NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: One of the top Republican contenders for governor in Georgia hyped that he would “be Trump’s favorite governor” and is vying for President Donald Trump’s endorsement, but his Federal Election Commission records reveal he financially backed multiple GOP rivals of Trump during the 2024 presidential race.

In particular, two top contenders, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and billionaire healthcare entrepreneur Rick Jackson, have been sparring over who is more aligned with Trump. 

“This Primary Election is very simple,” Jones says on his campaign website. “There is one authentic conservative who has fought for President Trump.” Meanwhile, Jackson has assured voters that he would “be Trump’s favorite governor” after donating $1 million to the president’s political action committee, MAGA Inc. less than two months before he jumped in the race last month.

However, Jackson and his network of companies and investment groups have a history of donating funds to Trump’s rivals, including during his 2024 presidential bid prior to him obtaining the Republican Party nomination, according to a Fox News Digital review of FEC filings. Jackson gave at least $150,000 to Nikki Haley and $100,000 to Vivek Ramaswamy, who were both running against Trump at the time.

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Jackson Investment Group, an entity that Jackson has controlled for decades, according to a 2024 SEC filing, spent at least $150,000 supporting Nikki Haley through the SFA Fund, INC., and Team Stand for America. The SFA Fund, INC. received three separate donations from the Jackson Investment Group totaling at least $140,000 between 2023 and 2024, including $40,000 weeks before Haley suspended her campaign in early 2024. Jackson also directly gave $10,000 to Team Stand for America, a joint fundraising committee that was supporting Haley.

The $100,000 donation from the Jackson Investment Group to Ramaswamy’s super PAC occurred in July 2023, months before he suspended his campaign in Jan. 2024.

Jackson has also donated across the last decade to other Trump rivals like former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., former Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and over $1 million in support of Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign against Trump, FEC filings show. Jackson also contributed funds against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., when she was fully on the MAGA train in 2020, and donated to Sen. Lindsay Graham’s, R-S.C., 2016 presidential bid shortly after he dropped out and endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

The $2,700 donation to Cheney’s leadership PAC, The Great Task, came weeks after she joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump after they said he incited the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

Jackson, the wealthy founder of Jackson Healthcare who is seeding his own campaign with at least $50 million, shook up a primary field that many had expected was set in stone between Jones, the Trump-endorsed front-runner, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr. 

The newcomer to the race has brushed off attacks that he is not sufficiently loyal to Trump, comparing himself to people serving in Trump’s orbit who were once skeptics of the president, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. When reached for comment about his previous donations to Trump rivals, a Jackson campaign spokesperson pivoted to Jones. 

“Self-dealing Burt Jones is recycling old attacks to distract from his failing campaign. From shielding doctors who perform sex change surgeries on minors to protecting Chinese vape manufacturers for campaign cash and family profit, the more Georgians learn about Burt Jones, the more they realize he operates like the kingpin of the Atlanta political mob. That’s why even with the endorsement, Burt Jones is losing,” Dave Abrams, a Jackson campaign spokesperson, told Fox News Digital when reached for comment.

“To be clear, President Trump endorsed Burt Jones for governor,” a former senior Trump White House official told Fox News Digital. “Rick Jackson claiming he is Trump’s ‘favorite’ is downright dishonest.”

Kayla Lott, a campaign spokesperson for Jones, contested the claim from Jackson’s team that he has worked to protect Chinese vape manufacturers, arguing the Lt. Gov.’s efforts on a bill that would have created a directory of authorized nicotine vapor products was about preventing monopolization and promoting free-market solutions. Lott also pointed to Jones’ support for House Bill 54, preventing minors from obtaining sex-change surgeries or drug treatment. 

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“Never Trumper Rick Jackson bankrolled candidates running against President Trump and the America First agenda,” Lott said. “Now he’s lying to voters to try and cover it up. As the only Trump-endorsed candidate in this race, Lt. Governor Burt Jones will always stand up for Georgians and stand with our President. Not even Slick Rick can buy his way out of his own record.” 

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Even before his support for Bush in 2016, Jackson supported Romney, another Trump rival who has described the president as a “phony” and a “fraud.” FEC filings show that Jackson spent over $100,000 supporting Romney’s presidential campaign and his political action committee, Romney Victory Inc. Trump repeatedly said Romney “choked” in 2012 and “let us all down.”

Jackson, Jones, Carr and Raffensperger will duke it out in their upcoming primary on May 19, with the general election to follow in early November.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is facing backlash for criticizing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for the Pentagon’s spending on luxury items, including food for the miliary, despite similar expenses under former Biden administration Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.

The top Senate Democrat said Hegseth’s spending in the final month of fiscal year 2025, $93.4 billion, which included millions of dollars on steak, seafood and furniture, could have instead been used to extend the Affordable Care Act.

Social media users panned Schumer online for the remarks, accusing him of cherry-picking a politically convenient area to care about spending, lambasting him for not supporting feeding high-quality meals to military members and citing similar defense spending during the Biden era. 

“Hegseth spent $93 billion in one month – roughly the cost of extending the ACA tax credits for THREE YEARS,” Schumer wrote. “But instead of lowering American’s healthcare costs, Hegseth used millions of taxpayer dollars on fruit baskets, Herman Miller recliners, ice cream machines, Alaskan King Crabs, and a Steinway & Sons grand piano.

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“A true grifter in every sense of the word.”

During the Biden administration, Austin’s spending nearly mirrored Hegseth’s. Food expenses across administrations went toward feeding members of the military, according to the nonprofit Open the Books, which conducted the spending analyses.

There is no record of Schumer scrutinizing Austin’s spending. Fox News Digital reached out to the senator’s office for comment on the matter.

Defense spending is historically modest compared to past decades, representing a small fraction of the United States’ gross domestic product at 3.7%. Its share of the GDP has decreased significantly since the 1950s, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 

Schumer’s grievance also comes as he leads Senate Democrats’ resistance to funding the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for about a month. Democrats have demanded changes to the department’s deportation policies, which are nonstarters for Republicans. Essential DHS components, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, remain operational at this stage, but some agencies, like the Transportation Security Administration, are facing pains as workers go unpaid.

Critics slammed Schumer over the comment on social media. 

Fox News analyst Guy Benson called Schumer “the leader of the ‘Learing Center’ fraud party,” in reference to a viral video about welfare fraud scandals in Minnesota, saying Schumer “finally [discovered] one spending line item he’s willing to cut.”

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, said Schumer “thinks it’s bad that U.S. troops get to eat steak & lobster during deployment” and that the Affordable Care Act is a “failed” plan that makes healthcare more expensive.

“Remember that Democrats would have you eating MREs,” another commenter posted, referring to military-issued “Meals Ready to Eat.”

“Chuck Schumer hates the troops,” Republican communicator Steve Guest wrote. 

A commentary writer for the conservative Washington Examiner said, “You said nothing in 2024.”

Another social media user told Schumer he “should’ve done the 30 seconds of research to find Lloyd Austin’s September 2024 expenditures before posting. Missed your outrage back then.”

Hegseth’s spending in September 2025 was the highest the Pentagon has seen on grants and contracts since September 2008. Austin, however, held the record before that, spending $79.1 billion in September 2024.

The last month of the fiscal year has long been notorious for spending that appears lavish as agencies face pressure to “use it or lose it” so that they can justify keeping their budget for the next year. Contract and grant payment schedules also include September due dates, which can contribute to the spending uptick.

In 2024 under Austin, according to an audit by Open the Books, “the military spent $103.7 million on meat, fish and poultry in September, partially because it ordered raw lobster tail 147 times for $6.1 million. It also dropped $16.6 million on ribeye steak, $6.4 million on salmon and $407,000 on Alaskan king crab.”

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Similar to Austin, Hegseth spent $6.9 million on lobster tail, Open the Books found. Austin spent about $1.5 million more than Hegseth on ribeye steaks. Hegseth more than quadrupled Austin’s spending on Alaskan king crab, while Austin’s spending on salmon was roughly six times that of Hegseth’s. The food went toward feeding military personnel, the nonprofit noted.

The Biden and Trump administration’s Pentagon expenses saw parallels for other line items, too. Hegseth’s $5.3 million on Apple products is comparable to Austin’s $5.1 million. Both spent more than $1 million on musical instruments. Hegseth tripled Austin’s spending on footrests at about $111,000, according to the data. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and the Pentagon. 

Michael Allen, a Republican candidate for Colorado attorney general, said he was “shocked” by a Democratic proposal to legalize prostitution, warning it would “open the floodgates” to human trafficking in Colorado.

“It’s hard for me to even decipher why they’ve decided this is the time and place to introduce a radical bill like this,” Allen said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

The bill, which sponsors said would “decriminalize adult commercial sexual activity,” was introduced last month by Democratic state Sens. Nick Hinrichsen and Lisa Cutter and Reps. Lorena García and Rebekah Stewart. 

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According to Allen, the bill would go far beyond Nevada’s law allowing prostitution and would make Colorado “the leader in the entire country on legalized prostitution.”

“I was shocked,” Allen admitted.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me. It would not solve any issue that is happening on the ground in Colorado. It would not help with our huge budget deficit. It will not help our crime deficit,” he said.

“It is, frankly, very appalling to me that we’ve got four members of the left-leaning Democrat legislature who thought it would be a good idea to just open the floodgates and let these criminal actors run free without any repercussions.”

The bill sponsors did not respond to requests for comment. 

A current Colorado district attorney, Allen is one of two Republicans running to flip one of the state’s top offices red. If successful, Allen would be the first Republican elected attorney general in over a decade.

Allen said, despite the state being dominated by Democrats, he believes that, after 10 years of “devastatingly bad criminal justice reform,” voters are ready for a Republican attorney general.

Though the bill appears to have stalled for now in the state legislature, Allen said it demonstrates how the Democratic Party is “not doing the right things on behalf of the people in this state.”

The only outcome he predicts will result should the prostitution bill ever pass is “continued depravity in the state of Colorado.”

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“Prostitution is a natural outgrowth of human trafficking,” he said. “The links are undeniable.”

He explained that, in Colorado, “You’ve got two major corridors of travel that go through the state,” which, he said, “are major arteries for human trafficking, and we see that in the Denver metro area as a huge hub for human trafficking.”

Colorado is seeing record highs in human trafficking victims and is ranked among the states with the highest numbers of reports, according to data gathered by the Common Sense Institute. Further, according to the study, 79% of Colorado human trafficking crimes were for the purposes of commercial sex. The study also backs Allen’s claim that the trafficking is concentrated in the Denver area.

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As attorney general, Allen vowed to work to finally turn the tables on the rampant human trafficking in Colorado.

“The attorney general’s office has the ability to use the statewide grand jury to investigate those crimes and then also prosecute those crimes and hold people accountable,” he said.

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He believes the upcoming midterm election in Colorado, including his race for attorney general, will be “pivotal.”

“We need to have a better, stronger and more effective posture from our Colorado Attorney General’s Office to combat criminal activity that is, frankly, affecting the entire state of Colorado,” he said.

Sen. John Cornyn’s reversal on scrapping the Senate filibuster is sparking backlash among some supporters of the 60-vote rule, with one leading proponent, former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., accusing the Texas Republican of ditching his longstanding position for political expediency. 

“When I was a U.S. Senator, there was not another person more committed to keeping the filibuster than Senator John Cornyn,” Manchin wrote in a scathing social media post Thursday. “He understood the incredible political pressure I faced from my former party to get rid of the filibuster and give Democrats complete power — and at the time, he understood why neither party should take our country past this point of no return.”

“These extreme election-year politics that put party power over everything else are why Americans are sick and tired of the duopoly of the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans,” Manchin added.

Cornyn, who is locked in a heated run-off election to win a fifth Senate term, called on Republicans in an op-ed Wednesday to consider ditching the filibuster Wednesday to pass a Trump-backed election bill. The measure, known as the (Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility) SAVE Act, is facing an uphill battle in the Senate due to expected unanimous opposition from Democrats. Under Senate rules, most legislation is subject to a 60-vote threshold to cut off debate and move on to final passage.

The editorial was a notable shift for the Texas Republican, who previously defended the merits of the filibuster.

“For many years, I believed that if the U.S. Senate scrapped the filibuster, Texas and our nation would stand to lose more than we would gain,” Cornyn wrote. “But when the reality on the ground changes, leaders must take stock and adapt.”

Cornyn is currently vying in a two-man race against State Attorney General Ken Paxton, R-Texas, during which President Donald Trump’s endorsement could prove decisive. The president has repeatedly called on Senate Republicans to abolish the 60-vote requirement or pursue a rarely-tried talking filibuster and send the SAVE America Act to his desk. Paxton has previously come out in support of ending the Senate filibuster.

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Manchin, a former Democrat-turned-Independent who passed on running for re-election in 2024, alleged that Cornyn personally reached out to him after he defeated Democrats’ gambit to nix the 60-vote rule under former President Joe Biden.

In early 2022, Manchin supplied the critical vote alongside former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Republicans to tank a Democratic-led effort to abolish the filibuster and pass so-called voting rights legislation.

“It’s deeply disappointing to see that Senator Cornyn is now willing to scrap the very rule he once praised and personally thanked me for defending,” Manchin wrote.

At that time, Cornyn urged Democrats to preserve the filibuster while Republicans were serving in the minority.

“Power is fleeting and at some point the shoe will always be on the other foot,” Cornyn said in a floor speech. “Liberal activists may like the idea of nuking the filibuster today, but they’ll soon find themselves ruing the day their party broke the Senate.”

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Cornyn denied Manchin’s account Thursday. He has also argued that his reversal on the Senate filibuster was not aimed at winning Trump’s endorsement. 

“There’s no Joe Manchins left in the Democratic Party and no Kyrsten Sinemas …this is an entirely different circumstance, dealing with Democrats who will not negotiate or consider anything that President Trump or Republicans want,” the Texas Republican told reporters. “We can either accept that or we can fight back, and I think we should fight back.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who has come under significant pressure from Trump and conservative influencers to pass the SAVE America Act, indicated Wednesday that the filibuster is here to stay regardless of Cornyn’s pleas.

“Senator Cornyn is one of 53 Republican senators, and the opposition to nuking the filibuster runs very, very deep in our conference,” Thune told reporters.

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Manchin has continued to sing the filibuster’s praises in his retirement, arguing that the 60-vote threshold protects the minority party and forces legislation to be bipartisan.

“The filibuster — the soul of the Senate — has preserved the Senate’s role for nearly 250 years as the institution that cools passions, protects minority voices, and demands consensus,” Manchin said. “America was built on institutions designed to resist political convenience, not surrender to it.”

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

Senate Republicans are accusing Senate Democrats of trying to rip apart the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) piece by piece after again blocking a bid to reopen the agency.

Little has changed in the stalemate over the last 27 days of the partial shutdown, and communication breakdowns are dominating what could be opportunities for negotiations.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus are still demanding stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while Senate Republicans are dug in against their top demands.

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Throughout the day, Senate Democrats tried to offer individual bills to fund pieces and parts of DHS. A fired-up Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., accused Senate Democrats of trying to rip the agency apart at a moment it was designed for, as the war in Iran has spurred threats of retaliation in the U.S. by sleeper cells.

“And that’s at a time when our homeland is under attack, all warning lights are flashing red, and they want to peel apart, piece by piece, the Department of Homeland Security, the comprehensive department of our government to protect the American people, because they want to stand with illegal immigrant criminals,” Barrasso said.

Schumer declared that Senate Democrats would continue to provide piecemeal funding bills to reopen certain portions of the agency, like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), while negotiations continued.

Both sides are far apart from finding a compromise, as many lawmakers have acknowledged in the ongoing fight to reopen the agency, but Democrats believe that carving out ICE funding could be a palatable option for Republicans, given that immigration operations were funded with President Donald Trump’s “One 
Big, Beautiful Bill.”

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“We don’t have to tie that disagreement up and use people at the airports and American citizens as hostages,” Schumer said.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., argued that doing so would effectively return Congress to the “defund the police” era and drew a sharp red line against any kind of carveout proposal from Senate Democrats.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who has offered a DHS funding bill without ICE or Customs and Border Patrol, told Fox News Digital that criticism was “not true.”

“It was funded by the [‘One Big, Beautiful Bill,’] and we have told them they’re not going to fund ICE until there are reforms to ICE,” Murray said. “We have made that clear. We put them out there, and they are pretending to just ignore that.”

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., shot back that Republicans have tried on several occasions to temporarily fund the agency with short-term, two-week continuing resolutions (CRs) that Democrats have blocked.

“I assume the Democrat leader is aware of the fact that we have tried repeatedly to fund everything temporarily to allow the negotiations over the ICE budget to continue,” Thune said.

While several attempts from both sides were made to either fund the agency in chunks or reopen it temporarily, each was blocked.

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Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who tried to force a vote on a standalone funding bill for TSA as lines at airports around the country swell while security agents go without pay, told Fox News Digital that Republicans’ move to block her bill showed they “don’t care about their constituents, the traveling public, and the folks who work there who are not part of this discussion or this argument.”

“It says the Republican priorities are just for Donald Trump and no one else,” Rosen said.

Pentagon officials on Tuesday told legislators during a closed-door briefing that they estimated that the cost of the Iran war was more than $11.3 billion during the initial six days of the conflict, the New York Times reported, citing three unnamed individuals familiar with the briefing.

That estimate did not encompass many expenses tied to the effort, such as buildup of military assets and personnel prior to the first strikes, the outlet added.

Other reports indicate that the briefing involved senators.

A Senate Armed Services Committee staffer, who noted that he could only speak for the minority staff and Ranking Member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., referred Fox News Digital to a March 10 letter that the senator sent to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, pressing for information about the costs of the war.

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“Since the initial strikes on February 28, 2026, how much has the Department spent on these operations? How much are the daily costs of these operations? What are the costs to readiness? How much funding does the Department need to replenish munitions and aircraft combat losses?” Reed asked in part of the letter.

No comment was provided by the GOP side of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the Department of War and the House Armed Services Committee Republican communications office on Thursday.

The war-related outlays come as the ever-expanding U.S. national debt nears the $39 trillion mark.

And while President Donald Trump has been waging the costly war in conjunction with Israel, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, Americans have been seeing a significant surge in gas prices at home.

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“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money. BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping [sic] an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World. I won’t ever let that happen!” Trump said in a Thursday Truth Social post.

A massive bipartisan swell advanced a Trump-backed affordable housing package out of the Senate on Thursday, but its fate in the House is up in the air.

The bill, renamed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to incorporate a previous Senate housing bill that stalled last year, easily sailed through the upper chamber, given that many lawmakers support the wide-ranging slate of measures designed to increase the supply of affordable housing.

In its original form, the legislation was primarily intended to help first-time homebuyers and lower-income Americans enter the housing market or gain access to more affordable housing options.

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The Senate tweaked the legislation, adding a ban on institutional investors sought by President Donald Trump, who earlier this year signed an executive order barring the practice. During his State of the Union address last month, Trump urged Congress to codify the ban and said, “We want homes for people, not for corporations.”

That provision gave some heartburn, notably to Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and several industry groups, who warned that the way it was designed — forcing owners of 350 or more units to sell after seven years — would kneecap the build-to-rent market and harm the supply of rentals throughout the country.

That was not enough to slow the bill down in the Senate, but Trump’s declaration that he wouldn’t sign any bills unless the Senate passed voter ID legislation, along with House Republicans grumbling over changes to the bill, could spell trouble ahead.

Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., co-lead of the House’s version of the bill, told Fox News Digital, “It seems to me that there are outstanding concerns with the Senate’s housing bill as currently drafted.”

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He echoed Schatz’s concern about the build-to-rent supply consequences and added that the bill was “intended to cut costs, but the Senate removed important bipartisan House provisions that would have slashed barriers to building more homes.”

“Their process is still ongoing, and I am holding out hope for some fixes, but time runs short,” Flood said. “Given the bill’s current state, I think a conference may be the most viable path forward.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he believes that once the bill makes it through the Senate, “the White House will be wanting to work with our House counterparts to try and get it passed over there and get it on the President’s desk.”

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“We know we’ve added some things to the bill here in the Senate that were designed to make it more palatable to the House. I know there are other issues they would like to address in it, some of the banking issues too, but I think this is, by and large, a housing bill.”

“So, we think we have really put together a strong bill,” Thune continued. “It’s something that hasn’t been done in over a decade.”

It’s a product of negotiations between Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., its top Democrat.

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The pair argued that the changes made should make the legislation more palatable to their House counterparts.

“The package includes the vast majority of the Senate’s unanimously supported ROAD to Housing Act, incorporates bipartisan ideas from the House, and takes a good first step to rein in corporate landlords that are squeezing families out of homeownership,” Warren said earlier this month. “Congress should pass this package and continue working on further legislation to combat our nation’s housing crisis.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents busted a South Texas human smuggling ring, resulting in the arrests and sentencing of gangbangers who kidnapped a family and sexually assaulted a pregnant mother.

Rodolfo Daniel De Hoyos, 22, a human smuggler who goes by the nickname “Rufles,” was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison on Monday for conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy. The sentencing was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas on Tuesday.

De Hoyos is the fifth of nine human smugglers arrested in Kinney County, Texas, as a result of an investigation by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the cooperation of the Texas Department of Public Safety and several other law enforcement agencies. The investigation is part of the Trump administration’s Operation Take Back America.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, De Hoyos was involved in the kidnapping and attempted extortion of a family of illegal immigrants, consisting of a man, a pregnant woman and a seven-year-old child. The office said the smugglers sexually assaulted the pregnant woman and held the family for ransom. They obtained at least $1,000 from a relative and further threatened to kill the seven-year-old child and sell the unborn baby if additional payments were not made.

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De Hoyos was first arrested in 2021 by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who observed him transporting three passengers wearing dirty clothing, hiking boots and camouflage backpacks. At the time, De Hoyos admitted the three passengers were illegal aliens and that he was being paid $1,500 to transport them to Del Rio. He was arrested again in August 2023 in relation to the kidnapping of the family.

Besides De Hoyos, four others have been sentenced. Texas man Juan Antonio Flores, 36, was sentenced to more than 17 years for his role in coordinating the smuggling trips. Two other co-conspirators, Tomas Estrada-Torres, 47, and Nelson Abilio Castro-Zelaya, received sentences of more than 12 years and 15 years, respectively.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Guatemalan national, Edwin Alfredo Barrientos-Mateo, nicknamed “Waches,” was sentenced to 30 years in prison in connection with the smuggling ring.

According to Simmons’ office, four other co-conspirators — Ambar Obregon, Pedro Ruiz Gonzalez, Armando Garcia-Martinez and Anthony Ballones Jr. — have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

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Besides ICE HSI and the Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Border Patrol, the Eagle Pass Police Department, the Austin Police Department, the Houston Police Department, and the Comal County Sheriff’s Office also assisted with the investigation.

In a word of caution to would-be illegal aliens, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin Simmons said that “alien smuggling organizations care nothing about the hopes and dreams of those they smuggle.”

“When they look at an illegal alien, all they see is a dollar sign,” he went on, adding, “Do not trust them with your life because the only life they really care about is their own.”

This week, Simmons’ office also announced that 36-year-old Mexican national Pedro Luis Martinez-Jaquez was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for his leadership role in a conspiracy to transport hundreds of illegal aliens, resulting in at least one death.

Simmons called Martinez-Jaquez “one of the most prolific facilitators of alien smuggling in the last decade.” He said that over the course of an 18-month operation, Martinez-Jaquez made hundreds of thousands of dollars transporting illegal aliens into the U.S.

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Both stings were the result of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative launched by the Trump administration last year to “achieve total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell moved quickly behind the scenes after the Justice Department opened a criminal probe into his statements to Congress, with his calendar showing a burst of outreach to U.S. lawmakers.

The entries don’t reveal what was discussed, but they show Powell made 13 calls to senators and House members shortly after he accused the DOJ of using subpoenas as a “pretext” to ramp up pressure on the central bank to cut rates. The rapid-fire calls ranged from 10 to 15 minutes each. 

The Fed releases Powell’s monthly schedule with about a two-month lag, which is why the scope of that outreach is only now coming into view.

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Powell’s calendar lists calls with Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; John Kennedy, R-La.; Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; James Lankford, R-Okla.; and Tim Scott, R-S.C., as well as Reps. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio; Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Powell’s schedule also lists a breakfast meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Jan. 15, four days after the investigation was disclosed.

Working Capitol Hill has long been central to Powell’s playbook, with the Fed chair regularly logging more one-on-one time with lawmakers than any modern predecessor. 

DOJ’S CRIMINAL PROBE OF FED CHAIR POWELL SPARKS RARE GOP REVOLT ON CAPITOL HILL

Still, the week of Jan. 11 stood out even for Powell. The last time he reached more lawmakers in a single week was February 2025, ahead of his semiannual testimony, when he typically schedules a run of prehearing calls with key members.

This burst was different, though it followed Powell’s Jan. 11 disclosure that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation tied to his congressional testimony on the Federal Reserve’s two historic main buildings on the National Mall.

Powell, in a rare video statement, called the probe “unprecedented” and described it as another salvo in what he described as President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on the central bank to cut rates. The unusually public response followed days of private consultations with advisors and stood out for a Fed chair known for a measured approach.

The investigation centers on Powell’s June 2025 testimony to lawmakers, an unusual development for a sitting Fed chair.

TRUMP VS THE FEDERAL RESERVE: HOW THE CLASH REACHED UNCHARTED TERRITORY

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said: “There’s no new marble. There are no special elevators. They’re old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features. There are no beehives, and there’s no roof garden terraces.”

Powell added that no one “wants to do a major renovation of a historic building during their term in office,” and said cost overruns were driven in part by unexpected construction challenges and inflation.

The renovation is estimated to cost $2.5 billion and is being funded by the central bank itself, not by taxpayers.

The Fed is self-financing and does not rely on congressional appropriations to cover its operating expenses, which include employee salaries, facilities maintenance and the current renovation. Its primary income comes from interest earned on government securities and fees charged to financial institutions.

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Trump has repeatedly targeted the project, threatening legal action and mocking the renovation’s cost and design.

“They’re building a basement into the Potomac River. I could have told them. That’s very tough to do, and it doesn’t work, and it’s very expensive,” Trump said. “But they’re up to $4 billion, headed by this clown,” he added in November, referring to Powell.

Powell, a Trump nominee first tapped to lead the Fed in 2017, is expected to finish his term at the end of May. Trump has picked former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to replace Powell, but the nomination is effectively stuck after Sen. Thom Tillis vowed to block any Fed nominees while the DOJ probe remains open.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on Powell’s calendar.

As the American military continues bombarding Iran amid the ongoing war against the Islamic Republic, U.S. Central Command shared video footage of strikes against aircraft sitting on the ground.

“The Iranian regime is losing air capability day by day,” CENTCOM wrote in a late Wednesday post on X.

“U.S. forces aren’t just defending against Iranian threats, we are methodically dismantling them,” the post added.

TRUMP SUDDENLY SEEMS ANXIOUS TO END THE WAR AS AMERICAN CASUALTIES MOUNT AND IRAN FINDS WAYS TO HIT BACK

No American fighter planes have been downed by Iran, according to CENTCOM. 

“An IRGC leader has claimed that a U.S. F-15 was shot down today south of Tehran. LIE,” CENTCOM indicated in a Wednesday post on X. 

“No U.S. fighter aircraft have been shot down by Iran. U.S. forces continue to exercise air superiority over vast swaths of Iran. TRUTH,” the post added.

DEMOCRATS THREATEN TO GRIND SENATE TO A HALT TO FORCE PUBLIC IRAN HEARINGS

The Wall Street Journal indicated in a report last week that while the U.S. and Israel are operating modern aircraft like the F-35, the age and weakness of Iranian aircraft mark a vulnerability that requires Iran to rely on the ballistic missile program targeted by American and Israeli strikes.

ISRAEL SAYS FIGHTER JET TOOK DOWN IRANIAN WARPLANE, THE FIRST SHOOTDOWN OF ITS KIND

Earlier this month CENTCOM reported that three U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets had been downed in “an apparent friendly fire incident.”

“During active combat — that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses,” the March 2 press release. “Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation.”

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The release noted that the six aircrew members safely ejected and were recovered.

While House Republicans gathered in South Florida to map out their strategy ahead of November’s midterm elections, one GOP lawmaker said she “jumped in to assist” with evacuation efforts overseas amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital that she traveled to the Middle East on Sunday after she learned a South Carolina family was trapped in the wake of the conflict.

“When your people are stranded in a war zone, the only answer worthy of the office, worthy of our state, worthy of our country, is to get them out,” Mace, who is running to be South Carolina’s next governor, said in a statement.

After the family made it safely back to South Carolina, Mace said she stayed in the region and partnered with Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa-based crisis response group led by military veterans, to evacuate more Americans. Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens have scrambled to leave the Middle East following widespread flight cancellations and airspace closures due to Iranian counterstrikes.

PRIVATE SECURITY FIRM HELPING AMERICANS EVACUATE THE MIDDLE EAST AMID WAR WITH IRAN

Mace said she worked with the State Department to charter a flight for the stranded Americans while the private nonprofit supplied logistics for the rescue mission. On Wednesday night, Mace and dozens of American families on the flight landed in Greece.

Mace said 155 Americans — including 11 infants — were evacuated from Israel as part of Grey Bull Rescue’s 808th mission. The group says it has rescued 591 Americans from the region since the outbreak of the conflict.

“They had the people but didn’t have the plane. I jumped in to assist,” Mace said. “Tonight I am grateful. And I will never forget what I saw. What I learned. And the Americans who volunteered and who are serving our nation patriotically tonight.”

“Congresswoman Mace was fully embedded with our team, not to watch, but to work to save lives,” Bryan Stern, founder and chairman of Grey Bull Rescue, told Fox News Digital. “While a core value of Grey Bull Rescue is to be absolutely apolitical we are always PROUD AMERICANS to see our elected officials fighting for their constituents.”

WNBA’S TIFFANY MITCHELL AND FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYERS STUCK IN ISRAEL AMID STRIKES

Grey Bull Rescue has been operating in the Middle East since 2023, during which the volunteer organization evacuated more than 300 Americans from Israel following the Oct. 7 attack.

The group recently helped Americans escape cartel violence in Mexico, following the killing of a notorious drug lord in February, and also facilitated the extraction of Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado from her home country in 2025.

Over 43,000 Americans have departed the Middle East since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, according to the State Department. Over 27,000 of those individuals received direct assistance from the U.S. government in evacuating the region, a department spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

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The Trump administration advised Americans in 14 countries across the Middle East to “depart now” on Feb. 2, following a rise in security threats. Some Americans initially stranded in the region have criticized the State Department for failing to clearly communicate and distributing insufficient evacuation guidance.

A four-time deported illegal immigrant from Honduras with 15 prior criminal charges shoved two victims onto the tracks at a New York City subway station this week, including an 83-year-old Air Force veteran who remains in critical condition, according to reports. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicated Wednesday evening that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer against Honduran national Bairon Posada-Herandez, 34, after he was arrested for allegedly shoving two men – unprovoked – onto the train tracks inside the NYC subway system. The older male, 83-year-old Air Force veteran and grandfather Richard Williams, is reportedly still fighting for his life at a New York City hospital.

Posada-Hernandez first entered the country in 2008, and was subsequently deported four separate times, the last time being in July 2020, before reentering later for a fifth time at an unknown location and date, Fox News Digital has learned.

At the time of the subway incident this week, Posada-Hernandez had a lengthy criminal history as well, including at least 15 prior charges for crimes such as aggravated assault, domestic violence, possession of a weapon, obstruction of police, simple assault and drug possession.

SPARKS FLY AS GOP SENATOR REACTS TO BIDEN ADVISOR’S ‘I DON’T KNOW’ ANSWER ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LAW

“Bairon Posada-Herandez is a serial criminal, and four-time deported illegal alien from Honduras who should never have been able to walk our streets and harm innocent Americans,” said DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “We are praying for the victims and their families. DHS is calling upon New York sanctuary politicians to commit to this ICE detainer and not release this heinous criminal back into New York communities.”    

Fox News Digital reached out to the New York City Department of Correction, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, and the New York Police Department (NYPD) to inquire about whether there were plans to honor ICE’s detainer against Posada-Hernandez. The Department of Corrections responded, but did not directly answer any of Fox News Digital’s questions, instead pointing Fox News Digital to the publicly available information located on its “Person in Custody Lookup” database. 

Questions about Posada-Hernandez’s charges and future court dates were also left unanswered.

ICE HOUSTON TOUTS OVER 400 ILLEGAL ALIEN CHILD SEX OFFENDERS ARRESTED DURING TRUMP’S FIRST YEAR BACK IN OFFICE 

According to NYC’s custody database, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Posada-Hernandez was given a $100,000 bail following his arrest on Wednesday for First Degree Assault, a Class B Felony. However, other public reports have indicated that he was charged with attempted murder. 

Cell-phone footage from the younger male victim involved in the Wednesday incident surfaced following the subway attack this week, which showed Posada-Hernandez walking calmly away after allegedly pushing him. 

A passerby could be seen in the video trying to help the younger victim after he was first pushed. Then, Posada-Hernandez proceeded to spontaneously shove the older Williams onto the tracks as well. The younger victim suffered minor injuries, but Williams is reportedly in critical condition in the hospital. 

While it is unclear when Posada-Herandez returned to the United States after his fourth deportation in July 2020, what is known is that, under President Joe Biden, 5% of the entire population of Honduras entered the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

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In February, DHS condemned New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for signing an Executive Order “turning New York City into a shield for violent criminal illegal aliens to reoffend and create more innocent victims,” which also came not long after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s legislative proposal barring local police departments from cooperating with ICE. 

As of February, there were more than 7,110 illegal aliens in New York custody with an active ICE detainer, per DHS.

This includes 148 criminal illegal aliens accused of homicide, 717 accused of assault, 134 accused of burglaries, 240 accused of burglaries or robberies, 235 accused of dangerous drug offenses, 152 accused of weapons offenses, and 260 accused sexual predators, according to DHS.

President Donald Trump hailed the swift prosecution of the military campaign against Iran, but acknowledged there are terrorist “sleeper cells” in the U.S. that have to be watched and dealt with.

Trump said during a press gaggle Wednesday that he has been briefed on terror alerts and threats, including reported plans to conduct a drone attack in California, but he warned that any terrorists present in the country now might be the result of former President Joe Biden’s “stupid open border.”

“A lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border, but we know where most of them are: We’ve got our eye on all of them, I think,” Trump said.

“They came in through the open-border policies of Sleepy Joe Biden, one of the worst — the worst president in the history of our country — and we’ve got our eyes on all of them,” the president added.

TOP IRANIAN CYBERCRIMINAL ON FBI MOST WANTED LIST REPORTEDLY KILLED IN US-ISRAELI STRIKE

“But the war itself is being prosecuted at a level that nobody has seen before,” Trump continued. “It’s pretty — it’s pretty amazing to watch.”

When asked about a leaked law enforcement bulletin put out about a possible Iran revenge plot in California where a potential offshore boat might launch a drone swarm, Trump replied, “It’s being investigated, but you have a lot of things happening, and all we can do is take them as they come.”

US DESTROYS 16 IRANIAN MINE BOATS AS STRAIT OF HORMUZ OIL SHOWDOWN ESCALATES

“The war itself is being prosecuted as well as anybody has ever seen, and this is other countries telling me too,” he continued. “Big countries, powerful countries, they said they’ve never seen anything like it. And they also agree with what I’m doing. They say it’s an evil country, and it’s been for 47 years that way.”

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The warning of a California drone swarm attack is not new, having originated in February, but law enforcement has re-upped the monitoring amid Iran threats to retaliate against Israel and the U.S.

Senate Republicans know that Trump-backed voter ID legislation is doomed to fail and are trying to find a way to pin the blame on Senate Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., plans to bring the bill to the floor next week, but Republicans won’t take the route of launching into a talking filibuster, despite pressure from President Donald Trump and the GOP base to do so.

“We don’t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,” Thune said. “But that is just a function of math, and there isn’t anything I can do about that. I mean, I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed, as we all do.”

TRUMP, THUNE CLASH ON VOTER ID ULTIMATUM AS GOP REMAINS DIVIDED ON PATH FORWARD

While the end result after an exhaustive marathon of debate would allow Republicans to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act at a simple-majority threshold, Thune has time and again warned that the votes aren’t there among Republicans to block Democratic amendments that could completely reshape the bill.

Still, Trump and a sphere of online conservative voices are demanding that the bill pass at any cost. Trump warned that if it does not, Republicans will fall flat in the upcoming midterm election cycle. 

“It will guarantee the midterms. If you don’t get it, big trouble,” Trump told House Republicans at their annual policy retreat earlier this week. 

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are nearly unified in their opposition to the bill, save for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., which all but ensures its failure in the upper chamber.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reiterated his opposition to the SAVE America Act and charged that it was legislation geared toward “destroying” and “purging” voter rolls across the country.

“This is a bill that destroys the country,” Schumer said. “And it is not about showing ID when you show up to vote.”

THUNE GUARANTEES VOTER ID BILL TO HIT THE SENATE DESPITE SCHUMER, DEM OPPOSITION: ‘WE WILL HAVE A VOTE’

The other option for the GOP would be to nuke the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, which some argue Democrats would do anyway when they eventually regain control of the upper chamber.

There is not an appetite among Republicans to blow up the filibuster either.

“I suggest our first goal will be to try and pass it, but I understand how difficult that is, and I’m sympathetic with the position of not ending the filibuster,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital. “But short of that, our next goal ought to be to make sure the Democrats get blamed, because they’re the ones that are truly blocking this.”

A likely strategy that Republicans will turn to is in the spirit of the talking filibuster, just without the marathon of debate and amendment votes that process would yield.

SCHUMER, DEMS HOLD FIRM ON DHS FUNDING DESPITE NOEM’S BOMBSHELL OUSTING

Johnson, who, along with Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., met with Trump to push for the SAVE America Act, said that instead of a straight up-or-down vote on the bill, Republicans could flood the floor with amendments in a genuine bid to reshape the bill. Then would come a final vote at the end of the amendment flurry. 

Those add-ons to the bill would include tweaks that Trump has requested, like nixing mail-in ballots save for certain exceptions, banning men from women’s sports and halting transgender surgical procedures on minors.

“We’re getting the Democrats on record voting, ‘Oh, you want to keep mutilating children on the altar of transgenderism,’” Johnson said.

Another route to pass the bill could be through the budget reconciliation process, which Republicans used to ram Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” through Congress last year.

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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., has been the most vocal proponent of that tactic. But in order for the SAVE America Act to survive the reconciliation route, it would have to pass muster under the Byrd Rule, which requires that anything crammed into a reconciliation package have a budgetary effect.

Kennedy argued the best way to counter that is to lawyer up.

“It really comes down to what the [Senate] parliamentarian says, and I would get the best minds I could find to try to draft a provision that would survive Byrd,” Kennedy said. “When you argue or debate with the parliamentarian, you’ve got to be ready. You can’t just walk in there and pull it out of your orifices.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed Texas Republican Brandon Herrera after his primary rival exited the race amid an ethics investigation into an admitted affair with a former staffer.

Herrera, a self-described Second Amendment activist and social media personality, was touted by Trump as a Republican who would promote the MAGA agenda in Texas’ 23rd District.

“Brandon is strongly supported by many Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in Texas, and Republicans in the U.S. House,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “As your next Congressman, he will work tirelessly to advance our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Agenda.”

“Brandon will fight hard to Grow the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Advance MADE IN THE U.S.A., Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Safeguard our Elections, Champion School Choice, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Brave Military, Veterans, and Law Enforcement, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump added.

MIKE JOHNSON ASKS EMBATTLED HOUSE REPUBLICAN TONY GONZALES TO DROP RE-ELECTION BID

Herrera thanked the president for his endorsement, which adds to backing from conservative lawmakers, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Mary Miller, R-Ill.

“Thank you President Trump,” he said in a post on X. “It’s now time to take the fight to the Democrats in November and continue working to deliver great wins for TX23 and the rest of the nation.”

Trump’s endorsement comes after Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, announced last week that he would not seek re-election, clearing the path for Herrera to claim the GOP nomination.

TRUMP ALLY CLAY FULLER ADVANCES IN GEORGIA FIGHT FOR MTG’S FORMER SEAT

Herrera narrowly edged Gonzales by a 43.33% to 41.73% margin in Texas’ GOP primary for the 23rd Congressional District earlier this month, forcing a runoff because neither candidate earned 50% of the vote.

Gonzales — who was initially backed by Trump — bowed out of the race amid a House Ethics investigation into an affair he admitted took place with a former staffer.

Gonzales, a married father of six, admitted to the affair during an appearance on a conservative talk radio show the day after advancing to the primary runoff.

“I made a mistake, and I had a lapse in judgment, and there was a lack of faith, and I take full responsibility for those actions,” he said on “The Joe Pags Show” last week. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel. I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.”

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Herrera previously called his opponent’s withdrawal from the race the “appropriate decision.”

He will face Katy Padilla Stout, a local attorney and the Democratic nominee, in November.

FIRST ON FOX: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rolled out a new platform, backed by artificial intelligence, that will streamline publicly accessible reporting of negative or unexpected health effects linked to medicines, vaccines, cosmetics, animal food and other consumer products.

The FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) began operation Tuesday and will consolidate outdated systems used to process millions of adverse event reports and produce results in real time for consumers to access online. 

“The FDA’s fragmented adverse event systems have wasted taxpayer dollars and created large blind spots in our post-market surveillance,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary told Fox News Digital in a statement. “We’re addressing this critical issue by conducting a major modernization initiative on an accelerated timeline.” 

“Moving forward, the FDA will have a single, intuitive adverse event platform that will better equip us and any interested researcher to access key data and insights about the safety of products on the market,” Makary added.

DR. MAKARY, DR OZ: PEOPLE TALK ABOUT LOWERING HEALTHCARE COSTS, BUT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS DOING IT

Adverse event reports are critical to determining the safety and effectiveness of certain drugs and products after they are approved for clinical trials and reach the wider consumer market, though the agency says the reports have been undermined due to current inefficient infrastructure.

The general concept of AEMS is that consumers will be able to access the new website and search for FDA-approved cosmetics, drugs, vaccines, or foods that have adverse effect reports as they are reported by healthcare professionals, consumers, manufacturers, and user facilities for medical devices. 

The agency estimates that roughly 6 to 7 million adverse event reports per year are evaluated through a seven database system. The FDA says that the collective cost of utilizing the database is an estimated $37 million bill to taxpayers. AEMS is expected to save the FDA approximately $120 million over the next five years, according to the agency.

FDA CLEARS FIRST AT-HOME BRAIN DEVICE FOR DEPRESSION

The new website will be more accessible than the current quarterly report issued by the agency, and senior sources at the FDA told Fox News Digital they saw a 3,000% increase in users in a pilot program that launched last September.

“Consolidating the FDA’s adverse event systems and converting to real-time publication was challenging, but made possible by a highly aggressive schedule,” the FDA’s Chief AI Officer Jeremy Walsh told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The team executed with perfection and delivered the biggest technical transformation in agency history. This is the new FDA.”

The legacy systems that are currently in place include the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS),  Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), which will be replaced with the new system effective immediately. 

In May, the AEMS will also replace the Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE), Human Foods Complaint System (HFCS), and Center for Tobacco Products Adverse Event Reporting System (CTPAE).

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Each one of these systems will be integrated into the new AEMS, with artificial intelligence assisting for manual data entries and coding adverse events. 

Sources at the FDA told Fox News Digital that the next phase of the rollout will be implementing a front-end system that makes it easy for reports to be submitted. The agency estimates that 80% of reports are never entered due to the complexity of filing a report — potentially resulting in some untold side effects never being made public. 

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

EXCLUSIVE: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is hammering Democrats over the partial government shutdown as its effects begin to hit millions of travelers at airports across the country.

“This is expected to be one of the busiest spring travel seasons on record. Over 171 million travelers are estimated to fly in the coming weeks, and they expect the agencies responsible for keeping them safe to be fully operational,” Scalise told Fox News Digital.

“The longer Democrats hold the Department of Homeland Security hostage, the longer they’re forcing [Transportation Security Administration (TSA)] agents to work without pay and the worse the pain will be that Democrats inflict on regular Americans.”

It comes as TSA agents, whose agency operates under DHS, are set to miss their first full paychecks next week. And with Democrats continuing to withhold the department’s funding in protest of President Donald Trump’s handling of illegal immigration, the standoff still has no clear end in sight.

STEVE SCALISE RIPS DEMOCRATS FOR ‘PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES’ WITH DHS SHUTDOWN AMID IRAN THREAT

Scalise’s own hometown travel hub, the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, is facing hours-long delays due to the ongoing shutdown.

The airport’s official X account warned travelers to arrive two to three hours before their scheduled departure time earlier this week due to a “shortage of TSA workers” at its security checkpoints owing to “impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown.”

“The recent chaos at my airport in New Orleans, and airports across the country, is impossible to miss — wait times longer than three hours, lines stretching out to the parking lot,” Scalise said. “It’s ridiculous, shameful, and it never should have happened.”

Scalise said his office was in contact with airport staff about the issue, and that they are concerned about their own welfare as the shutdown continues.

“They’re worried about the impact the shutdown will have on TSA employees and the ability for the airport to get travelers through security and make their flights in a timely fashion,” he said. “This is the third time in six months that TSA agents are being forced to worry about missing a paycheck because Washington Democrats keep using them as leverage.”

The airport in New Orleans is not the only one battling staffing issues because of the shutdown.

TRUMP URGES CONGRESS TO PASS SAVE AMERICA ACT, FULLY FUND DHS AS TSA WORKERS GO WITHOUT PAY

George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas urged travelers to arrive earlier than planned due to fewer airport security lines being open due to personnel shortages. Nearby William P. Hobby Airport asked people to arrive three hours early for domestic flights and four hours early for international flights.

The partial shutdown is in its 25th day as Democrats continue to refuse the GOP’s compromise offers on funding DHS.

Unlike last year’s 43-day government shutdown, however, roughly 97% of the federal budget has been accounted for already. In other words, all agencies but DHS are funded through the remainder of the fiscal year.

But DHS is a wide-ranging department that oversees the TSA, U.S. Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Secret Service, and others.

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In addition to travel delays hitting U.S. airports over TSA shortages, the shutdown’s effects have also come into sharper focus as national security threats grow in the U.S. over the Trump administration’s joint operation with Israel targeting Iran.

The House has now twice passed a bipartisan DHS funding bill, the product of bipartisan negotiations in the previous shutdown’s wake. But in the Senate, where Democrats are critical to advancing the legislation past the 60-vote filibuster threshold, progress has all but stalled.

A top Department of Justice official brushed off a lawsuit brought Tuesday by the Democratic National Committee over the administration’s work on election security, describing the suit as frivolous.

Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon mocked the legal challenge in an X post in response to Marc Elias, a prolific Democratic election lawyer, promoting it.

“Maybe we should all just file lawsuits demanding things we used to ask the tooth fairy for, shall we?” Dhillon said. “This is not how executive power works.”

Dhillon’s remarks came as her division and the Trump administration more broadly have ramped up their focus on election security, demanding voter roll data from states, launching investigations into past elections and pushing for passage of a voter ID bill. 

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP DOJ ACCESS TO OREGON VOTER ROLLS

Democrats have accused the administration of also hiding information about alleged federal deployments at polling places. They cited White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying earlier this year that she could not rule out potential federal deployments, while she added that it’s “not something I’ve ever heard the president consider.” 

The lawsuit, brought in Washington, D.C., seeks records from the DOJ, Department of Homeland Security and Department of War under the Freedom of Information Act about the possible deployments. DNC lawyers said their FOIA requests were triggered last year by “repeat threats to free and fair elections from President [Donald] Trump and his administration.”

The lawsuit was filed against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s intensifying focus on election security. The FBI has pursued expanded inquiries into the 2020 and 2024 elections in at least two battleground states, Georgia and Pennsylvania, and sought extensive voter registration records from state election officials, which critics have argued encroaches on states’ rights.

In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, the Republican National Committee said of the lawsuit that Democrats did not support “commonsense safeguards like voter ID.”

LEAVITT FLIPS SCRIPT ON MEDIA FOR BALKING AT FULTON ELECTION PROBE AFTER YEARS OF PROMOTING RUSSIA CLAIMS

“We’re surprised the DNC actually has any money to file a lawsuit,” RNC election integrity spokeswoman Ally Triolo said, adding that the DOJ was “simply doing its job to fix the election chaos that Democrats across the country have created.”

Triolo said the DNC was filing “fake, nonsensical lawsuits and grasping at straws, leaving only one explanation: they want to cheat in our elections.”

The DOJ is able to send federal officials to monitor polling places to check that federal voting laws are being followed, but concerns have mounted that the federal government will go beyond that. DHS, for instance, has shut down rumors that it would send immigration authorities to polling places.

In its complaint, the DNC alleged that it has “yet to receive a substantive response to any of the FOIA requests at issue,” despite deadlines passing. The DNC lawyers claimed the departments have “violated their duties … to conduct a reasonable search for responsive records [and] to take reasonable steps to release all nonexempt information.”

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The lawsuit also referenced statements by Trump, including the president saying he “regretted not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines” after the 2020 election.

The DNC asked the court to force departments to produce all the requested records, as well as to pay the organization back for legal fees.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC on Wednesday morning. 

Dr. Mehmet Oz rushed to help after a woman collapsed during President Donald Trump’s speech in Kentucky on Wednesday.

About halfway through Trump’s remarks at Verst Logistics in Hebron, Kentucky, an older woman behind the president’s riser appeared to need medical attention, prompting Trump to ask the crowd, “Do we have a doctor in the house? Take your time, please.”

A medical team quickly reached her, including Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Oz.

“First responders are incredible,” Trump said as he turned and watched emergency medical personnel take care of the woman.

DR. OZ REVEALS HOW HE IS BRINGING CHANGE TO DC AND HELPING THE MOST VULNERABLE AMERICANS

The president paused his remarks and asked if a song could be played in the meantime.

“Do you think the people backstage are listening to me?” Trump said, adding that if they could hear him, he suggested playing “Ave Maria.”

The song did not play, and Trump continued to watch as the woman received treatment.

DR. OZ WARNS WALZ TO ADDRESS ALLEGED SOMALI MEDICAID FRAUD OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING: ‘WE’LL STOP PAYING’

“Take your time,” he said. “She looks great.”

As first responders began escorting the woman away, Trump noticed Oz was among those helping her.

“It’s Dr. Oz! Can you believe it? Dr. Oz!” Trump said. “He’s a good doctor. Thank you, Oz.”

RFK JR: DR OZ SAYS TRUMP HAS ‘HIGHEST TESTOSTERONE LEVEL’ HE’S SEEN IN A MAN OLDER THAN 70

Trump resumed his remarks about seven minutes later, returning to criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“We were talking about Gavin New-scum,” Trump said with a laugh. “Doesn’t seem like a very good subject right now. It made that young lady not feel so good.”

Wednesday’s event was not the first time Oz, a former heart surgeon, assisted during a medical episode while serving in the Trump administration.

In April, a young girl fainted near the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office while Trump was speaking during Oz’s swearing-in ceremony.

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Oz quickly rushed over to assist the child, who was later confirmed to be a member of his family.

In November, a man collapsed in the Oval Office as Trump was giving a press conference, prompting Oz to once again step in to help.

A member of House GOP leadership is jumping into the open race for a Senate seat likely being vacated by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., after he was tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

House GOP Policy Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., is officially launching his campaign for the Senate on Wednesday with support from at least four Republicans in the upper chamber.

“The American dream is under threat by the radical left and RINO Republicans who oppose President Trump’s America First agenda and want to turn the United States into a third-world country,” he says in his campaign debut video. 

“That’s why I’m running for U.S. Senate — to ensure President Trump has a loyal ally, a leader who stood by his side when RINOs turned their backs on him, who will fight against Democrat insanity, keep the southern border secure, deport dangerous illegal immigrants, stand with law enforcement, and deliver economic affordability.”

40+ HOUSE REPUBLICANS RALLY BEHIND MARKWAYNE MULLIN FOR DHS, CALL IT A ‘CRITICAL MOMENT’ FOR BORDER SECURITY

Hern, who grew up in poverty without indoor plumbing until his teenage years, found considerable wealth as a McDonald’s franchisee before coming to Congress in 2018.

He’s the first major Republican candidate to declare his intent to run for Mullin’s seat in November — and whoever wins the GOP primary in the deep-red Midwestern state is the likely favorite to win.

Mullin is expected to leave the Senate after being tapped by President Donald Trump to lead DHS following Kristi Noem’s firing. He’s facing a confirmation hearing later this month.

Traditionally, Senate vacancies are filled by the state’s governor to serve out the remainder of the previous senator’s term. That person is also usually the favorite to win the seat in the subsequent election cycle.

But in Oklahoma, the governor’s appointee must sign an affidavit swearing they will not run in the next election — which in this case is coming in November, with Mullin’s term ending at the end of 2026.

It’s not clear yet how crowded the GOP primary for Mullin’s open seat will get. Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., has previously said she is considering her own campaign but has not made any final decisions.

MULLIN PROMISES TO EARN DEM VOTES AS GOP COLLEAGUES POUNCE ON HIS SEAT

Hern, meanwhile, is already stacking his team with Trump operatives.

He’s recruited pollster Tony Fabrizio, who is closely aligned with the president, as his campaign’s senior advisor.

Fabrizio said in a statement that Hern is in a “strong position” to win the seat, citing his “record of support for President Trump’s agenda, the trust he has built with Oklahoma voters, and his experience in public service and in business.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s, R-S.D., first goal is to get Mullin’s seat quickly filled. He is set to meet with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a common practice when an appointment needs to be made, this week, a source familiar told Fox News Digital. 

It’s common practice for a governor to meet with the leader of the Senate to work on appointing a replacement, as is the case with Mullin, who is set to begin his confirmation process in the upper chamber next week. 

Further down the line, Thune has no preference as to who would replace Mullin, who is currently a member of his leadership team. 

“You know, obviously we want — we’re going to have to fill that seat for Markwayne here by the end of the month in the near term, and then the long-term issue will be decided by the voters of Oklahoma,” Thune said. “So whoever they decide to send us, we’ll be happy to receive.”

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Still, Hern has already snatched up the endorsement of a handful of senators, including Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Trump has given a deadline of March 31 for Mullin to take over and for Noem to get out, and he is expected to easily pass through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Whether Mullin hits hurdles during a full confirmation vote remains an open question.