NationalWatch

The road to confirmation just got bumpier for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

After surviving a key committee vote on Tuesday, Blanche’s fate became even more uncertain as Republican leaders eye a full floor vote to confirm him. That’s because Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is not going to back him.

“While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has become increasingly political,” Collins said in a statement. “Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation.”

TRUMP’S AG PICK SURVIVES — FOR NOW — AS REPUBLICANS QUESTION IF WHITE HOUSE DEAL WILL HOLD

Collins’ decision came after reviewing Blanche’s qualifications to be the replacement for former Attorney General Pam Bondi, including records and his responses during his appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee that she chairs and his confirmation hearing.

She listed several reasons to go against Blanche, including his approval of a “shield” from IRS audits for Trump, his sons and family and the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund, which has rankled the feathers of several Republicans since its announcement earlier this year.

Collins also pointed to his promises to anti-abortion organizations that he would try to halt mailed abortion medication, his attempted indictments of Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., for their “ill-advised, but constitutionally protected, videos encouraging resistance to unlawful orders,” and pushback from over 1,200 Justice Department employees as basis to buck his nomination.

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“For these reasons, I will vote against this nomination,” Collins said.

Her defection serves a crucial, but not fatal, blow to Trump and Blanche. Republicans can only afford to lose one more vote before the confirmation is dead in the water.

That’s because Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is still absent with no clear timeline for his return. And there are more Republicans who are leery of, or not outright saying, that they will support Blanche.

Those include Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, John Curtis, R-Utah, and Bill Cassidy, R-La.

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It all comes after Blanche and the Department of Justice (DOJ) struck a deal with Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, to win their support in the Senate Judiciary Committee that gave explicit direction that the anti-weaponization fund was dead and narrowed the scope of Trump and his family’s audit immunity.

But critics of the deal in the Senate say there’s no real binding mechanism to ensure that neither Trump nor Blanche would just turn around and tear up the agreement after his confirmation.

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It also throws a wrench into Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the rest of Republican leadership’s plans to try and swiftly confirm Blanche amid a blistering sprint to a near monthlong break for the remainder of August.

Fox News Digital did not immediately receive comment from the White House on Collins decision.

FIRST ON FOX: The reports of President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s dead working relationship have been greatly exaggerated, the South Dakota Republican leader told Fox News Digital.

“I’ve heard from him twice this morning already. He called me over the weekend, and so there, you know, we talk, I don’t bother him, I’m not calling him every day,” Thune said in an interview.

Last week, Trump said, “We’re going to find out,” whether Thune was the man for the job to lead Senate Republicans, casting doubt on a critical relationship between him and the Senate’s top Republican.

TRUMP QUESTIONS THUNE’S LEADERSHIP AS SAVE AMERICA ACT STALLS

The tension stems from the SAVE America Act floundering in the Senate, and Trump’s desire to see the election integrity package passed by any means necessary.

Thune doesn’t see Trump’s comment as a personal slight, however. Both he and the president “want to get to the same place. We have, sometimes, disagreements about how best to get there.”

“Most of mine are constrained by what’s achievable in an institution like the Senate that has procedural roadblocks to do almost anything,” Thune said.

“We have those candid conversations, but I’m not worried about that relationship,” he continued. “I know he’s going to push as hard as he can. That’s his business model, is to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get people to go as far as they can go.”

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There is a voracious appetite among Trump, Senate Republicans and their base to see the SAVE America Act passed. One that Thune hears every day, either online or within his own conference.

It’s dominated the oxygen inside the Capitol and beyond its walls, and the pressure comes as the Senate is sprinting to finish work on key items, like preventing a government shutdown and confirming dozens of Trump’s nominees.

“There are good days and bad days,” Thune said. “And around here, probably lately more bad days than good days, but you know you just kind of, like I said, keep your head down, do the work.”

But passing the SAVE America Act is the most elusive item for Republicans, given the current make up of the Senate.

While there are a cohort of Republicans who are voting against it, Thune made the point that every single Senate Democrat has shut it down each of the five times that it’s been brought to the floor in a variety of configurations.

And Thune is one of the Republicans that wants the bill passed — he’s an original co-sponsor of the SAVE Act, the precursor to the current version of the SAVE America Act. The avenue of cutting Democrats out of the equation and ramming through aspects of the bill through budget reconciliation exists, which Thune is interested in pursuing.

But then comes the problem of generating 50 votes to support that, and keeping those votes together to shut down “crazy democratic amendments.”

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Thune’s job helming the Senate majority is to do the math on what can be accomplished in an institution that’s “designed” to be difficult. And the votes still aren’t adding up.

“I keep asking the question, am I the only one in this town that can count to 50? Because it seems like these questions recur and there are a lot of people out there who haven’t seemed to internalize the fact that there aren’t Democrats that are going to flip and vote for this,” Thune said.

“And there aren’t 50 Republicans that are going to vote to nuke the filibuster. Those are two facts that are indisputable and unchangeable.”

Thune’s position is, by extension, an embodiment of the Senate in many ways.

Unlike the House, legislation and agendas can’t be rammed through without a bipartisan agreement to blast through the filibuster. And senators’ concerns and desires encompass an entire state, not just a sliver of a state’s population.

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Through several interviews with Fox News Digital, he’s instilled that part of his job is to listen and take consensus on what does and doesn’t work, deliberating on the best path for a deliverable outcome.

“This place was supposed to be difficult, so that no dictator could master it, and I think that’s kind of the role of the Senate in our system and our democracy,” Thune said.

“It’s important to keep that in perspective, but it’s frustrating as heck when you’re somebody who likes to get things done, likes to get results, and you’ve got procedural roadblocks holding things up as we try to wind down and get some things done,” he continued.

The Trump administration is rejecting concerns that the war with Iran has left the U.S. low on some of its most advanced long-range missiles, after a report found the Army burned through “virtually all” of its stocks of two of its primary long-range precision weapons.

The Army has used “virtually all” of its inventories of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) during the five-month conflict with Iran, Reuters, citing people familiar with internal U.S. military data, reported Tuesday. Officials fear the drawdown could complicate the military’s ability to respond to future crises involving adversaries such as China and Russia, according to the report.

The White House disputed any suggestion the U.S. military lacks the weapons needed to carry out its missions.

WEAPONS STOCKPILE SHORTAGES IMPACTING MILITARY STRATEGY IN THE MIDEAST

“We have far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need, despite the fact that an unprecedented amount was given away by Crooked Joe Biden and the Biden Administration to Ukraine and Europe at no cost, in one of many of their extremely dumb moves,” President Donald Trump said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

“Our defense companies are, at this moment, making more munitions than they have ever made before, in addition to expanding their plants and equipment at record levels. And as we build up, we will start issuing more to our allies in Europe and elsewhere.”

If accurate, the report underscores a longstanding Pentagon concern: America’s most sophisticated precision weapons can be expended in months but often take years to replace.

Reuters also reported that the conflict significantly reduced inventories of Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors, along with Tomahawk cruise missiles, though the Pentagon has maintained the U.S. military retains the capabilities needed to carry out operations worldwide.

HEGSETH DISMISSES ‘FOOLISH’ US STOCKPILE CONCERNS AS IRAN CONFLICT TESTS MUNITIONS

Exact U.S. weapons stockpile figures remain classified for national security reasons.

The Pentagon also pushed back on the reporting. “America’s military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing. We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” chief spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

Independent analysts have also warned that months of combat have strained U.S. inventories of high-end munitions. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated last week that the U.S. had expended roughly 65% of its Patriot interceptor stockpile and that inventories of THAAD interceptors had fallen by at least 38% since the start of the Iran conflict, based on open-source analysis and budget data. Reuters reported Tuesday that its sources said those figures broadly aligned with internal U.S. data.

ATACMS and the newer Precision Strike Missile are among the Army’s premier long-range precision strike weapons, capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away without putting pilots in harm’s way.

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

Military planners consider them particularly valuable against heavily defended adversaries because they can destroy command posts, air defenses, logistics hubs and other high-value targets from beyond many enemy air-defense systems.

Patriot and THAAD serve a different mission. Rather than striking enemy targets, they defend U.S. forces and allies by intercepting incoming ballistic missiles, while Tomahawk cruise missiles allow the Navy to conduct long-range strikes from ships and submarines.

The report comes as Pentagon leaders have increasingly warned about the challenge of sustaining prolonged, high-intensity conflicts against major powers while replenishing advanced weapons consumed in combat.

That concern has accelerated efforts to pair expensive precision missiles with far larger numbers of lower-cost, “attritable” drones and autonomous systems that can be produced rapidly and fielded at scale. Officials argue the approach would allow commanders to reserve million-dollar precision weapons for the highest-value targets while relying on less expensive systems for surveillance, electronic warfare and many strike missions.

Military leaders caution, however, that inexpensive drones are not a replacement for long-range precision missiles such as ATACMS and PrSM. Those weapons remain essential for striking hardened command centers, air-defense batteries and other heavily defended targets at distances many lower-cost drones cannot yet reach or survive.

Trump has met repeatedly with executives from the nation’s largest defense contractors, pressing them to accelerate production and expand manufacturing capacity as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain U.S. stockpiles.

Following a White House meeting in March, Trump said the companies had agreed to quadruple production of what he called “Exquisite Class Weaponry,” including some of the military’s most advanced missile systems. At a second meeting in June and again at a defense summit in July, the president urged industry leaders to move faster, telling executives, “We have the best quality in the world, but we need a little more speed.”

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The production push is also reflected in the administration’s budget priorities. Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget would more than triple spending on drones and autonomous systems while boosting investment in munitions production, missile defense and Tomahawk cruise missile procurement.

President Donald Trump’s administration announced the results of a crackdown on illegal immigration in the trucking industry on Tuesday.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) began the crackdown, Operation Highway Shield, in Florida earlier this year. The DOT has since expanded the effort to multiple states in the Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio, Fox News has learned.

Officials carried out 3,487 enforcement stops during the operation that resulted in 766 unsafe commercial vehicles or drivers placed out of service, 51 immigration detentions, 47 criminal charges filed, 39 incarcerations, 36 English Language Proficiency (ELP) violations, and three cargo theft recoveries totaling roughly $1 million in stolen freight.

TRUMP TAPS VETERANS TO FIX ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKING PROBLEM PLAGUING US ROADWAYS

The Trump administration maintains that federal immigration and commercial driving enforcement remains a top priority.

Fox News previously broke news about the ramped-up enforcement efforts in Florida in March. Florida Troopers said that up to half of truckers at some weigh stations cannot meet English proficiency requirements.

“I try to concentrate on the [signs] they have to read,” Master Trooper Craig Lents said at the time. “If you are going down the road at 70 miles per hour, and you see that sign, you only see it for a split second.”

In another encounter caught on video, a trooper asked a trucker what a road sign meant.

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The trucker replied, “No.”

The trooper then asked what drivers should do if they saw the sign, to which the trucker replied, “No,” again.

The Trump administration has noted that federal English requirements have been on the books for years.

“It’s been the law for a long period of time,” said Derek Barrs, Federal Motor Carrier Safety administrator. “It’s a safety issue. … If there was a crash or something like that, I would want to make sure that driver would know how to respond — slow down for upcoming traffic or a crash that has happened up ahead.”

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Authorities explained that being unable to speak or read English is extremely dangerous, as truckers are driving by important road signs at high speeds while carrying hundreds of tons.

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The enforcement push comes after a string of deadly crashes nationwide involving drivers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims were in the U.S. illegally or operating with commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) they should never have had.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., could be facing headwinds in his quest for power even if Democrats win back Congress’ upper chamber in November.

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who is running in a heated primary against incumbent Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said during a debate Monday night that he would not support Schumer as leader if elected.

“The first vote that I take when I get to the United States Senate will be for not Senator Schumer, because we need new leadership at the top as well,” Moulton said.

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He was alluding to the selection of each party’s leadership ranks, which generally comes after the November election.

Markey also did not explicitly endorse Schumer for leader, but he has supported him in the past. Markey’s campaign directed Fox News Digital to the senator’s comments during the debate when asked about his support for Schumer.

“We need a big debate about new leadership in the Senate – the direction of the Senate,” Markey said.

It’s a notable move for both Democrats to distance themselves from the current party leader, as the primary for Massachusetts’ Senate seat has been marked by bitter accusations on both sides.

Moulton has accused Markey of selling out his beliefs by taking money from fossil fuel groups, and slammed the 80-year-old senator for his age and lengthy tenure in Congress. Meanwhile, Markey has attacked Moulton for investing in defense companies that the House committees he sits on have jurisdiction over, and his prior comments on transgender participation in youth sports.

The Salem-area House Democrat has a notable history of challenging his party’s leadership. In 2018, he led a rebellion within his caucus to challenge former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., from keeping her leadership post.

He said in a 2019 HuffPost interview that Democratic leadership was “failing” in standing up to President Donald Trump and accused leaders of fueling divisions within the caucus.

Now that fight is playing out in deep blue Massachusetts as part of a wider national war within the Democratic Party. Younger candidates are challenging the establishment left in races across the U.S., arguing that the status quo is not working for Americans today.

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“If you think the Democratic establishment is winning for Massachusetts, if you think it’s fine that the Democratic establishment has allowed a second term of Donald Trump, then vote for the status quo,” Moulton said during the debate.

Schumer is not up for re-election until 2028, but he must face his fellow Senate Democrats every two years in the internal leadership race to make a case for why he should stay at the helm.

And younger candidates like Moulton could pose issues for him on that front.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who at 53 years old is younger than a significant number of his colleagues, was evasive when asked if Schumer should remain in leadership during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” in March.

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“Well, I think we are united right now as a caucus. There’s always a lot of focus on Senator Schumer and [House Minority] Leader Jeffries,” Murphy said when asked if he supported Schumer, who he said had a “tough job.”

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic socialist running in the Michigan Senate primary against an opponent backed by the New York Democrat, said at a recent rally, “If you’re Chuck Schumer, I’m pretty damn dangerous.”

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And Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., has also called on Schumer to step aside and make way for new leadership.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office and Markey’s campaign for comment on Moulton’s remarks.

“Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble. And if I stay it will be double.” – The Clash

The words “schedule” and “Congress” don’t always mesh.

But the formal Senate schedule has long had senators taking off at the end of this week until early September for the customary “August recess.”

Only thing is, President Trump and some conservatives pushing for approval of the SAVE America Act don’t want the Senate to beg off. They assert that the Senate should remain in session until it passes the bill, which requires proof of citizenship to vote.

“I think there’s nothing more important than they pass the SAVE America Act. I think they should stay,” said President Trump. “They do what they want. But I think they should stay.”

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The Senate has already defeated two efforts to adopt the SAVE America Act. So there’s not an obvious pathway to alter those previous outcomes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has rebuffed the President’s demands to stay in session.

“I don’t think having a Congress sitting around here for the month of August and quorum calls or having to vote on Democrat amendments is probably a good use of anybody’s time,” said Thune.

There’s tension between the South Dakota Republican and the President over the Senate’s legislative realities. Thune may be Majority Leader. But Thune believes the President bears responsibility for changing some minds on Capitol Hill.

“We have in the past suggested to he and his team to come up here and visit with some of my Republican colleagues,” said Thune. “Now if he can change the facts and start moving some of those senators who are noes into yesses, then we have a different conversation. But that’s just the reality.”

As always, it’s about the math. And the SAVE America Act lacks the votes.

“I know Sen. Thune says the votes aren’t there. I’m not saying he’s wrong. I’m just saying people change their mind sometimes,” argued Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.

But it doesn’t look like there will even be a vote on that, unless something ripens quickly.

That’s where Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roger Marshall, R-Kas, Rick Scott, R-Fla., and others have suggested the Senate shouldn’t go on break unless they pass the bill.

So what happens next?

Let’s say we get to Friday night. The Senate has taken its final vote of the summer. Maybe to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Perhaps the measure named after late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., which sanctions Russia. The Senate is ready to finish until mid-September. In recent years, the Senate has not voted on a resolution to go out of session for weeks on end. That’s where SAVE America Act proponents would attempt to block such an effort. But its immaterial since there is no vote.

In the not too distant past, the House and Senate often approved “adjournment resolutions.” But not right now. Such a plan must align with the wishes of the House of Representatives. Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution bars either body for adjourning for more than three days “without the Consent of the other.” The House isn’t around to approve an adjournment resolution. It’s been out of session for a couple of weeks now. Moreover, it’s not clear that the House could adopt an adjournment resolution.

So, under the Constitution, each body must – at a minimum – hold a brief “pro forma” session where lawmakers convene for just a few seconds and then immediately gavel out. That meets the Constitutional requirement.

But there’s the rub.

When the Senate wraps up, Thune or one of his lieutenants would usually go to the floor and ask “unanimous consent” that the Senate meet on a series of Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays between now and September. These are the “pro forma” sessions, convening at three-day intervals. But if Lee or someone wants to object, they’re stuck. The Senate can’t green light the set of pro formas. The Senate must have buy-in of all 100 senators.

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But an objection in this case hardly blocks the recess or compels debate – let alone a vote or passage – on the SAVE America Act.

If Thune or his designee can’t get unanimous consent, the only option they have is to move to meet again the next day. Let’s say 9 a.m. ET. If someone objects to the time, it will meet at noon et under the Senate’s default protocols.

That said, this is where someone could force what might constitute the de facto “vote to go on recess.” A Republican senator might demand a vote on the Senate adjourning for the day on Friday and meeting on Saturday. This is not a vote to “go on recess.” But it’s the closest someone can engineer a possible vote related to Senate action.

A motion to adjourn is not debatable on the floor. But it is amendable. Someone could offer another option about when the Senate should meet. But that’s about it.

On this hypothetical Saturday session, it’s possible that Thune could simply get recognition and ask for the Senate to adjourn for the day again. One of those pushing the SAVE America Act doesn’t even get recognized to speak. However, if Thune is gracious and is willing to allow someone to have their say, they could get the floor and hold it as long as they want.

Note that doing so does not constitute a filibuster. Filibusters are efforts by senators to stop something. In this case, advocates of the SAVE America Act are trying to start something. So no filibuster. This would just be a really long speech. But Thune might not let it come to that. And even though they’ve chattered about it a lot, the strongest advocates of the SAVE America Act have not taken advantage of their prerogatives as senators and gone down to hold the floor at length.

Keep in mind that SAVE America Act advocates could potentially do this and push for recognition on the floor on all subsequent days during the August recess. Thune could block them from speaking because the order of the day is to convene and adjourn during a pro forma session. And if the SAVE America Act faction were to push for a vote, all it takes is another senator to block them on the floor.

One might ask the question about whether the SAVE America Act group might demand a “live” quorum call (where all senators must report to the floor for attendance) or even the more extreme motion of “instructing the Sergeant at Arms to arrest” absent senators and bring them to the floor. Well, this works at cross purposes during August. The reason? The Senate doesn’t have a quorum. In the old days, the Senate took quorum calls to establish if enough senators present were present to do business. It violates the Constitution to conduct business without a quorum present.

The SAVE America Act coalition may prove that there aren’t enough senators in Washington to conduct business. That helps make their point. But it also forces the Senate to adjourn because it can’t operate without a quorum.

WATCH: DEMOCRATS ADMIT WHEN THEY’D ELIMINATE THE FILIBUSTER AS SAVE ACT FIGHT HEATS UP

These gambits might not achieve the legislative goal of passing the SAVE America Act. But there are other benefits for SAVE America Act advocates. A series of lengthy speeches could potentially delay the recess. These Republican senators could argue that they are willing to stay and debate the SAVE America Act while their colleagues fled Washington for summer. Such a maneuver would focus attention on the issue. It would draw a contrast between senators willing to fight for the issue and those who went home. The effort might impress President Trump. And such a maneuver could show divides between them and Thune – who the President often chastises.

But pass the SAVE America Act? It’s not going to do that. And some Republican senators emphasize the importance of taking a few weeks off so their colleagues can campaign.

“The worst case scenario is for us is to stay all the way through and then we lose the Senate in the days ahead,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Fox. “Then President Trump is dealing with all the impeachment crazy all over again.”

Remaining in Washington for the next five weeks would pull the most vulnerable GOP senator off the trail, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Collins was crystal clear when pressed by yours truly whether she would campaign and miss her first roll call vote since entering the Senate in 1997.

“I don’t miss votes,” said an emphatic Collins.

So don’t expect the Senate to forgo the recess at the end of the week.

In fact, a decision by the Senate to go on recess may even work to the political advantage of those pushing for the SAVE America Act. They can then rail against Thune’s leadership and their colleagues for not passing the bill. Again, they don’t score the legislative outcome. But they sure rack up some political points.

This is why those philosopher kings who comprise the band The Clash may have been on to something. If the Senate stays, Republicans can’t pass the SAVE America Act. But if they go, certain GOP senators can rabble rouse.

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There’s trouble whether senators stay or go.

President Donald Trump is warning Iran that it has one last chance to make a deal, even as Tehran denies the negotiations Trump says persuaded him to hold off on a major U.S. attack.

The clash has left the status of the diplomatic effort unclear. Trump says indirect talks could reopen the Strait of Hormuz and eventually address Iran’s nuclear program, while Tehran acknowledges only limited discussions with Oman and has not publicly embraced the broader deal Trump has described.

“There’s certainly an element of posturing involved,” Ali Vaez, deputy program director for the Middle East at International Crisis Group, told Fox News Digital. “While there are no ‘talks’ in the sense of U.S. and Iranian officials sitting at the same venue exchanging proposals and counter-offers, engagement appears ongoing.”

Trump said diplomacy persuaded him to call off a planned attack on Iran that he described as the biggest since World War II. Over the weekend, he said Iran and several Middle Eastern countries had asked for more time to finalize an agreement reopening Hormuz and addressing Tehran’s nuclear program.

TRUMP WARNS IRAN FIGHTING ISN’T OVER AS HE VOWS US WILL ‘WIN’ AS TALKS FADE

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, however, that Tehran was neither holding talks with the United States nor expecting an American delegation. He described the Oman discussions as a bilateral effort to establish a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait.

Trump, in response, accused Iran’s leadership of being “unbelievably duplicitous.”

“They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions,” Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social.

Later that afternoon, Trump called the talks Iran’s “last chance” to avoid an escalation in U.S. strikes. He said negotiators would first seek to reopen the Strait, then turn to Tehran’s nuclear program.

“The first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “And that will take a little while.”

Trump said reporters could learn more about the negotiations “today or tomorrow.” Iran has not publicly endorsed either phase of his plan.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies have urged Trump to hold off on the planned attack, fearing more Iranian reprisals against their territory. Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said those concerns have complicated Trump’s next move.

“He’d like to be able to walk away with a win. The Iranians are not allowing him to do that,” Schanzer told Fox News Digital. “There is not a clear path ahead for him at this moment.”

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A June memorandum also opened with promises of a broader settlement. The United States and Iran signed it to halt fighting, lift the U.S. blockade and reopen the Strait.

Shipping became the first test of the June memorandum, and it quickly exposed how far apart Washington and Tehran remained. Each side had its own plan for restoring commercial traffic through the Strait. When U.S. officials accused Iran of firing on commercial vessels days later, American strikes followed. Tehran said Washington had tried to force through a new shipping arrangement without its consent.

Negotiators never bridged that divide. Trump declared the ceasefire over in early July and expanded the U.S. air campaign. Iran answered with missile and drone attacks on American positions and regional partners.

That fighting set up another, shorter pause at the end of the month. Trump said mediators had asked the U.S. to hold fire, an arrangement Iran said it would match. Within days, Iranian missiles targeted U.S. forces in Jordan and the conflict spread again.

Brief breaks have become a feature of the conflict, which Schanzer described as a “ceasefire war.”

“It is a war that is punctuated by short bouts of calm, only to see conflict return,” Schanzer said.

Even if Oman succeeds in opening a temporary route, it would settle only the immediate question of how ships move through the Strait. Trump wants that step to lead into negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, a sequence Tehran has yet to publicly embrace. As long as Iran can still threaten traffic and Washington can maintain its blockade and prepare further strikes, each side may decide it can wait the other out rather than make the concessions needed to end the war.

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“Fundamentally, both sides know that the status quo is a recipe for continued military and economic attrition without a clear endgame,” Vaez said.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department survived a crucial hurdle on Tuesday after reaching an agreement with key holdouts, but whether he reaches the finish line remains an open question.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, after last-minute delays and drama, confirmed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a 12-10 vote, sending him to the Senate floor for his final test. His success on committee remained in the air until the weekend, when a deal to win over Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, was announced.

And the duo accepted the terms of the deal, which would permanently rescind the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund and narrow the scope of Trump and his family’s audit immunity — two major components of his settlement with the IRS that Blanche rolled out earlier this year.

TRUMP’S AG PICK OFF LIFE SUPPORT AFTER KEY REPUBLICAN REBELS RELENT

Some lawmakers, however, are questioning the agreement and whether Trump will actually comply.

Tillis said of the anti-weaponization fund that, “we’ve got enough data in the record to know it’s rescinded.” But he acknowledged that, “Other people are asking about the audit component, but it’s another area where I put a lot of faith in John Cornyn.”

“I think that he believes that we’re at a place where it’s narrowly defined, and it would be very difficult for anybody to construe it as some sort of get out of audit free — for any kind of future — I know it’s retrospective, it is not prospective,” Cornyn said.

“And I believe that only the parties to the agreement may be in a position to be exempted. So, that’s, you know, that’s enough for me,” he continued.

DOJ BARS IRS FROM AUDITING TRUMP’S PRIOR TAX RETURNS IN SETTLEMENT ORDER SIGNED BY BLANCHE

The duo’s colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee have a divided outlook on the nature of the deal, given Trump’s desire to revive the fund and because the audit immunity wasn’t fully buried.

“Cornyn and Tillis seem to have gotten nothing meaningful,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital. “You know, the tax immunity deal is still unlimited, in terms of past potential liability. And the slush fund — the thug fund as I call it — is still alive and well, so far as Donald Trump is concerned. And he’s the one who counts.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital Trump “could renege on their agreement.”

“I’m not saying he will or he won’t, what’s stopping the president from doing anything? But it was important to Cornyn and important to Tillis,” Kennedy said. “And I’m glad they got cooperation from, finally, from DOJ. And I think I’ve heard some other senators who have grumbled a little bit about not voting for Blanche, but I think they will. He’ll be confirmed.”

To Kennedy’s latter point, Blanche’s trajectory to becoming the permanent attorney general still isn’t guaranteed.

TRUMP THREATENS TO YANK HIS OWN AG NOMINEE AS GOP REVOLT GROWS

A handful of Senate Republicans are not outright declaring their support for his nomination. And as usual, that turns into a math problem on the Senate floor.

Right now, Blanche can only afford to lose two votes on the floor. That’s because Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is still missing in action while he recovers from a fall at his Washington, D.C., home in June.

And the numbers look tough going forward. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Curtis, R-Utah, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., are still on the fence about Blanche.

Murkowski told reporters that she wants “to find out a little bit more about the negotiations,” over the weekend that led to the deal.

“I think certainly the fact that he has signed this order, basically disbanding [the fund] — that’s a pretty good step,” Murkowski said.

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Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., wants to get rolling on the Blanche confirmation as soon as possible, given the laundry list of to-do items he and Republicans are trying to check off before leaving Washington, D.C., for a break until September.

Because of the schedule and outlying variables, he couldn’t guarantee that Blanche’s confirmation would get done before September.

“Ideally, we’d like to get him done, and particularly if he comes out, which looks like he now will, affirmatively out of the committee,” Thune said. “Then I’d like to figure out a way, a path forward to get him done.”

Democratic socialist Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong is facing renewed scrutiny after past remarks about race and “whiteness” resurfaced online, including comments referencing members of her own family.

“My proximity to whiteness continues, right… My son is biracial. He is half-white and half-Korean. I think navigating what his identity is and how people perceive him is always at the back of my mind as well,” Hong, who has served in the Wisconsin State Assembly since 2021, said during a 2021 interview with ListenMKE.

A trove of Hong’s past X posts and interview clips has resurfaced as she campaigns for Wisconsin governor, renewing scrutiny of her repeated comments about race and identity, including remarks critical of whiteness.

SOCIALIST FRONTRUNNER IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER ‘CANCEL THANKSGIVING’ POST EMERGES ONLINE

“I’m sorry but this woman is not well,” wrote Fox News contributor Paul Mauro on X.

“It must be exhausting to have to think like this,” said Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty president Rick Esenberg.

“Weirdo racism,” said Fox News Political Analyst Guy Benson.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hong’s campaign Tuesday regarding her past comments and subsequent criticisms, but did not immediately receive a reply.

HASAN PIKER’S DEFENSE OF HAMAS HAVING ‘RIGHT TO RESIST MILITARILY’ DRAWS CONDEMNATION FROM HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS

The renewed attention comes as Hong embraces some of the left’s most prominent progressive figures, campaigning alongside Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and socialist streamer Hasan Piker, tying her candidacy to a national progressive movement that Republicans argue has gone too far to the left.

The Sunday rally drew online backlash after attendees were required to show photo ID, prompting hypocrisy accusations over the left’s opposition to the SAVE Act’s voter ID and citizenship verification provisions.

“Add this to the growing list of Fran Flip-Flops: @FrancescaHongWI opposes voter ID, yet she’s requiring photo ID for her event with Ilhan Omar. You can’t make this up. In recent weeks, Hong has faced renewed scrutiny after past X posts resurfaced in which she made comments that critics argue express anti-white sentiments,” wrote Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany.

“Ilhan Omar and Francesca Hong rally – registration and photo id required! Draconian for voting, required for socialist gatherings,” wrote Americans for Prosperity political development deputy director Matt Henkel.

WISCONSIN DEM SOCIALIST GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL DODGES WHETHER SHE STILL WANTS TO ‘ABOLISH POLICE’

Critics have argued that Hong has a history of expressing anti-white sentiments, with former X posts resurfacing in recent weeks.

“I ate two bites of my kid’s cheeseburger at a Culver’s in black river falls and told him they ran out of ice cream. Mostly just wanted to leave bc I was on the verge of a anxiety attack…to many old white people who didn’t think we spoke English,” she wrote in July 2019.

“2018- old white dude asks ‘where are you from?’ 2019- old white dude asks ‘what is your country of origin’ My ramen bar has become a customs kiosk,” Hong wrote in another post in May of the same year.

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“Police exist to uphold white supremacy. Defund then abolish. Reform can’t be an option. My heart breaks for the trauma the Blake family and their community continues to endure,” said Hong in October 2021.

President Donald Trump cast doubt in recent days on allegations that Russia is helping Iran target U.S. forces, even as members of his own administration acknowledge Moscow and Beijing are supporting Tehran in other ways.

Trump dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Russia supplied Iran with satellite imagery of U.S. military installations in the Gulf, saying any assistance would have been “very unimpactful” given the damage inflicted on Iran’s military.

“We’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask Putin. We’ll find out,” Trump told reporters at the end of July.

WALTZ WARNS OF CHINESE, RUSSIAN-FUELED ‘NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT’ LOOMING CLOSE TO US SHORES

“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump added. “And if they have, it has been very unimpactful.”

Trump pointed to the damage Iran’s military has suffered during the war. Russian help, he argued, has failed to stop the United States from destroying much of Tehran’s conventional forces.

Trump’s comments came as his administration confronted separate reports that Russia and China are helping Iran in different ways — allegations that, if borne out, would suggest America’s two chief geopolitical rivals are quietly supporting a nation at war with the U.S. Members of his own administration have acknowledged broader help from Moscow and Beijing.

CHINA’S IRAN TIES COMPLICATE TRUMP-XI SUMMIT AS TENSIONS TEST US LEVERAGE

War Secretary Pete Hegseth has said Russia and China are “enabling some of the things Iran is doing,” but a White House official told Fox News Digital that any foreign assistance has failed to improve Tehran’s ability to attack Americans.

Trump’s comments came in response to two recent reports: Zelenskyy’s allegation that Russia provided satellite intelligence to Iran and a Reuters report that China could send hundreds of shoulder-fired air-defense missiles to Tehran through Pakistan, which China has denied.

Fresh satellite imagery could help Iran locate high-value assets and refine strike coordinates, then show whether an attack hit its intended target.

“As the President stated, nothing that any outside actor is doing to help Iran is in any way increasing their ability to target Americans,” the official told Fox News Digital, responding to questions about Zelenskyy’s claim that Russia gave Iran satellite imagery of U.S. military installations in the Gulf.

Zelenskyy laid out Ukraine’s evidence Saturday, saying Russian satellites had surveyed Gulf countries and U.S. military installations beginning in early July before the imagery later appeared in Iran.

“These images subsequently appear in Iran,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Ukraine found what Zelenskyy described as a “clear correlation” between the Russian observations and subsequent Iranian attacks. According to Zelenskyy, Moscow collected imagery before strikes to aid targeting and returned afterward to assess the damage.

Zelenskyy said Russian satellites focused on four air bases over two days — two in Bahrain and one each in Jordan and Kuwait — and said Ukrainian intelligence had shared the information with foreign partners.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Olga Stefanishyna said at a July 30 reporter roundtable that the allegation did not arise during Zelenskyy’s White House meeting with Trump because the agenda was crowded. She said Ukraine had provided the information “through other channels.”

A Ukrainian official told Fox News Digital that Kyiv wants to avoid “opening a second front” with Iran.

Hegseth acknowledged Russian and Chinese support for Iran during a Senate hearing in July.

There was “definitely adversary alignment,” Hegseth said. Russia and China were “at different levels, enabling some of the things Iran is doing.”

The U.S. has ways to deter that support, he added, though some of those measures should remain classified. Hegseth said earlier in the war that the administration knew “exactly” what Moscow and Beijing were doing and was addressing their actions where needed.

Russia has denied supplying Iran with intelligence on American military targets. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the locations of U.S. bases were publicly available. The Kremlin also dismissed earlier reporting about Russian intelligence support for Iran as false.

Trump also questioned reports that Iran could soon receive hundreds of Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense systems through Pakistan, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping had assured him Beijing would stay out of the conflict.

“That was surprising. I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising. He told me very strongly he wouldn’t partake, but he knows I’d be quite disappointed. He’s coming here, I think, on September 24,” the president told reporters Wednesday.

Matthew Kroenig, a former Pentagon and intelligence official, called the reports “highly plausible,” pointing to growing cooperation among Russia, China and Iran.

“From Russia and China’s point of view, if they can complicate the U.S. war in the Middle East and raise the cost to Washington, that’s a good thing for them,” Kroenig told Fox News Digital.

Kroenig said Trump may be warning Moscow and Beijing privately instead of confronting them before television cameras.

“That might be the most generous interpretation, that it’s his way of warning China and Russia to knock it off,” he said.

Trump’s comments would carry more risk if the president were relying on assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kroenig said. He urged the administration to make clear that either country would face a cost for helping Tehran.

“I think there would be a risk to just discounting this altogether,” Kroenig said.

Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Moscow has spent years building closer military ties with Tehran.

“If this proves accurate, Russia has found a way to help Iran without direct military engagement, and that’s why this is significant,” Borshchevskaya told Fox News Digital.

Iran began supplying Russia with Shahed attack drones in 2022, giving Moscow a cheap weapon it could launch in waves against Ukrainian cities and power infrastructure.

Russia later began producing its own versions with Iranian support and improved the design, making the drones a mainstay of its attacks. Tehran’s earlier support now hangs over Zelenskyy’s claim that Moscow is helping Iran target American forces.

Satellite imagery would give Moscow another way to aid Tehran while avoiding a direct clash with American forces.

“It’s hard to think how the provision of intelligence is insignificant,” Borshchevskaya said.

She said Trump may be trying to keep his public exchanges with Moscow calm as U.S. officials send firmer messages in private.

Russia views the wars in Ukraine and Iran as connected parts of its campaign against American influence, Borshchevskaya said. U.S. officials tend to handle each conflict through a separate policy process.

“The challenge for us is that we often separate theaters, but Russia does not,” she said. “Russia looks at all of these conflicts in a much more interconnected way.”

Borshchevskaya said Russia has chosen forms of aid that can strengthen Iran without committing Russian troops or entering a direct fight with Washington.

“Russia is being restrained here,” she said. “They’re playing a much more nuanced game.”

Trump also voiced surprise Wednesday at a report that Iran could soon receive hundreds of Chinese-made, shoulder-fired air-defense systems through Pakistan.

Xi had given Trump a firm assurance that China would stay out of the war, according to the president.

“He told me very strongly he wouldn’t partake, but he knows I’d be quite disappointed,” Trump said.

China called the report “groundless.” Pakistan rejected the claim that it would help route the weapons to Iran, calling the allegation “baseless and devoid of truth.”

Kroenig said Beijing has supplied Russia with economic and industrial support during the war in Ukraine. China has stopped short of openly sending lethal weapons, a limit he had expected Beijing to observe in the Iran war.

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Advanced air defenses would require approval from the Chinese government, he said. Russian satellite intelligence would also come from state-controlled capabilities.

“There are no mom-and-pop shops in St. Petersburg selling this data,” Kroenig said.

The five GOP candidates that appeared in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate debate on Monday evening touched on several key issues of national importance as they made their case to fill the seat of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who died while in office last month.

Although candidates remained united on broad issues of party consensus, the debate exposed a fraying of opinion on topics like the war in Iran, U.S. government spending, the filibuster and data center expansion, highlighting the influence of even just one Senate seat.

The candidates include Sen. Darlene Graham Nordone, R-S.C., Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Rep. Russel Fry, R-S.C., businessman Mark Lynch and former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

REPUBLICANS DEFY TRUMP, JUMP INTO SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE RACE DESPITE HIS HANDPICKED SUCCESSOR

The biggest clash of the night came from Graham’s own sister, the appointee currently filling his seat.

Nordone, who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement, announced she would vote to end the filibuster — a procedural hurdle that prevents the chamber from passing most legislation without 60 votes. Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the chamber.

“And I am all for — this is where I differ from my brother — getting rid of the filibuster to get this done, because eventually the Democrats are going to get rid of it anyway,” Nordone said, noting the major break with her late brother.

While supporters of the filibuster argue it prevents parties from strong-arming their views into law without bipartisan input, acting as one of the country’s last bastions of moderation, the rule has throttled several Republican priorities called for by President Donald Trump, including national voter identification legislation.

Mark Sanford, another candidate who formerly served as governor of South Carolina, also touched on a topic of controversy on Monday by alluding that Congress — not the president’s discretion — should set the direction for the war in Iran.

“Only Congress has the authority to declare war. This decision needs to be made by Congress … body bags don’t go back to Washington. They come back to home states and congressional districts,” Sanford said.

It has been nearly six months since the U.S. originally bombed Iran in coordination with Israel, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The conflict has stretched well beyond the timeline the administration said it had expected.

WAR POWERS RESOLUTION FAILS AS SENATE REPUBLICANS STAND BY TRUMP ON IRAN

In the time since, debate among lawmakers has raged over whether the president has overstepped his authority and started a war — a power granted to Congress under the U.S. Constitution — and whether lawmakers should pass legislation to restrict his abilities.

Besides Sanford, other candidates seemed to support Trump, citing a concern over Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

One candidate, Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., qualified that support by affirming he would not support deploying U.S. service members to the area.

“No boots on the ground. I’m not a believer in that. My brother served in Iraq, and I’ve lost friends in foreign wars. But we can finish the mission by defanging Iran and making sure they have no capabilities left,” Fry said.

In yet another area of division, Mark Lynch, a South Carolina businessman, raised the issue of data centers, a somewhat niche policy concern that’s rapidly raising questions of how national security interests are balanced against local interests and energy consumption.

While Republicans remain split on the issue, Lynch said he would favor prioritizing local community concerns.

“It is a pain point for South Carolinians,” Lynch said, referring to the expansion of the centers.

“We’re tired of waking up and seeing 100 acres of trees bulldozed, and we’re told the data center is going to go right next to our neighborhood. It is horrible noise pollution. They’re robbing our water. It takes millions of gallons to cool the data centers, and it’s causing our electric utilities to increase. We already have a problem with inflation and affordability.”

Although the debate remained largely restrained, Nordone needled Lynch in her closing remarks over several criticisms of her brother.

Lynch had criticized the late senator’s track record on amnesty and the legalization of marijuana.

“Mr. Lynch mentioned Lindsey Graham multiple times, and I don’t know if he’s just afraid Lindsey beat him, and now his little sister is going to beat him. But I just don’t like hearing that,” Nordone said.

Lynch ran against Linsey Graham in the 2026 primary earlier this year, before his death. Graham soundly defeated Lynch in a 56.8% to 28.9% win in June.

WATCH: DEMOCRATS ADMIT WHEN THEY’D ELIMINATE THE FILIBUSTER AS SAVE ACT FIGHT HEATS UP

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Lynch did not have an opportunity to respond.

With the debate now concluded, the Republican who wins the primary later this month will go on to run in the state’s Nov. 3 general election against Democratic nominee Annie Andrews — a race that’s projected to heavily favor the GOP. The primary, set for Aug. 11, will likely decide which Republican will go on to win a full six-year term in November.

MARYSVILLE, OH – The Ohio Senate race could very well decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate in November and incumbent Republican Jon Husted is making the case that the reasons his Democratic opponent was voted out of office two years ago are still relevant today.

“He’s spent 32 years in Washington and he’s got nothing to show for it, the voters over here in Ohio know it,” Husted told Fox News Digital at the annual Summer Farm Fest on Sunday when asked about his race against former Dem. Sen. Sherrod Brown.

“That’s why they sent him packing two years ago. He was defeated by Bernie Moreno by over 200,000 votes. This is all he’s done. He’s been in an elected office since 1974. He hasn’t done anything in the private sector. He’s just been a creature of Washington and I think the voters finally are tired of it. That’s why they sent him packing. I don’t think they’re gonna have any enthusiasm for rehiring him for a job that he failed at.”

After representing Ohio in the Senate for almost two decades after years of serving in the House of Representatives, Brown was defeated by Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024 in a blistering campaign that was one of the most expensive in U.S. history. Moreno consistently tied Brown to the unpopular positions of then-President Joe Biden, and Husted told Fox News Digital those concerns still exist, particularly on immigration.

FOX NEWS POLL: COOL YOUR SERVERS! VOTERS REJECT DATA CENTERS

“We had basically an invasion of 11 million people,” Husted said. “He supported amnesty for them. He supported Social Security payments for illegals, healthcare for illegals, COVID checks for illegals. The sanctuary cities he supported led to crime, fentanyl, human trafficking in our state, and it’s been terrible and the voters know this.”

“They know that he failed them. They know when he goes off to Washington with his comrades that he votes like a liberal, that he’s too liberal for Ohio, that he has a track record of voting with Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, and that’s out of step with where Ohio is.”

Over the last few weeks, Brown has blanketed the airwaves with ads criticizing Husted on data centers, a hot-button issue in Ohio, arguing that Husted’s support of data centers over the years has resulted in higher energy prices for consumers.

Husted, who was appointed to the Senate in January 2025 after the departure of now-Vice President JD Vance, pushed back on that assertion when asked about the ads.

“He had 32 years in Congress, he did nothing about it, and I, in my, just briefly over a year there, have legislation to require data centers to build their own power, to pay their own way, and to give the benefits of their presence to the citizens of those local communities, rather than the way that Sherrod Brown has done it, where he’s failed,” Husted explained.

DEM SENATE CANDIDATE SHERROD BROWN CLAIMS HE SUPPORTS ‘CLOSING THE BORDER’; GOP SAYS RECORD PROVES OTHERWISE

Husted continued, “This is the problem with the guy, is that he does nothing, and then a problem comes out, and he says, blame that person… He didn’t do anything about it. He never does anything about it. He just waits for problems to happen. And then he says, well, it’s the other person’s fault. It’s time to hold him accountable.”

Husted made the case that the policies Brown supported in Congress led to the high energy rates the country is seeing now.

“He spent 32 years in Washington and didn’t do anything except raise our electricity prices because he and the radical climate change agenda shut 23 power plants in Ohio,” Husted said. “If we had those 23 power plants today, we wouldn’t have high energy prices.”

Husted continued, “Him voting for Obamacare, which has doubled the price of health care insurance in the state of Ohio and around the country. He needs to be held to account for his failed policies.”

While Ohio has been historically known as a bellwether swing state, President Donald Trump won the state convincingly in 2016, 2020, and 2024, shifting the Buckeye State to a reliably red stronghold. However, recent polling, including a Fox News poll in June, shows Husted trailing Brown as Republicans battle the historical headwinds of the party in power struggling in midterm elections.

Brown, recruited back into politics in part by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, is looking to flip one of the four seats Democrats need to regain control of the Senate, with Ohio among the party’s top pickup opportunities alongside Alaska, Maine and North Carolina.

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With less than 100 days to go until the midterms, Husted says that Brown’s record will be front and center.

“Just showing the contrast between 32 years of failure from Sherrod Brown and the fact that I’m an Ohio guy, I’ve fought for Ohioans, I’ve helped in state government to turn this state in the right direction,” Husted said. “We now have more jobs than we’ve ever had in our state’s history, the lowest unemployment rate, frankly, than we ever had in our states’ history. And we don’t need to send this guy back to Washington, Sherrod Brown, to continue the failed policies that have harmed the country and harmed our state. We need a guy like me who will fight for Ohio.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Brown campaign for comment.

A historian and museum professional accused the Smithsonian of abandoning its educational mission in favor of activism following his visit to the National Museum of American History (NMAH) for the first time in more than a decade amid mounting criticism from the Trump administration and conservatives over how the museum presents American history.

“It’s a completely different place than when I was there in 2012,” Dr. Jody Edward Ginn told Fox News Digital.

“Its mission is clearly exactly what they changed it to be. It is a museum for activism. They use history, but that’s kind of the problem. You know, scholars of history, and I don’t consider these folks scholars anymore. They’re activists.”

After reading the administration’s Domestic Policy Council report accusing the Smithsonian and the NMAH of failing to present history “in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic,” Ginn said he traveled all the way from Texas to see it for himself.

INSIDE THE BEHEMOTH SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM NETWORK DRAWING FIRE FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

“From the moment I walked in, it’s a very different experience,” Ginn said. “Now, I wasn’t totally shocked by this because I’ve been watching this evolution in my field for over a decade.”

As he made his way through the exhibits, Ginn said the institution seeks to “specifically direct” visitors “to action” rather than give them the information to “make their own decisions.”

“It became this goal, their own stated goal, to turn museums from institutions of education, of public education, into institutions to encourage activism, which could also be said to indoctrinate.”

Ginn said he found “factually incorrect information” in some exhibits but argued what they don’t tell visitors is just as misleading.

WATCH: SMITHSONIAN HISTORY MUSEUM DIRECTOR STUMBLES OVER BASIC QUESTIONS ON SEX: ‘I’M NOT SURE’

“The biggest problem is in what they leave out,” he said.

Ginn argued the museum’s “graphic” and sexually explicit exhibits have no place in a museum frequented by children and families, saying they’re “out of sync with what museums were just a few years ago.”

“These are geared towards all ages,” he said. “Why would you do that? All of that’s out of sync with what museums were just a few years ago.”

In a House hearing last month, lawmakers raised similar concerns during a House hearing, pressing Smithsonian National Museum of American History Director Anthea Hartig about the museum’s exhibits.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., asked Hartig about the exhibit titled “Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall,” which featured a bondage harness, saying “You have pictures of bondage, you have some overtly sexual things up there, you have transgender folks.”

Lawmakers also questioned Hartig about the 2017 MASS Action Toolkit, a guide for museum professionals that references the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests while describing “objectivity” as a characteristic of “white supremacy culture,” which Ginn said was part of its effort to lean towards activism.

SMITHSONIAN PUSHED ‘REVOLTING’ SOCIAL ACTION TRAINING AFTER ‘WHITENESS’ CHART APOLOGY: EXPERT

Reflecting on the testimony, Ginn said it was “very disappointing” and did not represent “a scholarly presentation whatsoever.”

“If that’s the kind of museum you’ve been approved to run, then just own it,” he said. “Don’t say you’re being unbiased when it’s really evident.”

Ginn also criticized Hartig for maintaining that the museum has not taken a side, adding its revised mission statement “changed the purpose of that museum.”

During a 2024 presentation to undergraduate and graduate history students, Hartig explained the museum removed the mention of “American history” from its mission statement because it was “hard to get out of the ‘America First’ mentality.”

For Ginn, his visit confirmed what he described as a “massive shift” in the museum profession, with the Smithsonian serving as “the highest-profile symptom of a process that’s been going on for some time.”

“It is my opinion as a public historian that the mission we’ve always had is to educate the public and provide scholarly information,” he said. “To me, that’s what the National Museum of American History should be.”

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However, Ginn said he is “not hopeful” the institution can change without a “massive effort” to replace current staff with people he believes would prioritize history over politics.

“You’re going to have to put in new people who are committed to scholarly standards and non-politicized educational programming,” he said. “These people have bought into it, hook, line and sinker.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Smithsonian for comment.

DETROIT, MI – The high-stakes fight between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the future of the Democratic Party is front-and-center on Tuesday in Michigan’s primary.

Boosted by a string of victories this spring in mostly blue congressional districts across the country, the Democrats’ ideological war moves to the Great Lakes battleground state, where progressive victories could reshape the party and endanger must-hold seats in the midterm elections.

Also at stake as Michigan joins Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and Washington State in holding mid-summer primaries is President Donald Trump’s immense clout over the GOP and the power of his endorsements in Republican nominating contests.

But taking top billing is Michigan’s divisive and expensive Democratic Senate primary, which is seen as the biggest stage to date in the fierce fight for the future of the Democratic Party.

THE MIDTERM SENATE RACES THAT COULD FLIP THE BALANCE OF POWER IN CONGRESS

“This is ground zero in the battle for the future of the Democratic Party pitting status quo corporate Democrats against shake up the system economic fighters, and we’ll see who wins,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a leading group on the left, told Fox News Digital.

The primary face-off pits Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department director, against Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate candidate backed by the establishment. The race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is backing Stevens, is a must-hold for the Democrats and one of roughly a dozen Senate races from coast to coast that will determine if Republicans hold onto their slim Senate majority.

Matt Bennett, one of the leaders at the Third Way, a leading center-left Democratic organization, told Fox News Digital the Michigan showdown is “the first time the left is competing for a swing seat” and warned, “the significance is it could really put this seat in jeopardy.”

El-Sayed, who, if elected, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator, is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for “Medicare-for-all” a major component of his campaign.

The far-left candidate has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians.

MIKE ROGERS ARGUES ABDUL EL-SAYED IS ‘A SPECIAL SAUCE OF CRAZY’

And El-Sayed, who is backed by top far-left leaders and teamed with progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on the Michigan campaign trail two weeks ago, and who served as a top surrogate on Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has vowed not to accept PAC donations.

Stevens, who flipped a GOP-held district in her 2018 election to Congress, is backed by top national and Michigan Democrats, including Peters, term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and longtime Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Schumer and the party establishment view Stevens as more electable than El-Sayed, who has sparked controversy with his past comments.

“I am the best Democrat to go forward. I am the only person in this race who has won tough primaries multiple times. You know, running with the Michigan grit, resilience and determination,” Stevens told Fox News Digital on Sunday, as she teamed up with Peters on the campaign trail.

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

Over $80 million has been spent on the primary showdown, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination race in history. Much of the money has been shelled out by outside groups in support of Stevens and against El-Sayed. The biggest spending comes from United Democracy Project, a political action committee aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

El-Sayed, who has repeatedly attacked Stevens over the massive infusion of AIPAC-linked money, told reporters on Sunday, “If you need $70 million to come in here and help get you elected, then the question has to be, are you actually electable on your own terms.”

The winner will face off in the midterms against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who is on a glidepath to win the GOP Senate nomination.

The Trump-backed Rogers, who lost the 2024 Senate election in Michigan by a razor-thin margin, said in a Fox News Digital interview that he doesn’t care whom he faces-off with in November.

“It doesn’t matter to us. We’ve looked at both candidates. We feel confident we’re going to beat either one of those candidates that come out of that race,” Rogers highlighted.

And Rogers claimed, “They are very radical, and they are way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy.”

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But Democrats are confident they can regroup after a combustible primary.

“Let’s make sure that anyone but Mike Rogers gets to the United States Senate,” Stevens told reporters on Sunday. “After the primary, you’re going to see a united Democratic Party. You are going to see us going full force, full fledged ahead.”

And El-Sayed told Fox News Digital, “I think we all understand the risk of Donald Trump. We all understand the risk of Mike Rogers.”

The left-wing versus establishment battle is also playing out in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, a key Republican-controlled swing seat race that’s among roughly two-dozen that will impact whether the GOP holds onto its fragile House majority.

William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which advocates for political action to tackle climate change, is on the rise against two more moderate Democrats. Lawrence is backed by Sanders and El-Sayed, as well as some top progressive groups. The primary winner will face GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in the general election.

The party civil war is also on display in Michigan’s deep blue 13th Congressional District.

MEET THE FAR LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE 2026 MIDTERMS

Rep. Shri Thanedar, who is supported by top House Democratic leaders, is being challenged by state Rep. Donovan McKinney, who is backed by Sanders, El-Sayed, and Squad members Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.

And the ideological warfare is also front-and-center in Missouri, in the state’s St. Louis-based and heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District.

Rep. Wesley Bell is facing off in a rematch against former Rep. Cori Bush, a Squad member who Bell ousted in the 2024 primary.

Trump’s endorsements are getting tested in two statewide showdowns on Tuesday, in Michigan and Kansas.

The president is backing Rep. John James in Michigan’s GOP gubernatorial primary. James, a West Point graduate and one-time Republican rising star, is facing off against multi-millionaire businessman Perry Johnson, a former gubernatorial and presidential candidate.

The winner will take on likely Democratic nominee and current Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, in the race to succeed Whitmer.

In Kansas, Trump is supporting state Senate President Ty Masterson in a crowded field of Republican gubernatorial contenders.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is term-limited, which makes the race to succeed her a top flip opportunity for the GOP.

In Washington State, the marquee primary showdown is in the state’s 3rd Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a former auto shop co-owner, is facing a crowded field of challengers from both parties.

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Washington state has a top-two primary system in which all candidates, regardless of party, compete on the same ballot and the two highest vote-getters move on to the general election.

The race is another crucial House showdown that may decide the chamber’s majority.

In Virginia, voters head to the polls to cast ballots in Senate primaries and in a handful of House primaries in extremely competitive districts that may impact the balance of power on Capitol Hill.

A socialist candidate vying to unseat a sitting House Democrat says there is “one issue” he agrees with Republicans on.

Michigan state lawmaker Donavan McKinney is among the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members giving establishment Democrats a run for their money across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections in November.

Members of the group have shown that they’re a potent force among the left’s base voters, while also working to appeal to the same working-class, anti-establishment sentiment that helped President Donald Trump get elected in 2016.

DSA MEMBER LEADS DEM PRIMARY IN MIDWEST BATTLEGROUND BUT TRAILS LIKELY GOP NOMINEE: POLL

The latest evidence of that is McKinney’s tease in a recent interview with Zeteo News, “I gotta give Republicans — I agree with them on this one issue. The one issue is waste, fraud and abuse.”

But he differed with the GOP on where that’s coming from.

“Republicans’ analysis is there’s waste, fraud and abuse when it comes to the poor. It’s kind of like, you know, voting fraud. There’s like .0001%, like very small percentage of folks, poor people, take advantage of the system,” McKinney said. “The waste, fraud and abuse is coming from our taxpayer dollars subsidizing our corporations and the wealthy, so they can get richer and we keep being poor.”

SOCIALIST-BACKED MICHIGAN SENATE HOPEFUL CALLS AMERICAN POLITICS A ‘DISEASE’ AFTER PROFESSING LOVE FOR US

“We’re gonna attack the waste, fraud and abuse, but we’re going to attack it for the top 1% earners in this country,” he added of his goals if elected to the House.

McKinney is running to unseat Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., a progressive who split with the DSA over the party’s anti-Israel sentiment.

And during a rally over the weekend, McKinney attempted to appeal to voters who feel the strain of high costs in their everyday lives.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS AIM TO TURN DEMOCRATIC CIVIL WAR INTO MIDTERM WEAPON

“All I hear across our communities is that I don’t have enough resources to survive. I would define politics, it’s pretty simple, it’s the redistribution of resources. Well, we have to take our taxpayer money to send it overseas for bombs and weapons, to kill families and children. No more to support genocide. I think that’s a damn shame,” he said.

“We’re in Iran spending billions of dollars a day on average. And you’re telling me the people in my district, the seniors, our children, our most vulnerable populations can’t get the resources they deserve? I don’t think this is the America anyone wants us to live in, am I right?”

He also criticized “self-interested” lawmakers in both parties for falling out of touch with what Americans across the country are struggling with.

But on the other side of the aisle, the growing insurgency from the socialist left could provide a boon to Republicans who are fighting an uphill battle to keep control of the House.

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GOP leaders across the country are warning that Americans are not interested in socialism or its core beliefs, like the redistribution of wealth and demise of capitalism.

Meanwhile, DSA-linked candidates have already unseated incumbent House Democrats in New York and Colorado.

DETROIT, Michigan — Republican Mike Rogers is confident he’ll defeat whichever Democratic rival he faces off with in the midterm elections in the crucial Senate showdown in this Great Lakes battleground state.

“It doesn’t matter to us. We’ve looked at both candidates. We feel confident we’re going to beat either one of those candidates that come out of that race,” Rogers said in a Fox News Digital interview two days before Michigan’s primary.

Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department director who unsuccessfully ran an insurgent campaign for governor in 2018, is facing off for the Democratic Party’s nomination in Michigan against Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate candidate backed by the establishment. The primary race is the biggest battle to date in the party’s ideological war between the far-left and the center-left.

THE MIDTERM SENATE RACES THAT COULD FLIP THE BALANCE OF POWER IN CONGRESS

Rogers says both El-Sayed and Stevens “are very radical, and they are way too extreme for Michigan.” And pointing to El-Sayed, he charged, “Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy.”

The expensive and combustible scrum between El-Sayed and Stevens in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is backing Stevens, is bolstering Republicans and potentially endangering a must-hold seat in November for the Democrats as they face an uphill challenge to win back the Senate majority.

“That certainly helps,” Rogers said as he pointed to the Democratic primary battle.

Rogers, a former congressman who lost the 2024 Senate election in Michigan by a razor-thin margin while President Trump narrowly carried the state, touted that while the Democrats engage in what some describe as a civil war, “we’ve unified the Republican Party in a way I haven’t seen in decades here on this particular race.”

“We’re building our team, our resources, and are ready for the fight after August 5 in a way I don’t think Democrats are expecting,” he highlighted.

El-Sayed, who, if elected, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator, has made support for Medicare-for-all a major component of his campaign.

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He has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians. And El-Sayed, who served as a top surrogate on Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has vowed not to accept PAC donations.

El-Sayed, who is backed by many leaders on the left and was joined on the campaign trail two weeks ago by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has reiterated that he’s not a socialist.

But Rogers argued that El-Sayed is “in a different league altogether about pushing that socialist agenda, Democrat Socialists of America are in Michigan working for him right now. They’re parachuting in from all over the country.”

“If you believe in the future of America and your own prosperity and your individual liberties, well…. We’re going to talk about it because they’ve got plans to take all that away,” Rogers claimed, as he pointed to the far left and El-Sayed. “And just because you’re a smooth talker and could sell ice to an Eskimo doesn’t mean people are ready to give up their rights.”

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Both El-Sayed and Stevens are confident that Democrats will unite following Tuesday’s primary.

“Let’s make sure that anyone but Mike Rogers gets to the United States Senate,” Stevens told reporters on Sunday. “After the primary, you’re going to see a united Democratic Party. You are going to see us going full force, full fledge ahead.”

And El-Sayed told Fox News Digital, “I think we all understand the risk of Donald Trump. We all understand the risk of Mike Rogers.”

MEET THE FAR LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN THE 2026 MIDTERMS

“This is a guy who is not going to stand up and take on the war machine. He’s not going to stand up and take on Big Pharma. He’s not going to stand up and take on Big Tech. He is going to do the bidding of large corporations,” El-Sayed argued as he referred to Rogers. “I think everybody understands what the stakes are. So I’m looking forward to welcoming everybody who might have voted differently in the primary.”

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Asked about El-Sayed’s comments, Rogers charged, “The guy lies… this guy will lie from today until November 4, trying to get people to… walk past how bad he is for our state and our future in the country.”

FIRST ON FOX: The federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from ending protections for Somalis in the U.S. is facing a new impeachment threat from President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has filed an impeachment resolution against Judge Allison Burroughs, a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Burroughs issued a stay on Friday temporarily blocking the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), amid an ongoing lawsuit by African Communities Together arguing the move was made based on racially discriminatory grounds.

SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTS

Ogles’ resolution, first obtained by Fox News Digital, accused Burroughs of having “defied the authority of both Federal law and the Supreme Court.”

“There is no serious debate about what is going on in these cases—defiance, obstruction, and delay,” DHS General Counsel James Percival posted on X on Friday.

The order came despite a Supreme Court ruling in June that significantly curbed lower courts’ ability to block TPS decisions.

SUPREME COURT’S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO ‘DIE AND SUFFER’ ATTORNEY WARNS

But the latest stay order is based on an amended complaint by the plaintiffs aiming to account for that ruling.

Ogles argued in his impeachment resolution, “In issuing this stay, Judge Burroughs attempted to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mullin v. Doe by entertaining spurious allegations of racial and national-origin discrimination against an Administration that has chosen to not renew a single temporary protected status designation.”

“This judicial activist’s obstruction of the people’s will must be stopped,” Ogles told Fox News Digital. “Judge Burroughs must be impeached.”

FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN MOVES TO IMPEACH JUDGE WHO ORDERED CONVICTED CUBAN PLANE HIJACKER FREED FROM ICE

Fox News Digital reached out to the Massachusetts district court for a response to Ogles’ impeachment threat earlier Monday.

TPS is a humanitarian program providing safe harbor in the U.S. for people who fled natural disasters or war in their home countries.

Ogles’ impeachment resolution is one of several that has been filed by Trump allies in Congress so far during the president’s second term.

A significant effort to pursue impeachment against U.S. federal judge James Boasberg fell flat last year after senior House Republicans argued it was not the most effective way to rein in what they called “rogue” judges.

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But Fox News Digital first reported earlier this year that conservatives would begin their campaign to remove who they describe as activist judges from the bench again.

Burroughs was appointed to the bench in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama.

President Ronald Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev five times in the late 1980s. The first such meeting was in Geneva, Switzerland in November 1985 when the two leaders began to form a relationship. It was the second meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, where Reagan and Gorbachev began to find trust.

“The reason I wanted to do it really, truly, was because I think these days we’ve gotten so good at yelling at one another that we are not talking anymore,” said “The Brink of War” director Michael Gunn. “What blew me away about the story when Secretary Schultz told me about it was that these were two guys who had every reason to hate each other, had every reason to be enemies, and they sat down in a room together and tried to make a better world.”

US RAMPS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PRODUCTION TO COLD WAR LEVELS AS CHINA PURSUES ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ BUILDUP

Jeff Daniels stars as Reagan in “The Brink of War,” which follows the Reykjavik summit with Gorbachev, played by Jared Harris. Reagan’s Secretary of State George Schultz, played by J.K. Simmons, was instrumental in giving Gunn behind-the-scenes details for his film.

“We spent hours and hours together. I interviewed him. He gave me the declassified transcripts that informed the script. He’s a hero of mine. The movie is dedicated to him, for him, for his public service,” Gunn said.

NEW FOX NATION DOCUMENTARY CHRONICLES 20-YEAR JOURNEY BEHIND ‘REAGAN’ FILM

“The Brink of War” not only highlights the Reagan administration’s ambitions for peace but also their disappointments. One scene shows Reagan’s doubt over trusting Gorbachev amid the negotiations as Schultz assures him it was not the end of talks to find common ground between the two global powers.

“This moment where they figured out just the two of them in a room that they could trust one another, I think led to all that. The first arms reduction agreement in human history,” Gunn said.

While no final agreement was reached in Iceland, the summit paved the way for several more meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev. It also led to several peace treaties — like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which required both sides to liquidate a class of nuclear weapons.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S NEGOTIATING TEAM PRAISED BY NUCLEAR EXPERTS FOR WALKING AWAY FROM PAKISTAN TALKS

“For the first time on the highest level, we and the Soviets came close to an agreement on real reductions of both strategic and intermediate-range weapons,” President Reagan said after his meeting with Gorbachev in Iceland. “We were in sight of an historic agreement on completely eliminating the threat of offensive ballistic missiles by 1996. I can help remembering being told just a few years ago. Radical arms reduction was an impossible dream, but now it’s on the agenda for both sides.”

Gunn believes the Reagan and Gorbachev’s discussions should be an inspiration for ending today’s conflicts.

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“I think the lesson for today is that we have to continue dialog,” Gunn said. “As tough as it gets, I want people to walk out of the theater with hope that if we engage, if we’re strong, if we are seeking peace in a genuine way and we find a genuine partner that we can make a better safer world even today.”

“The Brink of War” debuts in theaters Aug. 14.

Senate Republicans opted to strike on bipartisan momentum and take a key step to prevent a government shutdown almost two months before the deadline.

The upper chamber voted in a bipartisan wave to clear the first procedural hurdle for a short-term funding extension that would see the government open through the midterm elections and into early December.

It comes after Republicans have spent months hand wringing that Democrats would again shut the government down to score political points during the pivotal November elections.

HOUSE GOP VOTES TO PUNT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BATTLE TO AFTER NOVEMBER MIDTERMS

The actual deadline to fund the government is not until Sept. 30, when the current fiscal year expires, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued that it’s better to move now then to wait to create more “certainty” in the coming weeks.

“There’s been enough uncertainty this last year, and, you know, unfortunately, I think through two government shutdowns that extended for a long period of time, it’s better for everybody if there’s predictability, certainty,” Thune said.

Congress has been no stranger to shutdowns during President Donald Trump’s second term, with two of the longest in history taking place under Republican control of the legislative branch.

SENATE WEIGHS NEW, PAINFUL LEVERAGE TACTIC AS FEARS OF ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GROW

The first happened last year, and entered the record books as the longest full government closure that stretched over 40 days. That battle was over now-expired Obamacare tax subsidies, an issue that was never fully reconciled in the months that followed.

Then came the shutdown earlier this year that stretched for over 70 days. Democrats rebelled against a bipartisan funding deal after Renee Nicole Good was slain in Minnesota by immigration enforcement agents. That prompted Republicans to skirt Democrats entirely and fund immigration enforcement on their own.

But, for now, there is a bipartisan current pushing through the Senate to at least make sure a shutdown doesn’t happen for the time being.

SCHUMER BACKS GOP’S PLAN TO BRING THE PAIN DURING FUTURE SHUTDOWNS: ‘I’M GOING TO VOTE FOR IT’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., endorsed the continuing resolution (CR) on Monday, arguing that the current bipartisan offering was the “responsible path forward that allows continued bipartisan negotiations on a budget that delivers for American families.”

“For months, Democrats have been clear: we want to fund the government, avoid a shutdown and pass strong, bipartisan appropriations bills that improve people’s lives,” Schumer said in a statement.

Republican leadership is hopeful that they can clear the decks and advance the CR to the House during the Senate’s last official week in town before jet-setting from Washington, D.C., back to lawmakers’ respective home states.

While the CR is the current top priority, there are several other items waiting in the wings, too.

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There’s a package of over 70 nominees Republicans want to ram through, the long-awaited Russia sanctions package, a crypto market structure package that, for now, appears doomed, and the final confirmation vote for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“I think we have a bunch of stuff we have to finish and we’ll just stay until we finish it,” Thune said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s game plan for government-run grocery stores faced criticism Monday after a city official told reporters a “library-card-esque system” may be employed to prevent abuse of the 30% discounted markets.

Mamdani took a question from a reporter who asked about preventing bulk purchases of groceries at the artificial discount from being re-sold at MSRP or higher.

The mayor responded that the government grocery Request-for-Proposal makes clear “this is a program for New Yorkers to be able to put food on the table, not a program for people to be able to make a quick buck through reselling. I’m going to pass it over to our EDC head, Jeanny Pak, to add some additional details.”

MAMDANI’S CITY GROCERY PLAN COULD LEAVE TAXPAYERS PAYING FOR EVERY BANANA

It was Pak’s follow-up that raised eyebrows, given Mamdani and many Democrats’ staunch opposition to voter ID and Republicans’ SAVE America Act moving through Congress.

“[W]e are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers, whether it be a sort of a library card-esque thing, and also we manage who’s buying and that is focused on everyday New Yorkers,” Pak said.

“So, we are mindful of that, and so we’re going to make sure that we have all the things in place to ensure that that does not happen.”

SEN MARK WARNER CALLED OUT IN ABC INTERVIEW FOR INACCURATE VOTER ID CLAIMS

When asked about the apparent divergence between Pak’s response referencing a possible ID card-type system and opposition to voter ID, a Mamdani spokesperson said it was an apples-to-oranges contrast.

“Comparisons to voter ID laws or the SAVE Act simply do not apply. This is not an identification system, nor is it a mechanism to verify who someone is, where they live, or how much they earn,” Mamdani’s spokesperson said.

“It is a practical inventory management tool to ensure affordable groceries remain available for the people who need them instead of being cleared off shelves for resale.”

EXPERTS SCORCH MAMDANI’S GROCERY PLAN AS AN ‘ILLUSION’ THAT WILL HAVE TAXPAYERS FOOTING THE BILL

The spokesperson pointed to the mayor’s comments specifically regarding bulk-buying concerns, saying that was the premise of the reporter’s question — not whether people from Pennsylvania, New Jersey or upstate New York would be able to shop at the subsidized outlets.

“To be absolutely clear: NYC Grocery stores will be open to everyone,” the spokesperson said.

“There will be no system to verify identity, residency, or income, and no one will be asked to show ID to shop.”

Instead of an “ID,” the spokesperson said the stores may employ a “customer card” similar to loyalty programs at other grocers like ShopRite, Food Lion or Weis.

The “customer card” would be designed by the “private operator” of the city-run store to “help manage supply and prevent people from buying large quantities of discounted staples for resale” and is strictly intended to “make sure the savings reach families putting food on the table.”

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Customers will not need to apply through City Hall or any agency, the spokesperson added.

Critics were unconvinced.

“ID for government cheese,” said Philadelphia radio host Rich Zeoli.

“After all, we have to make sure no one crosses the border and if they do, the police will be called. So it’s good to see Mamdani now supports ID (just not for voting), border control, and law enforcement,” Zeoli tweeted.

Former Texas congressional candidate Nick Plumb commented on X that “Mamdani wants to protect taxpayer funded grocery store[s] from non-NYC residents they’ll need an ID card to enter. You can[t] make this up.”

Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a supporter of voter ID who also opposed the Old Dominion’s recent failed attempt to redraw congressional lines to Democrats’ advantage, also criticized the mayor.

“So let me get this straight: Taxpayer-funded grocery store? Better show a valid ID or you can’t buy milk,” Miyares said.

“Voting for the people who decide how those taxes get spent? A valid ID is somehow ‘racist’ and ‘oppressive’. Unbelievable,” he said.

When asked whether the mayor’s office believed the loyalty card system constituted a form of identification, a Mamdani spokesperson directed Fox News Digital to a paragraph in the Request for Proposal (RFP) that prospective store operators must follow:

“The Operator(s) will create a voluntary free-to-access membership card program to monitor sales activity, and implement the discount program and any associated demand management measures. The savings card shall not be required for physical access to N.Y.C. Groceries site(s) and shall be made easily available to any individual requesting one,” the section read.

“Make it make sense,” added FOX News host Sean Hannity.

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New York Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney added: “So ID for government grocery stores to stop people abusing the system is fine, but requiring ID to vote not? Got it.”

SAVE Act supporter Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., added on X that the hypocrisy must “stop.”

“Democrats: Are fighting to ensure you don’t have to show an ID before voting in our elections. Also Democrats: Want you to show an ID before entering a supermarket.”

“Oh, the irony is too much,” said X CEO Elon Musk.