NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: China is expanding a network of space facilities across Latin America that could strengthen Beijing’s military surveillance and war-fighting capabilities in the Western Hemisphere, according to a new report. 

A new report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party identifies at least 11 PRC-linked ground stations, radio telescopes and satellite ranging sites in Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile and Brazil — installations the panel says may have dual-use military applications.

The report calls on the Trump administration to “halt the expansion” of Chinese space infrastructure in the region and “ultimately seek to roll back and eliminate” PRC space capabilities in the hemisphere that threaten U.S. interests.

According to the findings, the analysis relies on open-source reporting, satellite imagery and Chinese planning documents that elevate space cooperation as a pillar of Beijing’s relations with Latin America. Lawmakers argue China’s military-civil fusion strategy makes it difficult to separate academic or commercial space cooperation from potential military applications.

“Beijing uses space infrastructure in Latin America to collect adversary intelligence and strengthen the PLA’s future warfighting capabilities,” the report states.

Lawmakers also raised concerns about oversight at certain sites, noting that in at least one case host-nation inspection rights appear limited. The report emphasizes that “host nations retain both the right and responsibility to verify that facilities advertised as civilian are not being used for military or intelligence purposes inconsistent with their national laws.”

One of the most closely watched sites is a Chinese-operated deep space station in Argentina’s Neuquén province, established under a 50-year lease agreement signed in 2015. The facility, which includes a 35-meter antenna used for satellite tracking and deep space missions, has been described by Beijing as a civilian research installation supporting lunar and space exploration programs.

US RAID IN VENEZUELA SIGNALS DETERRENCE TO ADVERSARIES ON THREE FRONTS, EXPERTS SAY

However, the House report notes that the station is operated by an entity linked to China’s satellite launch and tracking network and raises concerns about transparency and oversight. In previous reporting, questions have surfaced about the extent to which Argentine officials have inspection access to the site, fueling debate over sovereignty and foreign control of strategic infrastructure.

The Argentina embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Lawmakers argue that facilities like the one in Neuquén illustrate the broader concern that ostensibly civilian space cooperation can be integrated into China’s military-civil fusion framework, potentially supporting the People’s Liberation Army’s global space architecture.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the specifics of the committee’s findings but said it “continuously monitors developments that could affect the security environment, including space-related infrastructure and capabilities.” 

A Defense Department spokesperson added that the department remains “attentive to activities that could impact stability, transparency, or the long-term security interests of the United States and our partners in the Western Hemisphere.”

The Department of War’s 2025 annual report to Congress on China’s military developments similarly notes that Beijing “has the largest space infrastructure footprint outside of mainland China in Latin America and the Caribbean,” and assesses that expanding its regional space presence “almost certainly provides China with enhanced space domain surveillance capabilities, including against U.S. military space assets, throughout the hemisphere.” 

The same report states that China’s growing space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities have “dramatically increased its ability to monitor, track, and target U.S. and allied forces both terrestrially and on orbit.” 

The House panel also points to Chile, where a proposed expansion of a Chinese space-related project was put on hold following engagement from the Trump administration, according to sources familiar with the project. Lawmakers view the pause as evidence that diplomatic pressure can influence host governments weighing cooperation with Beijing.

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The report further urges federal agencies to review existing cooperation agreements in the region. Lawmakers recommend that NASA examine any partnerships with countries hosting Chinese-operated space facilities to ensure compliance with the Wolf Amendment, a federal law that restricts bilateral space cooperation with China and Chinese-owned entities.

The panel argues that even multilateral arrangements could warrant scrutiny if they indirectly benefit PRC-linked infrastructure and calls on Congress to clarify that such agreements should not be structured in a way that circumvents existing prohibitions.

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FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican is moving to advance one of President Donald Trump’s key State of the Union requests but says he doesn’t expect Senate Democrats to support it.

“The Dems are not acting rationally these days,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “And, of course, anything that they think is something that Trump would support or likes they sort of reflexively oppose.”

Cornyn plans to introduce legislation that would bar illegal immigrants from obtaining commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) — a move Trump directly called for during his address Tuesday night, which received little reaction from congressional Democrats.

The bill is named Dalilah’s Law after Dalilah Coleman, a young girl who suffered life-altering injuries in a 2024 crash in California allegedly caused by Partap Singh, an illegal immigrant from India who was driving a tractor-trailer.

Trump addressed the incident during his State of the Union speech and argued that “many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location.”

“That’s why tonight, I’m calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens,” Trump said.

SOME STATES HAVE LET UNQUALIFIED FOREIGN DRIVERS ON THE ROAD AND AMERICANS PAY THE PRICE

Like most legislation in the Senate, it would need Democratic support to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Cornyn said he hoped, but did not expect, any Democrats to cross the aisle to back it.

“I mean, in a normal world, this would not be controversial,” Cornyn said. “But like the president said last night, ‘Those people are crazy.’”

That could be because the legislation would primarily affect blue states, such as California, whose commercial licensing standards have come under scrutiny from the Trump administration.

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Cornyn’s bill would require states to verify applicants through E-Verify before issuing a CDL. It would also penalize noncompliant states by making them ineligible for certain federal transportation grants and would create a federal felony offense for an illegal immigrant who travels in interstate or foreign commerce using a CDL.

The lawmaker described the legislation as building on Trump’s broader immigration agenda, particularly by removing what he views as an incentive for immigrants to enter the country illegally.

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He noted that U.S. Border Patrol officials often discuss immigration in terms of push and pull factors. A push factor for illegal immigration includes people leaving their home countries because of poverty or “wanting a better life,” Cornyn said.

“You know, we all understand that,” Cornyn said. “But they talk about the pull factors, or the things that we do here that make it more likely that people will come to the country illegally, and this would be one of them.”

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President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing for the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to nix temporary protected status for Syrians.

“This application marks the third time that the government has been compelled to seek a stay from this Court after lower Courts have baselessly blocked the Secretary of Homeland Security’s determinations regarding Temporary Protected Status (TPS) just before they took effect,” the filing declares.

“The lower courts’ arrogation of core Executive Branch prerogatives irreparably harms the government, and respondents’ alleged harms were inherent in the temporary nature of the program that Congress designed.”

This is a breaking news article and will be updated.

Georgia Republicans are introducing a bill to hold sanctuary jurisdictions financially accountable for damage and crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

Nearly two years since nursing student Laken Riley was killed by an illegal immigrant at the University of Georgia, Republican state Rep. Houston Gaines said the bill would help hold local governments’ “feet to the fire” when they refuse to enforce the law.

“You’ve seen these issues all across the country, in Minneapolis, certainly in Los Angeles … where you have really liberal local governments that just simply aren’t enforcing the law, and so we’re going to put an end to it here in Georgia,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Gaines, who is running for Congress represents the district where Riley was killed, is one of six Republicans co-sponsoring the bill. The state already bans sanctuary policies at the local level. If passed, the measure would allow citizens to help crack down on jurisdictions attempting to subvert Georgia’s ban by enabling property and business owners to seek financial compensation from local governments for damages caused by sanctuary-style immigration policies.

Under the bill, property owners and leaseholders can claim compensation from jurisdictions that adopt a “policy, pattern, or practice” of failing to comply with state immigration enforcement laws, declining to enforce laws against activities such as illegal public camping or shoplifting, or allowing a public nuisance that harms the property.

Gaines said that while Georgia does not come immediately to mind when thinking of sanctuary jurisdictions, cities such as Atlanta and Athens, where Riley was killed, have previously been lax in enforcement.

“Georgia is a red state, but we do have blue jurisdictions,” he explained. “I get calls all the time in Athens of a business or a family who’s woken up to someone in their front yard or at a business where they’ve had someone break in overnight. There’s all sorts of issues where these liberal local governments frankly just aren’t doing their job and not enforcing the law.”

“What we’re doing here is making sure that people across the state know that if your local government is not doing their job, it’s time for the state to step up and make sure they do it, and the way to do that is hit them in the pocketbook.”

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Georgia is not the first state to make such a move. In 2024, Arizona voters approved a proposition to let property owners apply for property tax refunds if their local city, town, or county fails to enforce certain public nuisance laws and the owner incurs documented expenses as a result. The Georgia bill, however, would allow citizens to file directly for reimbursement through lawsuits.

Gaines said the intent of the bill is to serve as a deterrent for liberal jurisdictions considering not enforcing the law.

“Our whole goal here is not for all these refunds to occur, it’s just for local governments to enforce the existing law on the books,” he said. “If a local jurisdiction is getting complaints, they simply clean it up and fix what they’re doing wrong so that you don’t see repeated complaints.”

GRIEVING ILLINOIS FATHER CONDEMNS SANCTUARY ‘CHAOS,’ PLEADS FOR ‘COMMON SENSE’ AFTER DAUGHTER’S DEATH

Gaines said that he believes his bill could serve as a model for other states.

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“I would encourage other states to do this because it is something that I believe will work and will hold local governments accountable if they’re failing to enforce their own laws and putting their own citizens in dangerous situations … that’s what we’re trying to avoid with this legislation.”

Gaines is running to replace Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who is running for U.S. Senate. 

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio held back his judgment when addressing the shootout between Cuba’s coast guard and a U.S.-registered speedboat. The secretary called the situation “highly unusual” and emphasized the need for the U.S. to evaluate the facts of the incident before giving its response.

While speaking with reporters in Saint Kitt on Wednesday, Rubio said the U.S. was “going to have our own information” on the incident, and it would be evaluated to determine what occurred. He also said, “There are a number of things that could have happened,” but refused to speculate on various scenarios.

“Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in the open sea like that. It’s not something that happens every day. It’s something, frankly, that hasn’t happened with Cuba in a very long time. But we’re going to find out,” Rubio said. “We’re not going to base our conclusions on what they’ve told us. And I’m very, very confident that we will know the full story of what happened here, and we will know it soon. And then, you know, we’ll respond appropriately based on what that information tells us.”

One reporter asked about the possible consequences for Cuba if those on the boat were Americans, but Rubio would not give an answer, saying there was more analysis of the facts that had to be done.

Vice President JD Vance confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that Rubio had briefed him on the situation. Similarly to Rubio, Vance said several details remained unknown and the U.S was closely monitoring the situation.

“Hopefully it’s not as bad as we fear it could be, but I can’t say more because I just don’t know more,” Vance said.

On Wednesday, Cuba’s Interior Ministry said the country’s coast guard shot four dead and left six others wounded in a shootout with a U.S.-registered speedboat. The ministry also said the speedboat was carrying 10 “armed individuals who, according to preliminary statements from the detainees, intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes.”

AS TRUMP URGES DEAL, CUBAN PRESIDENT WARNS THAT THE COUNTRY WILL DEFEND ITSELF ‘TO THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD’

The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. said in a statement that the speedboat crew fired on the Cuban personnel who boarded the vessel. It added that the commander of the Cuban watercraft was injured in the shootout.

“In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region,” the embassy’s statement on X read.

The embassy added that “investigations by the competent authorities continue in order to fully clarify the events.”

Cuba’s Interior Ministry said personnel found “assault rifles, handguns, handcrafted explosive devices (Molotov cocktails), bulletproof vests, telescopic lookers and camouflage uniforms” aboard the vessel.

Seven of the men involved have been identified, the ministry said, including: Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra. Additionally, among the deceased was Michel Ortega Casanova.

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The ministry said it is working to confirm the identities of three others. It also claimed that those aboard the speedboat were Cubans living in the U.S. and that many had “a known history of criminal and violent activity.”

According to data retrieved by Fox News Digital, the vessel, registered in Florida with number FL7726SH, is a 24-foot Pro-Line boat.

A source told Fox News that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement contacted the Miami-based owner, who confirmed the vessel had been docked at a marina in the Florida Keys. After being notified by authorities, the owner — who is not considered a suspect — reported the boat stolen.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey contributed to this report.

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Oman’s foreign minister met Thursday in Geneva with President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as efforts intensify to reach a new agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

The minister, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, said the talks focused on Tehran’s proposals and perspectives, as well as questions and responses from the U.S. negotiating team regarding key aspects of Iran’s nuclear program and the guarantees required for a potential agreement.

“His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs clarified that the efforts are continuing intensively and in a constructive spirit, under the negotiators’ unprecedented openness to new and creative ideas and solutions, while preparing the supportive conditions for progress and reaching a fair agreement with sustainable guarantees,” the ministry said in a post on X.

The closely watched meeting comes amid heightened regional tensions and a visible U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, including the repositioning of naval assets and additional air defense capabilities.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and multiple guided-missile destroyers are operating in the Arabian Sea, as well as additional destroyers stationed in the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

Several combat ships are also positioned in the Persian Gulf near Iran’s southern coastline.

IRAN ANNOUNCES TEST OF NEW NAVAL AIR DEFENSE MISSILE IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS US MILITARY BUILDUP CONTINUES 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that while Trump prefers a diplomatic solution, Washington views Iran as a “grave threat” and remains deeply concerned about both its nuclear ambitions and expanding missile arsenal.

He said the talks in Geneva would be “largely focused on the nuclear program” but warned that Tehran’s refusal to discuss its ballistic missiles poses a major obstacle.

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“Iran possesses a very large number of ballistic missiles, particularly short-range ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our bases in the region and our partners in the region, and all of our bases in the UAE, in Qatar, in Bahrain,” he explained. “I want everybody to understand that, and beyond just the nuclear program, they possess these conventional weapons that are solely designed to attack America and attack Americans, if they so choose to do so. These things have to be addressed.”

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Polling data tracking voters’ real-time reactions to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, showed Independents and Republicans were highly motivated when the president urged members of Congress to pass restrictions on congressional stock trading, but Democrats appeared less enthused.

This moment in Trump’s address was one of the few moments during the speech when Democrats inside the House chamber, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., offered standing applause.

“They stood up for that, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it,” Trump quipped after calling for an end to congressional stock trading. “Think Nancy Pelosi would stand up if she was here? Doubt it. Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.” the president continued to a roaring applause. During one moment, a camera panned over to Warren who could be seen standing and clapping. 

The dial test administered by Lee Carter, the president of Maslansky & Partners, showed that after Trump said the Stop Insider Trading Act must be passed “without delay” that Democrats remained largely stagnant, but Republicans and Independents reacted far more positively. 

As the crowd inside the House chamber Tuesday night continued to applaud following Trump’s remark that a law on congressional stock trading restrictions should be passed immediately, the Democrats’ dial returned to baseline. It had taken a turn downwards after Trump took a jab at Pelosi over the matter. She has long been the brunt of criticism over the success of her stock portfolio and the manner in which certain trades have lined up with matters in front of lawmakers.

The group of voters monitored during the president’s speech Tuesday night, included 29 Democrats, 41 Republicans and 30 Independents.

Warren and other Democrats could be seen giving a standing ovation to the president’s urgency around adding stricter restrictions to congressional stock trading. Warren was also reportedly seen standing after Trump insisted Iran cannot be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. 

When asked to respond to Trump’s jab at her Tuesday night, Pelosi told Trump to “look at your own self.”

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“The inference he wants to draw is there was something wrong with that, which there wasn’t, and if there was, people get prosecuted for it. For a long time now we’ve been trying to pass this law. It doesn’t have — now it has more support than it had before, and —” Pelosi said before being cut off by CNN’s Kasie Hunt, who pointed out Warren stood up to applaud Trump’s urging to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act.

“Well, we all did. I did too,” the former House speaker shot back. “He said, ‘Did Nancy stand up?’ Yeah, I did too. A lot of people stood up, a lot of Democrats stood up.”

The Stop Insider Trading Act would go beyond the current rules members of Congress must follow when trading on the stock market, ushered in by the 2012 STOCK Act. Since 2012, lawmakers have attempted to implement tighter federal restrictions to no avail.

While Trump’s urging to get the latest restrictions passed was one of the rare moments that Democrats appeared to applaud the president during his SOTU speech, left-wing nonprofit groups have simultaneously argued that the Stop Insider Trading Act does not actually go far enough to stop insider trading.  

“Passing SITA would hide insider trading instead of stopping it, leading to the same concerns we see today,” said a statement earlier this month from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). “The only path forward that can rejuvenate the American people’s faith in Congress is serious reform though meaningful bipartisan cooperation.”

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CREW points to a bill it believes would do a better job at reining in insider trading among lawmakers called the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which “effectively bans members of Congress from buying, selling and owning stocks and their equivalents and ends the conflicts of interest that have plagued Congress for far too long,” according to CREW.

“Abandoning viable, bipartisan legislation in favor of partisanship and ineffectual half measures would be a political and ethical failure that would further erode Americans’ trust in government,” CREW insisted. 

Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has endorsed Texas state Rep. Steve Toth, who is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw in the Lone Star State’s 2nd Congressional District Republican primary.

“I am proud to endorse @SteveTothTX for Congress in Texas’s 2nd Congressional District. Steve faithfully served the people of Texas in the Texas House of Representatives, championing our Texas values of liberty, limited government, and constitutional governance,” Cruz said in a post on X.

“Steve is an unwavering fighter for school choice, fiscal responsibility, and the next generation of Americans. Washington needs bold leadership and representatives who will stand up for Texans at every turn,” Cruz continued.

“Steve has the experience, the courage, and the conviction to do just that. I’m honored to support his campaign and urge voters in Texas’s 2nd Congressional District to join me in electing Steve Toth to Congress,” he added.

While President Donald Trump has not made an endorsement in the race, he previously backed Toth for Texas state House in 2022 and 2024.

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“State Representative Steve Toth is doing a fantastic job representing Texas State House District 15. A Small Business Owner and an Ordained Minister, Steve is fighting tirelessly to Secure our Elections, Grow the Economy, Eliminate Needless Regulations, Strengthen the Border, Support our Great Military/Veterans, and Protect and Defend our under siege Second Amendment. Steve Toth has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump wrote in a 2024 Truth Social post.

The last day of early voting for Texas’ March 3 primary contests is Friday, according to the Texas Secretary of State website.

CRUZ WARNED MEXICO OFFICIALS ‘PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS GOING TO’ ACT IF THEY DIDN’T FIGHT CARTELS

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Crenshaw has served in Congress since early 2019.

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Republican and Independent voters reacted favorably when President Donald Trump brought up how his administration has cracked down on drug cartels and fentanyl, but Democrats appeared less motivated by Trump’s aggressive foreign policy stance. 

“For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That’s why I designated these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and I declared illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction,” Trump said to applause as he turned to look at Republicans. 

Per a panel assembled by polling group Maslansky & Partners of 29 Democrats, 30 Independents, and 40 Republicans, which tracked their real-time reactions during Trump’s SOTU address, Democrats appeared to go slightly below baseline when Trump began touting his aggressive stance towards cartels in Central and South America, specifically his administration’s bombing campaign against them which has included attacks in the open ocean off the South American coastline and in the eastern Pacific.

Meanwhile, Republicans and Independents showed a much stronger favorable reaction to the president’s remarks about the actions his administration has taken against drug cartels and illegal fentanyl. 

During his address, Trump also highlighted the U.S.’s help in capturing drug kingpin “El Mencho” earlier this month in Mexico. Ruben “Nemesio” Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the CJNG, was killed Sunday in a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, Mexico, authorities said. Though the operation was carried out by Mexican forces, the United States laid the groundwork, making El Mencho’s fall possible.

On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order directing the State Department to designate several cartels and international criminal groups “foreign terrorist organizations” (FTOs), a designation unlocking military-grade surveillance and “material support” prosecutions. Though lesser known than MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, CJNG was one of the groups designated an FTO by the administration.

Shortly after Trump’s executive order, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a policy memorandum to all Department of Justice employees, announcing a “fundamental change in mindset and approach” to cartels and transnational criminal organizations to a policy of “total elimination.”

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The Trump administration has engaged in an aggressive bombing campaign against cartel boats throughout both 2025 and 2026. The U.S. has also conducted non-lethal maritime drug interdiction efforts as well.

In early 2026, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro was captured by U.S. forces and extradited to New York on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges, with Trump accusing him at the time of being a “kingpin of a vast criminal network.”

The recent violence and capture of El Mencho this month has led American tourists to be trapped in Mexico. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the State Department has been taking “hundreds of calls a day” providing Americans with travel support and advice.

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“We are unaware of any reports of any Americans being hurt, kidnapped, or killed, and the Mexican drug cartels know not to lay a finger on a single American or they will pay severe consequences under this president – and they already are,” Leavitt told Fox News. 

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

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An official with the Department of Homeland Security told state election officials Wednesday that federal immigration agents will not be stationed at polling locations during the November midterm elections, as some Democrats have warned the Trump administration could attempt to interfere in the elections through intimidation or racial profiling.

Heather Honey, DHS’ deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, told secretaries of state on a call that “any suggestion that ICE will be present at any polling location is simply not true,” according to Arizona’s Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

A spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, also a Democrat, said Honey likewise assured officials that immigration agents would not be stationed at polling locations. Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, also posted on X that DHS “confirms to Secretaries of State that ICE agents will not be at voting locations this year.”

Honey, who has previously endorsed claims that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election against former President Joe Biden, participated in the call, which also included representatives of the FBI, US Election Assistance Commission, Postal Service and other federal agencies to discuss coordination ahead of the midterms.

Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS for comment.

This comes as several Democrats have expressed concern that immigration agents may be placed at polling locations to intimidate Americans who fear they could be racially profiled and targeted if they show up to vote.

“I’m talking about something that I think would be extraordinary in American history, which is uniformed and masked ICE agents encircling polling places,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said at a recent congressional hearing. “And it’s not fantasy, and it’s not made up. We need to be clear-eyed about that. These are things that the president and his cabinet have suggested.”

The Department of Justice has been filing lawsuits seeking detailed voter data, though the department has not publicly detailed its specific rationale for each request.

Trump has also renewed his claims that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, claims that have been widely disputed and rejected by courts, and has called on administration officials to investigate that election.

Earlier this month, the FBI executed a search warrant at an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing ballots and other voting records from 2020, according to local officials. A Democratic stronghold, Fulton County includes Atlanta. The Peach State went to Biden in 2020, but Trump carried the state in 2024.

Democratic officials and public interest lawyers across the country have been concerned for months about the possibility of Trump’s interference in the midterms voting and ballot counting.

Democrats have pointed out that Trump was willing to attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss, pardoned those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and has filled his administration with allies who backed his attempts to overturn the election defeat.

The U.S. Constitution affirms that states run elections, not federal officials. Most states have their Secretary of State oversee elections.

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Participants on the call said Democrat secretaries of state asked Honey several questions about the administration’s cuts to election security funding and its efforts to root out noncitizen voting, which is already illegal and rare, as well as concerns about federal law enforcement officers appearing at polling places.

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The White House has dismissed those concerns, saying there was no disruption during last year’s election when Democrats performed well.

During a congressional hearing earlier this month, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott both said they were not involved in any efforts to patrol voting places.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Democrats were mocked on social media Tuesday night and Wednesday after multiple clips from their State of the Union boycott rally went viral, including when a Trump supporter crashed a speech by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

The People’s State of the Union, which is what the Democrats called their boycott rally, included several Democratic lawmakers like Murphy; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.; Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; and others.

“Go, Trump!” the protester said while throwing up the peace sign in front of Murphy, who was on the stage at the time and watched as security pulled the man away from the podium.

“Hey Murphy, you’re a scumbag,” the protester said.

“Thanks, buddy,” Murphy replied.

Audiences online immediately began mocking the incident and hailing the Trump supporter as an American “patriot.”

“A patriot CRASHED the Democrats’ little counter-State of the Union out in front of the Capitol, making his way on stage. Tonight was just a MASSIVE, all-around failure for Democrats,” one commentator said in a post to social media. 

While the group struggled to attract supporters, Democratic lawmakers flocked to the event as a reason to skip President Donald Trump’s address Tuesday.

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Over 20 Democrats from both chambers of Congress attended the event, including senators Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Merkley.; Murphy; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; and Tina Smith, D-Minn.

From the House of Representatives, members who joined included Reps. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz.; Becca Balint, D-Vt.; Greg Casar, D-Texas; Veronica Escobar, D-Texas; Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; John Larson, D-Conn.; Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif.; Delia Ramirez, D-Ill.; Sara Jacobs, D-Calif.; Emily Randall, D-Wash.; and Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J.

These Democrats framed the event as a way to address the country’s state in their own words.

“I am not at the State of the Union speech tonight because Donald Trump is making a mockery of this institution, and he doesn’t deserve an audience,” Murphy said.

“I am not at the State of the Union speech tonight because these are not normal times, and Democrats have to stop behaving normally.”

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Viewers online, however, mocked the effort as little more than a partisan tantrum.

“COURIER, the fake news organization led by Sen. Chris Murphy’s girlfriend, held a SOTU counterprogramming event w/ Miles Taylor’s group Defiance,” Chuck Ross, a senior investigative reporter at The Washington Free Beacon, wrote on X. 

“One speaker posed as ‘K-K-Karoline Leavitt.’ which is a pretty bizarre and lazy dig.”

“I felt like crying tonight, so I turned on the ‘People’s State of the Union,’” a GOP communications director wrote in a X post.

“A patriot just crashed the stage at Chris Murphy’s protest outside the State of the Union,” conservative influencer CJ Pearson wrote on X.

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After the Trump supporter was escorted off the stage, former MSNBC host Joy Reid said, “Attention MAGA trolls, your bulls— is not welcome here.”

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

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The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that the backlog of VA disability compensation and pension benefit claims is “consistently” under 100,000 for the first time since 2020.

The last time the backlog was this low was in May 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.

“Under President Trump, VA is providing Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors all of the benefits they have earned as quickly and conveniently as possible,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said in a news release.

This milestone means the department has now slashed the backlog of veterans waiting for VA benefits by 63% since Trump returned to office in January 2025 after it rose 24% under the Biden administration, according to the release.

The department said that reducing the claims backlog has been an urgent priority for Collins.

The claims backlog was well above 100,000 from 2021 to 2024 during the Biden administration and was at 264,717 when Trump returned to office. During Trump’s first administration, the department reached the lowest disability claims backlog on Dec. 21, 2019, when it was at 64,783 claims.

A VA claim for compensation or pension is considered backlogged once it has been pending in the claims inventory for more than 125 days, the department said.

VA TO RESTORE EDUCATION BENEFITS ELIGIBILITY TO VETERANS OUSTED UNDER BIDEN-ERA COVID VACCINE MANDATE

In 2013, a record-high 70% of claims were more than 125 days old. Today, that figure has dropped to just 17%, according to the department.

“VA’s claims processing productivity is the highest it has ever been, and we look forward to continuing to provide record levels of service to Veterans and VA beneficiaries,” Collins said in the release.

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The department said this is one of several nationwide achievements during Trump’s second term, which also include opening more than 30 new VA health care facilities, expanding veterans’ access to health care, and permanently housing more than 50,000 homeless veterans in fiscal year 2025 — the highest total in seven years.

“We’re not just talking about the American Dream; we’re making it more accessible for the heroes who defended it,” Collins wrote on X.

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The FBI subpoenaed Kash Patel and Susie Wiles’ phone records in 2022 and 2023, when both were private citizens, as part of a federal probe into then former President Donald Trump, Fox News has confirmed.

Patel is the current FBI director, and Wiles is White House chief of staff.

At least 10 FBI employees were also fired Wednesday, Fox News was told. Names were not given due to privacy reasons, with the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) later criticizing the firings.

“The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI Special Agents, which—like other firings by Director Patel—violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,” the organization said in a statement.

“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.”

Reuters first disclosed the subpoenas, which were issued during the Biden administration, while special counsel Jack Smith was investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Smith ended up charging Trump in 2023 with multiple felony offenses related to alleged efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of the documents after he left office.

A federal judge later dismissed the election interference case after Smith moved to drop it following Trump’s re-election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. 

Smith also dropped the Justice Department’s appeal of a separate ruling that dismissed the classified documents case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both matters.

TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM JACK SMITH’S TESTIMONY ON CAPITOL HILL

In a statement to Fox News Wednesday, Patel called the move to seize the phone records “outrageous and deeply alarming.” 

“It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,” he said.

The FBI had found the phone records in files labeled as “Prohibited,” Reuters reported.

Patel also said he recently ended the FBI’s ability to categorize files as “Prohibited.”

Fox News also learned from two FBI officials that in 2023, FBI agents recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS RELEASE OF JACK SMITH REPORT’S SECOND VOLUME

According to those officials, Wiles’ attorney was aware the call was being recorded and consented, but Wiles was not informed.

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Smith testified last year that records of members’ calls helped investigators verify the timeline of events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

He said prosecutors “followed all legal requirements in getting those records” and told a House panel the records obtained from lawmakers did not include the content of conversations, Reuters reported.

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Legal experts and commentators toed a careful line Wednesday in responding to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, with many using the moment to weigh in on the broader legal and political climate itself, rather than Trump’s actual remarks.

Some of the biggest moments of Trump’s address included his response to the Supreme Court’s 6–3 ruling that invalidated his use of a 1977 emergency law to impose tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, as well as his administration’s crackdown on violent crime in major U.S. cities, among other things.

“This is the golden age of America,” Trump proclaimed Tuesday night. “And you’ve seen nothing yet. We’re going to do better, and better, and better.” 

Trump struck a notably measured tone in responding to the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling during the State of the Union, briefly describing the 6–3 majority decision as “unfortunate” before pivoting to highlight the 10% import fees his administration had announced shortly after the high court’s ruling under Section 122 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.

“Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said of the tariffs, which he previously described as “life or death” for the nation’s economy. 

“The good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made” with the U.S., Trump said Tuesday night, “knowing that the legal power that I as president have to make a new deal could be far worse for them.” 

“Therefore, they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement,” he added. 

Four of the nine Supreme Court justices present for the State of the Union, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who had ruled against Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to unilaterally enact his tariffs. 

Trump’s comments marked a shift from his more abrasive tone in the immediate aftermath of the tariff decision, when he said the high court was “incompetent” and that the majority should be “absolutely ashamed” of themselves “for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”

TRUMP TAKES DIRECT SOTU SWIPE AT DEMOCRATS OVER TAXES: ‘TO HURT THE PEOPLE’

Trump’s remarks during the State of the Union were a nod to his new tariffs he invoked under Section 122, or a statute that allows a sitting president to impose sweeping tariffs for up to 150 days in response to either large or serious U.S. “balance-of-payments deficits,” or in response to situations that pose “fundamental international payments problems” for the U.S. Congress can extend them once the 150-day period ends. 

But some experts have questioned the legality of using Section 122 to invoke the broad global tariffs — signaling what could be more legal challenges to come. 

Gita Gopinath, Harvard economics professor and former senior International Monetary Fund official, noted on social media: “As long as there is plenty of demand for US debt and equities, which is the case, the US does not have a ‘payments’ problem. It can finance its trade deficits easily.” 

“The first thing to note is that the statute does not apply to the current US international payments position,” the Peterson Institute’s Kimberly Clausing and Maurice Obstfeld said Monday. “Indeed, the president’s own lawyers argued in the IEEPA case that Section 122 was no substitute for IEEPA, since balance of payment deficits are conceptually distinct from the current account and trade deficits that Trump has characterized as an emergency.” 

Separately, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed that his caucus would not approve Trump’s bid to extend tariffs beyond the 150-day period. 

“We will not extend those tariffs,” Schumer declared, urging Republicans to join Democrats in blocking them.

Schumer linked the tariffs to higher costs of groceries, cars, and homes. 

“Americans are suffering, because (Trump) is raising tariffs,” Schumer said. 

Trump also used his remarks to tout the significant drop-off in violent crime during his first year back in the White House, reiterating his administration’s claim that the U.S. murder rate dropped to its lowest point in 125 years in 2025. 

FROM GRIEF TO GOLD MEDALS, TRUMP’S SOTU GUEST LIST TELLS A BIGGER STORY

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously pointed Fox News Digital and other outlets to recent data from the Council on Criminal Justice that she said shows that Trump is “delivering overwhelmingly on his promise” to restore law and order in the U.S.

“A study from the Council on Criminal Justice shows that the murder rate across America’s largest cities plummeted in 2025 to its lowest level since at least 1900,” Leavitt told reporters. “Let me repeat to put this in perspective, this marks the largest single-year drop in murders in recorded history.” 

Nationwide homicide data released later in 2026 could show killings in 2025 falling to roughly 4.0 per 100,000 residents – the lowest rate ever recorded in law enforcement or public health data dating back to 1900 and the largest single-year percentage drop on record.

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Reactions to the speech — and Trump’s policies — vary, but the president did win some praise from across the aisle.

“As a voter, I may not like him. I may find his long form exhausting. But when he speaks, he never wavers from American exceptionalism,” Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist with a background in speechwriting, told Fox News Digital.

“I see someone protecting our cities against those he deems a threat to democracy, revving up the economy, managing global partners, and defeating terrorism.

Fox News Digital’s Charlie Creitz, Emma Colton and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.

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Symone Sanders, who formerly served as a top advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris and the 2020 Biden campaign, complained during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night that the Olympic gold-winning U.S. men’s hockey team “allowed themselves to be used as political props.”

“They should not be used as political props though, and, frankly, allowed themselves to be used as political props,” Sanders, who is co-hosting a weeknight show on MS NOW, said after the president introduced the team during his address. He later gave the nation’s highest civilian honor to the team’s goalie. 

“I think that is going to be the question and the discussion going forward,” she continued. “It is very clear why the president did this. What is unclear, to me, is why the men’s hockey team allowed themselves to be utilized in this particular fashion.”

Sanders went on to claim that “no one is against USA and our Olympic athletes.”

Critics on X slammed the MS NOW host as a “political prop” herself in response to her criticism. Others pointed out that the hockey team’s appearance was one of the only times Democrats stood throughout Trump’s speech.

“Miserable people. Just miserable,” a prominent conservative video producer wrote on X.

“Shut the puck up!” conservative media personality Bo Snerdley posted on X.

“Because Democrats never use people as political props,” Tim Graham, the NewsBusters executive editor, sarcastically wrote on X.

TEAM USA GOALIE JAKE OETTINGER REACTS TO TRUMP’S LOCKER ROOM COMMENTS ABOUT THE WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM

Polling data showed that the president’s introduction of the gold medal-winning USA men’s Olympic hockey team during the State of the Union address on Tuesday night was met with largely positive bipartisan reactions among voters.

Lee Carter of the polling group Maslansky + Partners, said independent voters especially loved the moment when the players entered the House Chamber wearing their gold medals and USA sweatshirts and were met with thunderous “U-S-A” chants.

Trump had invited the team to the State of the Union address Sunday night as it celebrated a 2-1 win over Canada in the finals of the Winter Olympics. While honoring the team during his address, President Trump added he would honor goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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According to the polling group, visual dials showed independent voter reaction had the largest spike during the moment. Dials showed reaction from Republican voters, who were already energized by the speech, also increased, while reaction from Democrat voters, who were overall the least enthused during Trump’s speech, also saw a slight bump.

The polling group said 29 Democrat voters, 41 Republican voters and 30 Independent voters were involved in the voter dials.

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report

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The Trump administration has moved to block the Venezuelan government from covering the legal expenses of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as he fights federal drug trafficking and weapons charges in New York, according to a court filing from his attorney.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty in federal court in New York on Jan. 5 to drug trafficking and weapons charges, days after American forces captured them at the presidential palace in Venezuela.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing the case in the Southern District of New York, Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said the U.S. was preventing the Venezuelan government from covering his client’s legal fees.

“The government of Venezuela has an obligation to pay Mr. Maduro’s fees. Mr. Maduro has a legitimate expectation that the government of Venezuela would do so, and Mr. Maduro cannot otherwise afford counsel,” Pollack wrote.

In the letter, dated Feb. 20, Pollack argued that under “Venezuelan law and custom, the government of Venezuela pays the expenses of the President and First Lady.”

Pollack said that Maduro and the Venezuelan government were subjected to sanctions by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and his legal counsel would need to be granted a license to represent him and be paid.

While Pollack said OFAC granted licenses for both Maduro and Flores on Jan. 9, Maduro’s license was amended “without explanation” to not allow the Venezuelan government to pay for his defense costs.

MADURO ALLY ALEX SAAB ARRESTED IN JOINT US-VENEZUELAN OPERATION, OFFICIAL SAYS

Flores’ license was not impacted, according to Pollack.

Pollack said that OFAC is “interfering with Mr. Maduro’s ability to retain counsel” and violating his Sixth Amendment right to counsel of his choice.

Maduro’s attorney said OFAC has not responded to his request to reinstate the original license and threatened to take legal action if it continued to do so.

RUBIO DEFENDS US ASSAULT ON VENEZUELA, CALLS OUT REPORTER FOR TRYING TO START A FIGHT

“If OFAC fails to act on the request to reinstate the original license, or denies that request, Mr. Maduro will file a formal motion in the coming days seeking relief from the Court,” he wrote.

The U.S. military conducted an operation to capture Maduro in Caracas on Jan. 3. He was flown to New York, where he is being held in a federal jail.

Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

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Flores faces three charges: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Treasury Department for comment.

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Prominent figures from across the media, business and political landscapes showed up as guests to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.

Notable attendees included Erika Kirk, the widowed wife of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, David Ellison, the media mogul and CEO of Paramount, and Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank media personality and businessman.

Several of the more notable attendees were highlighted by Trump during his address.

Kirk received a mention from the president as he condemned political violence of all kinds in his address.

“We must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind,” Trump said.

Charlie Kirk, who was just 31-years-old at the time of his death, was killed by a gunman on Sept. 10, 2025, while conducting a political debate event at Utah Valley University.

The U.S. men’s hockey team also made an appearance on Tuesday, receiving praise from Trump fresh off their gold medal victory in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

TRUMP SHAMES DEMOCRATS IN VIRAL STATE OF THE UNION CHALLENGE ON MIGRANT CRIME: ‘FIRST DUTY’

“Congratulations to team U.S.A.,” Trump said as the players streamed into the chamber during the address.

Trump also highlighted guests brought by others, like First Lady Melania Trump. She invited 10-year-old Everest Nevraumont, a youth advocate for education through artificial intelligence.

“I challenge keeping America’s next generation positioned to succeed and strongly succeed in the future,” Trump said.

Trump also used guests like Enrique Márquez, a former political prisoner of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, to remind audiences of his international achievements under his second administration.

In early 2026, the U.S. stormed Venezuela’s capitol city and captured Maduro, giving Trump newfound leverage in negotiations over the country’s future.

“We’re working closely with the new president of Venezuela to unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries,” Trump said.

The White House reunited Márquez with his family at the State of the Union. 

Trump also awarded the Purple Heart to Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and deceased Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, two National Guard members who were critically injured and fatally shot by a gunman who ambushed them while on duty last year in Washington, D.C.

RO KHANNA’S STATE OF THE UNION GUEST RECRUITED OVER 20 UNDERAGE GIRLS FOR EPSTEIN: ‘LIKE HEIDI FLEISS’

“I’m going to ask a highly respected General James Seward to present Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe and the great family of Sarah Beckstrom, with the award created by our late, great president, George Washington himself,” Trump, who invited her parents as his State of the Union guests, said. “It’s called the Purple Heart. We love you all.”

As Trump spoke, Major General James “Jim” D. Seward, Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard, presented Specialist Beckstrom’s medal to her parents and pinned the Purple Heart on Staff Sergeant Wolfe in the viewing gallery above.

Guests like O’Leary and Ellison did not receive a shoutout from the president, but mingled with multiple lawmakers.

O’Leary, primarily known for his television presence on ABC’s Shark Tank, owns companies like O’Leary Ventures and O’Leary Fine Wines. 

In recent years, O’Leary has surfaced as a political commentator, giving his thoughts on the effectiveness of political party messaging, voter sentiments and more.

LIZ PEEK: AMERICA EXPECTED ONE THING FROM TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION. IT GOT ANOTHER

Ellison is the current chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance Corporation keeps a relatively low political profile but, in the past, has made several high-dollar donations to many Democratic candidates despite now calling himself a friend of President Trump.

Trump has boasted publicly about a personal relationship with Ellison.

Most recently, Ellison has made headlines for his attempt to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery — a move that would solidify Ellison and Paramount as titans in the media world.

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He was seen walking into the House of Representatives on Tuesday alongside Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who invited him.

“Honored to have David Ellison as my guest to POTUS’ State of the Union address this evening,” Graham said in a post to X.

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The crackdown on fraud in Minnesota will serve as a blueprint for a new Department of Justice office focused on protecting taxpayer funds from scams, President Donald Trump‘s pick to serve as the nation’s “fraud czar” explained in his nomination hearing Wednesday. 

“The work in Minnesota has been pivotal. The work of the U.S. Attorney’s office there, and the personnel there, has been pivotal to highlighting the problems of fraud that permeate our taxpayer funded programs,” nominee to serve as assistant attorney general for a new Justice Department division tasked with rooting out fraud, Colin McDonald, said Wednesday. 

“That sort of effort … is what the National Fraud Enforcement Division will be looking to do and scale to an extent that we’ve not seen before within the Department of Justice,” he continued. 

Trump tapped McDonald as the nominee in January, just days after establishing the Department of Justice’s new division for national fraud enforcement that will “investigate, prosecute, and remedy fraud affecting the Federal government,” according to the White House. The new office follows a sweeping Minnesota fraud scandal, where hundreds of millions of dollars was allegedly swindled from taxpayers through welfare and social services programs.

“I will be working with the inspectors general community,” McDonald continued. “With our federal agencies and federal partners, with our state and local partners to ensure that we find the fraud where it’s occurring and that we have the resources to prosecute it, to investigate it and prosecute it, and ultimately ensure that the fraud that we’re seeing annually, perpetrated against these programs comes to an end.”

McDonald appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning, where lawmakers grilled the nominee about the new office, how it will operate and if it will operate independently of the White House. 

Trump delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday evening and announced Vice President JD Vance will lead the administration’s “war on fraud.” 

McDonald explained that his office will work to tackle all fraud bleeding taxpayers, citing Government Accountability Office data that estimates between $320 billion to $520 billion in taxpayer funds is lost to fraud on an annual basis. 

“My commitment is to work tirelessly to build a division, a national fraud enforcement division, where no fraud is too big for the Department of Justice, and no fraud is too small for the Department of Justice,” he continued. 

At the top of lawmakers’ minds were fraud concerns surrounding Obamacare and senior citizens. 

Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn cited that the Government Accountability Office could not reconcile over $21 billion in Obamacare marketplace subsidies in tax year 2023 during his questioning of McDonald. 

HEAVILY-REDACTED AUDIT FINDS MINNESOTA MEDICAID HAD WIDESPREAD VULNERABILITIES

“I commit to working tirelessly to root out the sort of fraud that you’ve identified there, and to make sure that every single dollar that’s supposed to go to these programs actually goes to the programs, to the beneficiaries, the intended beneficiaries of these programs, and not to fraudsters. That is my commitment,” McDonald told Cornyn during the hearing regarding potential fraud surrounding Affordable Care Act subsidies. 

Scams targeting the elderly also took the spotlight throughout the hearing. Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pressed McDonald on his efforts to protect seniors from scams, noting that America’s seniors lose $28 billion annually to financial schemes. 

The fraud czar nominee pledged that the DOJ would work to protect seniors from the increasingly high-tech scams, which often include using artificial intelligence to confuse and swindle people, noting that the fraud affects entire families. 

“It’s not just the grandmothers and the grandfathers, it’s also their family members who bear the weight of these scams and the fraud that’s perpetrated against them,” he said. “My grandmother, one of them, turns 89 years old in two days. And she has seen these … sorts of efforts toward her. And it’s a major issue that the Department of Justice is focused on, and we will be using all available tools to ensure that we combat that problem.”

The massive Minnesota fraud case has reverberated across the nation, with federal Republican lawmakers reinvigorating calls to tighten and monitor the release of taxpayer funds to various programs, most notably social and welfare offices. 

DR OZ DETAILS ‘WEAPONIZATION OF FRAUD’ IN MINNESOTA, ESTIMATES TOTAL MEDICAID FRAUD TO BE $100 BILLION

Trump spotlighted the fraud in his State of the Union address Tuesday, claiming the scams are even worse in states such as California, Massachusetts, Maine.” 

“When it comes to the corruption that is plundering — it really, it’s plundering America — there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. Oh, we have all the information,” Trump said Tuesday. 

“And in actuality, the number is much higher than that, and California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe,” he continued, before naming Vance as the administration leader taking on fraud. 

The White House referred Fox Digital to Trump’s State of the Union comments and McDonald’s testimony when approached for additional comment on the federal fraud crackdown efforts. 

FEDERAL WELFARE SPENDING IS A FRAUD MAGNET — AND TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING THE PRICE

Vance joined Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Wednesday, and said his efforts will include a “full, whole government approach” to investigating fraud concerns, and enlisting the Justice and Treasury Departments to lead probe on fiscal records. 

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“There’s a whole host of tools that we have that have never been used, and the president and I talked about this a couple of months ago and said, ‘What if we just did everything that we could to stop the fraud that’s being committed against the American taxpayer?’ The president said, ‘Great idea, let’s do it,’ and we’re going to work on that very aggressively over the next year,” Vance said. 

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As President Donald Trump vowed to wage a “war on fraud” during his State of the Union address Tuesday, a panel of voters across the political spectrum had mixed reactions.

The panel, assembled by polling group Maslansky & Partners and comprising 29 Democrats, 30 independents and 41 Republicans, gave real-time reactions as Trump spoke. The reactions were displayed on a line graph where high values represented positive reactions and low values indicated negative reactions.

Trump said corruption was “plundering America” and said the most “stunning example” was in Minnesota, where welfare fraud has been a focal point and a child nutrition program scheme, in particular, led to dozens of prosecutions under the Biden administration.

A line graph showed Republican voters were receptive as Trump spoke, while Democratic voters had a negative reaction and independents were neutral.

“Members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” Trump said, an apparent reference to the potential cost of Medicaid fraud in the state since 2018, as revealed by a Minnesota federal prosecutor last year. While it is unclear what links the Somali community has to the Medicaid claim, the vast majority of defendants in the separate $250 million child nutrition program fraud findings were of Somali descent.

Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has said Trump is “demonizing” the Somali community, that Trump’s claims about his state are overstated and a political distraction, and that the president is the “biggest fraudster.”

OMAR SHOUTS ‘YOU ARE A MURDERER’ AND ‘LIAR’ AT TRUMP DURING STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Trump contended during his speech that California, Massachusetts, Maine and “many other states” were “even worse” than Minnesota.

The White House has taken a multi-agency approach to its fraud initiative, giving the Departments of Justice, Treasury, Health and Human Services and others roles in identifying abuse of welfare systems across the country.

“This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe,” Trump said. “So tonight, although it started four months ago, I am officially announcing the war on fraud to be led by our great vice president, JD Vance.”

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Trump claimed that if the administration could find enough fraud, “we will actually have a balanced budget overnight.”

“It’ll go very quickly,” Trump said. “That’s the kind of money you’re talking about. We’ll balance our budget.”

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Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is temporarily halting Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota, giving Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz 60 days to clean up how the state doles out funding. 

“We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money,” Vance said Wednesday in a press event attended by Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz. 

The announcement comes after President Donald Trump railed against fraud in the Gopher State Tuesday evening in his State of the Union address. 

The administration and Congress have zeroed in on rampant abuse of federal taxpayers’ funds since December 2025, when details of Minnesota’s fraud surrounding social programs and welfare programs stretching back to the COVID-19 pandemic first came under the national spotlight. Investigators have since estimated the Minnesota scheme could top $9 billion. 

Trump pointed to his vice president as leading the administration’s “war on fraud” amid his State of the Union remarks. 

Vance explained Wednesday that “we are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer.”

The vice president continued that officials have verified that a program in Minnesota intended to provide after-school care to autistic children actually benefited fraudsters. 

“A lot of people are getting rich off the generosity of American taxpayers,” Vance said. “But more fundamentally, and more importantly than that, it means that there are kids in Minnesota who deserve these services, who need these services, and they’re not going to those kids. They’re going to fraudsters in Minneapolis. That is unacceptable. And that’s the sort of thing that we’re cutting off with this action today.” 

Oz added that it is that the pause marks “the largest action against fraud that we’ve ever taken” at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, before launching into how the administration is deferring funds to the state.

HEAVILY-REDACTED AUDIT FINDS MINNESOTA MEDICAID HAD WIDESPREAD VULNERABILITIES

“It’s going to be $259 million of deferred payments for Medicaid to Minnesota, which we’re announcing as I speak, to Governor Walz and his team,” Oz said. “That’s based on an audit of the last three months of 2025. Restated: a quarter billion dollars is not going to be paid this month to Minnesota for its Medicaid claims.” 

“We have notified the state and said that we will give them the money, but we’re going to hold it and only release it after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” Oz said. “If Minnesota fails to clean up the systems, the state will rack up $1 billion of deferred payments this year.”

Walz has 60 days to respond to a letter Oz and the administration sent to Walz on the matter, Oz said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office Wednesday afternoon for comment and has yet to receive a reply. 

Oz continued that he believes Walz will take the matter seriously, and noted fraud is not exclusive to Minnesota, but also other states. 

“These schemes disproportionately involve immigrant communities,” Oz continued. “They’re insulated, they’re able to … organize efforts, and sometimes they don’t understand what’s going on.” 

Vance added that the administration does not want to make this move, but it is needed due to Minnesota being “careless with federal tax dollars.”

“All we need the governor and the administration of Minnesota to do is something quite simple, which is to show that before you give Medicaid funds to somebody, you’re taking seriously whether they provided the services that they say that they’re providing,” the vice president said, calling the fraud a “disgrace.”

MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS DEMAND REPARATIONS FROM ICE AFTER LOSING $18 BILLION TO SOMALI FRAUD

Trump spotlighted the fraud in his State of the Union address Tuesday, underscoring that while Minnesota has taken the spotlight, schemes run deep in other states as well. 

“When it comes to the corruption that is plundering — it really, it’s plundering America — there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer,” Trump said. “Oh, we have all the information.” 

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“And in actuality, the number is much higher than that, and California, Massachusetts, Maine and many other states are even worse. This is the kind of corruption that shreds the fabric of a nation, and we are working on it like you wouldn’t believe,” he continued, before naming Vance as the administration leader taking on fraud. 

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