Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said Monday that he believes President Biden presents a greater threat to democracy than former President Trump.

Kennedy said during an appearance on CNN’s ‘OutFront’ that Biden is a ‘much worse’ threat to democracy than Trump because the current president has been ‘weaponizing’ federal agencies to censor his political opponents.

‘I can make the argument that President Biden is much worse,’ Kennedy said. ‘And the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech or censor his opponent.’

‘The greatest threat to democracy is not somebody who questions election returns but a President of the United States who will use the power of his office to force the social media companies Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, to open a portal and give access to that portal to the FBI, CIA, the IRS, the NIH, to censor his political critics,’ he added.

Kennedy Jr. initially challenged Biden for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination before launching a White House bid as an independent in October to take on Biden and Trump in the 2024 election.

The comments come after Biden has made repeated claims that Trump is a threat to democracy over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, for which the former president has been charged at the federal level. Trump, who has falsely alleged over the past three and a half years that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him due to voter fraud, said in December that Biden is the ‘real threat.’

CNN host Erin Burnett pressed Kennedy on how Trump’s alleged role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election results was not a threat to democracy. Kennedy admitted that the allegations against Trump do represent a threat to democracy, but that Biden’s efforts to stifle speech are still worse.

‘I think that is a threat to democracy if we’re trying to overthrow the election, clearly a threat,’ he said. ‘But the question was ‘Who was a worse threat to democracy?’ And what I would say is I, you know, I’m not going to answer that question and argue that President Biden is because the First Amendment, Erin, is the most important.’

When asked to clarify if he could make an argument that Biden is worse for U.S. democracy than Trump, Kennedy responded, ‘Absolutely.’

A longtime Democratic political operative behind a network of left-leaning media organizations masquerading as ‘independent’ local news outlets has maintained access to the upper echelons of President Biden’s White House.

Tara McGowan, the founder and publisher of Courier Newsroom, has visited the Biden White House nearly 20 times, a Fox News Digital review found.

McGowan, CEO and founder of Courier Newsroom’s parent, Good Information Inc., participated in several one-on-one meetings with top White House aides. For example, McGowan met with Jordan Finkelstein, who was serving as a chief of staff to one of President Biden’s senior advisers, at least six times between October 2022 and October 2023.

Another top aide who was listed on the visitor logs for McGowan’s White House visits was Patrick Stevenson. Stevenson’s LinkedIn page reveals he is the ‘Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Digital Strategy.’ 

Stevenson’s role in helping lead the White House’s digital strategy could raise questions about coordination between McGowan’s network of media outlets and the White House due to Courier Newsroom’s business model revolving around online engagement and messaging on social media.

Two other top White House aides who McGowan met with were Madeline Strasser, who previously served as an adviser to then-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, and Nina Srivastava, who also served as an adviser to Klain. The pair of Klain advisers met with McGowan several times, according to the visitor logs between April 2022 and August 2022.

McGowan’s Instagram account also shows a picture of her alongside President Biden and first lady Jill Biden in front of a Christmas tree, but Fox News Digital could not confirm the date or year of the picture.

McGowan, who worked on former President Obama’s re-election campaign and later for Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC that backed Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential candidacy, launched Good Information Inc., in 2021 to counter ‘fake news’ and disinformation.

As part of its operations, Good Information acquired Courier Newsroom, which McGowan also founded. 

McGowan’s access to Biden’s White House appeared to pay off for her operation when Courier Newsroom landed an exclusive interview with the president late last year.

‘The White House invited COURIER for an exclusive interview with the President backstage after his rally at the Belvidere Stellantis auto plant in Illinois this fall,’ Courier wrote in its year-end report. ‘One of our national social correspondents got to talk with the President about jobs and workers, sharing exclusive video footage with our audiences across TikTok, Instagram, X, and other channels.’

The Courier News interview with Biden appears to have occurred on Nov. 9 and was posted on TikTok on Nov. 13. White House visitor logs show that McGowan’s second of two White House visits with Stevenson, the top digital White House adviser, occurred one day after the interview was posted on TikTok. 

‘The Biden Administration doesn’t get enough credit for how deeply and strategically they have begun to embrace new models of media, journalism, and social influencers to get their message across to audiences that are no longer reached by the traditional press corps,’ the report states.

Courier Newsroom also undertook a seven-figure ad campaign to boost Democratic politicians during the 2020 elections, and some of its news pieces mirrored the politicians’ own press releases, the Washington Free Beacon previously reported.

At the time, Courier Newsroom had digital outlets and staffed them with reporters in battleground states such as Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Last summer, Courier was beefing up its infrastructure ahead of the 2024 elections by launching additional newsrooms in Nevada, Texas and New Hampshire, according to an Axios report.

The move brought the total number of newsrooms to 11 nationwide, with each newsroom having its own website for the state where it is located.

In 2021, Gabby Deutch, who the Washington Post described as ‘the Washington correspondent for NewsGuard, a New York-based nonpartisan organization that reviews news sites to combat misinformation,’ penned an op-ed criticizing Courier Newsroom as a ‘political operation’ and argued it is ‘exploiting the widespread loss of local journalism to create and disseminate something we really don’t need: hyperlocal partisan propaganda.’

The organization, meanwhile, has received millions of dollars in funding from liberal mega-donors. The George Soros-bankrolled Open Society Foundations is one such institution that has provided vast amounts of cash to its operations.

According to a search of its grant database, the Fund for Policy Reform, one of the nonprofits in the Soros network, provided Courier Newsroom with three grants totaling $5 million in 2021 and 2022 to ‘support its non-partisan journalism, which aims to further the common good and general welfare of U.S. communities by providing access to information.’

Open Society Foundations stood by their past financial support of Courier Newsroom, calling it ‘values-driven journalism.’

‘Open Society is proud to be among several funders who support Courier Newsroom, which is responding to the disappearance of so many trusted local news organizations across the United States to provide quality, local, values-driven journalism and to meet readers where they are — online,’ an Open Society Foundations spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

One of the grants was earmarked for supporting ‘journalism on democracy and voting rights issues,’ according to the database. 

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, another left-wing mega-donor, has also provided Courier Newsroom with significant funding, according to reports.

We’re ‘proud to have restored White House press briefings and to engage with a wide range of media,’ White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital, ignoring an inquiry about the nature of the meetings.

McGowan’s Good Information Inc. did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on her access to Biden’s administration and the nature of her White House visits. 

JERUSALEM — Families of U.S. citizens being held hostage by Hamas since its brutal terror attack in southern Israel six months ago expressed frustration this week that mediation talks keep stalling and have failed to bring their loved ones home. Some also said they are disappointed that political interests seem to be a higher priority than saving lives. 

‘We live in a different galaxy, all of us families and every day is a decision to get up and pretend to be a human,’ Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, who was kidnapped by Hamas from a music festival taking place near the border with Gaza on Oct. 7, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

The Chicago-born mother of three, who moved to Israel with her husband, Jon, and their children in 2008, said, ‘We run to the ends of the Earth, and we work as hard as we can, and we talk to everyone possible to try to flip the stone that’s going to bring our loved ones home.’

‘We’re in a constant state of trauma, terror, agony, angst, misery, it’s constant. There’s never one second of not feeling trauma,’ said Goldberg-Polin, who last heard from her son minutes before his arm was blown off by terrorists. 

Grisly footage shows him grasping his bloody arm while being loaded into a truck along with several other hostages before being driven into captivity in Gaza. Since then, there have been no signs he is still alive nor any that he is among the dead.

Goldberg-Polin said it was impossible to describe the feeling of being stuck in such ‘ambiguous trauma.’ She also expressed hope that those negotiating for her son’s release ‘would do what is right for the people, even if it isn’t always right for them.’ 

‘I want to pray and be optimistic and hopeful that our leaders will be leaders,’ she said. ‘Being a leader means doing what’s right for the people, even if it isn’t always right for the leaders. It requires a lot of courage and selflessness and tenacity and bravery, and that’s what I wish for the leaders of all these different entities that are trying to lean in.’

Representatives from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, as well as some other countries, have been locked in negotiations, mediating between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hamas organization since the war in Gaza started last October. Sparked by a mass attack in which thousands of Palestinian terrorists infiltrated Israel’s southern border, the killing spree left more than 1,200 people dead with some 250 others, mostly civilians, taken hostage.

A weeklong cease-fire last November saw Hamas release more than 100 hostages, and in recent weeks those survivors have spoken out about what they endured, including beatings, sexual assault and, in some cases, being held in underground cages. The hostages were denied food, water and adequate medical attention, according to some of those who are now home.

Around 135 hostages remain in captivity, including eight U.S. citizens, with Hamas refusing to allow international relief agencies to visit or attend to them. While three of the eight U.S. hostages have been confirmed dead based on intelligence gathered by the Israeli army, the families of those who may still be alive fear time is rapidly running out to save their loved ones. 

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, was kidnapped from his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz, shared with Fox News Digital the despair of not knowing his son’s fate. 

‘There have been ups and downs, mostly downs, in these days, weeks and months, but I try not to get into the emotional roller coaster because then it would simply be impossible to function,’ he said. ‘We just have to get up every day and try to find every means possible to bring closer that day when our loved ones will return.’ 

The Connecticut-born Dekel-Chen said he had been in close contact with the U.S. administration ‘on every level’ since the early days of the war and described the support as ‘extraordinary.’

‘We’ve had steady meetings with the national security adviser, the chief negotiator and with senior people at the CIA,’ he said. ‘They’ve been as transparent as they possibly can be with us about the U.S. position in the negotiations and what it is that they’re trying to do.’

Dekel-Chen said he recently spent two hours at the White House meeting with President Biden. He also said that he has experienced ‘wall-to-wall solidarity’ in Congress, including from those who have been critical of Israel’s actions during the war.

However, Dekel-Chen said that ‘the only way we’ll know if enough is being done is when the 134 people are back in Israel.’

In addition to Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Sagui Dekel-Chen, the other U.S. citizens being held captive in Gaza include 64-year-old Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife, Aviva, from their home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza – Aviva was released during the November cease-fire; Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli soldier originally from Tenafly, New Jersey; and Omer Neutra, another soldier, from Long Island, New York; Three other U.S. citizens – Judy Weinstein and her husband, Gad Haggai, and 19-year-old Itay Chen – are believed to have been murdered by Hamas, who are still holding onto their bodies.

Ruby Chen, Itay’s father, said that he believed ‘being a U.S. citizen would provide Itay with additional protection’ and that immediately following the Oct. 7 attacks he organized a demonstration and a press conference to raise awareness of their plight. Not long after that, the families of U.S. citizens were contacted by representatives from the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, he said. Since then, they have been in constant contact with members of the administration, which has spared no efforts to talk and meet with them.

‘On the Friday [after the attack], we had a call with the president that was scheduled to last 15 minutes, but he stayed on the call for more than an hour, listening to everyone,’ Chen said. ‘It was clear that it was a higher priority for him to do everything possible to get all the hostages out.’

But Chen – who was informed on March 12 that Itay was murdered on Oct. 7 and that his body was taken to Gaza – said he is no longer convinced that the U.S. approach to freeing those being held is effective.

‘We are now six months after and the U.S.’s working assumption has not gotten us to the point where the eight U.S. citizens being held have been released,’ the New York native said, explaining that the U.S. believes Israel will be able to reach a deal to release the U.S. citizens along with the Israeli citizens. 

‘The U.S. administration should be asking itself what the best course of action is – are they still confident that Israel [is] doing everything possible to get U.S. citizens out of harm’s way?’ said Chen, who also received a condolence call from the president. ‘I think the U.S. administration has an obligation both legally and morally to do whatever it can to get U.S. citizens out of danger and back with their families.’  

‘As the hostage families, we want them to come out yesterday,’ Orna Neutra, the mother of soldier Omer Neutra, told Fox News Digital.’

She said that following the initial cease-fire agreement ‘we have been hearing that there needs to be pressure on Hamas for things to happen, but we are now at day 177 and with all the pressure that’s been on Hamas, there have been no more releases.’ 

‘We are very frustrated, and it’s very concerning that there seems to be no end to this war, and we’re also not sure what the incentive is for Hamas to release them if the war continues,’ Neutra said, adding also that because her son is among the IDF soldiers being held, he is unlikely to be released even if a humanitarian cease-fire deal is reached in the near future. 

According to reports, the remaining children, women, the elderly and the injured are being prioritized by negotiating teams, who are continuing to meet this week in Egypt and Qatar. 

‘We feel we are stuck in a situation where politics is playing too much of a role,’ said Ronen Neutra, Omer’s father. ‘There is obviously an election year in the United States and there are all kinds of considerations for the administration.’

In addition, he said, ‘[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is fighting to stay in power in a tough situation and needs to make tough decisions on what’s more important.’

The Neutras, along with the parents of other IDF soldiers being held hostage, met last Thursday with the Israeli leader and impressed upon him that getting all the hostages released should be a priority, more than winning the war or political survival.

The Israeli-born parents, who immigrated to the U.S. more than 25 years ago, said their son was born in Manhattan days after al Qaeda’s attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

‘We thought we were living in one of the safest places in the world terroristic-wise,’ Ronen Neutra said. ‘Like the rest of the country, 9/11 hit us by surprise, and little did we know that 22 years later our son will be a victim of the biggest terrorist attack on Israel, and we would spend the next six months being terrorized ourselves.’

The Neutras also said they had received an outpouring of support from the administration and from American politicians on ‘both sides of the aisle.’ They said they hope the topic of hostages in Gaza will remain a nonpartisan issue. 

‘This is a terrible humanitarian situation, and everyone needs to work together to support the president and the administration and put pressure outside,’ Ronen Neutra said. ‘They should do whatever they can to make sure that Netanyahu, the Qataris and Egypt are all aligned. Everyone must work together to bring them home. There is no more time.’

Neutra said he felt it important to remind Americans that some 44 U.S. citizens were killed on Oct. 7, and he asked ‘where is the outrage?’

‘It is a staggering number,’ Neutra said. ‘We don’t think Americans understand it or know it, and we ask ourselves, where’s the outrage is and where is the public?’

Chen said that ‘any patriotic American from Massachusetts to Michigan to Montana to Arizona should ask themselves when was the last time over 40 U.S. citizens were killed by a terror organization and where is justice for the U.S. people?’ 

Frustration is growing among the hostage families, Chen said, calling on Palestinians living in Gaza to also exert pressure to bring the hostages home and end the war.

‘They could go to their elected officials – they voted for Hamas – and demand a solution, like we do,’ he said. ‘They [the Palestinians] claim there is starvation and that there is a significant humanitarian crisis, given that Israelis will not end this war until all the hostages are out, then why don’t they demand that their elected officials get a deal done?’

Democratic strategist James Carville said Sunday that poll numbers showing the Democratic Party losing support among young minority voters are ‘horrifying’ ahead of November’s presidential election.

Carville, a former campaign strategist for former President Bill Clinton, made the comments on his podcast ‘Carville’s Classroom.’

‘I’ve been very vocal about this,’ Carville said. ‘It’s horrifying our numbers among younger voters, particularly younger Blacks, younger Latinos … younger people of color. Particularly males.’

‘We’re not shedding them, they’re leaving in droves,’ he added.

Last year, a Gallup survey found 66% of Black adults leaned or identified as a Democrat compared to 19% who said they either leaned or identified as a Republican, a 19-point dip from the advantage Democrats held in 2020 and the closest margin in at least 25 years.

The poll also found 47% of Hispanics identified as Democrats while 35% identified as Republican. In 2021, 57% of Hispanics identified as Democrats and 26% described themselves as Republicans. 

Black and Hispanic voters are key Democratic voting blocs, and President Biden has also been losing support from both demographics, as he prepares to take on former President Trump in November.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll published in January found Biden’s support among Black voters was at 63%, a 24-point drop from the 87% he had in 2020.

The poll also found that Trump had an advantage over Biden among Hispanic voters by a margin of 39% to 34% and voters under the age of 35 by a margin of 37% to 33%.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released last month showed Trump ahead of Biden among Hispanic voters 46% to 40%. The survey also found Trump has the support of 23% of Black voters.

Carville said Democrats must make the argument that the ‘consequences’ of electing Trump to serve a second four-year term will impact young Black and Hispanic Americans for the next 35 years.

‘We’re not going to convince under-30, under-35, ‘Oh, we really built a great country for you,” he said. ‘You’re looking at this job market… I don’t think you’re going to buy that.’

He said Democrats ‘need strong advocacy explaining to these youngsters what exactly they have at stake here.’

‘Forget birth control pills, forget reproductive rights, forget environmental protections, forget anything,’ he added.

This comes after Carville said in a recent interview with The New York Times that ‘preachy females’ are to blame for Biden’s polling numbers.

‘A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females. Don’t drink beer. Don’t watch football. Don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you — the message is too feminine,’ Carville said. ‘If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?”

A group of House Republicans is pushing to rename Washington, D.C.’s, main international airport after former President Trump.

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., the House GOP’s chief deputy whip, introduced the bill Friday along with six cosponsors. 

‘In my lifetime, our nation has never been greater than under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump,’ Reschenthaler told Fox News Digital. ‘As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity and strength than hearing ‘Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil.’

Legislative text obtained by Fox News Digital on Monday showed that, if passed, ‘the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia shall after the date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as the ‘Donald J. Trump International Airport.”

‘Any reference in any law, regulation, map, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the airport referred to in subsection (a) shall be considered to be a reference to the Donald J. Trump International Airport,’ the brief bill said. 

Reschenthaler’s bill is also backed by Reps. Michael Waltz, R-Fla.; Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.; Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn.; Paul Gosar, R-Ariz.; Barry Moore, R-Ala.; and Troy Nehls, R-Texas, according to the website Congress.gov.

The bill has little chance of being taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate, but if passed, it would be the second D.C.-area airport named for a Republican commander in chief after Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

‘In 1998, Congress renamed the National Airport in Washington after one of our great presidents, Ronald Reagan. It is only fitting that we would do the same for another one of our greatest presidents, Donald J. Trump, especially as he stands against the onslaught of weaponized government to fight for Americans like us,’ Moore told Fox News Digital.

Gosar similarly said, ‘I can see no more fitting recognition than naming both airports in our nation’s capital after America’s two best presidents: DCA after President Reagan and Dulles after President Trump.’

Dulles is a busy international hub that’s critical for lawmakers and other Washington officials’ travel, particularly for airlines and routes that do not operate out of Reagan, which is smaller than its Loudoun County counterpart.

Dulles was ranked 33rd out of 764 U.S. airports in terms of passenger traffic in 2023, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. With domestic and international travel combined, roughly 25 million passengers went through Dulles last year.

It’s also the fourth-largest U.S. airport in terms of land area, according to the website Air Advisor.

Fox News Digital reached out to the campaign for Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, for comment.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested the House of Representatives will act in the coming weeks to get more funding to Ukraine.

‘When we return after this period, we’ll be moving a product. But it’s going to, I think, have some important innovations,’ Johnson told Fox News’ ‘Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.’

Both the House and Senate are currently on the second week of a two-week recess, when lawmakers are working in their home districts. The House is back on Tuesday, April 9.

Johnson said he has been ‘working to build consensus’ on a supplemental national security and foreign aid package, though he signaled it would look different from prior attempts. He said the House would ‘be moving it right after the district work period.’

It comes after Republicans killed a $118 billion package with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel and the U.S. border earlier this year, arguing it did not go far enough to tackle the ongoing border crisis. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Biden have been pressuring Johnson to take up a slimmer $95 billion package without border measures.

‘We’ve been trying to use that as the only leverage we have to force change on the border. We’re still trying to force the president to use his executive authority, and most of the American people know that he has that authority. He’s not using it,’ Johnson argued. 

On Ukraine specifically, he said, ‘There’s a lot of things that we should do that make more sense and I think we’ll have consensus around.’

Johnson highlighted three details specifically – the first being the REPO Act introduced in the House last year by Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and send that as assistance to Ukraine. 

The speaker also pointed out that former President Trump recently floated the idea of aid to Ukraine in the form of a loan, though he did not mention specific terms save for Kyiv paying Washington back if they win the war against Russia.

‘Even President Trump has talked about the loan concept where we set up – we’re not just giving foreign aid – we’re setting up a relationship where they can provide it back to us when the time is right,’ Johnson said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally, told NBC News’ ‘Meet The Press’ last month that the ex-president would back such a loan being forgivable and interest-free.

Johnson described the third proposal, ‘And then, you know, we want to unleash American energy. We want to have natural gas exports that will help unfund Vladimir Putin’s war effort there.’

Biden is facing bipartisan pushback to his administration’s pause on exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with some critics accusing him of giving Russia greater control over the market and thus more money to fund its invasion.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital last month that Biden is ‘sending very mixed messages to Ukraine’ with his energy policies.

‘On one hand, he says he supports Ukraine, but on the other, he is helping fund Putin’s war efforts by putting billions of dollars of money in the pocket of Vladimir Putin by allowing him to sell his energy on world markets, by shutting off American energy,’ Scalise said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for more specifics on timing and was referred back to his interview remarks.

The Sunday interview included some of Johnson’s most specific comments on Ukraine aid yet, as bipartisan pressure grows with the situation for Kyiv growing more dire in the face of Russia’s vastly greater resources.

However, Johnson is also taking heat from a small but vocal faction on his right flank for supporting Ukraine aid at all.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who filed a motion to oust Johnson in late March over passage of a bipartisan $1.2 trillion government funding deal, blasted him on Monday morning for his stance.

‘If Speaker Johnson gives another $60 billion to the defense of Ukraine’s border after he FULLY FUNDED Biden’s deadly open border, the cruel joke would be on the American people. And it won’t be April Fools,’ she wrote on X.

Johnson said Sunday that he and Greene had exchanged text messages and would be speaking next week.

A special Russian intelligence unit could be behind a series of attacks that have left dozens of U.S. officials serving overseas with mysterious illnesses.

Russian intelligence unit 29155, a highly secretive military unit under the direct control of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has potential links to the mysterious cases of ‘Havana Syndrome’ that have stricken more than 100 Americans since 2016, according to a report from CBS’ ’60 Minutes.’

The report comes after a 2023 government report on the mysterious illnesses concluded it is ‘very unlikely’ that a foreign adversary is responsible, despite over 100 Americans having symptoms scientists have said could be caused by a beam of microwaves or acoustic sound.

But many of the victims are skeptical of the report, expressing frustration that the U.S. government’s public position has been to downplay potential attacks on Americans.

Those doubts are shared by Greg Edgreen, a former Army lieutenant colonel who was the lead Pentagon investigator into what are officially known as ‘anomalous health incidents,’ telling ’60 Minutes’ that the bar for proving a foreign country’s involvement is set too high and that evidence has consistently pointed to Russian involvement.

‘Unfortunately, I can’t get into specifics, based on the classification,’ Edgreen told ’60 Minutes.’ ‘But I can tell you, at a very early stage, I started to focus on Moscow.’

The potential attacks have targeted White House staff, CIA officers, FBI agents, military officers and family members, according to the report, with many of those suffering from the mysterious illnesses believing that they were targeted by a secret weapon capable of firing high-energy beams of microwaves or ultrasound.

According to Edgreen, the officials who were targeted were top performers and doing work that was focused on Russia.

‘And consistently there was a Russia nexus,’ Edgreen said. ‘There was some angle where they had worked against Russia, focused on Russia, and done extremely well.’

Mark Zaid, an attorney representing more than two dozen clients who suffer from symptoms of Havana Syndrome, agreed with Edgreen, telling ’60 Minutes’ that his clients include members of the CIA, State Department and FBI with a common thread in doing work related to Russia.

‘The one thread that I know of with the FBI personnel that is common among most, if not all, of my clients other than the family members connected to the employee, was they were all doing something relating to Russia,’ Zaid told ’60 Minutes.’

Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider who worked on the investigative report with ’60 Minutes,’ believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is involved in the potential attacks. Russian documents uncovered by Grozev show a link between 29155 and a ‘directed energy weapon,’ with one document revealing an award that was given to a 29155 officer for work on ‘potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons.’

‘It’s the closest to a receipt you can have for this,’ Grozev told ’60 Minutes.’

The report also uncovered evidence that 29155 was present in Tbilisi, Georgia, when multiple Americans reported potential incidents of attacks there, with sources telling the outlet of an investigation into a Russian named Albert Averyanov, whose name appeared on travel manifests and phone records alongside known members of 29155. The report also noted that Averyanov is the son of the unit’s commander.

One of the Averyanov calls was intercepted, according to the report, and featured a man asking in Russian: ‘Is it supposed to have blinking green lights?’ and ‘Should I leave it on all night?’

The incidents of potential attacks on Americans in the country began a day after the call, according to the report.

Rebekah Koffler, a strategic military intelligence analyst, former senior official at the Defense Intelligence Agency and author of ‘Putin’s Playbook,’ told Fox News Digital that it is ‘highly likely’ that Russia is behind the cases of Havana Syndrome attacks, arguing that the country has the ‘capability, doctrine and intent to use nonlethal weapons against U.S. personnel and physical assets.’

‘During the Cold War, Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, routinely used nonlethal weapons against American government personnel,’ Koffler said.

Koffler said she disagrees with the 2023 government report that concluded it was unlikely a foreign adversary was behind the potential attacks, arguing that the cases have the trademarks of operations that would typically only be carried out by 29155.

‘Only President Putin can authorize such intelligence operations, which are called ‘active measures’ or ‘special tasks.’ Such covert operations are normally executed by the GRU’s VCh (Voinskaya Chast’) 29155,’ Koffler said.

Meanwhile, a Russian presidential spokesperson issued a statement denying that the country was involved in the mysterious cases, calling such an accusation ‘unfounded.’

The lawyer representing dozens of clients, who holds a security clearance, also doubts the government assessment, telling ’60 Minutes’ that there could be some sort of ‘cover up’ at play.

‘There is, in my view, without a doubt, evidence of a cover up. Now, some of that cover up is not necessarily that, ‘Oh, we found a weapon,” Zaid said. ‘What I’ve seen more so is, ‘We see lines of inquiry that would take us potentially to answers we don’t want to have to deal with, so we’re not going to explore any of those avenues.”

In response to the ’60 Minutes’ report, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the administration had ordered relevant departments to ‘prioritize investigations into the cause’ of Havana Syndrome and to ensure that government employees and their families receive ‘timely access to medical care.’

‘The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasize the importance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively examine the effects and potential causes of AHIs,’ the spokesperson said.

An FBI spokesperson told ’60 Minutes’ that the incidents are a ‘top priority for the FBI.’

‘We will continue to work alongside our partners in the intelligence community as part of the interagency effort to determine how we can best protect our personnel,’ the spokesperson said. ‘The FBI takes all U.S. government personnel who report symptoms seriously.’

The FBI did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

The Biden administration strengthened protections for African elephants, but stopped short of issuing a total ban on imports of hunting trophies and live animals, to the disappointment of wildlife activists.

In an announcement late last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized restrictions on elephants imported to the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act, which it said would aid the long-term conservation and survival of elephants in the wild. Prominent wildlife activist organizations have called for the agency to go further and ban such imports altogether.

‘The Service values collaborative conservation of wildlife all around the world and is committed to improving implementation of international conservation law,’ FWS Director Martha Williams said. ‘Our actions today will help support range countries’ efforts to manage and conserve African elephant populations and will further protect African elephants that are imported to the United States.’

She added that FWS would continue to work with African nations to ensure the sustainable management of elephant populations.

Under the finalized regulations, live African elephants, African elephant sport hunting trophies (such as tusks, hides, feet and tails), and African elephant parts and products may be imported into the U.S., but only from countries that have laws in place to ensure conservation of the species. The regulations also require imports to go to American facilities that are able to properly care for them.

The rulemaking further highlights the administration’s view that, for hunting to achieve its conservation potential, it must be ‘well-regulated’ and include accountability measures, FWS said. 

Still, advocates expressed disappointment at FWS’ decision to stop short of a full ban on imports and vowed to keep pushing for such a policy at the federal level.

‘I’m truly crushed this rule doesn’t ban trade in elephant hunting trophies to the United States, and it doesn’t even require stable elephant populations to allow trophy imports,’ said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. ‘These magnificent animals are globally cherished but under threat, and it’s high time we stop letting wealthy trophy hunters turn them into decor.’

Sanerib said the restrictions finalized by the administration are ‘mouse-sized’ and treat elephants like commodities.

Jeff Flocken, the president of Humane Society International, applauded the new restrictions, but similarly called for even stronger measures. 

‘We will continue to fight for a full ban on the trade in African elephant hunting trophies, and we hope this sets a precedent that can be applied to other countries and to other imperiled species, like lions, giraffes and leopards,’ he said.

The regulations, which will take effect on May 1, 2024, were first proposed in November 2022. After they were proposed, FWS received thousands of comments from stakeholders, a large majority of whom called for increased conservation of African elephants, according to the agency.

Groups like the Performing Animal Welfare Society, Friends of Animals and the Animal Welfare Institute used their comments to call for the Biden administration to use the rulemaking to issue a complete ban on elephant imports.

‘Friends of Animals urges FWS to prohibit the import of live African elephants. There is no reason to continue to allow these intelligent and social creatures to suffer in captivity,’ Stephen Hernick, a senior attorney at the Wildlife Law Program for Friends of Animals, wrote in the group’s comments last year.