'F**king rabid' leftist female physically attacks conservative Jewish influencer during free-speech event at U. of Michigan: Video



A leftist female University of Michigan student was caught on video physically attacking a conservative Jewish influencer Sunday during a reported free-speech event on campus.

The victim — Liz Benichou, who uses the handle "basedinmalibu" on X and Instagram — was apparently shoved to the ground in a violent outburst by the female student who soon was arrested and then hollered the following while in handcuffs: "I should have f**king killed you while I had the f**king chance."

The female asked the arresting officer, 'What the f**k are you going to do to me? Because I hit a f**king dumb-ass bitch in the face?'

Benichou told Fox News she was hosting an open debate when a female approached, began shouting, and allegedly struck another conservative influencer in the face with her phone before turning on her.

The other conservative influencer was online creator and commentator "The Older Millennial," also known as Joseph Anthony Redden, who was sitting at a foldout table with signs that read "Is Islam evil?" and "Is Islam compatible with the West?" Newsweek said.

The female approached the table asking, "Where’s your permit?" saying the setup was "f**king stupid" and clapping in Redden’s face and shouting, the magazine noted. Redden told police in that moment and later claimed on X that the female struck him. You can view video of that interaction here, after which the female complains about "anti-Muslim people."

Benichou told Fox News that soon the female "came up toward me, and I told her, 'You would not be able to do this in Iran,'" referencing freedom of speech and pointing to the Iranian government's treatment of protesters.

Then Benichou and fellow conservative influencer Cam Higby challenged the female over women's freedoms in Iran, the cable news network added — particularly with respect to how she was dressed and showing "skin."

Benichou can be heard on video — as the female stands directly in front of her — asking onlookers, "Am I wrong? If she walked around like this in Iran, what would happen to her?"

"And then she just lunged," Benichou told Fox News.

The female used both hands to knock Benichou to the ground and then tried to stomp her before a male intervened and pulled the attacker away from Benichou, video appeared to show.

“Don’t f**king talk to me like that!” the female hollered at Benichou while trying to get back to her, according to video. “You wanna f**king get over here?! F**king get over here, bitch!”

The female momentarily escaped the grasp of a police officer, but the officer soon grabbed the female and got her on the ground and began handcuffing her and telling her "don't resist."

“Instant f**king karma, bitch,” one onlooker observed as the arrest took place.

Another onlooker commented, "She’s f**king rabid."

The female asked the arresting officer, "What the f**k are you going to do to me? Because I hit a f**king dumb-ass bitch in the face?"

As the female was being escorted to a police vehicle, she continued shouting and cursing at Benichou, Newsweek said.

"I'd do it again every f**king time, you stupid f**king c**t!" video showed the female hollering before adding, "I should have f**king killed you while I had the f**king chance."

Benichou on Monday told "Fox & Friends" she injured her lower back as a result of the attack — but that she won't be silenced.

"It will definitely not dissuade me," she added to the cable news network.

RELATED: Vance blasts 'psychopath' El-Sayed over 'anti-white' hatred

Taylor Sharp — Benichou’s manager and the CEO of Liberty Under Fire USA, a conservative youth organization — told Mediaite that Benichou plans on pressing charges against the arrested student.

The University of Michigan Police Department told Fox News that a student was taken into custody, processed, and released — and that the case "will be forwarded to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office for review."

More from Fox News:

The confrontation comes as Michigan's closely watched Senate race brings political and cultural divisions into sharper focus ahead of the midterms.

Benichou said her visit to the campus was partly motivated by concerns about Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, whose political affiliations and campaign funding she wanted to discuss with students.

Police noted to Newsweek that the attack took place during an "unpermitted political event."

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These hackers just pulled off history's biggest heist. Here's what you need to do now.



In a historically bad month for cybersecurity, Black October ended with a grand finale of epic proportions. Friday brought the biggest cryptocurrency heist in history, with hackers stealing billions of dollars from a major crypto platform. Here’s what happened, what changed over the weekend, and what you need to do if you were affected.

Late afternoon on Friday, October 30, the largest cryptocurrency platform in the world, Binance, was breached by hackers. In about 20 minutes, the attackers reportedly stole $6.34 billion directly from users’ accounts, marking the biggest crypto heist in history.

This story serves as a warning that anyone — even an employee at a leading cryptocurrency company — is subject to phishing scams.

TRM Labs, an AI and blockchain criminal investigation agency, quickly linked the attack to a North Korean hacking group called TraderTraitor. According to the FBI, this same group was responsible for the Bybit attack in 2025, in which the group stole $1.5 billion in Ethereum, and the Ronin Network heist, in which the group took $620 million in 2022.

Needless to say, this group has a long track record of cryptocurrency theft, and despite the specter of Black October looming over the internet, there’s no indication that TraderTraitor used a PHP exploit to gain access to Binance’s systems. In fact, according to the company, the attack may have started with a compromised laptop that belonged to one of its engineers. As a result, the attack appears to be the product of a good old-fashioned phishing scheme, where the employee was tricked into clicking a malicious link that installed malware on the device, giving hackers access to Binance’s trading systems.

Binance temporarily disabled cryptocurrency withdrawals to prevent further losses, as well as deposits for safe measure. The company worked quickly to mitigate the damage. By Saturday, Binance claimed that 90% of all lost assets were returned to users’ accounts, and by Sunday, withdrawals for specific crypto coins began to go back online, with a gradual rollout continuing into Monday.

RELATED: Time to declare independence from phishing scams — here's how

vchal/Getty Images

If you’re a Binance user, you’re advised to check your account for signs of losses. Even if you don’t believe you were affected — or if you’re unsure if you were affected — it's a good idea to check anyway. The breach targeted Binance’s internal systems, so customer usernames, passwords, and seed phrases were rendered ineffective at securing user accounts from the hacking group. Your account may have been compromised without you even knowing it.

If you did lose money, don't worry. Binance promised to restore all lost funds automatically. You don’t need to file a claim or submit a form to report the damages. However, it may be a good idea to watch your account over the coming weeks to ensure that every missing coin is returned as expected. If, after Binance has finished restoring the final 10% of lost assets to users, you believe that money is still missing, you can contact its support team for help.

This story serves as a warning that anyone — even an employee at a leading cryptocurrency company — is subject to phishing scams. That is why it is important to stay wary of any unsolicited communications you receive in your email inbox, messaging apps, and even phone calls, especially if they tell you to click on random links that could hide malicious intent. Even if the message comes from a trusted friend, family member, or colleague, it is a good idea to check with them personally before clicking on a link that appears suspicious.

Some web browsers now even have anti-phishing and malicious link protection built in. Enhanced protection mode in Google Chrome is free, and it uses AI to identify dangerous websites in real time. It will even stop you from visiting that site if the threat on the other side is a verified danger to you and your devices. Follow these steps to enable it now.

The Binance breach was just one of two major financial platform hacks that happened on Friday. Polymarket was also attacked, though on a much smaller scale. Just a little more than 700 users lost $2.7 million to bad actors, thanks to a vulnerability in a third-party system. The issue was quickly resolved, and trades are all back online.

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Judge TOSSES OUT charges against ex-FBI officials accused of LYING about Hunter Biden laptop — but there's a catch



A federal judge has tossed out the cases against two former Federal Bureau of Investigation officials, accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing the power of government in order to prosecute them.

The Dept. of Justice had sought criminal charges against 46-year-old Nikki Floris and 56-year-old Bradley Benavides on the basis that they had allegedly lied to Congress about the Hunter Biden laptop case.

'What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization.'

Both Floris and Benavides had testified in 2023 that they had no part in the investigation into Biden's laptop, but prosecutors cited evidence that both may have discussed the case with other FBI officials.

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed the charges against both defendants.

"What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization," said Faruqui.

He said the government could have brought the charges at any time but chose to do so two weeks before the election. He also cited a prime time speech where President Donald Trump aired his grievances about the 2020 election.

"I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that I cannot read a calendar," Faruqui added.

He accused the government of rushing the prosecution and including "critical mistakes" in their charges.

Floris' attorney had argued in court that his client had been prosecuted in order to influence public opinion for the sake of the election.

Critics of Floris pointed to an unearthed alleged text where she claimed to be "basically running a shadow government" in the FBI.

Both Floris and Benavides had been a part of the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, which no longer exists but had spearheaded the agency's efforts to oppose foreign influence in the 2020 election.

The Justice Dept. has the option to pursue indictments of both Floris and Benavides through a grand jury.

RELATED: Judge APOLOGIZES to suspected would-be Trump assassin — and compares him to Jan. 6

Faruqui was heavily criticized when he apologized in court to Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of trying to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April. Cole had been placed on suicide watch and been denied access to a Bible, according to his attorneys.

As a magistrate federal judge, Faruqui was not nominated by a president or approved by the U.S. Senate but selected by the court in Washington, D.C.

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John Doyle warns of 'third-world mindset' as influencer humiliates working dad for clicks



He was just trying to finish his workday and get home to his kids. Instead, a Michigan father of four found himself the target of a viral Instagram prank in which a young content creator pretended to steal $10 from him — all while recording his increasingly frustrated reaction for clicks.

In the viral video, the Michigan father, frustrated, goes to report the young man to management. The content creator continues filming and keeps insisting that “it’s not that deep” and that “it’s just a joke.”

“No, it’s not a joke to me, OK?” the man said. “I don’t have time for this crap in my life. My life is hard enough as it is, OK? I don’t need this crap. I’ve got kids at home that went to bed without me right now, and I was supposed to be at home an hour ago, and I’m still out here working, and I got to get up at 5 in the morning and do 10 more stores. So this is not a joke to me.”

“No, I get you,” the kid responded.

“No, you don’t. You’re probably making money off this. I can’t even pay my goddamn mortgage, and I’ve got four kids at home. So not funny,” the man yelled.

BlazeTV host John Doyle calls it a “little bit of a patriot go-off moment.”

“What he’s upset about is he can tell that he’s being recorded,” Doyle explains. “He knows that he’s going to be uploaded onto the internet and made fun of. And so it’s like this is just weighing on him alongside everything else he’s dealing with in the meantime.”

“And he can tell, obviously, they’re not sincere about the apology. They don’t care. And then all he can do is just scold them,” he continues, noting that the man is the one who would be facing real repercussions.

“He’s in trouble because he’s in uniform,” Doyle says.

“He knows that not only is he going to be humiliated on the internet, but it’s probably going to come back to maybe compromise his employment, which again, the guy’s behind on his mortgage,” he continues.

“He has four kids at home. It’s just a really bad situation overall. And so, that’s what I think it was, is he knows that he’s the butt end of the joke. He’s being exploited. And the person who’s exploiting him is treating him as though he’s not a human being. It literally is dehumanizing them,” he adds.

And Doyle points out that in the beginning of the video, the man responds to the kid's initial question about the time with a smile.

“He’s obviously walking up to this guy who’s just there trying to get, you know, his job done, go home. And the thing that really gets me, too, is you see in the beginning of the video, the second he’s asked, ‘Hey, what time is it?’ He immediately is helpful,” he explains.

“He is happy to help, happy to engage in high-trust activities like this,” he adds.

However, people like the kid are "actively preying on people’s trust and support so they can make a few dollars rather than work an actual job.”

“This is exploiting a high-trust society. This is exploiting the behavior of good Americans,” Doyle says, which he calls a “third-world mindset.”

“The third-world mindset cannot innovate,” he explains. “It cannot create companies. It cannot be productive.”

“People who come from countries who literally are responsible for zero innovations, curiously, the only way they can innovate is not actually with contributing something, which people want to purchase and partake in,” he continues.

“It always with finding the cracks, finding some way to scan the system, cut corners, take advantage of people. That’s all they do,” he adds.

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8 killed in 'cataclysmic plane crash,' including 20-year-old female co-pilot



A Learjet 60 traveling from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas to the Bahamas crashed near Cresthaven, Florida, around 12:50 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Everyone on board was killed.

The co-pilot of the airplane has now been identified.

'Some people think that it’s weird that I can fly planes, but I can't drive a car.'

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that all nine people aboard the aircraft perished in the crash.

Dashcam footage of the crash shows the plane flying nose-first at an incredible speed into a Palm Beach County road and exploding into a fireball filled with debris.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told reporters at the site of the crash, "Obviously this was a cataclysmic plane crash. It looked like a missile going down. It left a big crater on the side of the road."

The governor noted that so far there were no reports of any fatalities or injuries among people who were on the ground at the time of impact. Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel Flores noted, however, that roughly 600 people were affected by the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and is set to hold a press conference on Monday.

The co-pilot has been identified as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras.

Filgueiras' mother, Camila, and her stepfather confirmed to the New York Post that the young aviator was the co-pilot of the doomed Learjet.

According to a recording of air traffic control radio calls reviewed by CNN, the pilot reported ice buildup on the aircraft, an outside temperature of -52.6 Fahrenheit, and moderate turbulence.

Shortly thereafter, the pilot told the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center, "We're descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday! We're descending 10,000 feet per minute!"

RELATED: Springfield residents say the crashes keep coming — and so do the bills

Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu/Getty Images

"We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute," the pilot said. "We're going to crash into the ground!"

The global flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange shows the jet with the tail number N722BD dropping from 35,025 feet to 8,750 feet in just over two minutes before the data stream cut out. The aircraft's final recorded ground speed was over 268 miles per hour.

The Post reported that the female crew member's final remarks captured in the audio recording were, "Holy f**k we're out of time."

Filgueiras was featured in a WPEC-TV report in October 2023, where she boasted about securing her pilot's license.

"I definitely do brag because people say, 'Ooh you can’t drive,' and I’m like, 'Yeah, but I can fly,'" she said at the time.

"Some people think that it’s weird that I can fly planes, but I can't drive a car. I mean, I can but a lot of people think it's funny," she added. "I think it's funny, and I now want my [driver's] license really bad."

Filgueiras also appears to have been the user behind the TikTok account "learjet_girl," which features videos taken in Learjet cockpits with hip-hop music accompaniment.

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Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy's team gives hopeful update after stroke



Democrat Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is in the hospital after suffering a stroke.

According to Murphy's office, the 53-year-old Democrat was taken to a hospital on Saturday after experiencing numbness in his arm at his son's hockey game.

'I understand all too well how much this impacts your life.'

Following confirmation that he had indeed suffered a stroke, Murphy was transferred to Johns Hopkins Medicine for "further monitoring."

A stroke, also known as a "brain attack," can leave a victim with permanent brain damage. Nearly 800,000 people suffer a stroke every year in the U.S. where it is a leading cause of serious long-term disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The senator's office claimed on Sunday that "the doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery."

Murphy, who has been floated as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, suffered the stroke ahead of a planned campaign event with New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas (D), who is running for the U.S. Senate.

RELATED: Tantrums galore! Democrats crash out over Rep. Haley Stevens' last-minute 'betrayal'

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In the days leading up to the adverse medical event, Murphy — a gun control advocate who once identified illegal aliens as the people "we care about most" — was criticizing President Donald Trump, championing Ukraine, and trying to help get Democrats elected. He also claimed days earlier to have seen the president's alleged plan to "restart war with Iran after the election."

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who suffered a stroke in May 2022 that initially prompted concerns about his competence, was among the many politicos who wished Murphy a speedy recovery.

"As someone who survived a near-fatal stroke, I understand all too well how much this impacts your life," said Fetterman. "My family is rooting for Chris and his family for a full and speedy recovery."

Murphy's stroke comes just months after Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) died of an aortic dissection and amid sustained concerns over retiring Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's health in light of his latest absence.

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Hugh Hefner’s widow alleges d​isturbing abuse: 'Not a good guy, was he?'



Recent allegations against Hugh Hefner are stomach turning, as his widow claims the reality behind the Playboy empire was far darker than its glamorous image.

In an expose published by Page Six, Crystal Hefner accuses the late magazine mogul of sexual abuse and coercion, including allegedly forcing women into degrading sexual situations. The headline reads: “Hugh Hefner’s widow, Crystal, accuses late Playboy founder of rape, incest as she details horrific sex acts.”

Crystal alleges that the Playboy founder abused her sexually throughout their relationship. In one of the more disturbing allegations, the widow accused her late husband of attempting to force twins to perform sexual acts on each other.

She also claimed that Hefner would force women to use "visibly dirty sex toys.”


BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere and co-host Dave Landau are disturbed but not surprised that Hefner allegedly wasn’t a “good guy.”

“It’s actually a really terrible story,” Stu says, “Hugh Hefner, not a good guy, Dave, was he?”

“No, not a good guy,” Dave agrees.

“But I do have to say, not to defend Mr. Hefner, who we know is in hell. I try to be a bit sympathetic always to the people in these stories, but if a 90-year-old man is trying to force dirty sex toys onto you, you can just leave,” he adds.

“As I used to say, you know, as any father I think has said, is like, you know, use your legs. Like move. Don’t just sit there and scream across the house,” Stu says.

“It’s not hard to get away from any 90-year-old, I feel like,” he adds.

“He’s at an age where one good kick could kill him ... at the very least will bruise him for the rest of his life,” Dave says.

“Yeah, you kick him, I would say, hard enough, he just turns to dust. It just explodes into just a powder,” Stu agrees.

“It’s like a mummy,” Dave adds.

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Democrat falls behind household-name Republican amid Somali fraud scandal in Maine



Paul LePage is closing strong in Maine amid a torrent of fraud cases that festered under the state’s Democrat trifecta.

Republican former Gov. Paul LePage leads Democrat Matt Dunlap 52% to 47% among likely voters in Maine's 2nd Congressional District, according to the University of New Hampshire Survey Center's final Pine Tree State Poll. One percent back another candidate, and 1% are undecided.

‘Former Republican Governor Paul LePage has opened a small lead in Maine’s Second Congressional District.’

Six weeks ago, the outlook was dire for Republicans.

Dunlap led LePage 51% to 45% in UNH's September survey. In just over a month, LePage has swung the projected outcome 11 points in his favor. UNH’s final poll was conducted less than a week before Election Day.

Democrats aren’t the ones bolstering LePage’s lead. Ninety-nine percent of Democrats remain in lockstep with Dunlap, according to the poll.

LePage, however, has reached 97% support among Republicans. Dunlap boasts 62% of independents, but it hasn’t been enough to stave off the polling landslide in recent weeks.

RELATED: Maine got robbed under Democrat Matt Dunlap's nose. Now he's running for Congress.

Graeme Sloan/Getty Images

Dunlap's image has also taken a hit amid both reports of fraud and forthcoming prosecutions for alleged fraudsters, many of whom are Somali.

Thirty percent of likely 2nd District voters view Dunlap favorably, and 49% view him unfavorably. With those numbers, Dunlap is 19 points under water when it comes to favorability.

He was at +4 in the September poll. Sixteen percent of likely voters feel neutrally toward him, and 5% don't know enough about him to say.

LePage’s favorability ratings aren’t spectacular either, but they have trended in the right direction. Forty-five percent of likely voters view him favorably and 52% unfavorably, a net 7 favorability rating. That's a seven-point improvement since September, whereas Dunlap’s favorability has collapsed 23 points since UNH’s previous poll.

"Former Republican Governor Paul LePage has opened a small lead in Maine's Second Congressional District," UNH said in a poll summary.

The university surveyed 1,722 Maine residents via online form from Oct. 27 to Oct. 31, 2026. The 2nd District sample included 802 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The poll isn’t a handout to Republicans. Other statewide candidates don't fare as well as LePage.

Democrat Troy Jackson leads Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) 54% to 45% among likely voters, the October poll found. Collins trailed by 4 points in September. Her net favorability is -15, according to UNH. Jackson sits at -1 overall. Most Mainers still think Collins will win anyway, according to UNH.

Collins has a history of outperforming polls.

The now five-term incumbent senator trailed Democrat Sara Gideon in every independent public poll of the 2020 race, according to the Bangor Daily News. Quinnipiac gave Gideon a 12-point advantage as late as mid-September. Closer to Election Day, Collins sat 5.5 points behind Gideon, according to RealClearPolitics.

Collins ended up winning re-election by around 8 points.

“Democrats have effectively nationalized this election as a referendum on President Trump, and Democratic voters are more interested and motivated than Republicans,” UNH said.

LePage seems to have succeeded in making his race a referendum on State Auditor Matt Dunlap.

Blaze News' Poll Watch average has LePage leading Dunlap by 1.9 points.

The LePage and Dunlap campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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The US banned this Chinese tech — it just showed up in more American products



The FCC has been on a ban spree lately, shutting out new Chinese-made robot vacuums, humanoid robots, and Wi-Fi routers from sale on U.S. soil. Now two new devices are on the list — dashboard cameras and wireless video transmitters — both with ties to a previously banned brand.

To be clear, the ban doesn’t cover all dashboard cameras and wireless video transmitters. Most of these products available on store shelves are safe, by federal standards. Instead, the ban goes after two specific devices that contain technology from a Chinese company that has allegedly tried to steal U.S. tech secrets in the past.

HiSilicon uses some concerning language in its marketing materials.

The devices feature chips made by HiSilicon, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech juggernaut Huawei. Going back to 2012, a committee led by Mike Rogers deemed Huawei and fellow Chinese tech giant ZTE national security threats after neither could convince the group that they wouldn’t spy on Americans on behalf of the Chinese government.

What started as a warning for U.S. enterprises not to buy telecommunications products from the two companies ultimately led to President Trump issuing a national ban during his first term in 2019. The ban blocked Huawei from selling its smartphones in the U.S., blocked Huawei’s technology from being installed in the U.S. 5G network, and even prevented Huawei from using Google’s Android platform and apps on its devices.

Still, Huawei continues to be a leading tech giant with huge foreign influence. By pivoting away from Android to its own operating system, HarmonyOS, Huawei overtook both Apple and Samsung as the number-one smartphone manufacturer in China.

Even as the resilient tech giant focused on its domestic market, it still found a way into American products, thanks to a subsidiary called HiSilicon. Founded back in 1991, HiSilicon is a fabless semiconductor creator that designs the Kirin mobile processor for Huawei’s smartphones. It also designs chips for AI servers, smart home appliances, and other devices.

RELATED: How to protect yourself and your data during the PHP web meltdown

amgun/Getty Images

Among those devices are dashboard cameras and wireless video transmitters. According to the FCC, the agency blocked two devices in these categories that contained HiSilicon chips, barring them from being sold or marketed to American customers in the United States.

The FCC also noted that HiSilicon uses some concerning language in its marketing materials, claiming that its chips contained in products are “designed for the surveillance market” with “[b]uilt in detection algorithms for human faces.”

The official announcement doesn’t name the brands or device models that contained Huawei’s chips. However, given the ongoing ban in the United States, one can only hope that the inclusion of these chips for American-bound products was an oversight by the device manufacturer. Either way, the FCC caught the discrepancy and dealt with it swiftly.

Given the increasingly precarious nature of online cybersecurity these days, we as a nation can’t be too careful about the products we allow into the country. Just last week, the world suffered from the largest cybersecurity event in human history. Before that, Chinese hackers broke into an enterprise cloud backup system that contained data for thousands of companies. Then there’s also the mass surveillance campaign currently under way through Flock’s ALPR camera network, though the company may be falling apart.

Still, we have enough problems to deal with here on American soil without giving China even more access to the American people through suspicious tech.

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2 Dan Sullivans, 1 Alaska ballot, and a very dirty trick



Even if Mary Peltola wins Alaska's Senate race on Tuesday, I encourage Americans not to view her as a legitimate U.S. senator. That is her fault, and she and her party will have to live with it.

For years, the left hectored Americans about "attacks on democracy." It built networks of groups with names like the Democracy Defenders Fund. A feeble Joe Biden stood in the Capitol and accused his opponents of holding "a dagger at the throat of America," then delivered a prime-time speech in Philadelphia against a blood-red backdrop. Under that banner, the Biden administration and its apparatchiks destroyed lives, jailed people, and attacked reputations and livelihoods. To them, casting doubt on an election was the greatest sin imaginable, deserving severe punishment — fair process be damned.

Given what we now know, no Peltola victory should be called legitimate. The count may be certified in her favor when the dust settles, but there will forever be an asterisk next to her name.

What is happening in Alaska shreds whatever credibility that crusade had left.

Underhanded gamesmanship and dirty tricks are as old as politics. This is not that. A New York Times investigation, drawing on a dozen sources, text messages, and internal documents, describes an elaborate operation involving Peltola campaign aides, lawyers, and staffers at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The purpose was to confuse voters by recruiting another Dan Sullivan to appear on the ballot alongside the actual Republican incumbent, Senator Dan S. Sullivan.

The Times, no friend to conservatives, quoted Peltola's former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, saying Peltola herself was "definitely aware." Rios later sought to retract her remarks. Peltola denies knowing about the operation. But the messages and documents reported by the Times cannot be waved away with a press release.

When it comes to dirty tricks, this is a difference in kind, not merely degree. The victim isn't just the real Dan Sullivan. It is the voters and the electoral system itself. The Justice Department amended its lawsuit to incorporate the Times reporting. Alaska's governor ordered an investigation, and House Republicans opened a probe of their own.

On Sunday, a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's lawsuit, finding that the government lacked standing and had proposed no workable way to examine ballots without compromising voter secrecy. The department plans to appeal. The dismissal resolves neither the Times' reporting nor the underlying question of who arranged the scheme.

Recall that the Biden Justice Department prosecuted my friend Douglass Mackey over an election meme. When Mackey was sentenced, Biden's U.S. attorney in Brooklyn declared:

One of the foundational rights we hold as Americans, a right that many fought so hard to obtain, is the right to vote. The defendant weaponized disinformation in a dangerous scheme to stop targeted groups, including black and brown people and women, from participating in our democracy. ... This groundbreaking prosecution demonstrates our commitment to prosecuting those who commit crimes that threaten our democracy and seek to deprive people of their constitutional right to vote.

The government never produced a single voter who was tricked out of casting a ballot. In July 2025, the Second Circuit unanimously overturned Mackey’s conviction and ordered an acquittal because prosecutors had failed to prove he knowingly joined the alleged conspiracy.

RELATED: Alaska may ‘stop’ election certification due to alleged Democratic ‘Decoy Dan’ scheme: Governor

Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Biden Justice Department’s certainty about Mackey far outran its proof. Yet the language of its denunciation describes the Peltola operation perfectly. Our constitutional republic depends on an informed and virtuous citizenry. Recruiting a candidate to mislead that citizenry is beyond the pale and devoid of virtue.

A few hundred confused voters could decide a Senate race. And in this contest, a few hundred votes could help decide control of the chamber.

Democrats have largely minimized the matter or said nothing. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who personally courted Peltola into this race, had a spokeswoman say he knew nothing of the scheme and wasn't involved. Notice what that statement leaves out: any suggestion that it was wrong. The DSCC's response was to change the subject to Republicans.

For five years, the left insisted that silence in the face of election lies is complicity. Fine. By their own standard, the Peltola campaign's conduct attaches to the Democratic Party's political apparatus, especially given the reported involvement of its Senate campaign committee. Every one of them should have to answer for it.

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But we shouldn't let Lisa Murkowski off the hook either. Although the Republican senator has now condemned the scheme, she helped create the conditions for it.

In 2020, Alaska abandoned its traditional partisan primaries for a top-four "jungle" primary and ranked-choice general elections. Under ranked-choice voting, the candidate leading in first-choice votes can lose as the lowest finishers are eliminated and their ballots transfer to voters' next choices. The top-four primary is how the other Sullivan made the November ballot.

The whole arrangement was designed to insulate Murkowski from a primary challenge, and her longtime political operatives helped put it in place. Scott Kendall, a leading architect, had worked on her campaigns. A campaign manager for the ballot measure later worked on communications for Murkowski's 2022 re-election. Alaska Democrats even derided it as the "Lisa Law." It is inside this system that the deception documented by the Times can do damage.

Recall that Murkowski endorsed Peltola for the House twice and went out of her way to praise her character.

Given what we now know, no Peltola victory should be called legitimate. The count may be certified in her favor when the dust settles, but there will forever be an asterisk next to her name. This sinister plot was designed to sow confusion in Alaska's elections. The people who ran it don't deserve the benefit of the doubt, and neither does any Democrat who refuses to condemn it.