NationalWatch

Embattled Georgia prosector Fani Willis survived her primary election challenge Tuesday night, and will face off against a GOP challenger in November. 

Willis, the District Attorney for Fulton County, is leading the sweeping 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump and has been the subject of scrutiny many Republicans in the state and nationwide for her affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which almost got her removed from the case.

Willis on Tuesday defeated Democrat attorney Christian Wise Smith in a rematch of their race four years ago. In the county that in 2020 voted 73% for President Joe Biden, she was favored to win.

WIlis is currently under investigation by Republicans in both chambers of the U.S. congress and two commissions in the Georgia state legislature.

SENATE GOP PROBES TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS’ OFFICE FOR ALLEGED ‘MISUSE’ OF FUNDS

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Wednesday accused Willis of allegedly misusing federal funds meant to help at-risk youth and gang prevention but that were used to purchase computers and “swag.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., subpoenaed Willis in February over the accusations of misusing federal funds. 

But Willis says those investigations are predicated on “false reasons.” 

“Jim Jordan has, time after time after time, attacked my office with no legitimate purpose,” Willis told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday. “Anyone who knows Jim Jordan’s history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation.”

“All while his jurisdiction has one of the worst crime rates, has poverty issues, and not one time has he used his position to try to investigate people who are attacking me and attacking others legitimately doing their jobs,” she added. “Making him illegitimate in his position, and it’s disgusting. So I bring that up at the federal level because now at the state level, they have decided to follow this clown’s lead. And they want to now try to interfere in an investigation, and it’s not legitimate either.”

“They have decided in Georgia that they would like to come after me. They use false reasons for wanting to come after me,” Willis said during the media appearance. 

Earlier this month, Georgia lawmakers heard testimony that caused one Republican senator to express concern that oversight of Willis’  $36.6 million budget is “like the Wild West, very little control.”

NATHAN WADE’S ESTRANGED WIFE SAYS HE’S FAILED TO PAY SPOUSAL SUPPORT SINCE RESIGNING FROM FANI WILLIS’ OFFICE

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee – who also faced a primary challenger on Tuesday – ruled in March that Willis could stay on the case as long as Nathan Wade, with whom she was accused of having an “improper” affair, quit. 

But Trump and his co-defendants are appealing that ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, where they hope to get Willis disqualified from the case. 

MEET FANI WILLIS’ GOP CHALLENGER FOR THE TOP PROSECUTOR JOB IN DEEP-BLUE GEORGIA

The appeals court agreed to hear their bid. A hearing date has yet to be scheduled but could be as early as August or as late as 2025. 

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Willis will now face Atlanta-based lawyer Courtney Kramer in the general election in November. She is the first Republican who has sought the office in more than two decades.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee, who is the judge in the sweeping racketeering case against former President Donald Trump, won the primary election Tuesday. 

McAfee, favored to win, was challenged by civil rights attorney and radio host Robert Patillo in the nonpartisan race.

McAfee has been a judge for just over a year, since Republican Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to fill an empty seat. He will now serve a full four-year term beginning in January.

McAfee has become one of the most high-profile judges in Georgia since he was assigned last year to preside over the election interference case. With the added advantages of incumbency, strong bipartisan backing from heavy hitters and an impressive fundraising haul, he was the likely favorite to win, the Associated Press reported.

EMBATTLED TRUMP PROSECUTOR FIGHTS TO KEEP JOB AS GEORGIA AMONG FIVE STATES HOLDING ELECTIONS TUESDAY

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, won the Democratic primary in her bid for reelection, setting her up to face a Republican challenger in the general election.

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Willis beat challenger Christian Wise Smith and is now set to face Republican lawyer Courtney Kramer in November. With her high name recognition, the advantages of incumbency and a hefty fundraising haul, Willis’ victory in the primary was not terribly surprising, the AP said.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik filed an ethics complaint against Judge Juan Merchan for an alleged conflict of interest pertaining to his daughter’s role at a firm known for representing Democratic politicians.

Merchan, an acting Supreme Court justice in New York, is presiding over the unprecedented criminal trial against former President Trump stemming from charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed the complaint with the New York State Commission on Judiciary Conduct, warning that Trump, who pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts of falsifying business records, faces “a maximum of 136 years’ imprisonment” if convicted, and said not only are his “interests at stake,” but “the interests of all Americans are at stake.” 

She pointed to Merchan’s daughter, who serves as the president of Authentic Campaigns — a group that represents Democrat politicians and political action committees. 

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE TO CONSIDER DEFENSE MOTION TO DISMISS AFTER PROSECUTION RESTS CASE

Stefanik highlighted how her clients, like Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have fundraised off of Trump’s indictment and criminal trial. Trump himself has requested Merchan recuse himself from the trial due to his daughter’s work. Merchan said there was no reason for him to do so.

Stefanik added that she learned that the New York State Commission on Judiciary Conduct “privately cautioned him in July over his illegal political donations to Biden and Democrats in 2020.”

“This private caution has not deterred Judge Merchan’s judicial misconduct, as evidenced by this current complaint,” she wrote. “Judge Merchan appears driven by Democrat partisanship and financial gain for his daughter.”

Stefanik said it is “imperative that New Yorkers and all Americans have confidence that justice is being dispensed fairly in New York.”

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE TO CONSIDER DEFENSE MOTION TO DISMISS AFTER PROSECUTION RESTS CASE

“This is especially true in politically sensitive cases where bias is most likely to rear its ugly head. Here, we are in the middle of a presidential election campaign. The circumstances are unprecedented: President Trump, a former president and the likely nominee of a major party for the presidency, is on trial,” Stefanik wrote. “These proceedings are under a microscope.”

On Tuesday, defense attorneys for Trump rested their case without calling former President Trump to the stand to testify. They called two witnesses — paralegal Daniel Sitko and a former legal adviser to Michael Cohen, Robert Costello — before resting their case. Prosecutors rested their case on Monday. 

Merchan dismissed the jury until after Memorial Day. 

Stefanik argued that the judge’s “clear conflict of interest, based upon his adult daughter’s financial state in this unprecedented criminal trial, has badly damaged the court’s appearance of impartiality.”

TRUMP SLAMS NY COURT SYSTEM, BOASTS HE’S GOING ‘TO WIN’ EMPIRE STATE

“Given Judge Merchan’s daughter’s clientele — and the vast sums of money that these individuals have raised and will continue to raise off of President Trump’s charges — Judge Merchan’s daughter stands to benefit the more legally imperiled President Trump is,” Stefanik said. “She is well within the sixth degree of relation to Judge Merchan; indeed, as his daughter, she falls within the first degree.”

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She added: “A straightforward application of Section 100.3(e)(1)(D)(iii) requires recusal. As Judge Merchan has declined to do so, I request that you investigate his conduct and impose whatever discipline is required.”

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz pulled no punches while questioning Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a heated Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The tense clash between the two began with Cruz blasting the Biden administration’s “worst foreign policy disaster of modern times,” referencing its handling of Iran and the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and culminated with the senator accusing the White House of indirectly funding the attack.

“Mr. Secretary, you have presided over the worst foreign policy disaster of modern times,” Cruz began. “When Joe Biden became president, he inherited peace and prosperity in the world. We now have two simultaneous wars waging: the worst war in Europe since World War II, and the worst war in the Middle East in 50 years. Both, I believe, were caused by this administration’s consistent weakness.”

EXPERTS REVEAL MAJOR ‘DOWNSIDE’ TO POTENTIAL TRUMP VP PICK: ‘NO WOW FACTOR’

“Your foreign policy is precisely backwards from what a rational American foreign policy should be to our friends and allies. This administration has consistently undermined, weakened and attacked them,” he added. “And to our enemies, this administration has shown constant appeasement and indeed has flowed billions of dollars to the enemies of America who want to kill us.” 

The two clashed over the Biden administration’s effort to prevent Israel from attacking Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, as part of its efforts to root out Hamas terrorists from among the Palestinians, with Cruz demanding to know whether they offered Israel intelligence on the terrorists if they would hold off attacking.

Blinken denied any such action was taken and attempted to expand on what he said was President Biden’s support for Israel, but Cruz stopped him, saying he wasn’t interested in a “campaign speech.”

Cruz continued to press him, but Blinken called the notion “misleading and wrong,” and said the U.S. government shares intelligence if it’s available.

WATCH:  POSSIBLE TRUMP VP PICK MAKES MAJOR PREDICTION ABOUT BLACK VOTERS AS BIDEN BLEEDS SUPPORT

Cruz then accused Blinken and the State Department of repeatedly telling Israel “not to kill” Hamas terrorists, citing a tweet he said the department later deleted immediately after the Oct. 7 attack, calling on Israel “not to engage in military retaliation.”

“Senator, I was in Israel five days after Oct. 7. I’ve been there seven times since. No one, starting with President Biden, has done more to make sure they have what they need to defend themselves from Hamas, to deal with the threat,” Blinken said, as Cruz pushed back.

“That is simply wrong. … That is ludicrous,” Cruz said, asking if the administration had cut off sending weapons to Israel. 

Blinken denied the administration had cut off any weapons supplies, but Cruz began to press him on funding for Iran.

Cruz noted that Iran’s oil production had increased since Biden had taken office, and that the nation had developed more “ghost” ships to circumvent the sanctions against it and ship the oil.

TRUMP’S POTENTIAL RUNNING MATES TO COMPETE FOR APPROVAL AT MAJOR CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE AS SPECULATION SWIRLS

“This administration desperately wants a new Iran deal. You have been showering cash on Iran from day one,” Cruz said, referencing what he said was the administration’s “refusal to enforce oil sanctions.”

“In a very real sense, this administration, you and President Biden funded the Oct. 7 attacks by flowing $100 billion to a homicidal, genocidal regime that funded those attacks,” he added.

Blinken quickly hit back, calling Cruz’s statement “profoundly wrong” and “disgraceful,” to which the latter responded, “Why?”

“We have gone at Iran repeatedly with more than 600 sanctions applied against them,” Blinken said.

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“Why are they selling 10 million barrels a day compared to 300,000?” Cruz responded.

Blinken argued Iran was working hard to get around the sanctions, and that the administration was continuing to “go at them” every day despite the country being “determined” to sell more oil.

“They weren’t determined when Trump was president,” Cruz said.

The Biden administration authorized the use of deadly force during the FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 as part of its investigation into classified records, court documents revealed.

An “Operations Order” produced in discovery as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records revealed that the “FBI believed its objective for the Mar-a-Lago raid was to seize ‘classified information, NDI, and US Government records” as described in the search warrant. 

The order, according to a court filing, contained a “Policy Statement” regarding “Use of Deadly Force,” which stated, for example, “Law Enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary.” 

FLASHBACK: TRUMP SAYS MAR-A-LAGO HOME IN FLORIDA ‘UNDER SIEGE’ BY FBI AGENTS

According to the filing, the DOJ and FBI agents “planned to bring ‘Standard Issue Weapons, ‘Ammo,’ ‘Handcuffs,’ and ‘medium and large sized bolt cutters,’ but they were instructed to wear ‘unmarked polo or collared shirts’ and to keep ‘law enforcement equipment concealed.” 

Trump, who spent yet another day in a New York City courtroom for his unprecedented criminal trial stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation, reacted to the revelations Tuesday afternoon. 

“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE,” Trump posted on his Truth Social. “NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.” 

FEDERAL JUDGE POSTPONES TRUMP’S CLASSIFIED RECORDS TRIAL WITH NO NEW DATE

Trump added: “HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!” 

Trump was charged out of Smith’s investigation into his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.

Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of the investigation: an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.

Trump pleaded not guilty.

The federal judge presiding over the case, Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, postponed the trial stemming from Smith’s case indefinitely. The trial was set to begin May 20. 

Top allies of former President Trump traveled to Israel this week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Former national security adviser Robert O’Brien made the trip alongside two other former Trump administration officials. They stayed in the country for three days, meeting with both Netanyahu and his top political rival, Benny Gantz.

O’Brien was accompanied by John Rakolta, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates under Trump, and Ed McMullen, a former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland.

“My goal on this trip was really to show support for Israel,” O’Brien told NBC News. “But at the same time, people know that I’m a former Trump official, I’m in regular contact with the president and strongly support him in November.”

ISRAELI ARMY FINDS BODIES OF 3 HOSTAGES IN GAZA KILLED AT OCT. 7 MUSIC FESTIVAL

The trip came as an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor announced he is seeking warrants for the arrest of both Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

NETANYAHU RIVAL THREATENS TO QUIT WAR CABINET OVER GAZA STRATEGY

O’Brien said he and the other Trump allies also met with Gallant this week.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement that based on evidence collected and examined by his office, he has “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility for… war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine.”

He said those alleged crimes include “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.”

ICC REQUESTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR NETANYAHU, HAMAS LEADERS OVER ‘ WAR CRIMES’

Khan also said he is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar, its top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and its military commander, Mohammed Dief.

President Biden slammed the ICC request as “outrageous” on Monday.

“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” Biden said in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

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“And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,” Biden added. 

“We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” the president continued.

Former President Trump said he has never and “will never advocate imposing restrictions on birth control,” and vowed to ensure the Republican Party would not support a ban on any contraceptives.

“I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives,” Trump posted on his Truth Social Tuesday. 

TRUMP SAYS ABORTION SHOULD BE DECIDED BY THE STATES, ‘WILL OF THE PEOPLE’

“This is a Democrat fabricated lie, MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH,” Trump posted. 

He added: “I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!” 

Trump’s comments came after he was asked during an interview with a local Pittsburgh station KDKA whether he supports any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception. 

“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump said during the interview. 

When asked if he would support restrictions to emergency contraception, Trump responded, “Things really do have a lot to do with the states and some states are going to have different policies than others.”

Biden campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika slammed Trump Tuesday, saying “women across the country are already suffering from Donald Trump’s post-Roe nightmare, and if he wins a second term, it’s clear he wants to go even further by restricting access to birth control and emergency contraceptives.” 

FOX NEWS POLL: ABORTION, ECONOMY, AND BORDER SECURITY ARE TOP DEAL-BREAKERS IN 2024 ELECTIONS

“It’s not enough for Trump that women’s lives are being put at risk, doctors are being threatened with jail time, and extreme bans are being enacted with no exceptions for rape or incest. He wants to rip away our freedom to access birth control too,” Chitika continued. “While Trump works overtime to roll back the clock and rip away women’s freedoms, President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting nonstop to protect access to birth control and women’s right to make their own personal health care decisions.”

But Trump, last month, emphasized his support for states determining their own laws for abortion — so long as there are exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. He also affirmed his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF). 

“The states will determine by vote, or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state,” Trump said last month. “Many states will be different. Many states will have a different number of weeks… at the end of the day it is all about the will of the people.”

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Trump also said that the Republican Party “should always be on the side of the miracle of life and the side of mothers, fathers and their beautiful babies,” stressing that “IVF is an important part of that.” 

President Biden and his re-election campaign have said Trump will support a nationwide abortion ban and put restrictions on contraception. 

The latest Fox News Poll shows that the issue of abortion is the biggest single issue among self-described Democrats (24%), suburban women (24%), self-described very liberals (23%), Black voters (17%), those with a college degree (17%), and voters under age 30 (16%). 

Former President Trump’s team is preparing to file a lawsuit against the makers of a biopic about his career in the 1980s.

A spokesperson for Trump called “The Apprentice” – a 2024 film starring Sebastian Stan and directed by Ali Abbasi – a piece of “garbage” and “pure fiction.”

“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.

“As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked,” Cheung said.

FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP, MELANIA AT BARRON’S GRADUATION IN FLORIDA DURING BREAK IN NEW YORK CRIMINAL TRIAL

The film centers on Trump’s relationship with Roy Cohn, the McCarthy-era government lawyer who led investigations into suspected communists, portraying Cohn as a mentor for Trump in the hard-knocks world of New York City business and politics.

It includes a number of salacious and disturbing scenes involving Trump, Ivana Trump and other real-life figures.

NY V. TRUMP: DEFENSE RESTS WITHOUT CALLING FORMER PRESIDENT TO TESTIFY; MOTION TO DISMISS PENDING

“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,” Cheung told Fox News Digital.

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“Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people – they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?” Abbasi told reporters Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival.

Abbasi went on to claim he would be willing to privately screen the movie for Trump if the former president was open to it.

“I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that’s interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign,” Abbasi said. 

Former President Trump’s legal team was slated to call on a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission to testify in the NY v. Trump case, but the expert’s testimony was not heard after the presiding judge curbed the scope of what he could discuss before the jury. 

“Judge Merchan has so restricted my testimony that defense has decided not to call me. Now, it’s elementary that the judge instructs the jury on the law, so I understand his reluctance,” former FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith posted on X Monday. 

“But the Federal Election Campaign Act is very complex. Even Antonin Scalia – a pretty smart guy, even you hate him – once said ‘this [campaign finance] law is so intricate that I can’t figure it out.’ Picture a jury in a product liability case trying to figure out if a complex machine was negligently designed, based only on a boilerplate recitation of the general definition of ‘negligence.’ They’d be lost without knowing technology & industry norms,” he continued. 

Smith is an election law expert whom Trump has called the “Rolls-Royce” of experts in his field, but he will not testify after Judge Juan Merchan ruled he could speak before the court on the basic definitions surrounding election law, but that he could not expand beyond that scope. 

NY V. TRUMP: HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATES BRAGG PROSECUTOR WHO HELD SENIOR ROLE IN BIDEN DOJ

Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in the case. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg must prove to the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels, but that he did so in furtherance of another crime – conspiracy to promote or prevent election. 

Smith served as an FEC commissioner and chairman between 2000 and 2005. The FEC is the U.S. agency dedicated to enforcing campaign finance laws. His testimony was slated to shed light on prosecutors’ claims that Trump allegedly falsified business records, which is a misdemeanor that has already passed the statute of limitations, in order to cover up an election violation. 

TRUMP PROSECUTOR QUIT TOP DOJ POST FOR LOWLY NY JOB IN LIKELY BID TO ‘GET’ FORMER PRESIDENT, EXPERT SAYS

Smith lamented on social media that while the prosecution’s witness, Michael Cohen, was allowed to go “on at length about whether and how his activity violated” the Federal Election Campaign Act, he was barred from broadening the scope of his previously anticipated testimony, which “effectively” led to the jury getting “its instructions on FECA from Michael Cohen!”

Smith spoke with the Washington Examiner on Monday, discussing what he would have said in court if he testified. 

“Judges instruct the juries on the law,” Smith told the Washington Examiner. “And they don’t want a battle of competing experts saying here’s what the law is. They feel it’s their province to make that determination. The problem, of course, is that campaign finance law is extremely complex and just reading the statute to people isn’t really going to help them very much.”

Smith said he anticipated “to lay out the ways the law has been interpreted in ways that might not be obvious,” while noting election laws are very complicated matters. 

NINE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRUMP TRIAL, ANSWERED

“You read the law and it says that anything intended for the purpose of influencing an election is a contribution or an expenditure,” Smith explained. “But that’s not in fact the entirety of the law. There is the obscure, and separate from the definitional part, idea of personal use, which is a separate part of the law that says you can’t divert campaign funds to personal use. That has a number of specific prohibitions, like you can’t buy a country club membership, you can’t normally pay yourself a salary or living expenses, you can’t go on vacation – all these kinds of things. And then it includes a broader, general prohibition that says you can’t divert [campaign funds] to any obligation that would exist even if you were not running for office.”

COHEN’S BOMBSHELL ADMISSION COULD LEAD TO HUNG JURY, IF NOT ACQUITTAL: EXPERT

“We would have liked to flag that exception for the jury and talk a little bit about what it means,” Smith said. “And also, we would have talked about ‘for the purpose of influencing an election’ is not a subjective test, like ‘What was my intention?’ – it’s an objective test.” 

The case surrounding Trump’s payments is one that both the Justice Department and FEC rejected prosecuting in recent years. The Justice Department in 2019 “effectively concluded” its investigation into Trump’s payments. While in 2021, the Federal Elections Commission announced that it had dropped a case looking into whether Trump had violated election laws for the payment to Daniels. 

JIM JORDAN DEMANDS NY AG HAND OVER DOCUMENTS RELATED TO FORMER DOJ OFFICIAL AT HEART OF NY V. TRUMP

Smith has previously joined Fox News, where he also highlighted that the “Federal Election Commission chose not to act on this.” 

“D.A. Bragg in this case waited, I think it was almost a year, before even bringing the charges. And I think that’s because the charges were flimsy. And as you point out, they’ve been you know, the prior D.A. had said, ‘No, we’re not going to bring this.’ The DOJ said no. The Federal Election Commission said no. And when he got increased political pressure, he brought the case,” Smith told Fox News host Mark Levin earlier this year before the trial kicked off. 

Smith also wrote an opinion piece published by the Federalist last month, when the trial kicked off, arguing that Bragg’s office had “one big problem” with the case. 

“The [prosecution’s] theory is that Trump’s payments to Daniels were campaign expenditures and thus needed to be publicly reported as such. By not reporting the expenditure, the theory goes, Trump prevented the public from knowing information that might have influenced their votes,” he wrote in the opinion piece. 

NY PROSECUTORS REVEAL ‘ANOTHER CRIME’ TRUMP ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO CONCEAL WITH FALSIFIED BUSINESS RECORDS

“There is one big problem with this theory: The payments to Daniels were not campaign payments.”

He argued that political candidates frequently act in ways that can be interpreted as serving a “purpose of influencing an election,” arguing politicians could get their teeth whitened or buy a new suit with campaign funds in order to look snappy on the campaign trail.  

“That’s because, in campaign finance law, these types of expenditures are known as ‘personal use.’ FECA specifically prohibits the conversion of campaign funds to personal use, defined as any expenditure ‘used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s election campaign,’” he wrote.  

TRUMP TOUTS DEFENSE TEAM HAS ‘WON’ MANHATTAN CASE AS HE CALLS ON MERCHAN TO DISMISS

Smith continued on X Tuesday that Bragg’s case hinges on prosecutors proving that Trump tried to influence an election through “unlawful means,” but the office has to rely on their own evidence as the DOJ and FEC both denied pursuing the case. 

“If that’s the case, isn’t it entirely relevant (not dispositive, but relevant) to the jury’s fact-finding on that question that neither DOJ nor FEC chose to prosecute? But Judge Merchan won’t allow that in,” he wrote. “He will, though, allow in numerous references to Cohen’s guilty plea, and allow Cohen to testify as to how he thinks he and Trump violated FECA – though it appears that Cohen is a dunce about campaign finance laws.” 

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The defense team rested Tuesday, with Merchan dismissing the jury until after Memorial Day. Closing arguments are anticipated to kick off next Tuesday following the holiday. 

The nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization, GLAAD, has issued a fact check of Harrison Butker’s commencement speech at a private Catholic college last week, saying the three-time Super Bowl winner’s address was filled with “erroneous and dangerous claims,” even suggesting the kicker was out of step with Pope Francis.

“Kansas City Chiefs player Harrison Butker’s commencement speech was not only a clear miss, it was inaccurate, ill-informed, and woefully out of step with Americans about Pride, LGBTQ people and women,” GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.

During the address given at Benedictine College in Kansas, Butker encouraged graduating women to embrace their vocations, like motherhood, in their futures and also assailed “the deadly sin sort of Pride that has an entire month dedicated to it” in comparison to “the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify Him.”

“‘Gender ideologies’ is a term fabricated by anti-LGBTQ activists to deny the reality that transgender and other gender-diverse people exist,” according to one of GLAAD’s fact checks. “Butker reinforced toxic stereotypes about men, power and control.”

DEGREE-HOLDING WOMEN DEFEND CHIEFS KICKER AMID COMMENCEMENT SPEECH BACKLASH: ‘MORE WIVES AND MOTHERS PLEASE’

GLAAD fact-checked Butker’s assertion attributing the COVID-19 pandemic to “bad policies and poor leadership.” Butker further contended that inadequate leadership had ramifications on various fronts, including “abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia,” which he attributed to “degenerate cultural values and media,” all stemming from what he described as “the pervasiveness of disorder.”

“Fact: Butker omits the fact that Donald Trump was president at the inception of COVID, lied about COVID, and downplayed the threat for months as hundreds of thousands of Americans died and got sick,” the organization wrote. 

Another fact check by the organization stated, “Fact: Extremist legislators and Supreme Court justices have restricted access to deeply personal health care decisions that are supported by a majority of Americans across party lines and all faith backgrounds.”

Much of Butker’s speech urged graduates to be “authentically and unapologetically Catholic” and stick to traditional values. However, GLAAD’s fact-check called Butker’s “generalizations about Catholics” at odds with the papal authority of Pope Francis, who has “has taken more actions than any pope in history in support of LGBTQ people and to welcome LGBTQ people in the church.”

“American Catholics have supported marriage for same-sex couples at consistently higher rates than the general population over the past two decades,” the organization wrote. 

CHIEFS’ HARRISON BUTKER ‘SAID NOTHING WRONG’ DURING FAITH-BASED COMMENCEMENT SPEECH RELIGIOUS GROUP SAYS

The portion of Butker’s speech that appears to have generated the most scrutiny from traditional media outlets, as well as social media blowback, was when he addressed women in the audience, saying they are the ones in society “who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.”

“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” Butker said. 

“How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world,” he said.

“Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother,” he said.

CLICK HERE TO READ HARRISON BUTKER’S FULL SPEECH

Earlier in Butker’s speech, he asserted that “for most of us,” their vocation is to be “married men and women.”

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“It is only in the past few years that I have grown encouraged to speak more boldly and directly, because, as I mentioned earlier, I have leaned into my vocation as a husband and father and as a man,” he said. 

Fox News’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report. 

A new court filing in a lawsuit against the Biden administration for its overhaul of Title IX claims that a transgender track-and-field athlete at a West Virginia middle school displaced girls in competition over 700 times in three seasons.

On Thursday, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) a nonprofit civil rights firm, filed a motion asking the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the Biden administration’s new Title IX rules from going into effect on Aug. 1, and to allow state laws that ban transgender athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams to stay in effect.

The rules, issued by Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona last month, say that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation. The administration has claimed that the change wouldn’t affect sports, but attorneys for ADF say that’s not true. 

“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex will upend the equal opportunities that women and girls have enjoyed for 50 years under Title IX and will threaten their safety and privacy at every level,” ADF senior counsel Rachel Rouleau said in a statement.

RED STATE AGS SUE BIDEN ADMIN TO HALT ‘RADICAL TRANSGENDER IDEOLOGY’ THREATENING ‘SAFETY OF WOMEN AND GIRLS’

“While the administration claims this change won’t affect sports, it has already made its position clear that men who identify as women should compete in women’s sports under Title IX,” Rouleau said. 

The Biden administration has supported the efforts of one student, who identifies as transgender, to compete against ADF’s client and other girls in women’s sports in West Virginia, ADF says. 

After a federal court ruled against ADF and allowed the student to compete on the girls’ team, that athlete finished ahead of girls more than 700 times in cross-country and track-and-field events, ADF claims.

“Our client has also lost her right to use the women’s locker room free from harassment and without a male present. This egregious example is just one of many ongoing difficulties girls are facing with this illegal rewrite of federal law and vast executive authority overreach,” Rouleau said. 

ADF’s motion was filed as part of an ongoing lawsuit launched by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and over 20 other states against the administration’s new rules. 

“Fifty years ago, Congress revolutionized our educational system. In 1970, nearly 34% of working women lacked high-school diplomas. In 2016, it was 6%. In 1972, 7% of high-school varsity athletes were women. In 2018, it was 43%. The change occurred because the people’s representatives balanced various interests and produced legislation centered on 37 words in [Title IX Of The Education Amendments Of 1972]: no person shall be excluded from, denied benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in educational programs on the basis of sex,'” ADF’s motion states. 

SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR PARENTS’ CHALLENGE TO MARYLAND SCHOOL TRANSGENDER POLICY

“A different sort of revolution took place a few weeks ago. On April 29, unelected Department of Education officials published Title IX rules that add the concept of gender identity – ‘an individual’s sense of their gender.’ The new rules sometimes even prioritize this subjective concept over someone’s objective sex, requiring schools to allow some men to use women’s restrooms, to change in women’s locker rooms, to shower in women’s showers, and to compete in women’s sports,” the motion states. 

“The result is that Title IX’s primary beneficiaries are denied the privacy, dignity, equality, and fairness needed to benefit from our educational system,” it says. 

CHRISTIAN EX-TEACHER SCORES BIG PAYDAY FROM CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT AFTER REFUSING TRANSGENDER DIRECTIVES

“None of this is justified – or justifiable,” it states. 

The Department of Education previously told Fox News Digital in a statement that it “does not comment on pending litigation.”

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“The Department crafted the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process to give complete effect to the Title IX statutory guarantee that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally-funded education,” the statement reads.

Fox News Digital’s Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this report. 

Top House Republicans are coming down hard on the Biden administration for expressing condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, whose ruthless ways earned him the nickname “Butcher of Tehran.”

“It is absurd that the Biden administration touted their support for human rights while, in the same breath, offering official condolences for the ‘Butcher of Tehran.’ Clearly, the Democrat Party of today has become the pro-terrorist party,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called the State Department’s message “unacceptable, unnecessary, and outrageous.”

“Biden’s State Department expressing condolences for the death of a brutal and monstrous enemy of America who tortured and killed his own people and led the charge to fund terrorist proxies around the world that have killed American soldiers is a new low for Joe Biden,” Stefanik wrote in a Tuesday morning statement.

IRAN’S PRESIDENT, FOREIGN MINISTER, OTHER OFFICIALS CONFIRMED DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH

“Sec. Blinken’s weak leadership and eagerness to appease the hostile Iranian regime reflects Biden’s policy of rolling over for our nation’s adversaries.”

Raisi and Iran’s foreign minister were declared dead on Monday following a helicopter crash in a mountainous area of northwest Iran, the country’s state TV reported.

The late conservative cleric was known for taking a brutal approach to silencing dissent, beginning in the 1980s when he was part of a four-judge panel accused of ordering the executions of as many as 30,000 political dissidents, according to some reports.

As president, he also oversaw a harsh government response to mass protests over the killing of a 22-year-old woman who was accused of not wearing her hijab properly.

UN HOLDS MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR ‘BUTCHER OF TEHRAN’ RAISI AFTER IRANIAN PRESIDENT DIES IN HELICOPTER CRASH

The State Department released a brief statement upon news of Raisi’s death, “The United States expresses its official condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and other members of their delegation in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran. As Iran selects a new president, we reaffirm our support for the Iranian people and their struggle for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

It prompted pushback from rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, in addition to leadership.

“Ebrahim Raisi was known as the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ for a REASON. He was an evil tyrant who persecuted & killed thousands of innocent Iranians & was a protégé of the Ayatollah himself,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., wrote on X Tuesday. “The United States SHOULD NOT be sending condolences. The world is a safer place WITHOUT him.”

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., called on the Biden administration to “publicly denounce” Iran’s regime in place of offering condolences, in addition to backing Iranian resistance fighters and returning to “the Trump Admin’s campaign of maximum pressure.”

OUTRAGE AS IRAN PRESIDENT PREPARES TO ADDRESS UN: ‘WANTS TO KILL AMERICAN CITIZENS’

State Department spokesman Matt Miller defended the U.S. position when confronted about the controversy during a Monday afternoon press conference.

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“We have been quite clear that Ebrahim Raisi was a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades,” Miller said. “That said, we regret any loss of life. We don’t want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn’t change the reality of his record, both as a judge and as the president of Iran – the fact that he has blood on his hands. So I think most importantly, our fundamental approach to Iran has not changed and will not change.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for further comment.

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans are scrutinizing President Biden’s Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo over a move they claim is designed to “intentionally harm” the U.S. firearm industry. 

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, led 22 other Senate Republicans in calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a “deeply misguided rule and its associated license revocations.”

Last month, the Department of Commerce (DOC) announced an interim final rule (IFR) that would see valid export licenses revoked from American companies “that authorize exports of firearms to non-government end users” in certain areas. 

REPUBLICANS UNITE TO BLOCK WHITE HOUSE AND SCHUMER BACKED ‘FAKE BORDER BILL’

According to the DOC, the new rule is intended to “reduce the risk of legally exported firearms and related items being diverted or misused to fuel regional instability, drug trafficking, human rights violations, political violence, and other activities that undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”

However, Scott alleged in a letter to Raimondo that the new policy is an example of Biden using the administrative state and the rule-making process as a means to “target legal U.S. industries and advance progressive policies.” 

“We are concerned that the Department issued the Rule in an attempt to intentionally harm the firearms industry,” the letter continued. 

DUELING IVF BILLS TAKE CENTER STAGE AS PARTIES BUTT HEADS ON REPRODUCTIVE TECH REGULATION

The Republicans slammed the fact that the new rule would “revoke existing licensing for 36 countries and subject current license holders to a new licensing system.” Per the lawmakers, this is unprecedented, as the U.S. “did not take such a drastic step even when acting on grave national security threats in the past, including previous actions related to Chinese hypertonic missiles, nuclear weapons proliferation, or China’s resumed exercise of authority over Hong Kong.”

The letter additionally requested that Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Undersecretary Alan Estevez and Assistant Secretary Thea Kendler are made available to potentially testify before the banking committee. 

BALANCE OF POWER: VULNERABLE DEMS LOOK TO DIFFERENTIATE THEMSELVES FROM UNPOPULAR BIDEN

The correspondence was co-led by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and was signed by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John Thune, R-S.D., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., among several others. 

Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), told Fox News Digital in a statement that the rule is “another example of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government attack on the firearm industry for political purposes.”

“This rule punishes firearm manufacturers and exporters by blocking hundreds of millions of dollars of lawful exports and will result in lost sales earnings and cost Americans good-paying manufacturing jobs,” he added. 

SEN DURBIN DEMANDS JUSTICE ALITO RECUSE FROM TRUMP CASES AFTER FLYING UPSIDE-DOWN US FLAG

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Keane further alleged, “There is no foundation to the Biden administration’s claim this over-burdensome rule is necessary to reduce overseas crime or improve national security.”

The Department of Commerce did not provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

Georgia’s elections on Tuesday include a state Supreme Court race that’s grown unusually heated by the sleepy standards of the state’s nonpartisan judicial elections, as well as a five-way GOP primary for an open seat in the strongly Republican 3rd Congressional District south and west of Atlanta.

Two Democratic congressional incumbents — U.S. Reps. David Scott and Lucy McBath — face primary challengers in metro Atlanta districts that were redrawn by Republicans after redistricting lawsuits.

Parties are also choosing their nominees for other congressional and state legislative seats and local offices including sheriffs, district attorneys and county commissioners.

TRUMP’S SURGE IN POLLS WITH BLACK VOTERS STUNS CNN ANALYST: ‘TRULY HISTORIC’

Runoffs will be held June 18 in races where candidates don’t win a majority.

Here’s a look at key races:

STATE SUPREME COURT

The May 21 vote is the general election for judicial candidates, who run without party labels.

Incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson, who was appointed to the nine-member court by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, is trying to win a six-year term. He is opposed by John Barrow, a former Democratic congressman.

Barrow says he believes Georgians have a right to abortion under the state constitution, while Pinson says it’s inappropriate for him to talk about issues and important not to make the race partisan.

Kemp and other conservatives intervened to aid Pinson. Barrow unsuccessfully sued in federal court, saying a state judicial agency was violating his free-speech rights when the agency warned Barrow his discussion of abortion might be violating judicial ethics.

Justices Michael Boggs, John Ellington and Nels Peterson are unopposed. Six judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals are also unopposed, while Jeff Davis and Tabitha Ponder are contending for an open seat on the court.

3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Five Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination to succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, who is stepping down after four terms.

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed his onetime aide Brian Jack for the seat. Jack, who later worked for then-U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, parlayed Trump’s endorsement and his Washington contacts into a fundraising lead in his first run for office.

Also seeking the nomination are former state Sens. Mike Crane and Mike Dugan, former state Rep. Philip Singleton and party activist Jim Bennett. Dugan emphasized his successes as state Senate majority leader, while Crane highlighted his religious beliefs and opposition to abortion. Singleton promised not to compromise conservative principles.

The Republican nominee will be the favorite in a strongly Republican district that runs along the Alabama border from Carrollton to Columbus and swings east into the Atlanta suburbs around Peachtree City and Fayetteville.

On the Democratic side, Val Almonord and Maura Keller are seeking their party’s nomination.

13TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Scott faces six Democratic challengers in the 13th District in Atlanta’s southern and eastern suburbs as he seeks a 12th term. The challengers include former East Point City Council member Karen Rene’, former South Fulton City Council member Mark Baker and attorney Brian Johnson. On the Republican side, Jonathan Chavez is running against Johsie Cruz Fletcher.

MEET FANI WILLIS’ GOP CHALLENGER FOR THE TOP PROSECUTOR JOB IN DEEP-BLUE GEORGIA

The 13th District was significantly reconfigured in a new map, moving north and east into Rockdale County and parts of Newton and Gwinnett counties. Challengers are saying Scott, 78, is too old and out of touch. Scott said in March that he’s seeking another term to enhance funding for historically Black colleges such as Fort Valley State University, and to provide more assistance to struggling homeowners.

6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

McBath is running in her second new district in two years. In 2022, she jumped to a district that included parts of Gwinnett and Fulton counties, defeating fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bourdeaux in a primary. Republicans again sharply reconfigured McBath’s district in a second round of redistricting last year after a court ordered new maps to remedy discrimination against Black voters. She then shifted to the new Democratic-leaning 6th District on the west side of Atlanta, which has no incumbent.

McBath, whose son was shot to death, has made gun control and reducing gun violence her primary focus. She also says she wants to work on reducing health care disparities in another term. She faces primary opposition from Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. Mandisha Thomas, Democrats who say they could better represent the new 6th District. The Democratic winner faces Republican Jeff Criswell in November.

2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Two years ago, Republicans had hoped they had a chance to defeat 16-term Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop Jr. in southwest Georgia’s 2nd District. But Bishop won that election easily. Now four more Republicans are lining up to take a shot a Bishop, who is unopposed on the Democratic ballot.

Wayne Johnson, of Macon, who was an official in the U.S. Education Department under Trump, finished third in the Republican primary two years ago and is again seeking the nomination. Among other candidates is Chuck Hand, a Taylor County Republican Party official and construction superintendent who pleaded guilty a misdemeanor for illegally demonstrating in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation. Also running is Michael Nixon, of Thomasville, a hospital purchasing director and Air Force veteran, and Regina “Reggie” Liparoto, of Columbus, a longtime conservative activist.

14TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Four Democrats in northwest Georgia’s 14th District are competing for the right to challenge Republican incumbent Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has no GOP opposition.

The Democrats are consultant Clarence Blalock, of Hiram; retired Army general Shawn Harris, of Cedartown; sales manager Deric Houston, of Dallas; and business manager Joseph Leigh, of Rossville. Harris has by far raised the most money of the four.

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For most candidates, their top issue is their distaste for Greene, a top ally of Trump who recently failed in an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. The winner will have an uphill fight in a heavily Republican district. Two years ago, Democrat Marcus Flowers raised more than $16 million in his challenge to Greene but still lost badly.

OTHER RACES

Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk is the only other incumbent who faces a primary challenge. Retired banker and longtime Republican activist Lori Marie Pesta and retired airline pilot Mike Pons are running against Loudermilk in the 11th Congressional District northwest of Atlanta. Antonio Daza and Kate Stamper are seeking the Democratic nomination.

Democrats are also choosing nominees to challenge Republican incumbents in south and middle Georgia’s 8th District, northeast Georgia’s 10th District and in the 12th District around Augusta.

The Biden administration is moving to resolve asylum cases more quickly in five major U.S. cities — as it continues to face heat from mayors and local officials over the effects of the ongoing crisis at the southern border.

The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security announced a “Recent Arrivals (RA) Docket process” which it says will allow them to resolve cases of illegal immigrant single adults more quickly. 

The administration said in a statement that it will allow it to more swiftly deport those without valid asylum claims, or to grant relief and protection to those who do. Currently, the wait time for asylum cases can be up to seven years, due to the enormous backlog for the immigration courts. That backlog has skyrocketed in recent years.

REPUBLICANS BLAST BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S SNUB OF REQUEST FOR INFO ON TERROR WATCHLIST NATIONALS

The docket will operate in five cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, and the aim will be to prioritize cases and aim to decide cases within six months, although specific circumstances could change that.

The administration says the new process will help, but that ultimately it needs funding and fixes for a “broken” system from Congress.

MAYORKAS FORCED TO ADMIT MORE MIGRANTS HAVE CROSSED US BORDER UNDER BIDEN THAN TRUMP 

“Today, we are instituting with the Department of Justice a process to accelerate asylum proceedings so that individuals who do not qualify for relief can be removed more quickly and those who do qualify can achieve protection sooner,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver, but in the absence of Congressional action we will do what we can to most effectively enforce the law and discourage irregular migration.”

An accompanying rule will codify the process and standards, allowing immigration judges to expedite cases more quickly. 

The Biden administration has been facing continued pressure from cities, including Chicago and New York, where Democratic officials have demanded the federal government do more to help them with the numbers they are seeing.

Mayors have demanded $5 billion in funding, in addition to expedited processes to allow migrants to work and a national resettlement strategy.

“We are at an untenable situation right now, and it is painful for us. It’s painful for the city,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in December. “And I think that you see it being reflected in the polls. It is because our federal government’s actions have taken a toll on the people of this city.”

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM FOREIGN ADVERSARY HIT NEW HIGH AMID NATIONAL SECURITY FEARS 

“We need the president to extend the same economic opportunities long term for our undocumented brothers and sisters, so they can build a better life here in the city of Chicago or wherever else they decide to live,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in April.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Mayorkas on Friday acknowledged that “several million” migrants had come into the U.S. under the Biden administration, but blamed it on hemispheric conditions and that broken system.

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Adams, meanwhile, caused controversy last week by calling for migrants to be allowed to work as lifeguards, saying that some are “excellent swimmers.” His office noted that there have been more than 197,000 arrivals since 2022 and said that “there is nothing more un-American than not allowing someone to work.”

Judge Juan Merchan could rule Tuesday morning on Trump defense attorneys’ motion to dismiss the case against the former president altogether after the prosecution rested its case following days of testimony from its star witness, Michael Cohen.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified business records 34 times to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic performer, in the lead-up to the 2016 election to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence.

TRUMP SLAMS NY COURT SYSTEM, BOASTS HE’S GOING ‘TO WIN’ EMPIRE STATE

After Michael Cohen’s fourth day of testimony was complete, the prosecution rested its case, and Trump defense attorneys called two of their own witnesses. 

At the end of court for the day, Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche asked for an immediate order of dismissal, saying there is “no evidence” that the filings or business records at the center of the case were false, that there are “absolutely no false business filings.” 

Blanche said there is no dispute that Cohen acted as a personal attorney for Trump in 2017 and that there is no evidence or intent by Trump to mislead, hide or falsify business records.

Blanche said there would be records of intent to defraud, if they existed, and that there were no other crimes being covered up. He said there was no evidence of anyone thinking of a campaign finance charge when the payment was made to Stormy Daniels or when Cohen and then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg developed the repayment plan.

Blanche said Trump paid Cohen a $35,000 “monthly retainer,” which is what the records state, and said there is no evidence from any witness to prove any criminal intent.

Reflecting on the prosecution’s case, Blanche pointed to the alleged “catch and kill” strategy used to prevent a “demonstrably false” story a Trump Tower doorman had about Trump from being published.

“How on Earth is keeping a false story from voters criminal?” Blanche asked, adding it was “not a catch and kill and certainly not a criminal catch and kill.”

NY V TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN ADMITS TO STEALING TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM FORMER PRESIDENT’S BUSINESS

“There is no way the court should let this case go to the jury with Mr. Cohen’s testimony,” Blanche said, adding that Cohen has lied under oath in the past and during the current criminal trial in Merchan’s courtroom. 

Merchan asked Blanche if he should “find Mr. Cohen not credible by a matter of law,” to which Blanche said “yes.”

“So, you want me to take it out of the jury’s hands?” Merchan asked, with Blanche responding that Cohen’s entire testimony should not be considered by the jury. 

Merchan told Blanche that if Cohen’s “lies” were “irrefutable,” then he would be able to convince the jury of that.

The prosecution then argued that under the New York state falsifying business records statute, anyone “causing” the falsified records can be punished.

“As a matter of law, it is sufficient, more than sufficient, that the defendant set in motion the sequence of events leading to the falsification of business records,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued.

Merchan said he would reserve a ruling on whether to dismiss the case before the jury can deliberate.

Before the afternoon development, Trump defense attorneys on Monday continued to cross-examine Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and self-described “fixer,” who testified that he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization.

Cohen said the move was “almost like self-help” because he was “angry” about his bonus being reduced.

Cohen testified that he was supposed to pay the $30,000 he withdrew from the bank to a tech company, Red Finch, in addition to $20,000 he had already paid them. Instead, he failed to make the payment, collected the $30,000 for himself, and led the Trump Organization to believe he had paid the total.

Prosecutors then briefly questioned Cohen on redirect, where he said that he had “more than 20” conversations with Trump about Stormy Daniels in 2016 and that Trump “no doubt” had signed off on the hush money payment for Daniels. 

NY V TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN TESTIFIES HE’S CONSIDERING CONGRESSIONAL RUN

Cohen has testified that he personally made the $130,000 payment to Daniels using a home equity line of credit in an effort to conceal the payment from his wife. Cohen said he did this because Trump told him to “handle it” and prevent a negative story from coming out ahead of the 2016 election.

Cohen testified that he was “reimbursed $420,000” for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels. Cohen said Weisselberg suggested he “gross up” the payments and that Trump knew the details of that reimbursement. 

Last week, the prosecution presented Cohen with 11 checks totaling $420,000. Cohen confirmed that they were all received and deposited. The checks had a description of “retainer,” which Cohen said was false.

But Monday, the prosecution rested its case against the former president.

Trump defense attorneys called two witnesses: paralegal Daniel Sitko and a former legal adviser to Michael Cohen, Robert Costello. 

Sitko testified that Cohen and Costello had 75 phone calls in which Cohen told Costello that Trump knew nothing about the payment to Stormy Daniels. 

Costello took the stand and testified that Cohen told him “numerous times” that Trump knew nothing of the payments, recalling Cohen telling him: “I swear to God, Bob, I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.”

Cohen, earlier in the day, recalled that he told numerous people that Trump knew nothing about the payment.

COHEN’S BOMBSHELL ADMISSION COULD LEAD TO HUNG JURY, IF NOT ACQUITTAL: EXPERT

But during his testimony, Costello clashed with Merchan. Costello audibly and visibly responded with disapproval to Merchan sustaining multiple objections from the prosecution concerning his testimony about Cohen. 

“I’m sorry?” Merchan said to Costello after one reaction before clearing the courtroom.

“I want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom,” Merchan said after the jury left. “You don’t say strike it, because I’m the only one who can strike it.”

Merchan directed Costello, a former federal prosecutor, not to respond, roll his eyes or react in any way to his rulings.

Before the jury returned to the courtroom, Costello looked at Merchan, prompting the judge to ask, “Are you staring me down?” 

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger was leading the cross-examination of Costello. She said she had approximately 45 minutes left for questioning.

The defense said they won’t call any other witnesses, signaling that Trump won’t take the stand in his own defense.

Closing arguments are currently set for next Tuesday.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s admission in court Monday that he stole from the Trump Organization further damaged the disbarred attorney’s credibility, and could lead at the very least to a deadlocked jury that cannot reach a verdict, a legal expert told Fox News Digital. 

“I think after last week’s cross-examination, Michael Cohen’s credibility as a witness had already pretty much been eviscerated,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “If there were any lingering doubts in the minds of any jurors, I suspect today’s testimony was even more damaging.”

“It does make you wonder two things: One, did the prosecution not know about this before they put Michael Cohen on the stand? I find that doubtful. But if they didn’t, that’s its own issue. But if they knew about this, and chose to put Michael Cohen on the stand regardless, that in some ways is even more shocking. Because it really it begs the question of what kind of credibility can Michael Cohen be expected to have, given that even he admitted to stealing from the Trump Organization for his own benefit,” Smith continued. 

Cohen admitted in testimony Monday that he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization by overstating how much he paid a tech company that provided services for the Trump Organization. Cohen said he told former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in 2017 that he had paid tech firm Red Finch $50,000 out of his own pocket, and that he still needed to be reimbursed for the payment. 

NY V TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN ADMITS TO STEALING TENS OF THOUSANDS FROM FORMER PRESIDENT’S BUSINESS

Weisselberg and Cohen in 2017 calculated a $420,000 repayment to Cohen for his $130,000 payment to former pornography star Stormy Daniels, as well as the alleged $50,000 payment to Red Finch. Cohen’s payment to Daniels came ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump. 

Cohen said Monday before the court, however, that he only paid Red Finch $20,000 – meaning he pocketed $30,000 when he was reimbursed. 

“You stole from the Trump Org, right?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Cohen Wednesday morning. 

“Yes, sir,” Cohen responded. 

NY V. TRUMP: MICHAEL COHEN TESTIFIES HE’S CONSIDERING CONGRESSIONAL RUN

He testified that the Trump Organization thought he paid the full amount, for which he was still reimbursed despite not having actually paid it.

“You lied to Weisselberg about how much you needed for Red Finch?” Blanche asked Cohen, with Cohen confirming he had. 

“Have you paid back the Trump Organization for the money you stole from them?” Blanche also asked.

“No, sir,” Cohen responded.

Later Monday, Cohen said taking the $30,000 was “almost like self help,” claiming he took the funds because he was “angry” about his bonus getting slashed. 

TRUMP SLAMS NY COURT SYSTEM, BOASTS HE’S GOING ‘TO WIN’ EMPIRE STATE

“I was angry because of the reduction in the bonus and I just felt like it was almost like self help,” Cohen said.

“To have my bonus cut by 2/3 was very upsetting to say the least,” he later added.

Smith continued in his comment to Fox News Digital that the admission in court could potentially impact the jury’s verdict in the case.

“It’s increasingly likely that even if you don’t get an outright acquittal, I think there’s a very good chance you could at least – at least – get a hung jury in this case. And keep in mind, the reason Michael Cohen’s testimony is so pivotal is because Alvin Bragg has to bootstrap what would ordinarily be misdemeanor bookkeeping charges into this felony charge. [He has to] basically show that those bookkeeping offenses were made in the furtherance of, or in an effort to cover up, this other offense, which it looks like is this supposed campaign finance violation,” Smith said. 

NY V. TRUMP TO RESUME WITH CONTINUED CROSS-EXAMINATION OF MICHAEL COHEN AS TRIAL NEARS CONCLUSION

Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in the case. DA Alvin Bragg must prove to the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to payments to Stormy Daniels, but that he did so in furtherance of another crime – conspiracy to promote or prevent election. 

“If he can’t do that, then the bookkeeping charges themselves would just be misdemeanors, and the statute of limitations has already run on those misdemeanor offenses. And so that’s why Michael Cohen’s testimony is so critical. And I have to tell you, the fact that Alvin Bragg and his team lean so heavily on Michael Cohen, made him become the linchpin of their case in some ways, is absolutely shocking to be perfectly honest.”

MICHAEL COHEN ONCE SWORE TRUMP WASN’T INVOLVED IN STORMY DANIELS PAYMENT, HIS EX-ATTORNEY TESTIFIES

Smith is joined by fellow legal experts who sounded off Monday that Cohen’s admission to stealing has further torpedoed his credibility. The comments Monday come after Cohen had already repeatedly been labeled a “grifter” and liar by legal experts. Cohen is a disbarred attorney who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to charges such as campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress.

“It was quite a morning to have someone admit to stealing money from his client and then confirm that he wants to run for Congress. It will be a novel campaign: people usually wait to get into Congress before they commit major felonies,” Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley posted on X. “Committing major larceny is not a particularly appealing pitch for taking an office with the power over the purse. Then again, Cohen can claim that Congress cannot possibly corrupt him… he was corrupt before he went to Congress.”

Amid his testimony Monday, Cohen said he’s mulling a potential congressional run, citing he has the “best name recognition out there.”

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Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn said Monday that the defense’s cross-examination of Cohen has been a “total disaster for the state.”

“We learned that he stole from Donald Trump as he was negotiating that repayment plan, that repayment plan that we all heard about directly from him last week on the stand where he made it seem like he was just trying to get his money back, when, in fact, he was pocketing thousands of dollars on top of it,” Urbahn said.

“To show that he actually stole from the Trump Organization, even as they were structuring a deal to pay him $35,000 a month is an enormous big deal,” Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer on “America’s Newsroom.” “… He was monetizing the fact that he was the president of the United States’s private lawyer.… He was very much enriched by this arrangement.”

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When asked if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg could charge Cohen for his admission of stealing from the Trump Organization, Smith said it would come down to whether the statute of limitations has passed in New York and if Cohen struck an immunity deal. 

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“I would also need to know whether or not there’s been any type of immunity deal offered in exchange for his testimony. Of course, that information should have been turned over to the defense… because, of course, that goes to the weight of his testimony, if the jurors would find him credible or not. So there’s more information I would need to know before you know whether he could technically be prosecuted,” Smith said. 

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“But certainly he’s admitted to a crime under oath, which would ordinarily subject someone to criminal charges, unless there’s been some type of immunity or reach or unless the statute of limitations is run or something along those lines.”

Seven years after Joe Arpaio was ousted as sheriff of Arizona’s most populous county, taxpayers are still footing the bills from a racial profiling verdict over his signature immigration crackdowns – and those costs have been getting heavier since.

The tab for the legal and compliance costs in overhauling the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is expected to reach $314 million by mid-summer 2025, including $41 million approved Monday by county officials — the most expensive for Maricopa County taxpayers since the lawsuit was filed in 2007.

Nearly 11 years ago, a federal judge concluded sheriff’s deputies had racially profiled Hispanics in Arpaio’s traffic patrols that targeted immigrants. Consequently, the judge ordered costly overhauls of the agency’s traffic patrol operations and, later, its internal affairs unit.

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The taxpayer spending is expected to continue until the sheriff’s office attains full compliance with the court-ordered changes for three straight years. Though progress has been made on some fronts, the agency hasn’t yet been deemed fully compliant.

The money being spent on turning around the sheriff’s office looms large in law enforcement and political circles in Arizona.

Earlier this year, the heavy compliance costs were cited by critics who said the city of Phoenix should resist entering a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department, which is investigating the city’s police department. In recent weeks, the financial toll was brought up by immigrant rights advocates as they criticized a proposed ballot measure before the Arizona Legislature that would draw local police into immigration enforcement.

Raul Piña, a longtime member of a community advisory board created to help improve trust in the sheriff’s office, has criticized the efforts by Arpaio and his immediate successor, Sheriff Paul Penzone, to comply with the court-ordered changes.

But Piña said the agency might finally be turning the corner under the leadership of Penzone’s replacement, Sheriff Russ Skinner. While pointing out his comments shouldn’t be considered an endorsement of Skinner, Piña said he was impressed when seeing the current sheriff squarely acknowledge the agency’s failures at a community meeting.

“For the first time that I’ve been involved, the sheriff finally said, ‘We own this, we have to fix this,’” said Piña.

Skinner’s office didn’t respond Monday to a request for comment.

The overwhelming majority of the spending goes toward hiring employees to help meet the court’s requirements and a separate staff working on the court’s behalf to monitor the sheriff office’s compliance with both overhauls.

Arpaio led 20 of the large-scale patrols targeting immigrants from January 2008 through October 2011. Under Arpaio’s leadership, the agency continued immigration enforcement in smaller, more routine traffic patrols until spring 2013.

That led to Arpaio’s conviction for criminal contempt of court for disobeying a judge’s 2011 order to stop the patrols. He was spared a possible jail sentence when his misdemeanor conviction was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump in 2017.

Arpaio, who turns 92 next month and is running for mayor of the affluent suburb where he has long resided, said he has no regrets about launching immigration crackdowns.

He blamed the judge’s ruling for the ongoing taxpayer costs and said Arizona’s 2005 immigrant smuggling ban gave him authority to conduct the patrols. “I did what I was supposed to do,” Arpaio said.

Around the time that the anti-smuggling law was passed, advocates for tougher immigration enforcement said cracking down on the problem would help reduce the financial losses that Arizona suffers from its porous border with Mexico.

In an interview Wednesday, Arpaio dodged a question about whether compliance costs from the profiling case would exceed any savings that the public might have gained from such enforcement efforts. Instead, he focused on the influx of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years.

“And you’re complaining about me – that I cost taxpayers money?” Arpaio said. “Start adding up what’s going on today.”

Traffic-stop studies conducted since the profiling verdict show deputies often treat drivers who are Hispanic and Black differently than other drivers, though the reports stop short of saying Latinos were still being profiled.

While the profiling case focused on the agency’s traffic patrols, the judge presiding over the lawsuit later ordered changes to the sheriff’s internal affairs operation, which critics alleged was biased in its decision-making under Arpaio and shielded sheriff’s officials from accountability.

Penzone, who served as sheriff from 2017 until his resignation effective in January, was found in civil contempt of court in November 2022 for taking too long to close internal affairs investigations. The internal affairs unit has faced criticism for having a crushing backlog of open cases. Over the last year, the backlog has been reduced from about 1,900 to 1,600 cases.

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The agency’s compliance percentages are near or at 100% on two of the three court orders issued in the case. But its scores on the third court order, issued in November 2022, are more modest.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Monday had some words for his Republican colleagues who may be on the fence about voting on another border bill later this week.

Asked whether he would vote on a second attempt at passing a border bill, Schumer said he would always vote to secure the border “better than what it is today.” 

“I would encourage my Republicans friends to — no matter what games you think that might be being played — when you get a chance to secure the border, take it. Take it because we need it that bad,” Schumer said. 

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His comments come a day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told his colleagues that the Senate will once again vote on a bipartisan border security bill this week. An effort in February collapsed after Republicans withdrew their support at the behest of former President Donald Trump. 

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The bill failed a test vote in February, by a vote of 49-50, short of the 60 votes needed to proceed. 

Schumer blamed Republicans for acquiescing to the GOP frontrunner in the presidential race. Republicans, meanwhile, objected to tying the bill to U.S. foreign aid for Ukraine and Israel. Schumer said the bill to be voted on this week would stand alone.  

Republicans in both chambers of Congress have signaled they will band together to block any hope of a Democrat-backed border bill getting to the finish line. 

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Record numbers of migrants have been caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since President Biden took office in 2021, and border security has become one of the leading issues in the presidential campaign.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and Reuters contributed to this report.