The co-pilot has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, a Middle Eastern source told Fox News, adding that he was barred from flying with Oman Air — his country's airline — in 2024 due to concerns about extremist views.

The source also said authorities believe the co-pilot moved to Dubai later that year.

The United Arab Emirates, which is leading the investigation into the attack on FlyDubai Flight 1073, said the co-pilot attacked Capt. Smit Machchhar with the cockpit's crash axe, incapacitating him and causing the aircraft to plummet before passengers on board seized control of the plane.

FLYDUBAI PASSENGER SAYS CO-PILOT STABBED CAPTAIN BEFORE TERRIFYING PLUNGE, EMERGENCY LANDING

The source said al-Hammami spent a significant part of his life outside Oman, including time living with his mother, who is from Syria.

According to the source, FlyDubai did not check with Oman Air about al-Hammami before hiring him.

A Gulf diplomat told The Associated Press that investigators are working to determine whether al-Hammami acted as a "lone wolf or has any connection with any extremist groups."

The AP separately reported that Oman had barred al-Hammami from flying over concerns that he had adopted extremist views.

HERO FLYDUBAI PILOT SAYS HE WAS 'FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE' AS PLANE PLUNGED AFTER COPILOT ATTACK

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday described the incident as an act of terrorism, saying the attacker had undergone "Islamic radicalization."

"He came to crash the passengers on board," Netanyahu said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Fox News Digital's Brittany Miller contributed to this report.

"I'll remember this case to the day I die," he told Fox News Digital Thursday. Keith had been the city's chief of police from 1988 until 2004 and spent decades in law enforcement.

Led by then-18-year-old Christa Pike, three classmates from a vocational school for troubled youths, the Knoxville Job Corps Center, lured Slemmer to her death by claiming they want to go to a music store and pick up marijuana they'd stashed in a park.

CHRISTA PIKE'S ATTORNEYS SAY SHE'S IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER BOTCHED LETHAL INJECTIONS

"She represents pure evil," Keith said of Pike.

They tortured Slemmer for nearly an hour, Keith said, beating, cutting and gagging her before crushing her skull against the ground with a chunk of broken asphalt.

When she tried to escape, they held her down. When she begged for her life, they slashed her with blades. And when she cried, they gagged her with a hair tie. Pike, 18 at the time and now 50, kept a fragment of her skull as a trophy and showed it off to classmates before her arrest. Her boyfriend at the time, who was also convicted but did not face the death penalty because he was only 17, carved pentagrams into her chest and face.

TENNESSEE DEATH ROW INMATE SURVIVES 2 LETHAL INJECTION DOSES IN FAILED EXECUTION ATTEMPT

At trial, an expert said the attack had "satanic elements" and also involved "the phenomenon of collective aggression, in which a group of people become emotionally aroused and 'the end result is that they engage in some kind of violent, extremely violent activity,'" court records show.

The University of Tennessee groundskeeper who found her remains testified at trial that he initially thought he'd come across an animal carcass before he saw the victim's clothes through the blood, according to court records.

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"[The images] are as vivid today as the day I saw them," Keith said. "All I have to do is shut my eyes, and I can see everything."

Thirty-one years later, he said he wishes that the Knoxville Police Department had used modern post-trauma therapy counseling at the time.

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"We didn't have therapy services or counseling or anything at that time, and we, I wish we had, because these images will never be erased," Keith said.

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Pike was scheduled for execution on Wednesday. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, issued a brief stay amid a last-minute appeal, but the Supreme Court lifted the stay and cleared the way for her to face lethal injection.

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After two doses, she remained alive. She spent Thursday in an undisclosed hospital in critical condition and receiving "lifesaving care," according to her attorneys, who then said on Friday that she was unconscious and on a ventilator.

"Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night's events," attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen said in a statement Friday. "As detailed in today's filing, Christa remains hospitalized following Wednesday night's failed execution attempt.

"She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator," they added. "She is being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms."

What she may face next remained unclear.

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WATCH: Christa Pike's attorney responds to botched execution's impact on victim Colleen Slemmer's family

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Randy Spivey, one of Pike's attorneys, responded during a news briefing Thursday by revealing that Slemmer's mother was on Pike's mind in the hours before her scheduled execution.

"I cannot imagine what this was like for the family of Ms. Slemmer, or anyone who loves that family or is close to that family — or anyone who loves Christa or is close to Christa," he said. "This is awful, and this kind of thing should never happen again."

"I just knew," Li said.

"I knew that I was supposed to run for Congress. But I didn’t know I was supposed to do it at twenty-four years old."

In the lead-up to the 2024 election, that ambition crashed headlong into lifelong convictions about loyalty and stretched them to a breaking point. Li’s status as a top Democratic fundraiser would soon crumble as she switched her party affiliation over unheeded warning signs about President Joe Biden's decline in the 2024 election. That break has left her uncertain about her future, but hasn’t stopped her from thinking about what could come next.

EX-DEM INSIDER REVEALS SHE WILL EXPOSE DEMOCRATS WHO COVERED UP BIDEN'S COGNITIVE DECLINE IN NEW BOOK.

"President Rubio calls me in two years, four years, then there's an open seat in Pennsylvania for whatever reason," Li said, ruminating about her future.

"You know, I could solidify my hand on a hundred million dollars. I think few people could do a better job, and I'm sorry if that sounds conceited. And I'm not saying I want it; I'm just saying if it falls into my lap, then sure, but who knows?"

Li’s family initially came to the United States from China, fleeing persecution from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which Li said had killed her great-grandfather. After growing up briefly in Sheffield, England, Li joined her parents in New England at the age of five.

She recounted how her family moved from Boston to New Haven to Pennsylvania as her father worked as a doctor.

From her parents, Li said she inherited a sense of work ethic that enabled her to fuel her sense of political destiny. At Princeton, Li used that work ethic to become the only woman class president to hold the office for four consecutive years.

"I used to go around with candy and just be like, ‘Can you please vote for me? This is what I intend to do. I want to expand late meals and offer sushi,’ whatever the platform was. I was tenacious; nobody could outwork me," Li said.

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The "plan," Li said, was to become a senator.

But that wasn’t supposed to happen for another ten years when, in 2012, a school shooter attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 children. Li recalled how the attack accelerated her convictions to enter public life and prompted her to leave a budding career in finance.

"I just felt it in my heart that I was supposed to help do whatever I could to save those kids," Li said.

Despite conservative leanings, Li ran twice as a Democrat, never advancing past the primary stage. But her fundraising caught the attention of Democratic strategists. In 2016, she raised nearly $515,000 and in 2018 another $168,000.

"I didn't intend to become a fundraiser," Li recalled. "It's a lot of salesmanship, and I hated it. I hate it. And I also know I'm very good at it. This is not me bragging; I just know."

"They came to my home. I remember. The executive director showed up to my home to recruit me for this. It was like Scientology. He noticed— I mean, everybody noticed that as a kid I basically raised $700,000. I just caught the eye of party leadership."

Alongside her aspirations, Li said she also cultivated a sense of loyalty, a quality she said has been a key part of her character since she can remember.

"Like if somebody's kind to me, I will go to the ends of the earth for them. And it always surprises me and I shouldn't be surprised when someone doesn't reciprocate because that's just how I operate. You have to give me a reason to walk away from you. If you have my loyalty, there's very little I wouldn't do for you," Li said.

That loyalty, combined with her fundraising prowess, led Li to climb swiftly, rubbing shoulders with some of the party’s top operatives. During the Biden and Harris campaigns, Li communicated with figures like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., — many of whom she built personal relationships with.

But that loyalty reached a tipping point in 2024 when, as a fundraiser, Li saw the party selling donors and voters on the idea that President Joe Biden could serve effectively as president for another four years despite mounting concerns about his cognitive abilities.

In recent months, Li has published a book, Unbroken, documenting the party’s internal deliberations around Biden’s age and how, according to her, many of them knowingly understood the political liabilities that came with his age.

EX-DEM INSIDER REVEALS WHY BIDEN'S DAUGHTER THREATENED TO SUE HER: 'BORDERED ON PARODY'

That book and the warpath to writing it have severed virtually all of her relationships from when she was a Democrat. As she documented in her book, it even cost her a personal romantic relationship of eight years.

To an extent, Li understood the price tag that came with her decision to go public with her insider knowledge.

She suspects some of the people she left behind understand that price, too.

"If Josh Shapiro ever walks into the room, I know we're gonna understand each other, I know. Like despite everything that's happened. I think he's going to understand. I understand why he needed to throw me, you know, to the wolves."

"I never would have done that to him, though," she added.

Li still holds fast to the idea of loyalty as a matter of personal conviction. But regardless of where her ambitions take her next, she believes she will have to temper them with honesty that makes few allowances for party narratives.

"I think I would describe my worldview as realpolitik with Lindy characteristics," Li said.

"I'm no longer going to half-heartedly support anybody. I learned my lesson about Biden and Harris. So I'm just waiting," Li said.

"Everyday life completely crumbles" when drinking water and wastewater systems are impacted, warned EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer.

"There is definitely been an increase, several fold on attacks recently," Kramer added in an interview with Fox News Digital. "You're seeing everything from failure to change password, leading to cyberattacks all the way to ... system specifics being available online."

Asked why the water sector has become such an attractive target, Kramer said the answer begins with how deeply embedded it is in Americans' daily lives.

AN AI CYBERATTACK COULD TURN OFF AMERICA'S LIGHTS BEFORE WASHINGTON EVEN UNDERSTANDS WHY

"Our everyday life completely crumbles without access to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure," she said. "Everything from hospitals to daycares, everything that we care about and need on an everyday basis can be impacted" if one of those cyberattacks succeeds.

EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Jeff Hall said water utilities have also become appealing targets because many continue to operate aging infrastructure while lacking the resources to modernize their cybersecurity.

"We will see water systems left vulnerable to cyberattacks where there have not been significant amounts of investment in cybersecurity protocols," Hall said, pointing to basic protections such as virtual private networks and firewalls that are still missing at some utilities.

Hall explained how hackers have "moved from ransomware attacks designed to extort payments from critical infrastructure generally to more specific attacks designed to disrupt critical infrastructure and particularly water and wastewater systems."

Attackers, he said, are increasingly "manipulating the human-machine interface to change critical settings which disrupts the service and also puts people at risk."

FOREIGN HACKERS BREACH TWO MORE US WATER UTILITIES, THREATEN SAFETY OF COLORADO RESIDENTS

The warning comes as cyber threats targeting U.S. water infrastructure have drawn heightened attention from federal and state officials.

In July, a coordinated cyberattack targeted more than 30 community water systems across Minnesota, disrupting technology used to remotely monitor and control equipment. More recently, Colorado officials disclosed that foreign actors breached two small water utilities and manipulated equipment used to control drinking water systems. Officials said drinking water remained safe in both cases, but the incidents highlighted growing concern over cyber threats to critical infrastructure that millions of Americans rely on every day.

WATER CYBERATTACK HITS AT LEAST 7 STATES

Unlike data breaches that primarily expose personal information or ransomware attacks intended to extract payment, successful cyber intrusions into water systems have the potential to interfere with services that underpin nearly every aspect of daily life — from hospitals and schools to manufacturing, emergency services and businesses — raising concerns among national security officials about the vulnerability of critical civilian infrastructure.

Kramer added that workforce shortages have compounded the challenge, making it harder for many utilities to recruit and retain employees with the expertise needed to defend increasingly complex networks.

The officials said many of the vulnerabilities EPA continues to identify are surprisingly basic.

Since 2025, the agency has identified more than 900 cybersecurity vulnerabilities at water systems across the country. Kramer said the most common include "failure to change passwords, lack of multi-factor authentication" and critical system information that is "easily accessible" online.

Hall said EPA and its law enforcement partners have also issued advisories about vulnerabilities involving programmable logic controllers, or PLCs, and other industrial control systems that operate pumps, valves and other critical equipment inside water facilities.

"There are aging infrastructure that is embedded in these drinking water systems," Hall said. "It's often left open to the open internet and not protected by any specific firewalls or virtual private networks that would ensure that cyber attackers cannot easily manipulate those."

Hall said the agency remains concerned about a range of adversaries, including state-affiliated actors, hacktivist networks and insider threats.

CHINA-LINKED HACKERS INFILTRATED US GOVERNMENT NETWORKS BEFORE FBI TAKEDOWN

"There are certainly state affiliated actors targeting water and wastewater systems," Hall said, adding that investigators are increasingly concerned about the sophistication and intent behind those attacks.

Despite the growing threat, both officials said utilities are making progress by addressing many of the most common weaknesses.

Kramer acknowledged it is difficult to measure national progress because EPA does not have authority to require every water system to report cyber incidents. Still, she said the agency has observed clear evidence that attackers are becoming more sophisticated as utilities work to improve their defenses.

Hall said EPA inspectors review cybersecurity planning at larger drinking water systems, while the agency's Office of Water provides technical assistance, training and one-on-one support to help utilities identify and remediate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

"We are seeing an increase in the number of systems that are addressing their basic vulnerabilities," Hall said. "But ... there are real concerns that cyber attackers are going up to the next level and that there are still a lot of vulnerabilities out there that we will have to be addressing."

"It’s day one of rush at the University of Alabama," Janie continues. Then, she lists off where she got each item of clothing she’s wearing: a pleated skirt from Abercrombie, a knit top from J. Crew, socks from Target and sneakers from Nike.

It’s Janie B's first video on her TikTok account, @jani.b086, and it’s a hit. The video, posted on Aug. 8, has since amassed over 120,000 views. Its comment section is full of users doting over the college freshman — the word "adorable" is used by at least a dozen commenters.

Janie’s "outfit of the day" video, known online as an "OOTD," is a popular video format for the thousands of potential new members (PNMs) who document their experience going through the recruitment process for college sororities in an annual TikTok phenomenon known as "RushTok."

PARENTS DROP EYE POPPING FEES ON SORORITY RUSH COACHES TO GET KIDS INTO ELITE COLLEGE GREEK LIFE

But Janie isn’t like the other RushTok girls who vlogged their Bama Rush experience this year. She doesn’t go to the University of Alabama. She didn’t rush a sorority. She didn’t even get her top from J. Crew or her sneakers from Nike.

That's because Janie isn’t real.

Every detail of every video on Janie’s account, from her dorm room, to her outfits, to Janie herself, was generated by artificial intelligence.

Olivia Moore, an investment partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, created Janie as an experiment to understand how consumers react to AI-generated content. For only $100 in credits, Moore produced a week's worth of videos of her fake RushTok influencer participating in Bama Rush and observed as her audience argued whether Janie was real or not.

The experiment showed how quickly some viewers could detect AI-generated content and how willing some were to continue watching even after they knew Janie wasn't real.

Moore is on the consumer investing team at Andreessen Horowitz where she invests in companies building consumer AI products. She says she has been fascinated by "how people make and interpret and understand AI content."

"The image, video, audio models are getting very human-like, very fast. I think we probably cross the uncanny valley in the next six months," Moore said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

"And so it means that how we as humans are able to detect AI-generated or AI-assisted content and how we interact with it is just going to become even more important because we're going to have a flood of this content, and it's going to be, in many cases, indistinguishable across all of our channels," she continued.

Moore said she created Janie as an experiment to see how consumers react to AI.

"Philosophically, that's an interesting question for me. What do people feel about AI content? What do they feel when they don't know it's AI? What do they feel when something they liked, or loved, or hated or were interested in turned out to be AI?"

CALIFORNIA LAW PUTS DIGITAL FINGERPRINTS ON AI FAKES

Moore primarily used ChatGPT and MiniMax to breathe life into her fake influencer. She pulled a real video of a University of Alabama dorm room off of the internet and uploaded it to ChatGPT. Then, she prompted Janie to have frizzy red hair, a pair of glasses and style from the 1960s. ChatGPT produced a still image of Janie in the real dorm room photo, and the "RushTok" influencer was born — or generated, at least.

For each TikTok, Moore animated Janie by feeding the still dorm room image into AI video model MiniMax H3. She used ChatGPT to produce prompts to feed into MiniMax, shaping how Janie would move, what she would sound like and the scripts she would follow.

Moore chose RushTok to introduce her AI influencer to the world after watching the annual phenomenon for the past five years. She said it was "the perfect testing ground" for her experiment for several reasons. Janie wouldn't be selling anything or hurting anyone, and RushTok naturally draws high traffic and has a low barrier to entry for new creators. With other PNMs participating in the trend, audiences would experience Janie alongside real humans posting similar content.

On the first day of Alabama Rush, Moore introduced Janie to the world with an OOTD video. Reactions to Janie were split in the comments.

"I would say anyone under maybe 25 immediately clocked her as AI," Moore said. "But anyone in the older demographic, which is much of the Bama Rush audience, was, I would say, fooled by her and just wishing her luck and sending her good thoughts in the process."

By the second day of the experiment the audience was mostly onto her. Moore said people took to Reddit to discuss Janie, created commentary videos on TikTok and corrected anyone who thought Janie was real in her comment section.

"By day two, day three, the comments were filled with still some people who were saying really nice things. And people would comment and tell them, 'Hey, this is AI.' And they'd be like, 'I don't care. She seems so sweet. Like I want her to succeed.'"

As the audience caught on, Moore said she had to change her strategy. She realized that people were still willing to watch AI-generated content as long as it was entertaining enough. So, she started dropping hints in the videos and watched as digital sleuths would proudly point out clues in her comment section.

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Moore said that humans are getting better at detecting AI quicker than AI generation is improving.

"We're kind of in a graph with two competing lines of different slopes. So one of them is like, how fast is AI approaching true human-like quality? And that has gotten a lot better over the past year. The other line is how fast are humans getting better at detecting AI?" Moore said. "It seems like, at least for now, that latter curve is higher slope. It's inflecting faster. The average human can still tell an AI video from a truly human video."

While humans could generally detect the AI content, Moore claimed TikTok , for the most part, did not immediately detect AI in most of the videos.

For the experiment, Moore decided to not label her videos as AI when she uploaded them. Of the 20 AI-generated videos she uploaded, Moore said TikTok only initially flagged 8 as containing AI-generated media. As of the date of this publication, TikTok displays an AI-generated media warning on 16 of the 20 AI videos.

"The platforms themselves are going to have a hard time detecting this content at scale, especially when the models are changing and the strategies are changing, and people are always gonna find ways to make this undetectable," Moore said.

Moore ended her experiment with a video of herself explaining to the audience who she was and why she decided to create Janie. She was shocked by the positive comments she received on the post.

"I think consumer sentiment towards AI is still quite negative. But if people feel like they aren't being tricked, they're being let in on it, they are being told how to do this themselves, they're being entertained by the content that's created, that can completely flip and the feelings can be very, very positive," Moore told Fox News Digital.

Moore predicts that more consumers will start using AI tools to create human-passing content, but she says it will have to compete with human content to gain emotional investment and be as interesting and entertaining to viewers.

"I understand why people are fearful of AI because, so far, if they see AI content, it's usually something that's kind of trying to trick them versus something that is honest with them and shows them how they could get the same value," said Moore.

"The more that we are kind of honest and straightforward as people using AI around how we use it and how much of us as humans still goes into that, it'll hopefully lead to a world where AI is just another tool that allows humans to do things that are even more human."

The Alabama Panhellenic Association declined to comment on Moore's experiment.

Speaking at the Project Angel Food Angel Awards in Los Angeles, the "Big Bang Theory" creator used his acceptance speech to insult the first family, call the president a "Russian asset" and joke about checking whether Trump had suffered a fatal heart attack. Regarding Melania Trump, he called the first lady "a surgically enhanced, cold-hearted Yugoslavian escort who clearly hates her husband." 

The White House responded to Lorre's remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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"Chuck Lorre should immediately seek psychiatric help to treat his severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain," said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle.

Lorre was honored at the event after his foundation made what Project Angel Food has described as a "transformational" contribution to the charity. The charity provides medically tailored meals to people facing critical and life-threatening illnesses. During his acceptance speech, Lorre repeatedly turned to politics and told the crowd that his "need to cause laughter" compelled him to do so.

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"I’d love to express my gratitude to all the people who’ve devoted their lives to making Project Angel Food an oasis for those in need. That would be my preference," Lorre said during his speech, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

"But because I’m a comedy writer, I have no choice but to explain how I wake up every morning, turn on CNN to see if the President of the United States had a heart attack while straining to take a dump," he added.

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Lorre, also known for creating shows including "Two and a Half Men" and "Mom," then called on those in attendance to open their wallets to contribute to the nonprofit before comparing first lady Melania Trump to former first lady Michelle Obama.

"I’d love to encourage you to pull out your wallets and contribute to this amazing organization, but my need to cause laughter forces me to question how a country can embrace a smart, educated, warm, funny first lady like Michelle Obama and somehow be OK with a surgically enhanced, cold-hearted Yugoslavian escort who clearly hates her husband," Lorre told the crowd.

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Film critic and Hollywood in Toto founder and editor Christian Toto told Fox News Digital that Lorre's attack on the first lady highlights what he sees as a glaring double standard in Hollywood.

"Generally speaking, we don't attack first ladies. It's just sort of an unspoken rule," Toto said. "They weren't elected. They're just supporting their husbands, so by and large, even comedians won't go there. But when it comes to First Lady Melania Trump, they go there, they go there a lot."

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"Comparing her to an escort is obviously factually incorrect for the obvious, but also just cruel. For all the talk in Hollywood [about] trying to treat women better and #MeToo, and things like that, I thought that was rather inappropriate, to say the least," he said.

Toto added that he believed Hollywood's reaction would be different if a conservative producer targeted a Democratic figure. "There are double standards that exist in Hollywood. Targets you can hit; targets you can't hit. If Michelle Obama was the target of such a cruel attack, I think it would get a lot of attention. There might even be a call for him to apologize for his comments."

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He also criticized celebrities for discussing political issues at charity or non-political events. "When you think about speaking at an event, it's almost like you're on a first date—you don't bring up abortion, you don't bring up gun control, you don't bring up all these sort of hot-button issues," Toto told Fox News Digital.

"It just seems odd that you'd go really hard political, but the celebrities do it for two reasons. One, they can't help themselves and two, no one's going to critique them, no one is going to fact-check them. So, they can say whatever they want. So, it's a very indulgent process, but it shows no sign of stopping," he added.

Lorre also criticized Democrats, calling on the Democratic National Committee to "run from the suicidal insanity of the far-left woke culture in the coming election," before taking aim at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his views on vaccines.

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Lorre ended the speech by again targeting Trump, giving his own version of the Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me the serenity to no longer give a sh-- about all the stupid people in this country, the courage to say Donald Trump is a Russian asset who traded teenagers with Jeffrey Epstein, and the wisdom to end on a cheap laugh."

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Lorre but did not hear back.

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, set off a wave of criticism this week after saying his support for universal healthcare and rejection of "this corrupt system" are rooted in "biblical grounds." He pointed to the actions of Jesus and the Hebrew prophets as the rationale.

"When Jesus healed the sick, he didn't ask for a deductible. So when I fight for universal healthcare, I'm doing it on biblical grounds," he wrote in an X post viewed over 2 million times. "When he fed the hungry, he didn't price gouge for a profit. When the Hebrew prophets saw corruption, they spoke truth to power. When I take on this corrupt system, I'm doing it on biblical grounds."

Just Facts president and co-founder Jim Agresti told Fox News Digital Talarico publicly opposes Christian nationalism while "imposing his own version, a perverted version, of Christian morals on the public."

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"Talarico bills himself as a Christian. He talks about how he's a seminarian," Just Facts President and co-founder Agresti told Fox News Digital. "He frequently quotes the words or misquotes the words of Jesus. And he tries to also, at the same time, say, 'I hate Christian nationalism,' while he's imposing his own version, a perverted version, of Christian morals on the public."

Agresti, who also preaches monthly at his church in Texas and wrote a book about the veracity of the Bible, said the first time he heard Talarico's comments, he immediately believed Talarico was not only "butchering the Bible" but also misrepresenting the Constitution.

"He's perverting the words of Jesus, and he's also flouting the U.S. Constitution," he said.

Agresti said he found more than 50 Bible passages about giving to people in need, none of which described government handouts.

"In every single instance, it's about self-sacrificing generosity," he said.

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He said Talarico's interpretation conflicts with the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story that teaches individuals to voluntarily help those in need.

"It was about an individual who saw someone in desperate need and sacrificed their own time and their own money to help that person," he said. "There was no role for government."

For that reason, Agresti said Talarico's public support for taxpayer-funded universal health care is fundamentally at odds with the Bible.

"He's not even offering to give away his own money," he said. "He's offering to take money from others and then give it to other people."

But Agresti said his concerns go beyond the Bible. He argued both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are rooted in biblical principles, with the Declaration saying government exists to secure God-given rights and the Constitution limiting the government's role.

"These are not things that the Democrats are typically pushing," he said, adding that government welfare programs have contributed to a large national debt, leaving less money for other priorities.

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Agresti highlighted how both Talarico and the left overlook the government's biblical responsibility to "stop crime, stop murder, stop theft."

"These are the things that people on the left are often very soft about," he said.

Agresti argued history offers a similar example, comparing Talarico to Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Agresti said Hamilton similarly "misled the public" by pushing for a larger role for the government after the Constitution was ratified.

"He was clear upon that, but then flipped after the Constitution was enacted," he said. "In other words, he misled the public about what his true agenda was."

But this is not the first time Talarico has faced controversy over his religious remarks. Talarico previously said "God is non-binary" on the Texas House floor in 2021 while objecting to a bill that would ban transgender athletes from women's sports, called Jesus was a "radical feminist," and described the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 was "unchristian."

With the pivotal general election approaching, Talarico is set to face Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a high-stakes Senate race in November.

Agresti cited Jesus' warning about "false prophets" when speaking about Talarico, saying "they're dressed like sheep, but inwardly they're ferocious wolves."

"I don't know what's in his heart," he said. "He might be deluded. I just don't know. That's for God to determine."

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said, "James is a Christian seminarian who’s dedicated his life to the teachings of Jesus Christ — fighting corruption when he sees it because there’s nothing Christ-like about powerful people using scripture to justify hate and greed and score political points. While billionaire-bought politicians like Ken Paxton attack James for his faith — he will continue encouraging Texans to come together by loving their neighbors as themselves." 

"A lot of the things that I saw while I was in that life for five years was very dark. You see a lot of addiction. I even got involved into addiction myself. You see drugs. You see alcohol… you even see trafficking," Hirsh told Fox News Digital.

"[To the] women just wanting to go to the club and thinking, ‘I can just go and make some quick money,’ you don't realize the door that you're opening, and you don't realize all of the darkness that comes with it… This all comes with that lifestyle and just feeling empty inside, feeling dead inside and just going against your morals just for money," she continued.

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"I fell into the temptation [of stripping] because of the allure of money… [That’s what] stripping glamorizes [and] society glamorizes this lifestyle and portrays it to be something it's not," Hirsh added.

"If you've actually lived inside of it, you know that while you are doing this, you are not happy," she relayed.

Hirsh’s career in the sex industry came to a halt when the clubs in her area shut down during the pandemic of 2020. The abrupt halt prompted her to sit in silence with God, a reality she describes as pulling her heart out of that line of work and closer to Him.

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"Society makes it seem like this luxurious lifestyle is the goal, but what I have truly learned is the goal is Jesus. The goal is eternal life. That is the true goal. And true riches are found in God," Hirsh continued.

"This fast-paced lifestyle [is] glamorized by society, but it is not glamorous at all. This is coming from someone who lived it," she added.

Hirsh went on to share that "most of the women" in the stripping are "on drugs" and "drinking every single day to numb" themselves to their work.

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"You're constantly being degraded on a daily basis. So, it's not empowering you at all — it's actually belittling you and making you feel less than. But because you are walking away with money, you think that it's empowering you, but just as fast as that money comes is just as fast it goes," she revealed.

"What goes through my mind when I go into the strip club is that these women need God… I go in there and I tell them what they need to hear, what God is placing in my spirit to tell them because my job is to just plant the seed, but God is the one that's going to make the seed grow," she continued.

Hirsh founded "Kept by Grace Ministry" shortly after reconnecting with her faith, and visits strip clubs regularly to pull women out of the sex industry.

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"For the Christians that believe strippers are beyond saving, I would say that they don't have a true relationship with the Lord… Jesus sat and ate with prostitutes. Jesus was going to those that the Pharisees were calling too dirty… So for the Christians that believe that strippers are too far gone, I would say that you need to understand the heart of God because no stripper, nobody is too far gone for God. No matter what they have done, God can redeem anybody," Hirsh said.

In 2025, the Valkyries became the first expansion franchise in league history to reach the playoffs in its inaugural season. They also sold out every regular season home game and set a league attendance record, averaging more than 18,000 fans per contest. The Valkyries built on that successful debut Friday night, rallying past the Dallas Wings in Game 3 to secure the first playoff series victory in franchise history.

Valkyries forward Gabby Williams scored 19 points as Golden State rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat Dallas 77-73 in a dramatic, winner-take-all Game 3.

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The game’s decisive moment came with 13.1 seconds remaining and Golden State holding a one-point lead. Williams leaped back inbounds to secure her own miss on a play initially ruled Dallas’ ball, but Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase successfully challenged the call.

Nakase had fallen to her knees moments earlier and needed help getting up before being escorted off the court by a staff member after the final buzzer as her team celebrated at midcourt.

Arike Ogunbowale knocked down an off-balance jumper with 3:13 to play that put Dallas up by five and finished with 30 points to follow up a 45-point performance in the Wings’ overtime win Wednesday night at home.

Williams scored all but two of her points after halftime. Veronica Burton had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Burton’s layup with 8:19 to play pulled the Valkyries within 61-59, Williams hit two 3-pointers late in the third and they both willed Golden State into the best-of-five semifinals against the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

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Tiffany Hayes scored 18 points off the bench, Kaila Charles hit a tying 3-pointer with 6:51 left and Kiah Stokes pulled down 13 rebounds.

Paige Bueckers had 17 points with six assists but shot only 3 for 14 for Dallas, making all 10 of her free throws.

Before the hard fought game, Nakase challenged the Valkyries to deliver a complete performance. "We made a promise to ourselves we are going to play the best four quarters of our lives."

The Valkyries are scheduled to host the defending champion Las Vegas Aces on Sunday in Game 1 of the semifinals. The Atlanta Dream will host the New York Liberty in the other semifinal matchup.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Both teams came in with one loss, and another would almost certainly tank any hopes of getting into the Big Ten Championship conversation.

The Wildcats came in off of an impressive showing against Indiana, and it became evident that that was no fluke, thanks to a 34-13 win over the Nittany Lions.

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But before the game, Northwestern took a second to show off their new $875 million home — which opened its doors 100 years to the day after its predecessor debuted — and it was spectacular.

The first points at the new Ryan Field went to — fittingly enough — the Wildcats when Jackson Kleather booted a 50-yarder between the uprights to cap off Northwestern's maiden drive in their new home.

The Nittany Lions were forced to punt on their opening drive, and OC Chip Kelly's Wildcats offense went right back to work.

Running back Joseph Himon II threw down a massive 47-yard run to put the Wildcats on the Penn State 4-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Aidan Chiles used his legs to power into the end zone for six.

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The Wildcats couldn't have asked for a better opening quarter with 144 yards of total offense, 109 of those coming on the ground.

However, in the second quarter, Penn State forced a fumble on the Wildcats' second drive and recovered, giving them prime field position.

That eventually led to an 8-yard rushing touchdown for running back Carson Hansen.

Northwestern struck right back with a quick touchdown on the ensuing possession, which stood after a flag for a block in the back was picked up.

Northwestern tacked on another touchdown to go up 24-7.

On their final drive of the half, Penn State looked like they were going to at least put three points on the board; however, kicker Ryan Barker — who was staring down the barrel of Northwestern's new, European soccer-style "Wildcat Wall" — missed a crucial 45-yard field goal attempt.

David Braun's Wildcats dominated in that first half with 278 yards of offense.

That trend continued in the second half. The Nittany Lions continued to struggle to get anything going offensively, while on defense, they couldn't find a way to contain the Wildcats' running game.

If you thought it couldn't get worse for Penn State, it did. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht threw an interception at midfield, leaving a possible scoring opportunity on the table.

While Penn State was able to put some points on the board, there was never a doubt that the Wildcats were in control.

While the 34-13 final is enough to get the Wildcats some attention, the fact that they put up 506 yards of total offense, 413 of them on the ground, is going to make defensive coordinators a bit nervous moving forward.

Penn State will head home to host USC next weekend, while Northwestern will spend another week at their new digs and will welcome Ball State.