NationalWatch

The U.S. Secret Service-involved shooting of a man with a shotgun inside the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago over the weekend brought the Department of Homeland Security’s partial shutdown into new focus.

Two USSS agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy confronted and later shot and killed Austin Martin, 21, who authorities said slipped through a vehicular exit gate that had opened for a car before brandishing his weapon.

“They confronted a white male that was carrying a gas can and a shotgun. He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him – at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position… the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat,” according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Those agents are among the many working their dangerous jobs without pay due to the ongoing partial shutdown of DHS, which Republicans say was brought on by Democrats’ demands that I.C.E., which remains funded through other means, be reformed.

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who represents Daytona Beach just up the coast from Mar-a-Lago, said the incident proves the bravery of the Secret Service no matter the circumstances.

“The attempted assassination of President Trump at Mar-a-Lago is a stark reminder of growing leftist political violence in our country,” Fine said in a statement.

“Grateful to the Secret Service who neutralized the terrorist. Even as Democrats refuse to pay them because of their shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, these men and women continue to stand their post.”

Top White House aide Stephen Miller offered an even more pointed response to the dynamic:

BESSENT BLAMES LEFT’S POLITICAL ‘VENOM’ FOR VIOLENCE AFTER DEADLY MAR-A-LAGO INCIDENT

“Democrats voted to defund Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations (who partner with Secret Service) and all the intelligence and law enforcement functions that support Secret Service,” Miller said.

“Never before in history has federal law enforcement been purposefully defunded.”

House Small Business Committee chairman Roger Williams of Texas added that Americans should take note of the agents who responded whether paid or not.

“As we continue to learn more about the armed man at Mar-a-Lago this morning, we must remember that the brave agents who responded are serving our country without pay due to the Democrat-led shutdown,” Williams, R-Texas, said.

Prior to the incident, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., warned that the Secret Service and other agencies like FEMA would be put in a bad spot if the partial shutdown went forward.

“Democrats are prioritizing illegal immigrant criminals ahead of the safety of the American people,” he said in a February 12 floor speech.

MAR-A-LAGO SECURITY BREACH PROMPTS NEW WARNINGS: ‘HOW MANY CHANCES DOES ONE MAN GET?’

At least one Democrat did react to the agent-involved shooting.

Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, for whom Trump is technically a constituent at his Mar-a-Lago address, said that “political violence is never the answer.”

“Thank you to the Secret Service and Palm Beach County law enforcement for their swift response today and for their continued work in keeping the president safe,” Frankel said.

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The Northeast blizzard presents separate challenges for resource-suspended agencies like FEMA, while certain Homeland Security-run services, such as TSA escorts for members of Congress, are also suspended.

Fox News’ Elise Oggioni contributed to this report.

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Government documents reveal the fall of drug kingpin “El Mencho” over the weekend was the culmination of an aggressive, more than yearlong strategy of “total elimination” pursued by the Trump administration against the ruthless Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), which is present in almost all 50 U.S. states.

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, on Feb. 5, 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.” 

Rather than simply seeking to mitigate the harms of cartel activity, Bondi said the DOJ would be suspending red tape to “empower federal prosecutors throughout the country to work urgently with the Department of Homeland Security and other parts of the government toward the goal of eliminating these threats to U.S. sovereignty.”

The memo said the DOJ would be prioritizing cartel managers and leaders.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment, CJNG is one of the most ruthless cartels in Mexico and a key supplier of fentanyl to the U.S., making it “one of the most significant threats to the public health, public safety, and national security of the United States.”

The DEA said CJNG operates vast distribution networks within the U.S., with associates, facilitators and affiliates operating in “almost all 50 U.S. states.” The DEA also said CJNG has been increasing its involvement in non-drug crime, including extortion, taxing human smuggling and fraud schemes.

A 2019 DOJ statement to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs states that CJNG is “one of the most powerful and fastest growing cartels” and operates key drug distribution hubs in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Atlanta. The Department of National Intelligence estimates the group has approximately 15,000–20,000 members.

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Recognizing the threat posed by CJNG, the administration announced major results just over one month after Trump’s inauguration. On Feb. 27, Bondi announced the U.S. had secured the extradition of 29 high-ranking cartel leaders from Mexico, including top-tier CJNG leaders, a key money broker and a family member of El Mencho. Among those extradited and charged was Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “Tony Montana,” El Mencho’s brother, who was charged in the District of Columbia for his alleged leadership role in the cartel.

On March 7, El Mencho’s son and heir apparent, Ruben Oseguera-Gonzalez, known as “El Menchito,” was sentenced in Washington, D.C., to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered to forfeit $6 billion in drug proceeds. El Menchito had been extradited to the U.S. during the first Trump administration in 2020.

The next week, on March 15, the president again upped the ante against the cartels by designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, authorizing the use of advanced military assets for supply-side interdiction at the border. The move had a major impact on CJNG’s drug smuggling operations.

June was another high-impact month in the fight against CJNG. El Mencho’s brother-in-law, José González Valencia, “La Chepa,” was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. Another high-ranking leader, José González Valencia, co-founder of the CJNG’s financial wing “Los Cuinis,” was also sentenced to 30 years.

The same month, the Treasury Department used the FEND Off Fentanyl Act for the first time to cut off three major Mexican banks, CIBanco, Intercam and Vector, from the U.S. dollar system for allegedly laundering CJNG funds.

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In August, the administration secured the extradition of another 26 high-ranking cartel leaders from Mexico, including Abigael González Valencia, another brother-in-law of El Mencho known as “El Cuini,” who was the head of a major money-laundering organization for the cartel.

Not letting up, the next month, the DEA and Department of Homeland Security launched a massive, nationwide weeklong operational surge targeting CJNG distribution networks. The effort led to 670 arrests and the seizure of $18 million in currency and $29 million in assets. The operation also resulted in the seizure of 92.4 kilograms of fentanyl powder and 1,157,672 counterfeit fentanyl pills.

Announcing the seizures, DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said the administration “is targeting the Jalisco New Generation cartel as what it is—a terrorist organization—at every level, from its leadership to its distribution networks and everyone in between.”

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“Let this serve as a warning,” said Cole at the time. “DEA will not relent… This focused operation is only the beginning — we will carry this fight forward together until this threat is defeated.”

By the end of 2025, the DEA was reporting that it had seized a total of 47 million fentanyl pills, enough to represent more than 369 million lethal doses, from cartel smugglers, including CJNG.

At the start of 2026, the administration again increased its targeting of CJNG and other cartels. The Department of War established the Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JIATF-CC) under U.S. Northern Command as the “next step” in the whole-of-government approach to “identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the U.S.-Mexico border.”

On Feb. 19, just 72 hours before the Tapalpa raid, the Treasury sanctioned Kovay Gardens, a CJNG-controlled resort in Puerto Vallarta, cutting off a $300 million revenue stream flowing into the cartel’s coffers.

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Following the raid, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the U.S. provided intelligence support to the Mexican government to assist in the operation.

Leavitt added that Trump “has been very clear the United States will ensure narcoterrorists… are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved.”

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President Donald Trump briefly paused an Angel Families Remembrance Ceremony at the White House on Monday to speak with Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, asking about her health and an upcoming surgery for her eyes.

“I gave her money to get her eyes fixed. A lot of money to get her eyes fixed. That doctor ripped me off. But that’s OK,” Trump joked.

Morin said her surgery was scheduled for Wednesday after being delayed. “It was postponed because they said the grief caused me to have a heart attack,” she said.

Her daughter, Rachel, was brutally raped and murdered by Salvadoran national Victor Martinez-Hernandez in August 2023. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the summer of 2025.

“You’re going to have 20/20 vision. You know she’s almost blind. Cataracts. She’s almost blind,” Trump said. “He’s an expensive doctor. Top of the line, right? But you know what? You’re going to have 20/20 vision.”

During the ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Trump honored families who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

“Throughout this hall, I am joined by heartbroken Americans who have lost parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, and treasured loved ones to the scourge of illegal immigration, let in by the past administration,” the president said.

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“Under the Trump administration, their suffering is forgotten no longer,” he told attendees.

Laken Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, spoke at the event remembering her daughter, the 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by Venezuelan national José Ibarra while jogging on the University of Georgia campus in February 2024.

Several other family members also spoke during the ceremony, sharing personal stories about their loved ones.

GRIEVING FATHER SAYS DAUGHTER’S DEATH BY ILLEGAL ALIEN SHOWS COST OF SANCTUARY POLICIES

Steve Ronnebeck, whose 21-year-old son Grant was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant in Arizona, said the deaths were “preventable” and urged stronger enforcement of immigration laws.

“They could have been stopped. We could have done so much more,” Ronnebeck said.

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At the conclusion of the event, Trump signed a proclamation designating Feb. 22 as “National Angel Family Day.”

“We stand with the Angel Families, many of whom continue to be left without justice,” the White House said in a statement. “And we recommit to carrying out the largest mass-deportation effort in our Nation’s history, getting the worst of the worst out of our country, and putting a stop to the violence targeting the brave men and women of law enforcement.”

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As President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to tackle the nation’s illegal immigration problem, individuals whose relatives were killed by illegal immigrants thanked the president during a ceremony on Monday.

Allyson Phillips, the mother of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was slain by a Venezuelan man on Feb. 22, 2024, offered heartfelt thanks to the president.

Phillips told Trump that he is doing “a thankless job that most people just wouldn’t do,” noting, “I just can’t thank you enough.”

Jody Jones, who described how his brother Rocky was shot “eight times at point-blank range,” said he is “sick and tired” of Democrats talking about “criminal, illegal aliens” getting torn away from their families.

“What about us? What about the American family? What about us? We mean somethin’ too. And this man right here understands it,” he said.

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“I love America. I love Donald Trump. I love my family,” he said.

“Thank you very much Donald Trump. President Trump, you are the man,” he added.

The president signed a proclamation on Monday declaring Feb. 22, 2026, as National Angel Family Day. 

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“I call on the American people to assemble in their respective places of worship to pay homage to the victims killed by illegal aliens and to those taken by the fentanyl epidemic, and lift up the Angel Families and families devastated by drug overdoses,” the proclamation declares. “I further call upon public officials, community leaders, and all citizens to end the violence and lawlessness that have claimed so many innocent lives.”

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A Georgia congressman is calling for a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to his state after a teacher was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant fleeing law enforcement.

“It is truly a tragedy,” Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., told Fox News Digital. “This is something that should have never happened.”

A special education teacher at a K-8 school in Savannah, Ga., was killed when Oscar Vasquez Lopez ran a red light while trying to leave the scene of an ICE operation earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

DHS said Vasquez Lopez is “a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala who was issued a final order of removal by a federal judge in 2024.”

Carter, who has previously called for more ICE agents in Georgia’s capital, said he believed having more federal agents throughout the Peach State could help prevent such tragedies in the future.

“I’ve already called for more ICE agents to be in Atlanta, and now I’m calling for more ICE agents to be out throughout the state of Georgia,” Carter said. “Listen, this is serious. We need to get rid of the criminal illegal immigrants here in this country. We’ll deal with the others later.”

Carter cited reports that claim there are roughly 500,000 illegal immigrants residing in Georgia.

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“It would be naive of us to think that some of those aren’t criminal illegal immigrants,” he said.

DHS said Vasquez Lopez was charged with vehicular homicide by the Chatham County Police Department after the fatal collision, in which he sustained “minor injuries.”

The department said ICE agents had attempted a traffic stop when Vasquez Lopez “initially complied” but then fled, making an illegal U-turn and running a red light before striking the teacher’s car.

Tensions over ICE have reached a fever pitch after President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, which recently concluded after the administration directed a surge of federal officers to the Midwest city to withdraw.

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A U.S. citizen was shot and killed by ICE agents last month while attempting to leave the scene of a demonstration, though she was accused by the federal government of trying to hit one of the agents with her car while fleeing.

Weeks later, a second U.S. citizen was killed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents while recording them during a separate anti-ICE demonstration.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the allocation of $35 million in state funding to support illegal immigrants as the Trump administration carries out its massive deportation agenda.

Newsom’s office is releasing the money that the legislature set aside in the state budget to help philanthropic partners support immigrant families with food assistance and other resources, according to a press release.

These funds are on top of funds the state already allocated to provide legal resources to those facing deportation.

“While the federal government targets hardworking families, California stands with them – uniting partners and funding local communities to help support their neighbors,” Newsom said in the release. “The urgent need grows as the Trump Administration accelerates mass detention, tramples due process, and funds authoritarian enforcement with over $170 billion. As the Trump Administration chooses cruelty and chaos, California chooses community.”

A spokesperson for Newsom said he has been speaking with immigrant families and community leaders about the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

“People are afraid to leave their homes, afraid to go to school or work, and unable to afford groceries,” the spokesperson told CalMatters.

California allocated the money despite significant budget constraints, as Newsom’s office anticipates a $2.9 billion deficit in the coming budget year, according to CalMatters. The state also limited health care for illegal immigrants this year to help make up for a larger deficit last year.

“When federal actions create fear and instability, our responsibility is to show up for families. This investment strengthens local partners who are helping people access legal services and meet basic needs during an incredibly difficult moment,” Kim Johnson, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said in the release.

Democrat state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, said the funding shows her party will “continue to stand in solidarity with our immigrant families.”

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“The federal government is waging a war on our communities – and we won’t stand for it,” Gonzalez said. “We are putting money behind an effort to stop the fear, stop the separation of our families and stop violating our basic rights.”

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a Republican, blasted the funding as “absurd.”

“If you were audited by the IRS and found to owe money and back taxes, as a citizen, you couldn’t say, ‘Well, I want a free lawyer to fight the federal government,'” DeMaio told CalMatters.

President Donald Trump campaigned on a major immigration crackdown and has since followed through with that promise through mass deportations.

In June, Trump signed a budget bill that included $170 billion for immigration enforcement, detention and deportation, an investment that aims to remove up to 1 million immigrants from the U.S. per year over four years.

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California state funds set aside for immigration legal services prevent money from being used to help people with serious or violent felony convictions fight against deportations, CalMatters reported. 

California laws do not block state corrections staff from moving illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious or violent felonies to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

“California will never be silent in the face of Trump’s cruel and unlawful immigration raids. We will meet fear and intimidation with courage and action,” Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas, a Democrat, said in the release.

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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., is using President Donald Trump’s State of the Union to send a message to critics of an X post he made about choosing “between dogs and Muslims.”

Fine’s guest to Trump’s primetime address will be his father, Alan Fine, along with his father’s seeing-eye service dog, Sadie. 

“I think it’s also important, given the issues that I burst into the public consciousness last week, to talk about the importance of our dogs as Americans,” Fine told Fox News Digital on Monday. “My father’s seeing-eye dog is part of our family and allows him to live his life, and I’m going to fight like hell against anyone who wants to take it away.”

The dog will be outfitted with a shirt that reads, “Don’t tread on me,” which has become Fine’s rallying cry against the outpouring of rage from Democrats over his controversial X post.

Last week, Fine shared a screenshot from X of Palestinian Muslim activist Nerdeen Kiswani writing, “Finally, NYC is coming to Islam. Dogs definitely have a place in society, just not as indoor pets. Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.”

Fine wrote on the platform in response, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

It prompted an outpouring of criticism from House Democrats, with calls ranging from a censure to Fine’s outright ouster from Congress.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., posted on X, “House Democrats will not let the racist and bigoted behavior of Randy Fine go unchecked. Accountability is coming to all of these sick extremists when the gavels change hands in November, if not sooner.”

The Florida Republican responded to the criticism by questioning the lack of widespread outrage when a member of the House Democratic Caucus, nonvoting Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., was found to have been texting Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing, and when Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., was accused of misusing COVID-19 pandemic funds.

“I think the same people that don’t have a problem with a member of Congress texting Jeffrey Epstein, the same members of Congress who don’t have a problem with a member who stole $5 million of money that was supposed to go to people suffering from natural disasters … somehow have a problem with a member of Congress who says Americans have a right to have a dog and if people don’t like it, they can leave,” Fine said. “So they can shove it.”

Kiswani has since posted that her initial comment was meant to be a joke and called Fine’s X post “genocidal.”

But he has dug in since then, even introducing a resolution to Congress called the “Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act.”

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His father, Alan Fine, said he was eager to see his son on the House floor as a member of Congress.

“I’m actually more excited to be here to watch my son,” he said. “More to see him than the president, to be quite honest. I guess that’s because I’m a Jewish father.”

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he is surging state troopers to the border and across the state to enhance public safety operations following a spike in cartel violence after the killing of kingpin “El Mencho” over the weekend.

On Monday, Abbott, a Republican, directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to “enhance public safety and homeland security operations” across Texas. He said the surge is in response to escalating cartel violence in Mexico that he believes poses a growing threat to American civilians.

“Mexican drug cartels pose a significant threat to public safety and national security,” said Abbott. “By increasing proactive efforts to defend against cartel violence, Texas will continue to utilize every tool and strategy to protect our state and our nation.”

He vowed that in the face of increased cartel violence, “We will not cower to criminals who impose terror on our fellow Texans and Americans.”

At the governor’s direction, the state is surging Texas Highway Patrol, Texas Rangers, Criminal Investigations Division, and Special Operations Group resources to the border region to “detect, interdict, and apprehend criminals, and to prevent spillover activity from transnational threats.”

Texas is also increasing its Tactical Marine Unit and Aircraft Operations Division presence along the border to detect and apprehend criminals. Further, Texas is activating additional personnel from its Homeland Security Division and Texas Fusion Center to monitor social media and reports of suspicious activity 24/7.

This comes as cartel violence that erupted across Mexico left 25 Mexican National Guard troops and more than two dozen criminal suspects among the dead following the killing of Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who was also known as “El Mencho.”

The cartel reacted to its leader’s death with violence across Mexico, placing roadblocks and setting vehicles on fire throughout Sunday.

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Multiple American tourists vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, also told Fox News Digital they unexpectedly found themselves in the middle of a violent cartel retaliation. As airlines canceled flights and authorities issued shelter-in-place orders, stranded visitors reported cars set ablaze, suspected cartel members blocking major roads, and stores ransacked by looters — scenes some witnesses said made parts of the popular resort city feel like “a war breaking out in the streets.”

Witnesses said they were forced to evacuate their rooms, manage with limited hotel food, and even venture outside in search of meals while waiting for Mexican authorities to regain control of the city.

Staying at an Airbnb near a main road, Eugene Marchenko, 37, of Charleston, South Carolina, told Fox News Digital he woke up to blaring horns and saw six cars completely engulfed in flames just outside his balcony. He and his wife, who had arrived in Mexico only a day earlier, were forced to evacuate for several hours, fearing that a nearby fuel tanker, also ablaze, could explode.

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Abbott urged Texans in need of immediate assistance to call the U.S. Department of State or the Texas Fusion Center, the state’s primary tactical intelligence hub. 

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He said the state is “closely coordinating” with the State Department and FBI as the situation unfolds. 

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Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., compared U.S. enforcement of immigration law to “terrorism” during a Saturday town hall and promised to dismantle the chief U.S. immigration enforcement agency if Democrats regained power.

“The frank terrorism that is being invoked – when we call that out and stand together, I think people will continue to not want to do that work,” Dexter told an audience at Wy’east Middle School in Oregon.

“I’m not supposed to get political, but if there’s a change in political will, then we can absolutely dismantle and abolish ICE altogether,” Dexter said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dexter, a freshman progressive lawmaker, is one of many Democrats who have called for reforms to the agency in the wake of public unrest in Minnesota over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

When two civilians in Minneapolis were shot and killed in separate confrontations with immigration officials in January, Dexter was among the first lawmakers who promised to vote against any spending legislation for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that didn’t also include major reforms to ICE, which operates under DHS.

Although the vast majority of Democrats eventually adopted Dexter’s stance over DHS funding, the idea first began as a position held by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was championed by members like Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

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Gridlock over DHS funding has led to a partial government shutdown which began on Feb. 14, when Democrats in the Senate also refused to advance DHS funding over a set of 10 reforms to ICE.

Among those demands, Democrats want to impose new operational limits to the agency, such as an end to roaming patrols, a ban on masks, a requirement for visible identification and stiffer warrant requirements for detaining illegal aliens in public.

Those changes would represent the most direct intervention into the agency’s operation since its creation in 2003.

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Republicans have rebuffed those demands, arguing they would severely limit the administration’s immigration goals.

Dexter’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday about the nature of her comments — including whether she had made a campaign promise at a town hall or who had funded the event.

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Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, is calling on Congress to put more support behind joint efforts between the U.S. and Mexico to combat Mexican drug cartels in the wake of the death of “El Mencho,” the leader of the “most violent and deranged cartel.”

“This is the beginning of the war against the most violent and deranged cartel in Mexico: El Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación or OJNG,” Crenshaw said in a post to X on Monday morning.

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, believes the strike on El Mencho represents a needed expansion of U.S. efforts to combat cartels and a window of opportunity for increased coordination between U.S.-Mexican forces.

“Over the past year, most of the attention has been on the Sinaloa cartel. This is a much-needed refocusing on CJNG. Both are major traffickers of fentanyl, but CJNG is more like ISIS than the mafia,” Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw believes Congress has a role to play in combating that threat.

“I’ve authored a dozen pieces of legislation to support our military, intelligence and law enforcement efforts in Mexico. It’s time for committees to take them up.”

Among them, Crenshaw introduced a bill in 2023 alongside 24 other cosponsors that would have authorized the U.S. military to “combat, attack, resist, target [and] eliminate” narcotraffickers.

If implemented, the bill would allow President Donald Trump to use the American military against foreign nations, organizations or persons that the president determines are trafficking fentanyl into the U.S.

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More recently, Crenshaw has spearheaded the North America Security Initiative — an effort to shore up U.S. support of Mexican special forces resources. Crenshaw has called on the U.S. to put more resources behind Mexico’s special forces in the same way the U.S. has diverted parts of its arsenal to support Ukraine’s war with Russia.

He has urged the U.S. to provide Mexico with equipment, weapons and intelligence — an act Crenshaw believes will strengthen its relationship with Mexico.

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“Unilateral action will only serve to alienate existing partnerships. Our near-term goal is the disruption of fentanyl networks that are killing Americans on a daily basis,” an information packet provided by Crenshaw’s office said about the initiative.

A person familiar with Crenshaw’s thinking said he’s been coordinating with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on bringing similar cartel-focused pieces of legislation up for consideration in the near future.

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“We finally have a solid partner in the Mexican government to work with. We are finally focusing huge intelligence collection efforts on the cartels (due in large part to my amendment to FISA two years ago authorizing collection on the cartels),” Crenshaw said. “We are finally taking them on. It won’t be over soon. But it’s about time we started.”

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Horror author Stephen King is facing backlash online Monday for a post tearing into President Donald Trump’s personal life, including a line claiming that Trump has no children.

“Trump: has never had a child. Has been married 3 times. Ran several businesses into the ground. Never ran a home, couldn’t make a bed to save his a–. Calls people he works with dumb, losers, ect. Has never done sweat labor. Has never served on a local committee,” King said in a post to X.

“[He] has no life experience,” King added.

The post immediately began drawing criticism from accounts like Libs of TikTok.

“Trump literally has 5 kids. What is this sh–?” Libs of TikTok posted on X.

“Um… I’m pretty sure Donald Trump had children,” 1776 Project PAC founder Ryan Girdusky posted on X.

“Is there a 25th Amendment for taking peoples’ phones away?” Conservative writer Bonchie wrote on X.

“Donald Trump, famously childless,” conservative reporter Jerry Dunleavy jokingly wrote on X.

King’s comments come as Trump, who is the father of five children and is in his second presidential term, is set to address the country on Tuesday evening in the 2026 State of the Union, a report to Congress on the administration’s work.

King’s remarks mirror similar social media comments made about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a prominent progressive member of the House of Representatives, on Saturday.

In a tweet put up by an account called “Stacy is Right,” a self-described MAGA mother of three, the author similarly disparaged elements of Ocasio-Cortez’s life and background.

That post also mocks the Democrat for a lack of children, having never been married, never having run a business and never having had a “professional job.”

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“[She] has no real life experience. Is a typical deadbeat socialist,” Stacy is Right said in her post.

King reshared that post before putting up his own remarks about Trump.

“You literally plagiarized an entire post…which was about AOC… and then applied it to Trump…… for whom it isn’t true and doesn’t make any sense. Why are you plagiarizing? I thought you were a writer?” Matt Van Swol, a former Department of Energy nuclear scientist, posted on X.

Monday’s post isn’t the first time King has taken to X to vent his political views. Since Trump’s second term, King has used similar language to describe the president and his policies.

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“Just wanted to say that Trump is a traitorous, Putin-loving dipsh–! Goes double for Elon!” King said in a post in February 2025.

Earlier this year, King took to social media to compare ICE to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo.

“ICE is the American Gestapo,” King wrote, referring to the secret state police in Germany.

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“Trump is ruining the economy with his stupid tariffs,” King said in another instance in April.

King’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the message behind his post.

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A deadly confrontation at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend is the latest in a string of high-profile security incidents involving President Donald Trump, as former Secret Service officials warn that low-tech, lone actors now pose one of the toughest challenges to presidential protection.

“It should be quite clear to all of us by now that Trump is the most threatened president in the history of the U.S.,” former Secret Service agent William “Bill” Gage told Fox News Digital Monday, pointing to multiple high-profile incidents in recent years. Unlike past presidencies, where threat levels often subsided over time, Gage said, “the longer he’s president, the more these attacks keep happening.”

Gage said the most difficult cases to prevent are often the least sophisticated. The recent incidents, he noted, were “super low-tech attacks by people with zero training,” using rudimentary weapons. “If you were standing behind them in line at Starbucks, you wouldn’t have given them a second look,” he said.

Gage said the threat landscape shifted over the course of his 12-year career as a Secret Service agent. When he joined the Secret Service in 2002, he said the agency was moving away from what he described as the traditional “lone gunman” model — figures like Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated John F. Kennedy, or international militants such as “Carlos the Jackal,” one of the world’s most wanted terrorists in the ’70s and 80s — and adapting to a post-9/11 world focused on coordinated terrorist networks like al Qaeda and later ISIS.

“But if you look at Butler and the two incidents at Mar-a-Lago, those were super low-tech attacks,” Gage said. “The low-tech actors are the ones that tend to slip through the cracks.”

He also warned of a potential copycat effect when details of such incidents become public. 

“If it were up to the Secret Service, they would never report any of these incidents ever,” Gage said, arguing that widespread coverage allows others to “study what happened” and attempt to refine it. 

In today’s hyperconnected political climate, he said, that dynamic adds another layer of complexity for agents trying to stop the next threat before it materializes.

In the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, a 21-year-old man identified as Austin Tucker Martin of North Carolina was shot and killed by U.S. Secret Service agents and a local sheriff’s deputy after entering the secure perimeter of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Authorities say Martin drove through the north gate carrying a shotgun and a gasoline can. After being ordered to drop both, he dropped the can but raised the shotgun toward officers, who fired and killed him at the scene. Trump and First lady Melania Trump were in Washington at the time.

The incident marked the third highly publicized security encounter involving Trump in less than two years. In July 2024, a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s ear and killing an attendee before being shot by a Secret Service sniper. In September 2024, a man armed with a rifle was confronted by agents near Trump’s golf course while he was playing; that suspect was later convicted on attempted assassination charges.

While the incidents have drawn intense attention, former Deputy Assistant Director Don Mihalek said the latest Mar-a-Lago intrusion does not necessarily signal a breakdown in protective systems.

“He got through an exterior gate of an active club,” Mihalek told Fox News Digital. “This wasn’t someone reaching the president’s residence.” Agents confronted the suspect within seconds, he said, describing the rapid response as evidence that overlapping security layers functioned as designed.

Mihalek said presidential protection relies on multiple rings of security because outer perimeters at properties like Mar-a-Lago cannot be sealed in the same way as the White House. “If he ended up in the president’s house on Mar-a-Lago, that might be a different conversation,” he said.

He also cautioned against viewing recent incidents in isolation, noting that presidents routinely face roughly 2,000 threats per year, most of which are mitigated before the public ever becomes aware of them. “These just happen to be very public instances,” Mihalek said, arguing that the social media era amplifies perceptions of escalation.

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Mihalek pointed to last summer’s rally shooting in Butler as an example of how early intervention can be decisive, noting that local law enforcement had reportedly identified the suspect prior to the attack. “If somebody had walked up and said, ‘Hey, who are you?’ we wouldn’t be talking about Butler,” he said.

As Trump prepares to address Congress at the State of the Union, both former officials said the security posture at the Capitol is unlikely to change in response to the weekend incident.

The annual address is designated a National Special Security Event — the highest level of federal security planning — triggering coordination among the Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, War Department and other agencies. The designation allows for expanded perimeter controls, airspace restrictions and continuity-of-government planning.

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Gage, who previously led advance planning for State of the Union addresses, said the event operates under a well-established security “blueprint” built to account for worst-case scenarios. “There’s really no way to increase it anymore,” he said.

Both former officials said the defining challenge for presidential protection today is unpredictability: individuals with minimal training, rudimentary weapons and the ability to find reinforcement online. Unlike organized extremist networks, such actors may leave few detectable signals before acting.

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FIRST ON FOX: After President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met Monday with Angel Families impacted by crimes committed by illegal immigrants, the agency announced it had arrested additional illegal immigrants convicted of sexual assault and violent crimes.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital that “while Americans were enjoying their weekends, the heroic men and women of ICE were working around the clock to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens out of our country, including pedophiles, rapists and violent assailants.”

Bis said that while “sanctuary politicians and the media ignore the victims of criminal illegal immigrant crime. Today, President Trump and Secretary Noem met with Angel families and victims at the White House,” adding that “these victims and their families are why we continue to fight for the arrest and removal of illegal aliens from our communities.”

Among those arrested by ICE this weekend was Gerardo Moran-Cisneros, from Mexico, who was convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old in Los Angeles. Also in Los Angeles, ICE arrested Jathniel Rei Tangkilisan, from Indonesia, convicted of domestic battery in Hollywood.

In the Los Angeles suburbs, ICE arrested Hoang Dung Duong, from Vietnam, who was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in Santa Ana, California.  

Across the country in New York City, ICE arrested Pedro Pichasaca-Dutan, from Ecuador, who was convicted of rape. In nearby Somerset County, New Jersey, ICE arrested Mexican national Victor Ortiz-Ramos, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a victim less than 13 years old.

Also in New Jersey, which is a sanctuary state, ICE arrested Carlos Aparicio-Zarate, also from Mexico, who was convicted of aggravated assault — serious bodily injury in Asbury Park.

In the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Illinois, Martin Villanueva-Arenas, another Mexican illegal, was arrested by ICE following his conviction for aggravated criminal sexual assault of a child, leaving the scene of an accident and resisting a peace officer.

In Chicago proper, ICE arrested Jose Parada-Valdivia, from Mexico, who is convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Meanwhile, ICE also arrested Mexican national Juan Ortiz-Pozos, who is convicted of aggravated vehicular hijacking and aggravated battery on a peace officer in Chicago’s Cook County.  

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In Houston, ICE arrested Javid Finton McLawrence, from Grenada, who was convicted of indecent assault. In the Dallas-area Tarrant County, ICE apprehended Jeremias Hernandez-Fernandez, from Mexico, who was convicted of indecency with a child.

Over the weekend, ICE also arrested Mexican nationals Juan Vasquez-Perez, convicted of third-degree sex abuse in Johnson County, Iowa, and Esteban De Paz Jimenez, convicted of assault and battery on a family member, aggravated robbery and preventing summons of law enforcement in Caroline County, Virginia. The agency also arrested Claudy Ngoy, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in Wake County, North Carolina.

On Sunday, Trump signed a declaration proclaiming Feb. 22 “National Angel Family Day” in honor of the “thousands of American lives stolen from us by criminal illegal aliens and the deadly drugs they bring across our borders.”

In the declaration, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to combatting illegal immigrant crime, writing, “We stand with the Angel Families, many of whom continue to be left without justice” and “we recommit to carrying out the largest mass-deportation effort in our Nation’s history, getting the worst of the worst out of our country, and putting a stop to the violence targeting the brave men and women of law enforcement.”

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Among those present for the Angel Family event were Allyson Phillips, mother of slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, Alexis Nungaray, mother of slain Houston teen Jocelyn Nungaray, and the family of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five who was killed by an illegal alien.

Trump told the families, “For too long, your stories were suppressed so that politicians could open our borders. But today, the world hears you.”

“We are not just mitigating the threat anymore; we are eliminating it,” he went on, adding, “The justice delivered in Tapalpa this weekend is just the beginning for every family in this room.”

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Several of the Angel Families spoke during the event as well, with Phillips telling Trump, “You are a man of your word, Mr. President.”

“My daughter Laken didn’t die in vain,” said Phillips. “Because of the Laken Riley Act and the work you’re doing to clear out these monsters, other mothers won’t have to live my nightmare.”

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The Trump administration is escalating pressure on Senate Democrats as negotiations to end the partial government shutdown remain at a standstill.

The partial government shutdown, which is only affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), entered its second week on Monday. So far, the impacts of the shutdown have been minimal, but the pain could be coming soon as the agency activates “emergency measures” while the shutdown drags on.

DHS announced over the weekend it would be making tweaks to some of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) functions that could lead to longer wait times for passengers and lawmakers alike.

“Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians.”

The agency announced that, for now, TSA PreCheck would stay operational after a back-and-forth over whether to continue the program during the shutdown. The program is used by more than 20 million people to speed up wait times at airports across the country, according to the agency. However, courtesy escorts for members of Congress have been suspended.

“At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public,” a spokesperson for the agency told Fox News Digital. “As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly.”

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Much of the real pain that could come from a prolonged shutdown will have to do with TSA agents missing paychecks. That became a major factor during the historic 43-day shutdown last fall that saw wait times skyrocket and flight cancellations compound by the day.

Some Republicans believe it will take that kind of disruption to get Democrats to reverse course on their current position.

“Nothing’s going to happen here until flights get shut down, right? When TSA workers stop showing up,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. “When the Democrats, you know, can’t fly, then they’ll give in. I mean, they don’t care, because they’re being paid.”

Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the White House are gridlocked in their ongoing back-and-forth over a compromise to fund the agency.

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Schumer and his caucus want more stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following deadly shootings in Minnesota amid immigration operations. The White House has so far been willing to entertain some of the changes they’ve proposed, but Republicans have drawn red lines on imposing judicial warrant requirements and unmasking agents, among other provisions.

That means a bulk of the agency is going without funding as both sides continue to butt heads, given that ICE and some immigration enforcement functions are flush with funding from the “big, beautiful bill.”

The tweaks to TSA are not the only steps DHS has taken to implement emergency measures during the shutdown.

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Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has halted Global Entry at airports and diverted agents to instead help process travelers.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also stopped all public assistance for ongoing disasters, paused non-emergency work, halted non-disaster-related activities and restricted personnel travel to activities “strictly necessary to respond to active disasters and life-safety emergencies,” according to the agency.

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A Republican lawmaker is teaming up with outspoken detransitioner Chloe Cole to push federal legislation that would block gender-related medical procedures for minors, saying that children are being rushed into receiving treatments with life-altering results.

The Chloe Cole Act is being introduced on Monday as federal legislation aimed at protecting minors from gender-related medical procedures. 

Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., who is behind the bill, has a medical degree and is sounding the alarm over the impact that gender-related treatments can have on minors. The congressman told Fox News Digital that his bill will not only protect minors from these treatments, but will also give children and parents the right to hold medical professionals accountable in court.

“We know that in the last 15 years, the transgender movement has convinced tens of thousands of boys and girls that they are born in the wrong body…. And then a chain of transgender clinics has exploited these kids for the ideology and for the profit and really done permanent damage to the health of those kids with wrong sex hormones, puberty blockers and even mutilating surgeries,” Onder told Fox News Digital.

The congressman said the Chloe Cole Act arises from President Donald Trump‘s January 2025 order titled, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” The order encouraged lawmakers to “work to draft, propose, and promote legislation to enact a private right of action for children and the parents of children whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals practicing chemical and surgical mutilation.” The order noted that statutes of limitations for these cases should be “lengthy.”

Cole, who has become a prominent detransition advocate, told Fox News Digital that the legislation is “a vital step in our mission to ensure that no minor in America ever endures the kind of lasting, irreparable damage I experienced.”

“While we’ve made significant strides in raising awareness and enacting protections in recent years, the fight is far from over. Too many children remain at risk of irreversible harm from puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures pushed on them before they can fully understand the consequences,” Cole said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital.

“We must finish what we’ve started and safeguard the next generation from these experimental and barbaric treatments,” she added.

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A recent legal judgment in New York has provided advocates like Cole some hope in holding medical providers accountable. Recently, a jury awarded 22-year-old Fox Varian $2 million in damages after she sued a plastic surgeon who performed a double mastectomy on her when she was a teenager. Varian’s lawsuit was also aimed at her psychologist. The New York Times noted that Varian claimed the 2019 double mastectomy left her disfigured. Varian, like Cole, was born female and at one point identified as a man. She is now undergoing the detransition process.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has previously expressed support for providing minors with gender-related medical treatment.

“The AAP and other major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization — support giving transgender adolescents access to the health care they need,” a 2023 statement from the AAP read. “The AAP opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals, or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.”

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Cole celebrated the judgment, and said in a Fox News Digital op-ed: “There are so many other young people like us. We were lied to by doctors, nurses and therapists when we were vulnerable and confused children. They did irreversible harm to our bodies and minds, making a mockery of the medical profession. They should absolutely be held accountable for sacrificing us in service to radical transgender ideology.”

In her op-ed, Cole brought up a subject that Onder also touched on during his interview with Fox News Digital: the prevalence of medical professionals warning parents that their child could harm themselves or even commit suicide if they are not allowed to undergo the procedures.

“Those parents are being lied to,” Onder said. “The words I hear quoted over and over again, by Chloe, by Luka Hein, by others, is that their parents were told, ‘Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?’ implying that the risk of suicide is approaching 100%, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is an utter lie,” Onder said.

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The congressman lambasted the industry behind gender-related medical procedures, wondering if children were being pushed into the surgeries because of “sick ideology” or a “desire for profit.”

“Parents are being lied to, the transgender clinics and the transgender doctors are making off with a lot of money. It’s really a despicable development in American medicine. And as a physician, I look forward to the day where it’s in our rearview mirror and no longer are kids being exploited,” the congressman added.

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Imagine a boxing match.

A boxing match may only go a few rounds. But it’s a big production. There’s a massive buildup for weeks in the press. There’s the weigh-in. Both fighters enter the ring to fanfare. Everyone scans the crowd to see “who” is there or nabbed seats close to the ring. Celebrities. Actors. Musicians. Models. Other famous athletes.

There’s a lot to see.

And that’s why the president’s State of the Union speech is similar.

Yeah, there’s the speech. But there’s a lot more on which to focus when President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. It may range from what “trunks” the fighters wear when they enter the ring to who is serving as their cornermen.

Do you train your attention on the speech itself and what the president says? Does he deliver a stemwinder of an address, veering off into any number of political tributaries and addressing countless grievances? Do you observe the delivery of a president who maintains a mostly loyal MAGA base but struggles with soaring disapproval ratings? What about the presence of Supreme Court justices who ruled against the president last week on tariffs, one of the most seminal issues of his administration? How about his push to double down on tariff policies, despite the decision by the High Court? We haven’t even discussed what the president may say about ICE, unrest in the Twin Cities, the stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. And that’s to say nothing about the possibility of invading Iran or new questions emerging about Greenland.

This is just an incomplete list regarding the speech. But State of the Union messages are now laced with theater and performance. It extends well beyond what the president may say or do. Lawmakers were practically props a few decades ago, applauding and cheering when they heard the president tout a policy or achievement they endorsed. Or, sitting silently if something came up which they opposed.

Now, State of the Union is a participatory if not contact sport. The president’s most ardent opponents are expected to make noise, heckle, boo, shout or even upbraid the president. Think of the iconic photo depicting Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, waving his cane at Trump before House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., banished him from the address last year. Or former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on their feet, jeering former President Joe Biden a few years ago.

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Tuesday night will serve as a test for congressional decorum. Expect outbursts and shouted retorts. But we’ll see if anyone raises – or lowers – the bar when it comes to their conduct compared to Johnson bouncing Green from the chamber last year.

Then there’s the old “look who I brought” to the speech watch. Democrats may gravitate toward pillars of their community, local heroes or those wronged by ICE. Republicans may bring along local law enforcement officials helpful toward the detention and deportment of those in the country illegally. Or the relatives of those harmed by illegal immigrants.

There’s also a question of whether some lawmakers will show up.

Some Republicans representing vulnerable districts or competitive states may skip out to build distance between themselves and the largely unpopular president. Meantime, a growing number of Democrats plan to attend an alternative to the president’s address. They are eschewing the speech in exchange for what they call the “People’s State of the Union” on the National Mall.

Some Democrats may pull double duty.

One wonders if some lawmakers — of both parties — will use travel issues posed by the East Coast blizzard as a convenient excuse to skip out.

Someone who might not skip out: former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y. The House expelled Santos in late 2023. Only the sixth member ever kicked out of the House. But as a former member, Santos still has privileges to come and go from the Capitol as he wants. So Santos showed up for Biden’s State of the Union in 2024. Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft in 2024. But Trump commuted Santos’ sentence last fall.

And then there is who reacts to Trump. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, delivers the official Democratic response. She’s a moderate former congresswoman who prevailed last fall by campaigning on “affordability.” Republicans will focus on Spanberger and plans to redraw House districts in Virginia to offset prospective gains by GOPers through redistricting — at the president’s behest — in Texas.

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Three other prominent Virginians have delivered rebuttals to State of the Union messages in recent years.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was Virginia’s governor when he responded to President George W. Bush in 2006. Democrats drafted Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., to deliver the response to Bush’s 2007 speech. Republicans tapped Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to speak after Obama’s 2010 oratory. Most responses to presidential State of the Union addresses either don’t go well or are barely remembered. It may be noteworthy if Spanberger hacks through the noise at all and people remember anything from her presentation.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., will deliver the Democrats’ response in Spanish. This will be Padilla’s highest-profile moment since guards protecting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threw the senator to the ground when he interrupted her remarks about ICE during a news conference in Los Angeles in June.

The president will be on screen most of the time during the speech. But the two men who likely rival Trump for screentime are Johnson and Vice President JD Vance. Or at least their torsos will as they’re half visible in the frame, sitting above Trump on the House dais. Johnson will run the show, as he is speaker of the House. Vance is there in his capacity as president of the Senate. Both are seated directly behind the president.

Johnson owes much of his viability as speaker to Trump. And Vance’s viability as a potential 2028 presidential candidate may hinge on the president as well. Reporting emerged this week that Trump is questioning advisors about who should carry the MAGA torch after he leaves office: Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio will appear in the chamber as part of the president’s Cabinet. The network pool feed will inevitably grab shots of Rubio when Trump discusses the January raid in Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, the future of NATO or the U.S.’ relationship with Canada. But Vance will be in the picture — literally — most of the night. Viewers are sure to watch for Vance’s demeanor. Commentators will dissect and parse various reactions and body language of the vice president. And everyone will hear whether he namechecks Vance or Rubio during his remarks.

Lots to see. Lots to examine. Lots to debate. But State of the Union addresses are not what they were. We see the president all the time. Be it on TV. Social media. Memes. Presidential messages and their impacts were curated differently not that long ago. People didn’t see or hear from the president very often. Today, the public hears from this president, in particular, all the time. So that alone diminishes the impact of such a speech.

Still, this is the annual televised boxing match of American politics. Everyone will “score” which side landed blows. Who won which round? And, how badly one side or the other bludgeoned their opponent.

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But we enter the arena on a daily basis in politics and not just once a year. Every day is a slugfest evaluated by the public. And while it remains a big day on the annual political calendar, State of the Union may have shrunk in its impact.

Today’s politics feature a daily undercard bout. And the public is usually obsessed with social media, watching for TKOs.

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The Justice Department announced Friday the firing of a second court-appointed U.S. attorney in as many weeks, revealing the swift removal of another prosecutor selected by federal judges to lead a district.

The judges in the Eastern District of Virginia had chosen veteran lawyer James Hundley to fill the vacancy left by Trump-appointee Lindsey Halligan, who stepped down from the role last month after the court said she was illegitimately serving. A top DOJ official quickly announced Hundley’s termination on social media, intensifying the ongoing fight between the executive and judicial branches over who has authority to choose the top prosecutors in each of the 93 federal court districts.

“Here we go again. EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, you’re fired!” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X.

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Blanche’s comment echoed a similar one he made when announcing the termination of Donald Kinsella after judges in the Northern District of New York chose him to replace Trump appointee John Sarcone, whom they also disqualified.

Constitutional scholar John Yoo recently told Fox News Digital that while the law gives judges the authority to choose a lawyer to fill a U.S. attorney vacancy, the Constitution and court precedent clearly grant the president — not the attorney general or deputy attorney general — the power to dismiss U.S. attorneys at will.

Underscoring that the decision had come from the president was Dan Scavino, the head of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who told Hundley through a social media post, “Check your email James,” after Blanche announced Hundley’s termination.

Halligan’s and Sarcone’s absences have left DOJ leadership, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Blanche, to serve as signatories on court filings in those districts as the Senate fails to confirm Trump’s preferred nominees to serve in them and several other blue state districts, where the home state senators must approve of the nominees under the upper chamber’s blue slip tradition.

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In a similar scenario, the court disqualified Trump appointee Alina Habba, and DOJ leadership responded by assigning three department officials to assume the duties of the U.S. attorney there.

The DOJ initially also appealed the decision to disqualify Habba, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a lower court ruling on it, and the department has not at this stage sought relief from the Supreme Court.

FIRST ON FOX: As Washington tightens export controls to preserve America’s artificial intelligence edge, top AI firm Anthropic says three China-based AI laboratories found another way to access advanced U.S. capabilities.

The U.S. firm alleges DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax used roughly 24,000 fraudulent accounts to generate more than 16 million exchanges with Anthropic’s Claude chatbot in a coordinated “distillation” campaign designed to extract high-value model outputs, according to a report first obtained by Fox News Digital. 

The threat goes beyond ripping off U.S. companies, according to the report. Anthropic argues that models built through large-scale distillation are unlikely to retain the safety guardrails embedded in frontier U.S. systems.

“Foreign labs that distill American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence, and surveillance systems—enabling authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance,” Anthropic said. 

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Anthropic says it identified the campaigns using IP address correlations, request metadata and infrastructure indicators that differed sharply from normal customer traffic. The activity, the company said, was concentrated on Claude’s most advanced capabilities — including complex reasoning, coding and tool use — rather than casual consumer prompts.

“We have high confidence these labs were conducting distillation attacks at scale,” Jacob Klein, Anthropic’s head of threat intelligence, told Fox News Digital.

Distillation is a common AI training technique in which a smaller or less capable model is trained on the outputs of a stronger one. 

Frontier labs often use it internally to create cheaper versions of their own systems. But Anthropic says the campaigns it uncovered were unauthorized and designed to shortcut years of research and reinforcement learning work.

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Across the three operations, more than 16 million exchanges were generated over a period ranging from weeks to months, according to Klein. Anthropic intervened after detecting the activity, though he acknowledged the broader challenge is ongoing.

“There isn’t an immediate silver bullet to stop all of these,” Klein said. “We view this as larger than Anthropic.”

While the company cannot precisely quantify how much the Chinese labs improved their systems, Klein said the capability gains were “meaningful” and “substantial.”

“What we can say with confidence is they distilled us at scale,” he said.

The report raises new questions about the effectiveness of current U.S. export controls, which have largely focused on limiting China’s access to advanced AI chips and direct transfers of model weights.

Klein argued that distillation targets a different layer of competitive advantage — the reinforcement learning process that refines and sharpens frontier models after they are trained.

“If you think about how you stay ahead in the AI race, compute is one piece of that,” Klein said. “But increasingly reinforcement learning is critical. Distillation allows you to extract those capabilities.”

He emphasized that advanced chips still “very much matter,” but said policymakers must think about the issue “holistically.”

Anthropic said it has shared its findings with relevant U.S. government entities and industry partners. Klein suggested publicly naming the labs could prompt “thoughtful government action” or at least engagement with the companies involved.

At the same time, the company said it has no evidence that the Chinese government directly coordinated the campaigns. But proxy services used to resell access to U.S. frontier AI models operate openly in China.

Washington has tried to slow China’s AI progress by limiting access to the most advanced computer chips used to train powerful systems. But Anthropic argues that even without direct access to those chips, foreign labs can still copy parts of a model’s intelligence by repeatedly querying it and training their own systems on the answers.

On Feb. 12, OpenAI sent a memo to the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party alleging that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek systematically “stole” its intellectual property through large-scale distillation. According to OpenAI, DeepSeek employees used third-party routers and masking techniques to bypass geographic access restrictions and harvest outputs from ChatGPT.

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That same day, Google’s Threat Intelligence Group warned of what it described as “distillation attacks” targeting its Gemini models. Google said it observed campaigns using more than 100,000 prompts aimed at replicating Gemini’s reasoning abilities. The company attributed the activity to “private-sector companies” as well as state-aligned actors.

Together, the reports suggest distillation has emerged as a growing flashpoint in the U.S.–China AI race, raising questions about how frontier American systems can be protected even when direct transfers of model weights and cutting-edge chips are restricted.

Anthropic has been in the spotlight in recent weeks amid reported tensions with the Pentagon over how its AI models can be used in military operations. War Secretary Pete Hegseth is meeting with CEO Dario Amodei to discuss terms governing military use of Claude. Administration officials said Anthropic asked questions about the model’s reported role in a U.S. operation targeting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, suggesting the company wouldn’t approve of its product being used, while Anthropic insisted disagreements were over mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.

FIRST ON FOX: The family of a slain Louisiana police officer will have the chance to see President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night after being invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

The top congressional leader is bringing the wife and fiancée of Marc Tyler Brock to Trump’s primetime address, Fox News Digital learned on Monday.

“It is my profound honor to host Shirley Brock-Dennis and Kambreigh Smith — the respective mother and fiancée of Vivian Police Officer Marc Brock — as my guests for the State of the Union address. In November, Officer Brock was tragically killed in the line of duty,” Johnson told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP INVITES US MEN’S HOCKEY TEAM TO STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH AFTER OLYMPIC TRIUMPH

The speaker called Brock “an extraordinary young man who touched countless lives through his service and volunteer activities,” and said his death is a “somber reminder” of the risks that law enforcement officers take every day.

“I am grateful that Shirley and Kambreigh will join us and help share Officer Brock’s story with the nation,” Johnson said.

Brock, 25, was killed late last year while attempting to serve an arrest warrant against a man who at the time was charged with cyberstalking in Vivian, La., according to local outlet KLFY.

Vivian is located in Louisiana’s 4th congressional district, which Johnson represents.

JOHNSON PRAISES TRUMP’S ‘BOLD ACTION’ IN FORMAL STATE OF THE UNION INVITATION LETTER TO CONGRESS

The House speaker will be front-and-center when millions of Americans tune in to Trump’s State of the Union speech, his second address to a joint session of Congress since returning to the White House last year.

He and the vice president will both be sitting behind Trump as he speaks to Americans and assembled officials about what he has done so far and what he has left to do in his final term.

Brock was part of a six-person team serving a warrant in November 2025 when he was shot through a closed door and was later declared dead at the hospital. 

He was described as a “hero” by Vivian Police Chief Ryan Nelson in comments to KSLA News.

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The man who killed him was charged with first-degree murder earlier this month.

Johnson himself has ties to public safety officers, his late father having been a firefighter in Shreveport, La.

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely believed to have White House ambitions, is facing blowback over a viral clip that critics say portrays him talking down to Black voters while discussing his poor test scores and reading ability. 

“I’m not, you know, I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you, I’m like you. I’m no better than you,” Newsom told Mayor Andre Dickens at a book tour event on Sunday in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Rialto Center for the Arts.

“You know, I’m a 960 SAT guy. And, you know, and I’m not trying to offend anyone, you know, ‘trying to act all there if you got 940,’ Newsom continued. “Literally a 960 SAT guy, you’ve never seen me read a speech. Because I cannot read a speech. Maybe the wrong business to be in.”

The clip, first posted by the conservative influencer account End Wokeness, has been viewed over 20 million times after being posted on Sunday, with many conservatives suggesting that Newsom’s comment was “racist.”

NEWSOM SAYS ‘FATE’ WILL DECIDE IF HE FACES OFF AGAINST HARRIS IN 2028 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

“His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read,” rapper Nickii Minaj posted on X. “Do you wanna know the craziest part of this footage that will haunt him forever? He’s literally slowing his speech down & talking in a sporadic cadence.”

“I can’t believe this is real,” conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok posted on X. “Where’s BLM and Democrats denouncing this racism?”

“He said this to appear down with black folks,” Founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics Jennifer Sey posted on X. “Could he be more racist? Like actually really racist?”

“The soft bigotry of low expectations,” GOP Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X. 

NEWSOM CONFRONTED ON CALIFORNIA BEING THE ‘HIGHEST COST OF LIVING’ STATE IN THE US AMID AFFORDABILITY CRISIS

“This is disqualifying,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha posted on X. “Run this ad over and over in 2027-2028…”

“California governor Gavin Newsom tells a black audience he’s just like them, got a 960 SAT and he can’t read,” Outkick founder Clay Travis posted on X. “Will any Democrats planning to run in 2028 hit on him on this? They should, moronic statement.”

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“If any Republican said what this moron Newscum said their political careers would be over,” conservative radio host Mark Levin posted on X. “Let’s see how the Democrats and their media react.”

“Liberal racism on display,” political commentator Carol Swain posted on X. 

Newsom’s office defended his comments in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“First MAGA mocked his dyslexia and now they’re calling him racist for talking about his low SAT scores. This is MAGA-manufactured outrage,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said. 

“The Governor has said this publicly for years — including with Charlie Kirk and dozens of other audiences. The same people who excused or ignored Trump’s racist ape video can go f*** themselves.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Atlanta mayor’s office for comment.

Newsom, who is on the road promoting his new memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” is considered a top contender for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028 as most pundits believe he has his eyes on the White House.