NationalWatch

Former President Barack Obama’s new presidential center will honor late chef Tafari Campbell — a longtime family friend and trusted member of the Obama household — with the launch of a comfort-food restaurant.

“It honors the award-winning former White House culinary team member and beloved personal chef to the Obama family who tragically passed away in 2023,” the Obama Foundation announced in a press release Monday.

Campbell, 45, drowned while paddle boarding on the Edgartown Great Pond near the former president’s Martha’s Vineyard home in July 2023. He was not wearing a life vest during the tragic accident, police reported. 

The Obamas have called Campbell a “beloved part of our family.”

OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER TO ADD AUTOGRAPHED MUHAMMAD ALI BOXING GLOVES

“Tafari Campbell was known as a warm, fun-loving, and humble soul who used his immense gifts and passion for food to spread joy and bring people together, and a painting of him by Kate Capshaw will hang in the restaurant,” the release added.

Tafari’s Kitchen will feature food inspired by the Obama’s personal stories, such as “Mrs. Robinson’s Red Rice,” which is the family recipe of Michelle Obama’s late mother Marian Robinson.

Chicago-based chef Cliff Rome and Bon Appétit Management will spearhead the menu.

Campbell was first hired by the George W. Bush administration to work at the White House and continued on during the Obama presidency, before building a friendship with the 44th president. 

FAVORITE FOODS OF TRUMP AND HARRIS, PLUS OTHER NOTABLE DISHES OF PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS

He became Obama’s personal chef, leaving the White House at the end of the administration in 2017.

At the time of the accident, a paddleboarder with Campbell told investigators they had seen him standing on his paddleboard and lose his balance before falling into the water.

“When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House – creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together. In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter,” the Obamas said in a statement at the time of his death. 

“That’s why, when we were getting ready to leave the White House, we asked Tafari to stay with us, and he generously agreed. He’s been part of our lives ever since, and our hearts are broken that he’s gone,” the statement continued. 

BUREAUCRATS HIDE TRUE PRICE OF OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER AS TAXPAYERS HIT WITH INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

The Obama Presidential Center will have a grand opening on June 19 after being in development for over a decade and facing scrutiny for its design, price and costs to taxpayers.

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Taxpayers footed hundreds of millions of dollars in public infrastructure costs that constructed roads, transit, and utility updates around the campus, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Obama Foundation for comment.

One week after President Donald Trump’s endorsement-winning streak in high-profile Republican primaries was snapped, the president’s immense clout over his party is facing another key test in South Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial nomination face-off.

A week and a half ago, the president handed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette 11th-hour support as she seeks to succeed a top Trump ally, term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

Evette is facing off in the GOP primary against a handful of top rivals. They are longtime South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, and multimillionaire businessman Rom Reddy.

Since no candidate was expected to top 50% of the primary vote and land a majority, the top two finishers will advance to the June 23 Republican runoff.

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

The brute force of the president’s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past month, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that grabbed plenty of national attention.

But Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds — which came on the same day he also backed Evette — wasn’t enough to muscle the three-term congressman to victory.

Feenstra was narrowly edged out by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

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In the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, the major contenders had long been highlighting their support for Trump and his agenda in hopes of landing his support.

Trump, after staying neutral for months, endorsed Evette, praising her as an “America First Patriot” and a “WINNER” in his announcement.

The president also headlined a tele-rally for Evette on the eve of the primary.

Hours later, on the morning of the primary, Evette once again spotlighted the president’s backing of her campaign.

In a social media post, she wrote that Trump “needs a strong partner as Governor who will deliver on our conservative America First agenda. It’s why he gave me his ‘complete and total endorsement.’ Don’t let President Trump down. Get to the polls, bring your friends & family, and VOTE EVETTE!”

But Trump, in a social media post endorsing Evette, also said he expected Evette to choose Henry McMaster Jr., the governor’s son, as her running mate for lieutenant governor.

The comment by the president led to blowback in South Carolina political circles and speculation that McMaster, who succeeded then-Gov. Nikki Haley when she stepped down to serve as U.N. ambassador during Trump’s first term and who is in his 10th year as governor, was trying to give his son a political boost.

But McMaster denied any deal or pressure, and Evette has said she wouldn’t name any running mate until after the primary is over.

And on Friday, the younger McMaster took his name out of contention, saying it was “incredibly humbling” to be mentioned as a possible lieutenant governor candidate, but that “now is simply not the right time.”

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Pointing to what he said was a smaller-than-expected bounce in the polls for Evette, longtime South Carolina political strategist Dave Wilson told Fox News Digital he thinks the Trump endorsement “backfired” because of the president’s push for the younger McMaster to join the Evette ticket.

“In South Carolina, we really don’t take it very well when Washington tries to tell us what to do,” Wilson emphasized.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice is already facing headwinds among Senate Republicans that could derail, or outright torpedo, his confirmation process. 

And the process to either confirm or deny acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi is already underway in the Senate, with Trump officially sending his nomination to the upper chamber on Monday. 

Blanche’s involvement in the controversial, now-defunct $2 billion anti-weaponization fund, and his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill rioters are two key breaking points for some Senate Republicans. 

TRUMP EYES NEXT ATTORNEY GENERAL AS KEY GOP SENATOR SIGNALS POTENTIAL ROADBLOCK

His first challenge will be getting through the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., could be the pivotal vote that would make or break his confirmation.

Tillis was vehemently opposed to the anti-weaponization fund, going so far as to offer an amendment to divert the money to the nation’s anti-fraud fund and voting with Senate Democrats every step of the way to ensure there was no chance the move could be made again. 

But for Tillis, Blanche’s comments and actions about the Jan. 6 rioters are his main “circuit breaker.” 

“They better not have said for one minute that the people who beat up police officers, like these right down here, were righteous people,” Tillis said. “You come even close to saying that, you don’t have a [chance] of getting my vote in Judiciary.”

WATCH: DEM SENATOR SNAPS AFTER ACTING AG BLANCHE ACCUSES HIM OF ‘OBVIOUSLY LYING’ IN HEATED EXCHANGE

The skepticism about Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer before making the leap to the DOJ, extends beyond Tillis among those in the GOP. And he’ll receive no quarter from Senate Democrats, either in committee or during a confirmation vote. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Blanche of both shielding Trump from legal consequences and using “the justice system to go after his boss’ political enemies, bringing baseless charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, Jim Comey and others.”

“Trump and Blanche are cut from the same crooked cloth,” Schumer said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said it was “hard to say” whether Blanche would have the votes to be confirmed. 

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

“I think obviously most of our members are pretty deferential to who the president wants in these key positions,” Thune said. “He’s already serving in the role and clearly has experience in it. But this is an environment where nothing is a safe or sure bet.”

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced that the committee had received the nomination Monday afternoon.

Grassley said he “worked well” with Blanche and has appreciated “his commitment to transparency and support for law enforcement.” 

“Blanche is well-qualified and has shown his dedication to restoring law and order across our country,” Grassley said in a statement. “The Senate Judiciary Committee’s work to process Blanche’s nomination is underway.”

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Several Republicans were furious over the anti-weaponization fund, and berated Blanche behind closed doors last month over how it would operate, and whether Jan. 6 rioters would have access to the taxpayer money.

How much of a hand he had in that move could also determine his success in a Senate confirmation vote should he make it through the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

“I think it’s gonna come down to the extent of his involvement in this weaponization fund,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said.

Florida Republican gubernatorial primary candidate James Fishback, who has called abortion “a holocaust,” wants to close every abortion clinic throughout the Sunshine State.

“Ron DeSantis is the most pro-life Governor in America, and I intend to build on his incredible work. As Governor, I will shut down the 53 abortion clinics that remain in Florida and replace every single one with a crisis pregnancy center,” Fishback told Fox News Digital in a statement on Tuesday.

“These centers will offer free ultrasounds, baby food, diapers, and counseling, and even prenatal and postpartum care. Abortion is never the answer. Every expecting mom in Florida deserves real support, and as Governor, I will make sure she gets it,” he added.

FLORIDA GOP CANDIDATE LAUNCHES TINDER ACCOUNT TO CAMPAIGN TO YOUNG FEMALE VOTERS

The Guttmacher Institute, which describes itself as “a leading research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide,” indicated in a report earlier this year that as of December 2025 there were 49 clinics providing abortions in Florida, down from 53 as of March 2024.

Last week in a post on X, Fishback asserted, “100% of abortions are murder. And as Governor, I’ll treat them as such.”

OUTCRY OVER YOUTUBER’S DOWN SYNDROME ABORTION PROVES AMERICANS ARE ‘REPULSED BY EUGENICS,’ ACTIVIST SAYS

In another post last week he wrote, “It’s murder. And I’ll prosecute it as such. No more games. Abolish abortion.”

President Donald Trump has endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., for Florida governor.

Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, former state Rep. Paul Renner, are also running in the contest.

FLORIDA GOP CANDIDATE WANTS 50% ‘SIN TAX’ ON ONLYFANS CREATORS TO FIGHT ‘CULTURAL DEGENERACY’

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The Aug. 18 Florida GOP gubernatorial primary contest is still more than two months away.

BANGOR, Maine — Republican Sen. Susan Collins believes that Graham Platner, her likely Democratic challenger in November’s midterm elections, is too extreme for voters in her New England state.

But Platner, pushing an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class, argues it’s moderate Collins who is the “radical” one.

With the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, Platner is aiming to unseat the longtime Republican senator in left-leaning Maine.

The race is among a handful that could determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in the midterm elections, and the oyster farmer has been forced onto defense in recent weeks amid mounting controversies and negative headlines.

IT’S JUDGMENT DAY FOR EMBATTLED DEMOCRAT GRAHAM PLATNER

While Collins has mostly kept quiet about Platner’s political baggage, she has weighed in on his agenda.

Among his many progressive policy stances, Platner, on his campaign website, urges “passing a constitutional amendment to ban billionaires buying elections!”

And he highlights that he’s “a strong supporter of a Medicare for All system” and that he “will support a path to citizenship and an end to the mass deportation machine.”

Asked if Platner is too far to the left for voters in her northern New England state, Collins responded in a Fox News Digital interview last month, “I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But, obviously, I don’t take anything for granted.”

But Platner challenges that it’s Collins who is too “radical.”

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON TODAY’S PRIMARY ELECTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

“My response is that, trying to bring down costs for working Mainers. Trying to make sure that our communities don’t get emptied out because housing has become unaffordable for young people. Trying to create a system in which we are not seeing our health care system utilized as a way of just screwing working people all for the benefit of a health care insurance CEO,” Platner responded in a Fox News Digital interview last month.

“I don’t think that’s radical at all,” he added, claiming: “I think, in fact, that what most Mainers agree is what we have to be doing.”

Rather, he claimed that “what’s radical is somebody like Susan Collins, who, for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that are going to help corporations and billionaires to the detriment of working people, supporting over and over and over again, illegal and insane foreign wars.”

“She voted to send me to Iraq, and now she continues to vote to support the war in Iran,” Platner charged. “I’m sorry that I think is much more radical to the people of Maine than having a health care system that doesn’t collapse before our eyes.”

PLATNER TO SUPPORTERS: ‘MAINE, YOU HAVE MY BACK’

Despite his numerous controversies, Platner has drawn large crowds and built a healthy fundraising war chest.

Democrats see Maine as a crucial pickup opportunity in the 2026 midterms as they aim to win back the Senate majority in the fall.

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But beating Collins, a moderate who is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate and has a history of voting against President Donald Trump’s agenda, won’t be easy. Six years ago, public opinion polls indicated the senator was headed to defeat, but Collins defied expectations and won re-election by topping then-Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon by nine points.

The embattled leader of a left-wing nonprofit accused of secretly funneling money to members of extremist groups while publicly committing to “confronting hate” is headed for the hot seat on Capitol Hill.

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) interim CEO and President Bryan Fair will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday as a congressional probe into the civil rights group’s now-defunct informant practices heats up.

Fair’s anticipated testimony comes as federal prosecutors secured an 11-count indictment against the law center in April for alleged financial crimes, including defrauding its donors by concealing payments to members of extremist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, the Aryan Nation and other neo-Nazi groups. 

“There are a lot of legitimate questions about what the SPLC was doing with donor money and how they were using it to basically fund the type of hate that they were pretending to be going after,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, told Fox News on Monday.

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

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is also probing the law center’s ties to the Biden Department of Justice on civil rights matters. The panel’s investigation predates the criminal indictment.

“For me, the biggest takeaway is the fact that the Biden White House and the Biden Justice Department helped make the Southern Poverty Law Center the standard,” Jordan told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week. 

Republicans have sharply criticized the Biden Justice Department’s use of the nonprofit’s notorious “hate map” that targeted conservative groups, including Turning Point USA, Moms for Liberty and the Family Research Council.

“The purpose of doing that was to basically stifle their ability to get the conservative message out,” Gill told Fox News.

The Department of Justice filed a superseding indictment last week specifying that the law center covertly transferred more than $4 million in donor funds to bank accounts under fictitious names to pay members of extremist groups between 2010 and 2023. 

The nonprofit ostensibly sought to infiltrate the organizations to monitor their activities, but allegedly did not disclose the payments to donors and engaged in conduct that prosecutors say amounted to bank fraud.

The new indictment, filed in the Middle District of Alabama, also alleges that an SPLC employee paid two Klan members $1,200 per month to stay in the hate group after the unnamed individuals approached the law center in 2010 requesting help to exit.

Some of the money was allegedly used by extremist groups for recruitment purposes and for the reimbursement of expenses related to cross-burnings and Ku Klux Klan attire.

The law center has denied any wrongdoing and argued the criminal charges are politically motivated.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, SPLC counsel Abbe Lowell vigorously pushed back against fraud allegations and maintained that the law center’s informant program helped combat extremism. 

“The SPLC did not lie to its donors, it did not mislead banks it did business with, and its informant program prevented violence and saved lives,” he continued.

SPLC FACES BLOWBACK FROM ‘HATE MAP’ TARGETS AFTER DOJ FRAUD INDICTMENT

Federal prosecutors allege that one informant whom the law center paid more than $270,000 helped plan the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. 

According to the indictment, the law center directed the informant to attend the demonstration and “made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC.”

Jordan’s panel in May subpoenaed the law center for documents related to its alleged coordination with the Biden administration and hiring members of extremist groups as “field sources.”

The law center is also under congressional scrutiny for significantly increasing its profits during the years it operated the controversial informant program.

The nonprofit’s revenue grew from $38.7 million in 2010 to more than $129 million in 2023, amounting to a 233% increase, according to the superseding indictment.

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Democratic lawmakers have slammed Republicans’ probe of the law center.

“I just think that this is really misplaced and misguided,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told Fox News. “It’s essentially targeting an organization to make an example of them and call them out when they have been the leader in taking on antisemitism and taking on white nationalism.”

“There’s a lot of other places we should be looking at if we’re worried about organizations that spread hate, maybe start with the administration,” she added.

Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and chair of the American Dream at the America First Policy Institute, and Ryan Bangert, senior vice president for strategic initiatives and special counsel to the president at Alliance Defending Freedom, are also expected to testify before the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for the law center before publication.

Dan Scully contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans have struggled to move the ball on President Donald Trump’s voter ID and citizenship verification bill, but a late-night vote in the upper chamber breathed some life into an issue once thought dead. 

During the Senate’s marathon “vote-a-rama” to advance the GOP’s $70 billion immigration enforcement package, Republicans tried twice to attach the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to the massive bill. 

They failed both times, with a cohort of Republicans joining Senate Democrats to stymie the effort, which was destined to fail either way given that the amendments from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, had to break through the filibuster. 

REPUBLICANS FAIL TO ATTACH SAVE AMERICA ACT TO PARTY-LINE FUNDING PACKAGE

Graham’s attempt was to attach the modified version of the SAVE America Act, which included several policy additions, like barring men in women’s sports, that Trump demanded months ago.

Four Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., voted against it. Their defections prevented the bill from even getting 50 votes, a prerequisite for success if Republicans were to launch a talking filibuster. 

But Lee’s attempt did hit 50 votes, with Collins flipping her vote to support the original version of the SAVE America Act. 

Lee cheered the moment on X shortly after as the vote-a-rama still raged and noted that, with Vice President JD Vance serving as a possible 51st vote, the SAVE America Act could pass.

WATCH: HAWLEY FUMES AFTER 4 GOP SENATORS HELP SINK TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID LAW

“That means that but for the Zombie Filibuster, the House-passed SAVE America Act would now be on its way to the White House for President Trump’s signature,” Lee said. 

The moment was a big victory for the legislation, which thus far has wallowed in the Senate for months.

Conservatives like Lee have pushed Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to launch a talking filibuster to grind down Senate Democrats and pass the legislation at a simple majority threshold.

SEN LEE DARES DEMOCRATS TO REVIVE TALKING FILIBUSTER OVER SAVE ACT, SLAMMING CRITICISM AS ‘PARANOID FANTASY’

But Thune hasn’t pulled the trigger out of concern that Republicans wouldn’t stay together to bat down a deluge of Democratic amendments that could substantially change the legislation or target other elements of Trump’s agenda. 

Senate Republicans did launch a quasi-floor takeover to debate the SAVE America Act in March, but the steam behind that push has since fallen off substantially. 

The other option for Republicans would be to nuke the filibuster, something Trump has demanded they do sporadically throughout his second term.

Again, it’s an issue that Republicans aren’t unified on, and one that several fear could haunt them if and when Democrats regain control of the upper chamber. 

Trump has also shifted his ire to the Senate rules referee, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth Macdonough, who ruled that the SAVE America Act didn’t pass muster to be a part of the immigration package at a 50-vote threshold. He’s called on Thune to fire her a handful of times in recent months. 

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“We have every right to change her, and should do so, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said on Truth Social. “As long as she’s there, we will never get our desperately needed, SAVE AMERICA ACT, approved, and put into full force and effect!”

But, like the talking filibuster or outright nuking of the filibuster, it’s a move Thune isn’t in a hurry to make. 

“That’s not a new request, as you all know, and as is typically the case, the parliamentarian, the rulings break both ways,” Thune said. “And, you know, we lose a few, we win a few, but that’s been true when Democrats have been in the majority, too.”

A U.S. Army Apache chopper went down near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and the to individuals crewing the craft were rescued, the New York Times reported, citing two individuals briefed on the episode.

“The pilots are fine,” President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, “nobody injured.”

“We are gonna issue a report tomorrow,” he said, reiterating that “the pilots are fine.”

TRUMP VOWS ‘TOTAL VICTORY’ OVER IRAN WITHIN WEEKS AS NETANYAHU CONFIRMS CEASEFIRE

Fox News Digital reached out to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Tuesday.

The U.S. is continuing to conduct a blockade against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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ARMY CUTS HELICOPTERS, PUSHES ‘AMAZON FOR WAR’ AS DRONE COMBAT RESHAPES MILITARY

“U.S. forces disabled an unladen oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, June 8, after the vessel violated the ongoing blockade against Iran by attempting to sail to an Iranian port,” the latest CENTCOM press release stated.

“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) disabled Palau-flagged M/T Marivex as it transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman toward Iran. An F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) fired a precision munition into the ship’s engineering and steering spaces after the crew failed to comply with directions from U.S. forces. Marivex is no longer sailing to Iran,” the release continued.

VP JD VANCE ADDRESSES US-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP, WHETHER IRAN IS TRYING TO ‘PLAY’ THE UNITED STATES

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“CENTCOM forces have disabled seven non-compliant vessels, redirected 134 ships that complied, and allowed 42 vessels supporting humanitarian aid to pass since initiating the blockade on April 13,” CENTCOM added.

BANGOR, Maine — It’s judgment day for Graham Platner, the embattled Democratic Senate candidate in left-leaning Maine who is aiming to oust longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a crucial race that’s among a handful that will determine if the GOP holds its slim Senate majority in the midterm elections.

Platner, an oyster farmer and military combat veteran who is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and other top progressive champions, is facing a slew of controversies, which could make his expected Democratic primary victory in Maine much more interesting than originally expected.

Meanwhile, one week after President Donald Trump‘s endorsement-winning streak in high-profile Republican primaries was snapped, the president’s immense clout over his party is facing another key test in South Carolina’s GOP gubernatorial nomination face-off.

Those two ballot box showdowns will take top billing and grab plenty of national headlines as Maine and South Carolina, along with Nevada and North Dakota, hold primary elections on Tuesday.

PLATNER TO SUPPORTERS: ‘MAINE, YOU HAVE MY BACK’

Platner has been playing defense the past month, amid mounting controversy. It includes inflammatory online comments made on Reddit, a well-publicized and now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol, recent reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married, and new allegations last week from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes. Platner has called the latest allegations of violence untrue.

The negative headlines have triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods. The candidate this past weekend thanked Maine voters for continuing to support him.

“When hurtful things I said on the internet a decade ago came out into the public, as I shared my personal journey through PTSD and darkness of recovery and accountability and growth, Maine had my back,” Platner said at a rally Friday not far from his hometown in Down East, Maine.

“Now, as every single piece of that past and journey gets dug up, litigated, and weaponized, you have my back. And when politically motivated, serious and false accusations are made against me. Maine, you have my back.”

SEE IT: MAINE VOTERS SOUND OFF ON PLATNER CONTROVERSIES

Platner, who has acknowledged his battle with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from his three tours of duty in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after they made headlines last fall soon after he launched his Senate campaign.

And Platner has said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with fellow Marines stationed in Croatia. He added that he covered up the tattoo with a new design after learning last year that it resembled a Nazi symbol. But new allegations from an ex-girlfriend raise questions about Platner’s timeline regarding knowledge of the tattoo.

Rep. Ro Khanna, the progressive leader from California who organized Friday’s rally with Platner, was asked by Fox News Digital whether he’s concerned if the current allegations, and any potential future ones, could sink Platner’s campaign and hurt Democrats’ hopes of winning back the Senate.

“I’m more concerned about making it clear that we’re opposed to misogyny, those relationships were toxic and volatile, there’s no excuse for that,” Khanna said. “I talked to Graham and he says he was at a very dark period, he had come back from two tours of duty in Iraq as an infantry man seeing violence and death. That doesn’t excuse it.”

SEE IT: DEM SENATORS DODGE ON BACKING PLATNER AS MAINE CANDIDATE’S SCANDAL CLOUDS FINAL DAYS BEFORE PRIMARY

But Khanna noted that Platner said “he really grew as a person when he came back to Maine and he was an oyster farmer and he found peace and he is ashamed of that period. To me, that suggests someone taking accountability and improving their lives, and we need that redemption in this country. And I agree with a lot of his economic policies, that we should be taxing the billionaires, we should be focusing on the working class.”

Platner has been considered the all-but-certain Democratic nominee after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by longtime Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party establishment, dropped out of the race earlier this spring after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.

He’s facing two long-shot rivals for the nomination in Tuesday’s primary, but Mills’ name remains on the ballot, which she highlighted in a recent interview. A source in Mills’ wider political orbit confirmed to Fox News last week that the governor was receiving calls urging her to get back in the race amid Platner’s controversies. But there’s no active campaign effort on behalf of Mills.

Maine voters Fox News reporters spoke with ahead of the rally were divided on whether Platner’s controversies would impact their opinions of the candidate and whether the allegations would weaken his ability to defeat Collins.

Collins, returning to Maine on Friday after a busy week on Capitol Hill where she reached a milestone by casting her 10,000th consecutive vote in the Senate, was asked by reporters about the latest allegations facing Platner.

“The allegations in the latest story are troubling,” Collins responded. “And I believe that Graham Platner has a lot of questions to answer.”

THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S MAJORITY

Platner is facing plenty of incoming political fire from Republican groups. A super PAC aligned with Collins has been blasting Platner, running ads spotlighting his multiple controversies.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) charged that Platner is a “fraud.”

“He’s preaching about living a small but decent life growing up in Maine. The truth? Graham Platner is an elitist whose parents sent him to boarding school in Connecticut and bought him a house,” the NRSC wrote.

And the Republican National Committee (RNC) also targeted Platner.

“Graham Platner says his violent and erratic past is being “weaponized” against him. Platner said he would rape someone to show his dominance and “rape was about power,” the RNC research team wrote on X, pointing to the latest allegations against the candidate.

Despite the allegations and the incoming fire from the GOP, no Democratic politicians who have backed Platner have rescinded their endorsements.

“We need to unite and realize that the goal is defeating Susan Collins. And everyone from Schumer to Sanders is unified around that goal,” Khanna told Fox News Digital.

Platner has drawn large crowds and built a healthy fundraising war chest, and Democrats see Maine as a crucial pickup opportunity as they aim to win back the Senate majority.

But beating Collins, a moderate who is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate and has a history of voting against President Donald Trump’s agenda, won’t be easy. Six years ago public opinion polls indicated the senator was headed to defeat, but Collins defied expectations and won re-election by topping then-Democratic state House Speaker Sara Gideon by nine points.

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

There’s a crowded and competitive field of Democrats running for their party’s gubernatorial nomination in the race to succeed the term-limited Mills. On the Republican side, Bobby Charles — former federal investigator — leads eight other candidates, including Jonathan Bush, nephew of the late President George H.W. Bush.

Also in the spotlight, the Democratic primary in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, in the race to replace moderate Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who announced last year that he would not seek re-election due to political polarization.

Republicans, who are aiming to hold their razor-thin majority in the House, view the mostly rural district which Trump carried in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections, as a top pickup opportunity. Former two-term Republican Gov. Paul LePage is uncontested for the GOP nomination.

In South Carolina, Trump’s endorsement is in the spotlight.

The president, a week and a half ago, handed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette 11th-hour support as she seeks to succeed a top Trump ally, term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

Evette is facing off in the GOP primary against a handful of top rivals. They are longtime South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, nationally known Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and multimillionaire businessman Rom Reddy.

Since no candidate was expected to top 50% of the primary vote and land a majority, the top two finishers will advance to the June 23 Republican runoff.

The brute force of the president’s endorsement power has been on display in GOP primaries over the past month, with his candidates ousting incumbents he targeted in showdowns in Indiana, Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that grabbed plenty of national attention.

But his last minute endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa — which came on the same day he also backed Evette — in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn’t enough to muscle the three-term congressman to victory.

Feenstra was narrowly edged by Zach Lahn, a businessman, farmer and former political strategist who was backed by the political wings of MAHA — the acronym for the Make America Healthy Again movement aligned with Trump Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and Turning Point USA, the powerful conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

In the South Carolina GOP gubernatorial primary, the major contenders had long been highlighting their support for Trump and his agenda, in hopes of landing his support.

Trump, after staying neutral for months, endorsed Evette, praising her as an “America First Patriot” and a “WINNER” in his announcement.

After Trump backed Evette, Mace said that her very vocal push last year for the Justice Department to release the files related to its probe into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contributed to the president’s backing of her rival.

“I know I put the likelihood of an endorsement on the line when I demanded transparency on the Epstein files,” the lawmaker wrote. “I demanded it because you deserved the truth — ALL OF IT,” Mace emphasized in a post on X.

Trump, in a social media post endorsing Evette, also said he expected Evette to choose Henry McMaster Jr., the governor’s son, as her running mate for lieutenant governor.

The comment by the president led to blowback in South Carolina political circles and speculation that McMaster, who succeeded then-Gov. Nikki Haley when she stepped down to serve as U.N. ambassador during Trump’s first term and who is in his 10th year as governor, was trying to give his son a political boost.

But McMaster denied any deal or pressure, and Evette has said she wouldn’t name any running mate until after the primary is over.

And on Friday, the younger McMaster took his name out of contention, saying it was “incredibly humbling” to be mentioned as a possible lieutenant governor candidate, but that “now is simply not the right time.”

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The winner of the Republican gubernatorial nomination will be considered the clear favorite in November’s general election in South Carolina.

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson, trial attorney and 2010 gubernatorial candidate William Mullins McLeod Jr., and businessman Billy Webster, who served as chief of staff to then-Democratic Gov. Richard Riley, are running for their party’s nomination.

Longtime Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is the clear favorite in the Republican Senate primary, but is facing a tougher than expected challenge from South Carolina businessman Mark Lynch in a race that has devolved into mudslinging.

In Nevada, incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is expected to fend off a handful of primary challengers as he seeks re-election. On the Democratic side, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford is the clear favorite over Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill.

And in solidly red North Dakota, there is a competitive GOP house primary for the state’s at-large district.

Fox News Digital’s Alexis McAdams, Sally Persons, Jessica Sonkin and Luke Trevisan contributed to this report.

Vice President J.D. Vance Monday announced that he has 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 over alleged fraud in federally funded social services programs.

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.

“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.

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

“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.

“What that means to me, Jesse, is that clearly people weren’t taking fraud seriously. Whether it rises to the level of a criminal violation, we’re gonna investigate it, and of course, if it does rise to that level, we’re going to prosecute it. We have to,” Vance added.

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

The vice president, who was tapped in February to lead the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud after President Donald Trump announced a “war on fraud” in his State of the Union address, later reiterated his comments on social media.

“Minnesota state officials are not above the law, and if they facilitated fraud, lied under oath about what they knew, or harassed and intimidated whistleblowers, they must face justice,” Vance wrote on X.

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Vance and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz also previously said they were pausing federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota, which Walz said at the time had “nothing to do with fraud” as he described the effort as a “campaign of retribution.”

“Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz said on Feb. 25.

Scandal-plagued Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner used a fiery pre-primary address to pitch universal health care, wealth taxes, a Green New Deal and other far-left agenda items, like floating an idea that billionaires should be jailed for looking at political ads “the wrong way” in remarks about campaign finance reform.

The comment about jailing billionaires earned the candidate backlash from his Republican critics, who pointed out some of Platner’s biggest endorsers are funded by billionaires, highlighted the “Marxist dystopian” nature of the remarks, and joked that Platner must have some sort of affinity for locking people up against their will, referring to recent allegations from an ex-girlfriend.

“We need to get money out of politics. We need to get rid of Citizens United. And, if I had my way, elections would last two months, they will be publicly funded and if a billionaire looked at a TV ad the wrong way, we’d put ’em in jail,” Platner told a crowd of constituents Sunday night in Maine, earning applause. The comments came as Platner was laying out his far-left agenda and railing against conservatives, including calling President Donald Trump “dumb.”

“That’s one way to thank some of his own supporters for their generosity!” quipped veteran Republican strategist Colin Reed, who pointed to Platner’s prominent endorsers, like Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who received several contributions last month from billionaires like George Soros, Pat Stryker, Jon Stryker and Jennifer Pritzker, according to campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.

PLATNER’S ANTI-CORPORATE CRUSADE HITS AWKWARD SNAG AS RECEIPTS TELL ANOTHER STORY

“Why worry about slowly slipping into a Marxist dystopia? With Graham Platner, you can sprint toward it!” Jason Savage, Executive Director of the Maine GOP, said in response to Platner’s stump speech remarks about jailing billionaires.

“Dude is big on locking people in rooms against their will, apparently,” joked CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, an apparent reference to recent reporting on Platner’s past romantic relationships, including one ex-girlfriend’s allegation that he once twisted her arm behind her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut from the other side. Platner has denied the allegations.

‘HE HATED WOMEN’: EXPLOSIVE ABUSE, NEW NAZI TATTOO ALLEGATIONS FROM EXES ROCK PLATNER’S CAMPAIGN

Platner’s campaign has been dogged by controversies since he emerged as a progressive challenger in Maine’s closely watched Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, including recent complaints from multiple ex-girlfriends about his behavior during their relationships. The reports included accusations from one of Platner’s ex-girlfriends, Lyndsey Fifield, who told The New York Times about being trapped in a room by Platner during their relationship more than a decade ago.

“The Platner campaign has already spent more than $14 million and we aren’t even past the primary,” Shawn Roderick, a spokesperson for the Collins campaign told Fox News Digital. “Does Graham Platner really think that American taxpayers should be paying his high-priced political consultants and the tech billionaires who own the platforms where he does his advertising? He is floating this idea to distract from the many disturbing problems his campaign has faced over the past two weeks.”

Platner has also been facing backlash for exchanging sexually explicit messages with multiple women early in his marriage on the platform Kik. Following those reports, Platner was found to still have an active profile on Kik, an anonymous messaging app that has faced criticism from child-safety groups and law enforcement officials. The profile reportedly featured a shirtless mirror selfie of Platner with a towel around his waist, which Republican staffers later appeared to mock outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee by showing up in towels.

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

Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, reportedly disclosed the messages to campaign officials during an internal vetting process, and the campaign has acknowledged the messages existed while arguing the matter was addressed privately between Platner and his wife.

Meanwhile, Platner has argued that the allegations from former girlfriends are politically motivated, while his campaign has accused critics and national media outlets of focusing on private matters and personal attacks rather than the issues affecting Maine voters.

By the time those controversies hit the news, Platner had already faced scrutiny over a tattoo that critics identified as a Nazi-linked symbol, which he later covered up and said he was not aware of its meaning when he got it. One of Platner’s former staffers, Genevieve McDonald, alleged that even though Platner has said he was unaware of the symbol’s association with Nazis when he got the tattoo years ago, he has been aware of its meaning for some time.

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Platner also apologized after his old Reddit posts resurfaced in which he made a series of inflammatory comments about rape, race, political violence, police, rural Americans and military veterans. Platner has said his views have changed and that some of his past comments reflected a darker period in his life after military service.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Platner campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee requirement for employers seeking H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, ruling that the administration exceeded its authority by imposing what amounted to a tax that only Congress can authorize or delegate.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an Obama appointee, issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by 20 states in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, according to court filings.

The lawsuit, challenging the fee Trump announced in September, was led by California and named Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose department oversees the H-1B visa program, as a defendant. Several federal agencies involved in implementing and enforcing the policy were also named in the suit.

As part of the ruling, Sorokin invalidated agency memoranda, guidance documents, website instructions, FAQs and fee schedules that established and enforced the $100,000 H-1B visa fee.

TRUMP’S $100K H-1B VISA OVERHAUL COULD HIT TECH GIANTS LIKE AMAZON AND MICROSOFT HARDEST

According to the filing, Sorokin ruled that the fee was designed to raise revenue from a lawful program and therefore functioned as a tax rather than a penalty, as the Trump administration had argued. Under the U.S. Constitution, the power to impose or delegate taxes rests with Congress.

“Here, the $100,000 payment requirement for all H-1B petitions does not aim to establish that hiring H-1B workers is illegal,” the filing said. “The payment is not a penalty… because it is not ‘punishment for an unlawful act or omission.’ Hiring workers pursuant to the H-1B program is plainly lawful.”

VANCE TELLS BLUE STATE THEY ‘MIGHT TRY HIRING AMERICANS’ BEFORE SUING OVER TRUMP’S VISA FEE EXPLOSION

The fee also violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which requires agencies to undergo a “notice-and-comment” period to gather public feedback, the judge ruled. 

Sorokin said the agencies that implemented and enforced the fee failed to adequately explain their reasoning, consider alternative options or assess the policy’s potential consequences, and lacked a valid emergency or foreign-affairs justification for bypassing the process.

“[T]he mere fact that Defendants followed a presidential directive does not grant them free rein to ignore the requirements of the APA,” Sorokin wrote.

ARE AMERICAN WORKERS BEING REPLACED? INSIDE THE H-1B VISA CONTROVERSY

As of Feb. 15, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received 85 payments of the $100,000 requirement, resulting in $8.5 million in payments, the administration said in a March filing.

The H-1B program provides 65,000 visas annually, with an additional 20,000 reserved for workers with advanced degrees, typically valid for three to six years, according to Reuters. 

Employers generally paid between $960 and $7,595 in fees prior to Trump’s proclamation, court filings said.

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Trump introduced the fee last September, arguing the H-1B visa process was fueling the large-scale replacement of American workers and had “undermined both our economic and national security.” 

His move to address the issue drew widespread criticism from business and tech leaders. 

From 2024 through mid-2025, Amazon received 19,301 H-1B approvals, more than any other major tech company, according to USCIS data. Microsoft also secured 9,914, while Apple received 8,075.

The House Oversight Committee’s Republican majority accused Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of repeatedly contradicting public accounts of Minnesota’s massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal in a 205-page report released Monday.

The scandal, which thrust the Land of 10,000 Lakes into the national spotlight, set off a chain of journalistic and congressional investigations that exposed a wider web of waste, fraud and abuse, including allegations that members of Minnesota’s Somali community exploited the social services framework to funnel millions of dollars to unqualified recipients, including Mogadishu-area terror groups.

The report describes several instances that investigators said show Ellison and Gov. Tim Walz were aware of fraud concerns earlier than they publicly acknowledged.

“The governor and the attorney general knew about fraud in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) as early as April 2020, despite contrary claims made to the media,” the committee said.

WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES

“The governor and the attorney general knew about fraud in the Child Care Assistance Program as well as Non-Emergency Medical Transportation program as early as spring 2019. The Governor and the Attorney General also became aware of fraud in 13 additional high-risk Medicaid programs at various times during their tenure and failed to act.”

Interviews with education, human services and executive-office officials led investigators to conclude Ellison was aware of fraud concerns years before they became public.

Those interviews found Ellison was aware of fraud in “high-risk Medicaid programs” administered by the state as early as 2019 and tied that timeline to more than $300 million in Feeding Our Future fraud and what federal prosecutors estimate could be up to $9 billion in fraud involving high-risk Medicaid programs.

MASSIVE MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME PUTS MINNESOTA’S FEDERAL FUNDING AT RISK — AND FALLOUT COULD WIDEN

The committee said it was unable to determine whether Ellison’s alleged failure to protect Minnesota taxpayers was “incompetence, willful blindness or worse.”

Ellison’s office pushed back hard on Republicans’ findings, calling the report “riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations in order to politicize the issue of fraud.”

In one example, the committee recounted how Ellison issued a press release in September 2022 that “misrepresents the timeline” of his office’s knowledge of alleged impropriety by Feeding Our Future (FOF), and a threat of litigation from the nonprofit against the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).

Ellison claimed he stepped in during the “Fall of 2020” to advise and support MDE against the legal threat from FOF. However, the committee found that MDE had been confronted by FOF in April 2020, leaving what the committee described as months of delay by Democrats.

MDE Assistant Commissioner Daron Korte testified to the committee that it wasn’t until the following year that his agency declared “serious deficiency” in FOF’s compliance with federal program rules – and placed a stop-pay order against them.

Korte said MDE always had the authority to do so, but resumed payments and hedged for fear of being taken to court.

The report found Ellison and Walz showed knowledge of alleged fraud much earlier than they admitted or announced.

MINNESOTA DHS WHISTLEBLOWER DETAILS ‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’ AFTER REPORTING FRAUD CONCERNS TO STATE

“[They] claimed to know very little about the widespread fraud occurring in Minnesota until long after potentially billions of dollars had gone out the door, and believed that the child care fraud that predated the beginning of their terms in 2019 had been resolved by the time they took office,” the report said.

The committee accused Ellison of slow-walking oversight of FOF and other concerns and characterized the former congressman as instead waiting for the federal government to do his job for him.

They wrote that despite his spring 2020 knowledge of the situation, his corrective actions did not come until after news of the FBI’s pandemic-fraud investigation emerged two years later.

During the trial of FOF leader Aimee Bock, the defense presented Exhibit 710, which included a nearly hour-long recording of AG Ellison meeting with several defendants in the case in 2021.

They included the owner of a now-defunct Somali restaurant, Salim Said, who was convicted of 20 felonies, and others, including Shakur Abdinur Abdisalam, who pleaded guilty in March to defrauding the federal government of millions of dollars.

According to the report, Ellison originally told a reporter that he was prepared to meet with Mohamed Omar, a friend of his who is the Imam of Bloomington, Minnesota’s Dar al-Farooq mosque, and that he was surprised the other attendees were there when he arrived.

AUDIO OF ELLISON MEETING WITH CONVICTED FRAUDSTERS RESURFACES AS LAWYER ALLEGES WALZ, AG SHARE BLAME

But the committee contended that account contradicted what Ellison told Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., during the hearing, when he described the group as coming to him and seeking solutions to “difficult[ies] with the bureaucracy.”

Ellison told Luna that he investigated what they told him, and then worked with the feds to prosecute suspects, tallying 57 that were convicted of crimes.

“They were not what they claimed to be,” Ellison said.

The report found some at the meeting had “pledged the Somali community’s political and financial support to Ellison” if he intervened in their claims they were being racially profiled or discriminated against by government agencies.

Ellison responded that he would help “fight these people.”

When Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., confronted Walz about that exchange during a hearing, the governor said it was his first time hearing it and that he would not “speculate” on it.

GREGG JARRETT: IF WALZ IS CHARGED IN MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL, HIS BEST DEFENSE IS INCOMPETENCE

The committee further found that, when asked about his prosecutorial authority, Ellison said he has jurisdiction over Medicaid fraud probes but that other criminal cases must be referred by county attorneys.

The panel contended that this was an obvious omission from prior testimony before the Senate, when Ellison said non-Medicaid criminal cases may also be referred to him by the governor’s office.

Ellison spokesman Brian Evans told Fox News Digital that the House would be better served by “actually helping Minnesota protect tax dollars and go after fraudsters.”

“The record is clear that Attorney General Ellison fought fraud wherever possible and as soon as he was able to,” Evans said.

“In areas where Attorney General Ellison has the authority to file criminal charges, he has charged and convicted over 340 Medicaid fraudsters. In fact, Attorney General Ellison’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit regularly ranks as one of the most effective Medicaid fraud-fighting units in the nation.”

GOP LAWMAKER UNVEILS WALZ ACT AFTER BILLIONS LOST IN MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

As for the jurisdictional divisions mentioned in the report, Evans said that when Ellison didn’t have proper jurisdiction to go after fraudsters, he defended Minnesota from frivolous litigation by those trying to hide schemes.

Ellison recently introduced legislation in St. Paul to broaden his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, his office said, while adding that the House report does not properly distinguish between authorities of the AG’s office and other agencies.

Ellison’s office said they remain solely empowered to prosecute Medicaid fraud and that other social services fraud is the purview of counties or the feds.

Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann told Fox News separately the report shows the committee has proven itself “time and time again to be nothing more than a joke” by “rehash[ing] COVID-era fraud to distract from endless wars, gas prices, ICE and [President Donald Trump’s alleged] insider trading.”

The House report noted both Walz and Ellison were given an opportunity to explain their actions during the March 2026 hearing but failed to provide what the committee considered sufficient answers.

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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., was so alarmed by the investigation’s findings, he sent a letter Monday to Vice President JD Vance — in the Ohioan’s capacity as chair of the White House Task Force to eliminate fraud — to conduct its own thorough review of Minnesota’s social services programs.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has been conspicuously silent amid allegations against Senate hopeful Graham Platner despite her prominent role at the height of the #MeToo movement spearheading outrage against two men facing sexual misconduct accusations.

Platner allegedly engaged in aggressive physical behavior, according to an ex-girlfriend who spoke with The New York Times. He is expected to become the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine in Tuesday’s election.

But Gillibrand has remained silent in the wake of the accusations, despite her vocal support for alleged victims of powerful men in the past.

In 2017, when a mere “#MeToo” allegation could sink a political career, Gillibrand was among the loudest voices who called for the resignation of then Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken. Eight women had accused him of sexual harassment — including claims that he groped or forcibly kissed women without consent.

Franken resigned from Congress in disgrace amid the scandal after immense pressure from inside his own party and from the political right.

He later said in an interview with Conan O’Brien that he “deserved due process” that he never got.

HOW MUCH BAGGAGE WILL DEMOCRATS ACCEPT FROM MAINE’S GRAHAM PLATNER?

Gillibrand stood by her decision to go after a member of her own party when she was running for the Democratic nomination for president despite media scrutiny.

“I know the issue of Sen. Franken is hard for many Democrats. But he had eight credible sexual harassment allegations against him, and I had to choose whether to stay silent, or not. If some megadonors have a problem with that, that’s on them,” she said on X in 2019.

“Silencing women for the powerful, or for your friends, or for convenience, is neither acceptable, nor just,” she said in another post.

GILLIBRAND ON CALLING FOR AL FRANKEN TO RESIGN: ‘I WAS NOT GOING TO REMAIN SILENT’

She was at it again when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, when he was in the throes of the confirmation process, faced an unproven allegation of groping Christine Blasey Ford decades prior when they were teenagers.

“I think this should affect every senator’s view on Judge Kavanaugh,” she told the Democrat and Chronicle at the time. “I’m hopeful the Senate will at least have some measure of review, maybe a hearing, some measure of analysis of this accusation, and have some measure of clarity on whether this is disqualifying. I believe it is disqualifying, given what we know.”

SARAH SILVERMAN CALLS OUT KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND FOR DEFENDING JOE BIDEN AFTER CONDEMNING AL FRANKEN

The New York senator raged against Kavanaugh on Twitter, now X, during his confirmation proceedings and repeatedly said she believes women who allege misconduct by men.

“#IBelieveChristine Blasey Ford,” she said on the platform. “Her credible allegation of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh should disqualify him from ever being confirmed to the Supreme Court.”

MAHER WARNS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘ANOTHER SEX, CREEP PROBLEM’ WITH PLATNER CITING MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS

Her hypocrisy is now on display as Gillibrand, who once called out members of both parties once allegations are made public against them, has remained silent as Platner faces a number of controversies, including an accusation of physical misconduct.

Lyndsey Fifield, who once dated Platner, told The New York Times that Platner was physically rough with her.

GRAHAM PLATNER ACCUSER HITS NYT FOR ALLEGEDLY SOFTENING ALLEGATIONS, SAYS COVERAGE WAS ‘GIFT’ TO DEMOCRAT

“[S]he said he regularly grabbed her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave marks — and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car,” the paper reported.

“During one argument, she recalled, he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out, telling her to remain there until she was ‘calm.’ Eventually, Ms. Fifield said, she fell asleep and left the next morning,” according to the report.

Platner’s campaign has denied the accusations.

AOC DODGES QUESTIONS ON ABUSE ALLEGATIONS, NAZI TATTOO CLAIMS ROCKING PLATNER’S CAMPAIGN

In a marked change from their loud-cried “believe all women” tune, many Democrats online have accused Fifield, who has worked in the conservative political sphere, of simply being a Republican operative.

Gillibrand has not commented since the Times report was published.

Before the allegations of physical misconduct, Platner faced other significant controversies, and was hauled to Washington, D.C. for a sit-down with powerful elected Democrats to do crisis talks just a week before his primary election in Maine.

WATCH: SCANDAL-PLAGUED PLATNER DODGES QUESTIONS BEFORE DC MEETING WITH DEMOCRATS

Chief among those controversies is a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest, a lewd post about masturbating inside portable toilets and exchanging sexual messages with women while he was married.

Before the Times report but after other scandals already emerged, Gillibrand and other Democrats lined-up to reiterate their support for Platner.

Gillibrand outside those meetings with the candidate said she thinks her party will win in the Pine Tree State in November, and confirmed she still has confidence in the Maine Democrat.

“I’m very confident we are going to win Maine,” she told reporters outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee building when asked if she still supports the progressive candidate.

“I do. I have confidence that we are going to win Maine and I have no doubt.”

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Gillibrand’s office did not return a request for comment on Monday. Neither did Platner’s campaign or a contact for Franken.

Fox News Digital’s Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.

An Obama-appointed federal judge who previously blocked President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order has again dealt a major setback to the administration by striking down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa payment requirement and declaring the policy unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin of Massachusetts ruled Monday that the Trump administration lacked the authority to impose the hefty payment on employers seeking new H-1B visas, finding that the requirement amounted to a tax that only Congress has the constitutional power to impose.

In Monday’s 42-page decision, Sorokin sided with a coalition of 20 states that challenged Trump’s September 2025 proclamation creating a new $100,000 payment requirement for employers filing petitions for foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers. Approximately 65,000 foreign workers are issued a H-1B visa each year.

TRUMP’S $100K H-1B VISA OVERHAUL COULD HIT TECH GIANTS LIKE AMAZON AND MICROSOFT HARDEST

Before Trump’s proclamation, employers typically paid between $2,000 and $5,000 in filing fees to sponsor an H-1B worker, depending on the type of application and the size of the company.

The administration had argued that the measure was necessary to curb abuse of the visa system and protect American workers.

Trump’s proclamation stated that the H-1B program had been exploited to replace U.S. workers with lower-paid foreign labor and that the new payment would help address those concerns.

Sorokin rejected the administration’s legal justification, finding that the Immigration and Nationality Act gives presidents broad authority over the entry of noncitizens but does not authorize them to impose taxes.

“While the Executive has broad discretion over the admission and exclusion of aliens, … that discretion is not boundless,” Sorokin wrote, referring to previous case law.

Sorokin concluded that the payment functioned as a tax rather than a permissible immigration restriction.

TRUMP IS DOWN BUT NOT OUT IN COURT BATTLE OVER HARVARD’S FOREIGN STUDENT VISAS

“The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress,” Sorokin wrote.

He further rejected the administration’s argument that the payment requirement was simply another immigration restriction, bluntly stating: “Taxes are not ‘restrictions.'”

Beyond the constitutional concerns, Sorokin also found that federal agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act by implementing the policy without notice-and-comment rule making and concluded that the agencies exceeded their statutory authority.

As a remedy, Sorokin declared the policy unlawful and vacated it in its entirety.

Sorokin, a Yale and Columbia Law School graduate, was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2013 and confirmed by the Senate in 2014. Last year, Sorokin was the fourth judge to issue a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship. He ruled that the policy is likely unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. That dispute has since reached the Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

The administration is expected to appeal Sorokin’s decision, setting up another legal battle over the scope of presidential authority in immigration matters and the limits of executive power.

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“President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it. A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal.”

In a separate challenge filed in December 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington declined to block the policy after dismissing claims from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the additional H-1B charge violated federal immigration law.

As Americans mark the nation’s 250th anniversary this year, a survey of adults in the U.S. found that just 25% felt that the country stands above every other nation on the globe, while 44% think that the U.S. is just one of the greatest nations, among some others.

A whopping 30% in the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll thought that there are other nations better than the U.S.

Only 34% believed that the ideal of the American dream, that hard work will enable someone to move ahead in life, remains true. But 51% felt that the American dream is now a relic of the past that once held true but no longer does. And 15% felt that the idea was never true.

THE STATES REVEALED AS BEST TO START A FAMILY AMID CRATERING BELIEF IN THE AMERICAN DREAM

Views varied significantly among people with different political leanings, with 57% on the GOP side of the aisle believing that the American dream remains intact, while just 17% of those on the Democratic side of the aisle felt that way, the AP reported.

The poll found President Donald Trump’s approval rating deep underwater at just 33%, versus 67% disapproval — while 17% strongly approved and 16% somewhat approved, 49% strongly disapproved and 17% somewhat disapproved.

A huge 70% disapproved of his handling of the economy, while just 30% approved.

FOX NEWS POLL: ‘RESILIENT DISCONTENT’ DEFINES THE US MOOD AT 250TH ANNIVERSARY

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The survey was conducted between April 16-20, 2026. Participating adults were aged 18 and up, and represented all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. A total of 2,596 people completed the survey—2,461 online and 135 by phone, the poll data noted.

“The overall margin of sampling error is +/-2.6 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, including the design effect,” the poll stated.

The margin of sampling error for Republicans, including GOP leaners, was +/-4.3 percentage points, while the figure for Democrats, with leaners included, was +/- 3.8 percentage points, the survey said.

“Words taken down.”

That term of art may not mean much off Capitol Hill. But it’s a phrase which usually signals there’s a ruckus in the House of Representatives.

The House witnessed one such melee recently. Lawmakers debated a war powers resolution for Lebanon. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., pushed the measure, hoping to restrict President Donald Trump’s conflict in Iran. Especially as other places in the region emerge as flashpoints.

Tlaib, a Palestinian-America, is one of only two Muslim women in Congress. She is one of the most controversial members of Congress. And she often speaks out against Israel.

“We must end U.S. participation in the Israeli apartheid regime’s invasion of Lebanon. The Israeli military continues to target journalists like Amal Khalil and use our tax dollars to commit war crimes,” said Tlaib.

RASHIDA TLAIB HIT WITH HOUSE CENSURE THREAT, ACCUSED OF ‘CELEBRATING TERRORISM’ IN PRO-PALESTINIAN SPEECH

But the House floor devolved into a verbal fracas when Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, tore into Tlaib, attacking her personally and mentioning Hezbollah during the floor debate.

“Its members are butchers that you like to hang out with to a certain extent,” charged Miller, who is Jewish. “Yes, you advocate for terrorists on a daily basis. You advocate for a terrorist regime every single day.”

Tlaib hollered at Miller from across the chamber, but it wasn’t clear what she said since the Michigan Democrat wasn’t on mic.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are we getting a little emotional?” chided Miller.

Tlaib erupted, at that, shouting even more loudly at Miller.

Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., presided over the debate from the dais. Obernolte had enough of the verbal judo and slammed down the gavel.

“Colleagues, this is a serious topic. We will debate it respectfully and deliberately,” admonished Obernolte. “Is the gentlewoman from Michigan making a motion?”

NANCY MACE CHALLENGES DEM REP TO ‘TAKE IT OUTSIDE’ AFTER ‘CHILD, LISTEN’ COMMENT SPARKS CHAOS

Tlaib had made it to one of the mics in the chamber by this point.

“Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am. That is a direct attack on my character. I please request to strike the words down,” said Tlaib.

And there it was. “Words taken down.”

Tlaib may have garbled the precise verbiage of the parliamentary request. But her motion brought debate on the war powers resolution and all other business before the House to a screeching halt.

“The gentleman from Ohio will be seated,” Obernolte instructed Miller.

In effect, Tlaib’s motion is the parliamentary equivalent of pulling someone over for speeding. You might get a ticket. Maybe not. Especially if you’re cooperative with the officer. But the authorities will first investigate. And that’s what unfolded on the House floor.

During this stasis, the House conducts no business. The House suspends speeches. Amendments. Votes. Nothing happens on the floor until they figure out if someone broke the rules.

The phrase “words taken down” refers to the process of the House’s institutional staff and stenographers to document or “take down” language uttered by a member that may violate House rules. The House prohibits members from personal attacks on fellow lawmakers, impugning the motives of their colleagues or “engaging in personalities.” One member can’t disparage another personally.

Tlaib clearly believed that Miller broke House rules by saying she would “like to hang out” and “advocate for terrorists.” Tlaib also believed the line about her “getting a little emotional” may have crossed the line, too.

‘SQUAD’ MEMBER DELIVERS REAL-TIME WHITEBOARD RESPONSES TO TRUMP: ‘NO KING!’

If it’s pretty clear that a member broke the rules of decorum, someone from leadership or key staff may ask offending lawmaker to withdraw the language in question and apologize. But if the member resists, the House has no alternative but to rule that member out of order. The House then expunges the speech and he or she is suspended from speaking on the House floor the rest of the day.

If the chair rules that member violated the rules, it’s possible that someone could appeal the ruling of the chair. That would entail a roll call vote, where the entire House votes yes or no on whether they believe their colleague broke the rules. Or, another member might move to “table the appeal of the ruling of the chair.” In that scenario, the House votes on whether to kill or set aside the appeal. Thus, the vote is a step removed from actually voting on appealing the chair’s ruling.

After an hour of delay, it was clear that Miller wouldn’t apologize or withdraw his statement.

“The words of the gentleman from Ohio contain an allegation that the gentlewoman from Michigan is a ‘butcher’ and affiliated with a terrorist organization,” said Obernolte. “Such remarks impugn the patriotism and loyalty of the member of the House.”

Obernolte added that “the remarks contain personalities and are not in order. Without objection, the offending words are stricken from the record.”

So the House sanctioned Miller for breaking the rules and benched him for the remainder of the day.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., managed the Lebanon war powers debate on the floor for the GOP. Since the House muted Miller, Mast spoke on his behalf.

“I’m going to deliver a message from Rep. Miller of Ohio,” said Mast, who quoted this Republican colleague. “‘Yes, I said it. I own it. And I stand by it.’”

CHAOS ERUPTS DURING IMMIGRATION HEARING AS DEMOCRAT LUNGES AT CHAIRMAN’S GAVEL: ‘I’M TIRED OF YOU’ ‘

The Florida Republican then asked the House if he could submit for the record an article entitled ‘Rashida Talib, member of secret Facebook Group where Hamas Terrorists glorified.’”

Tlaib objected.

Mast then tried to submit into the record a transcript about Tlaib allegedly speaking about genocide.

Tlaib objected to that as well.

Yours truly first encountered a parliamentary donnybrook like this in 1994 while working at C-SPAN. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., tangled with then-Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y. The House ruled Waters out of order. Then-House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., came to the floor to mete out the punishment, not leaving the umpiring to a more junior lawmaker.

The day after the Tlaib/Miller brouhaha, Obernolte released a bipartisan framework to help establish guardrails for AI.

I pressed Obernolte on how an AI chatbot might handle the dust-up if it were presiding over the House.

“AI is actually very good at this. You give it a rules manual and then you give it a specific instance and say ‘Is this in compliance with rules or is this a violation of the rules?’” said Obernolte. “I think last night was obviously someone engaging in personalities. And, I think I made the correct ruling. I think AI would have also made the correct ruling.”

It wasn’t that long ago that the actual Speaker of the House came to the floor to sort out a kerfuffle between two members. Could the House ever delegate such refereeing to AI?

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Taking down words? Ruling members out of order? Suspending members for additional speeches that day if they get out of line?

One can imagine that members will say a lot of words worthy of being taken down if AI ever becomes the parliamentary umpire in the House of Representatives.

President Donald Trump’s selection of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of National Intelligence elevates a housing finance regulator and former social media philanthropist to one of the government’s most sensitive national security posts.

Before entering government, Pulte was best known as the grandson of the founder of homebuilding giant PulteGroup and for building a large following through social media philanthropy campaigns that distributed money to followers online. He later became a prominent figure in conservative social media circles before Trump tapped him to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Trump announced the selection in a Truth Social post, praising Pulte’s leadership of the housing finance system and his experience managing “the most sensitive matters in America.” 

The White House declined to tell Fox News Digital whether Trump is considering Pulte for the position on a permanent basis. But expectations for Pulte became clearer Friday when Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he wants the acting intelligence chief to begin reducing the size of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

TRUMP NAMES BILL PULTE ACTING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

“I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump told the newspaper, describing the agency as “unnecessary and/or too big.” Asked whether he wants Pulte to fire employees, Trump said he wants him to “start the process.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., quickly endorsed the effort, arguing that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has expanded far beyond the mission Congress envisioned when it created the office after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“President Trump is right: the ODNI has grown far beyond its original mandate,” Cotton wrote on X. “I’ve long advocated for downsizing, if not outright eliminating, this bureaucracy.”

The appointment immediately generated pushback from lawmakers and former officials who argued that Pulte lacks the experience for the role.

But Trump allies, many of whom spent years railing against an intelligence “Deep State” they believed was working to undermine Trump insisted he would dutifully carry out the president’s agenda.

“There is still very much so – I would say – internally a battle between different intelligence agencies,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said. “Half the battle in these intelligence positions is the fact that you want someone that will not obstruct the declassification order but assist in locating documents, and that is something that Bill will do.”

TRUMP’S DRASTIC NSC CUTS SPARK DEBATE: DOES FIGHTING THE ‘DEEP STATE’ PUT NATIONAL SECURITY AT RISK?

“Bill Pulte is a great American and Patriot who will always fight for President Trump and his agenda,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X. “This is an important time in our country, and Bill has the required energy and focus to achieve great things in this new position.”

Pulte’s selection follows a period of public friction between Trump and outgoing director Tulsi Gabbard, who leaves the role on June 30. 

Gabbard entered the role as a critic of the intelligence establishment, but her assessment that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon became a point of contention with the president as the administration moved toward military action against Tehran. Trump publicly rejected her assessment, saying “I don’t care what she said” and later declaring that she was “wrong.”

Neither Trump nor his allies have defended Pulte’s selection by pointing to any intelligence or national security experience. Instead, supporters have emphasized his management experience, willingness to challenge bureaucracy and commitment to advancing administration priorities.

The White House declined to tell Fox News Digital whether Trump is considering Pulte for the position on a permanent basis. The distinction could prove significant, as acting officials can wield most of the authorities of Senate-confirmed officeholders while serving in a role intended to be temporary.

“Very few Senate-confirmable positions come with statutory eligibility requirements. There are good reasons why the Director of National Intelligence is one of them,” former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

“Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute, and no nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote,” McConnell added.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., similarly argued that Pulte lacks the qualifications envisioned for the position.

“The concern is not only that Mr. Pulte lacks the ‘extensive national security experience’ required by statute,” Warner said. “It is that he appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need.”

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a former FBI agent who now chairs the House Intelligence Committee’s CIA Subcommittee, was similarly blunt.

“He shouldn’t be there,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s got no background in intelligence.”

Not all intelligence overseers were critical of the appointment, however. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., defended Trump’s selection and dismissed concerns about Pulte’s résumé.

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“Maybe you should think about something else,” Crawford said. “This guy, whether anybody knows him or not, at least is not guilty of trying to orchestrate a coup against a sitting president.”

Pulte did not respond to a request for comment. 

Earlier in 2026, Pulte said the FHFA had referred alleged Chinese and North Korean nationals to the Justice Department after discovering they had been working at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while allegedly posing as other individuals.

EXCLUSIVE — Noncitizens in a key blue state were on the voter rolls for years — and some even voted in prior elections, according to documents obtained via public records request.

The New Jersey Republican Party (NJGOP) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) requested voter rolls from all 21 counties in the Garden State and found multiple instances of noncitizens seeking naturalization asking to be removed from the rolls, claiming they were unknowingly registered to vote. Most were registered as Democrats.

Noncitizens cannot vote in state or federal elections, and the candidates for citizenship worried that being on the rolls would disqualify them.

In official letters viewed by Fox News Digital from Atlantic County, Superintendent of Elections & Commissioner of Registration Maureen Bugdon certified that noncitizens came to her asking to be removed.

FOUR NONCITIZENS CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY VOTING IN 2020, 2022 AND 2024 FEDERAL ELECTIONS IN NEW JERSEY

“Please allow this letter to confirm that on today’s date, the below referenced individual came before this office to confirm her registration and voter status,” the typical letter reads. “She relayed that she did not wish to be a New Jersey registered voter and does not understand how she became registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles, allegedly.”

Most of the letters confirmed that the noncitizens did not have a voting record, but not all.

One noncitizen, who the county said was removed from the rolls in 2015, voted several times in 2000 and 2001, and in the 2008 general election. Another voted in a primary election in 2005 and a municipal election in 2000.

TRUMP ADMIN BLOCKS CITIZENSHIP FOR ILLEGAL MIGRANT VOTERS

Other documents showed noncitizens directly asking to be removed from the rolls through a state voter registration cancellation form.

When prompted about why they wished to be removed, the vast majority of the unknowingly registered voters checked a box labeled “other” and wrote that they were not citizens.

In Atlantic County alone, Fox News Digital reviewed more than 50 documents from noncitizens attesting that they were registered to vote unknowingly.

OVERSIGHT GROUP SEEKS DOCS FROM WALZ’S MINNESOTA AS DOJ REBUKES VIRGINIA VOTER-ROLL MAINTENANCE

RNC Chairman Joe Gruters says the group found hundreds of noncitizen registrants in New Jersey who are likely only the tip of the iceberg, but that New Jersey and other Democrat-run states are unwilling to disclose information about their voter registration list maintenance processes. The organization has requested that information from 48 states.

“I mean, it’s really incredible because here the Democrats are saying that, you know, noncitizens never vote, [that], this is a non-issue, but every county we’re finding people that are self-reporting now, and I’m glad we’re doing these records request because it’s really eye-opening, because this is just the people that have self-reported,” Gruters told Fox News Digital.

“You want a democracy that’s secure and elections that are free and safe and that people can depend upon, and people have full confidence in,” he said.

RNC LAUNCHES MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR ELECTION INTEGRITY PUSH IN 17 STATES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

The RNC in 2024 made a full-throated election integrity push to ensure, one that continues to this day, according to Gruters.

He told Fox News Digital that the group is “bringing the hammer down” and that it has “boots on the ground” across the country to ensure even more diligence in November.

“We have staffers already in 17 states working on these issues to make sure that, like I said, it goes back to having a safe and secure election that’s free and fair,” he said.

RNC GETS DAY AT SUPREME COURT TO CHALLENGE LATE-ARRIVING MAIL BALLOTS

Gruters is also optimistic about another RNC battle on the election integrity front.

The Supreme Court is soon set to decide on the case of Watson vs. RNC, a challenge to laws that allow ballots to be cast by mail on election day, but counted days later. The RNC’s goal is eliminate the practice, which Gruters highlighted as California continues to count ballots from Tuesday night’s primary elections almost a week after polls closed.

He said a win in that case could be “one of our biggest election victories ever.”

“I mean, just what’s happened with [Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate] Spencer Pratt should open your eyes, and you should be sick to your stomach,” he said. “This should not be allowed in America.”

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Gruters said that when elections have an “open-ended target date,” it opens the doors for potential manipulation.

“We’re fighting hard to put an end to this, and this, like I said, this could be probably our biggest win ever from an election integrity standpoint by stopping this and making sure that election day means exactly what it says, election day.”

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Mickie Sherrill’s office did not return a request for comment. Neither did the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission or Atlantic County officials.

A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles said  it’s rare that noncitizens end up on the rolls. 

“MVC, together with state and local partners across New Jersey, uses rigorous processes to ensure eligible individuals register to vote through the MVC. Consistent with all applicable laws, individuals who apply to register to vote through the MVC affirm their citizenship. While it is exceedingly rare that non-citizens claim citizenship or other voter eligibility through the MVC, such instances are taken extremely seriously by this agency.”

SEE THE FULL CACHE OF DOCUMENTS HERE:

A Republican-led congressional oversight report alleges that senior Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., failed for years to act on warnings about fraud in the state’s social services programs, allowing hundreds of millions of dollars in confirmed or alleged losses and placing billions more at risk.

The Walz administration had the power to stop fraudulent payments to high-risk entities receiving federal nutrition and Medicaid funds, but the state “repeatedly failed to act” after officials raised concerns, according to a 205-page final staff report released by the House Oversight Committee on Monday.  

Congressional investigators found that concerns about potential racial discrimination claims — rather than legal constraints — contributed to the Walz administration’s decision to continue paying providers suspected of fraud. The committee also spoke to nearly 30 whistleblowers, some of whom accused the Walz administration of retaliation against state employees for sounding the alarm about potential fraud.

“Fraud warnings were elevated to the most senior levels of the Minnesota state government, meaningful corrective action was delayed or avoided, and payments continued long after credible signs of fraud emerged,” the report reads in part.

OWNER OF DAYCARE IN VIRAL NICK SHIRLEY VIDEO CHARGED IN $4.6M DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME, PROSECUTORS SAY

The committee found Minnesota is estimated to have lost $300 million in stolen federal nutrition funds intended to feed hungry children during the COVID-19 pandemic and that as much as $9 billion in Medicaid billing may have been fraudulent, an estimate attributed to a federal prosecutor and disputed by Walz administration officials.

Walz was allegedly aware of fraud associated with the now-defunct Feeding Our Future nonprofit that operated a constellation of fake meal sites as early as 2020, but payments continued flowing to the group for roughly two more years. The oversight panel also found Walz gave conflicting answers about when he first learned of the sweeping meal fraud. 

Federal prosecutors have charged more than 110 individuals in connection with various fraud schemes in the state. Many defendants in the Feeding Our Future case have been identified as members of Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community, in connection with various fraud schemes in the state. Some of the convicted fraudsters used the stolen money for luxury purchases and state officials have investigated whether a portion of it was funneled overseas to aid terrorist groups in Somalia and the Middle East.

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison are responsible for one of the most stunning oversight failures this Committee has ever examined,” Comer said in a statement. “It is now clear the Walz Administration chose to protect the system rather than protect the taxpayer.”

The report caps a months long investigation into the Walz administration’s handling of widespread fraud, which began in late 2025 and included hearing testimony from Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison as well as members of the Minnesota state legislature’s fraud committee. Nine current and former state officials also participated in transcribed interviews with congressional investigators.

The panel is also probing alleged health care fraud in California and Ohio as part of Republicans’ ongoing “war on fraud.”

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

The committee sent a letter to Vice President JD Vance urging a full review of Minnesota’s social services programs for potential fraud vulnerabilities, following the report’s findings.

Vance’s anti-fraud task force has led to the arrest of at least eight people who allegedly participated in health care fraud schemes and the freezing of $1.3 billion in payments to home health and hospice providers suspected of defrauding the government. 

Earlier this year, the Trump administration suspended nearly $260 million in federal Medicaid funding to Minnesota over the Walz administration’s alleged failure to crack down on fraud.

The Trump administration has also required states to show they are aggressively probing potential Medicaid fraud or risk losing federal funding.

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The report also comes as the House is expected to consider a slate of fraud-prevention bills this week. Republicans have argued that new legislative tools are necessary to prevent fraud at the state level amid alleged inaction.

The federal government loses an estimated $233 billion to $521 billion annually to fraud, according to a 2024 Government Accountability Office report.