.

The Washington Post was first to report on Irizarry’s job at the Pentagon.

In early January 2021, federal prosecutors said Irizarry — then a student at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina — traveled to Washington with a friend and an internet acquaintance, attended President Trump’s “stop the steal” rally on Jan. 6 and marched to the Capitol.

An image of Elias Irizarry on Jan. 6, 2021, that appears in a Justice Department filing. U.S. Justice Department

He then climbed into the Capitol through a shattered window and spent 27 minutes inside the building, walking into a conference room and the Capitol rotunda while carrying a metal pole, prosecutors said. His lawyer said he entered the building to look for his acquaintance.

Irizarry pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. He was sentenced to 14 days of incarceration. Mr. Trump pardoned him and almost everybody else linked to the Capitol riot on the first day of his second term last year.

During his 2023 sentencing hearing, Irizarry expressed strong remorse, apologizing to police officers who responded to the riot and telling a judge his actions “brought great shame upon myself, my family and even my country,” according to a hearing transcript. Irizarry said he recognized the events of Jan. 6 were wrong as soon as he left and watched videos of the violence.

“I am ashamed because I will always be a part of this disgrace,” he said, vowing to “work as hard as possible every day for the rest of my life to redeem myself.”

His federal public defender also wrote that Irizarry was “just different” from many of the other Capitol riot defendants he represented, describing him as a “bright young man” who was not an election denier or a conspiracy theorist, and whose “regret and remorse stands out.”

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan described Irizarry’s sentencing as “one of the most difficult I have had of the January 6th cases,” citing his age and his “quite commendable” background. She also offered to write him a recommendation letter if he chose to reapply to the Citadel, which discharged him.

“Everybody makes mistakes; some are more serious than others, and yours was a big one,” Chutkan said during a sentencing hearing. “Life is like that, it takes us on strange journeys. You are at such an early stage in yours, you don’t know what road lies ahead for you. I suspect you are going to make something very remarkable of your life; I hope you do.”

FCC Chair says he has no plans to investigate CBS News for bias

7:12 PM EDT, Thu June 4, 2026 / CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/video/fcc-carr-cbs-news-lead-jake-tapper

FCC Chair says he has no plans to investigate CBS News for bias

The Lead

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr joins The Lead.

1:48 • Source: CNN

Trump’s arch not subject to law limiting D.C. building height, planning chief argues

2026-06-04 4:30 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

The federal requirement caps most construction in Washington to a maximum height of 130 feet,about half that of the president’s 250-foot project.

The U.S. Capitol seen behind D.C.’s waterfront in 2012. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

By Dan Diamond

The head of a federal commission reviewing President Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch said Thursday that he believed a federal law limiting the height of construction in Washington should not apply to the controversial project.

Correction officer testifies she was not the orange shape seen outside Jeffrey Epstein’s cell the night he died

June 4, 2026 / 7:24 PM EDT / CBS News

A former correction officer at the New York correctional facility where convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 testified before the House Oversight Committee last month that she was not the orange shape seen moving up the stairs of Epstein’s tier the night he died, furthering the mystery of what happened that night.

According to a transcript released Thursday, House Oversight Committee members questioned Tova Noel on May 18 about surveillance footage showing an unidentified orange-colored figure moving up a staircase at approximately 10:39 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019, the night before Epstein was discovered dead in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. His death was ruled a suicide.

In her testimony, Noel steadfastly denied being the individual in the footage, and maintained that she was not present at that moment. She offered no explanation for what the shape could be.

“To be very honest, I don’t know what it is, who it is, because I never went back to the tier, and I was never carrying anything orange at all, and I never issued anything orange to anyone in the SHU — not just only Epstein, just anyone,” Noel said.

CBS News had previously been the first to report the presence of the shape, as well as the FBI and the Justice Department Inspector General’s failure to question her about it. The Inspector General’s report had noted that it was likely her, but provided no evidence. An FBI log of the surveillance video had noted that it was possibly an inmate. The presence of an inmate outside of a cell at that time would have been highly unusual.

This was also the last time someone was seen approaching Epstein’s cell tier the night of his death.

This image from the video — zoomed in and highlighted by CBS News – shows a partial view of something orange on the stairs leading to Jeffrey Epstein’s cell tier. U.S. Bureau of Prisons

Because of a hard drive failure, a majority of the cameras were streaming but not recording that night, and the only available view of the Special Housing Unit, and specifically of the L tier where he was held, was from a camera on the other side of the common area that showed a partial view of the stairs leading to his tier, according to a 2023 report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General.

Noel acknowledged that she failed to properly conduct required inmate rounds and counts on the night before Jeffrey Epstein’s death, but denied any involvement in his death.

Noel, an Antigua-born immigrant and former National Guard member who served in Kuwait during Operation Enduring Freedom, testified that she had recently returned to work after a workplace injury and was working mandatory overtime during her first overnight shift in the Special Housing Unit.

Noel said she did not know who Epstein was when he was moved into the SHU, and was unaware of several special conditions associated with his confinement, including that he required a cellmate.

She also said she had not seen a posted notice requiring mandatory 30-minute rounds on Epstein. This notice had been printed on orange paper and attached to the computer monitor at her desk. She testified that she learned about Epstein’s prior alleged suicide attempt from his cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione the day after the incident occurred and had never seen a note reportedly connected to that incident.

This was in reference to the purported suicide note obtained by the New York Times last month. Tartaglione had been Epstein’s roommate when the alleged attempt occurred and has made claims to have saved his life that night.

Noel was asked about the 12 cash deposits beginning in April 2018 that had been previously identified by investigators. She said the money came from her personal savings and had no connection to Epstein or anyone associated with him. She repeatedly denied receiving money from Epstein or any affiliated individuals, but refused to disclose the source of the funds.

“Like, I deposited my money into my bank account,” she said. “And that’s from my personal savings plan. And no one has ever approached me about money or given me money in reference to Mr. Epstein at all, ever.”

Noel testified that she first spoke with Epstein on Aug. 9, 2019, and that she and a fellow correction officer delivered his dinner that evening, but she did not enter his cell. She stated that, despite failing to complete required rounds, she believed Epstein’s death would have occurred even if the checks had been properly conducted.

She also denied intentionally searching for information about Epstein on a prison computer, explaining that she clicked on a news article link that appeared on a homepage. Regarding the discovery of Epstein, Noel testified that she never entered the cell, did not see the body initially, and only observed Epstein’s feet while another correction officer, Michael Thomas, performed CPR. She said she first saw the body when it was removed on a stretcher.

She recalled inmates chanting, “Y’all in so much trouble,” after Epstein was found, and said she waited for others to respond.

When asked about an email released in Justice Department records alleging that she and Thomas were paid $6,500 to neglect their duties so that a man named Michael Rose could enter Epstein’s cell and kill him, Noel denied any knowledge of Rose and rejected the allegations. Throughout her testimony, she maintained that while procedural failures occurred, she had no role in any conspiracy related to Epstein’s death. There have been numerous conspiracy theories that Epstein was killed because of his connection to wealthy and powerful people.

In a statement, Noel’s attorney told CBS News Thursday that Noel “voluntarily appeared for an interview by the House Oversight Committee because she wanted to assist in providing clarity to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, ensure that the Oversight Committee has all the facts known to her — not based on speculation or conspiracy theories — about the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Epstein, and bring closure to her involvement in this tragic situation.”

CBS News has reached out to the FBI and the Justice Department Inspector General for comment, but have not received a response.

Exclusive: Video reveals damage from fire on US aircraft carrier after sources say fire control system failed

2026-06-04T20:57:18.766Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/04/politics/fire-gerald-ford-aircraft-carrier-video

• Newly obtained video reveals severe damage from a fire to a section of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford that the Navy initially downplayed.
• The ship’s fire-suppression system failed during the March blaze, sources told CNN.
• The carrier now faces at least a year of repairs after its record 11-month deployment.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

When a fire burned aboard the world’s biggest aircraft carrier in March as it took part in operations against Iran, the US Navy released a short statement saying the blaze had been “contained,” that two sailors had received medical treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries” and that the carrier was “fully operational.”

But new video obtained by CNN makes clear the fire was more severe and damaging than the Navy suggested. Bunks where sailors slept were totally destroyed, the video shows. What remained of the beds was charred, twisted metal beneath a ceiling also apparently hollowed out by the inferno. Wires dangled from the ceiling and heaps of ashes littered the ground around the bunks, according to the video.

“I seriously thought we were going to lose the ship,” one sailor aboard the ship, the USS Gerald R. Ford, told CNN, describing how he felt while fighting the fire. “It’s either fight or die.”

The ship’s fire-suppression system failed to work, leaving the sailors scrambling to put out the blaze, according to the sailor and a senior US official familiar with the incident.

The senior US official told CNN that the Navy’s public statement downplayed the impact the fire had on the Ford as it was in the Red Sea supporting US military operations against Iran, as the fire did have an effect on capabilities. Two days passed before the Ford was able to fly sorties again, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said in April, and the ship was forced to head to port in Greece for temporary repairs.

Asked about the extent of the fire and the fire control system’s failure to function, a Navy spokesperson told CNN, “The investigation of the fire is ongoing.”

It took the Ford’s crew about 30 hours to put out the fire, clean it up and prevent it from reigniting, and roughly 600 sailors lost access to their bunks due to damage, CNN previously reported.

“It shouldn’t have gotten that bad. The fire-suppression system built into the ship should have put it out,” the sailor said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation from the Navy. “Everybody — me included — helped put the fire out.”

Videos obtained by CNN and accounts of sailors on the Ford paint the clearest public picture yet of the adversity that sailors experienced during a record-breaking, 11-month deployment that included the war with Iran and the US military operation in Venezuela.

“Big fires are always a challenge, and this was significant — laundry and dryer-based fire,” Caudle told CNN after the Ford returned to its home port in Virginia. “The crew handled that so well, and they fought it brilliantly and courageously and basically was back in the fight within a matter of days.”

The $13-billion ship was central to US military operations against Iran. Pilots aboard the Ford flew wave after wave of bombing sorties that hammered Iranian targets. But the massive carrier wasn’t solely on the offensive.

The carrier strike group that includes the Ford was under “persistent threat from enemy missiles and one-way attack drones,” a Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the group said.

The sailor interviewed by CNN recalled at one point, when the Ford was in the Red Sea, seeing an orange streak in the sky as Iranian munitions appeared on the horizon. When Iranian missiles or drones would come within a certain range of the Ford, the ship would “sound an alert, telling us to expect to get hit and do damage control,” the sailor said.

The fire wasn’t the only issue during the deployment. The ship’s toilets were repeatedly clogged. Another video from aboard the Ford obtained by CNN shows human waste filled to the brim of toilet after toilet.

“If you were in the forward section of the ship, you’d have to walk all the way to the aft section, just to find a toilet that worked,” the sailor said.

The fallout from the fire could’ve been worse. Hunter Stires, who served as a maritime strategist to the then-Navy secretary until 2025, said the ship’s quick recovery from the fire was a testament to the crew’s training and resiliency amid a record-breaking deployment.

“Fire and flooding are the two greatest dangers aboard any ship,” Stires told CNN. “The US Navy, to its credit, has an organizational culture and design philosophy that is relentlessly focused on damage control preparation and system redundancy in order to assure ship survivability.”

“War and battle damage is inherently unpredictable,” Stires said, when asked about the failure of the fire-suppression system. “You don’t know what is going to break,” he said, adding that’s why training and preparing sailors is so important.

Commissioned into the Navy in 2017, the Ford is the newest and most technologically advanced of the 11 US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and has become a symbol of the strength, and limits, of US naval power.

The Ford’s electronic catapult system allows it to launch anything from small drones to big aircraft, giving commanders an array of firepower options, Brent Sadler, a 26-year veteran of the Navy and former submarine officer, previously told CNN. The other 10 US aircraft carriers don’t have that capability, according to Sadler.

The Ford’s deployment, which ended when it returned to Norfolk, Virginia, in May, also saw the ship help with the US operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The deployment — the longest operational one by a carrier since the Vietnam War — also included stops in the Mediterranean and Norway.

The Ford is now looking at an extended phase of maintenance from all of the wear-and-tear of the voyage, including additional repairs related to the fire. One US official told CNN it could be a least a year before the Ford is ready to sail again, and that other ships may have to fill the gap.

Kennedy Center to remove Trump name after court decision

2026-06-04T23:21:32.279Z / Reuters

Cyclists ride by the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renamed The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts by the Trump administration, after a federal judge ordered that President Trump’s name be removed from the building, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 3, 2026…. Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) – The Kennedy Center ​in Washington on Thursday ordered staff to remove President Donald Trump’s name from ‌the institution to comply with a federal court ruling, according to two people familiar with the directive.

The memo from the John F. Kennedy Center’s general counsel is the first indication it is moving to ​reverse the name change made by Trump to the iconic building last year. Trump ​said last week he was directing his administration to conduct a

SEE IT: Dem senators dodge on backing Platner as Maine candidate’s scandal clouds final days before primary

June 4, 2026 4:18pm EDT / Fox News

Platner also has an active profile on Kik, a private messaging app known for sexual texting, since 2016

By Hannah Brennan, Fox News

WATCH: Senate Democrats deflect questions on support for Platner amid sexting scandal

Democratic senators faced questions over whether they still support Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after sexually explicit messages surfaced, with several declining to give a direct answer. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)

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Several Democratic senators repeatedly declined to say whether they still support Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner when pressed about leaked explicit sexual messages tied to the candidate.

Platner’s latest controversy in the public eye involves sexually explicit text exchanges with multiple women that surfaced publicly while he was married to his wife, Amy Gertner.

The Maine candidate also has an active profile on Kik — private messaging app associated with casual sex and anonymous encounters. The app lacks proper identification methods that have led it to enable child predators to share inappropriate material.

His profile, Phustle0331, has been active since 2016, but Platner’s campaign previously acknowledged that the Kik account, which was created in 2016, belonged to him, stating that he had deleted the app from his phone but did not deactivate the account, according to The Wall Street Journal.

WATCH: SHAHEEN DODGES REPORTER’S PLATNER QUESTIONS AS AIDE CREATES DONUT DISTRACTION

Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner has had an active account on Kik since June 2016.(Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

While most Democrats were hesitant to vocalize their support for Platner, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., made it clear that he supports Platner in securing the Senate spot in Maine because of his opposition to President Donald Trump.

“We have in Maine, a candidate, that is Platner, who wants to stop Trump’s authoritarian destruction of our democracy,” Markey told Fox News Digital. “And we have another candidate, an incumbent, who hasn’t stood up to Trump. And so if you care about our Constitution, there’s really only one choice.”

Many Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have continued to back Platner despite the growing scandal, arguing that flipping Maine’s now Republican-held Senate seat remains a top political priority.

WATCH: CHUCK SCHUMER SIDESTEPS PLATNER SCANDALS, CONFIRMS SUPPORT FOR CONTROVERSIAL DEM

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., confirmed his support for Maine Democratic candidate Graham Platner on Tuesday amid mounting controversy.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Not all Democrats offered an outright endorsement. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said the decision ultimately belongs to Maine voters.

“I think that’s up to the voters of Maine to decide,” Shaheen said. “I don’t think inappropriate sexual behavior should be approved by anybody who does it, but the voters of Maine will have to decide that.”

Some Democrats declined to weigh in on the controversy or say whether they still support Platner as the countdown to Maine’s primary election enters its final days.

“I haven’t met him, I haven’t engaged with him, and I’m not going to answer that,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said.

THE GROWING LIST OF CONTROVERSIES THREATENING DEMOCRAT GRAHAM PLATNER’S MAINE SENATE BID

Sen. Chris Coons was among several Democratic senators pressed on support for Graham Platner amid the Maine Democrat’s growing scandals.(Nicholas Ballasy/Fox News Digital)

“I don’t do campaign stuff in the Capitol,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said when asked both if he was still supporting Platner and if he attended the meeting between some Democratic senators and Platner on Tuesday.

Platner invited the entire Senate Democratic caucus to a meeting Tuesday, though only about half a dozen senators were seen attending. Those in attendance included Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

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The primary election is set for Tuesday, leaving Maine voters just days to decide whether the controversy changes the trajectory of one of Democrats’ most closely watched Senate races.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.

Hannah Brennan is a Digital Production Assistant on the Politics team. She previously interned at the Aspen Daily News, where she covered local government meetings, community developments, cultural events and nationally significant political events. Her reporting included coverage of the Aspen Security Forum and appearances by prominent leaders such as former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. She graduated early with high distinction from the University of Colorado Boulder in December 2025 and joined Fox News Digital in January 2026.