A former congressional aide to a Republican congressman staged a fake anti-Trump attack against her over the summer and is now facing federal charges.

Natalie Greene, who used to work for Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, allegedly paid a body modification artist $500 to physically wound her, tie her up with zip ties, and write “Trump Whore” on her stomach and “Van Drew is a racist” on her back, the New Jersey Globe reports.

All of this took place in July, with Greene’s friend calling 911 claiming the two had been ambushed by three men on a hiking trail in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. When police arrived, they found Greene with her shirt pulled over her head, bound with black zip ties, and the words written on her body. She also said the attackers threatened her with a gun.

According to federal prosecutors, Greene, a Rutgers law student, was lying about nearly everything. She drove to Pennsylvania to hire the modification artist, providing a pattern she had already made. Greene had matching zip ties in her car, and according to cellphone records, and her friend had searched for “zip ties near me” two days before the supposed attack.

Days after the incident, while Greene was getting treated for her wounds, FBI investigators interviewed her and her friend, and their stories did not match. She has been charged with one count of conspiracy to convey false statements and hoaxes and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement.

In a statement, Drew’s congressional office said they were “deeply saddened by today’s news,” adding, “While Natalie is no longer associated with the congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her and hope she’s getting the care she needs.”

Donald Trump’s major electoral setback in Texas is thanks, in no small part, to Ted Cruz.

A three-judge panel ruled against the Lone Star State’s gerrymandering effort Tuesday, ordering Texas to return to its 2021 maps for the upcoming midterm elections. The decision was written by Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, whom Cruz recommended to the bench in 2019.

That realization has enraged some members of Trump’s base, who have questioned how the Houston native could have recommended someone who would rule against the president’s agenda.

“Brown was a clear miss by Ted Cruz,” argued conservative political strategist Mike Davis in a Fox News op-ed Wednesday.

Brown wrote in the Tuesday ruling that “substantial evidence” proved Texas had “racially gerrymandered” its latest districts.

Trump suggested in July that Texas could give Republicans five more House seats by flipping a handful of blue districts next year via “a very simple redrawing.” The Justice Department then threatened to take legal action on the matter, asserting that at least four Texas congressional districts were “unconstitutional” since the presence of multiple racial groups had made white people the regional electoral minority.

Redistricting is perfectly legal—so long as it complies with federal law. Trump’s directive for Texas forced the state to focus on race rather than politics, in defiance of national nondiscrimination laws. Brown noted in the legal opinion that if the effort had intended to thwart Democratic strongholds in the state, it would have also targeted majority white Democrat districts,” but those were “conspicuously absent.”

Brown determined that reverting to the 2021 map was a more adequate solution than providing Texas with the opportunity to draw up another plan, since not only was the 2021 iteration developed by the state legislature (as opposed to the state judiciary) but it has successfully been used in two previous congressional elections, as well as an ongoing special election. The judicial ruling effectively crushed Trump’s dream to reshape Texas to help Republicans in Washington.

Meanwhile, Cruz is laying the groundwork to run for president in 2028, though it’s unclear who in the MAGA movement will rally to his side.

The White House is so desperate to scrape together some “good news” that it’s trying to tout a decline in the number of new international students enrolling at American universities. That would actually be really bad—if it were the whole story, that is.

The number of new international students enrolling at American universities has decreased 17 percent since last year, according to the White House’s Wednesday “good news” roundup, which cited a recent survey from the Institute of International Education. The Trump administration celebrated the dip, claiming it was “reclaiming spots for American students on college campuses.”

But there’s more to this number than meets the eye. In fall 2025, 29 percent of institutions reported an increase in the number of new international students enrolling, 14 percent said the number was stable, and 57 percent said there was a decrease, according to the IIE study. However, the total number of international students only declined by 1 percent, and the number of international undergraduates actually increased by 2 percent. So it doesn’t look like too many spots were actually “reclaimed.”

The high percentage drop of enrollment can be explained by a significant drop in the number of students signed up for Optional Practical Training programs, which allow students to remain in the United States after they have completed their studies—a program that the State Department is planning to gut. It seems that international students are still studying in the United States; they’re simply taking their newfound knowledge with them after they finish school to make their home countries great instead of ours.

An enrollment dip is still not good news, however.........

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