NationalWatch

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called out California Democrats for watering down the state’s criminal law after federal law enforcement led the charge on a massive drug crackdown in the infamous Skid Row neighborhood on Thursday.

Essayli told Fox News Digital in an interview that California’s state and local law enforcement have worked with the feds just fine, but that it’s the politicians who are getting in the way.

“Unfortunately, states like California have totally watered down their laws, their criminal justice laws. They’ve also emptied their prisons and closed prisons, so effectively, there’s not much of a deterrence on the state side. No one faces any serious consequences on the state side,” Essayli said.

NEWSOM BLASTED BY SHERIFF IN HIS OWN BACKYARD OVER CALIFORNIA CRIME AS VICTIMS CRY FOUL

“We work really well with our local law enforcement partners,” he continued. “Local law enforcement isn’t the problem. It’s more the governor, it’s the legislature, it’s these loud-mouth federal, you know, Congress members who all they care about is attacking the administration, attacking the president.”

Essayli did give credit to Mayor Karen Bass for approving the Los Angeles Police Department to participate in Thursday’s Operation Save Skid Row.

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

“This is a climate in which you have people right now trying to defund the police. You have people trying to disarm the LAPD, and those people are on the side of criminals,” he added. “Anyone who’s calling for disarming the police is on the side of the drug dealers that we arrested today. They’re lunatics.”

Operation Save Skid Row saw federal and city authorities execute 28 arrest warrants and 44 search warrants in an effort to dismantle drug distribution networks in the notorious neighborhood.

TALARICO PUT ON DEFENSE AFTER 2020 COMMENTS ABOUT DEFUNDING POLICE RESURFACE: ‘WE MUST REPLACE’

Over 100 law enforcement vehicles were involved in the operation, with arrests targeting members of multiple gangs, including the “Main Street Crips,” “Grape Street/Raymond Avenue Crips” and the “Pueblo Bishop Bloods.”

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“We are no longer going to have open-air drug markets in the United States, let alone on Skid Row. And that is the reason you see so many homeless people who are experiencing psychotic episodes, who are unwell, they aren’t seeking help, it’s because you have people, like the drug dealers we are arresting today, keeping them addicted and taking their public assistance money to pay for their drugs,” Essayli said during a news conference on Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is confident that Democrats will win the Senate, but whether they support him as leader remains to be seen.

Schumer, who has led the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017, believes that Democrats have “wind in our sails” heading into what some Republicans fear could be a brutal midterm election in November.

And win or lose, he plans to retain his spot as the top Democrat in the Senate.

12 RACES SCRAMBLE SENATE BATTLEFIELD AS DEMOCRATS EYE COMEBACK

“I am running for re-election for leader,” Schumer told Politico. “Period.”

But some of his own candidates on the trail running in elections that could shape the balance of power in the Senate aren’t keen on supporting him to once again lead Senate Democrats since he took the mantle from his friend and mentor, the late Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Adam Hamilton, who has gained enough ground on incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., in ruby-red Kansas to make it a toss-up race, reiterated this week that he won’t support Schumer for leader in either a majority or minority.

“And no disrespect for him at all, it’s just that I think we need new ideas,” Hamilton told CBS News. “We need new ideas, we need fresh leadership. I support term limits. I support age limits, and I just think there’s a time where we need to have new and fresh leadership coming in, and I think this is one of those times.”

SCHUMER DUCKS QUESTION ON CAMPAIGNING WITH SOCIALIST CANDIDATE WHO REFUSES TO BACK HIM AS LEADER

He’s not alone, either. Both Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota have been noncommittal — during and after their primary victories earlier this year — with their support of Schumer, despite both welcoming dollars from the Senate Majority PAC, the political action committee closely aligned with the Democratic leader.

Fox News Digital reached out to both campaigns for comment.

Since the 2024 election, when Schumer lost the Senate, Democrats have quietly questioned a new path in leadership. Those conversations emerged twice last year — when Schumer refused to allow a shutdown early in President Donald Trump’s term, and when he was unable to prevent Democrats from jumping ship to end the longest full government shutdown in history.

SLOTKIN SAYS DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEEDS ‘NEW LEADERSHIP’: ‘OLD MODELS ARE NO LONGER WORKING’

While many Democratic senators won’t publicly engage with the topic of replacing Schumer, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., did. Earlier this year she argued that Democrats were still reeling from the 2024 election, and that “every day, there’s a debate within the party about the path forward.”

“That’s why I believe we need significant new leadership,” Slotkin said. “The old models are no longer working, and that includes the Democratic Party.”

One lawmaker has emerged as a possible replacement who has the backing of progressives, including El-Sayed: Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

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Van Hollen declined to say whether he would mount a bid against Schumer, but said before leaving Washington, D.C., last month that the midterms were “all I am focused on.”

Other Democrats aren’t quick to weigh in, either. When asked if retaking the upper chamber could strengthen Schumer’s hand, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., declined to say.

“I’m not doing those questions now,” Murphy said.

Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed traded personal attacks and accusations during a heated Michigan U.S. Senate debate Thursday night, clashing over everything from affordability, the war in Iran and U.S. support for Israel to their respective financial dealings and personal backgrounds.

The contentious showdown in Grand Rapids marked the first time the two candidates faced off onstage ahead of November’s closely watched election after Rogers declined to participate in a debate last month hosted by FOX 2 Detroit, citing concerns about the moderator’s impartiality.

At the top of Thursday’s debate, what began as a discussion about affordability quickly devolved into personal attacks, with Rogers repeatedly questioning El-Sayed’s medical credentials and accusing him of misleading voters. El-Sayed accused the former congressman of enriching himself through corporate connections.

“He’s lying. So, he lied about being a physician. He lied now about being an Egyptian citizen or not being an Egyptian citizen,” Rogers charged during one particularly heated exchange. “That’s a con man.”

EL-SAYED’S SCATHING OBAMA CRITIQUE RESURFACES AHEAD OF JOINT CAMPAIGN RALLY

El-Sayed, who holds a medical degree from Columbia University, rejected the attacks and accused Rogers of attempting to distract voters from issues affecting their everyday lives.

“He wanted to make this about him or me. But the question is about you,” El-Sayed responded. “Can you afford your gas? Can you afford your groceries under this guy who’s going to rubber stamp everything Donald Trump tells him to rubber stamp?”

The candidates also sparred over their personal finances, with El-Sayed repeatedly accusing Rogers of profiting from corporate relationships after leaving Congress and referencing his Florida property and alleged yacht ownership. 

Rogers, who denied owning any yachts, countered by questioning El-Sayed’s investments and alleged overseas property holdings in the UAE, while also slamming him for accepting money from billionaires despite simultaneously stumping on not taking money from corporate PACs and getting money out of politics.

EL-SAYED GRILLED ON PIKER, ISRAEL AND SOCIALIST TIES AFTER MIKE ROGERS SKIPS SENATE DEBATE

The exchanges became so heated that moderator Rick Albin repeatedly intervened.

“Look, here’s the situation. We’ve got dozens of questions we want to get to. You can’t litigate all of these with 14 different rebuttals,” Albin told the candidates. 

After a commercial break, Albin remarked that, in 30 years of moderating debates, he had never witnessed candidates continue arguing throughout a commercial break. 

The personal accusations remained constant throughout much of Thursday night’s debate, but one of the evening’s sharpest policy disagreements emerged over Israel and Iran.

Asked whether he would support providing defensive weapons to Israel if the country were attacked by Iran or another state actor, El-Sayed indicated he would not and reiterated his opposition to using American taxpayer dollars to fund foreign militaries.

“I don’t want our tax dollars buying weapons for other countries. I don’t know what’s so hard about that,” El-Sayed said.

MICHIGAN STUDENT CONFRONTS EL-SAYED OVER IRAN STANCE IN TENSE EXCHANGE: ‘DO YOU STAND WITH US?’

“I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One at risk of attacking us, one getting us into wars we have no business fighting,” he added, referring to Israel and Iran.

El-Sayed also declined to say whether Israel or Iran posed the greater threat to the United States despite repeated questioning from the moderator.

“I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way,” El-Sayed said. “One at risk of attacking us, one getting us into wars. We have no business fighting.”

Rogers, by contrast, indicated he would support providing defensive weapons to Israel and reiterated his support for the Jewish state. 

He repeatedly accused El-Sayed of having connections to individuals and organizations supportive of terrorist groups as well, allegations El-Sayed disputed.

ABDUL EL-SAYED HITS BACK AT ISRAEL QUESTIONS, SUGGESTS HIS NAME AND FAITH ARE BEHIND PRESS SCRUTINY

The pair also differed on whether the war could come to an end if Iran still maintains the ability to produce a nuclear weapon and continues to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz.

El-Sayed blamed the conflict for rising gas prices and accused Rogers of supporting an unnecessary war, arguing that diplomacy could resolve the conflict even if Iran retained the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

Rogers argued that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been significantly diminished and said the war should end, while maintaining that Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

On domestic policy, El-Sayed expressed openness to federal price controls on domestically produced oil, arguing that high gasoline prices constituted an emergency.

“Look, I definitely think that’s something we should consider,” El-Sayed said.

DEMOCRATS FACE ‘DO-OR-DIE’ SPLIT WITH KEY VOTING BLOC IN RAZOR-CLOSE SENATE RACE

Rogers rejected price controls, instead advocating temporary gas tax relief, diesel rebates and a pause on diesel exports.

Healthcare also became a major flash point.

El-Sayed defended his Medicare-for-all proposal, insisting that Americans who wanted to retain private insurance could do so. Rogers argued that the proposal would eliminate existing private coverage and impose significant new taxes on families.

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The debate unfolded against the backdrop of an exceptionally competitive Senate contest.

A late-September Fox News poll showed El-Sayed leading Rogers 50% to 49% among likely voters, a statistical dead heat.

The candidates are competing for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, with Republicans hoping to flip the seat and Democrats seeking to maintain their hold on it.

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., has heard evidence concerning possible false statements former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson made to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Fox News Digital has learned.

Additional evidence could be presented to the grand jury as soon as next week, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The proceedings remain in the grand jury phase, and no final decisions have been made about whether the matter will result in criminal charges, the source said.

FORMER CIA DIRECTOR BRENNAN SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY IN FEDERAL TRUMP CONSPIRACY CASE

Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, emerged as one of the most prominent witnesses before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and President Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election.

During a nationally televised hearing in June 2022, Hutchinson provided testimony about Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, including an account she said she heard from another White House official about the president’s reaction after being told he could not travel to the Capitol.

Her account of an alleged confrontation inside the presidential vehicle was subsequently disputed by other individuals familiar with the events.

FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE CASSIDY HUTCHINSON ‘STANDS BY ALL OF THE TESTIMONY SHE PROVIDED’ TO JAN. 6 COMMITTEE

It remains unclear which portions of Hutchinson’s congressional testimony are being examined by the grand jury.

The New York Post reported Thursday that the Justice Department was investigating Hutchinson over possible false statements to Congress and that a federal grand jury had been convened to hear evidence.

Grand jury proceedings do not necessarily result in criminal charges, and the presentation of evidence does not establish that a crime occurred.

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A representative for the Justice Department and Hutchinson’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

One of President Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in Congress could soon become his highest-ranking defender against a barrage of Democrat-led investigations and impeachment threats.

Several House Republicans told Fox News Digital they expect the chamber will slide out of their control come November — and with it, a major shake-up in their top leadership ranks.

“I don’t see a scenario where everyone gets to keep their job,” one House GOP lawmaker bluntly told Fox News Digital. “I think [Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.] would be first out, and then [House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.] has got to decide if he’s going to run for leader and, can he beat [House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio]?”

Jordan and Scalise’s names came up often, in Fox News Digital’s discussions with various House Republicans, all of whom spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conference matters.

HOUSE DEMS PLOT TRUMP INVESTIGATION BLITZ IF THEY SEIZE MAJORITY

A second House Republican said Jordan is the “number one name” in talks of a GOP minority leader.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES UNLEASH MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR MIDTERM BLITZ AGAINST DEM ‘SOCIALIST’ INSURGENCY

The Ohio Republican already enjoys high name recognition among the party base. As the first lawmaker put it, “His celebrity status is very helpful … when Jim Jordan comes to town for you, you put 300 butts in seats.”

That status has been on full display so far this election cycle. Jordan has spent much of August and October traveling across the country campaigning for fellow House Republicans along the political spectrum, from vulnerable moderates to conservative MAGA acolytes.

TOP REPUBLICAN UNLOADS ON RISE OF ‘ANTI-AMERICAN’ CANDIDATES HEADING INTO MIDTERMS: ‘YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING’

It’s a far cry from the Jordan who ran for speaker in October 2023, when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster sparked a historic scramble to replace him. Jordan’s bid at the time was marked by fervent conservative support and fierce opposition from moderates, several of whom said they felt threatened by Jordan’s allies for their opposition.

The first House Republican described his current persona as “Jim Jordan 2.0.”

“He’s taken steps to, I think, build out way beyond the Freedom Caucus in terms of people that support him,” that person said. “Like, he’s just a great citizen of the conference.”

But Jordan himself has not publicly pushed any leadership ambitions since the 2023 battle, when Johnson ended up speaker after several weeks of political chaos. The second House Republican said they’ve seen Jordan actively dismiss any such conversations.

He told Punchbowl News earlier this week that he was “focused on winning” the House majority.

The first person said, “I think [Jordan] quietly, without campaigning for it, has built up some infrastructure like that. But also, he could be throwing darts at leadership, and he’s not. He’s just trying to help us win.”

A third House Republican pointed out that, if Democrats win the House in another blue wave, many of Jordan’s most vocal opponents from 2023 will have lost their seats. And unlike a speaker race, where a majority of the full House is needed, a minority leader would only need to win a majority of the GOP conference.

“If we lose 20 or 30 of those guys and all you’re left are guys like me, I think Jim Jordan’s chances are much higher. Because the only people left in the conference are going to be conservative,” the third GOP lawmaker said, adding they would “1,000%” back Jordan.

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: FOR THE DEMOCRATS, WHERE COULD IT POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

But a potential minority leader Jordan would not come without a fight. Most House Republicans are privately expecting Scalise, Johnson’s No. 2 and a member of House GOP leadership since 2014, to run for the job.

“It’s very obvious they’re both jockeying for it,” a fourth House Republican told Fox News Digital. “Jordan’s a pretty big draw for a lot of folks. I think he might have a play there. But there’s a lot of people who are loyal to Steve, especially those that have been around a while.”

Like other members of House GOP leadership, Scalise has also spent recess traveling the country campaigning for Republican candidates. He is also known as a prolific fundraiser for the party.

A fifth GOP lawmaker said, “I would guess, at this point, that Scalise would be in the lead with Jordan running a close second.”

“And I think it would just depend on, you know, who would people see as a better fighter against the Democrats?” the fifth person posed.

A sixth House Republican said a fight between the Louisiana Republican and Jordan seemed on the horizon if Republicans lost, and argued Scalise is best positioned to continue leading if that majority comes back.

“In some respects, Jim Jordan, I think, would make a pretty good minority leader because he’s a bulldog … [but] I’ve never believed that Jim Jordan would be an effective speaker,” that sixth person said. “I think Steve Scalise probably is the best candidate that we have out there that has experience in dealing with the administration, that understands the must-pass portion of our agenda … and is our best negotiator.”

It would likely be a bruising battle, given there’s no love lost between the two men after their competing bids for speaker after McCarthy’s ouster. Scalise had won a majority of Republicans in a head-to-head against Jordan behind closed doors but ultimately did not see a House floor vote. Jordan’s 2023 bid collapsed after he failed to clinch a majority on the House floor. 

JOHNSON DELIVERS BIG FOR TRUMP, BUT FRUSTRATION GROWS ACROSS RAZOR-THIN GOP MAJORITY

But it’s not clear if it may even come to that.

“I think that if Johnson runs for minority leader, he would still get the votes,” the fifth person said. “He’s done everything you could ask of a leader. He’s raised the money, he’s been on the road. He’s cobbled together very difficult votes over the last two years that no one thought possible.”

There is also a world where Republicans defy expectations to keep the House. And in that world, Johnson is all but guaranteed to remain in charge.

“Speaker Mike Johnson is an example of the American Dream. As Speaker, he’s continued to defy the odds with a slim House majority and pass America First-bills,” Trump’s campaign posted on X. “After Republicans win in November, they should re-elect Mike as Speaker quickly!”

If the polls prove correct, however, most people are expecting Johnson to willingly step aside.

“I don’t think he’s going to want to be minority leader after being the Speaker of the House, like, that doesn’t make any sense to me,” the fourth House Republican said.

The third GOP lawmaker was more blunt: “Johnson’s done.”

Johnson himself dismissed any talk of leadership races in an interview with Fox News Digital last month.

“I really haven’t given it a moment’s thought because we’re laser focused,” he said when asked if he would seek to be minority leader. “This is a midterm unlike any other, and I’m convinced we are going to defy history and keep and grow this majority.”

If Johnson’s prediction does not pan out, one member of leadership is expected to have a good shot at staying in his place: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.

Emmer has been privately telling House Republicans that he intends to run for the whip job again no matter what, multiple people told Fox News Digital, avoiding a possible collision course with Jordan and Scalise.

“I think it was a brilliant move, saying, ‘You know what? I’m not going to do anything but try to keep my own spot,’” the first House GOP lawmaker said. “I think Tom’s got pretty wide respect, and most of the hand-wringing from people was, ‘I don’t want to have to pick between Tom and Jim.’”

The fifth person said, “It’s my understanding that Emmer is, if there is a race, going to be happy being the No. 2.”

But nothing is a sure thing in an environment where multiple House Republicans have said they are expecting a “bloodbath” in the midterms.

Three GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital they expect Democrats to win between 20 and 25 seats — with Republicans’ redistricting efforts sparing them from an even more devastating loss.

A solid defeat, several House Republicans warned, could have people clamoring for a full leadership shake-up.

The second House Republican said the entire leadership team could be “wiped out” in that situation.

“It strikes me that there wouldn’t be a high likelihood of everybody just being OK with the status quo,” the first person said.

In that case, there is another name people see waiting in the wings for a potential leadership bid: Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas.

“I keep hearing rumors but have not heard that directly,” a seventh House Republican said. “My guess is that he is preparing to make a run in case the opportunity presents itself, but he’s being tactically quiet.”

The second House Republican said they heard his name second only to Jordan in terms of frequency.

“When I was a candidate, I had no idea who he was, but he called me and gave money to my campaign,” the first lawmaker said. “He’s very ambitious, but I don’t know what he’s aiming those ambitions towards.”

Several people speculated that he could run for the No. 2 job as whip if Emmer opted to step aside or was forced to.

The fourth House Republican said they could see a world where Pfluger runs to be chairman of the House GOP campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

“I think that he’s positioned himself very well to be able to be in some sort of leadership position. I think it just depends on what that looks like,” that person said.

But there is one thing Republican lawmakers seem to largely agree on: November is not looking good.

“Everyone that I have talked to across the country is seeing the same numbers that I’m seeing. So if you’re in anything less than an R+6, I think you’re at risk,” the third House Republican said.

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The first person said, “There seems to be a lot of panic buttons being pushed.”

The Pentagon confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that the firing squad execution of convicted Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed, allowing the public to witness the military’s first execution in more than six decades.

“It will be livestreamed. Details will follow,” a War Department official told Fox News Digital.

The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, Texas.

FORT HOOD SURVIVOR SHOT IN HEAD VOWS TO WATCH TERRORIST FACE HISTORIC FIRING SQUAD

Hasan, a former Army major, killed 13 people and wounded 32 others when he opened fire on unarmed soldiers and civilians after shouting “Allahu Akbar” at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009. He was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to death for the massacre.

President Donald Trump approved the use of an Army firing squad, following War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recommendation. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell previously announced the decision on X, declaring, “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come.”

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If carried out, Hasan’s execution would be the first by the U.S. military since 1961 and the first military execution by firing squad since 1945. Hasan remains on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

A House Democrat accused a Republican rival of “living the good life” on donor money after her campaign reported Disney World spending, and she was allegedly seen returning from the theme park around the same time. 

But Democratic Texas Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s own records show nearly $20,000 in campaign spending around the same time on international and domestic trips with his wife, including his own visit to Disney World, a five-star hotel stay on the beach in the UAE and a Michelin-starred restaurant bill in Zurich.

Gonzalez made the jab at Republican Mayra Flores in October 2025, months after posting photos documenting his own two-day Disney World trip with his wife and several other associates on social media in April. The social media posts coincided with payments Gonzalez’s campaign made to the Florida theme park and resort around the same time, totaling more than $1,100. 

PROMINENT DEM’S FATAL ERROR PROMPTS REPUBLICAN TO PREDICT ‘RED TIDAL WAVE’ IN BLUE STRONGHOLD

The Disney payments and photos were just one piece of a broader travel and hospitality spending trail from Gonzalez’s campaign reviewed by Fox News Digital. His campaign reported thousands of dollars in expenses at upscale restaurants and hotels from Washington and Texas, to California and Europe, alongside campaign spending on multiple overseas trips during which Gonzalez’s wife accompanied, or appeared to accompany, the congressman, according to posts Gonzalez shared on social media.

During one 2024 trip to the UAE that utilized campaign funds and coincided with social media posts in the same location posted on Gonzalez’s Facebook, more than $13,000 in airfare and hotel expenses were spent. Gonzalez described apparent photos of the trip on social media as an “after campaign break,” and his posts showed the congressman with his wife doing various sightseeing activities and one photo from a bed inside a top-floor luxury hotel room next to the beach.

The fifth-term Democrat representative is fighting to hold his South Texas seat against Republican Eric Flores in November after the GOP candidate defeated Mayra Flores and a crowded Republican field earlier this year. The race has drawn national attention as both parties battle for the district and Gonzalez enters the final stretch with a significant campaign cash advantage.

Gonzalez took aim at rival Mayra Flores in 2025, suggesting she was potentially using campaign funds to travel to Disney World with her kids. In an October 2025 social media post, Gonzalez shared a photo of her at Dallas Love Field Airport with two young family members, a Disney World bag and stuffed animals. Gonzalez captioned the photo “living the good life on donor’s resources again” and cited a report that found payments to Disney World from her campaign around the same time as the photos.

But federal campaign finance records show Gonzalez’s own campaign reported a combined $1,122.76 went to Walt Disney Resorts on March 24, 2025, and May 27, 2025, around the same time he posted photos on social media from a two-day trip to Walt Disney World with his own family on April 26, 2025. 

“DC to Disney! What a fantastic 2 days,” Gonzalez posted on Facebook alongside a photo of himself, his wife and several others.

SWALWELL PAL ACCUSED OF USING CAMPAIGN CASH TO BANKROLL ‘LUXURY LIFESTYLE,’ INCLUDING SUPER BOWL TICKETS

Federal campaign finance rules do not prohibit campaigns from paying travel expenses simply because a candidate’s spouse or children accompany them. The FEC allows campaign funds to cover travel for candidates, their spouses and minor children when the trip is directly related to campaign activity or the candidate’s official responsibilities as a federal officeholder. 

Campaign funds cannot, however, be used to pay for personal vacations or other family expenses that would have existed regardless of the candidate’s campaign or official duties. When a trip mixes campaign or official business with personal activities, the campaign must be reimbursed for the costs attributable to the personal portion.

“Every dollar this campaign spends is legal and publicly disclosed, and these reports come straight from our own FEC filings,” Gonzalez’s campaign manager, Alex Philley, told Fox News Digital in a statement when asked about the campaign spending. 

“The spending South Texans are worried about is their own on higher costs driven by Trump’s agenda that Eric Flores would proudly rubber-stamp.”

Gonzalez’s FEC filings identify two $561.38 Disney payments, one from March 2025 and another from May 2025, only as “travel expenses,” leaving unclear from the public disclosures what campaign or official activity the expenditures were connected to. 

When asked specifically about this trip, Philley said it was tied to “a very important Financial Services trip” with Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, of which Gonzalez is a member.

Philley said the campaign’s spending on international trips where Gonzalez’s wife was present had been tied to official business as well, including a visit with the Pope, although he did not address each trip separately when asked about them.

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN LIMIT ON PARTY CAMPAIGN SPENDING IN COORDINATION WITH CANDIDATES

For example, Gonzalez traveled with his wife to Morocco in mid-2019 under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act, or MECEA, which allows members of Congress to accept travel from foreign governments for approved cultural exchanges. 

Campaigns are allowed to pay for their spouses to join them, but only if the spouse is performing bona fide official responsibilities. Diplomatic and ceremonial protocol for certain events or campaign office functions like managing travel logistics are often cited as reasons for why spouses need to attend.

Gonzalez’s campaign reported paying $4,767.53 for his “spouse travel expense” in connection with the 2019 MECEA trip to Morocco, according to FEC records.

In December 2024, the campaign reported $12,810 to Emirates Airlines and $359.27 at a luxury five-star Abu Dhabi hotel called Emirates Towers in “officially connected” CODEL expenses. While the campaign funds for the trip did not explicitly name Gonzalez’s wife, photos from Gonzalez’s social media page showed several images of him and his wife in Abu Dhabi around the same time as his campaign’s payments, including a photo from the top floor of what appeared to be a luxury, beachfront hotel. The pair also appeared in photos exploring the city and sightseeing around the time of the payments.

SQUAD DEM IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER SPENDING SPREE AT LUXURY HOTELS: ‘CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST’

“Finally, an after campaign break!” Gonzalez captioned the photos, one of which showed him holding an exotic bird. Other photos posted around that time by Gonzalez’s campaign page showed him visiting U.S. troops in the Middle East and meeting with other officials. Other photos showed Gonzalez and his wife at the “4th largest and most modern Mosque in the world” in Abu Dhabi.

The international travel continued in August 2025, when Gonzalez posted a photo with his wife in Zurich, Switzerland. Campaign records subsequently showed a $566.67 expense to Swiss Air and another $395 “Travel Expense” at La Rôtisserie in Zurich, a one-Michelin-star restaurant. The records did not explicitly indicate the expenses were used to pay for Gonzalez’s wife.

Weeks earlier, Gonzalez appeared to engage in international luxury travel paid for by his campaign. FEC records for Gonzalez’s campaign reveal a $442.41 “Travel Expense” at the five-star luxury Parco dei Principi Grand Hotel in Rome the same week he posted a photo of himself on social media meeting with the Pope in 2025.

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“This was not a vacation,” Philley said in a statement to Fox News Digital about the trip. “You may want to ask the committee why they booked this hotel. This was not the congressman’s choice; he only had to pay for it.”

Between 2024 and 2026, Gonzalez’s campaign also reported thousands of dollars in expenditures at upscale restaurants, hotels and resorts around the country, including around $4,000 at The Capital Grille in Washington, D.C., along with spending at Eddie V’s Prime Seafood in Houston and several other high-end D.C. restaurants.

Recently, Gonzalez’s campaign reported a $1,019 expense at California’s Ojai Valley Inn, a Forbes Travel Guide-recognized luxury resort sprawling across 220 acres with a spa, four pools and a championship-caliber golf course and more than $1,400 at Pennsylvania’s Omni Bedford Springs Resort & Spa, an AAA Four Diamond property featuring a 30,000-square-foot spa, golf course and indoor and outdoor pools.

House GOP leadership is ratcheting up pressure on its Senate counterparts to pass legislation making daylight saving time permanent after President Donald Trump called on Congress to act.

The House’s No. 2 leader, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital that “there’s no reason Americans should lose an hour of sunlight at the end of the day when more daylight means more time with our families, more activity for our businesses and safer communities.”

“President Trump has been pushing to make daylight saving time permanent, and House Republicans delivered by overwhelmingly passing the Sunshine Protection Act. It’s a commonsense change and the Senate should take it up,” Scalise said.

HOUSE PASSES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME REFORM AS TRUMP SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ENDING CLOCK CHANGE

The debate over the twice-annual changing of clocks has raged for decades in Washington.

Former President Richard Nixon’s administration led the country through a temporary 16-month trial of year-round daylight saving, but mounting public frustration forced the experiment to end six months early.

But the appetite for such a change appears to have returned. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act in a bipartisan 308 to 117 vote in July, and Trump posted on Truth Social Friday, “A ridiculous Clock changing process that takes place twice a year, costs our Country a fortune, is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine.”

But the legislation is stalled in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Politico there was “no clear path forward.”

TRUMP URGES SENATE TO PASS BILL MAKING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENT AFTER OVERWHELMING HOUSE VOTE

It’s created yet another rift between Trump and the Senate GOP majority, which he has clashed with on multiple fronts so far this term.

Trump’s frustration boiled over on the weekend when he targeted Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of the bill’s most prominent critics.

BATTLE OVER DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ERUPTS AS PUSH TO STOP CHANGING CLOCKS HITS SENATE WALL

“Almost everybody wants ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’ to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump said Saturday, sharing the senator’s cell phone number. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

Cotton responded, noting that Congress has tackled daylight saving time before, only to roll back the change shortly after.

SLEEP DOCTOR REVEALS THE BRUTAL HEALTH DOWNSIDE OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Saving Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton said on X. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”

It’s a unique issue that has divided lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. There are others who agree with Cotton, who argue that sending kids to school in their states in the dark is a no-go for making the change. But there are also those who support the option and believe that Trump’s added pressure could see the legislation resurface.

But that will have to contend with an already stacked lame-duck schedule that will be heavily dictated by the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.

“Look, obviously, Tom has very strong feelings, he’s made those known both publicly and within the conference, so I don’t expect that to change,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said. “You know, it’s something, obviously, the people of Alabama, for the most part, have said that they’re for.”

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“And so, we’ll look for a pathway to have dialogue about it … but I would anticipate, given the president’s energy around it, that we’ll have that dialogue and debate when we get back,” she continued.

President Donald Trump lambasted incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, calling the congressman “a loser” on Wednesday, while criticizing the lawmaker for remaining a Democrat after receiving a presidential pardon.

Trump pardoned Cuellar and his wife last year as the couple faced charges pertaining to bribery and money laundering.

“In any event, I did the pardons, and made no deal, where a crooked politician would have, but I thought there would be a good chance that Cuellar, who was persecuted by Democrats because they didn’t like him, would have routinely gone over to the Republican Party — the people that saved him from years in prison,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.

HOUSE DEM BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT AS BROTHER FACES UP TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON IF CONVICTED

Cuellar, who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005, is currently seeking re-election.

“In any event, the man running against him, Tano Tijerina, is a STAR and, hopefully, will WIN! We call that payback for a disloyal and ungrateful person, a person whose life has been saved only to go back into the clutches of the people that tried so hard to destroy him. Henry Cuellar is a LOSER who, right now, should be serving a longterm jail sentence with his wife in a top level penitentiary,” Trump declared in another part of the post.

“Tano, a legendary Baseball Star, Great Athlete, respected County Judge, and fine person, will hopefully beat Cuellar so that people can show how bad it is when you are recognized and humiliated as being one of the most disloyal political people on Earth!” Trump wrote. “I am very proud of the fact that I didn’t make a deal with Cuellar, which I easily could have, but relied on his character, which turned out to be a faulty one.”

DEM REP HENRY CUELLAR REJECTS DSA AGENDA, SAYS SOCIALISTS ARE TRYING TO ‘USE’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Trump issued the Truth Social post on Wednesday prior to delivering similar remarks during a rally in San Antonio, Texas.

Tijerina declared in a Wednesday post on X, “Everyone in South Texas knows anything after Hello coming from Henry Cuellar is a lie. President Trump just confirmed that.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Cuellar’s campaign for comment on Thursday.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES PARDON FOR DEMOCRATIC REP HENRY CUELLAR

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In part of a Truth Social post last year, Trump claimed that President Joe Biden had “used the FBI and DOJ to ‘take out’ a member of his own Party after Highly Respected Congressman Henry Cuellar bravely spoke out against Open Borders, and the Biden Border ‘Catastrophe.’ Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH.”

Arizona Democratic congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia said she was knocked unconscious and raped during an overnight encounter with two attackers in August while trying to repair a damaged campaign sign.

Greene-Placentia told Phoenix New Times that she was walking through a parking lot in Sun City shortly after 2 a.m. on Aug. 14 to repair a damaged campaign sign when someone struck her in the head, knocking her unconscious.

Greene-Placentia said she regained consciousness to find a man raping her and kicked at a second man who approached her, according to the Phoenix New Times.

A public information officer with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Fox News Digital that a police report was filed on Aug. 31.

SCANDALS, SOCIALISTS AND TRUMP ROIL PRIMARIES, SEND INCUMBENTS PACKING AT NEAR-RECORD PACE

“Detectives advised it is still an ongoing investigation, and we cannot comment on the investigation at this time,” said the officer.

Greene-Placentia initially told investigators that one of her attackers used a derogatory remark she interpreted as “Democratic b—-,” according to the Phoenix New Times, but told The New York Times on Wednesday that she could not be sure what she had heard.

Greene-Placentia told Phoenix New Times she suffered extensive bruising and vaginal bleeding for three days after the alleged assault and believed she may have sustained a concussion.

Greene-Placentia missed a campaign event and was out of contact with her staff for about two days following the alleged assault, according to The New York Times. She later told campaign aides and her husband what happened before reporting it to police on Aug. 31, saying she initially felt embarrassed and wanted to forget the incident.

She ultimately decided to go public to encourage other sexual assault survivors to speak out.

“I never imagined I would have to tell this story, but I know I am far from the only woman who has lived through something like this,” Greene-Placentia said in a statement released Wednesday. “Too many survivors carry these experiences silently. I am speaking out because I want them to know they are seen, they are heard and they are not alone.”

DEMOCRATS TARGETING 12 ADDITIONAL RED DISTRICTS IN MIDTERMS PUSH TO RETAKE HOUSE

“What happened will not silence me. I’m going to keep showing up, keep fighting for this community, and keep working every day to bring real representation to the people of CD8,” she added.

Greene-Placentia received support from both Republicans and Democrats, including her Republican opponent, Rep. Abe Hamadeh, who called for authorities to investigate the alleged attack.

“I have read the disturbing story and call upon authorities to investigate these serious allegations thoroughly, including finding all possible camera footage of the time and place in order to prosecute the crime to the fullest extent of the law. No American should become a victim of a crime in their own community,” Hamadeh said in a statement.

“This was a cruel and cowardly attack, and it has no place in Arizona. No one should have to fear for their safety, or the safety of the people they love, while serving their community,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office said in a statement to the Phoenix New Times.

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene-Placentia’s campaign for comment.

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Hamadeh has represented Arizona’s 8th Congressional District since January 2025. Fox News’ Power Rankings rate the district as solidly Republican heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

Florida’s sweeping Medicaid fraud crackdown has helped drive a nearly $1 billion reduction in projected annual spending on behavioral therapy services alone, according to state officials, after investigators uncovered suspicious billing practices.

Tallahassee’s internal crackdown — which included discoveries of providers billing Medicaid for more hours than there are in a day — comes amid heightened federal scrutiny of Medicaid fraud, including investigations and payment reviews involving Minnesota.

The DeSantis administration said its approach aims to stop suspicious Medicaid claims before taxpayer dollars are paid out rather than trying to recover improper payments afterward. The strategy mirrors a call from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to move away from traditional “pay-and-chase” models.

“This year, we announced the most significant Medicaid integrity initiative in the history of our state, and today, I was proud to announce some of the results from these efforts,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news release.

VANCE TURNS UP HEAT ON STATES WITH FEDERAL CASH THREAT OVER MEDICAID FRAUD CRACKDOWN

More than 220 Medicaid providers have been terminated for fraud, waste or abuse, while more than 260 have faced payment restrictions or suspensions. The state has also referred more than 150 suspected fraud cases to the attorney general’s office over the past year.

Annual Medicaid spending on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a therapy commonly used for children with autism, had been projected to reach $3.86 billion but is now expected to total $2.88 billion in fiscal year 2026-27, according to the governor’s office. Officials attributed the nearly $980 million reduction to a combination of fraud enforcement, managed care and utilization management efforts.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) told Fox News Digital that its expanded monitoring uncovered providers billing Medicaid for services through every weekend and holiday for months, including instances in which providers billed for more than 24 hours of services in a single day.

“Protecting Medicaid means protecting the people it was created to serve,” AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris said in a statement.

FRAUD EXPERT EXPOSES HOW HIDDEN NETWORKS DROVE MINNESOTA FRAUD, OTHER MAJOR SCAMS: ‘CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE’

“For children, pregnant women, the disabled, and our seniors, it means making sure they have access to high-quality care while ensuring taxpayer dollars are not lost to fraud or abuse. AHCA will continue taking decisive action to strengthen program integrity, hold bad actors accountable and safeguard these critical services for Floridians,” she said.

Harris’ agency provided additional details on its crackdown to Fox News Digital, including how its new fraud-protection mechanisms work.

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Through a pilot program with identity-verification firm SentiLink, Florida is screening for stolen or fake identities and hidden ownership structures among Medicaid providers. Separately, the state has imposed enrollment moratoriums on certain high-risk provider categories.

AHCA also told Fox News Digital that it has issued more than 1,000 adverse decisions involving Medicaid provider enrollment or re-enrollment since January 2026, part of its effort to prevent suspicious providers from entering or remaining in the program.

The agency has conducted 400 site visits to providers since January, including providers in high-risk categories such as applied behavior analysis, medical equipment and adult day care.

“Medicaid fraud is a national problem, and it is growing more sophisticated everywhere,” AHCA told Fox News Digital.

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“Florida is not waiting to be told what to do. We are building the model: prevent fraud at the front door, verify every provider, and follow the data. We welcome partnership with CMS and other states, because a fraudulent provider stopped in Florida is a scheme that does not move on to the next state.”

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York charged former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores with conspiracy to commit torture to Americans and others, according to a superseding indictment filed Thursday.

Maduro’s government, according to the indictment, “presided over a system of repression that relied on violence against political opposition, arbitrary detention, and the torture of detainees, including United States citizens.”

The torture included “electric shock, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation, punishment cells, and psychological torture, such as threats to harm and kill victims’ families, including children,” the indictment read.

The charge carries a maximum of life imprisonment if any of the alleged torture resulted in death, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if not.

FAMILIES SUE MADURO IN US, ACCUSE EX-PRESIDENT OF DIRECTING POLICE UNIT TIED TO EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS

In one incident, the indictment alleges that a U.S. detainee in Venezuela was beaten for days and doused with a noxious liquid that made him vomit, which Venezuelan officers then allegedly made him eat.

WAR CRIMES COURT TURNS ‘BLIND EYE’ TO TOP WORLD THREATS WHILE TARGETING AMERICANS, TRUMP ADMIN ACCUSES

The detainee, who was allegedly accused of plotting to kill Maduro, was also subjected to electric shock torture to his torso and genitals and injected with a substance that induced seizures.

“On one occasion, CC-3 personally observed Victim-7 being electrocuted; laughed at and taunted Victim-7 during the electric shock; and directed other DGCIM officers in connection with the electric shock,” the indictment read.

MADURO’S ALLEGED ‘BAG MAN’ ALEX SAAB ARRESTED LESS THAN 3 YEARS AFTER BIDEN PARDON: REPORT

After spending eight-and-a-half months at Boleíta Norte prison in Venezuela, the detainee was released and returned to the U.S. in October 2022, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges Maduro and Flores “inflicted severe physical and mental pain and suffering to repress and punish political opposition, silence dissent and perceived dissent, preserve and protect the power and authority of the members of the conspiracy, and intimidate, harass, and neutralize their opponents, including through kidnappings.”

The pair, who face numerous other charges, were arrested in Venezuela in January during Operation Absolute Resolve. Maduro was originally charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in a 2011 indictment that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice unsealed in 2020.

Flores was then charged in a superseding indictment in January with cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. They have pleaded not guilty and face a minimum of 50 years in prison if convicted. A trial is scheduled for June 2027. 

EXCLUSIVE: FBI EXTRADITIONS SOAR AS PATEL RAMPS UP FOREIGN OUTREACH, VOWS ‘NO SANCTUARY’

Flores appeared in court Thursday for a bond hearing on her motion for release from jail. Her lawyers were requesting home confinement with GPS tracking, citing a heart condition and arguing she does not pose a danger to the community. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the request.

The U.S. government opposes her release, arguing she poses a flight risk and danger to the public.

Flores’ attorneys say she denies the allegations against her, and both she and Maduro have filed motions to dismiss on diplomatic immunity grounds.

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Fox News’ Maria Paronich and Patrick Ward contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: As Elon Musk prepares to receive a prestigious honor from President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon, several sources familiar with the pair’s relationship say that the trillionaire is back in the administration’s fold after last year’s nasty blowup between the pair.

“Water under the bridge,” one former administration official told Fox News Digital when about to classify the falling out and subsequent rekindling of the pair’s relationship.

Musk had a meteoric rise within the MAGA movement during the 2024 presidential election, and after Trump was reelected joined the administration to lead massive federal government cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). During that time, he had a chummy relationship with Trump, who presented him with a ceremonial golden key to the White House during an Oval Office celebration.

In May 2025, Musk left the government after leading DOGE for more than a year. The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) was reportedly at odds with Trump over the amount of government spending tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he viewed as antithetical to DOGE’s effort to reduce wasteful spending in a bloated federal government.

NEW BOOK ON ELON MUSK EXAMINES THE BILLIONAIRE’S MIND, MOTIVATION AND MAKING LIFE MULTI-PLANETARY

On June 3 of 2025, Musk took to the social media platform he owns to rail against the bill, describing it as a “disgusting abomination.”

“KILL THE BILL,” Musk wrote on X the following day.

Trump fired back in a social media post of his own, saying Musk had been “wearing thin” on him, and that Musk went “CRAZY” after Trump rolled back a what the administration described as a Biden-era “backdoor electric vehicle mandate.”

Musk then claimed that Trump would not have won the 2024 election without his financial support and accused him of “ingratitude.” Through his America PAC, Musk helped fund the campaigns of Trump and other Republicans to the tune of nearly $300 million. Musk later accused Trump of being in the infamous Epstein files, though he never provided proof for the claim.

TRUMP SAYS MICHAEL COHEN WAS ‘WEAPONIZED’ BY MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN SURPRISE RADIO REUNION

At that point, a former White House official told Fox News Digital, Musk was completely removed from the White House fold.

“He wasn’t in the office at all,” the source said. Musk had previously occupied a space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Space, alongside other White House staff.

But, the former official said, it’s in Trump’s nature to rekindle old relationships, regardless of how nasty the dust up.

In fact, Trump and his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, just revived their old friendship in September, despite a major falling out and Cohen’s testimony against Trump during the 2024 “hush money” trial involving adult entertainer Stormy Daniels.

A third source familiar with the matter said Musk began getting back into the Trump’s good graces earlier this year, while a current administration official disputed the characterization that Musk was fully out of the White House fold in the first place.

The administration official said that despite the fallout, Musk has been seen recently at the White House, in part because he’s making good on promises to financially support Republican candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.

WHAT’S ON THE MENU FOR TRUMP’S STATE DINNER WITH CHINA’S XI? ONE AMERICAN STAPLE IS NOTABLY MISSING

Musk has made several high-profile appearances at the White House in recent weeks. He was at the America.gov launch in late September, alongside engineers from the National Design Studio who built the AI-powered website. He appeared again during the Trump’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, and was seated at the president’s table.

Thursday afternoon, Trump is slated to award Musk the National Medal of Science, the nation’s top award for scientific and technological achievement, as first reported by Fox News Digital.

“The Trump administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology. These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News Digital regarding the award.

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Fox News Digital reached out Musk and the White House for comment.

Fox New’s Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.

The Republican challenging New York Attorney General Letitia James released a mock 52-count indictment Thursday, accusing the Democratic incumbent of neglecting her duties as the state’s top law enforcement official.

The 52-count mock indictment accuses James of failing to address mentally ill people living on the streets, repeat offenders, hate crimes and fraud while focusing instead on political battles with President Donald Trump. Rather than tackle these issues, GOP candidate Saritha Komatireddy charges that James has been too focused on sparring with President Donald Trump.

The attack comes just hours before James and Komatireddy are set to face off Thursday night in their first televised debate of the general election campaign.

Komatireddy is a former federal prosecutor who secured convictions against Islamist terrorists and prosecuted Mexican drug cartel leaders. The indictment-style press release appears to turn James’ own legal playbook against her, with Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, casting the attorney general as the defendant.

CORNELL SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE REVIVES SCRUTINY OF A LITTLE-KNOWN NEW YORK LAW ON INTOXICATED VICTIMS

“When a law keeps prosecutors from charging rape, it is the chief law enforcement officer’s job to get it changed,” Komatireddy wrote. “The defendant (James) had eight legislative sessions and a Legislature led by her own party. Beyond one social media post, the People have found no evidence that she made the bill a priority.”

James’ campaign has dismissed Komatireddy’s messaging as a simple campaign stunt.

“Attorney General Letitia James files real lawsuits in real courts every day to protect New Yorkers’ rights and their wallets,” a James campaign spokeswoman told Fox News Digital. “While Saritha Komatireddy spent today writing this press release, the attorney general announced the arrest and indictment of a Queens pharmacy owner for defrauding Medicaid to the tune of $31 million.”

NY AG HOPEFUL BLASTS LETITIA JAMES AS MEDICAID FRAUD RECOVERIES COLLAPSE: ‘SHE’S NOT DOING THE JOB’

A Komatireddy spokeswoman fired back, arguing that such a charge was rich coming from James.

“Tish James is one to talk about campaign stunts! Her entire tenure as attorney general has been one long political campaign stunt,” Komatireddy spokeswoman Nicole Kiprilov told Fox News Digital. “While Letitia was busy chasing her next political headline, crime rose 26%, homelessness rose 38%, and New York became the laughingstock of the nation in prosecuting Medicaid fraud — dead last. Those are the real consequences of an Attorney General more interested in political theater than public safety.”

TRUMP LAWYERS TARGET WHAT LETITIA JAMES WON’T SAY ABOUT EVIDENCE IN $450M CASE

New York is a deep blue state, and Komatireddy’s odds of coming out on top in November are slim. A Siena University poll released last month had James leading Komatireddy 52% to 39%.

While James’ lead is commanding, it’s also shrinking, with her advantage over Komatireddy narrowing by five points between August and September in Siena University’s polling.

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James has pursued a number of high-profile legal actions during her tenure as New York attorney general, including a civil fraud case against Trump and a sexual harassment investigation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo that preceded his resignation.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made her first endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate in the 2026 midterm elections, backing Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

“Minnesota, you have an opportunity to select an extraordinary person and public servant as your next U.S. senator. Please take it!” Clinton wrote in a post on the social media platform Bluesky when sharing a post in which Flanagan touted Clinton’s endorsement.

Flanagan declared in her post, “@hillaryclinton.bsky.social has spent five decades fighting for working families, dedicating her career to making the case that every child in this country deserves a fair shot. I’m honored to have Secretary Clinton’s support, and I’ll proudly carry on her fight in the US Senate.”

HILLARY CLINTON: ‘I HATE’ TRUMP AND NETANYAHU’S GOVERNMENTS BUT LOVE AMERICA AND ISRAEL

Clinton, a former first lady and former U.S. senator from New York, was the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate defeated by Republican Donald Trump when he won his first White House contest.

“Donald Trump has made it harder for families to afford childcare, groceries, and health care for their kids. His tariffs and war in Iran are driving up prices, and his budget ripped health care and food assistance away from children so billionaires could get another tax cut,” Clinton said in a statement, according to reports.

PEGGY FLANAGAN VOWS TO ‘RIP ICE APART’ AFTER TOPPLING MODERATE DEM IN KEY SENATE BATTLE

“Peggy Flanagan has spent her career fighting for children and families, from the Children’s Defense Fund to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, and she’s delivered for them,” she noted. “I know she’ll be that same champion in the Senate, and I’m proud to endorse her.”

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

Flanagan is facing Republican candidate Michele Tafoya in the Minnesota U.S. Senate contest.

GOP SENATE HOPEFUL SOUNDS ALARM AFTER ALLEGED MALL OF AMERICA TERROR PLOT THWARTED

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U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., announced last year that she would not seek re-election in 2026.

President Donald Trump did not let multiple protesters step on his messaging in Texas on Wednesday night; in fact, he used the moments to claim that a Democrat-run city is using America’s own freedom of speech to spread a left-wing agenda against his administration in the midterm elections.

“You know, many of these protesters are paid — you know that, right?” Trump told the packed Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio. “Because you come in and, you know, they’ll have like this perfect shirt on, made by the best printer money can buy.”

“I love where they all have the same exact size, beautiful pink and purple and blue and all different colors. And they’re perfect, made by the same printer, very expensive signs,” he added.

TRUMP TOUTS ‘GOLDEN AGE’ AT OHIO RALLY, URGES VOTERS TO DELIVER GOP MIDTERM WINS

“They don’t make these signs. These are paid protesters,” Trump claimed. “They’re paid by enemies of our nation. No, I’m telling you, they pay them for this.”

Trump pivoted to his supporters who came out to rally with him for Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, some waving cowboy hats.

GOP FACES BRUTAL MIDTERM HEADWINDS AS REPUBLICANS PAINT ELECTION AS ‘COMPETITION WITH COMMUNISM’

As the crowd chanted “USA,” drowning out several protesters who interrupted the event multiple times in a Texas city led by a Democrat, Trump added, “If there are any more paid protesters, please raise your hand and get the hell out of here.”

Trump is urging his base to turn out as if he is on the ballot in the midterms — because, as he says, the ability to pass his agenda in Congress is and his backers must help keep Congress in Republican hands.

“We will not allow our country, our culture, our history and our heritage to be looted and plundered anymore,” Trump said.

“What they did to this country,” Trump continued, pointing back to former President Joe Biden and his 2024 opponent Kamala Harris, “I said the other day, if Kamala won — or if that ideology won, forget about Kamala — if that ideology won, I don’t believe we’d have a country anymore. I don’t believe it. And now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.”

REPUBLICAN CAVALRY ARRIVES FOR KEN PAXTON AS BIG-BUCKS TEXAS OFFENSIVE OPENS CASH FLOODGATES

The battle for the Texas Senate seat between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico is one of the midterm battlegrounds that could determine Trump’s fate in his final two years in office.

“I will not let my legacy of having the highest vote in the history of Texas be tarnished or destroyed by allowing that travesty to happen again,” he continued. “If they get in and do that and remember, like a guy like Talarico, it’s basically one vote. It’s so important — forget about for Texas, it’s still just one vote — it’s a killer in Congress because we have a very close majority. We can’t let that happen.

“If they get in, they will open your borders and let the entire world pour into our country like they did before. And we can’t let that happen. We’re not going to let it happen again.”

At least a dozen demonstrators interrupted the president, including one who appeared to be close to the stage. Some were led away by police. Trump stepped away from the microphone briefly after one interruption.

TRUMP FIRES BACK AFTER PROTESTER INTERRUPTS MYRTLE BEACH RALLY FOR GRAHAM: ‘MOM IS VOTING FOR US’

“You know, I never talk about looks of a person, but those are really bad-looking people,” Trump said about one protester. “You have to say they are bad-looking people. Come on.”

“No, he’s going back to home to mom right now,” Trump quipped. “What he doesn’t know is that his mom voted for Trump.”

TRUMP-LINKED MAGA INC POURS $10M INTO KEN PAXTON’S TEXAS SENATE RACE AGAINST JAMES TALARICO

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Trump was in San Antonio for his third trip to Texas in less than a month as Republicans try to stave off Democratic gains in the nation’s most populous red state.

Newly released documents reveal the extent of the FBI’s monitoring of President Donald Trump’s now-chief of staff Susie Wiles, showing investigators tracked phone metadata reflecting her contacts with attorneys, journalists, campaign officials, Trump Organization personnel and Secret Service contacts.

Documents released Monday by the White House detail “Plasmic Echo,” the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and other presidential records that led to the FBI’s 2022 search of Mar-a Lago and later included possible obstruction of the investigation.

The records show the FBI tracked Wiles’ phone activity from at least February through May 2023, cataloging who called her, whom she called, when the calls occurred and how long they lasted.

The documents show Wiles was in contact with at least 21 attorneys, along with campaign personnel, Trump Organization contacts, Secret Service contacts and journalists, offering a fuller account of the reach of the bureau’s monitoring.

TODD BLANCHE EXPOSES HOW AGGRESSIVE BIDEN DOJ TARGETED LOW-LEVEL MAR-A-LAGO EMPLOYEES

Reuters first reported in February that FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had subpoenaed phone records belonging to him and Wiles while they were private citizens as part of federal investigations involving Trump.

The newly released documents provide a more detailed picture of the scope and scale of the monitoring, revealing how investigators mapped Wiles’ phone contacts across Trump’s legal, political, business, media and security circles over several months.

Some entries name the contacts swept into the FBI’s monitoring of Wiles, including journalists associated with CNN, The Washington Post and Politico, while dozens of others are identified only by labels such as “Lawyer,” “Campaign” and “USSS.”

Monday’s document dump revealed the FBI’s monitoring also swept in Wiles’ contacts with two separate Secret Service officials, identified only as “USSS 1” and “USSS 2,” extending the bureau’s mapping of her phone activity into Trump’s protective orbit. The records do not reveal what investigators were seeking to establish through those contacts, what was discussed or provide reliable durations for the calls.

A March 24 entry from that year shows investigators logged a 41-second call from “Lawyer 7” to Wiles and then examined earlier calls between the two, illustrating how investigators were not simply capturing isolated contacts but tracing patterns across her network. The documents do not explain what prompted that scrutiny or what investigators believed those contacts could reveal.

In another example, a March 9 log shows investigators cataloging a series of Wiles’ calls with at least six contacts identified as campaign personnel, recording when the communications occurred and how long they lasted, but not the substance of the conversations.

JACK SMITH’S TRUMP PROBE SWEPT UP FOX NEWS, OTHER MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS AS INVESTIGATION WENT BEYOND LAWMAKERS

The probe was launched by the FBI and Justice Department in March 2022, with then-FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking authorization and Attorney General Merrick Garland approving the full investigation. The probe was later placed under special counsel Jack Smith, whom Garland appointed in November 2022 to oversee the ongoing investigation.

Wiles was running Trump’s political operation and serving as a top campaign adviser at the time, and later became his White House chief of staff.

“Jack Smith’s surveillance operation was a disgraceful abuse of government power. Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital. “Those responsible must be held accountable.”

Heritage Foundation foreign policy expert Victoria Coates told Fox News Digital the tracking into Wiles is “unprecedented, dangerous and should be illegal.”

“The Biden FBI was following the precedent of the Obama FBI in 2015, when they used their authorities to surveil then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign at Trump Tower as well as other candidates, notably my then-boss, Senator Ted Cruz. It’s the ultimate political dirty trick,” said Coates.

Coates argued that the breadth of the FBI’s tracking raises concerns about investigative overreach, pointing to what she characterized as a stark contrast with the Justice Department’s handling of President Joe Biden’s classified-documents case.

“No, particularly by the Justice Department’s own very low standards in dealing with President Biden’s classified-document violations from his time as vice president, which were far more egregious than anything retained at Mar-a-Lago,” Coates said.

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She also warned that tracking Wiles’ communications with attorneys and journalists carries broader implications for future presidential campaigns.

“In our increasingly digital world, it raises the grim specter of future campaigns where an incumbent can weaponize the private communications of not only a candidate and his family, but also his staff,” Coates said.

The declassified documents also show agents gathering details about the travel of Melania Trump and her son, Barron, as the FBI planned for a potential search of Mar-a-Lago.

Operational planning emails included pre-raid checklists directing agents to “finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel,” including the type of aircraft and specific travel timeline, as investigators worked to determine when the warrant would be executed.

The FBI executed the search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 8, 2022. Agents entered the property shortly before 9 a.m. and began searching around 10:30 a.m., according to records previously reported by Fox News Digital.

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

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, plans to introduce legislation that puts the prospect of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the crosshairs.

The lawmaker, who has served in the U.S. House since mid-2016 and is currently seeking re-election, characterized central bank digital currency as “communist money for the digital age,” during an interview with Fox News Digital.

“They could just freeze your money. You could program it. Some people call it a feature,” Davidson said. He provided a scenario in which a pickup truck driver pays $10 per gallon for fuel while a hybrid driver could get their fuel for just $2 per gallon. “And people see this as a feature. I think it’s dystopian,” Davidson said, adding, “I definitely want to stop it.”

Last month, in a post on X, Davidson wrote, “I’m drafting a bill to regulate Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as counterfeit money. Planning a CBDC? Conspiracy. Designing a CBDC? Same as designing counterfeit plates. Launching CBDC? Counterfeiting. Prison for counterfeiters and their accomplices. No CBDC!”

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In another post on X last month, Davidson warned, “CBDC = communist money for the digital age. Programmable money puts the government between you and your money. You will only have access with their permission. This is an existential threat to western civilization.”

While a section within the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that became law earlier this year temporarily prohibits the creation of a CBDC, that ban sunsets in a few years — language in the ban notes that “provisions of this section shall cease to be effective on December 31, 2030.”

Davidson told Fox News Digital during the interview on Tuesday that “the fundamentals for sound money is some level of fiscal discipline,” adding that “you can’t spend more than you bring in every year.”

“I don’t think it has to be gold,” he said, explaining that there needs to be “a disciplined monetary policy” in which “you can’t grow the money supply disproportionate to your economy.”

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“I think we should end this Fed,” Davidson said, adding that he believes there is “a case for a central bank,” while noting, “I don’t know that you could reform the current one without ending it.”

Davidson said that he thinks “we should at least audit the Fed.”

Asked about President Donald Trump’s proposal to dole out $5,000 to every American adult if the GOP wins both chambers of Congress during the midterms, Davidson indicated that he could get behind the policy if it is paired with spending cuts to cover the cost.

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Davidson said that “on its face” the proposal is concerning “because $5,000 per person going into the economy would fuel inflation,” but suggested that such a move could be combined with action such as gutting Obamacare, saying that among “the most promising ways to pay for it is a radical shift in healthcare.”

Margot Cleveland, Senior Legal Correspondent at The Federalist, is suing the city of Dearborn, Michigan and the city’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, for violating the First Amendment by displaying exclusively Muslim symbols in public displays, accusing the city of being “a hostile place for Christians and Jews.”

Cleveland alleges the city put up banners celebrating the Islamic holiday of Ramadan and a display of crescent moons while refusing to showcase equivalent Christian or Jewish iconography.

“I was picking up pizza in downtown Dearborn. When I went down the boulevard, up and down the street were ‘Ramadan Kareem’ (generous Ramadan) banners, which is the equivalent of a happy or blessed Ramadan,” Cleveland told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

“This was the fourth week of Lent. We had Easter coming up in two weeks, and Passover was a week away. I was shocked, and then I saw the display all by itself—again, the crescent moon,” she said.

Cleveland wrote to Dearborn’s city attorney, asking if the city planned to reciprocate the displays for the other Abrahamic faiths, but did not get a response, she told Fox News Digital.

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Cleveland submitted a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to find out the cost of the displays, which, according to her lawsuit and in an interview with Fox News Digital, is where she allegedly learned that the city had also integrated Islamic iconography in other official capacities.

“The police department was selling — with the police department’s seal — Ramadan t-shirts. It had the police department seal and a crescent moon, and I believe it said Ramadan,” ” Cleveland said.

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The Dearborn Police Department did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry regarding the alleged t-shirts.

After repeated attempts to try and contact city officials, Cleveland still received no response, until one city councilor told her that the council had been instructed not to engage with her.

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“I reached out to city council, every individual, both their public email and a secondary one. Received no response,” she shared. “But on LinkedIn, one of the council members responded and said, ‘Hey, we were told we can’t talk to you,’” Cleveland told Fox News Digital.

Cleveland then attended an open city council meeting in May. She asked that the councilors, who she explained control the city’s purse strings, use an ongoing budget surplus to purchase banners celebrating Jewish and Christian holidays.

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“I have not asked the city not to celebrate Ramadan,” she said. “What I’ve asked is that the city treat Christians and Jews equally. Put up Passover banners, Easter banners, put up a Star of David, put up a cross, do something. And throw in some patriotic symbols to show we are one Dearborn, one country where all faiths are represented equally. That has not been done,” she said.

Contrary to acceding to her requests, Cleveland claims the city put up even more decorations celebrating Ramadan in the wake of her attempts to contact city officials.

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“After I was ignored, what happened? The mayor then went and bought more Ramadan displays. I complained about the banners. What does he go? He goes bigger and brighter with lighted Ramadan displays,” she said.

The mayor’s office did not respond to a Fox News request for comment.

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“People who are not in Dearborn do not understand Dearborn,” Cleveland said. “My beef is with the mayor and the people running the city who are discriminating against Christians and Jews. The average people who live in Dearborn get along great. It is a diverse city and people get along. The mayor is causing a problem.”

The city rejected Cleveland’s accusations in a statement released shortly after Cleveland’s lawsuit.

Dearborn “has a longstanding commitment to serving all residents fairly and equitably, regardless of faith or background,” the statement read.

“Dearborn will continue to uphold the rights and dignity of every resident and remain a city where everyone is treated with fairness, respect, and equal protection under the law” the statement continued.

The American Freedom Law Center filed the civil complaint on behalf of Cleveland in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Sept. 17.

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Dearborn’s city attorney did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comments.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX – CEDAR RAPIDS, IA : One of the largest pro-life organizations in the country is pouring time and resources into the high-stakes battleground of Iowa, making the case that voters of all backgrounds will be “shocked” to know where the Democratic Party stands on abortion.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s ground game has knocked on over 172,000 doors in Iowa promoting the Republican ticket in the Hawkeye State. Additionally, the group has a planned digital spend of $650,000 to go along with a $1.35 million spend from the Women Speak Out PAC, SBA’s super PAC, to contact voters in the Iowa universe.

“The scale of SBA Pro-Life America’s voter contact program is among the largest in the nation and certainly the largest in the pro-life movement,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital was on the ground in Iowa with SBA canvassers in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, where the team passed out flyers and spoke to voters in support of Iowa Republican Sen. Ashley Hinson and hammered the abortion positions of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand.

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“Our goal really is just to inform voters,” SBA field rep Amy Elizabeth told Fox News Digital. “Most people we’re finding are pro-life, regardless of the way that they vote and we want to make sure that they’re aware of the candidate’s views on abortion and pro-life and we wanna make sure they’re making knowledgeable and informed decisions when they go to the polls.”

Literature passed out by the canvassers calls Sand “wrong for Iowa families” while arguing that he will “do everything in his power to overturn Governor Kim Reynolds’ pro-life legacy” and “even supports painful late term abortions. The literature also promotes Hinson as the “pro-life champion” that Iowans “need in DC.”

Elizabeth told Fox News Digital that the conversations with voters on the ground have been effective.

“Some of my favorite conversations have come from people who normally wouldn’t vote the same way that I would vote,” Elizabeth explained. “They’re not typically conservative voters. They are a little bit more liberal leaning. But when we really are open to having conversations together and I can share with them some information about the candidates that they typically would vote for, they are very surprised and they’re very shocked to hear how those candidates feel on some issues that are important to them.”

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Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Women Speak Out PAC announced in August that their Iowa voter-contact program had surpassed 100,000 visits to voters’ homes in the Des Moines, Davenport and Cedar Rapids areas. The groups said the effort is targeting persuadable and low-turnout voters ahead of November’s elections, with the goal of defeating Democrats they describe as “pro-abortion” and electing candidates who support abortion restrictions.

Nationwide, Dannenfelser says SBA will ultimately reach 10.5 million voters during this election cycle, including 4 million at their front doors in person.

“Our hardworking field team has been on the ground in key battleground states, educating voters about the Democrats’ radical agenda of all-trimester abortion — anytime, for any reason, paid for by taxpayers — even when babies can feel pain,” Dannenfelser said.

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“Polling shows the vast majority of Americans reject this, and our team at the doors is finding it true visit after visit. One conversation at a time, we are changing hearts, minds, and votes. We focus on Republicans, Democrats, and Independents that can be persuaded and low-propensity, pro-life voters. All these groups are shocked by Democrats’ extremism on abortion.”

A third of Republicans would be less likely to vote in the midterms if they believe that the GOP has abandoned the abortion issue, according to polling released earlier this year, suggesting that driving pro-life Republicans to vote will play an important role in the party’s hopes to retain control of Congress in November.