Tag: Cory

  • Social media, Team Trump react to Cory Booker’s ‘meltdown’ over Elon Musk’s USAID crackdown

    Social media, Team Trump react to Cory Booker’s ‘meltdown’ over Elon Musk’s USAID crackdown

    Social media users are slamming a Democratic senator’s impassioned speech opposing a halt to millions of taxpayer dollars being funneled to controversial, DEI-aligned programs overseas.

    Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke at a rally outside the Capitol building Wednesday in protest of Elon Musk’s sweep of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

    “We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America,” Booker said. “We will not shut up. We will stick up. We will rise up.”

    Trump’s rapid response team called out Booker for opposing cuts to the agency funding controversial programs, which, according to the White House, gave $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

    ‘SESAME STREET IN IRAQ’: USAID’S ‘WASTEFUL AND DANGEROUS’ SPENDING EXPOSED BY SENATOR

    Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks at a rally in support of USAID on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla)

    “Why is Cory Booker so angry at the idea of making sure American tax dollars are spent to further the national interest of the United States and not on things like ‘LGBT activism’ in Guatemala?” Team Trump wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. 

    “Cory Booker is having an absolute meltdown because we don’t want American tax dollars to be wasted on bizarre projects in foreign countries,” LibsofTikTok wrote.

    WHITE HOUSE FLAGS TOP USAID BOONDOGGLES UNDER ELON MUSK’S MICROSCOPE

    New Jersey state Sen. Mike Testa, a Republican, wrote that Booker is “grandstanding on behalf of foreign pet projects” instead of “standing up for the will of his constituents.”

    “New Jerseyans have been kicked in the face and forgotten by their United States Senators for years,” Testa said on X. “We deserve a hell of a lot better.”

    “Sen. Cory Booker is BIG MAD that lesbian dance therapy for Ethiopians will no longer be paid for by US tax dollars Why are Democrats like this?” wrote another user, Nick Sorter.

    The White House released a detailed report outlining USAID spending over the past few years, including $15 million on contraceptives and condoms that ended up in the hands of the Taliban and another $20 million allocated to fund Sesame Street in Iraq.

    The funds were awarded by the Biden administration to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called “Ahlan Simsim Iraq” in an effort to reportedly “promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding across ethnic, religious, and sectarian groups.” 

    protesters

    Protesters gathered outside the Capitol Monday rally against Elon Musk’s crackdown on USAID spending. (Fox News Digital)

    Musk has been leading the charge to expose and cut funding from USAID as part of his spending crackdown at the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Hundreds of activists, including several Democratic members of Congress, gathered Wednesday to protest the USAID cuts and criticize Musk’s role in the Trump administration.

  • JD Vance’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, runs for Cincinnati, Ohio mayor

    JD Vance’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, runs for Cincinnati, Ohio mayor

    Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, announced that he is running for mayor of Cincinnati.

    Bowman, a pastor, coffee shop owner and registered Republican, revealed his candidacy in an interview published Tuesday by The Cincinnati Enquirer. 

    The last Republican to run for mayor of Cincinnati was Brad Wenstrup in 2009. Wenstrup later successfully ran for a U.S. House seat. 

    Cincinnati has been run by an all-Democrat, nine-member council since Republican Liz Keating was voted out in 2023. 

    VP VANCE DOUBLES DOWN ON WH’S ‘AMBITIOUS’ GOAL TO GET CRIMINAL MIGRANTS OFF THE STREETS: ‘POLICY MATTERS’

    Cory Bowman, the half-brother of Vice President JD Vance, is photographed outside his coffee shop on Feb. 4, 2025 in Cincinnati. (Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

    Eight people have filed petitions to run for mayor of Cincinnati, the newspaper reported. The deadline to submit the required 500 signatures to be on the ballot is Feb. 20. 

    None of the petitioners have met that requirement yet, including the current, first-term Mayor Aftab Pureval, a Democrat. Pureval told the newspaper he is running for re-election and has started hosting fundraisers. 

    As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants, Pureval notably said Cincinnati would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, WXIX reported. 

    The mayoral contest is a non-partisan field race. The two top voter recipients advance to a general election. There is no primary if fewer than three candidates qualify to run. 

    Bowman said he spoke to Vance in the “initial stages” of considering running for mayor, describing Vance as his inspiration and adding that the two have a friendly sibling rivalry. 

    “I don’t necessarily speak for my brother because he speaks pretty well for himself. And he’s doing well,” Bowman told The Enquirer. “I will say that he’s an incredible role model of mine.”

    Bowman grew up in Butler and Preble counties, and he and his wife moved back to Cincinnati in 2020, when they founded The River Church in the West End neighborhood. 

    Vance speaks in East Palestine, Ohio

    Vice President JD Vance speaks during a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2025. Residents were forced to evacuate in February 2023 when a Norfolk Southern train carrying chemicals derailed, covering the area in black smoke. (REBECCA DROKE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    JD VANCE CONDEMNS FEMA’S RESPONSE TO HELENE DEVASTATION IN 1ST TRIP AS VICE PRESIDENT

    Having been pastor of a nondenominational Christian church for four years, Bowman told the Enquirer he considered running for local office as a way of giving back, an interest that was further ignited by attending President Donald Trump and Vance’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., last month. 

    “There’s nobody that cheered louder when he was getting sworn in than me, because he’s my brother,” Bowman said of Vance. 

    Vance and Bowman share the same father, Donald Bowman, who died in 2023. He was the second husband of Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins. 

    Donald Bowman put Vance up for adoption when the now vice president was in kindergarten. In his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance describes reconnecting with his father and his half siblings, including Cory, as a teenager. 

    Vance also describes living with his father at their family farm house in Preble County, contrasting that experience to growing up with his mother, who had battled addiction. 

    Vance speaks to Ramaswamy during Ohio visit

    Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks with Vivek Ramaswamy as Vance and second lady Usha Vance arrive at Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna Ohio, en route to East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2025. (REBECCA DROKE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    “It was a great childhood,” Cory Bowman told The Enquirer of his life on the farm. “We learned those foundations as kids. But there was always something about the city that enticed me.”

    Vance’s mother changed his name from James Donald Bowman to James David Hamel when she remarried. He later took his grandfather’s last name, Vance. 

    Bowman also owns the Kings Arms Coffee in the West End of Cincinnati. “My heart fell in love with it,” he said of the neighborhood. 

    He resides in the College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati. 

    Vance has not yet weighed in on his half-brother’s campaign announcement. 

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Bowman attended the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, when Vance was announced as Trump’s running mate. He said he observed many new Republicans, though he was not one of them.

    “Half of those people [who were in attendance] wouldn’t have been caught dead in that room eight years ago,” Bowman said. “It wasn’t just established Republicans, it was more so people wanting a change.”