U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge announced Monday that she is stepping down from her position.

‘It’s time to go home,’’ Fudge told USA Today, which reported that her last day is March 22. ‘I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.’

With her departure, Fudge will become only the second original Cabinet member to leave the Biden administration after Labor Secretary Marty Walsh stepped down last year.

‘From her time as a mayor, to her years as a fierce advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Marcia’s vision, passion, and focus on increasing economic opportunity have been assets to our country,’ President Biden said in a statement Monday. ‘I’m grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish her well in her next chapter.’

Biden described Fudge as a ‘strong voice for expanding efforts to build generational wealth through homeownership and lowering costs and promoting fairness for America’s renters. 

‘Under Marcia’s transformational leadership, we have worked hard to lower housing costs and increase supply. We’ve proposed the largest investment in affordable housing in U.S. history,’ Biden added. ‘We’ve taken steps to aggressively combat racial discrimination in housing by ensuring home appraisals are more fair and by strengthening programs to redress the negative impacts of redlining. Thanks to Secretary Fudge, we’ve helped first-time homebuyers, and we are working to cut the cost of renting. And there are more housing units under construction right now than at any time in the last 50 years.’

Fudge, 71, served as a Democrat in the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2021, representing the 11th Congressional District of Ohio which includes the city of Cleveland. 

‘She was a member of several Congressional Caucuses and past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus,’ her biography on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website says, adding that in 1999, she ‘was elected the first female and first African American mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, a position she held for two terms.’

Fudge also was the director of Budget and Finance at the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office in Ohio.

‘Don’t look for me to ever be on another ballot or another appointee or anything like that,’’ she told USA Today, noting that she wants to spend more time with her mother – who turns 93 next month – and relatives in Ohio. ‘I really do look forward to being a private citizen.’

She also argued that affordable housing should be a key focus for both Democrats and Republicans.

‘‘It is not a red or blue issue,’’ she told USA Today. ‘Everybody knows that it is an issue so it’s not a one-sided issue. It’s an American issue.’’

Fox News’ Peter Doocy and Kaitlin Sprague contributed to this report.

The Pentagon said U.S. and coalition forces defeated a ‘large-scale attack’ by Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea this weekend, shooting down at least 28 drones. 

The escalated attack is one of the largest in the past few months. 

Earlier in the week, an anti-ship ballistic missile struck the MV True Confidence, killing three and marking the first lives claimed since attacks began. 

On Saturday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said, ‘Following further engagements through the morning, U.S. and Coalition forces downed a total of at least 28 uncrewed aerial vehicles between 4:00 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. (Sanaa time) on March 9. No U.S. or Coalition Navy vessels were damaged in the attack and there were also no reports by commercial ships of damage.’ 

An update announcing the defeat added, ‘US and Coalition Defeat Houthi Attack in Red Sea Area Between 4 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists conducted a large-scale uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) attack into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. 

‘CENTCOM and coalition forces identified the one-way attack (OWA) UAVs and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, U.S. Navy, and coalition ships in the region,’ it said. ‘U.S. Navy vessels and aircraft along with multiple coalition navy ships and aircraft shot down 15 OWA UAVs. These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure.’ 

U.S. Army Vessel General Frank S. Besson departed Virginia on Saturday en route to the Eastern Mediterranean carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary pier in Gaza after President Biden announced the plan during his State of the Union address on Thursday. The U.S. conducted an additional humanitarian aid drop on Sunday. 

In that latest drop alone, CENTCOM said, ‘U.S. C-130’s dropped over 27,600 U.S. meal equivalents and approximately 25,900 bottles of water into Northern Gaza, an area of great need, allowing for civilian access to the critical aid.’ 

During his State of the Union address, Biden said of the emergency mission to establish a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza that ‘no U.S. boots will be on the ground.’ 

‘A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day,’ Biden said Thursday. ‘And Israel must also do its part. Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire.’ 

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday humanitarian aid drops will continue as part of a ‘full court press’ plan to deliver aid to the region.

‘The DoD maintains the ability to provide unique capabilities from offshore without a U.S. military presence within Gaza,’ Ryder added of the planned pier along the Gaza coast. ‘We’re coordinating with other nations to assist with operating the causeway and distributing aid into Gaza. The concept that is being planned involves the presence of U.S. military personnel on military vessels offshore, but does not require U.S. military personnel to go ashore.’ 

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM – The scandal-plagued United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) claimed in a report that some of its workers were pressured by Israel to falsely admit their connections to the Oct. 7 mass murder carried out by Hamas.

According to a report reviewed by Reuters on Friday, ‘Agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the Agency, including that the Agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff members took part in the 7 October 2023 atrocities.’

When asked if UNRWA can provide Fox News Digital with a copy of the UNRWA report and the names of the alleged UNRWA workers, Juliette Touma, a UNRWA spokesperson, said, ‘I am not able to send it. The report was leaked to the media.’

The UNRWA report claimed that Palestinian detainees described ‘allegations of abuse, including beatings, humiliation, threats, dog attacks, sexual violence, and deaths of detainees denied medical treatment.’

When asked if UNRWA considers the U.S. and EU designated terrorist entity Hamas a terrorist organization. Touma said, ‘It’s not listed by the United Nations as a terrorist organization.’ Hamas murdered 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in southern Israel, including over 30 Americans, and kidnapped more than 240 people.

Touma added ‘What I know is that we have written about the findings of the report on several occasions to the Israeli army and Israeli government.’

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last month that dozens of UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 massacre. In November, Fox News Digital reported that UNRWA employees celebrated the Hamas terrorist attack.

Fox News Digital reached out to the IDF and Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) about the UNRWA report for comments. The IDF spokesman referred Fox News Digital to the MFA. An MFA spokesman told Fox News Digital the ministry is reviewing if any branches of Israel’s government received the UNRWA report.

Asked about the report and if in light of other nations refunding UNRWA, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, ‘The United States made an independent decision to temporarily pause additional funding to UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them. We continue to emphasize the critical role UNRWA plays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, and across the region, and do not want to see these allegations undermine efforts to provide life-saving humanitarian aid.’

The State Department spokesperson added, ‘We saw the announcements from the EU and Canada. UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza and plays a critical role for regional stability – it is critical it does not collapse.’

Sweden and Canada announced last week that they plan to pump tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of UNRWA. The State Department spokesperson declined to specifically address the UNRWA report.

Peter Gallo, an international lawyer and former Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigator at the U.N., provided Fox News Digital with his detailed analysis of the UNRWA report based on the Reuters article and Touma’s comments, calling them laughable. 

Gallo said, ‘Even more hilarious is the statement by the UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, who told Reuters that anyone with information on the allegations against UNRWA staff were encouraged to share it with the investigation. That has to be a contender for the best joke of the week.’ 

Gallo said, ‘These people live in Gaza, where every aspect of their lives since 2006 has been controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization that has no political opposition, because the penalty for opposing them is death and Juliette Touma thinks that ordinary Gazans should provide information – to an Organization that cannot protect them and that has been manipulated by Hamas for years – about individuals who, in the service of Hamas were involved in the murder, rape and mutilation over 1,400 unarmed civilians.’

Jonathan Conricus, senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former IDF spokesperson, said, ‘UNRWA staff have been exposed as members of Hamas and other terror organization in Gaza, as well as active participants in the atrocities of October 7.’

‘As long as UNRWA exists in the Gaza Strip, there will be no peace, no Palestinian self-definition, no stability, but only poverty, despair, and a tremendous waste of human potential.’

The former Israeli army spokesperson said, ‘UNRWA should be dismantled, and the international community should instead invest in building local organizations focused on the future prosperity of Palestinians in Gaza, instead of indoctrinating children to be terrorists, and forcing Palestinians to live in a perpetual state of victimhood and misery.’

He added, ‘UNRWA has failed Palestinians in Gaza, has failed in its humanitarian mission, has failed to implement its mandate, and has been exposed to be little more than a facade for the continued rule of Hamas over the Gaza Strip.’

According to Conricus, ‘UNWRA should be held accountable for the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, since UNRWA knowingly decided not to evacuate civilians and not to establish a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza when Israel requested it to do so. It has implemented a policy of prioritizing the continued oppressive rule of Hamas over the needs of the civilian population.’

David Bedein, director of the Center for Near East Policy Research and an expert on UNRWA’s curriculum, called the UNRWA report ‘ridiculous’ in an interview with Fox News Digital. He cited a 2009 report on his organization’s website that noted, ‘Since 1990 Hamas has dominated UNRWA’s unions in the Gaza Strip. In the elections held in June 2003, the Islamic Block affiliated with Hamas won 23 of the 27 seats, Hamas’s fourth consecutive victory in the UNRWA elections. That gave Hamas complete control of education, since the Islamic Block won all 11 of the teachers’ seats.’

Bedein claimed Hamas’ domination of UNRWA’s unions in the Gaza Strip continued after 2009.

Reuters contributed to this article.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is asking President Biden and his administration to clarify their stance on Hamas, following Biden’s State of the Union address. 

In a conversation with NBC’s Kristen Welker on ‘Meet the Press’ that aired Sunday, Graham pointed to a line in the speech when Biden said about Hamas, ‘If you release the hostages, the war will be over.’

‘I literally about fell out of my seat,’ Graham said. ‘Is the president saying that if the hostages are released by Hamas, they can stay in power? That ends the conflict?’ Graham noted that former President Trump, who will likely be Biden’s opponent in November’s election, ‘believes it’s non-negotiable when it comes to Hamas: they have to be destroyed militarily, they can’t be in charge.’

‘I’m challenging the Biden administration today to clear this up,’ Graham said. ‘You cannot allow Hamas to stay in power. You can’t allow them to have six brigades to do October 7th again.’

Welker said Biden has stated in the past that he stands behind this position as well.

Graham also criticized Biden for ‘missing the boat’ by focusing on what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be doing, and not Hamas or their backer Iran. 

‘Israel is not killing American soldiers,’ Graham said. ‘Iran is through their proxies. So I would urge President Biden to hold the Great Satan, Iran, accountable for killing soldiers in Jordan and attacking shipping. So yeah, I think he’s got it backwards.’

Graham says the United States should be ‘all in and helping Israel’ while not saying or doing anything that would ’empower our enemy.’

President Biden on Saturday said the U.S. does not have a ‘red line’ with Israel over its actions in the war with Hamas that would leave the Middle Eastern country unprotected. 

‘I am never going to leave Israel,’ the president told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart in a wide-ranging interview. ‘The defense of Israel is still critical. There’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons, so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them.’

Biden was clarifying a hot mic comment from Thursday night after delivering the State of the Union address in which he was caught saying he planned a ‘come-to-Jesus’ talk with Netanyahu over his handling of the war. 

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report. 

Donald Trump is taking another step toward formally locking up the Republican presidential nomination. 

The Associated Press on Saturday projected that the former president would win the GOP nominating caucuses in American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean.

Trump on Wednesday became his party’s 2024 presumptive presidential nominee, after his last remaining rival in the primary race – former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – suspended her campaign.

The former president won 14 of the 15 Republican nominating contests that were held on Super Tuesday, and heading into Friday’s contest, stood at 1,031 delegates to this summer’s Republican National Convention. 

Nine delegates are at stake in the American Samoa caucuses.

Trump is expected to reach the 1,215 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination on Tuesday, when four states – Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington – hold GOP nominating contests.

The Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin on July 15, 2024, and wrap up on July 18, 2024. It will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

American Samoa held its Democratic presidential caucuses on Tuesday, and made plenty of news, as President Biden suffered his first defeat in his overall easy road to renomination.

Biden was edged by extreme long-shot candidate and entrepreneur Jason Palmer. 

The two candidates split the six Democratic delegates up for grabs.

President Biden on Saturday said that the U.S. doesn’t have a ‘red line’ with Israel over its actions in the war with Hamas that would leave the Middle Eastern country unprotected. 

‘I am never going to leave Israel,’ the president told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart in a wide-ranging interview. ‘The defense of Israel is still critical. There’s no red line [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons, so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them.’

Biden was clarifying a hot mic comment from Thursday night after delivering the State of the Union address in which he was caught saying he planned a ‘come-to-Jesus’ talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the war. 

‘He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken,’ Biden told Capehart.

He said in ‘his view’ that Netanyahu is ‘hurting Israel more than he’s helping Israel … It’s contrary to what he stands for. I think it’s a big mistake so I want to see a ceasefire.’

The president added that he was aiming for a ‘major, major’ exchange of hostages over a six-week period heading into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts Monday. 

That appears increasingly unlikely as Hamas has balked at a deal pushed by the U.S. and its allies that would have seen fighting paused along with the release of additional hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The president added, however, there would be ‘red lines that if he crosses – you cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead.’ 

He said there’s ‘other ways to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas’ while avoiding civilian casualties. He said he told the Israeli war cabinet to not make the same mistake the U.S. did decades ago when it went into Iraq and Afghanistan on the hunt for Osama bin Laden after 9/11. 

‘It wasn’t necessary, and it just caused more problems than it erased.’ 

He added that the U.S. plans to do ‘everything it can’ to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza for civilians suffering in the war. 

Biden has for months warned that Israel risks losing international support over mounting civilian casualties in the region. 

The president also said he ‘understands’ Pro-Palestinian Democrats who protest voted ‘uncommitted’ against him in some Democratic primary states over his support of Israel.

‘I don’t blame them for being upset. Their family’s there, there are people who are dying. They want something done about it, and they’re saying, ‘Joe, do something, do something.’

He continued, ‘I can fully understand, can’t you? You have a family member there or come from a family that is still isolated there and maybe victimized. It’s understandable they feel that way and that’s why I’m doing everything I can to try to stop it.’ 

Former President Donald Trump met with the family of Laken Riley backstage before speaking at a rally in Georgia on Saturday.

‘I met her beautiful mother and family backstage,’ Trump told the crowd in Rome. ‘They said she was like the best. She was always the best to us. They admit that she was the best, and she was the first in her class. She was going to be the best nurse. She was the best nursing student. She was always the best. She was the brightest light in every room, they told me.’

He added, ‘She was the whole world to her parents and to her sister and just to the whole family.’ 

Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia, was allegedly killed by a Venezuelan migrant in the country illegally while she was on a jog on Feb. 22. 

Trump laid the blame for Riley’s death on President Biden. 

‘Biden has implemented a formal policy that illegal aliens who intrude into the United States are granted immunity from deportation,’ Trump said. ‘Thus, when this monster showed up at our border, he was set free immediately under the program. That crooked Joe created it.’ 

He added that they were ‘profoundly honored’ to have Riley’s family and friends at the rally. 

‘They’re so incredible,’ he continued. ‘The hearts of hundreds of thousands and indeed millions and millions of Americans and people worldwide, they’re shattered alongside of your beautiful hearts. We share your grief. We share your grief. Thank you, darling. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.’

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly opening a probe into the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines blowout, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. 

Investigators have reportedly contacted several passengers and crew members on the Jan. 5 flight, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing ‘documents and people familiar with the matter.’ 

‘In an event like this, it’s normal for the DOJ to be conducting an investigation. We are fully cooperating and do not believe we are a target of the investigation,’ Alaska Airlines told Fox News Digital in an email statement. 

The article stated the probe would ‘inform the Justice Department’s review of whether Boeing complied with an earlier settlement that resolved a federal investigation’ as a result of two fatal incidents involving Boeing 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rescinded its grounding order for Boeing’s 737 Max jet in November 2020 after a 20-month review after crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 passengers.

Investigators have reportedly begun notifying passengers on the Jan. 5 flight that they are potential crime victims in the case, according to a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Pilots and flight attendants on the plane have already been interviewed, according to the outlet. 

Fox News Digital has also reached out to the DOJ for an additional statement. 

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report released last month found that four key bolts were missing from the door plug. 

‘Overall, the observed damage patterns and absence of contact damage or deformation around holes associated with the vertical movement arrestor bolts and upper guide track bolts in the upper guide fittings, hinge fittings, and recovered aft lower hinge guide fitting indicate that the four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads,’ the report states.

Alaska Airlines flight 1282 made an emergency landing Jan. 5, shortly after taking off from Oregon’s Portland International Airport when a door plug blew off the jetliner as it was ascending for a trip to California. 

The blowout prompted the FAA to ground similar Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners for inspections. The grounding resulted in thousands of flight cancellations.

Fox News’ Stephany Price and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report. 

Vice President Kamala Harris will not commit to debating former President Donald Trump’s eventual running mate.

Harris dodged the question of a vice-presidential debate during a Friday interview with NBC News.

‘We just got through the State of the Union. And I’m just so excited about what we accomplished last night and our president,’ Harris told NBC. 

The vice-president’s evasion of the question is far from unique — the question of whether anyone in the White House will go toe-to-toe with the Trump campaign this fall has been a long-unanswered question.

The question of President Biden’s health and mental fitness has been a long-standing concern of both Republicans and Democrats. A presidential debate is traditionally seen as an opportunity to assess candidates’ ability to think on their feet and speak under pressure.

Harris similarly refused to give a straight answer on Friday when asked whether Biden would debate Trump himself before the 2024 election.

Trump, the 2024 GOP frontrunner and presumptive nominee, posted his offer to debate Biden on Wednesday afternoon — just hours after his final GOP challenger Nikki Haley suspended her campaign.

Referencing Trump’s challenge, ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce asked Harris whether Biden would commit to debating his likely rival.

Harris instead pivoted to a discussion of Thursday night’s State of the Union address and claimed that Biden had successfully portrayed himself as ‘passionate’ and ‘principled.’

‘But given what you argue is at stake here, will you take the chance to show voters more of what they saw last night to take on Trump directly in debates?’ Bruce pressed.

‘We’ll get to that at some point, and we’ll deal with that,’ Harris replied. ‘But the point is, right now, on this day after the State of the Union, I think the president laid down the facts for the American people in terms of what’s at stake. And I thought he did an extraordinary job.’

Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.