NationalWatch

President Donald Trump is making an 11th-hour endorsement in the final stretch ahead of Tuesday’s high-profile Republican gubernatorial runoff in solidly red South Carolina, saying he “can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other.”

Trump on Friday took to Truth Social to say that he was supporting longtime South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the battle for the GOP nomination in the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.

“I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other, so, therefore, I am going to Endorse, for Governor of South Carolina, both Pam Evette and Alan Wilson!” Trump wrote, adding: “With either one you can’t go wrong.”

The endorsement of Wilson appears to be a move by Trump to hedge his bets, because Trump is already backing Evette, who is also supported by McMaster, a longtime top ally of the president.

The South Carolina runoff had been viewed as the latest test of Trump’s immense grip over the GOP and the power of his endorsements in Republican nominating contests.

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And his decision to back both Evette and Wilson isn’t the first time he’s made dual endorsements in the same Republican race. He’s already backing both Gina Swoboda and Jay Feely in next month’s Republican primary in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.

Most famously, Trump endorsed “ERIC” in the 2022 GOP Senate primary in Missouri, where the two major candidates were Eric Schmitt and Eric Greitens. Both candidates claimed the endorsement, with Schmitt ultimately winning the nomination.

In South Carolina, Trump endorsed Evette late last month, a week and a half before the gubernatorial primary.

Evette finished on top of a crowded field of contenders in the primary election, with Wilson second. The field also included Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, and multimillionaire businessman Rom Reddy. Since no candidate won a majority of the vote, as the top two finishers, Evette and Wilson advanced to the June 23 runoff.

Mace and Norman endorsed Wilson after failing to advance to the runoff. And Wilson was also backed a week ago by Sen. Ted Cruz, the conservative firebrand from Texas.

The runoff between Evette and Wilson has become combustible, and in Tuesday’s final debate both candidates launched personal attacks and accused each other of lying and misrepresenting their records.

Wilson has worked to contrast his tenure as attorney general with what he’s argued is Evette’s largely ceremonial role as lieutenant governor. And he has spotlighted his experience as a combat veteran, prosecutor, and the state’s top law enforcement official.

Evette has showcased herself as an outsider and a Trump-endorsed businesswoman, while casting Wilson as a career politician.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is supporting Wilson and has helped with fundraising, made calls on behalf of Wilson and encouraged the president’s endorsement of the state attorney general, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.

It’s been 28 years since a Democrat won a gubernatorial election in South Carolina, and the winner of the GOP runoff will be considered the clear favorite in the general election against Democratic nominee Jermaine Johnson, a state representative.

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

But Trump’s endorsement streak in statewide and congressional Republican primaries was snapped three weeks ago when his last minute endorsement of Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa in the race to succeed retiring GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds wasn’t enough to propel 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.

Trump rebounded a week later, as Evette finished first in the GOP gubernatorial primary and longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina won a majority of the vote in the Republican Senate primary, and avoided a runoff.

Graham, who was endorsed by Trump, was facing primary challenges from five candidates, including conservative businessman Mark Lynch, who took aim at the senator over his support for the war in Iran. Lynch was backed by some MAGA leaders who have been critical of the president.

And a couple of days ago, Trump-backed candidates won two of the three top races in Georgia and Alabama, with the one setback coming against a billionaire businessman who shelled out over $100 million of his own money to boost his campaign.

Rep. Barry Moore, a House Freedom Caucus member and longtime Trump supporter who was endorsed by the president, comfortably defeated rival Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL sniper who was supported by some top names on the right, in solidly red Alabama’s GOP Senate runoff.

In battleground Georgia’s Republican Senate runoff, an 11th hour endorsement by Trump this past weekend helped boost Rep. Mike Collins, a MAGA champion, to victory over former college football coach Derek Dooley, who was backed by popular conservative Gov. Brian Kemp.

Collins will face Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the general election in a race that’s among a handful that will likely decide if the GOP holds its slim majority in the chamber in the midterms.

Jones regularly showcased his Trump endorsement, but Jackson, who launched his bid in February long after the president had endorsed Jones, repeatedly said that Trump had inspired him to run.

But in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial runoff, the candidate Trump backed, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who was also endorsed by Kemp this past weekend, was defeated by Rick Jackson, who ran as an outsider.

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A Trump political operative, pointing to Tuesday’s loss by Trump-backed Jones, noted that “Rick Jackson set a record for spending in a statewide Republican primary. He spent Tom Steyer level money in a state a fraction of the size of California. That’s going to have an impact.”

And the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, also emphasized that “Rick bearhugged Trump. All of his ads and material was about how he’s going to be Trump’s favorite governor. So the race was not really a referendum on Trump.”

Fox News’ Luke Trevisan contributed to this report

California Attorney General Rob Bonta doubled down on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claims that the Trump administration is weaponizing the Justice Department after being pressed on reports that the federal probe involving Newsom and his wife originated in California and was not opened by the Trump Administration in Washington, D.C.

“I know what I’ve concluded is that this is highly dubious — there’s no trust in it,” Bonta said. “This is someone who’s weaponized the U.S. DOJ time and time again. I think he’s doing it now.”

Newsom took to X on Monday to publicly announce his uncovering that he and his wife, Jen Siebel Newsom are being investigated by the DOJ, claiming President Donald Trump directed the DOJ to investigate them and that they’ve joined “Donald Trump’s hit list.” 

GAVIN NEWSOM CLAIMS TRUMP ORDERED DOJ PROBE TARGETING HIM AND HIS WIFE

He is also widely claiming that Trump is targeting him because of recent speculation of Newsom as a promising 2028 presidential bid.

“Newsom is the governor for the biggest state, the bluest state in the nation, the fourth largest economy in the world,” Bonta said “Everyone knows that he could be president of the United States. So you put that situational awareness and context into this, and what do you conclude?“

Bonta told Fox News Digital that Trump has “weaponized” the Justice Department, saying it has shifted from pursuing criminal prosecutions to conducting “political persecutions against political enemies.”

FORMER GAVIN NEWSOM CHIEF OF STAFF CHARGED IN $225K FRAUD AND CORRUPTION SCHEME, DOJ SAYS

He also claimed that Trump ordered former Attorney General Pam Bondi “to go after his political enemies.”

“If that doesn’t destroy trust and make you doubt the intent behind this probe, I don’t know what else I can tell you,” Bonta said.

Bonta claimed Trump has used the DOJ to commit “political persecution” of his enemies, including a specific reference to “shifty Schiff.”

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., declined to answer questions from Fox News Digital about reports that the probe was opened by federal prosecutors in California rather than the administration in Washington.

ATTORNEY GENERAL BONDI CALLS OUT GAVIN NEWSOM FOR NOT PROTECTING CITY, VOWS TO PROSECUTE LOOTERS AND RIOTERS

Sources familiar told Fox News that the investigation has been ongoing since 2025 and that the probe is based on whistleblower complaints related to Newsom and his wife’s personal finances. The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento. 

A source also said that Washington was not involved in the decision to open the probe, according to the Associated Press.

An investigation launched last year under then-President Joe Biden resulted in corruption charges against Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson. She pleaded guilty to lying about sharing internal information with a former associate. Newsom was not involved in the probe personally. It is reported that Newsom’s office believes the Trump administration’s federal investigators widened the efforts of the probe to also look into Newsom.

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The Governor’s office announced on Monday that it filed a public records request to the DOJ seeking documents that mention Newsom or his wife during Trump’s second term, including messages to and from Justice Department leaders.

Fox News’ David Spunt, Jake Gibson and Olivia Palombo contributed to this story.

The Department of Homeland Security is accusing Minnesota officials of staging a “political stunt” as federal and state authorities square off over whether an ICE agent accused of pointing a gun at motorists should be prosecuted in state or federal court.

The dispute centers on Gregory Morgan Jr., an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged with two counts of second-degree assault after prosecutors said he pointed a handgun at motorists during a traffic confrontation while returning from a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities.

Morgan’s attorneys, backed by federal officials, argue he is protected under legal doctrines stemming from the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which establishes that federal law supersedes conflicting state laws. Courts have recognized that federal officers may, in certain circumstances, be shielded from state prosecution for actions taken in the course of their official duties. But Minnesota prosecutors say those protections do not apply here, arguing Morgan’s alleged conduct fell outside any legitimate federal law-enforcement function.

The case has grown into a broader fight over the legal protections afforded to federal officers. Hennepin County prosecutors are seeking to keep the matter in state court, while the federal government has joined Morgan’s effort to move it to federal court. Earlier this week, the Department of Justice filed a notice seeking to have Senior Trial Attorney Paul Quast appear on behalf of the United States in the case.

“These actions by Minnesota sanctuary politicians are nothing more than a political stunt,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “States do not have the authority to charge a federal law enforcement officer while performing his official duties.”

COLORADO DA PURSUES ASSAULT CHARGE AGAINST FEDERAL IMMIGRATION OFFICER, DHS CONDEMNS ‘POLITICAL STUNT’

The statement came as Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office urged a federal judge to reject Morgan’s request to transfer the case out of Minnesota state court.

In filings submitted this week, prosecutors argued Morgan is attempting to “transform his moment of road rage — committed on a state highway against Minnesota victims — into a federal enforcement action.”

The filing, submitted by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office along with the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and the Washington Litigation Group, contends there is no meaningful connection between the alleged assault and Morgan’s responsibilities as an ICE agent.

According to prosecutors, Morgan’s authority to arrest and detain individuals suspected of violating immigration laws did not extend to confronting motorists on a Minnesota highway.

MINNESOTA SUES TRUMP ADMIN OVER SWEEPING IMMIGRATION RAIDS IN TWIN CITIES

“There is no evidence of any job-related circumstance requiring the defendant to rush to his destination or to drive on the highway shoulder to get there,” the filing states. “It was the defendant’s decision to drive illegally on the shoulder to avoid the inconvenience of rush-hour traffic, and to draw and point his firearm at motorists who got in his way.”

Morgan’s attorney, Ryan Pacyga, filed the removal petition last week, arguing the alleged conduct occurred while Morgan was performing federal law enforcement duties and that both he and his partner feared “imminent bodily harm” during the encounter.

According to court records, Morgan was returning to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling on Feb. 5 after participating in Operation Metro Surge when the incident occurred on Highway 62 near the Interstate 35W interchange.

Prosecutors say Morgan and another ICE agent were driving on the highway shoulder during rush hour when a Cadillac moved over and blocked their path. Authorities allege Morgan then pulled alongside the vehicle, drew a handgun and pointed it at the occupants.

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One of the motorists called 911 and reported that a man had aimed a Glock at his face, while both occupants later told investigators they feared for their safety. Morgan was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and was released after posting $100,000 bail.

Morgan’s case is not the only prosecution stemming from Operation Metro Surge.

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Moriarty’s office later charged another ICE agent, Christian Castro, with multiple assault counts in connection with the alleged shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, an incident that sparked protests in north Minneapolis.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department, Moriarty’s office and Pacyga for comment.

A U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was set to take effect Friday afternoon, as Washington tried to salvage a broader regional framework with Iran after talks scheduled for Switzerland were abruptly postponed.

The Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire was set to take effect 9 a.m. Eastern Time/4 p.m. local time, both a senior U.S. and an Israeli official told Fox News Digital, but whether the ceasefire formally took effect remains disputed.  

The White House has not publicly commented on whether the ceasefire has formally taken effect. 

A Hezbollah spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the group would abide by the ceasefire if Israel does, but “reserves the right to respond” to any violation. The spokesperson said Hezbollah did not yet view the ceasefire as having taken effect, claiming Israel was still carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon more than an hour after it was supposed to begin.

ISRAEL MOVES TOWARDS CEASEFIRE DEAL WITH HEZBOLLAH: REPORTS

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video after the 4 p.m. local start time that he said showed Israel Defense Forces striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. It is unclear when those reported strikes took place, and Fox News Digital could not independently verify their timing.

“As I instructed – the IDF struck powerfully 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and eliminated dozens of terrorists,” he wrote on X. 

IDF spokesperson Effie Defrin said Hezbollah had killed four Israeli soldiers in overnight strikes early Friday. 

Still, an Israeli official said Israel intends to honor the ceasefire agreement.

“If Hezbollah doesn’t shoot, we won’t shoot. If they shoot — we will respond,” the official told Fox News Digital.

The agreement came after negotiations between the U.S. and Iran scheduled to take place this weekend in Switzerland were abruptly postponed. The White House has not publicly provided a reason for the delay.

Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Netanyahu over the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

“Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” Trump said to reporters Tuesday at the G7 conference in France. “Too many people are being killed, and you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you.”

“I’m not saying they shouldn’t protect themselves,” he added Wednesday during separate remarks to reporters. “I’m saying when two drones are shot into the desert and drop harmlessly, you don’t have to knock down buildings in Beirut. They could behave better, and frankly, they could do a better job.”

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite militant group and political movement based in Lebanon that the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Its conflict with Israel dates back decades, but the latest fighting has centered on Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon and Israeli strikes aimed at pushing the group back from the border and protecting northern Israeli communities.

“As the Vice President said at his press conference, the plans for the upcoming technical talks have not been finalized, and the U.S. delegation has been prepared to depart at the first available opportunity,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “But the logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable. As of now the Vice President is not departing tonight. We will let you know as soon as we have a concrete update about next steps.”  

The Iranian foreign ministry on Friday denied reports claiming Iran had once again closed the Strait of Hormuz. 

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have taken the necessary measures to ensure the safe passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding on the End of the War dated 18 June 1405, and shipping is underway in this route,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in a statement posted to Telegram.

A separate Iranian official told Fox News Digital Friday that traffic was moving “slowly” through the strait due to mine-clearing operations. 

HORMUZ CHOKE POINT PERSISTS AS IRAN HALTS OIL TRAFFIC DESPITE TRUMP CEASEFIRE

U.S. officials have described the memorandum signed Wednesday as a 60-day framework for negotiations toward a final agreement largely focused on Iran’s nuclear program.

They have said any U.S. force withdrawal from areas near Iran would be tied to a final deal, not required immediately under the initial agreement.

The agreement also declared the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” according to U.S. officials.

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U.S. officials have said the memorandum also includes immediate oil sanctions waivers for Iran, an end to Iranian threats to the Strait of Hormuz and a process for lifting the U.S. blockade, and future talks over Iran’s nuclear program, including the fate of its enriched uranium stockpile.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Pentagon, Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Iranian Foreign Ministry for additional comment and had not received responses by publication.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is warning that Virginia risks becoming “the next California” in the Trump administration’s fight against resistance to federal immigration enforcement after filing a new lawsuit last week.

“We are suing Virginia to prevent Virginia from becoming the next sanctuary jurisdiction, just like California,” DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Brett Shumate told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview.

The lawsuit, first shared with Fox News Digital earlier in June, argues Virginia is violating the Constitution by trying to regulate federal law enforcement operations, including restrictions on agents’ masks, identification requirements and conditions on local cooperation with ICE.

“Under our Constitution, the states do not get to regulate or dictate how the federal government performs its duties, and that is especially the case when it comes to law enforcement. Virginia passed two bills in this newest session, one that restricts the ability of law enforcement officers to wear facial coverings and requires officers, federal agents, to wear identification badges,” said Shumate.

FIRST ON FOX: DOJ SUES SPANBERGER’S VIRGINIA OVER LAWS KNEECAPPING FEDERAL AGENTS AS MASK WAR ESCALATES

He said the other bill “restricts cooperation agreements between local law enforcement agencies, like sheriffs, and ICE to voluntarily cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.”

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

While DOJ has not heard back from state officials, Shumate shared that the department feels confident about the previous case due to precedent.

FEDERAL COURT BLOCKS NEWSOM’S BID TO SHACKLE ICE IN TRUMP IMMIGRATION WIN

“We brought a nearly identical lawsuit against California earlier this year, and we won that case,” he said.

In April, a federal appeals court handed the Trump administration a legal victory over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The court blocked California from requiring federal immigration agents to display identification during operations.

He says they are asserting the same legal theory in this case.

NEWSOM ON COURTROOM COLLISION COURSE WITH TRUMP OVER ICE MASK BAN

“Under the Constitution, the Supremacy Clause in particular, the states do not get to regulate or discriminate against the federal government,” said Shumate. “That’s exactly what Virginia has done. They have attempted to regulate how the federal goes about its business. They do not have the authority to do that under the constitution.”

The two Virginia laws are set to take effect July 1 and Shumate shared the DOJ plans to move quickly to a district court judge to enjoin these laws from taking effect. Virginia was previously a solidly red state, voting for Republicans in nearly every presidential election for decades before shifting to the left in the last roughly 20 years. 

“We will be filing very quickly in the district Court in Virginia to seek an injunction to stop these laws from taking effect, which these laws have criminal penalties that put federal agents at risk, not only of criminal prosecution, but also at risk of doxing and harassment,” he added.

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ICE has defended the practice of agents concealing their identities during operations, saying last summer as Trump’s intensifying immigration crackdown prompted anti-ICE protests and riots that rhetoric on the left had caused a spike in “threats and assaults against [agents’] families.”

Shumate shared the department is looking at several bills in other states that are considering mask restrictions.

“Any state that’s considering passing this type of bill is on notice that we will file a lawsuit and we will ask for an injunction to block those laws from taking effect,” said Shumate.

They didn’t know what to do.

Just before 4 a.m. ET on Wednesday, President Trump blindsided everyone in the U.S. Senate. In a post on Truth Social, the president declared he was “cancelling the Senate hearing” for his Director of National Intelligence nominee Jay Clayton. Moreover, the President said he would withhold Clayton’s nomination from “going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney.”

If confirmed, Clayton would vacate his post as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. That’s the slot for which the President is nominating McDonald.

TRUMP SAYS SENATE HEARING ON DNI NOMINEE IS CANCELED UNTIL US ATTORNEY REPLACEMENT CONFIRMED

So what would happen with the hearing?

Lawmakers and aides scrambled as they woke to the news Wednesday morning. After all, Trump is the president. He doesn’t have the authority to cancel a Senate hearing.

“Yeah. I don’t think that’s his call,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., a member of the Intelligence Committee.

One senior source told Fox News they presumed that Clayton’s confirmation hearing would forge ahead. Another told Fox the fate of the hearing was “undetermined.”

On one hand, lawmakers and aides had to first digest what was happening. Was the President withdrawing Clayton’s nomination? Was he saying he just wasn’t allowing Clayton to testify? Did the head of the executive branch really believe he could bigfoot a congressional hearing? Or was this the president flexing his political muscle, testing Senate Republicans to see how compliant they might be with his intimation — and potentially cancel the hearing on their own?

So was Clayton’s hearing on or off?

“Are we going to have an Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing today?” yours truly asked panel Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., as he slid behind a backdoor to a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Silence from Cotton.

SCOOP: TOP GOP SEN. COTTON TO MEET WITH EMBATTLED TRUMP DEFENSE NOMINEE AS DOUBTS SWIRL

“Do you know the answer?” I followed up.

“Do you think the President overstepped his bounds, saying he was canceling the hearing?” I continued.

By that point, Cotton was well behind the doorway and it closed.

“I have never seen anything quite like this,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of the longest-serving members on the Intelligence Committee in Senate history. “Everybody else is going to have to keep guessing for a while.”

It was Washington whiplash.

“Things change around here pretty quick, Chad,” quipped Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.

But a bit later, Cotton finally weighed-in when he posted on X that the hearing would proceed. The Arkansas Republican then materialized again in the hallway, heading for an elevator bank.

“To be clear, you will proceed with the hearing and you expect Jay Clayton to be there despite what the President said?” I asked.

A steel-faced Cotton stared straight ahead at the green elevator door.

“Chad, you have our statement,” said a terse Cotton.

But an hour later, Cotton ditched the hearing after the President blocked Clayton from testifying.

“It’s regrettable that the President has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today,” said Cotton in a new statement on X. “While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.”

The stunning reversal left everyone trying to grasp what happened. And what might be next.

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“I am not sure whether Jay Clayton has simply been postponed or withdrawn,” mused Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee. “I wonder whether Jay Clayton knows whether he has been postponed or withdrawn.”

Democrats and Republicans brokered a fragile agreement weeks ago to renew FISA Section 702. The intelligence community argues that program is the powerful tool in the American arsenal to track and combat potential terrorism. Congress repeatedly punted a full renewal for months.

But with both bodies on the precipice of reauthorizing the program, President Trump announced he would install housing czar Bill Pulte as interim DNI. Democrats balked at Pulte, noting he had no intelligence experience. Plus, they viewed him as a political hack who would run roughshod over America’s intelligence apparatus.

So Democrats pulled their support from the FISA compromise.

Most Republicans weren’t exactly enamored with Pulte, either. And those worried about the nation’s security pushed to block Pulte from entering the DNI’s office. That’s why Cotton scheduled Clayton’s confirmation hearing so quickly. It was thought that the Senate might be able to pivot after the hearing and confirm Clayton on the floor late this week or early next.

Rapid confirmation of Clayton was essential. Such a scenario would unlock Democrats’ votes to reauthorize FISA Section 702 after the program’s congressional blessing expired a week ago.

That was the plan. At least until the president initiated the firestorm over Clayton’s confirmation hearing this week.

“Another Trump victory gets upended by an impulse,” vented Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “It’s frustrating.”

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

But wait. There’s more.

President Trump inserted another chestnut — or hot potato — into his pre-dawn Truth Social screed. Especially if you thought the president was going to make it easy for Congress to hastily re-up FISA as soon as the Senate confirmed Clayton.

“To add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it,” Trump said.

He added that his plan was for Pulte to “remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence” and declared that “Republicans fell into a trap.”

The SAVE America Act is the touchstone of President Trump’s 2026 legislative agenda. It requires proof of citizenship to vote. However, the bill has never garnered even 50 yeas in the Senate on two previous test votes.

“We’ve got to pass the SAVE America Act and conditioning passage of FISA on the prior passage of SAVE America would be a great thing,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Other Senate Republicans were more realistic, based on the legislative history of the SAVE America Act.

“You can’t always get what you want,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “I mean, I want a Porsche for my birthday. I’m not going to get it.”

TRUMP, THUNE CLASH ON VOTER ID ULTIMATUM AS GOP REMAINS DIVIDED ON PATH FORWARD

Democrats seethed about national security as Republicans squirmed.

“We had a path forward as of yesterday (on FISA) and today we don’t,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. “This has become a complete debacle and now it’s up to the White House to figure out a path forward here.”

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No one knows what’s next for Clayton. Or McDonald. Or FISA. And there’s high skepticism anything happens on the SAVE America Act. So it’s all in a cryogenic Congressional freeze.

Regardless, Clayton’s confirmation hearing never happened. Such hearings are the responsibility of the legislative branch. But by the end of the day, there was no question who canceled it. 

Just before leaving office amid a contentious battle over who will succeed her, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard used one of her final acts atop the U.S. intelligence community to spotlight Dr. Anthony Fauci’s role in discussions surrounding the government’s COVID-19 origins review. 

While much of the material is familiar, Gabbard’s release underscores her effort to make questions surrounding Fauci, COVID origins and federal support for virus research part of her closing legacy atop the intelligence community.

As Gabbard fired her final broadside, Bill Pulte, who has received bipartisan criticism over his lack of intelligence experience, is set to take the reins at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence while Trump’s permanent nominee remains stalled.

Jay Clayton, an attorney and former SEC chairman whom Trump nominated to permanently lead ODNI, has seen his confirmation process delayed after the president said he was holding up the nomination to pressure Congress to pass a voter identification measure.

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

Pulte is a construction businessman and housing official who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. His tenure at the housing agency has drawn controversy over allegations that he used FHFA authority to target Trump’s political opponents, an allegation amplifying concerns among key senators that he may attempt to weaponize the intelligence community at the behest of the president during his interim tenure.

“We don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune said of Pulte. Other powerful congressional Republicans, such as Sens. Cornyn, Cassidy, Murkowski, Collins and Tillis, have also voiced opposition to or concern over Pulte taking over ODNI.

Senate Democrats share many of the same concerns as their GOP colleagues.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner and Ron Wyden have all expressed concerns that Pulte would weaponize America’s intelligence apparatus against Trump’s enemies. Similar to many Republicans, they’ve criticized him for a lack of intelligence experience as well.

TRUMP DNI PICK BRACES FOR SENATE GRILLING AS TEMPORARY STAND-IN FUELS DEM PRESSURE

Political observers believe that Clayton would face far less opposition from the Senate over his confirmation. However, the upper chamber has so far proven unwilling to move on the president’s voter identification legislation, complicating his advancement and setting the stage for a showdown between the White House and Congress.

While lawmakers and the president go back and forth over the fate of ODNI, Gabbard has sought to spotlight the Fauci documents on her way out.

The documents she released Thursday night include some information that was already known to the public as well as others that do not appear to have been publicly reported.

ANTHONY FAUCI MAY BE DEPOSED AS GOP INTENSIFIES COVID INVESTIGATIONS IN NEW CONGRESS

Gabbard’s release contains newly declassified documents that show intelligence officials considered but ultimately rejected Fauci as an outside reviewer of their COVID-19 origins assessment, warning he would be seen as having a conflict of interest. 

In a different exchange, intelligence officials tasked with analyzing the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic debated whether to take Fauci’s recommendations on who to interview for their study.

“For those who don’t know me, I’m the [REDACTED] and, as such, leading the [intelligence community’s] 90-day POTUS COVID origin study,” one official wrote in an email. “Per below, Dr Fauci recommended that the IC reach out to the below individuals who were coauthors of the attached paper as part of the study.”

TOP 4 EXPLOSIVE MOMENTS FROM CIA WHISTLEBLOWER’S TESTIMONY ON ALLEGED COVID-19 LAB LEAK COVER-UP

Another official questioned whether it was prudent for the intelligence community to take the advice of a “policymaker” like Fauci when conducting internal affairs, “particularly given the various strong views on the subject and statements regarding their own conclusions.”

An intelligence official responded by arguing that Fauci should not be considered a policymaker in this context, but rather an important subject-matter expert.

“In this particular case, given Dr Fauci’s background we absolutely would like to follow-up on his outreach suggestions,” they wrote. “In this case he’s not a policymaker….he’s a SME with a wealth of knowledge about current and historical research who probably knows better than most who the real Coronavirus experts are.”

A CIA whistleblower previously claimed that Fauci exerted undue influence over the intelligence community’s assessment of COVID-19’s origins, claims that Gabbard now seeks to amplify with her release.

During the COVID-19 era, conservatives alleged that Fauci and other public health officials downplayed or helped steer scrutiny away from the lab-leak theory despite American financial links to coronavirus research in Wuhan, where the disease originated. Gabbard has framed her trove of documents as a look into how the intelligence community incorporated information from people like Fauci while investigating the virus’ origins.

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“Fauci worked with politicized career leadership in the Intelligence Community (IC) to suppress the truth about his actions, the virus’ lab-leak origins, and his role in directing U.S. funding for this dangerous research that caused immeasurable harm and countless lost lives,” ODNI’s press release accompanying the documents asserts. “These documents expose Fauci’s direct role in influencing and manipulating IC assessments on COVID-19, and how Fauci lied to Congress in 2024, when under oath he denied knowledge of or participation in discussions with intelligence officials about viral research.”

Gabbard left her role at ODNI to care for her husband, who has a rare form of cancer, Fox News Digital first reported.

A simmering rift between President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni burst into the open Friday after the G7 summit, exposing growing tensions between two leaders whose close political alliance had long positioned Meloni among Trump’s closest allies on the world stage.

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don’t ‌know why ⁠the president of the United States behaves like this towards his allies: it is not the first time, moreover,” Meloni said Friday, according to Reuters.

Trump told an Italian news outlet that Meloni “begged” him to take a photo with her during the G7 earlier this week, which sparked strong rebuke from the prime minister and Italian diplomats. Before the recent strain over Iran, Meloni was widely viewed as one of Trump’s strongest allies on the world stage, even attending his 2025 presidential inauguration as the only European leader present.

“She wanted a picture with me so ​badly. I wouldn’t have taken it, but I felt sorry for her,” Trump said to La7 TV channel. “She’s probably happy I talked to her. I didn’t have to talk to her.”

WHO IS GIORGIA MELONI? TRUMP HOSTS ITALIAN PM AT MAR-A-LAGO

Meloni fired back: “I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence.”

“There is one thing he should remember: neither I nor Italy ever beg,” she added.

Representatives from the prime minister’s office told Fox News Digital they have no comment at the moment. Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House.

RUBIO MEETS MELONI AS TRUMP–POPE CLASH ESCALATES US STRAINS WITH KEY EUROPEAN ALLY

There have been looming tensions between the two leaders after Meloni recently distanced herself from the U.S. amid mounting domestic and political pressure over the widening Middle East conflict.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani abruptly canceled his U.S. visit Friday following Trump’s remarks over the photo. 

“The serious and offensive words of President Trump towards Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offend all of Italy. For this reason, I have decided to cancel my visit to the United States scheduled for the next 21 and 22 June,” Tajani wrote on X.

TRUMP TROOP CUTS IN EUROPE COULD BE BLOCKED BY CONGRESS — HERE’S HOW HE MIGHT GET AROUND IT

Tajani was set to attend the Italy–U.S. Business, Investment, Science and Innovation Forum in Miami, Florida. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to deliver remarks at the conference on Monday. Rubio recently traveled to Italy last month to smooth over previous tensions with Meloni and Pope Leo XIV.

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

As Trump urged world leaders to take a more active role in the Iran conflict, Meloni notably stayed on the sidelines, underscoring an emerging rift between the longtime allies.

Meloni has previously said she would not support any effort to reduce the U.S. military presence in Italy, drawing a contrast with Trump’s broader push to reposition American forces in Europe.

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Italy remains a key U.S. security hub in Europe, hosting nearly 13,000 active-duty American troops across six bases as of the end of 2025.

Fox News Digital’s Courtney Walsh and Reuters contributed to this report.

A divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court, including two Democrat justices, ordered Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office to face new outside scrutiny over its post-conviction concessions after the state’s high court found the office’s handling of one convicted murderer’s case was unreliable and said similar problems extended beyond just that single case.

Justice Kevin Dougherty, a Democrat, wrote the 4-3 opinion in the case of Levar Brown, a Philadelphia man whose murder convictions became the centerpiece of a broader legal fight over Krasner’s Conviction Integrity Unit and the office’s willingness to concede relief in serious criminal cases. Dougherty was joined by Justice Daniel McCaffery, another Democrat judge on the state’s Supreme Court, and two other Republican judges. The dissenters were all Democrats.  

The 4-3 decision reversed a Philadelphia post-conviction order granting Brown a new trial after Krasner’s office conceded his conviction should not stand and a Philadelphia judge approved the request. It also ordered that, going forward, Philadelphia judges handling post-conviction challenges must notify the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and allow the office to intervene before granting relief in any case where Krasner’s office concedes that a conviction should be overturned.

The ruling stops short of handing control of the cases to the state attorney general, but it creates a new court-ordered check on Krasner’s office in future post-conviction matters.

FETTERMAN TELLS PHILADELPHIA DA TO ‘LIGHTEN UP, FRANCIS’ AFTER HEATED ICE REMARKS

“The prosecutor does not decide whether a defendant is entitled to relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act,” Dougherty wrote for the majority, emphasizing that a judge must independently determine whether a conviction should be overturned even when prosecutors agree with the defense.

The majority concluded that Krasner’s office’s concession in Brown’s case “was not reliable,” finding that Krasner’s office conceded relief when it was not warranted by the existing record, withheld material evidence from the court, submitted a false stipulation of fact, misstated facts in its pleadings, failed to conduct a reasonable investigation and opposed a required evidentiary hearing.

The court suggested that if its concerns in the Brown case were confined to just that case alone, it would not have justified a broader remedy. But the majority opinion said the concerns were evident in other post-conviction cases as well.

PHILLY DA’S ‘HUNT YOU DOWN’ WARNING TO ICE DRAWS CALLS FOR DOJ CRIMINAL PROBE

Since 2018, the Philadelphia DA’s office has conceded relief “well over 100 times,” mostly in murder cases, according to the opinion. The court also said there are apparently more than 1,000 cases still waiting to be reviewed by the office’s Conviction Integrity Unit.

The case was brought to the high court by family members of murder victims Michael Richardson and Robert Crawford. Brown was convicted by a Philadelphia jury in the 2004 murder of Richardson and convicted by another Philadelphia jury in the 2005 murder of Crawford, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

Two decades later, Krasner’s office conceded that Brown should receive a new trial and argued that relief was due without an evidentiary hearing, the attorney general’s office said.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday praised the ruling, saying his office will now be able to serve as a check on the process for Philadelphia residents and victims’ families.

“As prosecutors, our role is to advocate for victims of crime, for public safety, and for justice,” Sunday said in a statement. “Centuries of experience teach that the best way to achieve that justice is through the adversarial process, with vigorous representation for both sides.”

PHILADELPHIA DA GOES INTO TIRADE ABOUT ‘FASCIST’ TRUMP, ‘HITLER’ WHEN CONFRONTED AT PARK IN VIRAL VIDEO

Sunday’s office said the court concluded the Philadelphia DA’s concession in Brown’s case was “not reliable” and “recognized that similar concessions in numerous other cases also appeared to be unreliable.”

“The Court directed judges to notify the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General of any concessions before granting relief, and to permit the Office of Attorney General to intervene in future cases where the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office attempts to concede a conviction,” the office said.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said it is still assessing what the ruling will mean for its workload, budget and personnel.

“We are assessing what yesterday’s Supreme Court of Pennsylvania order will mean for our office’s workload and what impacts it may have on our budget and our personnel,” the OAG Press Team said. “Given the many unknowns involved, including the number of cases concessions will be made in and our response to those concessions, it may be difficult to fully assess these impacts until the process truly begins.”

The office added that it appreciates the court allowing the AG’s office to “serve as a check on this process for the citizens of Philadelphia and ensure that the interests of victims’ families are represented.”

SOROS-BACKED DA KRASNER THREATENS ICE AGENTS AT PHILLY AIRPORT: ‘I WILL PUT YOU IN HANDCUFFS’

Krasner’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. But Krasner posted a video response online defending his reform agenda and attacking the ruling as an anti-democratic move that treats Philadelphia differently from other counties.

The video featured images of civil rights icons Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. as Krasner framed criminal justice reform as part of a broader social justice movement.

“Reform can be scary to those who need it,” Krasner said in the video. “Which part don’t you like? The safety or the freedom?”

Krasner said Philadelphia has not had better numbers for “safety” or “freedom” in his lifetime and argued that critics are fighting a national criminal justice reform movement.

“The truth is that criminal justice reform is a national social justice movement,” Krasner said. “And like all other social justice movements, it follows a certain pattern. First they ignore you. We’re past it. Then they laugh at you. We’re past that. Then they fight you. And we have been fighting for eight and a half years. And then the next step – we got to get there – is you win.”

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Krasner said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in a “close decision,” ruled that when his office supports a defense position that someone deserves a new trial or release from custody, “we need to have the attorney general’s office looking over our shoulder unlike every other county.”

“Does that help democracy? No,” Krasner said. “It actually undermines the value of a vote in Philadelphia as compared to every other county.”

The majority opinion, however, said the order does not strip Krasner’s office of prosecutorial discretion. Instead, the court said the DA’s office remains free to litigate cases as it sees fit, but that the attorney general’s independent assessment and participation will “enhance the reliability” of post-conviction proceedings and their subsequent decisions.

In dissent, Justice David Wecht warned that the majority was injecting the attorney general into local post-conviction proceedings and interfering with the discretion of Philadelphia’s elected prosecutor. But the majority rejected that argument, saying the attorney general’s role would not override the DA’s discretion and would instead give courts the benefit of an adversarial process before convictions are overturned.

The ruling sends Brown’s case back to the Pennsylvania post-conviction court for further proceedings and sets a new process for future cases where Krasner’s office seeks to concede relief.

President Donald Trump signaled he is likely to back Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s upcoming elections, dangling a potentially powerful endorsement even as he has been at odds with the Israeli leader publicly over the tensions in Iran and Lebanon.

“I’ll have to look at who’s running, but I like Bibi very much. I would be most likely to endorse him,” Trump said in an interview with Israeli public broadcaster KAN News, using Netanyahu’s nickname, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

“But I need to see who is running,” Trump added. “I have a good relationship with Bibi, but he needs to be more rational. I am willing to meet with him. He’s doing a very good job; he’s got to be a little bit more rational.”

‘BIBI’S HAIR ON FIRE’: TRUMP-NETANYAHU PUBLIC ‘RIFT’ MASKED UNIFIED FRONT AGAINST IRAN, ANALYST SAYS

The remarks came as Trump has offered increasingly pointed criticism of his longtime political ally, while the U.S. pushes ahead with Middle East diplomacy involving Iran and Lebanon.

Axios reported earlier this month that Trump lashed out at Netanyahu during a call over Israel’s actions in Lebanon, with one U.S. official summarizing Trump’s message as calling the Israeli leader “f—ing crazy.” Trump later confirmed in an interview on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that he made the remark, while also saying he likes Netanyahu and works “very well” with him.

The tensions flared again after an Israeli strike in Beirut nearly complicated the signing of the U.S.-Iran deal. Trump told Axios he was “so pissed off” over the strike and said Netanyahu had “no f—ing judgment,” while still insisting the Iran agreement remained on track.

On Wednesday, Trump described recent tensions between he and Netanyahu as a “little dispute” over Lebanon and suggested the Israeli leader “gets a little excited sometimes,” according to the report.

VANCE WARNS IRAN THAT ‘ANOTHER OPTION ON THE TABLE’ IF NUCLEAR DEAL NOT REACHED

“I say you can do a little softer touch, maybe you don’t need to bring down a building every time a Hezbollah member walks into it,” Trump also said Wednesday about the Israeli leader.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has repeatedly highlighted his relationship with Trump in official remarks, calling him “our great friend” and “my personal friend,” and saying the two leaders “speak almost every day” and “decid[e] together,” according to statements released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Vice President JD Vance addressed concerns over Iran in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, saying the U.S. would not lift sanctions if Tehran continues funding terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.

“They assume that everything that is contemplated that is good for Iran will happen — but that will happen without the Iranians changing any behavior,” Vance said, referring to what he described as a “weird panic” in Israel over the Iran deal.

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“That’s not how the deal is written,” Vance added.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Israeli embassy for comment.

After more than 100 days away from Capitol Hill, Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., is set to return to Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks.

Kean, 57, will be present for votes during the June 30 session, a spokesperson for the congressman confirmed to Fox News Digital. The two-term New Jersey lawmaker has been sidelined for months with a personal health issue and has yet to disclose the nature of the ailment. 

Kean has pledged to be transparent about his illness once he is back in Washington.

The New Jersey Globe first reported the timing of Kean’s expected return. He previously told the outlet his medical issue did not affect his cognitive health and will not have any chronic complications that could impair his ability to seek a third House term.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN MISSES ANOTHER WEEK OF VOTES AS HEALTH ABSENCE STRAINS THIN MAJORITY

The embattled lawmaker has not been seen in public or cast a vote on the House floor since early March, amounting to 135 missed roll call votes, according to GovTrack.

Kean’s office has still continued to introduce legislation and post on social media. 

The New Jersey Republican is expected return to Washington ahead of November’s midterm elections will be relatively short-lived. With just over 30 legislative days remaining, lawmakers are scheduled to spend nearly all of August and October back home campaigning for reelection. 

DEMS PICK CHALLENGER FOR GOP CONGRESSMAN WHO VANISHED FROM PUBLIC VIEW AMID HEALTH MYSTERY

Thursday’s announcement comes as Kean is facing a significant reelection challenge from former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett in one of the country’s most competitive House battleground districts.

Bennett, who is expected to lean into her national security background on the campaign trail, defeated several Democrat primary challengers in May to advance to the general election.

She has largely refrained from criticizing Kean during his absence, but said he must be transparent with voters about his health issue.

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Kean, who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, ran unopposed for the GOP nomination, but his future in Congress remains unclear amid his absence and health concerns. 

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the New Jersey contest in the suburban swing seat as a “toss-up.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s approval rating in his state has plummeted to a level below President Donald Trump as the state’s top executive continues to face blowback from the massive fraud scandal that erupted under his watch. 

Walz, who is leaving office in January after announcing he will not run for re-election, has an approval rating of 39% in the state and a disapproval rating of 53% with 8% not sure, according to a new poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy Inc. for KARE 11, the Minnesota Star Tribune, and the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The poll surveyed 800 Minnesota registered voters likely to participate in the November general election via live telephone interviews from June 8-10, 2026 and the numbers represent Walz’s lowest approval rating since taking office six years ago.

On the fraud issue, 45% of voters say they trust Republicans to fix it compared to 38% who chose Democrats and 14% who said neither party.

FINAL WALZ FRAUD REPORT RIPS ‘CULTURE OF TOLERANCE’ AS MINNESOTA TAXPAYERS FACE BILLIONS IN ALLEGED LOSSES

The same polling unit registered Trump’s approval rating in the state at 41% this week, which conservatives on social media took notice of.

“Tim Walz has a lower approval rating than President Trump in deep blue Minnesota right now,” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage posted on X. “That’s how toxic the fraud has become for Democrats.”

Over the past year, the Trump administration has taken a major interest in Minnesota and unleashed its fraud task force into the state resulting in raids, arrests, and further investigations into how the fraud was able to grow so quickly in the state.

Another contentious issue revealed by the poll is Minnesota’s new state flag, supported by Walz, that 50% of voters say they disapprove of. 

The state’s new flag has become a cultural and political flashpoint in a state already reeling from one of the largest fraud scandals in U.S. history, heavily involving the Somali immigrant community. The flag was approved by a 13-member commission created by the Democratic-controlled legislature in 2023. Critics of the flag say it is overly simplistic and some have even knocked it as bearing a resemblance to Somalia’s national flag. 

MINNESOTA LAWMAKERS UNLOAD ON WALZ’S ‘LEGACY’ AFTER HE TOUTS FRAUD RECORD IN FINAL ADDRESS: ‘RIDICULOUS’

“Two issues that unite a majority of Minnesotans are the rejection of Tim Walz and his failed policies and our hatred for the Minnesota Somali state flag,” Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital. “The flag is an embarrassment and good on the cities who are actively removing it from their city halls and communities.” 

“President Trump is more popular than Tim Walz in his home state because Minnesotans are sick and tired of Walz siding with illegal aliens and Somali fraudsters over his hardworking, taxpaying constituents.” he continued. “The legacy of Tim Walz will be the fires that destroyed Minneapolis, the fraud that he allowed to be stolen under his watch, and his failures that have harmed our great state.” 

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Fraud appears to have played a significant role in Walz’s cratering approval, which is evidenced by a 10-point drop in his support since last year as the fraud scandal has dominated headlines.

Only 1% of Republicans in the state say they approve of the job Walz is doing to go along with 73% of Democrats and 32% of Independents.

“America rejected Tim Walz in 2024,” Republican Minnesota State Sen. Michael Holmstrom told Fox News Digital. “Now Minnesotans are following suit. The good news for Tim is that, now that his record is on full display, he could soon be the most popular guy in the jailhouse.”

Republican State Sen. Mark Koran told Fox News Digital that the polls “really tell you what Gov. Walz has done to himself.”

“He let his fraud crisis blow up and didn’t do anything to fix it while he was busy shoving all this radical stuff into state government,” Koran said. “After years of extreme far-left ideology and policies that don’t help normal people, Minnesotans have had enough. His legacy is going to be the fraud crisis and desecrating the state flag. Minnesota is just tired of it.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report

The Senate was nearing a resolution to a key hurdle to revive the nation’s most valuable counterterrorism tool until President Donald Trump blew it up.

The last-minute hitch to the Senate’s march toward reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) comes just days after a domestic terror plot was foiled in Washington, D.C.

It’s a program that its champions and critics say is critical to thwarting terror plots abroad and one heavily used by the FBI, which over the weekend foiled a plan to use bomb-laden drones and snipers to potentially kill thousands at Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) birthday celebration. 

The Senate was on its way to confirming Trump’s pick to be the next director of national intelligence (DNI), Jay Clayton, in a bid to get one step closer to reauthorizing Section 702, but Trump’s eleventh-hour decision to call off Clayton’s confirmation hearing halted all momentum.

SPY PROGRAM CREDITED WITH STOPPING TAYLOR SWIFT TERROR PLOT BARRELS TOWARD EXPIRATION

“It is the single most important program in terms of maintaining national security, and putting Mr. Clayton into the department would have eliminated an obstacle for having that happen,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said. “I’m not sure. I think it’s a mistake for the president to have done this, and, hopefully, he’ll change his mind.” 

FISA reauthorization has long been a policy-based issue on the Hill. Boiled down, the Section 702 program allows the U.S. government to collect intelligence on foreigners abroad who are using U.S. communication systems, and it serves as a major part of Trump’s daily intelligence briefing.

But it also sweeps up communications from Americans who are talking to foreign suspects, and proponents pushing reforms argue that loopholes in the program allow for the surveillance of Americans on U.S. soil.

But it’s now morphed into a deeply political issue on the Hill. Democrats recoiled weeks ago when Trump tapped his Housing director, Bill Pulte, to serve in the interim as DNI. His nomination of Clayton was seen as an olive branch to restart talks. 

TRUMP’S DNI PICK WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING AFTER TRUTH SOCIAL BOMB

Now lawmakers say they’re back at the starting line after Trump halted Clayton’s confirmation hearing and demanded that his SAVE America Act be attached to the unrelated bill.

“This is why I’m making the case you have to have permanent reform, because you can’t count on any of these people to be there for a very long time, and that’s what we saw today,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said. “I’m the longest serving member on the committee, and I have never seen anything quite like this.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., contended that Trump’s current position is to “up the ante.” 

“I mean, he’s putting 702 [reauthorization] almost out of reach,” Tillis said. “But he’s got to consciously recognize he’s doing that. We were close before the Pulte announcement. We were back on the right track with the Clayton announcement. Now we’re back to square one.”

Senate Democrats raged at the latest development, and argued that Trump couldn’t care less about the nation’s security.

REPUBLICANS QUESTION TRUMP’S ‘PRIVATELY FUNDED’ BALLROOM AFTER REPORT POINTS TO TAXPAYER BURDEN

“Look, Trump’s actions overnight make it clear he is undermining our national security,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “He doesn’t give a damn about the American people’s safety, plain and simple. And every action he takes undercuts our safety for his own ridiculous, sometimes even indiscernible political motivation.” 

What was already a difficult issue based on policy alone has turned into a political slugfest with jabs, parries and haymakers dealing stiff blows to the process. 

Some Republicans believe that Democrats made the issue political and own the current situation.

“They’re just looking for some other reason to pin the tail on the donkey here, but it’s sort of — the ball’s in their court, but a lot of important issues at stake for sure,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said. 

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Some privacy hawks don’t see the current situation as entirely doom and gloom.

While the current compromise three-year reauthorization waiting in the wings can pass if the stars align and the political firestorm abates, there are lawmakers who want another bite at the apple to push for more reforms and see the delay as an opportunity. 

“I welcome the opportunity to, at the very least, to get rid of ridiculous provisions that say that, you know, if you have Wi-Fi in your home or building, that they may then be a FISA obligated provider,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. “I mean, what in the world?”

Janeese Lewis George, a socialist member of the Washington, D.C., City Council described as “D.C.’s version of [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani,” is likely to become mayor of the nation’s capital after winning the Democrat primary this week. 

Her main opponent, Kenyan McDuffie, conceded on Thursday morning and the ranked-choice primary race was officially called for the far-left candidate by the afternoon.

In a city that leans overwhelmingly Democrat and with no real challengers on the ballot, Lewis George’s primary victory clears the way for her to win November’s general election for mayor. She is poised to replace current Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, who on occasion worked with President Donald Trump over the last two years but ultimately opted not to pursue a fourth term at the city’s helm. 

DSA-LINKED DC COUNCILMEMBER MOUNTS MAYORAL BID TO SUCCEED BOWSER

Lewis George’s challengers were McDuffie and five others who polled very low: Rini Sampath, Gary Goodweather, Ernest Johnson, Hope Solomon and Vincent Orange.

With a more adversarial approach to the current administration, Lewis George’s victory tees up a potential showdown with Trump as the president made cleaning up D.C. during his second term a main goal, maintains a deployment of the National Guard to the nation’s capital and has threatened repeatedly to end home rule for the district.

Opposing Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to D.C. was a central tenet of Lewis George’s platform on the council and during her campaign.

“Like many of you, I am shocked and outraged that President Trump has announced he is weaponizing the Home Rule Act by deploying the National Guard and exercising authority over the Metropolitan Police Department. This is a direct attack on the 700,000 residents of D.C., and we will not stand for it,” she said in a statement when Trump announced the move last August.

While Bowser offered cooperation with the Trump administration on the crime crackdown, which has been focused heavily on juvenile incidents, Lewis George insisted that “federal troops” and “masked ICE agents” were the real threat to the city’s youth.

MAMDANI-STYLE DC MAYORAL HOPEFUL DRAGGED OVER ‘EXACTLY BACKWARDS’ RESPONSE TO VIOLENT TEEN MOBS

“Right now, using the curfew as a tool for our young people is dangerous,” she said during a primary debate. “It is dangerous because we have federal troops who are in our city, masked ICE agents who are in our city, and these are the people enforcing this law and our young people.”

“And these are not individuals who are trained in de-escalation, they are not accountable to D.C. residents.

“As mayor,” she continued, “I think it’s important that we use the right tools, and we don’t put the risk of our youth being harmed or killed without the real oversight that’s necessary.”

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Instead, Lewis George plans to offer even more “youth programming” to keep young people out of trouble.

She has touted a plan to expand universal access to childcare in D.C., “so that no family is spending more than 7% of their income on childcare.”

As a self-described democratic socialist, Lewis George is expected to take the district even further left as Trump and Republicans call for a crackdown on left-leaning policies they say are ruining the nation’s capital.

The candidate has supported the defund police movement and was endorsed by progressive groups like Black Lives Matter, the Working Families Party and the Metro D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Trump has suggested that he’d order another federal takeover of Washington D.C. if the “crazy socialist” mayoral candidate was elected.

“I wouldn’t like it — and maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” Trump said when asked by reporters how he’d respond if a self-described Democratic socialist D.C. council member were to win her bid.

“We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses,” Trump said last week during a press briefing from the White House.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody introduced two bills that would follow the Trump administration’s crackdown on fraud, waste and abuse to protect America’s youngest and oldest, Fox News Digital has learned.

“I’ve fought fraud since my days as attorney general, and I’ve continued that fight as a senator. Serving as an [attorney general] gave me an awareness of the pervasiveness of schemes and emboldened my determination to hold scammers accountable,” Sen. Moody told Fox News Digital. 

“It also opened my eyes to where gaps exist between state and federal law enforcement. I’m closing that divide and introducing targeted legislation to address holes within current law that make it easier for bad actors to exploit vulnerable citizens and programs.”

The proposals follow a growing focus in Washington on combating fraud as the Trump administration moves to strengthen oversight of federal spending and public assistance programs. Moody’s two bills would strengthen safeguards against fraud in childcare programs and help law enforcement authorities go after scammers who prey on seniors.

DR OZ NAMES 5 STATES IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TARGETS MEDICAID ABUSE

The Stop Child Scams Act aims to strengthen oversight of federal childcare programs by requiring states to improve program integrity measures, submit corrective action plans if payment error rates exceed 5% and increase federal monitoring of high-risk states.

The bill would require states to detail internal controls, fraud investigation and recovery processes, sanctions for fraudulent clients or providers and procedures to verify eligibility.

DAVID MARCUS: FLORIDA SENATOR’S WAVE OF ANTI-FRAUD BILLS SHOULD BE SLAM DUNK

It also permanently bars individuals convicted of childcare fraud from participating in certain federal childcare programs.

The push comes amid heightened focus on large-scale fraud cases, including Minnesota’s $250 million “Feeding Our Future” scheme, which became a national flashpoint after surfacing in 2022 and has led to a wave of convictions in recent years.

Federal agents issued search warrants at various daycare and autism centers in Minnesota last month to investigate “fake” facilities allegedly taking federal money.

Moody also introduced a second fraud bill, STOP Scams Against Seniors Act, which would help states create elder justice task forces to coordinate investigations into financial exploitation, scams and fraud targeting Americans age 60 and older.

The bill incentivizes states to go after fraudsters through federal grant money to establish task forces.

The task forces would coordinate closely with state and local police departments, the FBI, the Department of Justice and other federal law enforcement agencies.

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The program also requires reporting on the number of cases opened and completed, the number of victims assisted, the types of scams identified, the methods used to contact victims and any indicators of organized or transnational criminal involvement.

FIRST ON FOX: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has made it his priority to carve out “woke” policies from the Pentagon, and a Senate Republican is backing him up in Congress’ annual defense authorization bill. 

As the Senate moves forward with the perennial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), one of the annual must-pass bills in Congress that authorizes eye-popping sums of taxpayer funding for the Pentagon, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., scored a quiet win in Hegseth’s fight. 

Banks secured an amendment to the $1.15 trillion policy package that aims to reverse Biden-era diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies that seeped into hiring, communication and training at the Pentagon. 

TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL ‘GIVING A LOT MORE TO GET A LOT LESS’ THAN OBAMA’S, SENATOR SAYS

“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are turning the Pentagon around by getting rid of the Biden-era DEI nonsense that hurt morale and took focus away from the mission,” Banks said in a statement.

“Our military should be focused on winning wars, not pushing political agendas,” he continued. “I’m proud to have fought for this amendment to reinforce these reforms.”

Banks’ amendment, first shared with Fox News Digital, includes three provisions targeting DEI practices at the Pentagon. 

HEGSETH QUIPS ‘99.9%’ OF DEI INITIATIVES ARE GONE FROM THE MILITARY UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH

It would nix prioritizing diversity for active-duty warrant officers, active-duty officers and reserve officers seeking promotions and instead press promotion boards in their deliberations to focus on merit, qualifications and leadership.

Hegseth has pushed for the Pentagon to focus more on lethality and merit rather than diversity standards. 

“Real toxic leadership is endangering subordinates with low standards. Real toxic leadership is promoting people based on immutable characteristics or quotas instead of based on merit,” Hegseth said last year.

TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN ON TRANS TROOPS: NEW ORDER NIXES PREFERRED PRONOUNS AND RESTRICTS FACILITY USE

Banks’ amendment would also repeal provisions that bar the Pentagon from banning the use of gender identifiers or personal pronouns in official communications, such as emails, in accordance with an executive order from President Donald Trump last year that said “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for Military Service.”

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The add-on to the NDAA would also shift focus from DEI training to instead emphasize instruction on military values, like honor, courage, commitment, integrity and excellence.

FIRST ON FOX: Americans are nearly evenly split between favoring Iranian regime change and a negotiated U.S. settlement with Iran, according to a new survey. 

Some 39% of respondents favor a negotiated settlement where Iran’s current government remains in place, with verifiable limits on its nuclear and missile programs, according to the findings of the Reagan Institute Summer Survey, while 36% favor replacing Iran’s current government with one more favorable to the U.S. 

Another 16% favor a weakened regime where the current government stays in place but is significantly diminished militarily and economically, and 8% responded that they don’t know. 

The findings underscore the political challenge facing President Donald Trump as his administration pursues a newly signed memorandum of understanding with Iran. While the agreement seeks to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions through negotiations, Americans remain divided over the ultimate objective of U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic.

AMERICANS AGREE WITH TRUMP THAT IRAN POSES THREAT TO UNITED STATES: POLL

Republicans who responded to the survey favored replacing Iran’s government by a 2-to-1 margin over a diplomatic deal. 

Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to favor a more aggressive outcome in Iran. Half of Republican respondents said they would prefer to see Iran’s current government replaced with one more favorable to the United States, compared to 25% who said they would favor a negotiated settlement that leaves the regime in place in exchange for verifiable limits on its nuclear and missile programs.

The findings were nearly identical among self-identified MAGA Republicans, 51% of whom favored regime change while 25% backed a negotiated settlement.

SHARP PARTISAN DIVIDE EMERGES OVER IRAN STRIKE, TRUMP’S STRATEGY: POLLS

Democrats, meanwhile, largely favored diplomacy. A majority, 52%, said they would prefer a negotiated settlement with Iran’s current government, while 25% favored regime change. Another 14% favored leaving the regime in place but significantly weakened militarily and economically.

The Reagan Institute Summer Survey was conducted May 26 through June 3 among 1,555 respondents nationwide and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The survey used a mixed-mode methodology that included live telephone interviews, an online panel and text-to-web responses.

To better reflect the U.S. population, the results were weighted using demographic benchmarks from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey, including age, gender, race, region and education levels. The poll also included an oversample of 331 MAGA Republicans under age 30, a group with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The Reagan Institute is a Washington-based policy organization that advocates the Reagan foreign-policy tradition of “peace through strength” and sustained American leadership abroad.

The findings come as Trump has defended a newly signed memorandum of understanding with Iran as a way to reduce tensions and create a pathway toward a broader agreement addressing Tehran’s nuclear program.

The memorandum establishes a 60-day negotiating period during which the United States and Iran will attempt to reach a more comprehensive deal. The agreement also includes provisions aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and provides limited sanctions waivers tied to continued negotiations. Several of the most contentious issues, including the long-term future of Iran’s nuclear program, are expected to be addressed in subsequent talks.

Trump has described the arrangement as a means of avoiding a wider conflict while pursuing what he called a “great settlement” with Tehran. He has also argued that the agreement could help stabilize energy markets by reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route, while creating an opportunity to negotiate additional restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities.

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The president added that he agreed to a settlement to avoid “economic catastrophe.” 

“I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened,” he told reporters at the G7 Summit in France. 

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., rebuked a school board in Richmond, Michigan, after some of its members tried to remove a conservative colleague for missing meetings while on military deployment to the Middle East.

Ray Steir, who received an American flag and a copy of the Congressional Record from McClain on Thursday as a commendation of his work, had been on deployment, attending board meetings remotely, but eventually lost virtual access.

That’s when the board called for his removal, citing a “disservice” caused by his absence.

“One of the board members’ family was taking to social media and putting out misinformation about myself and my wife and things that were not factually accurate and then ultimately calling for my resignation and prompting others to reach out to the district to call for my recall,” Steir recounted.

PARENTS SAY THEY’RE RUNNING FOR LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS TO FIGHT ‘POISONOUS’ CRITICAL RACE THEORY

The moment is just the most recent clash between Republicans and school boards over policies that, in their view, are gatekeeping schools against diversity of thought and accountability.

“I think education is extremely important and vital,” McClain told Fox News Digital.

“And educators and administrators need to teach children how to think, not what to think. It’s about time that administrators begin to get held accountable for their actions. Good actions and bad actions.”

McClain’s meeting with Steir comes on the heels of a congressional hearing last week where she grilled a superintendent from Virginia over student privacy policy, probing if those policies were being unevenly applied to favor transgender students.

VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT SLAPPED WITH COMPLAINT ALLEGING NEW CLAIMS IN VIRAL TRANS LOCKER ROOM FIGHT

“The victims got a 10-day suspension and the biological female that did the filming got a one-day suspension,” McClain said, referring to an incident at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County where students had been reprimanded for filming in a locker room.

“How does that make sense?”

In Steir’s case, McClain questioned whether the board had targeted Steir on account of just his deployment overseas. Steir had clashed with the board after learning that some of the district’s bathroom policies would have allowed fourth-grade students to use the same bathroom as transgender eighth-grade boys.

“Prior to him filling the seat, the seat was open for two months,” McClain observed. So that logical argument doesn’t exactly make sense to me; it doesn’t really hold a lot of water.”

MICHIGAN PARENT WANTS TRUMP TO ACT AFTER DAUGHTER SHARES LOCKER ROOM WITH TRANS-ATHLETE

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For his own part, Steir believes his case will refocus attention on the importance of the school board and its membership.

“My goal is to continue being an advocate for the community. One of the good things that I think came out of this was that it got so much attention that some of the community members who were unaware of the dynamics that were not being brought to light,” Steir said.  

At Thursday’s ceremony marking the beginning of the Obama Presidential Center’s opening weekend, the master of ceremonies began with a left-wing “land acknowledgment ritual,” for which the entire event was promptly mocked. 

Valerie Jarrett, the former senior advisor to Obama when he was president and the current CEO of the Obama Foundation, kicked things off.

“We’d also like to take a moment to recognize the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered today,” she said. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa and the Potawatomi nations.”

Land acknowledgments have been mocked as performative left-wing routines completed to commemorate the Native Americans who once lived on the land where an event is happening.

OSCARS FEATURES INDIGENOUS LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ROASTED AS ‘PERFORMATIVE NONSENSE’ ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

They are an extension of the belief that the United States exists on “stolen land.”

But as many keen online observers noted, Democrats hosting the Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening have no intention of returning the land to the people they believe are its rightful owners. 

“Wouldn’t they prefer you just give them their land back?” conservative commentator Steve Deace asked sarcastically.

CARVILLE REBUKES DNC OVER WOKE ‘LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT’ LAMENTING TREATMENT OF NATIVE AMERICANS

“Land acknowledgements are funny because the real message is ‘I want to say I care, but I don’t really care or I wouldn’t have built this on land which I just said is yours,’” said Beth Anne Mumford of Americans for Prosperity.

“So you just went ahead and built on that land anyway, huh,” said conservative commentator Stephen Miller 

Townhall senior strategist Siraj Hashmi weighed in with a reference to infamous Chicago rapper Chief Keef.

REWARDING RACISM: HOW TRIBAL POLITICS IS TEARING AMERICA APART

“Pretty disrespectful for the Obama Presidential Center to not acknowledge the current tribe leader of the South Side of Chicago: Chief Keef,” he quipped.

An anonymous user balked at the logic, or apparent lack thereof, of building “a communist monument” on “stolen land” that the new owners refused to give back.

“The mental hurdles are Olympics level,” the user said.

OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER’S $470M SAFETY NET UNDER SCRUTINY AS SUBCONTRACTORS SAY THEY’RE OWED MILLIONS

Thursday’s event featured high-profile Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, along with A-list performers like John Legend, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen who put on a concert.

Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, David Letterman and others were also present.

The presidential center itself, which cost nearly $1 billion to build and has been embroiled in controversy, will officially open on Friday. It was initially estimated to cost about half that amount.

Despite the explicitly stated goal that the center would help uplift minority-owned contracting businesses by hiring them to work on high-profile projects, some claim they’ve been stiffed and are facing financial ruin, according to a Fox News Digital investigation. 

One subcontractor says his firm is owed $4 million for work it completed on the center.

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The project was announced in 2015, and the site — Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side — chosen in 2016, but the groundbreaking was delayed until 2021 due to bureaucratic red tape. The project required numerous local and federal approvals to build on the location, which is a historic preservation site, multiple environmental reviews and was subject to several lawsuits.

After construction began, the price tag on the project continuously skyrocketed. The center was scheduled to open in March 2025, but was delayed for another year

Democrats, among them some of the most recognizable names in politics, have accepted millions of dollars in campaign contributions from top employees at firms the Pentagon recently designated as “Chinese military companies” operating in the U.S.

The Department of War on June 8 designated Alibaba, Baidu and BYD as “Chinese military companies,” meaning that the three firms, in the eyes of the U.S. government, are providing assistance to the People’s Liberation Army through its military-civil fusion strategy or other means. Senior employees at these companies, including executives, have donated roughly $2.6 million to Democratic political committees since 2020, a Fox News Digital review of campaign finance filings has found.

Notable individuals and organizations that received contributions from top staffers at these firms include Sen. Adam Schiff, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, former President Joe Biden, Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Committee. 

Donors to Democratic committees from the trio of firms include executives, top-level lawyers, lobbyists and, to a much lesser extent, rank-and-file employees working in areas such as engineering or management. The staffers made some contributions to Republicans as well, though the overall sum was far lower than what Democrats received.

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

The review included direct contributions, earmarked contributions and donations to joint-fundraising committees reported in campaign finance filings. It did not identify corporate donations from Alibaba, Baidu or BYD to the federal committees.

“American politicians should no longer accept campaign cash from any Chinese companies. Politicians who have been taking campaign cash from companies like Baidu, Alibaba and BYD now realize they were supported by blacklisted Chinese Military Companies,” Michael Lucci, CEO of the national security organization State Armor, told Fox News Digital. “The reason the Pentagon’s list of sanctioned CCP companies keeps expanding is because the Chinese Communist Party imposes a ‘civil-military fusion’ mandate upon all Chinese companies, forcing them to assist in modernizing China’s military with the goal of defeating America.”

“They all end up working to support the PLA. They should all be cut off from U.S. politics,” he added. 

The Pentagon’s Chinese military company designation via its 1260H list does not function as a traditional sanction, as Americans can continue to do business with the company.

Biden-linked committees and joint fundraising vehicles were by far the biggest beneficiaries of the funds, taking in roughly $850,000 from employees at the trio of firms between 2020 and 2024. The DNC, meanwhile, had a haul of around $500,000 while Harris-linked committees brought in roughly $140,000.

TOP CALIFORNIA DEM RUNNING FOR OFFICE TIED TO CHINESE SCHOOL ACCUSED OF US DIPLOMA SCANDAL

Various state Democratic parties also received five-figure support from employees at Baidu, BYD and Alibaba. Newsom, per state campaign finance records, accepted $50,000 from an executive at BYD, an electric-vehicle manufacturer that his administration later awarded a contract. 

Fox News Digital reached the offices of Biden, Harris, Schiff, Pelosi, Newsom and the DNC on Sunday for comment and has not heard back as of publishing.

Pentagon officials are legally required to release a list of what it determines to be Chinese military companies every year. The first such list was released in June 2021 under President Joe Biden.

The Pentagon’s 1260H list identifies Chinese companies the Defense Department says are “Chinese military companies” operating directly or indirectly in the United States. Required by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the list is intended to warn U.S. businesses and investors about firms tied to China’s military-civil fusion strategy, though inclusion does not automatically trigger sanctions.

New defense laws, however, have given the list more bite in recent years.

The Pentagon will be barred from directly contracting with companies on the list starting June 30 and is currently banned from contracting with companies who lobby on behalf 1260H-listed firms. In 2027, the ban will be expanded to prevent indirect procurement of goods manufactured by Chinese military companies through supply chain intermediaries.

WALL STREET BANKS HELPED CHINESE MILITARY-LINKED FIRM RAISE BILLIONS DESPITE RED FLAGS, LAWMAKERS FIND

While Alibaba, Baidu and BYD only recently earned formal designations as Chinese military companies, their links to the CCP have been widely reported for years.

The Wall Street Journal, for instance, reported in 2017 that Alibaba was assisting the Chinese government in its surveillance efforts against dissidents, and Chinese state media reported in 2018 that the firm had a large CCP presence within it. Some sources within the company told Reuters in 2019 that the firm had developed an app designed specifically to increase ideological alignment with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Alibaba, however, has come out strongly against its inclusion on the Pentagon’s list of Chinese military companies.

NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS RAISE CONCERNS AFTER MICROSOFT PROGRAM EXPOSED AS POSSIBLE AVENUE FOR CHINESE SPYING

“There’s no basis to conclude that Alibaba should be placed on the Section 1260H List,” a company spokeswoman told Fox News Digital. “Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy. We will take all available legal action against attempts to misrepresent our company.”

That statement also appears in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing made by Alibaba shortly after it was added to the Pentagon’s list.

“Inclusion in the CMC List will not affect the Group’s ability to conduct business as usual in the United States or anywhere in the world because the Group does not do business related to U.S. military procurement,” the SEC filing adds. “The CMC List does not impose any other export controls or sanctions, nor does it prohibit any persons (other than the U.S. Department of Defense) from business dealings with the Group or transacting in the securities of the Company.”

RICKETTS, FETTERMAN TEAM UP FOR CRACKDOWN ON CHINA’S ATTEMPTS TO PURCHASE US FARMLAND

As early as 2015, outlets like Bloomberg News were reporting that the Chinese government was heavily subsidizing BYD. Wang Chuanfu, the founder and CEO of the firm, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party and an ally of Xi. 

BYD did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

In Baidu’s case, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology named the company as part of the country’s “national team” for AI development in 2017, with it later appointed by the CCP’s National Development and Reform Commission to lead China’s first national lab on deep learning technologies, according to state media. The firm, which primarily operates a search engine, reportedly assists the Chinese government in carrying out censorship.     

“We categorically reject the inclusion of Baidu on the list, and there is no credible justification for adding Baidu to the list,” a Baidu spokesperson told Fox News Digital “The suggestion that Baidu is a military company is entirely baseless. We will not hesitate to use all options available to us to have the company removed from the list.”

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The Pentagon has defended its additions to the list.

“After the Department conducted its due diligence, it identified 188 entities that meet the statutory requirement for inclusion on the most recent 1260H List,” a Department of War spokesperson told Fox News Digital.