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Platner campaign rocked with damning allegations from another ex-lover as Senate race heats up: report

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 20:41:52 -0400

A day after Graham Platner became the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, a woman took to social media to allege that she briefly dated Platner in 2021, recounting stories of having met him on the Tinder dating app, his infidelity and how Platner’s story about his infamous Nazi tattoo had changed over time.

"I am stepping forward as a person who has experienced lying and manipulation by his hand to lend my voice to what is a growing number of women who have been wronged by this man in one way or another," a female streamer with the X handle, 420mercymain69, wrote in a long X statement on Thursday.

"It is hideous," the woman, who claimed she was attracted to Platner's Tinder profile because he was "hot and he was a leftist," said in her X statement.

The new details add another layer to Platner’s allegedly deceptive conduct towards romantic partners and grows the pile of scandals that have trailed his campaign.

SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER SENT EXPLICIT TEXTS TO MULTIPLE WOMEN WHILE MARRIED, WIFE SAYS: REPORT

Platner, who officially became the Democratic nominee to challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, earlier this week, has grappled with his resurfaced past — receiving criticism for making off-color remarks on sexual abuse, race and terror and allegedly threatening behavior toward women.

According to 420mercymain69, a native of Maryland who considered herself a "well-informed leftist," the two of them started talking on Tinder in Feb. 2021 and started dating until mid-July 2021.

When approached about his Totenkopf tattoo, a symbol used by the Nazi SS, the author claims Platner said that he had gotten it in ignorance but that he had kept it as a reminder that the U.S. were "the bad guys" in many parts of the world.

"A sob story of monumental proportions that only further solidified my perception of his ideology," the author remembered.

"But surprisingly enough not the one he gave to the people of Maine," she continued. "And I do mean genuinely surprising because from the moment he announced his campaign, that is exactly what I expected to hear when the truth inevitably came out."

DEMOCRATIC MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER CONFRONTED BY MS NOW HOST ABOUT TATTOO CONTROVERSY

When the tattoo surfaced late last year, he had said he wasn’t familiar with its Nazi associations.

"Graham’s repeatedly said he picked a skull-and-crossbones tattoo off a wall in Croatia to commemorate surviving Ramadi and his friends who were killed there," a spokesperson from the Platner campaign told Fox News. "Graham has also since covered up the tattoo, and answered countless questions about it."

"Unlike Susan Collins, who refuses to take questions on her disastrous vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, gut rural hospitals, and supported every foreign war of the last thirty years," the spokesperson continued.

Aside from the tattoo, 420mercymain69 also accused Platner of several instances of relational infidelity.

Platner and the post’s author parted ways after she discovered from a mutual friend that he was allegedly seeing someone else while the two were still dating.

"He was talking about a woman he had blown it with, saying she was ‘the love of his life.’ I was naïve and probably a little too starry-eyed from my own good, but as a person who had only been on a handful of dates with him and f----- around a bit, I was smart enough to know he wasn’t talking about me," the woman claimed.

"I took the hint," she continued.

She claimed that, after leaving the relationship, she discovered Platner had been engaged to a woman named "Jen" when the two began conversing.

She was also told that Platner was allegedly cheating on her with a third woman.

"She had walked in on him having sex with another person at a wedding they were at in D.C. That mutual friend also advised that he was trying to repair things with this woman and asked me if I was going to seek her out to tell her," she said on X.

In summarizing her experience, which was reportedly confirmed by The New York Post, the author said she did not intend to derail Platner’s campaign, but that she shared concerns about his character. Fox News Digital could not independently confirm the claims from the alleged ex-girlfriend.

PLATNER SUPPORTER KHANNA CALLS SENATE HOPEFUL'S PAST RELATIONSHIPS 'TOXIC,' BUT SAYS HE DESERVES 'REDEMPTION'

"There will be more information that comes out," she claimed.

"If I were a Maine voter seeing the things I’m seeing, I wouldn’t have voted for him, personal experience notwithstanding, because I do not trust him. Why, after all that has come out, would I?"

"People that I have admired are brushing this off, discounting women's experiences, attacking other journalists,or allowing people in their comment sections to do so. Especially with regard to domestic violence. It is hideous," she concluded.

FIRST ON FOX: DOJ sues Spanberger’s Virginia over laws kneecapping federal agents as mask war escalates

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:50:02 -0400

FIRST ON FOX: The Justice Department sued The Commonwealth of Virginia on Thursday over two new laws the DOJ says would subject masked federal agents to criminal penalties and threaten local ICE cooperation agreements.

"Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties," said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in comment provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday. "Virginia’s anti-law enforcement policies regulate the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand."

The lawsuit, first shared with Fox News Digital, argues Virginia is violating the Constitution by attempting to dictate how federal officers carry out law enforcement operations — including when they can wear masks, what identifying information they must display and whether local agencies can maintain ICE cooperation agreements unless the federal government accepts state-imposed conditions. The DOJ said the laws threaten officer safety, undermine federal immigration enforcement and violate the Supremacy Clause.

At the heart of the suit, are a pair of laws that Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed, which are set to take effect on July, including: one restricting law enforcement officers, including federal officers, from wearing facial coverings while on duty and requiring them to display identifying information, and another imposing state-mandated conditions on federal immigration enforcement agreements.

ICE PRESSURES SPANBERGER AS FAIRFAX MURDER SUSPECTS TRIGGER NEW DETAINERS IN ‘SANCTUARY’ CLASH

The DOJ said federal officers who violate Virginia’s mask and identification law could face a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable under Virginia law by up to 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.

The lawsuit names Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and left-wing Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano — who was previously backed by groups connected to George Soros.

The suit claims Virginia's mask ban is "blatantly unconstitutional" because it attempts to regulate "what federal officers may and may not wear" while carrying out their duties, exposing agents' identities and increasing risks to them and their families.

"The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like Virginia’s," said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the DOJ’s Civil Division in the press release.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS CALIFORNIA LAW FORCING ICE AGENTS TO REMOVE MASKS DURING OPERATIONS

DOJ is seeking a court order to block both laws that begin July 1.

Spanberger, Jones and Descano have all moved to counter the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda in Virginia.

In February, Spanberger issued an executive order that rescinded a Youngkin-era order directing state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

TOM HOMAN VOWS TO WORK AROUND NEW DEM VA GOV SPANBERGER'S EXECUTIVE ORDER ENDING ICE COOPERATION

"The President told us that we are safer because unaccountable, poorly trained ICE agents are arresting mothers and detaining children. Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed — not an excuse to terrorize our communities," Spanberger posted on X in response to Trump's State of the Union.

The suit comes as there have been ongoing protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in New Jersey where protesters verbally abused ICE agents, obstructed vehicles, allegedly assaulted officers, and made threats leading to multiple arrests.

"Governor Spanberger cannot tell Federal officers how to do their job," said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward in the press release. "She certainly cannot prohibit them from ensuring their own safety in conducting Federal law enforcement operations. Our suit today stops those unconstitutional efforts."

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Gov. Spanberger and AG Jones for comment.

'Transgender madness' under fire after Congress lets taxpayer funding ban lapse

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:00:23 -0400

Congress’ ban on tax dollars flowing to Planned Parenthood is about to lapse, and a Senate Republican wants to investigate piles of taxpayer money that has allegedly been used by the organization to push transgender procedures.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital, is demanding that Planned Parenthood be put under a microscope for roughly $1.5 billion in Medicare and Medicaid funding that he alleges "are flowing to an organization that promotes transgender treatments on minors."

Fox News Digital did not hear back from Planned Parenthood for comment.

SEN HAWLEY WARNS IT WOULD BE 'UNCONSCIONABLE' IF BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER FUNDS FLOW TO TRANS KIDS’ SEX CHANGES

Hawley wants Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Administrator Mehmet Oz to open an investigation into Planned Parenthood as part of the agency’s continued pursuit to uncover fraud in federally funded healthcare programs.

"I urge you to direct your investigative efforts toward Planned Parenthood and its role in pushing transgender madness onto minor children," Hawley said.

Republicans last year banned federal tax dollars from flowing to abortion providers in President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," but that ban is set to lapse on July 4.

UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION: PLANNED PARENTHOOD PRESCRIBING HORMONES TO MINORS WITH MINIMAL OVERSIGHT

Hawley and others have tried to extend the ban, with his attempt to amend the latest budget reconciliation package to keep the ban going failing earlier this year. That amendment would have extended the ban on providing Medicaid funding to abortion providers until 2035.

His focus now is on uncovering whether the $1.5 billion in funding was directed toward pushing minors toward gender-affirming medication or referring minors for gender-affirming surgical procedures.

Hawley accused Planned Parenthood of exploiting "legal loopholes to provide these dangerous and irreversible gender-transition drugs to minors without their parents’ consent."

TRUMP'S PUSH FOR $350 BILLION 'ARSENAL OF FREEDOM' HITS GOP SKEPTICISM

"The organization openly advertises that it provides sex-change drugs and refers for transgender surgeries," Hawley said. "According to one recent report, Planned Parenthood’s provision of this so-called "gender-affirming care" has exploded — with a 40% year-over-year increase."

Hawley is pinpointing a stream of money between 2019 and 2022 that was tracked by the Government Accountability Office in a report first published in November 2023. That report did not outline that the money was used to push transgender surgeries nor medication.

"In other words, billions of taxpayer dollars have been taken from those in poverty and the elderly and given to Planned Parenthood," Hawley said. "Moreover, these funds apparently have been used to prop up Planned Parenthood’s provision of transgender procedures to children."

Mamdani stands by fellow socialist candidate despite resurfaced far-left, anti-American posts

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:58:55 -0400

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is standing firmly behind his fellow democratic socialist and candidate for U.S. Congress Darializa Avila Chevalier, despite vile deleted social media posts that recently resurfaced.

Avila Chevalier, 32, a longtime community organizer who led the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, slammed the United States, the Democratic Party, private property, police, borders and called to nationalize large swaths of the private sector in the now-deleted posts from 2018 to 2022.

She is running a heated race to oust five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., in the state's 13th congressional district, which encompasses Upper Manhattan and parts of the west Bronx.

In a 2021 repost, Avila Chevalier said that abolishing borders, prisons and police is "possible, necessary, and the only moral way forward," and later echoed posts that said "all deportation is wrong" and, "Yes, literally abolish the border," according to one report.

NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI DEFENDS PAST TWEETS, SAYS CUOMO ATTACKING ‘MYTHICAL VERSION’ OF HIM

"This country is a f-----g disgrace," she said in a post.

"I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me," she reportedly said in yet another.

She reportedly called former President Joe Biden a "rapist" and "war criminal," chastised Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for his "liberal Zionism," and said "F--k Kamala Harris."

NYC VOTERS FLOCK TO SOCIALIST-STYLE FREEBIES AS MAMDANI PUSHES RENT FREEZES, CITY-RUN STORES

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Avila Chevalier demanded the government provide $3,000 per month in universal basic income, nationalizing utilities, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, suspending mortgages and rent, seizing private property from landlords, dissolving insurance companies and expanding Medicare to every citizen.

None of these past posts deterred Mamdani from supporting his fellow socialist when asked in a Wednesday news conference.

"When it comes to Darializa's campaign, I had not seen those tweets and what I've heard from her and what I know a lot of others in the district that have heard from her is that her views have evolved and that the campaign she is running on is reflective of what she's going to be fighting for," Mamdani said.

PROGRESSIVE POWER PLAYERS RALLY VOTERS FOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI AS EARLY VOTING KICKS OFF IN NYC MAYORAL RACE

"And frankly, when I see a candidate who has a record like she does of freeing New Yorkers who are unjustly detained by ICE, of standing up for the working person who has often been left out of our politics, especially in a district that has so many of the same themes that we're speaking of today — a fear of displacement, a fear of being pushed out of a place you helped to build — I think that she would be an incredible champion for that district and for the city as a whole," he continued.

Mamdani first endorsed Avila Chevalier in late May.

"She grew up with a commitment to the very people that politics have left behind, and what I see in her is that commitment fulfilled," the progressive mayor said on MS NOW. "I can’t wait for her to be introduced to so many across the city and across this country as we fight for that affordability agenda, from New York City to D.C."

New York's primary election date is June 23.

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Mamdani, Avila Chevalier and Espaillat. None responded to requests for comment.

Trump pivots on strikes while dangling Iran deal, testing whether Tehran blinks

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 14:40:34 -0400

After months of predicting a nuclear deal with Iran was just around the corner, President Donald Trump appears to be testing whether military pressure can accomplish what diplomacy alone has not.

The strategy was on full display over the past 24 hours. Trump followed through on his threat to strike Iran again overnight, launching a barrage of Tomahawk missiles and fighter jet attacks against Iranian targets while warning that additional bombing would follow unless Iran agreed to a deal. Hours later, however, he announced he had canceled planned strikes for Thursday evening, saying negotiations had been elevated to the highest levels of Iran's leadership and that the parties had approved the final contours of an agreement.

The rapid sequence of threats, strikes and renewed diplomacy highlights an increasingly familiar pattern in Trump's approach to Iran: using military pressure to push negotiations forward while keeping a diplomatic off-ramp open. The question is whether the strategy is increasing Washington's leverage — or reinforcing Iran's belief that the United States ultimately wants a deal more than continued confrontation.

"He has made so many threats that he has not carried through on and telegraphed on many occasions his strong desire to end this war as soon as possible, that I think Iran does not take these threats seriously," Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP KEEPS FORECASTING AN IRAN DEAL — WHY THE WHITE HOUSE STILL THINKS IT CAN HAPPEN

Trump said Iranian officials contacted him during the strikes and asked for the bombing to stop.

"If they don't sign the deal, we'll bomb the sh*t out of them tomorrow night," he said.

Trump suggested Thursday the campaign could eventually expand to Iran's energy infrastructure, including Kharg Island, the country's most important oil export hub.

"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela."

But later, he sounded less certain.

"My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest," Trump said on Fox and Friends.

Yet even as he promised additional military action, Trump maintained that negotiations had been on the verge of success.

"We'll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal," he said earlier Wednesday.

The comments marked a sharp escalation from a president who only days earlier predicted an agreement could arrive within "two or three days" and has repeatedly suggested a breakthrough remains imminent despite months of unresolved disputes over uranium enrichment, sanctions relief and Iran's nuclear stockpile.

"They keep tapping us along," Trump told reporters Wednesday. "They keep playing us for suckers because you know what? They dealt with some very stupid presidents."

Trump's latest actions suggest the administration is still offering Tehran an off-ramp through a negotiated nuclear agreement. The question is whether military pressure strengthens Washington's hand — or whether Iran has concluded it can withstand the costs and outlast the campaign.

Iran "has more resilience," said James Robbins, dean of academics at the Institute of World Politics, noting that Iran has been forced to work around global isolation for decades. "They're kind of used to sanctions. They're used to economic dislocations, much more so than Americans."

Behnam Taleblu, senior director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that mounting pressure does not necessarily make the regime more willing to compromise.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS 'NEGOTIATING ON FUMES,' BELIEVES REGIME THOUGHT THEY COULD OUTWAIT HIM

"The more desperate the regime becomes, the more aggressive the regime becomes," Taleblu told Fox News Digital.

He also questioned whether strikes on bridges, power plants and other infrastructure would fundamentally alter Iran's decision-making, arguing that the regime is primarily concerned with threats to its own hold on power.

"Until those making the key national security decisions, those enforcing the key national security decisions, and those enforcing the regime's longest war, which is on its own people, so long as those three are not targeted, we'll be back where we started," he said.

Eisenstadt argued that Iran may ultimately believe it can absorb sanctions, withstand military pressure and simply wait for political pressures inside the U.S. to grow.

"I think they believe that time is on their side, given domestic criticism of the war and its economic impacts in the United States," he said.

Trump's lates strike threats came days after an Iranian drone brought down a U.S. Apache helicopter operating near the Strait of Hormuz, triggering retaliatory U.S. strikes on Iranian radar and air-defense sites and threatening to unravel an already fragile ceasefire.

The administration's goal has long been that sustained military and economic pressure would eventually force Iran to make concessions that months of negotiations alone have failed to produce. Trump and his advisors have repeatedly argued that sanctions, military operations and the U.S.-led blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has cut off the pathway for roughly 80% of Iran's oil exports, have left Iran increasingly isolated and economically vulnerable.

Iranian officials publicly rejected the notion that expanding the target set would force Iran to bend.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called Trump's threat to strike power plants and transportation infrastructure a "sign of desperation."

"Critical infrastructures are the lifeblood of the people," Pezeshkian said in a post on X.

Trump repeatedly has rejected the notion that Iran can wait out his administration.

"They thought they were going to out-wait me, you know. 'We'll out-wait him. He's got the midterms.' I don't care about the midterms," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting May 27.

Despite Trump's repeated assertions that a deal is near, negotiators remain divided over several core issues, including uranium enrichment, sanctions relief and the future of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Iranian officials have acknowledged progress on some elements of a potential agreement while warning that significant obstacles remain.

Whether the latest round of strikes changes Iran's calculations may determine whether Trump's strategy of military pressure succeeds in producing the agreement he insists remains within reach.

Trump nominates Jay Clayton, former SEC chairman, current US Attorney, as intelligence director

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 14:26:27 -0400

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that former SEC Chairman and current U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton will be the next permanent director of national intelligence.

The nomination followed a brief stint by acting Director William Pulte, who took over after Tulsi Gabbard stepped down.

"I am pleased to announce the Nomination of very Highly Respected Jay Clayton, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the former Head of Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the most prominent and successful Law Firms anywhere in the World, and the current United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to be the next Director of National Intelligence and, importantly, to serve in my Cabinet," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

"Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay," he added.

"I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible," Trump said.

TRUMP GREEN LIGHTS NEW DNI PULTE TO 'START THE PROCESS' ON MASS INTELLIGENCE FIRINGS

Clayton will need to be confirmed by the Senate before officially taking over as director of national intelligence (DNI).

The development came after Trump originally tapped Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Pulte's appointment, which was set to take effect June 19, became a major point of contention in negotiations already complicated by disputes over the controversial Section 702 surveillance authority.

Critics argued that Pulte lacked the intelligence and national security experience associated with overseeing the nation's 18 intelligence agencies.

TODD BLANCHE 'HONORED AND HUMBLED' BY TRUMP'S AG NOMINATION AFTER EXPLOSIVE WEEK OF FEDERAL ARRESTS

Trump's decision to name Pulte also sparked significant backlash on Capitol Hill, leading to a standoff in Congress.

Democrats warned they would oppose the renewal of key foreign intelligence authorities unless the administration withdrew Pulte's appointment and put forward a permanent nominee.

Clayton is regarded as one of the nation's top federal prosecutorial districts and known for handling high-profile cases, including the prosecution of Nicolás Maduro.

Tulsi Gabbard had resigned in May announcing that she was stepping down as Director of National Intelligence primarily to care for her husband.

This is a breaking story. Return for updates.

Trump's push for $350 billion 'arsenal of freedom' hits GOP skepticism

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 14:16:20 -0400

President Donald Trump wants Congress to supercharge military funding and pass stalled voter ID and citizenship verification legislation in one fell swoop, but many Republicans aren’t sold on the plan.

Trump on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans to steer around Democrats' opposition again and "immediately" pass a third budget reconciliation package, including $350 billion in defense spending coupled with the stalled Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

"This is a GENERATIONAL Investment in our Military, even bigger than President Reagan’s! Recon 3.0 is the ONLY path to the full $1.5 TRILLION DOLLAR Military Budget our Warriors need in order to build THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM," Trump said on Truth Social.

TRUMP'S SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE IN THE SENATE DESPITE REPUBLICAN REVOLT

The president’s request came just hours after he signed Republicans’ second budget reconciliation bill into law that would fund immigration enforcement through the rest of his presidency for $70 billion. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was also passed through budget reconciliation.

But many Republicans are lukewarm at best to the idea of restarting the budget reconciliation process, which would require strict party unity amid a dwindling calendar of legislative days heading into the November midterm elections.

The GOP has also yet to fully come around to Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense spending request, and some lawmakers have voiced concern about circumventing the normal appropriations process to boost defense spending.

Trump’s plea for a third bite at the apple comes as he and congressional Republicans are increasingly at odds over policy decisions that have made passing legislation on the Hill all the more difficult.

TRUMP SCORES VICTORY DESPITE GROWING GOP DIVIDE AFTER SENATE PASSES $70B ICE, BORDER PATROL FUNDING PACKAGE

Some Republicans who have pushed for a third attempt at the party-line process have acknowledged that it’s unlikely to work. Further, Congress is unlikely to pass any other bills before the midterm elections in November because of Democratic opposition.

"I think it's a very, very long shot that anything passes between now and the midterms," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. "It gives me heartburn to say that, but I think that's political reality."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., didn’t completely close the door on another reconciliation bill, but he noted that there is skepticism among Republicans on moving forward.

"You’ve got to have something that you can win on," Thune said. "And you’ve heard some of our folks already express their views on another reconciliation bill."

Earlier in the week, during a contentious Senate Appropriations hearing, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both agreed that another reconciliation bill was unlikely to happen, particularly as a dumping ground for billions in additional defense spending.

TRUMP LOCKS IN ICE FUNDING THROUGH END OF PRESIDENCY AFTER HOUSE PASSES $70B PACKAGE

Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, "Reconciliation is not the best approach."

"It would be very difficult to get the reconciliation bill approved," Collins said.

Discussions on a third reconciliation package were underway in the House prior to Trump’s public endorsement. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has voiced confidence that his chamber will clear a third budget bill by the August recess.

But some GOP lawmakers have questioned its viability amid Republicans’ slim majority and the potential lack of a unifying policy idea to keep the conference together.

"I haven't quite heard enough policy proposals that lead me to think it's going to gel, but I’m certainly open-minded," Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., a Republican-turned-independent who voted against Trump’s $70 billion immigration enforcement measure, indicated he isn’t likely to support a third attempt.

"We have now gotten to this habit of one party takes power, they do reconciliation bills and the other party does it, and this cycle hasn't been good," the California lawmaker told Fox News Digital. "It's one of the things that fed the cycles of dysfunction that we have around here."

Trump says he's canceled Iran strikes, adds potential deal-signing 'to be announced shortly'

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:59:31 -0400

President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled strikes against Iran, saying a deal with Iran is expected soon, hours after promising to attack the Islamic Republic amid tense negotiations.

"Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, canceled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had called off strikes against Iran while a deal is being worked out.

US ARMY HELICOPTER GOES DOWN, BUT PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYS ‘PILOTS ARE FINE’

"Discussions and final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others," he added.

Trump also wrote that the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz—the vital global shipping route that sees 20 percent of world oil and natural gas pass through—will "remain in full force" until a deal is finalized.

The sudden change came after Trump vowed on Wednesday to initiate a forceful response, accusing Tehran of prolonging nuclear negotiations and targeting a U.S. helicopter.

Hours before canceling the strikes, Trump said U.S. forces would be hitting Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT." In response, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a key figure in U.S.-Iran negotiations, warned against using "wrong strategies and impulsive decisions."

TRUMP KEEPS FORECASTING AN IRAN DEAL – WHY THE WHITE HOUSE STILL THINKS IT CAN HAPPEN

"Wrong strategies and impulsive decisions will reset the entire board for the worse, explode energy infrastructure and markets, and create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years," he wrote on X.

"We're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said U.S. forces had completed self-defense strikes against Iran at Trump's orders in response to the downing of the helicopter.

The two crew members aboard a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache were rescued by American forces after the helicopter went down near the coast of Oman while patrolling regional waters, CENTCOM said Monday. Both soldiers were safely rescued within two hours.

Despite being close to a deal, Trump said, Iran has been "tapping us along" and "playing us for suckers."

Biden confidant under fire for Nazi tattoo defense in latest Graham Platner fallout: ‘Disgusting’

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:42:54 -0400

Former President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, is facing fierce pushback online after jumping into the growing controversy surrounding Maine Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner’s Nazi-linked tattoo, attempting to defend and explain away the Democrat’s disputed ink.

"The fact that a Biden WH Chief of Staff Democrat is comfortable downplaying a Nazi tattoo from a different Democrat tells you everything you need to know about today's Democrats," posted Prager University contributor Shabbos Kestenbaum.

Klain sparked a fight with the Republican Jewish Coalition Wednesday when he defended Platner on the group's Instagram post condemning the candidate and calling on Democrats to withdraw their support. Platner has denied the tattoo was intended as a Nazi symbol, even as multiple people familiar with the candidate have identified it as an SS skull-and-crossbones design, which he has since covered.

"This is just a partisan attack," Klain wrote. "The tattoo was a skull and crossbones to remember his fallen comrades from his service in Afghanistan."

GRAHAM PLATNER BLAMES NAZI TATTOO ON MILITARY ‘CULTURE,’ DRAWS BACKLASH FROM GOP VETERANS

Klain served as Biden's chief of staff from 2021 to 2023, before becoming Airbnb’s chief legal officer. He was appointed to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council by Biden in January 2025 before President Donald Trump removed him nearly four months later.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Council is the presidentially appointed board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The exchange ignited a firestorm on social media, where critics argued Klain's defense reflected a broader unwillingness among Democrats to distance themselves from Platner amid the growing controversy.

"Here's former Biden WH Chief of Staff, and @Airbnb Chief Legal Officer, Ron Klain whitewashing Graham Platner's Nazi SS Totenkopf tattoo. This, after hosting a fundraiser for Platner last week. As a former United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council @HolocaustMuseum member, Klain absolutely knows better," RJC posted to X of the exchange.

WATCH: DEM SENATORS EXCUSE PLATNER'S CONDUCT AT CRISIS HUDDLE WITH EMBATTLED MAINE CANDIDATE

"This is a disgusting lie from Ron Klain and @Airbnb should be deeply concerned someone this dishonest is working for the company in a sensitive role," posted Hudson Institute adjunct fellow Josh Block.

"What has become of us when prominent Jews defend Nazi sympathizers? I am disgusted. Ex-Biden chief Ron Klain defends Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo," wrote former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

"It was NOT to honor his fallen comrades, which is wildly manipulative lie," wrote Republican communicator Matt Whitlock on X.

SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER SENT EXPLICIT TEXTS TO MULTIPLE WOMEN WHILE MARRIED, WIFE SAYS: REPORT

"You do not have to debase yourself for Platner. Pick your values over partisanship. Focus on other elections. This man is not worth your self-respect," wrote columnist Alex Zeldin.

"Worse: The highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the U.S., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, still endorses Platner and has refused to revoke his support," wrote Antisemitism Watch founder Trish Posner.

Several of Platner’s ex-girlfriends have alleged the embattled nominee referred to his tattoo as "my Totenkopf" because of his belief that his unit shared similarities to the Nazi SS paramilitary forces.

During his victory speech Tuesday, Platner acknowledged the controversy that has followed him while on the campaign trail.

"Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination. It's a journey. I've made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret, that I live with, that I continue to learn from and I'm still far from perfect," said Platner. "But every day I wake up and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than I was the day before and if you give me the chance, I will be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator."

A string of controversies have followed Platner as he eyes to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

In the heat of the primary race, Reddit posts surfaced detailing his past inflammatory comments, while he was also accused of physical misconduct, including aggressive behavior, with a former romantic partner. Platner denied those accusations.

Fox News Digital reached out to Ron Klain, Airbnb and Graham Platner for comment.

'Flip flop': Democrat firefighter in tight House race blasts popular Trump policy his national union supports

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:35:50 -0400

A swing-district Democrat disparaged Trump’s landmark overtime tax break despite his national firefighters union's support, prompting his GOP opponent to accuse him of a "flip flop."

Nazareth, Pennsylvania's Bob Brooks — running against Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., in a toss-up seat — is the president of the commonwealth's firefighters union, setting up an apparent discrepancy with the national council, though the Democrat's campaign says his concerns about the cuts are more nuanced and that it is the Republican who is harming first responders on the issue.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) provides a maximum annual deduction of $12,500 on qualified overtime compensation, phasing out after $150,000 of gross income or $300,000 for joint filers, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association — which is a subsidiary of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) — criticized the OBBB's provisions during an appearance on the progressive "Meidas Touch" podcast in May.

"Donald Trump just did it here [in Pennsylvania]. He was up at the [Mount Airy] casino. But literally, he brought a guy up on stage and claimed he was a fireman and profiting from the no-tax-on-overtime, which 90 percent of our guys didn't get the benefit from anyways, but the guy wasn't a paid fireman," Brooks said, referring to a Stroudsburg-area first responder whom Trump introduced at a Mount Pocono rally in December.

FIREFIGHTERS UNION BOSS WINS HOTLY-CONTESTED DEM PRIMARY IN A KEY PENNSYLVANIA SWING DISTRICT

"I just don't understand how they keep spewing the garbage," added Brooks, a former Bethlehem firefighter of many years who notably served in top union roles.

The man Trump introduced was indeed a volunteer firefighter but also a paid police officer in Monroe County who would therefore qualify for the no tax on overtime provision in his other first responder role.

Conversely, the IAFF came out in support of Republicans' tax policies that included the elimination of levies on qualified overtime pay.

"Firefighters and emergency medical workers shouldn’t be penalized for choosing a career in public service," IAFF president Edward Kelly previously told the New York Post.

Kelly called the new overtime rule a "needed fix" for his 350,000 members whose jobs demand "long hours."

REPUBLICANS RIP 4 BLUE STATES FOR KEEPING TAXES ON TIPS, OVERTIME AFTER TRUMP REPRIEVE

"President Trump respects the contributions lAFF members make to our country and recognizes the importance of ensuring these brave men and women can keep more of their hard-earned money," Kelly told the paper.

Meanwhile, the Fraternal Order of Police also wrote an April letter to Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, expressing support for House legislation ending taxes on overtime, noting it positively affects law enforcement officers nationwide.

In response, a spokesperson for Brooks said the Democrat "ran into burning buildings for 20 years [and] knows what hard work is, and he knows that first responders deserve to keep more of their hard-earned money."

The spokesperson said Brooks does support "no tax on overtime" and "no tax on tips," saying that instead it is Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa.; his opponent; who doesn’t understand the issue.

"Ryan Mackenzie is a life-long politician who wouldn’t know a hard day’s work if it hit him in the face," Brooks’ spokesperson said.

A source familiar with the matter said that, despite the IAFF's endorsement of Trump's policy, Brooks' comments to Meidas Touch reflect how some firefighters do not qualify for the benefit, adding that Brooks supports fixing that discrepancy.

They added that Brooks would however not actually support any effort to repeal such no-tax-on-overtime benefits.

In a statement on his website about rural Carbon County being hurt by Washington policies, Brooks said that he would "work to repeal" the OBBB to restore higher SNAP funding, which also included the overtime policy.

The source also accused Mackenzie of voting to cut funding for first responder support through Community Project Funding Grants (CFP) – a contention Mackenzie’s camp denies.

NRCC LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN TARGETING DOZENS OF VULNERABLE DEMS WHO VOTED AGAINST KEY TRUMP PROPOSAL

The grants plan preceded Mackenzie's entering office in 2025, and there was later bipartisan agreement to forgo the spending bill that included the grants in favor of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded rather than adopt a new framework. The Republican voted in favor of it along with several Democrats.

"No CPF funding was allocated in FY 2025 as a result of the decision by congressional leaders on both sides to support a clean, bipartisan continuing resolution," Mackenzie said in a statement, noting that Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., supported the same CR.

"Bob Brooks is a proven conman who was found by a court to have stolen over $100,000 from his own family," Mackenzie said in response to the attacks.

"His latest flip-flop proves once again that this fraudster is only in it for himself."

"Instead of standing with firefighters and the over 29 million Americans who saw record refunds from tax relief on overtime, Bob Brooks supported repealing these tax cuts and advocating for massive tax increases on everyone. Now he is now trying to trick voters by changing his unpopular position and thinking no one will notice.

The House Republicans' campaign arm told Fox News Digital that voters can proverbially see the truth through the controversy.

"Bernie Bro Bob Brooks’ radical high-tax agenda would devastate working-class Pennsylvanians. Voters know Brooks wants them to keep less of their hard-earned money." National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Reilly Richardson said.

Brooks' website indicated the IAFF has also endorsed Brooks — who enjoys support from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Fox News Digital reached out to IAFF for comment.

House Dems Ilhan Omar and Sarah McBride mock Republican Nancy Mace over gubernatorial primary drubbing

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:32:17 -0400

Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Sarah McBride, D-Del., mocked Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., after the Republican got shellacked in the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary.

"Headed back to the private sector at the end of this term, as the Founders intended. When I ran in 2020 I said I'd only serve 3 terms and my time is up. It's truly been an immense honor and I wouldn't trade it for anything else," Mace wrote in a Wednesday post on X.

Omar, who was born in Somalia, chimed in, taking a jab at Mace.

"One-way ticket to where you came from with your name on it, Nancy," the Democrat wrote in post on X, adding a hand waving emoji.

Mace fired back at Omar, "Say what you want about me, but I would never marry my brother."

'SQUAD' MEMBER, NANCY MACE CLASH ON SOCIAL MEDIA: 'YOU BELONG IN REHAB'

Last year in a post from her @RepNancyMace X account, Mace had declared, "One-way ticket to Somalia with your name on it, Ilhan Omar."

Mace, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021, placed fifth in the Republican gubernatorial primary, while the first and second place finishers, South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson will go head to head in a GOP gubernatorial primary runoff.

OMAR CONFRONTED ON CAMERA OVER GOP PROPOSAL TARGETING FOREIGN-BORN LAWMAKERS: 'GOOD LUCK TO HER'

McBride wrote "thoughts and prayers" in a Tuesday post on X when responding to another account's post that read, "Nancy Mace [handshake emoji] Riley Gaines" and added, "Conservative woman who placed 5th."

Riley Gaines and transgender swimmer Lia Thomas tied for fifth place in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships 200-yard freestyle final.

MACE TARGETS SQUAD DEM WITH PROPOSED CONTITUTIONAL BAN ON FOREIGN-BORN LAWMAKERS

"Say what you want about us, but at least we've never been confused about what gender we are, and we'd never marry our brother," a Wednesday post on Mace's @RepNancyMace X account declared.

No hazard found after 'severe' Pentagon alert sparks emergency response

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:54:07 -0400

Certain areas in the Pentagon went on lockdown Thursday morning due to an "air quality incident" that was later revealed to be a false alarm.

An alert, shared with Fox News Digital, carrying a "severe" rating was sent to employees in multiple corridors of the building directing them to shelter in place. All other personnel were told to avoid the area. As of 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time Thursday, the lockdown order was lifted, according to Pentagon officials.

"Earlier this morning, Pentagon occupants were notified of a potential air quality issue, prompting immediate precautionary safety measures and evaluation. Subsequent testing confirmed no hazard exists, and normal operations have resumed," chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a Thursday statement.

"We express our sincere appreciation to the first responders for their swift actions to ensure the safety of all personnel," he said.

UFO WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS BILLIONS IN SECRET SPENDING HIDDEN FROM CONGRESS

A hazardous materials team scrubbed several locations in the Pentagon's A ring, the center-most location in the building, according to a Pentagon official.

Approximately 23,000 to 27,000 people work in the Pentagon on any given day.

PENTAGON DROPS 180 FAITHS FROM MILITARY'S RECOGNIZED RELIGIONS LIST

Secretary Pete Hegeth's office and chairman of the joint chiefs Gen. Dan Caine's office are not located in the corridors placed under lockdown.

Systems detected a problem with the air quality in part of the building and a device picked up a biohazard scent, the Pentagon source told Fox News.

The Arlington, Virginia, fire department confirmed on X it sent its Hazardous Materials team to support the Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s Hazmat team with the incident.

The last notable Pentagon lockdown was in August 2021, when a Pentagon police officer was killed during a violent incident at the Pentagon Transit Center.

The Pentagon has spent years developing systems designed to detect and contain airborne threats inside the building.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, officials launched the Pentagon Shield program, which uses sensors, computer modeling and building ventilation controls to help identify chemical, biological and radiological hazards and limit their spread through the Pentagon's five-ring structure.

Building systems can adjust airflow and isolate affected areas while emergency responders assess a potential threat.

Fox News' Liz Friden contributed to this report.

WATCH: Trump DHS escalates pressure over migrant child warnings it says Biden ignored: ‘Move heaven and hell’

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:47:40 -0400

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused the Biden administration of turning a "blind eye" to widespread reports of sexual abuse targeting migrants during a Thursday press conference.

"We're going to enforce our nation's laws, and we're going to right the wrongs that the Biden administration turned a blind eye to," Mullin said. "It's horrific to what's happening right in our own country because of four years of a blind eye that allowed unvetted sponsors to come pick up 450,000 kids on our borders … their own reports [were] reporting that over a third of the females, regardless of age, was sexually assaulted before they made it to their border."

In May 2025, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, obtained Department of Health and Human Services data showing that 65,605 reports regarding migrant children were ignored or dismissed under President Joe Biden, including 7,346 reports of human trafficking. Within 100 days of assuming power, the Trump administration had opened dozens of legal investigations from the previously inactive reports.

NOEM SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS LOCATED 127K MISSING MIGRANT CHILDREN LOST UNDER BIDEN

During the press conference, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that three individuals, all purportedly illegal immigrants from Guatemala, had been indicted in the Northern District of Ohio for allegedly conspiring to smuggle more than a dozen children into the United States by "exploiting the loopholes created by the last administration."

"This is one example, one indictment, but it is not unique. There are over 15,500 super-sponsor cases that we have identified, along with DHS. And again, these sponsor cases are when somebody sponsors more than three children, unrelated," Blanche said.

Mullin took an emotional tone later in the press conference.

"What's inhumane about taking care of our kids?" he asked. "As a father of six with three young girls, I'll do whatever I have to do, I will. I will move heaven and hell to go find these kids."

"We're going to bring you to justice. We're going to charge you, and we're going to work side by side with Todd Blanch and DOJ to make sure you pay for your crimes," Mullin added.

HUNDREDS OF JAILED ILLEGAL ALIENS RELEASED BACK ONTO BLUE-STATE STREETS DESPITE ICE DETAINERS, RECORDS SHOW

A 2021 HHS Office of Inspector General report found that large numbers of child migrant sponsors were not properly vetted before minors were released to them, including 19% of sponsors who authorities never received FBI fingerprint or state child abuse and neglect registry checks.

ICE SWEEPS UP CHILD PREDATORS, RAPISTS ACROSS US AS MULLIN TAKES HELM OF DHS

While internal government probes uncovered problems in the Biden administration’s processing of migrant children, the administration did take some action in response to abuse concerns and sponsor-vetting failures.

In July 2024, for instance, the Biden administration sued Southwest Key, a company that operated a processing facility for unaccompanied migrant children, alleging that employees sexually abused and harassed the minors in their care. The administration also accepted recommendations for reform following the 2021 HHS OIG report.

The DOJ and Biden’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

DHS directed Fox News Digital to Mullin's comments during the press conference when approached for additional comment.

"We found 146,000 kids so far. Some of these kids claimed that they were raped over 600 times. I don't care who you are. If you can't stand for law enforcement to go find these kids, who are you?" Mullins said during the press conference.

SPLC’s tax exempt status under scrutiny as congressman accuses group of 'act of fraud'

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:27:11 -0400

EXCLUSIVE — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is being asked to strip the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of its tax-exempt status, after a Republican congressman alleged their funding of extremist groups is "an act of fraud."

The plea from Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., makes the case that while raking in millions under the guise of fighting hate, the SPLC showed a clear pattern of targeting conservatives on its infamous "Hate Map" while funding the activities of actual extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, as alleged in a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment.

"The SPLC has reached a point where it's become extremely obvious that they are certainly not the organization anymore that they were maybe even founded to be, but they've become a strong left-wing political organization that is really just funding groups that most Americans are absolutely and would be absolutely appalled to know," Harris told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday interview.

The lawmaker's letter to Bessent establishes that a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization "must be organized and operated primarily for charitable, educational, or similar purposes and cannot engage in political activity," and explains why he thinks the SPLC is bucking that law.

CHIEF OF INDICTED SPLCE FACES HOUSE GRILLING OVER ALLEGED SECRET PAYMENTS TO KKK MEMBERS

"[T]he SPLC has consistently engaged in the partisan targeting of conservative groups by placing them on its so-called 'hate map,' alongside organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood," the letter notes.

"Meanwhile, violent left-wing groups such as Antifa and Jane’s Revenge have been widely ignored by the self-described civil rights organization."

Harris, a pastor, referenced a major Biden-era scandal — the DOJ's monitoring of what it called "radical traditionalist Catholics." — in a House Judiciary hearing in the spring. The Biden administration allegedly used the SPLC's guidance to justify the monitoring.

HAWLEY PRESSES FBI TO PROBE ALLEGED BIDEN-ERA TARGETING OF CHRISTIANS

The Alabama-based nonprofit also lumped mainstream Christian groups, like the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom, into its "Hate Map."

And in 2012, crazed gunman Floyd Lee Corkins II attacked the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., and shot a security guard after he found out they were designated as an anti-LGBT organization on the SPLC's website.

"I mean, we could go on and on and list those groups, but they all have in common that they happen to be just conservative groups in this country that stand on conservative principles," Harris told Fox News Digital.

The North Carolina representative also tore into the SPLC over allegations the group funneled $4 million donor dollars into shell companies to fund the KKK and other extremist organizations, all while claiming to fight hate.

Harris claimed in his letter to Bessent this was "an act of fraud" rather than charity, and needs to be addressed as such.

NEO-NAZIS, ‘SADISTIC’ BIKERS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE ORGANIZER: 5 OF THE MOST SHOCKING SPLC INFORMANTS

"Through what we're learning in this indictment by the Department of Justice that even points out how this $4 million has been misused or used, that one example was that they actually funded a Ku Klux Klan rally and funded the cross burning and paid for the gas to burn the cross," he said.

He accused the SPLC of creating the racism it claimed to fight.

Harris referenced claims from this week's congressional hearing that the SPLC saw a spike in contributions after the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The group is accused of paying an informant to help plan the rally.

"That's the way these groups work because, again, it becomes a money-making machine," said Harris. "If they can keep things stirred up, if they keep things with people fighting, if they could keep people divided ... then they accomplish what they want to accomplish, which at the end of the day, is all about the almighty dollar."

DOJ SAYS SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER FUNNELED $3M+ TO WHITE SUPREMACIST AND EXTREMIST GROUPS

Harris' letter concluded: "The evidence is clear: the SPLC does not operate as a charitable organization and should therefore lose its tax-exempt status. I respectfully ask that you direct the IRS to examine the SPLC’s Section 501(c)(3) status and take appropriate action to revoke their tax-exempt status."

The SPLC has denied the DOJ's allegations.

The group did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Vice President JD Vance's chief of staff set to depart White House role

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:05:41 -0400

Vice President JD Vance's chief of staff is set to depart his role, Fox News Digital learned Thursday.

Jacob Reses is set to formally leave his role by the end of summer. Reses worked with Vance for years and played a key role in Vance's 2022 Senate campaign.

"Jacob’s been by my side for my whole career in public life. I can’t imagine having been on this life-changing journey without him. From day one of my time as a Senator-elect, I could not have asked for a more loyal and discerning advisor and friend as my chief of staff," Vance said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"I’ll miss him dearly, but he won’t be far, and I plan to keep his counsel close until our paths cross again," he added.

MINNESOTA FRAUD REPORT ACCUSES STATE AG OF 'INCOMPETENCE, WILLFUL BLINDNESS OR WORSE'

Reses received praise from a litany of top White House officials upon news of his departure, including White House chief of staff Suzie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche, Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent and others.

"Jacob has served the Vice President and the entire administration with distinction. He understands the moment we’re in and he spent every day fighting to deliver results for the President. His intellect, leadership, and humor will be missed," Rubio said.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff called Reses "a killer."

News of the departure comes just days after Vance referred allegations involving Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to the Justice Department's fraud division for a potential criminal investigation.

Vance made the announcement during an appearance on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" when he was asked about a report released by the House Oversight Committee alleging that state officials, including Walz and Ellison, were warned of fraud in the state but did not take action to stop it in part because of litigation threats and concerns about being accused of discrimination.

MINNESOTA TAXPAYER DOLLARS FUNNELED TO AL-SHABAAB TERROR GROUP, REPORT ALLEGES

"We're certainly going to investigate this, Jesse, and I guess now I can make a bit of breaking news because I left the White House to come here to do this interview with you. And before I did, we actually referred this particular case to the Department of Justice for a full criminal investigation. We are not going to do what the Biden administration did and make judgments of the law before all the facts are in," Vance said.

"But here's what's particularly troubling about this to me is, Jesse, you had people within Governor Walz's office who were saying, you know what? This looks like fraud. It looks like these Somalian illegal immigrants are doing something that's very shady, and then you had people who shut them down, who shut these whistleblowers down and said, you know, you're a racist or you're a xenophobe for asking questions about where taxpayer money is going," he continued.

Spy law used to stop Taylor Swift attack to lapse as Congress skips town, World Cup nears

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:37:43 -0400

A key U.S. surveillance program is on the brink of expiring after neither the House nor Senate could pass an extension because of a Democratic revolt over President Donald Trump's intelligence chief pick.

The bid to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for three weeks in the House failed 198-218 on Thursday, falling well short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage. And in the Senate, Sen. Tom Cotton's, R-Ark., attempt to advance an extension was thwarted by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The measure, meant to give Congress more time to negotiate a long-term renewal, faced an uphill battle amid widespread Democratic opposition because of Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte to be the acting Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) chief.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., warned he would withhold support for extending the program until Trump reversed his decision, a sentiment shared by Senate Democrats, too.

WHY TRUMP PICKED BILL PULTE TO LEAD US INTELLIGENCE AS CRITICS QUESTION HIS QUALIFICATIONS

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., put the bill on the floor via suspension of the rules, a fast-track procedure that requires a higher threshold to secure passage.

He indicated he would not keep the House in session before the spy law was scheduled to lapse Saturday at 12:01 a.m.

"I attempted to pass a short-term extension for three weeks. Clean extension, no changes to the law," Johnson told reporters following the failed vote. And the Democrats … voted against it and applauded themselves as they left the building. What would be the point of me going through this exercise over and over?"

Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Susie Lee, D-N.V., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., were the 7 Democrats to cross party lines and support extending the program through July 2.

Meanwhile, 19 Republicans, who were skeptical of a clean reauthorization of Section 702 without greater privacy guardrails, joined the majority of Democrats in voting down the measure.

In the Senate, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the upper chamber was on a glide path to advance the compromise bill that he and Cotton put together. But Trump's decision obliterated any hope of Democratic support.

Warner wants Trump to dump Pulte, and instead tap DNI Deputy Aaron Lukas to be acting director until he finds a long-term nominee.

"There are about a half a dozen exit ramps for the White House on this problem," Warner said. "And they have chosen not to take them."

Thursday's vote was a notable setback for Trump, who urged lawmakers to reauthorize the program ahead of the June 12 deadline with no modifications.

Democrats and some Republicans have argued that Pulte, a Trump insider and senior housing official, is unqualified for the top intelligence post.

Trump has largely defended and refused to bow to Democrats' demands. His comments Wednesday that he is actively looking for a permanent replacement for Pulte, who is expected to begin the job June 19, were not enough to soften Democrats' opposition.

The standoff over the critical surveillance tool has led to tensions erupting in the lower chamber with little time to act before the law's expiration.

Jeffries called Pulte a "malignant clown" during a news conference earlier this week and pledged that House Democrats would probe his tenure at the Federal Housing Finance Agency if they retake power in November. As the agency’s director, Pulte launched investigations into several Trump foes over alleged mortgage fraud.

Meanwhile, Republicans have warned that letting the spy law sunset would leave the United States uniquely vulnerable amid an influx of foreigners into the country with the World Cup underway and as the war with Iran drags on. They argue that Democrats are putting the country at a grave security risk by failing to extend the program into July.

"45 countries descend upon the United States for World Cup games, which just so happens to be the week that Democrats have actively chosen to disallow this critical national security tool from being renewed to allow it to go dark," House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said Wednesday. "This is unserious, very dangerous behavior on the part of congressional Democrats."

"You cannot play politics with the security of the American people," Johnson told reporters. "I am praying that they come to their senses."

REPS ANDY HARRIS, KEITH SELF, SEN RICK SCOTT: FIX FISA. DON’T SPY ON US

The Section 702 program allows the U.S. government to collect intelligence on foreigners abroad who are using U.S. communication systems. The spy law also allows the government to sweep up the messages of Americans when communicating with foreign suspects, provoking the ire of privacy hawks in both parties.

The program is credited with thwarting a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Austria in 2024, as well as gathering intelligence used to identify and eliminate a prominent Mexican cartel leader and providing information used to intercept shipments of fentanyl precursors from China.

Congress passed two consecutive short-term extensions of the law earlier this year, but has yet to strike a deal on a multi-year fix.

Some Democrats have argued Republicans’ warnings are political theater and have pointed to an intelligence court ruling that recertified Section 702 through March 2027.

"Existing law allows Section 702 collection to continue under an order from the FISA court for another year, even without congressional reauthorization," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday. "Congress can and must take the time to get this right."

But GOP lawmakers warned that allowing the government's warrantless surveillance powers to sunset entails substantial risk, including potential legal challenges.

"If this authority lapses starting on Saturday, we move into uncharted territory," Crawford said Wednesday. "The implications get worse every single day."

"While the 702 database would remain available to search, the data in that database will become increasingly out of date, with the potential of provider noncompliance with orders, litigation by providers or outside groups, and even reticence by agency personnel to continue implementing an expired authority for fear of personal liability," he added.

Senate map tightens as top forecaster moves 3 races toward Democrats

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:35:39 -0400

A leading nonpartisan political handicapper shifted three Senate races toward the Democrats Thursday and predicted that, with just under five months to go until the midterm elections, the Democrats have a "clearer path to winning the Senate majority."

But Sabato's Crystal Ball at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia adds that, despite the shifts, "we still favor Republicans in the overall race for the Senate."

Republicans control the Senate 53-47 but are battling stiff political headwinds because the party in power in the nation's capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms.

The GOP also faces a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump's underwater approval ratings.

THESE MIDTERM RACES WILL DETERMINE WHETHER REPUBLICANS HOLD THEIR SENATE MAJORITY

Sabato's Crystal Ball shifted the race in battleground North Carolina from toss-up to lean Democrat. Former two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is facing off against former Republican National Committee Chair Mike Whatley in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.

It moved the Senate showdown in Alaska, where GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is expected to face off against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, from lean Republican to toss-up.

And in Ohio, where appointed GOP Sen. Jon Husted is being challenged by former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, it shifted the rating from lean Republican to toss up.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

The movement toward the Democrats in the Ohio race comes a week after a Fox News poll indicated Brown up by eight points, 53%-45%, over Husted.

Democrats need a net gain pickup of four seats in the midterms to win back control of the Senate they lost in the 2024 elections.

Pointing to the four races it now considers toss-ups, Sabato's Crystal Ball said, "There are now enough Toss-up races to give Democrats a clearer path to winning the Senate majority. ... But Republicans can block Democrats by winning just one of the Toss-ups, meaning that they’re still better-positioned to hold the majority."

The ratings shift by Sabato's Crystal Ball comes a month after another top nonpartisan political handicapper, the Cook Report, moved its rankings of four key Senate races in favor of the Democrats.

DEMOCRATS EYE NARROW PATH TO CAPTURE SENATE MAJORITY, BUT ONE WRONG MOVE COULD SINK THEM

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is optimistic Democrats can flip the chamber. Gillibrand told Fox News Digital earlier this year she sees "all the makings of a blue wave."

Gillibrand's rival, National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Tim Scott of South Carolina, acknowledged in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this year that "there's no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult."

But Scott emphasized he remains "incredibly optimistic, not only about holding the majority, but still expanding the majority."

And NRSC National Press Secretary Bernadette Breslin told Fox News Digital Thursday that "no battleground races can be taken for granted. While Democrat candidates lurch further left to appease their radical base, Republicans are staying focused on lowering costs, investing in American workers, and doing the work required to defend the majority."

Trump administration yanks funding from LA homeless agency amid explosive fraud probe: 'Necessary step'

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:00:54 -0400

EXCLUSIVE: A top Trump agency is cutting off funding to the Los Angeles agency responsible for coordinating billions in homelessness spending after accusing it of "obvious fraud," "wanton mismanagement" and repeated failures to safeguard taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), part of the White House fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, is immediately suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's (LAHSA) federal funding while HUD’s inspector general investigates potential offenses by the agency and its leadership, according to a letter sent to LAHSA's board Chair Wendy Greuel and CEO Gita O'Neill, which was obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital.

The letter detailed conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement, fraud, lack of oversight and more from the homelessness agency, which has faced efforts by the city and county to take it over.

CALIFORNIA MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING MILLIONS IN HOMELESS FUNDS

The move puts one of the country’s biggest homelessness bureaucracies under direct federal scrutiny after years of criticism that billions have gone into homelessness programs in Los Angeles while the crisis remains entrenched on the streets.

LAHSA receives funding at the city, county, state and federal level, with the group getting nearly $1 billion from just the federal government since 2021, according to HUD.

"Suspending LAHSA’s participation in federal government programs is a necessary step in accomplishing that critical mission in Los Angeles," HUD wrote in the letter. "LAHSA’s failures have been so severe and pervasive that Los Angeles County has withdrawn its funding for the agency, and the City of Los Angeles is considering doing so as well."

LAHSA's former top executive, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, resigned last year after she was found to have been a party to directing $2.1 million in federal funds under LAHSA's control to her husband's Santa Monica-based nonprofit employer.

HUD says a federal judge last year also concluded that LAHSA had committed "obvious fraud" after it allegedly kept requesting funding for an 88-bed shelter even though it knew the shelter was operating at roughly half capacity.

EX-NONPROFIT BOSS ALLEGEDLY SWIPED $1.2M MEANT FOR HOMELESS PROGRAMS TO FUND LAVISH LIFESTYLE, DA SAYS

HUD noted in its letter that the judge considered placing LAHSA into receivership as well.

In a statement, the office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she has "grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence, which is why she previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency."

"Threatening federal funds does nothing to house people and jeopardizes the progress Mayor Bass has led to reduce homelessness for two years in a row, after it only went up in Los Angeles for years," her office said.

"Ultimately, people will lose their lives. We urge HUD to work with the City of Los Angeles to provide the necessary funding to reduce homelessness."

LAHSA's inability to verify the existence of nearly 2,300 housing sites for which it was responsible is another recent issue that has plagued the homelessness provider, according to HUD, which said 70% of the contracts for those sites did not disclose any expenses over the prior year.

Public audits of LAHSA, meanwhile, found a pattern of routinely paying service providers late and poor record keeping preventing it from monitoring contracts, including $5 million in cash advances sent to five different service providers, according to The Associated Press. In November 2024, the City Controller’s Office found that LAHSA failed to spend $513 million in public funds budgeted in fiscal year 2024, blaming a lack of staff and old technology, according to HUD.

"Under President Trump’s leadership, HUD will fund results, not corrupt failure or the homeless industrial complex," HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Year after year, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were funneled to LAHSA with little accountability. Meanwhile, homelessness skyrocketed. Taxpayers will no longer bankroll an organization that puts its own self-interests ahead of the Americans it was created to serve."

Other audits concluded that LAHSA's poor record keeping made it unable to accurately identify or calculate how well its spending has been benefiting the homeless population in Los Angeles.

KAREN BASS GRILLED OVER BROKEN HOMELESSNESS PROMISE, BLAMES BUREAUCRACY FOR SLOWED PROGRESS

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who is the vice chair of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, praised the leadership on this issue from HUD Secretary Scott Turner, President Donald Trump and Vance, who serves as the chairman of the fraud task force that was established earlier this year.

"Los Angeles didn’t care about helping the homeless, but the Trump administration does," Ferguson told Fox News Digital. "It is unconscionable that Los Angeles has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars that was supposed to be used on housing our nation’s most vulnerable. Instead of providing a roof and care for the homeless, Los Angeles has used these funds to line the pockets of left-wing NGOs. Such a disgrace ends today."

When pressed for comment, a LAHSA spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "after initial review, this appears to be a blatant attempt to pull yet more resources from Los Angeles, a city they have targeted time and again, when it is clear that LAHSA has either corrected or is in the process of correcting nearly all of the issues raised. Local oversight actions have already resulted in strong repairs and reforms to LAHSA’s internal controls, which are accountable and viewable to the public.

"We are also beginning to implement KPMG's recommendations to modernize our financial systems and prevent similar findings from occurring again. If HUD’s inspector general actually conducts a fair review of LAHSA’s current and future practices, they will clearly see how our systems now allow us to clearly track the work and investments that have resulted in LA outperforming the nation by reducing homelessness over the last two years," the spokesperson continued.

"While the review plays out, our immediate priority is to explore all available options to ensure that federal funds continue to support the thousands of people who have been housed through LAHSA and our broader rehousing system."

While Bass and Los Angeles officials have pointed to recent homeless count data as evidence that the crisis has begun to improve, with LAHSA reporting that countywide homelessness fell for a second straight year in 2025 and Bass saying it marked the first time in the city’s recent history that homelessness had declined two years in a row, Bass released a statement expressing concern over LAHSA.

"Mayor Bass, too, has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence, which is why she previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency," she said.

But the numbers still showed more than 72,000 people experiencing homelessness across Los Angeles County, and critics have continued to argue that modest declines do not erase years of runaway spending, encampments and repeated audit findings that the region’s homelessness system has failed to adequately track whether taxpayer dollars are producing results.

The federal action from HUD comes after Los Angeles city and county officials had already begun backing away from LAHSA, The Associated Press reported last year.

The city council moved to explore bypassing the agency and contracting directly with providers, while the county moved to redirect hundreds of millions of dollars in annual homelessness funding away from LAHSA and into a new county department, citing the need for stronger accountability after a series of audits.

"HUD cannot ignore LAHSA’s wanton mismanagement of public funds. HUD’s mission is to reduce the plague of homelessness in America," the agency's letter to LAHSA leadership states.

"Turning over billions of dollars from American taxpayers to an organization under investigation and suspected of gross misuse of federal funding and "obvious fraud" does nothing to reduce homelessness. Indeed, diverting dollars from worthy programs to LAHSA merely makes the homeless crisis worse."

Editor's Note: This piece has been updated to reflect LAHSA's response to HUD's letter.

Chip Roy fields proposal to block pay and power for longtime lawmakers

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:46:02 -0400

Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas has proposed cutting off pay and power from House and Senate lawmakers once they've served 12 years in their respective legislative chamber.

"A Member of Congress (including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress) who has served 12 or more cumulative years in the House of Representatives or in the Senate, as the case may be, may not, on and after the date that the Member reaches 12 years of service in the Member’s respective House of Congress, be eligible for any covered benefit described in subsection (b)," the text states.

Under the proposal, such long-serving lawmakers would no longer be eligible for pay and would no longer be eligible to serve in House and Senate leadership posts or as the chair or ranking member of standing or select committees.

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"For too long, Washington has rewarded longevity with greater power, higher pay and deeper entrenchment. If members of Congress want to serve beyond 12 years absent a constitutional amendment limiting them, they should do so without taxpayer-funded salaries and without monopolizing committee chairs and leadership positions," Roy said, according to a press release.

"This bill helps ensure that public service remains exactly that: service to the people, not a lifelong career in politics."

Roy, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, lost the Texas attorney general Republican primary runoff contest last month to Lone Star State Sen. Mayes Middleton.

SENATORS AGREE TO FORGO SHUTDOWN PAYCHECKS — BUT MANY WON'T FEEL THE PAIN

The text of Roy's proposal indicates that the restrictions would be enacted by the legislature "as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such are deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively."

It adds that the restrictions would be enacted "with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that House.

"The prohibition under this section shall apply with respect to the One Hundred Twenty-First Congress and each succeeding Congress."

The 121st Congress will start in early 2029.

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The U.S. Constitution stipulates, "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings," but also states "The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States."

Second Amendment fights grow across several states over 3D-printed gun laws

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:40:43 -0400

Lawmakers in an increasing number of states are attempting to impose restrictions on 3D-printed guns amid a Second Amendment fight over ghost guns.

As a bipartisan slate of states attempt to restrict the possession and manufacturing of ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers often made or modified with the use of 3D printers — Second Amendment activists and gun rights advocates argue the restrictions impinge on their constitutional right to bear arms, Stateline reported Thursday.

At least 16 states have now put 3D gun laws on the books, with seven states adding major legislation this year, according to Stateline's reporting.

It noted that lawmakers in Colorado, New Jersey, Maine, New York, Virginia and Washington have all imposed various restrictions on weapons manufactured without serial numbers in 2026, while California's legislators added to the state's already robust anti-3D manufactured gun laws by advancing a bill that would require 3D printer manufacturers to equip their devices with technology that would block the printing of firearms.

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New York lawmakers added a similar law to the state's budget this year that will go into effect by mid-June. Manhattan's Democratic District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, compared the law to statutes preventing commercial and consumer printers from producing U.S. dollars.

"We're going to put technology into our machines such that they will not be a 3D gun. Much like, you know, we don't have, you know, commercial printers that print U.S. currency," Bragg told ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

In January, Maine's legislature passed a bill requiring serial numbers on all firearms, including 3D-manufactured guns. The same month, former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed Bill A4975, which requires state residents to own a firearms license to even possess instructions or blueprints to print a 3D firearm.

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Colorado and Virginia also passed similar laws against weapons without serial numbers, while a Washington state law that Gov. Bob Ferguson signed in March restricted the ability for residents to possess the serial-free weapons while also imposing constraints on the digital blueprints and devices that would manufacture the 3D guns.

A Minnesota legislative package considering a wide slate of restrictions failed to pass the statehouse in March.

The impetus to restrict the DIY ordinance coincides with a sharp rise in 3D-printed guns recovered at crime scenes. Data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) shows the bureau recovered over 27,000 3D-printed ghost guns from crime scenes in January 2023 compared to just over 1,600 recovered in January 2017.

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Proponents for stricter gun laws argue the rise of 3D-printed weapons increases the likelihood of adverse shootings in American communities.

"As 3D-printing technology becomes more affordable and accessible, young people are increasingly able to manufacture their own firearms — often without the knowledge of the adults in their lives. As schools purchase 3D printers and train students how to use them, the problem of 3D guns is now entering the classroom as well," a statement on the Everytown For Gun Safety website says.

Others, however, argue that placing restrictions on the weapons violated Second Amendment rights and that bans don't fundamentally impact public safety.

"The gun is not the problem. The individual committing the crime is the problem," William Sack, the senior director of legal operations at the Second Amendment Foundation, told Stateline

Several states with restrictions are facing constitutional lawsuits. In February, a three-judge panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit dealt a blow to the constitutional argument, siding with the state of New Jersey in a case against Texas-based 3D-gun blueprint designed by Defense Distributed.

The Third Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that affirmed a cease and desist that New Jersey's attorney general delivered to Defense Distributed, ordering the company to stop distributing gun-printing blueprints to unlicensed individuals.

Defense Distributed's legal team is asking the court to take up the case again and will petition the Supreme Court if unsuccessful, according to the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to attribute reporting to Stateline.

Missouri senator warns Dem immigration policies threaten Western civilization after scoring ICE funding win

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 06:00:15 -0400

Democrats' "suicidal empathy" on immigration will "destroy our country," a Republican senator warned after his proposal targeting sanctuary city policies was included in the reconciliation package funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

In an interview Tuesday with Fox News Digital, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., argued Democrats' approach to immigration is also driven by political self-interest and not entirely by the desire for moral high ground.

"There's an electoral play here. It's about raw power," he said.

Schmitt's provision, which was included in the House-passed funding package Tuesday, would provide $350 million for ICE agents to arrest criminal illegal immigrants after their release from state or local custody. It comes as law enforcement in sanctuary states and cities continue to refuse to cooperate with federal officials.

NEW DEM PROPOSAL WOULD RESTRICT ICE'S KEY TOOL TO DETAIN CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS

Schmitt also warned that failing to deport illegal aliens is a threat to the West itself.

"I think it's a very important time for Western civilization, honestly, to stand up and say, 'No, we actually believe in sovereignty. We believe that a country can decide who can come and who has to go' and that this is our moment," he said.

"And the easiest of low-hanging fruit is to say that when you're here illegally and you've committed a violent act, when you're released from prison, we're actually going to send you back home. And that's what this legislation does."

In sanctuary cities and states, officials often flout federal immigration law and refuse to coordinate with ICE to ensure criminal illegal aliens are deported after they're freed, Schmitt explained.

"And I know that sounds crazy, but that's the practical implication," said Schmitt, adding there were 18,000 such cases in 2025 alone.

ICE WARNS ILLINOIS IS RELEASING VIOLENT CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS DESPITE DETAINERS, RISKING PUBLIC SAFETY

"These violent rapists or other violent criminals are just being let loose into the community," said Schmitt, who argued that being in the country illegally — even without committing a violent crime — is justification enough for deportation.

"But these sanctuary jurisdictions have decided that they would rather let these criminal illegal aliens back in the community than have them deported. That's how inverted the morality is on all this," he continued. "And, so, this sets to right that wrong. It says that these sanctuary jurisdictions ... you don't want to cooperate? OK, well, we're going to have the resources to go do it on our own with ICE."

Schmitt's successful provision and the larger debate on the funding bill comes as criminal illegal aliens continue to make headlines. Just last week, four members of the barbaric Venezuelan Tren de Aragua street gang pleaded guilty to murdering two Americans by gunning them down in cold blood.

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Another illegal alien in California, accused of killing a 2-month-old baby, grinned in court during a pretrial hearing June 2.

Yet another illegal alien was sentenced at the end of May to 25 years in prison after raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl in Missouri.

"I can't explain why they wanted an open border," Schmitt said of the opposition party. "I can't explain why they don't want criminals deported from this country. I can't explain why they don't want people denaturalized who have, you know, committed terrorist acts in this country.

"That's on them, but we've got a job to do, which is to make the American people more safe."

Schmitt noted that arresting criminal illegal aliens when they're released from jail is also much safer than arresting them in immigration raids and operations and expressed disbelief that such a policy has not yet been implemented.

"I can't believe it hadn't happened before, but I also don't know that we've really been confronted with political leaders on the other side here who just don't believe in the sovereignty of our country, and that's kind of where we're at. I mean, they wanted to defund ICE," he told Fox News Digital.

"They don't really want enforcement of our federal immigration laws, and I think the American people do."

Trump admin axes ties to dozens of progressive groups in 'direct opposition' to mission: 'Decisive action'

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 06:00:14 -0400

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of the Interior is cutting 43 partnerships with outside groups it says no longer align with the Trump administration’s priorities, eliminating more than $4 million in planned funding for programs tied to DEI, environmental justice and support services for illegal immigrants.

Led by Secretary Doug Burgum, the department determined the agreements were "operating in direct opposition" to its mission, according to a press release obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.

"Under Secretary Burgum, the Department of the Interior is ending partnerships with groups that no longer represent the priorities of the American people," the department said. In response, DOI said it is terminating all agreements with the identified groups and removing references to them from its websites.

The terminated agreements supported internship programs, conservation initiatives, research projects and cooperative partnerships.

BURGUM SAYS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT 'COMPLETELY EMBRACING THE DOGE EFFORT'

A department-wide review launched in March uncovered nearly 3,000 active agreements with about 2,000 outside groups, ranging from NGOs and nonprofits to private entities and educational institutions.

The review later found multiple groups "did not appear to provide a clear benefit" or "did not align with the department’s mission," according to the department.

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Among the groups targeted were the Hispanic Access Foundation, which offers scholarships for illegal immigrant Latino students, and Latino Outdoors, which the department said provided instructions on avoiding detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Latino Outdoors has advocated against oil and gas development, while the Hispanic Access Foundation has worked with the National Park Service "to conduct a variety of educational and cultural support activities," according to the department.

The department cited the American Alliance of Museums, which it said had a contract with the NPS to build DEI programs across national parks as part of the agency's Community Engagement initiative. The department pointed to the group's previous Facing Change initiative, which promoted DEI efforts at museums.

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Conservation International, an environmental group the department said advocates a "total phase out of fossil fuels," was also flagged. The department noted the organization's statements describing fossil fuels as the "leading culprit" of planet-warming carbon emissions and its support for environmental justice and equity-focused climate policies.

Another group on the department's list was The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which it said has a master cooperative agreement with the NPS "to conduct a variety of educational and cultural support activities." The organization has opposed several administration initiatives, including suing over changes at the Kennedy Center, criticizing plans for a White House ballroom and highlighting cultural landscapes and historic sites it says are threatened by administration actions through its Landslide 2026: Erasing American History initiative.

"Under President Trump and Secretary Burgum, the Department of the Interior is taking decisive action to ensure its partnerships and resources support the priorities of this administration and the interests of the American people," Matthew Middleton, principal deputy communications director and director of research, told Fox News Digital.

"As part of that commitment, the department is ending relationships with organizations whose advocacy for phasing out baseload energy, defunding law enforcement services and promoting racially preferential programs directly conflicts with this administration’s priorities. Interior will continue to invest in partnerships that expand access to public lands, promote responsible stewardship, and deliver tangible benefits to the American people."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Hispanic Access Foundation, Latino Outdoors, the American Alliance of Museums, Conservation International and the Cultural Landscape Foundation for comment.

Other groups the DOI is cutting ties with include The Green Schools Alliance, Doris Duke Foundation, Hispanic Access Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, California Native Plant Society, American Alliance of Museums, Clean Ocean Action and the National Geographic Society.

The move is the latest in a series of administration actions, including efforts to roll back DEI initiatives, strengthen immigration enforcement and expand energy development. The department said it will ensure future partnerships align with the agency’s mission.

This red state hands Republicans fresh ammunition in the fight over America's economic future

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 06:00:12 -0400

For years, critics have argued that Texas' economic success is mostly a numbers game. People move in. Businesses follow. The economy gets bigger.

But the latest federal data suggest something more significant may be happening. Texas isn't just getting bigger. It's getting richer.

Even after accounting for one of the nation's biggest population booms, the Lone Star State is generating more economic output per resident than it did just a few years ago, a sign that economic growth is outpacing population growth and challenging the idea that Texas' success is simply a byproduct of migration.

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That's an important distinction. States can grow rapidly without making residents more prosperous. Population gains alone do not guarantee rising wealth, stronger productivity or a larger economic pie for the average resident.

Texas appears to be doing both.

According to the Census Bureau's newest population estimates, Texas added nearly 419,000 residents between 2024 and 2025, the largest numeric increase of any state. For comparison, New York added roughly 135,000 residents during the same period, while California's population declined by nearly 76,000.

At the same time, the Lone Star State's economy continued expanding.

Preliminary Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates show Texas generated roughly $2.9 trillion in economic output in 2025. With a population of 31.7 million, that amounts to about $91,500 in economic output per resident and suggests that economic growth has outpaced population growth. That helps explain why Texas has increasingly emerged as a challenger to America's traditional economic power centers.

For decades, blue states like California and New York dominated the national economy through hubs like Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street.

Texas has increasingly positioned itself as an alternative model. The state has attracted corporate relocations, investment and domestic migration at a pace few states have matched. Supporters argue the state's pro-growth, roll-up-your-sleeves economic culture has helped make it a magnet for businesses and workers alike.

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Federal data suggest those advantages may be translating into more than just population gains.

The state's labor market offers further evidence. Texas added more than 82,000 jobs over the past year while maintaining an unemployment rate of roughly 4.3%, near the national average.

That combination of population growth, job creation and rising economic output has helped reinforce business confidence, according to Texas Association of Business Chief Policy Officer Gabriela von zur Muehlen.

"Capital follows where there is confidence," von zur Muehlen told Fox News Digital. "And right now there is a tremendous amount of confidence in Texas."

Von zur Muehlen said the state's tax structure and predictable regulatory environment continue attracting companies and investment from elsewhere in the country.

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The implications extend beyond Texas itself.

The state's performance has become a central exhibit in the broader debate over what drives economic growth. Republicans frequently point to Texas as evidence that lower taxes, lighter regulation and a business-friendly climate can support sustained expansion.

Democrats counter that headline economic gains do not always translate into broadly shared prosperity, citing concerns about housing affordability, infrastructure demands and cost-of-living pressures.

That debate is unlikely to end anytime soon.

But the latest Census, labor-market and economic-output data point to a reality that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Texas is still adding people at one of the fastest rates in America.

Now it's adding prosperity, too.

House Dem lashes out at GOP efforts to probe foreign donations with stunning claim on motive

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:57:50 -0400

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., lashed out at Republican efforts to investigate a Democratic fundraising apparatus on Wednesday afternoon, characterizing the ongoing fraud probe as the most recent instance of GOP retribution against Black women in power.

"Over and over again, Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has harassed Black women with bogus lawsuits," Sewell said Wednesday morning.

Sewell’s criticisms come as Republican lawmakers probe ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising and campaign organization, and its CEO and president, Regina Wallace-Jones, for potentially accepting illegal donations.

In particular, House Republicans are demanding that ActBlue turn over international communications, probing whether the organization knowingly misled lawmakers and dodged subpoenas to hide weaknesses in its screening process to weed out illegal, overseas donations.

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The review by lawmakers coincides with an April request from President Donald Trump to investigate the group.

"There is evidence to suggest that foreign nationals are seeking to misuse online fundraising platforms to improperly influence American elections," the White House said in a press release.

Wallace-Jones has called the investigation baseless, maintaining that ActBlue applies high scrutiny for its donations processing.

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"Our approach is multilayered, with checks and confirmations occurring throughout the donation process to verify donors and donor information," she told Fox News Digital in a statement earlier this year.

Among other safeguards, Wallace-Jones said the organization requires Card Verification Values (CVVs) for credit card donations; uses IP addresses, a kind of digital footprint, to identify foreign-sourced contributions; applies an industry-standard Address Verification System (AVS); and manually reviews donations.

To Sewell, the investigation into ActBlue and Wallace-Jones is tainted by other investigations into Black women who have crossed Trump in the past.

"This investigation is just one more example of Republicans and President Trump using power of his office to harass and intimidate anyone willing to challenge him. The Trump Department of Justice has used its power to intimidate and victimize communities of color, especially Black Americans," Sewell said.

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"We should not forget the harassment of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook, the harassment of the New York Attorney General, Tish James and the harassment of our colleague Congresswoman LaMonica McIver," Sewell said, listing off a number of similar cases.

"It is not surprising that this Republican-led committee is now attacking ActBlue and its CEO, Ms. Wallace-Jones."

'Squad' Dem dismisses fraud probe speculation after $29M net-worth drop

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:00:28 -0400

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is continuing to deny looming questions over an Ethics Committee investigation into her financial filings showing a significant drop in her net worth.

Scrutiny of Omar's finances intensified after financial disclosure filings appeared to show her estimated net worth falling from a range of roughly $6 million to $30 million in one filing period to between about $18,000 and $95,000 in a later disclosure.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has publicly voiced his interest in the House Ethics Committee opening an investigation into both Omar’s personal finances and her connection to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, a scandal that federal prosecutors say cost taxpayers roughly $250 million.

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Omar dismissed suggestions that she is facing an Ethics Committee investigation.

"No," Omar told Fox News Digital, laughing, when asked if she is under an Ethics Committee investigation. "No. We go over this all the time."

She was pressed about continued reporting surrounding the discrepancy — the possibility of the roughly $29 million drop in her financial disclosure.

"There’s also the possibility that it might rain on this sunny day," Omar replied.

Along with Comer’s efforts to launch an investigation into Omar, Vice President JD Vance said just last month that the U.S. Department of Justice will be opening a probe into the Minnesota Democrat’s alleged fraud as part of the administration’s new anti-fraud taskforce.

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Omar has declined ever being aware of any scheme involving the organization, which claimed to be helping supply children in need of meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Justice Department described the scheme as the "single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country," The Associated Press reported. The orchestrator of the non-profit, Aimee Bock, was sentenced to 42 years in prison for her involvement in spearheading the fraud scheme.

Republicans have pointed to Omar's MEALS Act, part of a federal pandemic relief measure which she sponsored, as a factor they say contributed to conditions that allowed the fraud to occur. They argue her bill was a mass contributor to the fraud occurring as it broadened USDA waiver authority at meal sites. It has also been claimed that this same act helped to dismantle anti-fraud safeguards that verified the people actually being serviced in federal nutrition programs.

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In a previous statement to Fox News Digital from Omar, she claimed that President Donald Trump’s USDA Secretary, Brooke Rollins, imposed the regulations for the framework of the program.

While Omar continues to reject suggestions that she is facing an Ethics Committee investigation, Republicans have shown little sign of backing away from their demands for a proper investigation into Omar’s finances and fraud allegations.