Category: US

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A Dallas-based pastor who traveled to Israel just days before war broke out is now safe in Jordan, along with a group of people from churches around Texas, after they had to shelter in their Jerusalem hotel for two days.

“This is a terrible privilege to have been there in the midst of this,” Rev. George Mason, founder of Faith Commons, a nonprofit interfaith group, and retired pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“I certainly would not have boarded a plane to fly into it. But because we were there, we were able to experience this shock from the point of view of Israeli Jews.”

AT LEAST 22 AMERICANS, OVER 1,200 ISRAELIS DEAD IN HAMAS WAR

On Saturday, Oct. 7, the Hamas militant group struck Israel in a surprise attack from land, air and sea. 

Mason, who was in the country preparing to lead a tour along with Rabbi Nancy Kasten, said he first learned of the events when he went to the hotel’s front desk to inquire about laundry service. 

The clerk informed him that there would be no laundry service that day due to “the difficulties.”

“He told me that I should turn on the news and that there were rockets coming from Gaza,” Mason said. 

FAITH LEADERS RESPOND TO ATTACKS ON ISRAEL: ‘WE MUST PRAY THAT THIS TERROR COMES TO AN END IMMEDIATELY

“Many people in Israel weren’t really alarmed by that because they’re sort of used to these skirmishes from Gaza,” he said. 

“But in this case, of course, it was shocking, the massive onslaught. It was a real blow to the psyche of Israelis. It was like a 9/11 to them.”

Mason said he and his group began to hear “loud booms” and had to move to shelter rooms, which were secure areas on each floor of the Hotel Arthur, where they were staying.

“We later learned those were rockets that were being intercepted by the Israel Security Dome, the Iron Dome,” Mason said. 

WATCH: LIVE COVERAGE OF ISRAEL WAR ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL 

“So then sirens would go off and we would have to go to the hotel shelter rooms. This happened on and off.”

The Arthur Hotel is in West Jerusalem, about 40 miles away from Gaza. 

“We could not see it,” Mason said of the bombing. “We could just hear some of it. We had security protocols that you couldn’t go out about. So we were pretty confined to this hotel.”

Only 15 people of Mason’s group actually made it to Israel, Mason said. 

JEWISH COMMUNITY ‘GETS OUR STRENGTH AND OUR OUTLOOK’ FROM ONE KEY SOURCE, SAYS RABBI IN FLORIDA

“Half of the group was en route in the air and the other half was following, but war broke out before they could get on the plane,” he said. 

“So half the group made it, and then when they landed, they found out what had happened. The tour was canceled, but 15 of us were stuck in Jerusalem for several days until it became too dangerous.”

Mason said that as they sheltered in place, members of the group remained calm but could not help but think about how things could play out. 

“I think everyone wondered what the extent of or the reach would be,” Mason said, “both of the rockets and whether there were insurgents that were going to make it into Jerusalem. And so everyone was concerned about that and taking precautions.”

He added, “Part of it was that Hamas had been calling for Palestinians to rise up throughout Israel and Palestine and join the struggle, bring knives, do everything they could to participate. And so I think people were very on guard about that.”

POPE FRANCIS CONTACTS ONLY CATHOLIC CHURCH IN GAZA AS CARNAGE CONTINUES

On Monday morning, Oct. 9, Mason got word that it was time to flee the country. 

“I received a notification from the tour agency that things were likely to get more dangerous in Jerusalem and that it was time to probably pack up and leave and go north to get out of the rocket range,” Mason said. 

“And so we quickly boarded a van and headed up to the Sea of Galilee area, just south of the Lebanese border.”

They headed north on the main highway north in Israel, Highway 6, Mason recalled. 

“We saw lots of tanks and many soldiers, especially in areas like near Nazareth where Jews and Arabs live side by side. So the Israeli military was trying to prevent any fighting within Israel that might be incited by this. We saw a lot of military presence, but we did not see fighting or, or hear rockets, so that was a good thing.”

The group spent the night there and then headed for Jordan first thing on Tuesday morning.

“A lot of other people had the same idea,” Mason said. “So, it was about a five-hour ordeal to get through the border. It was just so crowded. It was just slow and crowded and careful. And, you know, I think they were taking extra precautions. And now we are safe.”

The Texans are planning to remain in Jordan as they rebook their flights to depart from Amman instead of Tel Aviv, Mason said.

‘PEOPLE OF ISRAEL NEED OUR PRAYERFUL SUPPORT,’ SAY US FAITH LEADERS FROM COAST TO COAST AS WAR CONTINUES

“The flights were so booked,” he added. “It’s going to be the 14th, 15th and 16th before our group finally gets out.”

Ironically, Mason and Kasten were set to lead what they call a “dual narrative tour.”

“The people who come to go around Israel and Palestine and meet and listen to the stories of people, in their own words, talking about how they are trying to bridge the gaps of understanding [and] create friendships that will lead to a better future,” Mason said.

A few days before, Mason spoke at the Land, People and Culture International Conference at Dar Al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, where 200 people from 25 countries gathered to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I got to know very intimately the experience of the Palestinians, on a personal and also scholarly level, from historical, political, religious, cultural and even archeological perspectives. It was a very interesting conference,” he said.

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When war broke out, all that Mason and the other conference-goers discussed became real.

“I had just been with Palestinians and was still in contact with them, hearing from them what this meant to them,” Mason said.

“Ninety-nine percent of Palestinians would say that this is not what they want. What they have done cannot be justified. However, you can understand that there are reasons, even if they’re unjustifiable. And we forget that the line between good and evil goes through the center of every human heart.”

Mason said the experience has created a forever bond between members of his group.

“I think we’ve all depended upon one another and we really helped to encourage one another through this,” Mason said. 

“And we really did not want to miss out on whatever we could learn from being in the midst of this.”

In a time of sorrow, Mason offered words of comfort to the Israeli people.

“The unjustified and inhumane murders, bombings and kidnapping of innocent Israelis (and other foreigners, including Americans) by the terrorist group Hamas has left a deep wound in the hearts of those who mourn them and their families, as well as all of us who join them in their suffering and grief,” Mason said.

The pastor also said he feels for the innocents on all sides of the conflict.

“Many [Palestinians] have lost their lives and are being wiped out in Gaza now because of the actions of Hamas,” Mason said. 

“I realize there is a fine line that is often called false equivalencies in these matters. I just believe we can be truthful about our love and sympathy for all who are dying and mourning.”

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House Republicans are likely to meet behind closed doors on Thursday to try and hash out their differences ahead of a chamber-wide vote to elect the next speaker.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., won a closed-door conference vote on Wednesday afternoon to become the Republican majority’s next candidate for speaker.

But any confidence in a quick House vote to seal the deal dissipated quickly as several GOP lawmakers publicly announced they would not support him in a chamber-wide vote.

“They knew I was with [Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio] in the room, and I thought I might go with Scalise if everybody was gonna get behind Scalise, that was fine, but it’s just not that way,” said Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., after emerging from a meeting with the hardline-right House Freedom Caucus. “There’s just people that are not on his team.”

HOUSE REPUBLICANS CHOOSE SCALISE AS THEIR CANDIDATE FOR SPEAKER AFTER MCCARTHY’S OUSTER

Scalise netted 113 Republican votes on Wednesday while Jordan won 99.

Some members said they were frustrated by Scalise allies voting down an earlier measure aimed at raising the threshold to elect a speaker candidate to 217 — a majority of the House.

“I put the amendment forward this morning to say, let’s figure this out, because I can count votes. I’m not a whip, but I can count votes,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who led the amendment that was backed by a significant number of GOP lawmakers.

‘UNMITIGATED S—SHOW’: HOUSE REPUBLICANS FUME OVER SPEAKER VACANCY AMID ISRAEL CRISIS

“I was just making it very clear that if you rush this to the floor, I’m a hard no. So we’ll go now have some conversations and go figure out where we’re gonna go.”

“But I did not want this to go to the floor before we’re united, and we should have done that this morning,” Roy said.

The tension among the fractured GOP caucus was palpable. When leaving a meeting with GOP leaders, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., the pragmatic leader of the Main Street Caucus, said the discord “does not look good for the House or for the country.”

“Frankly, I think it would be easier in a political environment where people understood that governing requires some give and take,” Johnson said. ” I never get everything I want in any negotiation. There are a lot of people around here who don’t understand that, and it makes it hard to govern. It is not a problem unique to the Republican Party, but it is on full display in our party today.”

Asked if Republicans need to huddle together in a room to settle their differences, Johnson joked: “I would like to be able to have the power to lock some people in some places, for sure.”

With the current makeup of the House, a GOP speaker candidate can afford to lose only four votes to win the gavel without Democratic support. As of Wednesday evening, at least 11 Republicans have said they will not vote for Scalise. 

It’s likely that Scalise allies will look to hold a vote as soon as viably possible — but it’s not immediately clear how soon that will be.

One Republican lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital said “Seems like we are a long ways off” when asked if a vote could be expected Thursday.

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A top adviser to President Biden is facing criticism over a comment he made shortly before the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Middle East was the calmest it has been in decades, bringing to the forefront other controversial foreign policy decisions the Biden adviser has been involved with over the last decade.

“What we said is want to depressurize, de-escalate, and ultimately integrate the Middle East region,” Sullivan said at “The Atlantic Festival” on September 29. 

“The war in Yemen is in its 19th month of truce, for now the Iranian attacks against U.S. forces have stopped, our presence in Iraq is stable, I emphasize for now because all of that can change and the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” he said.

Eight days later, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed at least 1,200 Israelis causing many conservatives to blast Sullivan’s comments on social media.

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“We are less safe with this Biden team,” former Trump Acting Director of the United States National Intelligence Richard Grenell posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to Sullivan’s comment. 

Matthew Brodsky, senior fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, wrote on X that Sullivan’s comment was an “outright lie at the time he said it.”

Sullivan has been at the center of several controversies in recent years, many of which have been brought up by conservatives on social media in light of his Middle East comment, including the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In the days following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Sullivan and the State Department were criticized for being unable to say exactly how many Americans had been left behind. 

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ’20 OR MORE’ AMERICANS ARE MISSING IN ISRAEL AMID HAMAS ATTACKS

On August 22, 2021, more than a week after frenzied scenes of evacuating Afghans at the Kabul airport began to surface, Sullivan admitted that the administration did not know how many Americans were still in Afghanistan.

“We cannot give you a precise number,” Sullivan told CNN. “We believe it is several thousand Americans who we are working with now to try to get safely out of the country.”

At one point, it was believed that nearly 450 Americans were still stuck in the country two months after the U.S. withdrawal. 

Sullivan said on August 16 that “the president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan” and that the situation devolved at “unexpected speed.”

REPUBLICANS SEND LETTER TO JAKE SULLIVAN DEMANDING ‘TOTAL FIGURES’ FOR UKRAINE AID

“He should’ve lost his job after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal,” Abigail Jackson, press secretary for GOP Senator Josh Hawley, posted on X on Sunday.

In 2021, the top oversight Republican in Congress called for the removal of Sullivan from his position due to his position at the “epicenter” of failed foreign policy decisions over the last ten years including the Benghazi terror attack that killed 3 American contractors and a U.S. Ambassador. 

Sullivan served as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff and policy adviser at the State Department during the 2012 attack on U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya.

“From Benghazi to the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Jake Sullivan has been at the epicenter of the worst foreign policy crises and decisions over the past decade,” Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Given this administration’s tendency to create self-inflicted crises, it’s no surprise Jake Sullivan has been given a top post at the Biden White House.”

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER JAKE SULLIVAN: ‘NO DEFINITIVE ANSWER’ FROM INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY ON LAB LEAK THEORY

A source involved in Libya policy in Washington throughout Clinton’s tenure, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital in 2020 that Sullivan was a prominent — albeit quiet — player in the controversial U.S. overthrow of Libya with Clinton’s unflinching support.

Republicans also raised questions about Sullivan this past summer, Fox News Digital reported, after it was revealed that Sullivan served with Hunter Biden on the board of the Truman National Security Project, a liberal foreign policy think tank, for roughly two years before Sullivan joined the Biden campaign in 2020.

During the Clinton presidential campaign, Sullivan also notoriously pushed the Trump-Russia collusion narrative to reporters. He told members of the House Intelligence committee in a December 2017 interview that prior to the 2016 election he briefed reporters on his suspicions. 

“[B]asically we sat with them and walked through what we understood to be the case from — in terms of the DNC hack and leak, what we believed to be the case with respect to Russian involvement,” Sullivan said, “and then what we thought the upshot of this was, which is you now have the start of a much more aggressive phase of an intelligence-led operation by foreign power, and there’s likely to be more as we go forward, and people should really pay attention to this.”

“Jake Sullivan has a lot to answer for,” GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this year. 

“He has repeatedly lied for perceived political gain – whether that be about the Russia Collusion hoax or the Hunter Biden laptop. And now he’s Biden’s national security adviser? He should resign immediately.”

Sullivan was recently accused by former White House official Mike McCormick of being a “conspirator” in the Biden family’s “kickback scheme” in Ukraine when Biden was vice president.

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Sullivan denied the allegations, telling reporters that he had nothing to do with such an operation. 

Sullivan has also been criticized in the past for his involvement in the U.S. foreign policy dealings in Syria and Myanmar. 

During a 2019 interview with the New Yorker, Sullivan said it was “a great regret of mine” that “we were not able to more effectively play a role in stopping hundreds of thousands of people from dying in Syria and millions and millions more losing their homes.”

The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Cawthorne and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.

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The father of a Texas girl, who disappeared from San Antonio in September 2015 when she was 6 years old, believes his ex-wife of just 34 days is hiding her.

David Hopper and Kathryn “Katie” Baldwin were married for just 34 days before they decided to split. He only learned during divorce proceedings that she was pregnant with their daughter, Ava Grace Baldwin, who is now 14 years old.

“I met her at a recovery group called Celebrate Recovery. And she had a great story — come to find out it wasn’t true,” Hopper, who lives in Oklahoma, told Fox News Digital. 

They had a whirlwind courtship followed by a small marriage shortly after meeting, only to file for divorce just over a month later. It was during the separation process that Baldwin said she was pregnant, but she apparently claimed Hopper was not the father. A court-ordered DNA test would prove otherwise. 

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The pair eventually began making plans to raise Ava together even though they were no longer married.

CHARLOTTE SENA ABDUCTION: SMALL-TOWN COP PLAYED PIVOTAL ROLE IN MIRACLE RESCUE

However, after Ava was born, Baldwin moved to San Antonio and would disappear for days at a time without contacting Hopper, he recalled. The first time she went missing for days, Hopper’s sister found Baldwin’s MySpace profile and was able to get in touch with her through the once-popular social media platform.

A complicated custody battle began between Oklahoma and Texas, at first, and then just Texas. 

Hopper, who hired multiple lawyers in each state and spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal and travel-related costs, was granted partial custody of his daughter in May 2013 and full custody in July 2017 — two years after Ava was reported missing. That is according to Hopper’s sister, Tina Hopper Fullbright, who has kept years of court records filed away in hopes of Ava’s safe return.

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Ava was enrolled at a private school in San Antonio when she disappeared eight years ago.

“The principal contacted me one day and said, ‘Your daughter’s been missing for 21 days,'” Hopper said. That was when he officially reported his daughter missing to authorities on Sept. 17, 2015.

RECLUSE ACCUSED IN CHARLOTTE SENA ABDUCTION HAD DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ARREST

Police went to the address listed as Ava’s home on her school forms and found an empty lot, he explained. Hopper believes his ex-wife panicked at the thought of Hopper getting full custody of their daughter and ran off with her.

“It might be somebody — a parent — that may have a friend that [Ava] goes and sees,” Hopper said of his hope that someone out there knows where Ava might be. “You just never know who that one person is. And we know that there are people who do know something.”

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Baldwin’s family members did not respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.

“I think Katie thought that we were coming to court with her in October [2015],” Hopper Fullbright said. “We don’t know if Katie still has Ava. We don’t know if Ava’s been adopted out. We don’t know. We just don’t know. We just believe she’s alive.”

Hopper Fullbright added her belief that Baldwin is using Ava as a “meal ticket.”

“She uses shelters. She uses churches. [Ava]’s her meal ticket.”

San Antonio police continue to investigate Ava’s disappearance. SAPD told Fox News Digital that there are no new updates in the case. She was last seen on the 6000 block of Whitby Road in San Antonio, according to a missing persons flyer from SAPD.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about Ava’s disappearance to come forward and contact the SAPD Missing Persons Unit at 210-207-7660.

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Palestinian peace activist Bassem Eid has been traveling to the U.S. every few months for nearly the last decade to warn Americans about the atrocities carried out by Hamas. 

Following the terrorist organization’s surprise attacks on Israel, Eid is condemning Americans who still champion Hamas as a social justice group and not a terrorist organization.

“Those who are living in Europe and in America who are celebrating the massacre by considering themselves as pro-Palestinians, I don’t think that they are pro-Palestinians. …. [They have] no idea what is really going on to celebrate massacres. This is completely unhuman,” Eid told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview this week.

Eid expressed shock over Americans showing support for Hamas under claims “it’s a justice and social organization.” His comments came as pro-Palestine rallies have been held in cities such as New York and Santa Clarita and on some college campuses.

ISRAELI MILITARY RABBIS STRUGGLE TO EFFICIENTLY PREPARE, BURY THEIR WAR DEAD: REPORT

“I think weapons inside the hospitals and inside the mosques, I think what the Hamas did last Saturday is considered as a genocide,” he said. “… Unfortunately, some rubbish human beings around the world are celebrating such a massacre by considering it a Palestinian victory. I think that if then, in the 21st century, if massacres can be considered as victories, that means that this is the end of humanity.”

WHITE HOUSE SILENT ON IRAN NUKE DEAL AFTER CLAIMS TEHRAN HELPED PLAN ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

Eid, who spoke to Fox News Digital from East Jerusalem, is a human rights activist and political analyst who initially uncovered human rights violations carried out by the Israeli armed forces before expanding his research to human rights violations by Palestinian armed forces. He founded the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group in 1996 and has toured the U.S. and world, delivering speeches at college campuses and think tanks on his research.

When asked if the war in Israel and the skyrocketing death count would open people’s eyes that Hamas is a terrorist organization and not a social justice group, Eid said “they don’t want to wake up” until Hamas’ violence affects them directly.

“They don’t want to wake up until the Hamas will touch them, until the Hamas will reach them, until the Hamas will kill them. Then everybody will wake up,” he said.

“I think what’s happened in Israel, in the south of Israel right now, unbelievable. And I think all the international community should have to stand up at once and to declare on the Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, as a terrorist organization, and all of the world should have to participate in the war against such terrorist people,” he said.

Chaos broke out in Israel early Saturday morning when Hamas terrorists took the country by surprise with land, air and sea attacks. More than 1,200 people in Israel have been killed, including 14 Americans, and thousands of others injured while nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been reported dead.

Hamas has also taken hostages amid the violence, including American citizens, President Biden said Tuesday.

BIDEN’S APPEASEMENT OF IRAN LOOMS OVER ISRAEL ATTACK: ‘IT’S DUMB POLICY AND IT’S EVIL’

Eid said the human rights issues in Gaza are the same as the human rights conditions in Iran, Sudan and Syria, arguing that Hamas is largely trained by those governments.

“These people are mostly trained by those governments, and those people learn by those governments how to violate the rights of the others. So, to talk about a human rights record under the Hamas, there is no human rights under the Hamas and nothing to talk about it,” he said.

“People are killed, people are slaughtered, people tortured, people disappeared, and no one can speak a word about what is going on in the Gaza Strip.”

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NYC PROTEST RALLY FOR PALESTINIANS BLAMES ISRAEL FOR DEADLY HAMAS ATTACK AMID RETALIATORY AIRSTRIKES IN GAZA

News broke Sunday that Iranian security officials allegedly approved Hamas’ plan to attack Israel during a meeting in Beirut the previous Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hamas and Hezbollah leaders said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps worked with Hamas since August on air, land and sea attack plans.

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U.S. officials have said that Iran is broadly complicit in the attacks due to the country’s long-standing support of the terrorist organization, though no direct evidence of Iran’s involvement in the attacks has been found. Eid said Iran is using terrorist organizations as its own agents to achieve its goal of destroying Israel.

“I think that the Iranian government is trying to put out so many activities to destroy Israel. The Iranians believe that Israel has no right to exist. And this is how the Iranians are using the Hezbollah, and the Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad as their own agent. And Iran is spending on these three organizations much more than they are spending on the Iranian people. … This is really horrible.”

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Former President Trump’s endorsement for the new House speaker failed on Wednesday when the GOP picked House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as their nominee for top House lawmaker.

Trump endorsed House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the new House speaker last week, which many expected could push Jordan over the finish line.

Jordan received a lot of public support and endorsements from his House colleagues, but any expectations that he would cruise to the nomination over Scalise were dashed on Wednesday.

JORDAN URGES SUPPORTERS TO BACK SCALISE FOR SPEAKER AS HOUSE GOES INTO RECESS

Scalise took the nomination over Jordan in a secret ballot, drawing questions about the strength of the former president’s endorsement.

Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota — a moderate member — told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he thinks “on the surface” the pick of Scalise over Jordan “seems like a pretty clear repudiation of Trump, and a fairly public one.”

Phillips said he thinks “supporters of Mr. Scalise would probably have to think twice about [that] before they actually make that vote for reasons” that people would “understand.”

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, seemed to dismiss the idea that Scalise’s victory was a repudiation of Trump’s endorsement. 

“Well, you got some people in the conference that obviously have some issues with Donald Trump,” Nehls told reporters after the GOP conference. “But I would probably say to those in the Republican conference that have problems with Donald Trump, get over yourself, because Donald Trump is the leader of our party. Make no mistake.”

When pressed on what it means that Trump’s preferred candidate failed to win a majority of the GOP votes, Nehls said: “But he also got 99 votes. Jim Jordan did get 99. That’s a significant number.”

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Since the nomination, Jordan said he plans to vote for Scalise for speaker and is even expected to give a nominating speech on the House floor whenever a vote is held.

Jordan has also been encouraging his supporters to back Scalise once the nomination hits the House floor for a vote.

Some Republicans, including Reps. Chip Roy and Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they will not vote for Scalise.

The news comes as Republicans look to mint a new House speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster last week.

McCarthy has since backed Scalise, his former number two, for the speakership.

Fox News’s Elizabeth Elkind and Kelly Phares contributed reporting.

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Former Van Halen lead vocalist Sammy Hagar is reflecting on the highs and lows that he experienced during his years with the rock band.

The 75-year-old musician joined guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Eddie’s brother and drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist/vocalist Michael Anthony in 1985, replacing former frontman David Lee Roth. At the time, Van Halen, co-founded by the Van Halen brothers in 1974, was already one of the biggest rock bands in the world and Hagar was a successful solo artist. 

Though the union produced four multi-platinum albums including 1986’s “5150,” 1988’s “OU812,” 1991’s “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” and 1995’s “Balance,” the “Van Hagar” era ended with an acrimonious split between the band and the singer in 1995. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Hagar recalled the ups and the downs of recording his hits with Van Halen.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” the Grammy Award singer, who has released a five-LP Van Halen box set called “The Collection ll,” admitted.

He continued, “There were such good times in the beginning, like ‘5150,’ ‘OU812.’ ‘For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’ was a little bit of a struggle because I was going through a hard time with my ex-wife.”

SAMMY HAGAR SHARES KEY TO VAN HALEN’S SUCCESS, REVEALS IF HE’D EVER RECONCILE WITH DAVID LEE ROTH

“She was having a nervous breakdown and didn’t want me to leave the house,” Hagar explained. “I was like, ‘I got to go to work here.’ So it took us like a year to make that record, but we were getting along good. But of course the brothers were putting a lot of pressure on me to show up, you know, as much as I could. And they were understanding.” 

“But then come the next record, it’s like, you know, we started not getting along so good, and you could feel the end coming to me. So then you got the bittersweet stuff.”

WATCH: Sammy Hagar explains why he doesn’t remember much from touring with Van Halen

In his 2011 memoir “Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock,” Hagar detailed how the demands of his commitment to Van Halen took a toll on his marriage to his first wife Betsy Berardi. 

Hagar and Berardi, who share sons Aaron, 53, and Andrew, 39, wed in 1968. In “Red,” the “I Can’t Drive 55” hitmaker recalled Berardi’s struggles with anxiety and depression and how he felt torn between his obligations to the band and his duties as a husband and father. Hagar wrote that he took a year off from working with Van Halen to care for Berardi after she suffered a nervous breakdown.

The singer recounted facing mounting pressure from Eddie and Alex during the production of what would become his final Van Halen album, “Balance.” The band recorded “Balance” in 1994, the same year that Hagar and Berardi finalized their divorce after 26 years of marriage. During the album’s recording, Hagar and Eddie began to clash over creative differences which furthered fractured their bond.

Hagar told Fox News Digital that while he believed that “Balance” is a “great record,” he also saw it as a darker musical turn for both Van Halen and himself.

“It’s just so dark for Van Halen or for Sammy,” he said. “Let’s just say Sammy, you know, I’m just not a dark person. I’m Mr. Sunshine. And boy, I was drug [sic] into the darkness between my divorce and my ex-wife not doing so good, trying to help her out and trying to be in a band.” 

He continued, “And the brothers want to work every day of the year. They wanted to work 367 days a year, and I only wanted to work 360, you know what I mean? So we had a little problem there, but we got it done, and it’s a great record.”

EDDIE VAN HALEN SUFFERED ‘RAPID DECLINE’ IN FINAL DAYS: REPORT

After “Balance” was released in January 1995, Hagar embarked with Van Halen on a tour with legs in North America and Europe in support of the album. It marked Hagar’s fifth and final tour with the band. In “Red,” Hagar candidly described the excesses of his rock star lifestyle on the road which involved rampant drug use and sex with groupies in addition to alcohol abuse by both Van Halen brothers and fighting within the band.

WATCH: Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar reflects on ‘dark’ times with the band

During his interview with Fox News Digital, Hagar reflected on what he remembered from his touring days with Van Halen.

“Not much,” he said with a laugh. “We did anything and everything.”

Hagar continued, “When we got out of the limo to the airport or to jump on the plane to go to the first gig, we started partying. And on the way home in the last leg, getting off the plane, back into the limo — most of us stopped when we got back in the limo to go home.”

“But unfortunately or fortunately, I lived next door to Eddie out in Malibu,” he remembered. “And so we’d ride together and, you know, and one thing would lead to another. Next thing, we’re pulling up at the house going, ‘Dude, you got any gum?’”

“And you know what I mean. ‘Do I smell, man?’ We’d inspect each other,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s what I remember. Everything in between that I don’t know what happened…Just imagine whatever could happen. It probably happened more than once. We had a good time, brother. We did.”

Following Roth’s bitter departure in 1985, longtime fans were divided on whether Van Halen could successfully replace their original lead singer. However, after Hagar signed on, the band scored its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with “5150,” which became certified six-times platinum by the RIAA. 

EDDIE VAN HALEN’S EX VALERIE BERTINELLI SHARES HEARTBREAKING WORDS SHE TOLD MUSICIAN BEFORE HIS DEATH

While speaking to Fox News Digital, Hagar shared his thoughts on why his debut album with Van Halen became a massive hit.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons,” he said. “Number one, my career at that time. I was doing double arenas as a Sammy Hagar solo artist. They were doing double arenas. You know, we were pretty much on the same level. They just had that huge hit with ‘Jump.’”

Hagar continued, “But that combination — I brought a new audience to Van Halen. You know, it’s not like they joined my band and brought me the new audience, which would have been great. Then I wouldn’t have had to stop being a solo artist for ten years. But no, I brought a lot of new people in there. And when Dave left, it wasn’t like they all went with him. You know, it was like, Eddie was the grounding person in that band.”

“Everyone knows that,” he added. “Looking back now, it’s even more obvious, even though, the frontman, myself and Dave, in our eras, we always got a lot of attention. But really that band was built around Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing. And so, you know, the songs we wrote together and all that were good. That’s why ‘5150’ made it because I brought in a new audience.”

“The old people that were in doubt, they heard [imitates keyboard riff notes] ‘Why Can’t This Be Love?’ And they just went, ‘Whoa, this is a new sound for Van Halen.’ You know that keyboard riff sounded like a guitar riff. Where previous stuff like ‘Jump’ sounded like a synthesizer, you know? So some of the hardcore guitar people rebelled a little bit, but they got a whole new audience with that. And we just satisfied them and they stayed. And we just went out, and every show sold out minutes, and we went out and just killed it.”

Escalating tensions between Eddie and Hagar during the recording of “Balance” were further exacerbated when Van Halen began recording songs for the soundtrack of the 1996 disaster movie “Twister.”

Hagar parted ways with the band after an explosive argument during a phone call with Eddie on Father’s Day in 1996. The two had differing accounts of how Hagar’s departure unfolded. Eddie said that the singer quit the band, while Hagar has maintained he was fired.

In 2003, Hagar returned to Van Halen to record new tracks for the band’s second greatest hits album, 2004’s “The Best of Both Worlds,” and the reunited group embarked on the successful Summer Tour 2004.

VAN HALEN’S EX-MANAGER TELLS ALL IN NEW MEMOIR

However, relations between Sammy and Eddie began to sour once again, and the singer left the band again after the tour wrapped up. Hagar’s second departure led to an estrangement from Eddie that lasted for years.

In October 2020, Eddie died at the age of 65 after a battle with throat cancer. Shortly after Eddie’s death, Hagar revealed they had reconciled a few months earlier.

During a May interview with Fox News Digital, Hagar expressed gratitude he and his former bandmate were able to mend their relationship before Eddie died.

“To be able to have talked to Eddie and have a wonderful rapport with him on text, it means everything to me,” Hagar shared. “If he would have died, and we would have not ever said, ‘I love you’ to each other, I would have felt really bad.”

“I wouldn’t be able to talk to you about it. So that means a lot to me. And it means a lot, I think, for me to feel good about talking about being in Van Halen now. Because I feel like we buried the hatchet. Otherwise, I’d be saying, ‘Well, those guys.’ Because, you know, I was mad. I was hurt. And it’s very important that we connected.”

Last week, Rhino Records released a five-LP Van Halen box set titled “The Collection ll,” which comprises remastered versions of Hagar’s four studio albums with the band as well as a “disc of rarities including instrumentals, B-sides, and song that were once only available as bonus tracks,” per a press release.

WATCH: Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar shares his thoughts on the newly remastered versions of his albums with the band

The release of “The Collection II’ follows “The Collection I,” a Van Halen box set that encompasses the albums and material from Roth’s era with the band.

During his interview with Fox News Digital, Hagar shared his excitement over hearing the remastered versions of his Van Halen albums.

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“My favorite thing about this remastering is the ‘5150’ and ‘OU812,” he said. “Those records were recorded in Eddie’s old studio. Completely analog. There wasn’t a digital piece of equipment and everything had a tube.

He continued, “Everything had to warm up before you could use it. And it’s so warm. Those records recorded so warm. They were made for vinyl. They were made on, you know, tape, on 3-inch tape, and so they really benefit from the technology of today’s remastering.”

The Red Rocker also noted that the remastering process was conducted by Donn Landee, the engineer and co-producer behind the original four albums.

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“He oversaw everything so that you wouldn’t lose that beautiful analog,” Hagar explained. “Those records were made for vinyl. You know what I mean? So they were mixed to a certain level of bass that just doesn’t pop when you put it on digital. The bass was way low on those records because it was for vinyl. In order to get that much information on a turntable and with a needle, you couldn’t put too much bass because it would take up too much space. So, boy, they really benefited from it.”

“When I put those two records on, I just went ‘Woo, man,’” he recalled with a laugh.

Hagar told Fox News Digital that he had pushed for the remastered versions of the albums in the past, but the project stalled due to his tense relations with the band.

“I can’t tell you how long it’s been,” he said. “I mean, I’ve been screaming and crying, you know, because after we broke up, of course, there was all the controversy between when we weren’t getting along so good.”

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“So if I’d mentioned, ‘Hey, let’s remaster them,” [it would be] like ‘Hey, we ain’t gonna do it.’ You know?”

“So I should have said, ‘Let’s not — make sure you never remaster those.’ And then it would have got done earlier,” Hagar said with a laugh.

“Looking back now, it’s silly. It’s fun.”

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The sneak attack by Hamas on Israel — the deadliest assault on the Jewish State in decades — instantly rocked the 2024 White House race, altering the conversation on the presidential campaign trail.

While the Republican presidential candidates have tried to one-up each other in placing blame with President Biden for the horrific attack and showcasing their support for Israel, the Hamas assault has also quickly become a wedge issue in the GOP nomination fight.

Hours after Hamas militants swarmed into Israel, former Vice President Mike Pence took aim at Biden, decrying what he called American’s “retreat on the world stage.” 

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

But the former vice president, on the campaign trail in Iowa, seemed to save his most scathing rebuke for three of his rivals for the nomination.

Pence pointed fingers at “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.”

The growing schism in the Republican Party over America’s role policing the world — evident in GOP fight over continued support for Ukraine in its year and a half long war against Russian aggression — may be spreading to Israel, where Republicans have long showcased their unyielding support for Jerusalem.

MIDDLE EAST BATTLE INSTANTLY ROCKS 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

It’s no surprise that Pence was the first to take aim at other GOP White House hopefuls and has repeatedly criticized some of his rivals, including his former running mate, over their lack of support for Kyiv.

“This is also what happens when you have leaders in the Republican Party signaling retreat on the world stage,” Pence argued. Evoking the late President Ronald Reagan, as he often does, Pence emphasized that “it’s time to get back to peace through strength.”

Another part of the rift in the Republican presidential primary between the GOP’s growing isolationist wing and more traditional conservatives pushing for a muscular U.S. role overseas, could be seen in a speech Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina delivered Tuesday afternoon at a think tank in Washington D.C., and in an ensuing interview on the Fox News Channel.

While blasting Biden for having “blood on his hands,” and claiming that the president’s weakness “invited the attack” by Hamas, which was supported by Iran, Scott targeted DeSantis and Ramaswamy.

“Vivek Ramaswamy has said that the definition of success is reducing America’s support for Israel,” Scott argued. He accused the multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur and first-time candidate of proposing “that we surrender Taiwan to the Chinese Communist Party as long as we’ve relocated some factories.”

WATCH FOX NEWS LIVE COVERAGE OF THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Scott also blasted the Florida governor, noting that “DeSantis once dismissed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as just some ‘territorial dispute.’”

“The last thing we need is a Joe Biden wing of the Republican Party on foreign policy,” he argued.

Scott, who has been running a positive and uplifting conservative campaign, for months avoided criticizing his rivals, including Trump — the commanding front-runner for the GOP nomination as he makes this third straight White House run. 

But the senator has turned up the volume against his rivals in recent weeks, as his standing in polls has flat lined.

DeSantis, campaigning in Iowa on Monday ahead of the Scott speech, pushed back at Pence.

“If Mike Pence wants to blame me for what’s happening, I think that most people would just laugh at that. What a joke,” DeSantis told reporters.

And on Tuesday, the Ramaswamy campaign fired back at Scott.

“We understand Tim Scott is attempting to gain some semblance of relevance in this race, but lying in the face of these barbaric atrocities isn’t an effective way to do so,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “Vivek has offered a clear, rational response that supports Israel while avoiding another U.S.-led disaster in the Middle East.”

Ramaswamy also fired away at former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the first two years of the Trump administration.

Haley, who knocked the 38-year-old Ramaswamy at the first Republican presidential nomination debate in August by arguing “you have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” urged earlier this week that Israel “needs to eliminate Hamas without question” during an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

Ramaswamy on Tuesday emphasized that “I am disappointed and deeply concerned by the remarks of certain presidential candidates including Nikki Haley who have irresponsibly called the Hamas attack an ‘attack on America’ and rabidly shout ‘FINISH THEM!!’ repeatedly without offering a pragmatic path forward.”

Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and communicator, offered that blowup of warfare in the Mideast was an unexpected development on the campaign trail.

“I think that there’s sort of a figuring it out as we go along part of this because clearly what happened this weekend was a surprise to everyone,” Heye, who’s neutral in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, said. 

Heye noted that the “candidates can take swipes at each other, but this is an opportunity for them to demonstrate leadership as well.”

“I look at this as an opportunity for candidates with foreign policy experience to shine,” he said. And Heye pointed to Haley and Pence “as the two obvious examples.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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EXCLUSIVE– Denver’s homeless problem is so bad that one resident resorted to dumping human excrement left by his office on the steps of City Hall to convey his frustration. 

Mike Johnston, the Democratic mayor of Denver, may be on the other side of the aisle, but he understood where libertarian think tank owner Jon Caldara was coming from with his viral stunt. 

“I’ve known Jon Caldara for a long time, so we’ve had more than our handful of discussions, but I think he and I share the same goal, which is what we want is be able to get people housed and be able to get back clean, safe public spaces that everyone can access,” Johnston told Fox News Digital. “We know one of the reasons that happens is when folks are living out in tents and encampments, they don’t have access to public bathrooms. They don’t have access to trash pick-up. And so often they have no place else to drop trash and no place else to go to the bathroom, and so that’s one of the reasons why we know it’s not the right solution. It’s inhumane, it’s not good for the city.”

While a Democrat, Johnston calls himself a nonpartisan mayor for Denver. The deep-blue city – President Biden took nearly 80% of the vote there in 2020 – is one of many throughout the country struggling with skyrocketing living costs and accompanying homelessness.

DENVER BUSINESSMAN DUMPS POOP FOUND OUTSIDE HIS BUSINESS ON CITY HALL STEPS, DEMANDS ACTION ON HOMELESS CRISIS

“One of the things I love about this job as a nonpartisan mayor and about this task is people from all ends of the spectrum care deeply about this and getting it done,” he said, calling his plan ambitious. “We were able to bring together really diverse coalitions to work on this.” 

According to the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report released late last year, Denver had the 10th-largest homeless population among American cities in 2022 at nearly 7,000, and was fourth-worst among cities outside California. Johnston said he hears constantly from city businesses that have lost foot traffic and revenues, and even had to close down, because their downtown locations were beset by the various consequences of homeless people. To illustrate, Caldara shared photos of used needles, human waste and broken glass around his think tank office.

Johnston, who took office in July, immediately declared homelessness a public emergency and released a $50 million plan to get 1,000 people into transitional or semi-permanent housing by year’s end, according to CBS Denver. He then hopes to keep homeless encampments that have marred city streets closed for good.

“We now have one of the highest commercial vacancy rates of any city in America,” Johnston said. “We’re tied with San Francisco, which also has a very significant homeless population. So we know this is one of the major drivers that changes how people feel about their downtown. It affects visitors, affects tourists, affects who wants to work downtown, affects who wants to keep their businesses downtown.”

Johnston said the city has seen a 300% increase in homelessness in just the past five years, accompanied by more deaths of residents on the streets, and called it the top issue for voters and for his administration.

“We view that as a crisis on all fronts,” he said. “That also means more encampments. It means more businesses who have people living or sleeping in front of their business, or in front of their home, or in their public parks.”

COLORADO FENTANYL SEIZURES THIS YEAR ALREADY SURPASS ALL OF LAST YEAR, AUTHORITIES SAY

He acknowledged drug use, particularly from the fentanyl epidemic gripping the country, and mental health issues were contributing factors to homelessness, but said primarily the issue was the high cost of living in Denver.

“We believe you stabilize people in the same way that they got destabilized,” he said. “We first got them back into housing. We provide wraparound services on mental health, addiction treatment, workforce training and these are meant to be transitional units. So what we’re doing is bringing on hotels we’ve converted into micro units. We have open half-acre, acre vacant lots where we put up tiny home villages… The goal is these are transitional spots where people will come three, six months, get their lives back together, get a job, get some savings, be able to move into their own place, so they can pay rent and get back up on their feet.

“If we can get all those folks that are currently unsheltered into housing and can close those encampments and keep them closed and reactivate the city, we will have done what most other cities have struggled to do, which is actually to get people into housing and to get back vibrant, joyful, safe downtowns and no longer have encampments in them,” he added.

He hopes Denver can be a model for the rest of the country in that regard.

THIS MAJOR US CITY RETHINKS ITS LIBERAL HOMELESS POLICY

Reached for comment on Johnston’s approach, Caldara scoffed.

“Another ‘housing first’ plan throwing $ at the homeless,” he wrote in a text message, suggesting instead, “Enforce the camping ban. Arrest people. Clean up streets.”

He shared a column he wrote about how Denver should look to Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in the state after the capital, as a model on how to deal with the issue. He derided Johnston’s approach as “adorable” and said the housing units were effectively a safe place for the homeless “to lay down their heads at the end of a responsibility-free day of criminal activity.”

Colorado Springs, Caldara said, enforces its laws against drug use, theft, assault and public defecation in a way Denver fails to do.

“People should be able to walk around and go to work without stepping over bottles, puddles of urine and vomit. And human feces,” Caldara told Fox News Digital last month.

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Asked to respond to claims Denver doesn’t enforce the law, Johnston spokeswoman Jordan Fuja said he was committed to enforcing the law for everyone.

“But we know that law enforcement doesn’t have the capacity to respond to the city’s volume of 911 calls. That’s why his 2024 budget includes funding for the largest police recruit class since 2005, which will put us on the path to meet the full authorized strength of the police department,” she said in a statement.

Democratic San Francisco Mayor London Breed raised eyebrows among some progressives with a plan requiring anyone receiving welfare to submit to mandatory drug testing and treatment programs, but Johnston’s office there would be no such requirements to live in one of the “micro-communities.”

“There will not be sobriety requirements to enter one of the micro-communities. Each community will be operated by service providers who create and maintain community rules that must be followed by those living in the community,” Fuja said.

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