NationalWatch

President Donald Trump announced during a rally in New York that he was posthumously awarding the nation’s highest civilian honor to Welles Remy Crowther, the 9/11 hero remembered as the “Man in the Red Bandana” after he repeatedly led victims to safety from the burning South Tower before dying in the terrorist attacks.

Trump revealed the Presidential Medal of Freedom honor during a Rockland County stop on Friday with Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who had urged the president to recognize Crowther’s heroism ahead of the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11. Crowther, a 24-year-old equities trader who also worked as a volunteer firefighter, became a symbol of American courage after survivors recounted being guided through smoke and wreckage by a man wearing a red bandana over his face.

“At the request of Bruce, and Mike, and some of the political — great political people we have, and we are approaching the 25th anniversary of September 11th, 2001, a dark day that will live in infamy. We are posthumously awarding Welles the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump told the Rockland County crowd, earning a resounding applause.

FOX NATION, TUNNELS TO TOWERS EXPLORES HOW AMERICA’S PASTIME HELPED A GRIEVING NEW YORK HEAL AFTER 9/11

“It’s the highest award outside of the Congressional Medal of Honor — those are the two biggies and Welles has one of them. I just want to congratulate his great mother in doing a phenomenal job in raising that young man. Boy, what bravery, saved those people and became a legend in a sense, nobody else would have done what he did. So he’s going to be getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

The president subsequently brought up Welles’ mother, Alison Crowther, who addressed the pro-Trump crowd momentarily, describing the award bestowed on her son as a “huge honor.” 

“It’s such a beautiful thing that even 25 years later, Welles’ light still shines brightly,” she told the crowd, noting she has traveled the world telling her son’s story to places as far away as Jordan. Alison Crowther remarked that in these travels, when she tells children Welles’ story, “They’re tremendously moved and inspired … to be better people.”

NEW 9/11 MUSEUM EXHIBIT AIMS TO CONNECT YOUNGER AMERICANS TO THE ATTACKS THROUGH POWERFUL ARTIFACTS

Welles, an equities trader who worked on the 104th floor of the South Tower, was in his office when the first aircraft hit the North Tower that morning. He left his mother a voicemail shortly after the towers were struck, letting her know he was okay, but his body was later found amid the rubble.

According to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Welles “made three trips to the sky lobby, saving as many people as he could, until the burning building collapsed,” with some reports indicating he saved up to 18 lives that day. As he did so, Welles covered his nose and mouth with a red bandana he kept at his desk.

That red bandana is currently displayed at the 9/11 museum in New York City. The Tunnels to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit that supports first responders and their families, including those who became victims after 9/11, said Welles always kept a red bandana at his desk.

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The foundation recounted how, when he was asked why he always carried the red bandana, Welles replied: “With this red bandana, I’m going to change the world.” His father, the foundation said, told Welles to always carry a red bandana on him for “messy jobs.”

“People can live 100 years and not have the compassion, the wherewithal to do what he did,” a survivor rescued by Crowther has said.

In November 2017, Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy was injured in Raqqa, Syria while clearing the second floor of a hospital that ISIS had booby trapped with explosives. 

Now a quadriplegic, Stacy, his wife Lindsey, and their 4 children are part of a lawsuit brought by military families against the French cement company, Lafarge, recently found guilty by a French Court of paying millions of dollars in bribes to ISIS to keep their factory open in ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. 

“I mean, they were essentially funneling money to fund terrorists and ISIS and all these heinous crimes and evil acts,” Lindsey Stacy told Fox News while standing by the side of her husband, the former Navy Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialist, who just had another surgery to deal with injuries sustained in Syria 9 years ago. 

“It’s very overwhelming, Kenton struggles mentally and physically with his own battles and the kids and I. We have our own struggles,” she continued. “It’s hard to juggle, especially when our oldest son has cerebral palsy, and he requires his own 24-7 care.”

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President Trump praised Stacy’s service to the nation in his 2018 State of the Union Address to Congress. Army Staff Sergeant Justin Peck bounded into a booby-trapped building to rescue Kenton and then gave him more than 2 hours of CPR while medics worked to save his life.

“Kenton Stacy would have died if not for Justin’s selfless love for a fellow warrior. Tonight, Kenton is recovering in Texas. Raqqa is liberated.…All of America salutes you.”

In a landmark ruling in April, a French court convicted Lafarge, the world’s largest cement manufacturer, of providing material support to a terror group and sentenced its former CEO to 6 years in prison. Eight former Lafarge employees were found guilty. Lafarge is appealing.

The company acknowledged the court’s finding describing the issue as a “legacy matter,” which was “in flagrant violation of Lafarge’s Code of Conduct.”

Nearly 1,000 plaintiffs, most of them military families, are part of earlier litigation in the Eastern District of New York.

“They were killed in Syria by a gruesome terrorist organization that was funded in part by Lafarge. And that’s not an allegation. That is undisputed fact. Lafarge pled guilty to doing that in 2022.”

Todd Toral, the lawyer from Jenner & Block, is representing Stacy and about 25 other families.

Toral, who is also a US Marine, is seeking compensation for those families from the $777 million Lafarge paid to the Justice Department as part of the settlement. The DOJ has had that money since Oct 2022.

“I think the ruling by the court in France is significant generally, because it’s the first time in many, many years that a corporation, and not just the corporation, but executives at a corporation have been held to account for their misconduct in aiding terrorism,” Toral said in an interview with Fox.

In order to operate in ISIS-controlled areas of Syria, Lafarge paid more than $6.5 million to ISIS from 2013–2014 through its Syrian subsidiary to keep production facilities running. The cement produced at its factory in Jalabiya, a factory which was bought for $680 million months before the Syrian uprising began in 2011, was also used for tunnels and bunkers, which helped the terrorist group.

The lawsuit is significant because it marks the first time a company has faced U.S. charges for supporting a terrorist group.

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In October 2022, Lafarge settled with the DOJ before the French ruling, paying more than $777 million into an asset forfeiture fund currently controlled by the DOJ, funds which are supposed to compensate victims of the ISIS attacks, many of them American Gold Star families, like Hailey Dayton, whose father was the first American killed by ISIS in Syria on Thanksgiving Day 2016.

“I was 15 when my dad was killed,” Hailey Dayton told Fox from her home in Florida. “I saw six guys in Navy white step out of the van. I got so excited because I thought my dad came back to surprise us. I remember opening the door, huge smile on my face, and I was looking at the men, trying to find my dad and I didn’t find, I didn’t see him, but instead I saw six guys with tears in their eyes.” 

The Biden Justice Department denied requests to distribute the Lafarge funds while the case was still pending before a French Court. Lafarge was found guilty by that court in April. In February, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pressed then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on when the DOJ planned to release the funds to the families.

“In February 2025, my colleagues and I sent you a letter urging the department to review the petitions for remission submitted by the families of those fallen service members, including several of my constituents. The previous administration ignored these victims and our requests and left their petitions unresolved,” Biggs asked Bondi during a Congressional hearing.

“Congressman, we are aware of that and we’re committed to doing everything we can to support the victims and work with you. Thank you for that question,” Bondi replied. That was more than a year ago and the DOJ has still not distributed the compensation funds.

Now the plaintiffs, most of them military families, say the decision to release the funds rests with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“I don’t know why. I don’t know why they’re ignoring us. To me, it feels like being a pawn. My dad, he went in when he was 19, he served 23 years,” Dayton, the Gol Star daughter of Chief Petty Officer Scott Dayton, said.

“To the current Department of Justice, I would, say, make things right.” 

Lindsey Stacy, who says she and her family have difficulty making ends meet given Kenton Stacy’s severe injuries, added, “There’s a lot of families out there that could benefit from these funds. I mean, it’s been almost nine years. It would be nice to, you know, for justice to be served.”

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 “They have been convicted recently in their own country, guilty. It has been a long battle, but it’d be nice just for it to come to an end, get some closure and be able to just take care of our family,” she added. “I mean he made a huge sacrifice for our country and it would just be nice if they’d stand right by us and all the other co-plaintiffs.”

“We can think of no group of people who are more worthy of receiving compensation from that victim’s compensation fund than these families who lost a son, lost a brother, lost a husband, and they deserve to be treated better by the United States of America,” Toral, who continues to press his clients’ case said in an interview ahead of Memorial Day Weekend.

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The Department of Justice, which controls the $777 million dollars in penalties forfeited by Lafarge, issued the following statement: 

“The Department is committed to compensating all victims to the maximum extent permitted by law. While we cannot comment on a pending matter, the Department will always engage in the appropriate process to evaluate claims and ensure that our brave servicemembers receive any amount of compensation to which they are entitled.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had never appeared before a congressional panel asking for money to run his department until Tuesday morning.

And even though cabinet secretaries routinely make their budget requests to Congress, it appears that Blanche apparently didn’t even need to ask lawmakers for the most-controversial batch of federal funds in years. 

It was already approved. Somehow. 

Blanche’s Justice Department announced the creation of a billion compensation fund to pay people who Republicans say are victims of government weaponization. Who gets the money isn’t clear. And what’s murkier still is how the stash of cash came about.

APOLOGIES AND CASH HEADED TO ALLEGED ‘WEAPONIZATION’ VICTIMS IN BILLION-DOLLAR TRUMP SETTLEMENT

In short, President Donald Trump sued his own IRS for leaking his tax returns – along with the filings of several hundred other Americans. Then, Blanche’s own Department of Justice announced that the president essentially settled with himself. 

“Per the settlement, plaintiffs will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They have agreed, in exchange for the creation of this fund, to drop their pending lawsuit with prejudice, and also withdraw two administrative claims, including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax,” read the DoJ statement.

The fund is worth $1.776 billion. Get it? 1776.

REPUBLICANS RECOIL AS TRUMP’S BILLION-DOLLAR DOJ ‘SLUSH FUND’ FOR ALLIES THREATENS ICE, BORDER PATROL PLAN

So while the president couldn’t receive money from this fund, his political allies and donors could.

All without congressional input. 

“I realize it’s a lot of money,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “I want to understand where the money comes from. Do we find it in the budget? Do we have to borrow it? There’s just a lot of unanswered questions.”

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“What I want to know is how the fund is created and what its purpose is,” said Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.

“And (I want to know) the legality of creating a fund that Congress hasn’t had anything to say about.” 

The government swept up the phone information of multiple Republican lawmakers after the January 6 riot as part of Operation Arctic Frost. That included the records of Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. He defended the fund.

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“What we ought to be talking about is the reasons for the compensation. Weaponization of government that took place under former President Joe Biden was an absolute disgrace,” said Hagerty.

Blanche formerly served as President Trump’s personal legal counsel. Lawmakers argued that Blanche reverted to that role when he created the compensation fund out of the ether. 

“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president’s personal attorney. And that’s the whole problem,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS FACE BRUISING BATTLE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

“You’re a very gifted lawyer. But from my perspective, you have very little faith to the Constitution and the people of America. And you’re the president’s consigliere,” piled on Sen. Jack Reed D-R.I.

Lawmakers questioned who qualifies for compensation.

“Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?” asked Van Hollen.

DEMS DEMAND TRUMP RESUME CASH FLOW AS THEY FINALLY GET LEVERAGE IN RACE TO PREVENT SHUTDOWN

“Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they are a victim of weaponization,” replied Blanche.

And that’s what concerned bipartisan lawmakers. The compensation conundrum instantly spilled over into a major bill, due to the hit the Senate floor. 

Congressional Republicans were trying to pass a bill to finally address funding for ICE and Border Patrol, once and for all. But they planned to bypass a Democratic filibuster using a special process called budget reconciliation.

SENATE GOP LAUNCHES ALL-NIGHT VOTE-A-RAMA TO FUND ICE, BORDER PATROL THROUGH END OF TRUMP’S TERM

The good thing about reconciliation is that you can pass a bill with 51 yeas and don’t need to clear the filibuster with 60 votes. The bad thing is that the reconciliation process entails what the Senate refers to as a “vote-a-rama.” This is where senators can offer practically any amendment on any subject in a drawn-out process which might consume an entire calendar day.

Republicans freaked out that Democrats would force them to take controversial votes on the compensation fund. And frankly, many Republicans intended to author their own amendments to curb the fund – simultaneously inoculating themselves from blowback. 

That political brew was too much for Senate Republicans.

DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY

They summoned Blanche to Capitol Hill Thursday morning to explain the fund. The meeting didn’t go well. Fox is told that Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., were pointed in their comments to Blanche. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., popped into the Capitol’s Ohio Clock Corridor en route to the meeting. Tillis was in mid-conversation. All anyone could hear Tillis say was “And I’m not voting for it!” as he walked by.

By early afternoon, Republican leaders scrapped the bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and sent everyone home for Memorial Day. It was the biggest legislative rebuke of President Trump’s second term.

 “I just don’t know how this puppy dog will work,” said Kennedy. “I think there were six or seven people who are going to vote no.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS RACE TO FUND ICE, CBP WITHOUT DEMOCRATS AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS

Yet Republicans were practically on the verge of finally ending the ICE and Border Patrol funding impasse.

“The sole reason we are here today is because Democrats refused to fund law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

The debate over funding for the president’s ballroom wasn’t exactly the foxtrot for Senate Republicans. But the compensation fund converted the reconciliation process into the samba.

CONGRESS MELTS DOWN: MEMBERS UNLEASH PERSONAL ATTACKS AFTER WEEKS OF SHUTDOWN DRAMA

No fancy footwork here. Republicans managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

“There are a lot of questions about it. I have Republican colleagues who have concerns about who can receive funding from that fund,” said Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind.

However Banks noted that “every single Republican who was on the ballot like I was in the ‘24 cycle talked about stopping the weaponization of government.”

HOUSE GOP TENSIONS ERUPT AS REPUBLICANS TURN ON EACH OTHER HEADING INTO YEAR’S END

Democrats watched as Republicans blanched at what Blanche told them. 

“I think my Republican colleagues have reached their limit,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Thune said the compensation fund “makes everything way harder than it should be.” He declared that the White House should should have “consulted” with Congressional Republicans about the fund ahead of time. So deadlocked, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dismissed everyone until early June.

OUT OF POWER: DEMOCRATS DISORIENTED IN FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP AGENDA

“Republicans are so divided, so dysfunctional, so disorganized, that they are fleeing Washington. Their majority can’t melt down fast enough,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

However, some of the President’s allies defended the compensation fund. 

“I feel comfortable that whose who have been wronged by their government should have some sort of redress,” said Sen. Eric Schmidt, R-Mo.

And even though the president recently steamrolled some GOP foes politically, Republicans blocked him legislatively.

“We should have full review of what we’re funding,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. “Congress has our obligation.”

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So President Trump may get the personnel he wants in Congress next year as Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., go by the wayside. But securing the policies may need to wait until the president’s preferred candidates are in place in 2027.

That’s why some lawmakers are questioning whether Congress can move any more meaningful legislation the rest of this year. Everything else from here on will be “way harder than it should be.”

Findings from audits of six New York City agencies intended to ensure compliance with the city’s sanctuary laws found that federal immigration authorities use aggressive and deceptive tactics, the office of Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday.

The audits and recommendations were part of Executive Order 13, which mandated a public safety audit for six specific city agencies: the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), the New York Police Department (NYPD), and the Departments of Correction (DOC), Probation (DOP), Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), and Social Services (DSS).

The order was issued by Mamdani upon taking office in an effort to fulfill a promise to protect the city’s immigrant communities.

The 19-page executive summary details the interactions between the agencies and federal immigration authorities, as well as recommendations to close loopholes and blind spots in the city’s sanctuary policies.

MAMDANI CLARIFIES NYC WON’T CHECK IMMIGRATION STATUS FOR UNIVERSAL CHILDCARE ENROLLEES

“The findings and recommendations released today will strengthen City agencies’ protocols when interacting with federal authorities and ensure that all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, can safely access the City services they deserve,” said Faiza Ali, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, in a statement.

Among the findings were that federal immigration authorities have intensified their targeting of city shelters, resulting in a sharp increase in detainer requests to the city’s Department of Correction and New York Police Department. The report also accused immigration authorities of using aggressive and misleading tactics.

The NYPD received 3,672 requests for civil immigration detainers in 2025—a massive spike from just 99 requests the previous year. The NYPD did not transfer any individuals to ICE in response to these requests.

MAMDANI VOWS NYPD WILL ‘NEVER’ GO BACK TO ADAMS-ERA COOPERATION WITH ICE ENFORCEMENT

In June 2025, personnel with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) visited a shelter and initially falsely identified themselves as Fire Department officials, the report states. They only admitted they were with DHS after a city employee demanded identification.

In April 2025, officers from several federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS, the FBI, and the DEA visited shelters ten times, sometimes in plainclothes. They used tactics such as asking to conduct “wellness checks” on children in order to inquire about specific clients. In other instances, agents presented subpoenas or administrative warrants, which do not legally authorize access to shelters, though they did present legally binding judicial warrants on two occasions (leading to one arrest).

In another instance, ICE agents entered a Department of Probation (DOP) building in Brooklyn and asked to use the bathroom, but then attempted to look through the facility’s sign-in book. Staff intercepted them, checked their identification, and escorted them out, the report said.

MAMDANI DECLARES HE’S READY FOR ‘ANY CONSEQUENCE’ FOR STANDING AGAINST TRUMP’S FEDERAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

Mamdani has been a vocal opponent of ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. In a statement, he called the audit a “critical step towards strengthening compliance with our local laws and reinforcing New York City’s protections for immigrant communities.”

“I am proud to share key findings and recommendations from the audit that will ensure that we are responding to the changing nature of federal immigration enforcement and protecting the rights of all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status,” he said.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the White House urged leaders to cooperate with ICE. 

“ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities — local officials should work with them, not against them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. “Anyone doing otherwise is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens. The Trump Administration will not waver on enforcing federal immigration law.”

The recommendations in the report include:

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• Limiting the inclusion of immigration status details in pre-sentencing investigation reports.
• Strengthening internal protocols for tracking and publicly posting detainer requests.
• Revising shelter incident reports and protocols regarding access to city property.
• Establishing protocols requiring the NYPD Communications Division to notify its Operations Division about any 911 calls or requests involving federal immigration authorities.

EXCLUSIVE: Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her post as Director of National Intelligence to support her husband through his battle with “an extremely rare form of bone cancer,” Fox News Digital learned.

Gabbard notified President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office Friday. Her last day at ODNI is expected to be June 30.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained her formal resignation letter, in which Gabbard says she is “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half.”

“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026,” she wrote. “My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

GABBARD ESTABLISHES NEW INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY TASK FORCE TO RESTORE TRANSPARENCY

Gabbard said her husband “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she said. 

Gabbard added: “Abraham has been my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns and now my service in this role.”

“His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” she continued. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

Trump reacted to the resignation later on Friday, writing on Truth Social, “Unfortunately, after having done a great job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the Administration on June 30th.”

“Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and she, rightfully, wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together,” he continued.  “I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever. Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her. Her highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.” 

Gabbard said she has “made significant progress at the ODNI — advancing unprecedented transparency and restoring integrity to the intelligence community,” but said she recognizes “there is still important work to be done.”

“I am fully committed to ensuring a smooth and thorough transition over the coming weeks so that you and your team experience no disruption in leadership or momentum,” she said.

“Thank you for your understanding during this deeply personal and difficult time for our family.”

Gabbard added: “I will remain forever grateful to you and to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI.”

Gabbard posted her resignation letter to X later Friday afternoon, noting that, “It has been a profound honor to serve the American people as DNI.”

GREGG JARRETT: LONG-HIDDEN DOCUMENTS REVEAL FIRST TRUMP IMPEACHMENT WAS A TOTAL FRAUD

Gabbard, as DNI, began a transformational effort to reshape the Intelligence Community— reducing the agency in size and saving taxpayers more than $700 million per year, dismantling DEI programs in the IC and more.

Gabbard, as of this month, declassified more than half a million pages of government records, including those related to the Trump-Russia investigation, the JFK and RFK assassinations and more.

Gabbard also declassified documents tied to the origins of the Trump-Russia “Crossfire Hurricane” probe, arguing they showed Obama administration officials politicized intelligence related to Russia’s 2016 election interference and used it to undermine Trump’s first presidential victory.

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Meanwhile, Gabbard created the first-ever “Weaponization Working Group,” aimed at coordinating efforts across the federal government to expose the Biden Admin’s weaponization of government. 

As DNI, Gabbard’s National Counterterrorism Center prevented more than 10,000 individuals with ties to narco-terrorism from entering the country in 2025 and placed more than 85,000 similarly tied individuals on the terror watchlist.

A top Senate Republican is publicly pressuring President Donald Trump against pursuing what he described as a weak Iran deal as administration officials signal negotiations with Tehran are making progress. 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a sharply worded warning Thursday urging Trump not to abandon military pressure on the Iranian regime in favor of diplomacy.

“We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” Wicker said in a statement. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.”

REPUBLICANS URGE TRUMP TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON HIS PLAN TO DISMANTLE IRAN’S NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES

“Our commander-in-chief needs to allow America’s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait,” Wicker went on. “Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran’s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness. We must finish what we started. It is past time for action.”

The remarks expose growing tension inside Republican national security circles as the Trump administration weighs whether to pursue a negotiated agreement with Iran or continue its military campaign against the Iranian regime and its nuclear capabilities.

The White House could not immediately be reached for comment.

Wicker’s comments came just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged there had been “some progress” in ongoing negotiations with Iran, while cautioning that no agreement had been reached.

“There’s been some progress,” Rubio said Thursday. “I wouldn’t exaggerate it. I wouldn’t diminish it.” 

“We’re not there yet,” Rubio added. “I hope we get there.” 

Rubio said key issues remain unresolved, including Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and whether Tehran would be permitted any future uranium enrichment capability under a potential agreement.

“The issue of highly enriched uranium has to be discussed. Its disposition has to be dealt with. And of course, the issue of future enrichment has to be dealt with as well,” Rubio said.

He also indicated discussions involving the Strait of Hormuz remain part of broader negotiations.

The comments marked one of the clearest public signs yet that active diplomacy between Washington and Iran remains underway despite recent military escalation and fears of a wider regional conflict.

Trump himself recently signaled he remains open to giving diplomacy additional time before considering further military action.

“If I can save war by waiting a couple of days, if I can save people being killed by waiting a couple of days, I think it’s a great thing to do,” Trump said in recent days. 

PAKISTAN’S AMBASSADOR WARNS IRAN TOO ‘WAR-TORN’ TO RESPOND QUICKLY AS TRUMP EXTENDS STRIKE DEADLINE

The administration’s diplomatic push has coincided with intensified regional mediation efforts, including a high-profile visit by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to Iran — a trip widely viewed as part of broader backchannel efforts aimed at reducing tensions between Washington and Iran.

The visit fueled further speculation that Pakistan is playing a quiet intermediary role as negotiators explore possible frameworks to avoid additional military escalation.

Still, Rubio repeatedly emphasized Thursday that negotiations remain fragile and could ultimately collapse.

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“We’re dealing with a very difficult group of people,” Rubio said. “It may not” happen

He added that Trump “has other options” if diplomacy fails, while stressing the president still prefers “the negotiated option and having a good deal.”

A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit against Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Thursday.

The lawsuit, brought against Bellows in September, alleged that Maine violated federal election laws when the state refused to turn over data about Maine voters to the federal government.

Bellows argued that the DOJ did not provide an explanation for how it planned to use the data they requested, which included the names of everybody on Maine’s voter rolls as well as driver’s license numbers, partial Social Security numbers and full dates of birth.

She rejected the DOJ’s request in August and then filed a motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit in December.

TRUMP-APPOINTED FEDERAL JUDGE TOSSES DOJ LAWSUIT SEEKING ARIZONA VOTER DATA

“The Gulf of Maine is awfully cold, but maybe that’s what the DOJ needs to cool down. So, here’s my answer to Trump’s DOJ today: Go jump in the Gulf of Maine,” she said in a July news conference.

On Thursday, Maine Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker, who Trump appointed in 2018, granted Bellows’ motion and dismissed the DOJ lawsuit.

“The United States’ requests would require me to turn a blind eye to traditional practices of federalism and how those expressions have found expression in American elections,” Walker said.

DOJ SUES SIX STATES FOR REFUSING TO TURN OVER VOTER REGISTRATION ROLLS, WARNS ‘OPEN DEFIANCE’ OF FEDERAL LAW

Bellows praised the ruling. “Today’s ruling affirms that the states, not the federal government, are in charge of our elections. From the moment the Trump Administration sought every American’s voter data, I said no. When they tried to bully me by suing Maine, I helped lead of coalition of states to fight back – and we’re winning. I will continue to defend every Mainer’s voting rights and their privacy,” she said in a statement.

“Let me be clear – Trump and the DOJ may continue to try to interfere with free and fair elections run by the states. We will not let them,” Bellows said. “Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal office, unless Congress passes legislation that preempts that framework. And Congress’s power to do even that is itself subject to limitations.”

The DOJ has sued 30 states for refusing to turn over unredacted lists of their voter rolls. Those lawsuits have been dismissed in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and now Maine, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

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The DOJ has not publicly commented on the dismissal.

Fox News Digital contacted the DOJ and Maine secretary of state for additional comment.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday a major shift in immigration policy, dictating that noncitizens in the U.S. who have applied for a green card, or lawful permanent resident status, must leave the country indefinitely — even if they are in the country legally and regardless of whether they have spouses or children with citizenship.

Green card petitioners will then be required to wait for their application to be processed outside the country through consular processing via the U.S. Department of State.

USCIS said it will grant “adjustment of status” only in extraordinary circumstances, on a case-by-case basis.

CAN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEPORT GREEN CARD HOLDERS? HERE’S WHAT RIGHTS THEY HAVE IN THE US

The Trump administration’s position remains that when noncitizens travel into the country via student visas, tourist visas or temporary work status, they are supposed to leave once that term expires and that temporary permission to be in the U.S. should not serve as the first step toward getting a green card.

Officials claim the policy reflects the original intentions of the law, though lawsuits and litigation are expected to follow.

“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler wrote in a statement. “From now on, an alien who is in the U.S. temporarily and wants a green card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances. This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes.”

‘SHAMEFUL’: LEGAL IMMIGRANTS FACE UPHILL BATTLE AMID ONGOING BORDER CRISIS

Kahler added that when noncitizens apply for a green card from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who “decide to slip into the shadows” and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency.

“Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose,” he said. “Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the green card process.

“Following the law allows the majority of these cases to be handled by the State Department at U.S. consular offices abroad and frees up limited USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview, including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalization applications and other priorities,” Kahler added. “The law was written this way for a reason, and despite the fact that it has been ignored for years, following it will help make our system fairer and more efficient.”

Critics of the policy shift argue many overstays have U.S. citizen spouses or children, pay taxes and fill labor shortages and, if removed from the country, will face long processing delays and humanitarian concerns.

It is unclear if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will begin deporting green card applicants.

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Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mother, took to X to react to the policy change.

“When I wanted to get my green card, I had to have numerous vaccinations, health tests and a lung x-ray,” Maye Musk wrote in a post. “Because I was Canadian, I had to fly to Montreal to have a lung x-ray again to confirm that it’s the same person. However, when the x-ray had to be delivered to me at my friend’s home, the delivery truck was stuck on a bridge because of thick ice. I had to stay an extra day. Nothing was easy. It took another five years before I could get citizenship. Worth it.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

House Republicans are reportedly frustrated by the Senate GOP’s move to kick the can down the road instead of voting on a budget reconciliation package pertaining to immigration enforcement this week.

“The Senate’s demonstrated once again that they don’t even know how to get their work done properly,” Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida said, according to The Hill.

President Donald Trump is backing Donalds for Florida governor.

“It’s gutless, and I’m very frustrated,” Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee said, according to the outlet. “They need to work. They didn’t want to work …. The Senate ought to be calling on the leadership over there. If the House did it, I’d be doing it too.”

SENATE GOP ERUPTS OVER TRUMP DOJ ‘ANTI-WEAPONIZATION’ FUND, PUNTS ICE, BORDER PATROL FUNDING

“I’m frustrated that it’s not done, but hopeful that they can finish it up when they come back, I guess, and we can get this done,” Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., said, according to The Hill.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House.

President Donald Trump indicated on Truth Social in April that he wanted a bill on his desk by June 1 to provide funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol.

The Justice Department recently announced an “Anti-weaponization Fund,” noting in a press release “that as a part of the settlement agreement in President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, the Attorney General established ‘The Anti-Weaponization Fund’ to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”

TRUMP ADMIN PUSHES BACK ON ‘SLUSH FUND’ ATTACKS AGAINST ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND AND LAYS OUT WHO QUALIFIES

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Senate Republicans on Thursday.

Sources told Fox News Digital that over two dozen Republicans demanded answers from Blanche on what kind of guardrails could be put into the fund, and specifically if those convicted for assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots could be excluded. 

There have been discussions of including those guardrails into the reconciliation package, given that the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the DOJ, is a major part of the process.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department told Fox News Digital that Blanche had a “healthy discussion on the settlement.”

“He made clear that the Anti-Weaponization Fund announced Monday has nothing to do with reconciliation. Indeed, not a single dime from the money the president is seeking in reconciliation would go toward anything having to do with the fund,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to work with the Senate to get critical reconciliation funds approved.”

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Trump declared in a Friday Truth Social post, “I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!”

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller and Fox News Channel’s Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

The United States has temporarily paused weapons sales to Taiwan in order to ensure readiness for a potential escalation in Iran, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao testified to the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Tuesday.

“I have not heard, I have not spoken to the Taiwanese. However, we have done some military, foreign military sales to them. And it’s just, right now we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury, which we have plenty, but we’re just making sure we have everything,” Cao testified.

When asked by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., if sales would be resumed at any point, Cao replied, “That would be up to the secretary of war and the secretary of state, sir.”

“Well, that’s really distressing,” McConnell responded.

TRUMP RALLIES DEFENSE TITANS TO SURGE WEAPONS OUTPUT AS IRAN WAR RAGES

Cao did also add that “the foreign military sales will continue when the administration deems necessary.”

His testimony came a week after President Donald Trump’s state visit to China, where Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of Taiwan as a red-line issue.

“President Xi stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations. If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement after Trump and Xi’s bilateral meeting.

BEHIND SUMMIT SMILES, XI GIVES BLUNT WARNING TO TRUMP OF ‘CLASHES’ AND ‘CONFLICTS’

Congress pre-approved a $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan in January, though Trump has yet to formally notify the package, a key step in approving the delivery to Taiwan. Though a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged him to do so before his China visit, Trump withheld his stamp of approval, leaving the armament deal in limbo.

During an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier from China, Trump urged both Taiwan and China to “cool down” and remained ambivalent on the likelihood he’d sign off on the weapons bundle.

“I may do it. I may not do it,” he told Baier. “We’re not looking to have wars. If you kept it the way it is, I think China is [going to] be OK with that. But we’re not looking to have somebody say, ‘Let’s go independent because the United States is backing us.’”

CHINA PROMISES ‘COUNTERMEASURES’ TO US ARMS SALE TO TAIWAN

Beijing has long viewed Taiwan as a “breakaway province” and lays claim to the island as belonging to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The U.S., in concert with President Ronald Reagan’s “six assurances” to Taiwan, has historically been the island nation’s chief weapons supplier, a trend that many Washington lawmakers wish to see continued.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asserted as much during Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing, insisting that weaponizing Taiwan provides the U.S. strategic leverage in ongoing security competition with China.

“I’m sorry, what more do we have to know?” he asked Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy’s chief of operations.

US COULD BURN THROUGH KEY MISSILES IN ‘A WEEK’ IF WAR WITH CHINA ERUPTS, TOP SECURITY EXPERT WARNS

“President Xi has telegraphed his anxiety, his insecurity now that he knows that America’s re-learned how to fight. We want leverage. We want stability, not a hot war. We want leverage. What’s his insecurity? Taiwan. Why don’t we just go ahead and sell the weapons to Taiwan that Taiwan wants? The president can call President Xi and say, hey, President Xi, don’t take it personally. Don’t get excited, don’t get your bows in an uproar. But I’m selling these weapons. Why wouldn’t we do that?”

“We definitely want Taiwan to be as strong as they can be,” Caudle replied.

“They’d be stronger with those weapons are, wouldn’t they?” Kennedy asked.

“Yes, sir,” Caudle replied.

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WATCH: KENNEDY PRESSES NAVY ADMIRAL ON WEAPONS SALES TO TAIWAN:

Taiwan, meanwhile, said they haven’t received any notification from the U.S. about the pause.

“Currently there is no information regarding any adjustments the U.S. will make to this arms sale,” Taiwanese presidential spokesperson Karen Kuo said Friday, according to The Associated Press.

“As President Trump said, he will make a determination in a fairly short time regarding a new Taiwan arms package,” a White House official told Fox News Digital.

“The President approved $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan in December 2025, consistent with U.S. policy since the 1950s. In his first term, President Trump approved more arms sales to Taiwan than any other President in history. In his second term, President Trump approved more in his first year than all four years under President Biden,” the official said. 

Fox News Digital contacted the Department of War, the State Department, the U.S. Navy and a representative for the Taiwanese government for comment.

Democratic senators largely avoided answering questions about Graham Platner, the controversial candidate in Maine looking to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and his many off-color comments that have resurfaced in recent months.

Most Democrats told Fox News Digital they aren’t focused on the Maine contest.

“I’m not following that race closely,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Fox News Digital earlier this week when approached about Platner.

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The comments — and in many cases, silence — from Democratic lawmakers have done little to clarify whether lawmakers see Platner’s past remarks on sexual abuse, race and terror as a meaningful threat to his Senate candidacy.

It’s a seat Democrats believe presents a ripe opportunity; a chance to knock off a moderate Republican in a Democratic-leaning state. Should Platner take the nomination, Democrats will have to hope his colorful past won’t turn enough voters away to inadvertently hand Collins a sixth term.

Collins, who first took the seat in 1997, last won re-election in 2021 in a 51.0% to 42.4% victory over Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, a state legislator.

Among other resurfaced comments, Platner in one Reddit post once blamed rape victims for failing to protect themselves.

SCHUMER’S ‘NUMBER ONE TARGET’ SAYS VOTERS WILL SEE HER DEMOCRAT SENATE CHALLENGER AS TOO EXTREME

“How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not so f—ed up when they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?” Platner wrote in 2013.

“If you don’t want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult for f—s sake.”

To Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the story behind those comments isn’t clear. Like Durbin, Booker said his focus has been elsewhere.

“I have not been focusing on this race,” Booker said.

But he promised to give the matter a closer look.

“I am going to do my due diligence and look through the full body of evidence around him. He has a case to make to the voters, not to people like me. And he needs to make it because obviously this election is highly consequential,” Booker said.

MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE CITES COMBAT TRAUMA WHEN CONFRONTED ON ‘TERRIBLE’ POSTS ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT

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Still, other senators said the Maine race is the prerogative of voters in the Pine Tree State.

“It’s up to Maine,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. “It’s up to Maine’s people.”

President Donald Trump is championing the prospect of putting the kibosh on twice-annual clock changes by making daylight saving time permanent.

A bill to make daylight saving time permanent has been folded into a larger measure that the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced in a 48-1 vote on Thursday.

“Big Vote today (48-1!) in the Energy and Commerce Committee on a Bill including The Sunshine Protection Act, which will be making Daylight Saving Time Permanent! This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks. Many of these Clocks are located in Towers, and the cost of renting, or using, Heavy Equipment to do this twice a year is prohibitive!” Trump wrote in a Thursday Truth Social post.

TRUMP SAYS CONGRESS SHOULD PUSH ‘FOR MORE DAYLIGHT AT THE END OF A DAY’

“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production. It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!” the president declared.

Rep. Vern Buchanan’s, R-Fla., office noted in a Thursday press release that “The Sunshine Protection Act was included as a provision within an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (AINS) to the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act, which was marked up and sent to the House floor by the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.”

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The push is actually bipartisan.

“The legislation has 32 bipartisan cosponsors in the House, and Senate companion legislation (S. 29) introduced by Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has 18 bipartisan cosponsors,” Buchanan’s release noted.

The proposal would not compel a state that is not observing daylight saving time to start observing it.

In a Truth Social post last year, Trump called for Congress to address the issue.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS: IT’S ABOUT THE SUNLIGHT

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“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” he declared in an April 2025 post.

FIRST ON FOX: A watchdog is sounding the alarm over at least $3.85 million in taxpayer-backed support tied to the Southern Poverty Law Center, including a multimillion-dollar federal grant for a university-led project that says it integrates SPLC’s racial justice curriculum into middle school classrooms.

Using the power of public records requests, taxpayer watchdog OpenTheBooks released a report Friday highlighting $1,352,655.07 in taxpayer dollars it said had been paid “directly” to the SPLC from school districts, states, cities, counties, universities and other public entities since fiscal year 2016. OpenTheBooks also found an active National Institutes of Health-backed University of Michigan project grant worth $2.5 million, which materials from the university say integrates the SPLC’s “Learning for Justice” curriculum, previously called “Teaching Tolerance,” into programming for middle-school classrooms.

The grant’s original Freedom of Information Act-obtained application said researchers would integrate “the Teaching Tolerance curriculum from the Southern Poverty Law Center” into an existing middle school program and test it across six Genesee County, Michigan, middle schools. 

EXCLUSIVE: SPLC’S ‘FAR-LEFT’ ‘ANTI-RACISM’ CURRICULUM FOUND IN CLASSROOMS AS EARLY AS KINDERGARTEN: WATCHDOG

8th-grade lesson materials from the SPLC’s curriculum, reviewed by Fox News Digital, directed students to a “map of active hate groups” suggesting “anti-gay” and “radical traditionalist Catholic” organizations are equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and Black-Separatists. Other Learning for Justice youth materials encourage students to see themselves as part of a “movement for justice” and included toolkits for sustained activism.

President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Fox News Digital the program “is no longer being funded” and has been “redesigned” to focus on reducing teen and family violence. However, OpenTheBooks points to University of Michigan’s current project page, which still says the active NIH-backed project integrates SPLC’s Learning for Justice curriculum and lists SPLC as a partner. FOIA-obtained NIH records also show the original grant documents repeatedly described the project as integrating SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance curriculum into the YES program.

“Utilizing taxpayer resources to promote harmful, leftwing rhetoric in our education systems is inappropriate, and I support efforts to root out and expose organizations like SPLC,” Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said in response to the grant funding. “I support the important work of the House Judiciary Committee to expose the nefarious agenda, funding, and tactics of the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

The grant scrutiny comes the same week the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hate,” examining what the committee described as SPLC’s role in “distorting civil rights policy” and newly released information that the group allegedly funneled money to extremists it was claiming to combat.

The hearing featured testimony from author of “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center” and Daily Signal senior reporter Tyler O’Neil, who told Fox News Digital that “the NIH needs to address parents’ concerns about this grant.”

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“The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning for Justice project pushes critical race theory and transgender ideology. Meanwhile, the SPLC uses its ‘hate map’ to condemn parental rights groups on the other side of the issue, silencing opposition to its agenda by comparing these groups to the Ku Klux Klan,” O’Neil added. “Federal tax dollars should not promote this divisive program in schools.”

University of Michigan’s current project page says the active NIH-backed program integrates SPLC’s Learning for Justice curriculum into a middle-school program aimed at addressing “racism and racial discrimination” and measuring students’ “racist beliefs and behaviors.” Meanwhile, the SPLC’s current Learning for Justice materials frame the program around “educating for liberation,” “racial equity” and the “deconstruction of white supremacy.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Michigan, including the grant’s project leader, Professor Marc Zimmerman, and Kate Barnes, a communications manager for the university’s Office of the Vice President for Research whose staff bio says she handles media relations for various projects, but did not immediately receive a response.

Learning for Justice materials that included curriculum instruction for 8th graders, reviewed by Fox News Digital, categorized “Anti-Gay” and “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” under the same “hate group” banner as the “Ku Klux Klan,” “Neo-Nazi[s]” and “Black Separatist[s].”

The same teaching materials directed students to SPLC’s “map of active hate groups,” part of SPLC’s broader hate-group tracking work that the organization has indicated was once supported by its now-disbanded informant program. The Department of Justice alleges that the program secretly funneled donor money to informants inside extremist groups, but SPLC has denied wrongdoing.

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

Other Learning for Justice youth materials reviewed by Fox News Digital encourage students to take part in a “movement for justice” and include resources for nonviolent direct action, public rallies, social media campaigns and community organizing. Materials for grades 6-8 and 9-12 include tasks directing students to write letters to corporate or elected officials calling for action and organizing live social media chats to raise awareness for social justice issues.

OpenTheBooks argued the dollar figures they uncovered may understate SPLC’s taxpayer-backed footprint because free classroom resources and teacher-training materials often do not show up in spending databases.

“Open the Books only came upon the details of ‘Teaching Tolerance’ and the SPLC curriculum by submitting a FOIA request and waiting ten weeks. That suggests there could be plenty more indirect support for the nonprofit that’s not readily visible to taxpayers,” the watchdog’s report states. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that’s true,” it continues, pointing to a second investigation OpenTheBooks has been working on into the Pentagon’s K-12 public schools, which also turned up SPLC learning materials.

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A previous Fox News Digital report, citing an investigation by conservative nonprofit Defending Education, found SPLC’s Learning for Justice program had been integrated into K-12 lesson plans and materials in 169 school districts across 42 states and Washington, D.C., including in classrooms as early as kindergarten.

Defending Education said the materials promoted themes including “anti-racism,” White privilege, White supremacy, “whiteness,” gender ideology, “queer theory,” and more.

“Taxpayers have the right to know what groups, like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has financed racial animosity, are doing with their money,” said John Hart, president of OpenTheBooks.

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

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is publicly disowning his party’s own 2024 election “autopsy,” calling the long-delayed report a product that “does not meet my standards” after Democrats suffered what he described as a “painful and consequential” defeat to President Donald Trump.

The blunt admission came as Martin described former Vice President Kamala Harris‘ 2024 defeat as a “punch to the gut” and acknowledged the Democratic Party’s “brand is in trouble and needs repair.”

“I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards,” Martin said of the report, adding that he could not “in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on it.”

Martin emphasized that he was releasing the report for the sake of transparency “as I received it – in its entirety, unedited and unabridged – with annotations for claims that couldn’t be verified.”

DEMS DEMAND RELEASE OF HIDDEN DNC AUTOPSY AFTER 2024 COLLAPSE: ‘WE GOT OUR BUTTS KICKED’

The report argues Democrats weakened their own political infrastructure through cuts to state party support, declining voter registration efforts and reduced grassroots organizing, while also failing to listen to key voting blocs — mistakes it says allowed Republicans to make gains with voters Democrats have increasingly struggled to reach, particularly in middle America.

CNN was first to release a copy of the report.

Annotations that appear in the report, however, pick apart certain claims for lacking evidence.

READ THE DNC 2024 ELECTION AUTOPSY – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

In one such section, the report claims that “the Harris campaign appears to have relied on Trump being unacceptable rather than building an affirmative case for Harris,” to which an annotation reads, “No evidence provided for this claim.”

Martin, who was elected DNC chair early last year, has faced pressure from within the party and increased public criticism over the autopsy controversy and over the DNC’s fundraising woes. The party remains far behind the rival Republican National Committee in a key fundraising metric: cash on hand.

Former DNC vice chair David Hogg, a vocal Martin critic, on Thursday called for the chairman to resign.

“This autopsy, and the months-long debate about even releasing the report, is a demoralizing joke. It’s clear that Chair Ken Martin has lost the confidence of his staff, supporters, and most importantly, millions of Americans counting on the DNC to help Democrats win up and down the ballot in 2026 and 2028,” Hogg charged. 

“Ken Martin should resign, and the DNC should select a new leader who demonstrates competence, creativity, moral clarity, and a relentless commitment to actually changing the broken Democratic Party brand,” Hogg emphasized.

Hogg, a gun-control crusader who was elected a DNC vice chair as Martin won election as chair, stepped down from his position last summer after upsetting party leaders for his efforts backing primary challenges against what he called “asleep at the wheel” older, longtime incumbents in safe, blue districts.

Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior advisor to then-President Barack Obama and a co-host of the popular progressive podcast “Pod Save America” who has been critical of Martin’s handling of the autopsy, also urged that the chair step down.

“Ken Martin is not up to the job, and his continued presence is going to make the DNC woefully ineffective heading into the midterms and then the critical 2028 primaries, where the DNC plays a major role,” Pfeiffer argued. “He should step down for the good of the party, and if he won’t, the DNC should fire him.”

Martin has insisted numerous times in recent months that he would not step down, and pointed to the slew of ballot box victories and election overperformances by Democrats in the 16 months since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Longtime New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, a former DNC vice chair, told Fox News Digital: “I have great confidence in Ken Martin. He continues to be in communication with DNC members and State Parties about how he can best support our efforts to win in November.”

“Now that the report has been released, it is abundantly clear that many concerns have already been addressed or are being addressed. It is time for Democrats across the country to focus on November,” Buckley emphasized.

Following the Democrats’ sweeping losses in the 2024 election cycle, the DNC launched an internal autopsy investigating where the party fell short in securing a win in both the presidential election and the majority in Congress.

Democratic Party officials interviewed over 300 Democrats from all 50 states for the report, which Martin promised would examine the party’s mistakes in 2024 and offer a roadmap to victory going forward.

DEMOCRATS’ MIDTERM PUSH CLOUDED BY INFIGHTING OVER PARTY KEEPING 2024 AUTOPSY UNDER WRAPS

There was controversy surrounding the report as it was being compiled, after reports last summer said the autopsy would skip analyzing whether then-President Joe Biden should have run for re-election in 2024 and would pass on judging key decisions made by Harris and her team, after she replaced Biden as the party’s nominee with just over three months to go until the 2024 election.

Despite facing growing calls from Democrats to release the report, DNC officials had argued it was being withheld ahead of the midterms to keep the party focused on retaking the House and Senate in November. Martin said in a statement at the time that if releasing the autopsy will not help Democrats win in the midterms, then it is purely a “distraction.”

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Other Democrats argued publicly releasing the autopsy before the midterms would improve transparency and help the party regroup ahead of November’s elections.

Harris, who is mulling making another White House bid in 2028, recently told donors she believed the DNC should make the autopsy public. The news was first reported by NBC News and confirmed by Fox News Digital.

A source with knowledge said that Harris had not discussed the autopsy with DNC Chair Ken Martin, and that the former vice president did not know in advance about Martin’s decision in December to keep the 2024 election postmortem under wraps.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno and Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.

The state of North Carolina now must remove noncitizens excused from jury duty from voter rolls, Fox News Digital has learned Thursday.

The Republican National Committee and North Carolina Republican Party say they secured a consent judgment requiring the North Carolina State Board of Elections to use jury-duty records to identify registered voters who have acknowledged they are not U.S. citizens.

Those noncitizens will have to be removed from voter rolls, a significant legal victory in forcing a state to purge its voter rolls amid strong Democrat opposition.

“This agreement is a major win for election integrity in North Carolina,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It’s straightforward: if someone admits they’re not a U.S. citizen during jury duty, that information should be used to check the voter rolls and remove anyone who doesn’t belong.”

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The agreement was accepted by Superior Court Judge Jennifer Bedford after an 19-minute online hearing Wednesday.

“This type of information, I think the General Assembly has made somewhat clear, should not fall on deaf ears,” Bedford said, The Carolina Journal reported, adding that information submitted to the court system should also be recognized by other agencies.

The agreement sets a schedule through 2028 for clerks to send the information to the elections board. Within 30 days of receiving it, the board must review voter-registration and citizenship status, send county elections boards reports on any registered voters identified, and refer cases to the State Bureau of Investigation and district attorneys if a person appears to have voted before becoming a U.S. citizen.

DEMOCRATS CELEBRATE AS 73,000 NORTH CAROLINA VOTERS WITHOUT PROPER ID STAY ON ROLLS

Two groups represented by the Elias Law Group, North Carolina Asian Americans Together and El Pueblo, objected to part of the deal requiring the list of people who claimed noncitizenship for jury-duty purposes to be posted on the state elections board’s FTP website.

Their attorney argued that publishing the information online could raise privacy concerns and have a chilling effect, even if the records are public under state law.

The agreement stems from a lawsuit the GOP groups filed in 2024, accusing the state board of failing to comply with a North Carolina law requiring clerks of court to report people who seek to be excused from jury service by saying they are not citizens.

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Under state law, noncitizens are barred from voting in state elections and from serving on juries, but that did not stop then-Gov. Roy Cooper from vetoing a bill in 2019 that would remove illegal immigrants from voter rolls.

The consent judgment, if approved by the court, would require the state’s elections board to review information received from county clerks, determine whether those individuals appear on the voter rolls and begin removal procedures for anyone found to be ineligible.

The RNC said it filed a public-records request in 2024 seeking to determine whether the board was complying with the law but did not receive a response.

‘ESSENTIAL TO OUR NATION’S SOVEREIGNTY’: NONCITIZEN VOTER CRACKDOWN LED BY GOP AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS

The RNC and the state GOP later sued, and the board agreed to use the jury-duty information as part of voter-roll maintenance, according to the RNC.

A majority of North Carolina — 83% of Republicans, 59% of Independents and 52% of Democrats – support states removing noncitizens from voter registration rolls, according to Heritage Action polling.

The case is part of a broader Republican legal push focused on voter eligibility and citizenship requirements.

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The RNC is involved in litigation defending President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring documentary proof of citizenship, and has also asked the Supreme Court to take up a case involving Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship law.

As federal authorities continue to crack down on welfare fraud, the latest Fox News survey finds voters are concerned about program abuse, but still also want to protect access for legitimate recipients. 

The survey was conducted before the Department of Justice announced charges against 15 defendants on Thursday in the ongoing Minnesota welfare fraud investigations, one of multiple inquiries into welfare abuse across the country.

A majority of registered voters, 71%, believe fraud in government welfare and social service programs is extremely or very common, and nearly half, 45%, think it has increased over the past two years. Just 19% say decreased and 35% believe it has stayed the same.

FOX NEWS POLL: 30% THINK RECENT TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT WAS STAGED

Yet when weighing enforcement against access, voters prioritize eligible recipients: 56% say ensuring benefits for eligible people should be the higher priority, even if some fraud occurs, while 43% prioritize fraud prevention, even if some eligible people lose benefits.

 “The data demonstrates what populist candidates understand intuitively,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps conduct the Fox News Poll with Democratic partner Chris Anderson. “Voters think corruption and incompetence are rampant in government, and stories of program fraud from Minneapolis and California reinforce this notion. And articulating this belief plays well with the public. The policy implications are trickier: do you risk restricting aid to the truly vulnerable to ensure taxpayers aren’t being ripped off?”   

Voters are split on who bears more responsibility for fraud: individuals misrepresenting eligibility or organizations and contractors misrepresenting costs (50% each). 

FOX NEWS POLL: AS ECONOMIC PAIN DEEPENS, DISAPPROVAL OF TRUMP HITS NEW HIGH

 On fraud prevention, more voters trust their state governments (60% a great deal or some confidence) than the federal government (51%). 

There is notable bipartisan consensus on the existence of welfare fraud. To varying degrees, Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree fraud is common, and it has increased in recent years.  But beyond that, partisan divisions become much sharper. 

Majorities of Democrats are more likely to blame organizations and contractors for fraud and to prioritize ensuring eligible people receive benefits. By contrast, Republicans are more likely to blame individuals who misrepresent eligibility and favor stronger fraud prevention measures. 

Independents are split on whether individuals or contractors are more responsible for fraud (50% each) but more prioritize access to benefits (57%) than fraud prevention (43%).

Confidence in state governments cuts across party lines, with majorities of Democrats (65%), independents (59%), and Republicans (56%) trusting their state to prevent fraud.

Views of the federal government are more polarized. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans (63%) express confidence in the federal government’s ability to combat fraud, compared to 42% of Democrats and 47% of independents.

Congressional Approval

Only 3 in 10 voters approve of the job Congressional Democrats (30%) and Republicans (31%) are doing. 

Approval for Congressional Democrats is up 1 point since February (29%, a record low approval). Support for Congressional Republicans has fallen 5 points (36%), and much of that comes from a 10-point drop among Republican voters themselves.

Still, more Republicans approve of their lawmakers (67%) than Democrats do theirs (58%).

“Voters’ unfavorable views of Democratic lawmakers is one of the most fascinating and important factors affecting the midterms,” says Shaw. “Negative assessments of the Republicans are expected; they hold power at a time when the public mood is sour. But to capitalize on this, the Democrats must convince voters they might actually do better.”

Redistricting

Six in 10 voters are extremely or very concerned about redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms.

More Democrats than Republicans are concerned (71% vs. 51%) and more than twice as many Democrats say they are extremely concerned (39% D vs. 15% R). Independents are split, with 50% concerned and 49% not concerned, including 22% extremely concerned.

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The Supreme Court

Voters were also asked how they feel about increasing the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and 45% favor the idea while 55% oppose it. Support is unchanged from 2022 and up from a 35% low in 2021. Overall, voters have generally opposed packing the court.

More than half of Democrats (55%) favor expanding the high court, while majorities of independents (56%) and Republicans oppose it (64%).

Conducted May 15-18, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,002 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (109) and cellphones (635) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (258). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

House Democrats unanimously rebelled against legislation Thursday directing the construction of a new women’s history museum on the National Mall.

Democrats sought to defeat the bill after Republicans limited the institution to biological women and excluded transgender individuals. 

The measure came up short in a vote of 204-216 after a handful of conservative GOP lawmakers joined Democrats in tanking the legislation that would secure a site for the forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the grounds of the Mall. 

The defecting Republicans objected to the measure over concerns about whether a women’s history museum was necessary and because the bill did not include protections against left-wing content from appearing in the institution,” a source familiar told Fox News Digital.

WATCH: DEMS GO SILENT, PULL WOMEN’S MONTH RESOLUTION AFTER GOP ASKS FOR SIMPLE DEFINITION

“American women are already proudly honored across the Smithsonian—from pioneers and patriots to scientists and leaders,” the source said. “We don’t need another taxpayer-funded museum that risks becoming a shrine to abortion activists like Margaret Sanger or the latest progressive cause.”

It was not immediately clear whether Republican leadership would attempt to bring the legislation up for a vote at a later date. Eight Republicans did not vote.

Democrats’ widespread opposition to the legislation came after the Democratic Women’s Caucus issued a statement last month accusing Republicans of targeting “transgender women and girls” with an amendment defining the museum around biological women.

The female lawmakers argued the anticipated museum is long overdue, but said they could not support the legislation with the biological women language added, which many characterized as a “poison pill.”

“The Museum shall be dedicated to preserving, researching, and presenting the history, achievements and lived experiences of biological women in the United States,” the amended measure, authored by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., states in part.

The museum may not depict “any biological male as female,” it continues, which codifies language in a Trump executive order issued in 2025 barring the inclusion of transgender individuals in the forthcoming museum. 

“The addition of the word biological made them all run for the hills,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during a news conference Wednesday. “If that’s controversial in the Democratic Party, we’re in serious trouble. The party that purports to support women, demanding that the museum include biological men.”

Democrats’ decision to withdraw support for the museum measure comes as the party has continued to advocate for transgender rights despite questions over whether those views contributed to its poor performance in the 2024 election. Many Democrats also continue to face GOP scrutiny about providing a definition for “woman.”

DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO DEFINE ‘WOMAN’ WHEN PRESSED ON CAPITOL HILL: ‘COMPLICATED QUESTION’

Democratic lawmakers also slammed amended language in the bill granting the president the authority to choose an “alternative site” within 180 days of the measure’s enactment.

“They amended the bill to give Trump and his allies unregulated power over what content and which women can be included in the museum, and the museum’s location,” Democratic Women’s Caucus Chairwoman Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., said in a joint statement earlier this week with other female Democratic lawmakers. “A museum about women, fought for and supported by women, should not be controlled by one man.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., the sponsor of the museum measure, accused Democrats of “hiding behind” that rationale to avoid addressing the transgender provision.

“A women’s history museum is supposed to be dedicated to women, period,” Malliotakis told Fox News. “And the fact that they’re going to pull their support after overwhelmingly co-sponsoring this bill because the word biological was inserted, to me, is ludicrous.”

“They’re going to have to explain to their voters why they believe this museum should not be built and why they believe that there should be transgender exhibits in it,” she added.

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Congress previously authorized the women’s history museum in 2020, along with a museum for American Latinos. Some Democrats justified their opposition to the measure over objections that the women’s history museum is advancing without the planned Latino institution. 

President Donald Trump’s first year back in office has seen more than 3 million illegal immigrants leave the United States, including an estimated 2.2 million “self-deportations,” according to figures shared with Fox News Digital by the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS said the administration has also deported nearly 900,000 illegal immigrants and arrested more than 900,000 others as of May 17, framing the numbers as evidence Trump’s immigration crackdown is reshaping migration patterns after record illegal crossings during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

“In President Trump’s first year back in office, more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The administration has increasingly promoted self-deportation through the CBP Home app, which allows migrants to voluntarily leave the country with travel assistance and financial support.

DHS DEFENDS AD BLITZ AMID SENATE SCRUTINY, SAYS CAMPAIGN DROVE 2.2M SELF-DEPORTATIONS AND SAVED TAXPAYERS $39B

DHS says the program costs significantly less than traditional deportation proceedings and is designed to encourage migrants in the country illegally to leave voluntarily.

The figures come as the administration touts dramatic declines in illegal crossings and what officials describe as the end of “catch-and-release” policies at the southern border.

Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Border Patrol had gone a full year without releasing illegal immigrants directly into the U.S. interior after apprehension at the border.

SOUTHERN BORDER APPREHENSIONS PLUNGE MORE THAN 90% FROM YEAR AGO IN APRIL, CBP SAYS

CBP said Border Patrol recorded 8,943 apprehensions at the southwestern border in April, a 94% drop from the Biden administration’s monthly average and 96% below the December 2023 peak.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said last week that “the days of catch and release are over,” arguing the administration’s enforcement policies are deterring migrants from attempting to enter the country illegally.

The administration has also pointed to increased ICE operations, tighter asylum restrictions and expanded interior enforcement as factors contributing to what officials describe as a broader deterrence effect.

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Immigration analysts say the administration’s tougher enforcement posture has clearly reduced illegal crossings, though some dispute how DHS characterizes some of the figures tied to migrant releases and removals.

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

The Trump administration says the $1.778 billion Justice Department “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will compensate Americans unfairly targeted by politicized federal investigations on a “case-by-case” basis, pushing back on critics who have portrayed the program as a taxpayer-funded payout for Jan. 6 rioters and Trump allies.

Heated dispute over the fund centers on who will ultimately benefit from it, with Trump administration officials saying it is intended to compensate individuals harmed by “weaponized” federal investigations, such as pro-lifers targeted by the Biden administration, while Democratic critics fear it could allow politically connected figures or some Jan. 6 defendants to seek taxpayer-funded payments.

“Republicans can apply for it. Democrats can apply for it,” Vice President J.D. Vance said during a Tuesday White House briefing in answer to the critics. “If Hunter Biden wants to apply for this particular fund, he is welcome to.”

The Anti-Weaponization Fund is unusual because it emerged from a lawsuit settlement between Trump and the IRS, an agency he oversees as president, raising concerns among lawmakers and commentators about potential conflicts of interest.

REPUBLICANS RECOIL AS TRUMP’S BILLION-DOLLAR DOJ ‘SLUSH FUND’ FOR ALLIES THREATENS ICE, BORDER PATROL PLAN

MS NOW contributor Joe Scarborough alleged that the Anti-Weaponization Fund would be funneled to those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. On his first day in office, Trump issued pardons and commutations to more than 1,500 people involved in the Capitol riots.

“We got this billion-dollar ‘Marie Antoinette’ ballroom, now that they’re talking about funding and $1 billion plus slush fund for people who beat the hell out of cops,” Scarborough said. “It is a slush fund, a weaponization slush fund for supporters of Donald Trump, JD Vance and the Republican Party.”

But the Trump administration’s grievances with the “weaponization” of the Justice Department extend far beyond Biden-era prosecutions of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot.

Biden’s Justice Department prosecuted more than 50 pro-life activists who were accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) between 2021 and 2024. Since returning to office, Trump pardoned dozens of pro-life activists, some of whom were serving jail time.

The Trump Justice Department has also accused Biden-era officials of “zealously pursuing” prosecutions against Christians in its “2026 Report by the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias,” potentially opening the door for another category of people who could seek compensation through the fund.

Still, Trump faces criticism over the fund even from his own party. Sen. John Thune, R-SD, the top Republican leader in the Senate, said he wasn’t a “big fan” of the fund’s creation and that he “was not sure exactly how they intend to use it.”

BIDEN DOJ WEAPONIZED FACE ACT AGAINST PRO-LIFE AMERICANS, 882-REPORT ALLEGES

“I think that there are, and will continue to be, a lot of questions around that, that the administration is going to have to answer,” Thune said.

Justice Department officials and some legal experts say the fund, while unusual and politically controversial, falls within the government’s legal authority and that payments aren’t guaranteed.

The Anti-Weaponization Fund was born out of a settlement between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump filed the lawsuit against in January over the unauthorized disclosure of his tax records.

Claims will be determined by a five-person board appointed by the Attorney General, with at least one member selected with consultation with congressional leadership, according to a Justice Department press release. At any point in time, the president has the power to remove a member without cause.

Under the settlement agreement, the Anti-Weaponization Fund will evaluate claims by looking at the “totality of the circumstances.” Those factors considered include how strong a person’s claim is and what evidence supports it, the financial harm they allegedly suffered — including legal fees — whether they spent time in prison and whether they have already received compensation or other relief elsewhere.

The agreement also gives the board discretion to weigh “other factors” it considers fair and appropriate when deciding whether someone qualifies for compensation.

“This is about seeking accountability for all Americans who were victims of law fare and weaponization: millions of Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at school boards, Senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on,” a Justice Department document stated.

The Anti-Weaponization Fund will last until December 1, 2028.

APOLOGIES AND CASH HEADED TO ALLEGED ‘WEAPONIZATION’ VICTIMS IN BILLION-DOLLAR TRUMP SETTLEMENT

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Funding for the Anti-Weaponization Fund is coming from the Judgment Fund, which is a permanent Treasury account used to pay for settlements and claims against the government.

While the Justice Department pointed to the Obama administration’s creation of “Keepseagle,” a $760 million fund for victims of racism by the federal government as precedent for the creation of the fund, legal experts say there are key distinctions between the two. For instance, payouts in Keepseagle were made out to people a part of a class action lawsuit against the government; whereas anyone can apply for a claim with the Anti-Weaponization Fund.

“The Judgment Fund is for lawsuits,” Adam Zimmerman, a professor at USC Gould School of Law told PBS News. “It’s not for an amorphous group of people who feel like they’ve been wronged generally by a prior administration.”

But unlike the Keepseagle, which distributed leftover funds to nonprofits, the Anti-Weaponization Fund will return remaining funds back to the Department of Commerce. Although, the practice of disbursing leftover funds to related third party organizations, which occurred in Keepseagle, is not uncommon in class action lawsuits.

Former Detroit Democratic Mayor Mike Duggan announced he is suspending his independent campaign for Michigan governor, turning the three-way contest to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer into a typical partisan race in the blue-trending state.

Duggan was a popular mayor of the Motor City who garnered sizable support in his first unsuccessful write-in campaign and forged relationships with key city stakeholders like Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford Jr., an early backer of his gubernatorial bid.

As a former Democrat, conventional wisdom held that his presence hurt Democratic nominee Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, while his moderate positioning was also considered attractive to Republicans who otherwise might support GOP nominee Rep. John James.

NBC News reporter Henry Gomez said on X that Democrats had been “hitting him almost as hard as John James” and that the move was likely “welcome news” for the left in the Great Lakes State.

SWING STATE GOVERNOR’S RACE GETS CURVEBALL AS TOP DEM RUNS INDEPENDENT, SPARKING CALLS FOR BUTTIGIEG TO ENTER

“Dear Michigan, I’ve decided to suspend my campaign,” Duggan announced via public letter Thursday.

“We knew the independent route was filled with challenge. Even against those odds, the excitement for real change carried this campaign upward for more than a year,” he said.

Duggan dismissed claims he was trying to be a “spoiler” for either side and instead aimed to change the tenor of national politics.

“I’m still hopeful our campaign will prove to have a real long-term impact,” Duggan said.

“I will never be able to express the gratitude I feel for all your support and encouragement. I wish I could have done better for you.”

When he announced his run, Duggan pointed to his family history and his own political evolution as evidence a change is needed in government.

MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT QUITS POLITICS, SAYS PARTY’S AGENDA BETRAYED HER FAITH

He told BridgeDetroit his late father supported former President Ronald Reagan but wouldn’t recognize the Trump-led GOP — while Duggan himself admitted the Democratic Party he once knew to be an ally of a working class is sliding in that regard.

In one such instance, Democrats piled on Duggan for referring to people illicitly present in America as “illegal immigrants” instead of “undocumented.”

“If there was ever a time to give people a third choice, this would be the year,” he told the outlet.

Benson told Fox News Digital in a statement that Duggan brought civility to a body politic greatly needing it.

“I want to thank Mayor Mike Duggan for what he brought to this race and for his years of service to Detroit,” she said, noting how divided politics has become.

“I welcome Mayor Duggan’s ideas, his supporters, and everyone who believes Michigan’s future is bigger than division — and that it can be a place where anyone can afford to live, work, and thrive.”

REPUBLICANS HAVE CHANCE TO SECURE GOVERNORSHIPS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES NEXT YEAR

“We may not always agree on everything, but we share a commitment to building a stronger Michigan. And that work continues in this campaign,” Benson concluded.

Fox News Digital also reached out to James’ campaign.

In a statement on social media, the Republican said he wanted to thank Duggan for years of service to Michigan and its largest city.

“I respect anyone willing to step into the arena and serve something bigger than themselves. While we have real disagreements on policy, we both recognize Michigan is headed in the wrong direction,” he said, opening the door to working with the former Democrat if he so desired.

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“Our state has endured too much decline and political dysfunction. I’m ready to work with anyone willing to deliver real solutions, reject the politics of division, and fight for safer communities, stronger families and economic growth — our state’s future is too important for anything less.”

While Trump narrowly won Michigan in breaking the proverbial “blue wall” for the second time in three attempts in 2024, the state has reliably chosen Democrats in other statewide races, including Whitmer, Sen. Elissa Slotkin — who won former Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s open seat in 2024 — and the state’s other upper-chamber incumbent, retiring Sen. Gary Peters.