NationalWatch

President Donald Trump signaled why he’s held off on military strikes on Iran amid nationwide protests after claiming the country had canceled executions for hundreds of Iranians. 

When asked if Arab and Israeli officials “convinced” him to not strike Iran, Trump told reporters Friday he convinced himself and cited the canceled hangings. Trump also expressed similar sentiments on social media Friday. 

“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Friday. 

The statement echoes what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday about the canceled executions. She maintained that all options remained on the table when it comes to dealing with Iran.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES ‘FINAL’ 25% TARIFF ON COUNTRIES DOING BUSINESS WITH IRAN REGIME

“What I will say with respect to Iran is that the president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences,” Leavitt told reporters Thursday. 

“And the president received a message as he revealed to all of you and the whole world yesterday that the killing and the executions will stop. And the president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted.” 

It’s unclear from Trump’s post if he was referring to the 800 executions that were already canceled or whether there have been two consecutive days when 800 executions have been called off. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on how many executions have been canceled or whether military strikes are completely off the table now. 

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations for additional comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

Protests broke out across Iran in December 2025 in response to the country’s economic hardships as well as a referendum against Iran’s theocratic regime.

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More than 2,000 people — including at least nine children — have died in the recent protests, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Tuesday. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Friday issued a warning to the Trump administration that interim Venezuela President Delcy Rodríguez does not represent the views of the people.

“I want to insist on this: Delcy Rodriguez, yes, she’s a communist. She’s the main ally and representation of the Russian regime, the Chinese and the Iranians, but that’s not the Venezuelan people and that’s not the armed forces, as well,” Machado said while addressing a crowd at an event organized by the Heritage Foundation.

Machado said that the situation was complex as allies of Nicolás Maduro continued to do “dirty work” after his capture by the U.S. on Jan. 3. However, the opposition leader said that she is “profoundly confident” that there will be an orderly transition of power.

VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MARÍA CORINA MACHADO PRESENTS NOBEL MEDAL TO TRUMP DESPITE INSTITUTE BAN

The opposition leader’s comments came amid reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez in Caracas.

Ratcliffe and Rodriguez reportedly discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and the need to ensure that Venezuela would no longer be a “safe haven for America’s adversaries.” 

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

On Wednesday, Rodriguez, a Maduro ally who served as his vice president, announced that the government would continue the release of political prisoners detained under Maduro in an initiative she touted as a “new political moment,” according to The Associated Press.

Just days before Rodriguez made the announcement, the interim government freed at least four U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela, marking the first known release of American prisoners since Maduro was ousted in a U.S. military operation earlier this month.

While speaking at the Heritage Foundation event, the opposition leader vowed that Venezuela would become “the best ally the United States has ever had in the Americas.” Machado said that she believes Venezuelans are cohesive and joined by shared values but have been forced by the regime to make difficult choices and suffer severe hardships.

Following the capture of Maduro on Jan. 3, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela temporarily, though he did not detail further plans regarding transfers of power.

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Trump, who met with Machado on Thursday, has yet to back the opposition leader and has even expressed doubts about the amount of support she has among the people of Venezuela. Despite not having his clear support, Machado praised Trump and emphasized the critical role that he and his administration would play in the future of Venezuela.

“The only thing I want to assure the Venezuelans people is that Venezuela is going to be free and that’s going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump of the United States,” Machado told the crowd at the Heritage Foundation event.

She also commented early in her remarks that the Venezuelan people were grateful for Trump and his team’s historic mission to capture Maduro. Machado said that it “took a lot of courage” to pull off the operation.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin is getting hammered by Republicans for comparing the United States under President Donald Trump to Iran’s Islamic theocracy, accusing both of showing “authoritarian behavior.”

The comments from Martin came amid protests in Minneapolis and across the nation in the wake of last week’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minnesota woman and mother of three by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and in the midst of a wave of massive demonstrations against Iran’s cleric-controlled government in recent weeks.

“From Tehran to my birthplace of Minneapolis, people are rising up against systems that wield violence without accountability. In Iran, brave protestors confront a far-right theocratic regime that crushes dissent and denies basic freedoms,” Martin wrote. 

The DNC chair, a former longtime Minnesota state party chair, first made the comparison in a social media post last Sunday.

DNC CHAIR’S CONTROVERSIAL COMPARISON SPARKS BACKLASH

He added, “Here at home, tens of thousands are marching after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good — demanding justice, transparency, and an end to an unchecked federal force that takes lives and tears families apart. Solidarity across borders means opposing authoritarian power everywhere and defending the right to live free from fear and state violence.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally in the Senate and a longtime proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, bashed Martin.

“Number one, Ken Martin is a worthless piece of crap,” Graham charged in an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “Can you imagine this guy fighting for freedom? To compare President Trump and the Trump regime to the ayatollah means you got the worst case of Trump derangement syndrome in the world. Go to hell.” 

The DNC chair, reacting to Graham’s attack, claimed the senator is “a sniveling coward and a Trump bootlicker who hasn’t had a strongly held conviction in decades. I will wear his condemnation as a badge of honor.”

And in an MS NOW interview earlier this week, Martin argued that “people are very concerned that basic rights and human rights in this country are being violated by its own government … this is now who we should be as America, but it’s unfortunately who we’ve become under this administration.”

DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST CALLS OUT PARTY FOR ‘OPPOSE FIRST, THINK LATER’ RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S CAPTURE OF MADURO

But RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels claimed Friday in a statement to Fox News Digital that “this is a desperate ploy from a man who drove the DNC into financial ruin and political irrelevancy. Ken Martin is so unhinged that he’s comparing Tehran to Minneapolis and encouraging violent obstruction of federal law enforcement.”

Democrats are energized, thanks in large part to their pushback against Trump and his sweeping and unprecedented moves in his first year back in the White House. And Martin’s controversial comments appear to be getting a thumbs up from his own party.

“I think everyone is giving Ken a pass because he is from Minnesota and Minnesota has not been able to catch a break recently,” a DNC committee member who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News Digital. “So this is very raw, very personal, and very hurtful for him.”

VOTERS SHARPLY SPLIT ALONG PARTY LINES OVER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNESOTA

Asked about Martin’s comparison, DNC committee member and longtime Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told Fox News Digital, “Ken Martin is not comparing Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s America. He is comparing Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s autocracy, specifically the absolute immunity Trump has given these lawless ICE agents, their lack of training, their being hired without background checks, and the $50,000 bonuses that guarantee that those ICE agents out there have no interest in and have no idea how to follow the law and how to properly and lawfully track down violent criminal undocumented immigrants.”

And veteran Democratic consultant Joe Caiazzo, asked about Martin’s comments, charged that “from the rhetoric deployed to policies enacted, and executive orders issued, it’s clear Donald Trump would love to be a dictator.”

A source at the DNC told Fox News Digital “everyone is supporting the general gist of what he is saying.” Meaning, a spokesperson for the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) argued on Friday that Martin is “unhinged.”

POLL: AMERICANS GIVE THUMBS DOWN TO POSSIBLE U.S. STRIKE ON IRAN

The conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial board, in an opinion piece, criticized Martin.

“Overwrought rhetoric on domestic affairs is one thing. Yoking a false image of U.S. authoritarianism to the freedom struggle in Iran is morally obtuse. It’s a slur against his own country,” the board wrote in an opinion piece. “It also undermines the Iranian people, who count on the U.S. and call desperately for its help, to say that America is yet another murderous tyranny, comparable to their own. Mr. Martin essentially told Iranians that the U.S. is on the side of their regime.”

After Martin’s comparison sparked fiery backlash on social media, he doubled down.

“If comparing the U.S. to Iran makes you angry, ask why. Killing protesters. Crushing dissent. Kidnapping and disappearing legal citizens. Ignoring courts. Threatening critics. Terrorizing communities. That’s authoritarian behavior—anywhere. If you’re rushing to defend it, maybe the problem isn’t the comparison. Trump keeps pushing it, Americans aren’t buying it, and Minneapolis won’t be silent,” Martin said in an additional post on X.

PROGRESSIVE TALK TO ‘ABOLISH ICE’ SPARKS FRESH DIVIDE AMONG DEMOCRATS

The trio of national polls released this week indicated that a majority of Americans give a thumbs down to how ICE is carrying out Trump’s push for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants. But there’s a wide partisan divide, with Republicans supportive of ICE and the president.

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Cardona emphasized that “Trump and ICE are losing public opinion over this, as a majority of Americans know that this should not happen in the United States of America.”

And Martin, in his appearance on MS NOW, argued that “if Donald Trump thinks what he’s doing in Minneapolis is going to improve his poll numbers, I think he has another thing coming.”

Meanwhile, in Iran, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports at least 2,677 people have been killed in the protests. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be significantly higher. 

The protests against Iran’s dire economic conditions, which have rapidly escalated in recent days, are seen as some of the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed the current system of clerical rule.

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign recently received almost $10,000 from the California-based office of a top Beijing law firm that has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, a Fox News Digital investigation found.

A filing that was released this week reveals that Swalwell’s campaign received $9,999 from the DeHeng Law Offices PC on Dec. 30 and said that the office is based in Pleasanton, Calif. The law firm’s website reveals that this office is their “Silicon Valley Office” and appears to only have one lawyer who works there.

Keliang “Clay” Zhu, who donated $5,000 to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign this past November and previously donated over $10,000 to his House campaigns, is a partner at the law firm and is the only name listed for the “Silicon Valley Office,” according to their website.

A Fox News Digital review revealed that the law firm was founded as the China Law Office, which was a subsidiary firm established by the CCP’s Ministry of Justice in the early 1990s before being renamed the DeHeng Law Offices in 1995. While the firm, which has over two dozen offices in China, portrays themselves as independent, the firm and its lawyers continue to have longstanding cooperation with the Chinese government’s departments and major state-owned enterprises.

NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS SOUND ALARM OVER CCP-LINKED LAND OWNERSHIP NEAR US MILITARY BASES: ‘UNTHINKABLE’

Zhu, who is originally from China, touts several examples of how he has helped Chinese state-owned enterprises and other Chinese companies get a foothold in the United States, according to his bio. For example, he touts representing an “investment fund of a major state-owned enterprise in acquiring majority shares in one data analytics software company in the Silicon Valley,” which he valued at $100M. 

Another bio touts how he “has assisted Chinese companies and funds to complete more than $9 billion investments in the fields of chips, unmanned vehicles, new energy, artificial intelligence, industrial automation, and biopharmaceuticals in the United States.”

“On behalf of Chinese enterprises, he has negotiated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Treasury and other organizations for many times and achieved compliance plans, which greatly reduced the compliance risks for Chinese clients in the United States,” the bio continued.

His bio also says he helped advise “a governmental investment fund from Shenzhen for its compliance with CFIUS regulations in the U.S.” and represented “WeChat users in a historic lawsuit that sued President Trump and successfully stopped his WeChat ban in 2020.”

At the time, Trump’s first administration sounded the alarm over WeChat and said the “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information” and was concerned that the CCP would use data to stalk dissenters or control messaging inside the United States, such as launching disinformation campaigns. Similar efforts to restrict WeChat have occurred in countries like Australia and India, according to the White House.

SWALWELL THREATENS TO REVOKE DRIVER’S LICENSES OF MASKED ICE AGENTS OPERATING IN CALIFORNIA

Zhu also has a history of fighting against state-level legislation aimed at preventing China’s foreign land grab in the United States. 

After a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit intended to stop a Texas law banning Chinese nationals from owning or leasing land in the state, Zhu described the legislation as “unfair, unconstitutional and un-American,” according to AsAmNews, a daily news site focused on Asian-American and Pacific-Islander communities. Zhu similarly expressed disfavor with a Florida law meant to prevent individuals from countries that are foreign adversaries to the United States, such as China, from buying up land.

National security experts have sounded the alarm about China increasingly buying up farmland, property near military bases and other land near places of strategic value, which has been matched with state-level legislation in places like Texas, Florida, Arizona and more.   

“All Asian Americans will feel the stigma and the chilling effect created by this Florida law, just like the discriminatory laws did to our ancestors more than a hundred years ago,” Zhu said in 2023 about an anti-land grab bill, according to a press release from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “We shall not go back.” 

Michael Lucci, a top China expert and the State Armor Action founder and CEO, sounded the alarm over the donations and called for Congress to reform the “campaign finance laws to define donations made on behalf of foreign adversaries to be bribes.”

“Congressman Swalwell must finally stop playing footsie with America’s foremost adversary: Communist China. First was his fiery romance with Fang Fang, a CCP spy, and now he’s caught taking campaign checks from Communist China’s favorite big law firm,” Lucci told Fox News Digital. “Congress must fix this problem by reforming campaign finance laws to define donations made on behalf of foreign adversaries to be bribes, and to impose criminal penalties upon those who make such donations. And Congress should go further by altogether prohibiting the acceptance of payment for any lobbying or other influence work on behalf of an American adversary, as the State of Texas did last year.”

Meanwhile, several of the firm’s China-based partners have a history of working in Chinese politics, largely through the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which is a “key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation” under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website, and is a crucial tool of the United Front strategy to influence U.S. policy.

For example, Zhixu Wu, who is a “Director and Senior Partner” of the Kunming, China-based office of DeHeng Law Offices, is a member of the “Standing Committee of the 13th Kunming Committee of the CPPCC” and a member “of the 12th Yunnan Committee of the CPPCC.” His bio also says he was previously awarded in 2017 with “the title of ‘Excellent League Member’ for the second assistance event of the National Lawyers Service Group,” which was approved by the “Eight Bureau of United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee, Guidance Department of Lawyer’s Notarization Work of the Ministry of Justice.”

Degang Zheng, a senior partner in the Shenzhen office, also touts his ties to the CPPCC, saying in his bio that he is a “Member of the Executive Committee” of the CPPCC’s Shenzhen chapter. Hongli MA, a senior partner in the Hangzhou office, says he was recognized for “Three consecutive years of outstanding CPPCC members in Binjiang District, Hangzhou in 2014, 2015, 2016.”

Li Wang, another top attorney and the chief global partner of the Beijing office, touts how she “has served as general legal counsel for scores of Ministries of the PRC, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises and institutions.” Her bio also says she is the “Commissary of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Beijing Committee” and the “Chairman of Belt & Road Service Connections.”

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Swalwell’s ties to China have come under scrutiny before, particularly after Chinese national, Christine Fang also known as “Fang Fang,” gained special access to him and his campaign. She was deemed by U.S. officials to be part of a counterintelligence effort linked to China meant to influence and get close to U.S. political figures.

Swalwell has repeatedly claimed he cut off ties as soon as U.S. intelligence officials warned him of the threat and a congressional ethics investigation into the matter eventually found no wrongdoing on Swalwell’s behalf. However, he was ultimately removed by Republicans from his post on the House Intelligence Committee, with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy citing Swalwell’s past run-in with a suspected Chinese spy.

Lucci told Fox News Digital that Swalwell should commit to halting any further dalliances with America’s foreign adversaries, and re-donate the funds he received from DeHeng Law Offices and Zhu “to an organization that fights the evils of communism.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell and Zhu for comment on this story, but did not hear back by publication.

Newly elected Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson was forced to pay a $250 fine by a citywide ethics commission after she failed to adequately disclose more than $10,000 in contributions that Wilson’s parents made to her campaign. 

Following her election victory in November, Wilson defended taking her parents’ money to help assist her mayoral run, claiming in an interview to CNN that it made her more “relatable” to voters. The money, Wilson said, went to help her pay for childcare. 

The City of Seattle’s Ethics and Elections Commission found last month that the money Wilson got from her parents constituted “campaign contributions” and indicated corrective action was warranted in order to avoid creating an avenue for future candidates to circumvent campaign finance laws. In the letter, Jessica Pisane, indicated that the fine was only $250 because what occurred was “a novel issue” not seen before the commission.

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The fine Wilson was forced to pay by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission was first reported by Seattle-area conservative radio host Jason Rantz.

“It’s the first time it has arisen in a City election campaign,” Pisane pointed out, adding that Wilson also refunded money to her parents that exceeded the contribution limits Wilson was expected to abide by. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson’s team for comment but did not receive a response.  

“Campaigning for office is stressful,” Wilson said following her election victory amid questions about her parents’ contributions. “Seattle is one of the most expensive cities in the country, our childcare is off-the-charts expensive and, honestly, I think that a lot of people of my generation, and younger and older, found it very relatable that during this stressful campaign my parents chipped in to help pay for the cost of their granddaughter’s daycare.”

Wilson said during her campaign that the cost of childcare was about $2,200 per month for her and her reportedly unemployed husband.

SEATTLE’S SOCIALIST MAYOR-ELECT KATIE WILSON OPEN TO MEETING WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP

Prior to moving to Seattle in 2004, Wilson lived in upstate New York. After graduating from high school in Binghamton, Wilson studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University, thanks to financial assistance from her parents living in New York once again. Wilson left Oxford debt-free, which she credits to her parents. However, she also left without a degree, dropping out just six weeks before her graduation.

Before earning her new mayoral salary, Wilson was getting paid by the nonprofit she founded in 2011, the Transit Riders Union. She began collecting paychecks from the group in 2019. Before that, Wilson worked a series of odd jobs, including barista, boatyard worker, apartment manager, lab technician, baker, construction worker and legal assistant.

Tax records show that Wilson brought in $72,669 in 2022 as the president of the Transit Riders Union. There are no records of Wilson’s salary for 2023 or 2024, reportedly due to the fact the nonprofit changed tax preparers recently, according to PubliCola. The IRS does not require nonprofits to disclose salaries of employees making under $100,000 per year.

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Meanwhile, in a financial statement to the city upon declaring her candidacy for mayor, Wilson reported earning between $60,000 and $99,000. She also reported income “less than $30,000” from PubliCola, The Urbanist and The Stranger, respectively, for work as a “columnist” for the left-wing online news outlets.

As Seattle mayor, Wilson will make well into the six-figures, according to pay records of past mayors. Wilson has been compared to socialist firebrand Zohran Mamdani, campaigning on policy proposals like those by the self-avowed socialist mayor of New York City. This includes, through her support of a “Solidarity Budget” which would have cut the Seattle police force by 50% and other defund the police positions, Wilson has been compelled to walk back support for government-run grocery stores, calls to tax the wealthy, and a proposal to “Trump-proof” the city of Seattle.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

Despite President Donald Trump’s past efforts to shut it down, Republicans passed a spending package that includes $643 million for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), choosing legislative unity over a fight that could have derailed the must-pass spending bill. 

The move underscored the GOP’s ongoing struggle to pursue party objectives while also crafting legislation that can unite Republicans amid razor-thin margins in the House of Representatives.

The funding goes toward radio, internet, television and broadcasting grants in the Middle East. The item passed both chambers of Congress this week as part of this year’s National Security, Department of State and Related Programs Act (NSRP).

Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., one of the legislators who worked on the NSRP, said the final number came about from talks with Kari Lake, a senior advisor for the agency with close ties to the president.

DHS AT CENTER OF PROGRESSIVE REVOLT AS HOUSE ADVANCES $80B SPENDING PACKAGE

“She seemed to me like we’re on the same team on this,” Alford said when asked about those conversations. “I continue to communicate with her often and look forward to working with her as she tries to right this program and get it back to its original intent.” 

At the outset of his second term, Trump issued an executive order shuttering the USAGM, the parent organization of Voice of America, claiming that the organization had a clear bent against Republican principles and didn’t serve the country’s domestic interests. However, when courts ruled that the administration lacked the power needed to remove its congressionally approved funding, the agency remained in place.

Despite the continuation of its funding, Alford believes Republicans took a step toward the president’s wishes, noting that the NSRP bill trims the agency’s budget.

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“I think the cuts that we’re making, which is a 25% reduction, is a significant step forward to meeting what Kari Lake wants as well. I’m hoping that we can do even more in the 2027 appropriations bill,” Alford said.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who voted to advance the NSRP funding bill and its provision on USAGM, said he personally wants to see the funding eliminated.

“I would prefer that the federal government funds zero,” Higgins said moments before Wednesday’s vote. “We support the president’s executive actions and his executive orders, and we endeavor to codify them. We just don’t have extra money to spend on things.” 

“But I’m not going to let something like that stop me from supporting the larger measure,” he added. 

Higgins, a member of the fiscally conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Republicans must pick their battles carefully amid a razor-thin, two-seat majority in the House, following the retirement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and the sudden death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., earlier this month.

Republicans will continue to face questions about how to pursue party priorities in the coming weeks as they work through the year’s remaining spending legislation. 

“We don’t have the luxury of just casually opposing our own bills. It’s just so tight, man. So, our goal is to pass our legislation — especially when you’re faced with the alternative of a government shutdown,” Higgins said, noting the consequences that would follow if Congress were to fail to pass spending legislation.

Currently, Republicans hold just a two-seat majority in the chamber.

CONGRESS ROLLS OUT $80B SPENDING BILL AS DEMS THREATEN DHS FUNDING AMID SHUTDOWN FEARS

When asked whether Democrats had pressed to include the USAGM funding in the NSRP package, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., did not describe the conversations but noted the package had resulted from bipartisan negotiations.

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“How things get into these appropriations bills in this climate — all we do is advocate and leverage whatever we have. Some days you’re the bug, some days you’re the windshield,” Quigley said.

The NSRP, having cleared both chambers of Congress, now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz warned Iran during an emergency meeting of the Security Council that President Donald Trump “is a man of action” who has “made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.” 

Waltz said Thursday that, “We all have a responsibility to support the Iranian people and to put an end to the regime’s neglect and oppression of the Iranian nation.” 

Iran has been plunged into turmoil amid recent anti-government protests, with the death toll from those being at least 2,677, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency told The Associated Press. 

“Colleagues, let me be clear. President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations. He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime,” Waltz added. 

Waltz’s remarks came as Gholam Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the U.N., accused the U.S. of trying to destabilize the Islamic Republic.

TOP IRANIAN GENERAL THREATENS TO ‘CUT OFF’ TRUMP’S HAND OVER POTENTIAL MILITARY STRIKES

“Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States regime is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called humanitarian narrative,” Darzi said. 

Waltz dismissed the claim, telling diplomats at U.N. headquarters on Thursday that Iran’s leaders are “afraid of their own people.” 

“I would like to address the allegation put forward by the regime that these inspired protests are somehow a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action. Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets,” Waltz said.

IRAN ALLEGEDLY AIRS 97 ‘COERCIVE CONFESSIONS’ AMID RECORD-BREAKING NORTH KOREA-STYLE INTERNET BLACKOUT

“They are afraid. They’re afraid of their own people. Iran says it’s ready for dialogue, but its actions say otherwise. This is a regime that rules through oppression, through violence, and through intimidation, and has destabilized the Middle East for decades. Well, enough is enough,” he added. 

“The regime’s dereliction of duty to its own citizens is what has put the ayatollahs in the positions they are in today with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, protesting in the streets after decades of neglect and abuse. So everyone should ask themselves, everyone sitting here today, how many people are dead?” Waltz also said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Trump and his team “have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences.” 

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“And the president received a message as he revealed to all of you and the whole world yesterday, that the killing and the executions will stop. And the president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted. And so the president and his team are closely monitoring this situation, and all options remain on the table for the president,” she added. 

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration is firing back at a Democratic Bronx congressman who offered a new-age way for civilians to identify immigration enforcement agents who obscure their identity with masks or lack of names on their uniforms amid civil unrest around the country.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, said he is introducing the Quick Recognition Act next week, which would require ICE and CBP agents to wear uniforms that feature QR codes – the two-dimensional offshoot of barcodes that can link a concrete item to a website or information portal.

At sporting events or in restaurants, they often use QR codes to draw customers to scan them and open webpages to enter contests or access menus. In Torres’ case, scanning the QR code on an officer’s uniform would return their name, badge number and agency that employs them.

The White House said Torres’ bill would spur a “widescale doxxing campaign” and encourage protesters to “approach and interfere with law enforcement operations.”

DEMOCRATIC THINK TANK URGES PARTY TO DROP ‘ABOLISH ICE’ SLOGAN IN NEW MEMO

“This is all because Democrats want to defend criminal illegal aliens,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.

“Surely this cannot be a serious proposal,” she added.

The administration cited DHS data showing ICE officers facing a 1,300% increase in assaults because of Democrats’ “dangerous and untrue smears.”

WHITE HOUSE BLAMES DEMOCRATS FOR ICE VIOLENCE AS MINNEAPOLIS ERUPTS, INSURRECTION ACT THREAT LOOMS

Torres’ office, by contrast, was defiant when asked about such concerns.

“There is nothing the Trump administration fears more than transparency and accountability,” Torres spokesman Benny Stanislawski told Fox News Digital.

Torres also told the Big Apple outlet AMNewYork that the need is “urgent” to “unmask ICE not only physically but digitally.”

OMAR, DEMS DEMAND NOEM IMPEACHMENT, PAINT MINNESOTA WOMAN SHOT BY ICE AS ‘POET’ WHO CHOSE ‘LOVE’

While Torres told the paper he predicts some pushback from law enforcement, he said that scanning QR codes is safer than asking for an officer’s ID.

He noted that most other agencies require officers to identify themselves in their line of duty, calling ICE a “systemically corrupt institution” and added he will oppose any future congressional appropriation that funds ICE more than $1.

A Democratic congressman from Detroit who previously called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment upped the ante this week with his own effort to abolish ICE.

HOCHUL CONFRONTED ICE AGENT, SAID HE WAS ‘TERRORIZING PEOPLE’ BY WEARING A MASK

Rep. Shri Thanedar said that the death of Renee Good in an ICE-involved shooting proves the agency “cannot be reformed and must be abolished.”

Thanedar said in a statement that since its inception in 2003, some legal experts have also argued its duties can be fulfilled more “justly” by other federal agencies.

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“When an agency’s structure consistently produces harm instead of justice, there is no way to reform it. We must fundamentally change the way we approach immigration,” Thanedar said.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment.

EXCLUSIVE — Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters says he has “one goal” this year — to make sure the GOP holds its fragile House majority and narrow control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections.

Making Gruters’ mission more difficult: the party in power, which is clearly the Republicans right now, traditionally faces political headwinds and usually loses congressional seats in the midterms.

But the RNC chair, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, who the president picked last summer to steer the national party committee, says he has a “secret weapon” in order to “defy history” and pick up seats in the 2026 elections.

“I think the President of the United States is our secret weapon… He’s laser focused,” Gruters touted in a national digital exclusive sit-down interview with Fox News.

HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR WANTS TRUMP ‘OUT THERE ON THE TRAIL’ IN MIDTERM BATTLE FOR MAJORITY

Pointing to Trump’s unprecedented agenda during his first year back in the White House, Gruters argued, “I think it’s going to pay huge dividends across the board, whether you’re running for governor, Senate, House, or whether you’re running for a local seat.”

Democrats see it differently, as they spotlight Trump’s underwater approval ratings and deep concerns by Americans over continued high prices.

PERCEPTION VS. REALITY’: TRUMP’S ECONOMY PICKS UP SPEED — BUT VOTERS AREN’T BUYING IT YET

The GOP is also dealing with a low propensity issue: MAGA voters who don’t always go to the polls when Trump’s name isn’t on the ballot.

But Gruters noted that Trump’s made stops in recent weeks in three key midterm election battlegrounds and said that the president’s “going to barnstorm the country with our candidates.”

The RNC chair also spotlighted the party’s formidable fundraising advantage over the rival Democratic National Committee (DNC), noting that “we’re raising a ton of money.”

But he cautioned: “We got to do everything right. We got to make sure we turn our voters out, and we got to make sure that we have people energized. And there’s nobody that can energize our base more than President Trump.”

REPUBLICAN SENATORS HIT BORDER, TOUTING TOUGHER SECURITY AND TAX CUTS, IN 2026 KICKOFF

Gruters, who was interviewed ahead of next week’s RNC winter meeting, also argued that “there’s been nobody that’s been more focused on affordability than President Trump. Look at gas prices, the lowest prices since 2021. Look at egg prices, real pocketbook issues that impact everyday Americans the president is focused on, and he’s not done.”

Deep concerns over inflation boosted Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories at the ballot box in 2024, as they won back the White House and Senate and keep their House majority.

But Democrats say their decisive victories in November’s 2025 elections, and their overperformances in special elections and other ballot box showdowns last year, were fueled by their laser focus on affordability.

“One year into his second term, Donald Trump has made one thing unmistakably clear: He doesn’t care about everyday Americans — he only cares about himself and his billionaire donors. As working families struggle to afford groceries, utilities, and health care, and worry about finding a job, Trump is busy meddling in foreign countries and palling around with executives, failing to address Americans’ top concerns on the economy,” DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer argued in a statement.

And pointing to November’s midterm elections, Witmer predicted, “Voters won’t forget Trump’s betrayal come midterms — and Republicans will have to answer for it.” 

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS WIDEN 2026 BATTLEFIELD, ZERO IN ON NEW HOUSE REPUBLICAN TARGETS

But Gruters, who was a certified public accountant (CPA) before taking over the RNC, highlighted the series of tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature domestic policy achievement so far during his second term.

“I will tell you that people are very excited about filing their taxes this year. This should be some of the biggest refunds that anybody has gotten,” he said.

The cost of living has been a key issue at the ballot box the past couple of years. And an overwhelming majority questioned in a Fox News national poll conducted last month expressed concern about high prices.

Gruters, promoting Trump’s agenda, told Fox News Digital that from “an affordability standpoint, I think we win hands down based on the policies this president has pushed.”

Democrats disagree.

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Gruters’ rival, DNC Chair Ken Martin, put it bluntly last month at the national party’s winter meeting.

“S— is too expensive,” Martin emphasized.

FIRST ON FOX: One of the nation’s most prominent teachers unions funneled millions of dollars in union funds to far-left activist groups, ballot initiatives, and social justice organizations, according to federal labor filings.

A November Form L-2 disclosure from the National Education Association (NEA) filed in November and obtained by the North American Values Institute (NAVI) shows 2024 fiscal year spending that involved millions given to social justice-oriented groups and far-left causes.

The NEA, which boasts more than 3 million members, sent $300,000 to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal dark money group Fox News Digital has reported on extensively, and tens of thousands of dollars to the Tides Foundation network, which Fox News Digital previously reported has ties to anti-Israel protests and a variety of far left causes.

Among the largest expenditures was more than $3.5 million sent to Education International, a global teachers federation where NEA President Becky Pringle serves as a vice president. The filing also details hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing to organizations backing ballot initiatives aimed at reshaping education policy and election laws in states, including Ohio, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Wisconsin.

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The union reported spending $500,000 to support a campaign to end standardized testing in Massachusetts, another $500,000 to back an anti-gerrymandering amendment in Ohio, and nearly $500,000 to a progressive political consulting firm specializing in ballot initiatives and canvassing.

In addition to electoral spending, the NEA paid more than $166,000 to Imagine Us LLC, a consulting firm focused on racial equity training and tens of thousands more to groups promoting what they describe as “social justice education,” including curriculum materials centered on race, gender identity, and activism in K-12 classrooms.

TEACHERS UNION SLAMS ‘TRUMP REGIME,’ CLAIMS ICE MURDERED MINNEAPOLIS AGITATOR IN MESSAGE TO SUPPORTERS

NEA sent $350,000 to the Schott Foundation, which describes itself as “a BIPOC-led public fund that pools philanthropic funding and fuels racial and education justice movements.”

“This is the upshot of social justice unionism,” NAVI Director of Research Mika Hackner told Fox News Digital. “Instead of focusing on member’s working conditions, unions spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on pet political projects completely divorced from the needs and wants of most teachers but perfectly in line with the political agenda the union has been co-opted to serve.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the NEA for comment but did not receive a response.

The NEA has long-faced criticism for focusing on political advocacy and far-left ideology rather than the best interests of students. 

In November, Fox News Digital reported on uncovered documents showing the NEA instructing members on how to go through a gender transition at work, including best practices for using gender pronouns and combating transphobia, while also being provided with literature labeling conservative opposition as “villains.”

Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications for Defending Education, suggested to Fox News Digital at the time that the union’s federal charter should be re-evaluated.

Sanzi said, “Their federal charter was granted because they promised to ‘elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching; and to promote the cause of education in the United States.’ Seeing as their leadership — and by extension, the organization itself — has morphed into a far-left insane asylum that is actively destroying the cause of education, that charter is no longer defensible.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who visited with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem less than a month ago, said in a Thursday post on X he was going to Israel to meet with the foreign leader and his team.

“I am traveling to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team at this crucial time in the history of the Middle East. The goal is to build on the historic opportunities created by President Trump’s unprecedented leadership, to stand up to evil, and to support the people who are sacrificing for freedom,” Graham wrote in the post.

“The Trump-Netanyahu alliance has thus far been one of the strongest partnerships in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and I am hopeful it will pay dividends in the near future. We live in a time of great consequence with the Middle East on the verge of previously unimaginable change. Standing together and following through on our commitments only makes us stronger,” he added.

LINDSEY GRAHAM CALLS FOR US TO USE ‘ANY MEANS NECESSARY’ TO STOP THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE KILLING OF IRANIANS

Graham’s announcement comes less than a month after he met with Netanyahu in Israel in December.

In a video posted to X on December 21, Netanyahu welcomed the senator, calling Graham “a great friend of Israel” and “great personal friend.”

GRAHAM SUGGESTS TRUMP ‘HELP’ IRAN PROTESTERS WITH ‘MILITARY, CYBER AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTACKS’ AGAINST REGIME

The lawmaker has been advocating for U.S. President Donald Trump to attack Iran.

“President Trump’s resolve is not the question: Question is, when we do an operation like this, should it be bigger, or smaller? I’m in the camp of bigger,” Graham said in footage he highlighted in a Thursday post on X. “Time will tell. I’m hopeful and optimistic that the regime days are numbered.”

TOP IRANIAN GENERAL THREATENS TO ‘CUT OFF’ TRUMP’S HAND OVER POTENTIAL MILITARY STRIKES

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In a Wednesday post on X, Graham wrote, “People often ask me what should we do next when it comes to the murderous, religious Nazi regime in Iran. It’s pretty simple. Stand by the protesters demanding an end to their oppression. But it’s going to take more than standing by them. We must stop those who are responsible for killing the people by any means necessary ASAP. Make The Iranian People Safe Again.”

The White House pushed back Thursday after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told President Donald Trump to “turn the temperature down” following a warning from the president that he could invoke the Insurrection Act over unrest in Walz’s state. 

In a “direct appeal” on X, Walz pleaded to Trump to “Stop this campaign of retribution” and said that “This is not who we are.” The Democrat’s comments came after a second U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-involved shooting in Minneapolis in recent days sparked demonstrations in the streets.

“Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, and Democrat leaders in Minnesota have done nothing but turn up the temperature, smear heroic ICE officers, and incite violence against them — all in defense of criminal illegal aliens,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News. 

“In Minnesota, ICE has arrested rapists, drug traffickers, domestic abusers, and more, despite Democrat opposition. The Trump Administration will protect the American people and enforce the law without apology. The only statement Tim Walz should be making is an apology. He has repeatedly compared ICE officers to Nazis and lied about their important work, including in his speech just last night,” Jackson added.

AGITATORS CLASH WITH FEDERAL OFFICERS AFTER ANOTHER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

The White House’s Rapid Response team also criticized Walz, writing on X, “Tampon, you gave a statewide address last night calling for ICE agents to be prosecuted for enforcing the law, so you might want to sit this one out.” 

“You’re a pathetic failure and total disgrace,” it added. 

The account shared a video clip of Walz speaking on Wednesday.

“Help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities. You have an absolute right to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct these activities,” Walz said. “So, carry your phone with you at all times. And if you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record. Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity. But to bank evidence for future prosecution.” 

MINNESOTA SUES TRUMP ADMIN OVER SWEEPING IMMIGRATION RAIDS IN TWIN CITIES

Trump warned Thursday that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if people in Minnesota don’t obey the law and continue attacking federal agents there. 

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

The Insurrection Act, an 1807 law, has not been invoked since the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

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The order allows the president to deploy the military to suppress rebellions and enforce federal laws. If invoked, it would grant Trump the authority to federalize the National Guard and deploy active duty forces to restore order. It would temporarily override the Posse Comitatus Act, which normally restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips, Landon Mion and Patrick Ward contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: A House lawmaker who fled one Communist dictator will put forward a congressional resolution formally commending President Donald Trump for the humanitarian feat of ousting another, as Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro now sits in a New York prison.

Rep. Carlos Giménez, R-Fla., fled Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba as a young boy, telling Fox News Digital what Trump and the U.S. military did without American casualties was “extraordinary.”

“I’m introducing a resolution that congratulates President Trump on his actions and also the way in which the arrest was conducted by law enforcement agents, but also facilitated obviously by the armed forces of the United States,” Gimenez said.

“I think that we should congratulate the president for taking the action, but also our own forces in the manner in which they conduct.”

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

Trump’s operation was the largest-scale iteration yet of what is being dubbed the “Donroe Doctrine,” a play on words of the 1823 doctrine of President James Monroe that warned foreign European powers against further colonizing the West.

Trump’s doctrine deems the Western Hemisphere a core security responsibility of the U.S., and the Maduro arrest showed his administration will give teeth to Monroe’s policy and pressure hostile governments directly.

“I don’t think there’s no other way to deal with these narco-terrorists. They’re just not going to give up,” Gimenez said of the “Donroe Doctrine” in action in the Caribbean.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS RIP SENATE WAR POWERS PUSH AS ‘POLITICAL THEATER’ AFTER TRUMP’S VENEZUELA RAID

“There was an arrest warrant. There’s a $50 million bounty on his head, $25 million of which was put on by Joe Biden and his administration. The difference is this president actually did something about it and enforced that arrest warrant and went in and got him. And, so, you know, I find absolutely nothing wrong with what he did.”

Gimenez called it a “seismic event” for the west, adding now other strongman regimes around the world are taking notice.

The resolution itself officially commends Trump, the Armed Forces, the Intel community and DOJ for “remarkable success of ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’” in Caracas.

VANCE SAYS CROCKETT ‘DOESN’T KNOW WHAT SHE’S TALKING ABOUT’ ON VENEZUELA MADURO OPERATION

“Whereas, on January 3, 2026, President Donald J. Trump demonstrated extraordinary political courage by authorizing ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’ to apprehend the dictator Nicolás Maduro and dismantle the command structure of the Cártel de los Soles.”

The resolution notes that Maduro and wife Cilia Flores are accused of narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to possess machine guns, all violations of federal law.

“Whereas, in 2024, the regime finalized its transition to full authoritarianism when its controlled Supreme Court ratified a 15-year ban on the leading opposition candidate, María Corina Machado – [and] to maintain his grip on power, the Maduro regime carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings, tortured political opponents, and terrorized the Venezuelan people, fueling the largest displacement crisis in the history of the Western Hemisphere,” Gimenez’ resolution added, delineating why it was so crucial that Trump took action against a geographically proximate threat.

“[Congress] stands in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and supports a rapid, constitutional transition to free and fair elections to restore the democratic institutions dismantled by the Maduro dictatorship.”

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However, Gimenez warned during his interview with Fox News Digital that not all of Congress is onboard with condemning authoritarian or communist regimes like Maduro’s.

“They do have some [defenders]. Believe me, they’re always, they’ve got people here [on Capitol Hill] defending them, and trying to stop the actions that will lead to democracy and freedom in the Western Hemisphere. They come to the aid and to the defense of these indefensible regimes. We have some here in Congress that do that. They’re not a majority, but they’re here.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back after several Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee held a press conference slamming the Trump administration’s handling of immigration.

House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., led the news conference and was joined by several high-profile Democrats, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, and Rep. Al Green, D-Texas. The lawmakers not only criticized DHS’s handling of immigration and federal law enforcement’s conduct in Minneapolis. They also called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment.

The press conference was held in the wake of the fatal ICE-involved shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota, which sparked unrest in the state and demonstrations across the country. Thompson described Good as “a wife, a writer, a poet, a devoted Christian and a U.S. citizen.” He also noted that Good had three children. Omar also spoke about Good and said that she died “because she chose love and solidarity over fear.”

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., took a moment to issue a message directed at Noem specifically.

DHS DEMANDS MN LEADERS HONOR ICE DETAINERS, ALLEGES HUNDREDS OF CRIMINAL ALIENS HAVE BEEN RELEASED UNDER WALZ

“You are terrible at doing your job. You are incompetent. You are shameless. But most of all, you are cruel,” McIver said. “The American people do not want you. We do not want you. And we will do whatever we need to do to make sure you will not hold that post soon. God will judge you and Democrats are going to remove you from office that you never deserved to hold in the first place.”

A Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that lawmakers would continue to introduce legislation in an attempt “to rein in” ICE, but in the meantime, “will continue to do our job to investigate DHS – and Kristi Noem – when this administration breaks the law.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the lawmakers and said in a statement emailed to Fox News Digital that the department was doing its job by enforcing the law.

“DHS is a law enforcement agency — enforcing the rule of law passed by Congress. If members don’t like the law, it is quite literally their job to change it,” McLaughlin said.

‘WORST OF THE WORST’: ICE ARRESTS CHILD PREDATOR, VIOLENT CRIMINALS AMID SURGE IN ANTI-AGENT ATTACKS

While members of Congress can propose and pass legislation, Democrats currently do not control either the House or the Senate, making it difficult for them to advance changes without bipartisan support.

“As ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, politicians are more focused on showmanship and fundraising clicks than actually removing criminals from our streets,” McLaughlin added. “We hope these members get serious about doing their job to protect American people, which is what this Department is doing under Secretary Noem.”

In addition to McLaughlin’s statement, DHS shared information about several criminal illegal immigrants who had been arrested since Trump’s crackdown began last year.

Hernan Cortes-Valencia

Hernan Cortes-Valencia, who hails from Mexico, had a final order of removal dated Dec. 1, 2016. DHS said that Cortes-Valencia was convicted of sexual assault against a child, sexual assault-carnal abuse and four DUIs.

Sriudorn Phaivan

Sriudorn Phaivan, an illegal immigrant from Laos, had a final order of removal from March 8, 2018, according to DHS. 

The department said that Phaivan was convicted of strongarm sodomy of a boy, strongarm sodomy of a girl, another aggravated sex offense, nine counts of larceny, unauthorized use of a vehicle, four counts of fraud, vehicle theft, two counts of drug possession, obstructing justice, possession of stolen property, receiving stolen property, burglary and check forgery. 

Additionally, Phaivan has pending charges for two counts of receiving stolen property, flight to avoid prosecution or confinement and burglary, DHS said.

Ge Yang

Ge Yang, an illegal immigrant from Laos with a final order of removal from Oct. 16, 2012, has been convicted of strongarm rape, strongarm aggravated assault against a family member, aggravated assault with a weapon, an additional sex offense and domestic violence involving strangulation, according to DHS.

Vannaleut Keomany

Vannaleut Keomany, an illegal immigrant from Laos with a final removal order dated Dec. 17, 2009. He was convicted of two counts of attempting to commit strongarm rape, according to DHS.

Tou Vang

Tou Vang, who is from Laos, was in the U.S. illegally and had a final order of removal dated Oct. 31, 2006. Vang has been convicted of sexual assault and sodomy of a girl under the age of 13 and procuring a child for prostitution, DHS said.

Chong Vue

Chong Vue, an illegal immigrant from Laos, was convicted of strongarm rape of a 12-year-old girl, kidnapping a child with intent to sexually assault her and vehicle theft. Vue has a final order of removal from March 11, 2004.

Kou Lor

Kou Lor, an illegal immigrant from Laos, had a final order of removal that was nearly 30 years old and was dated Aug. 16, 1996. 

He was convicted of sexual assault, rape, rape with a weapon, statutory rape without force, two counts of burglary and shoplifting.

Pao Choua Xiong

Pao Choua Xiong, an illegal immigrant from Laos with a final order of removal dated Jan. 10, 2003, was convicted of rape, fondling a child, two counts of domestic violence, burglary, larceny and disorderly conduct.

Gabriel Figueroa Gama

Gabriel Figueroa Gama, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was previously removed from the U.S. in 2002, was convicted of homicide, battery, assault and amphetamine possession.

Abdirashid Adosh Elmi

Abdirashid Adosh Elmi is an illegal immigrant from Somalia who was convicted of homicide.

Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed

Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, an illegal immigrant from Somalia with a final order of removal dated Feb. 18, 2022, according to DHS. 

The department said that he was convicted of two counts of negligent manslaughter with a vehicle, two counts of DUI, larceny and damage to property.

Mongong Kual Maniang Deng

Mongong Kual Maniang Deng, an illegal immigrant from Sudan, was convicted of attempt to commit homicide, weapon possession and DUI, DHS said.

Aldrin Guerrero Munoz

Aldrin Guerrero Munoz is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has a final order of removal dated Dec. 17, 2015, and has been convicted of homicide and assault, DHS said.

Gilberto Salguero Landaverde

Gilberto Salguero Landaverde, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, had a final order of removal dated June 25, 2025. He was convicted of three counts of homicide, according to DHS.

Aler Gomez Lucas

Aler Gomez Lucas is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala with a final order of removal dated May 24, 2022, according to DHS. He was convicted of negligent homicide with a vehicle and DUI.

Galuak Michael Rotgai

Galuak Michael Rotgai, an illegal immigrant from Sudan, has been convicted of homicide and assault, DHS said.

Shwe Htoo

Shwe Htoo, according to DHS, is an illegal immigrant from Burma who was convicted of negligent homicide with a weapon.

Mariama Sia Kanu

Mariama Sia Kanu, who hails from Sierra Leone, had a final order of removal dated July 5, 2022, according to DHS. The department said that Kanu was convicted of two counts of homicide, four DUIs, three counts of larceny and burglary.

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Thai Lor

Thai Lor, an illegal immigrant from Laos with a final order of removal dated June 15, 2009, was convicted of two counts of homicide, according to DHS.

After a brief series of delay tactics deployed by Democrats, the Senate passed a $174 billion spending package, sending a trio of funding bills to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The move puts Congress one step closer to averting a partial government shutdown, but lawmakers are only halfway through completing and passing the legislation needed to keep the lights on in Washington, D.C.

Neither party is keen to repeat the events of last fall, when Congress shattered the record for the longest government shutdown in history at 43 days. Still, hurdles remain before the fast-approaching Jan. 30 deadline to fund the government.

Despite attempts by Senate Democrats to slow the process, with lawmakers railing against recent actions by the Trump administration in Minnesota and Colorado, the power of jet fumes and an impending week-long break from the Capitol smashed through any resistance.

$174B SPENDING PACKAGE TO AVERT SHUTDOWN CLEARS KEY HURDLE IN SENATE

The three-bill package, known as a minibus, includes legislation to fund commerce, justice, science and related agencies; energy and water development and related agencies; and interior, environment and related agencies.

Comparatively, that package, and a forthcoming two-bill package from the House, are much easier lifts for lawmakers to pass than what’s to come.

Funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proved tricky, given congressional Democrats’ outrage over the agency’s actions in Minnesota.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was hopeful that a forthcoming package would include that bill, and that it could advance through the House to the Senate in the coming weeks.

“Appropriators are working on another package of the four remaining bills, which I hope will receive the same bipartisan backing that has characterized the appropriations cycle thus far,” Thune said on the Senate floor. “And before the end of the month the Senate will need to process all of these funding bills and get them to the president’s desk.”

But there is an acknowledgment among several lawmakers that Congress will likely have to turn to a short-term funding extension, or continuing resolution (CR), for some remaining funding bills or directly targeted at DHS.

DHS AT CENTER OF PROGRESSIVE REVOLT AS HOUSE ADVANCES $80B SPENDING PACKAGE

Congressional Democrats are demanding restrictions on DHS funding, particularly money that flows to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent last week.

Lawmakers are staying tight-lipped, for now, about what exactly the restrictions could be.

In the upper chamber, Homeland Security Appropriations Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala., said that Republicans had sent a “counteroffer to the Democrats but have yet to hear back from them.”

When asked if, ultimately, a CR for just DHS funding would be acceptable for the time being, she told Fox News Digital, “What I want to do is actually pass a bill.”

“I find it hard to believe that Democrats would give President Trump, in their words, a ‘slush fund’ on DHS,” Britt said. “So I think figuring out a pathway forward is what we need to do for everybody involved. And so I’m continuing to be committed to doing that. Time is of the essence.”

Britt’s opposite on the committee, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., noted that the bill was “obviously the hardest,” but contended that Democrats did not want to try to fix every issue in one fell swoop.

He also believed that a CR wouldn’t fix any of the issues, either.

“A CR doesn’t stop them from terrorizing our citizens, doesn’t stop the violence,” Murphy said. “So, a CR isn’t great. A budget without any constraints on DHS isn’t likely to get a lot of Democratic votes either.”

“That’s one of the difficult things to figure out, is whether there’s any language you can put in a budget that the administration will follow,” he continued. “But yes, I think there are ways that we could write accountability into the budget that would be hard for the administration to avoid.”

The Senate’s passage of the minibus comes after the House advanced its latest two-bill package on Wednesday evening. That bill totaled roughly $80 billion in funding for the State Department and related national security, as well as federal financial services and general government operations.

That legislation easily passed the House in a 341-79 vote on Wednesday evening and is now headed to the Senate for its consideration.

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House appropriators are expected to release the text of their minibus covering the War Department, Labor Department, Education Department, Department of Transportation, and Department of Health and Human Services, among others, in the coming days.

House GOP leaders are hoping to advance that bill, which will likely be the largest by far, next week while the Senate is in recess. The House will be out the following week.

Questions remain about whether DHS funding will be part of that legislation or its own standalone issue, however.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday, “Right now, there’s no bipartisan path forward for the Department of Homeland Security bill.”

President Donald Trump unveiled his new “Great Healthcare Plan” Thursday, and urged Congress to create and pass legislation with the provisions included in an attempt to lower healthcare costs for Americans. 

The plan, which comes amid a big push from the White House to focus on affordability issues for Americans, calls on Congress to get behind a series of provisions outlined in the plan that stem largely from previous executive orders the president has signed during this term. 

DEMOCRATS HOLD THE GOVERNMENT HOSTAGE OVER SUBSIDIES AMERICANS DON’T WANT 

Specifically, the “Great Healthcare Plan” calls on Congress to codify Trump’s most “favored nations drug pricing” initiative that instructs drug companies to lower costs and keep them in alignment with what drugs in other developed countries cost, according to a White House fact sheet. Trump issued an executive order on the matter in May. 

The plan also aims to maximize price transparency, and require providers or insurers to take Medicare or Medicaid to “prominently post their pricing and fees in their place of business and ensure insurance companies are complying with price transparency requirements,” according to the fact sheet.

17 REPUBLICANS REBEL AGAINST HOUSE GOP LEADERS, JOIN DEMS TO PASS OBAMACARE EXTENSION

The plan also calls for ending taxpayer-funded subsidy payments to insurance companies, and instead of sending those funds to eligible Americans instead — a proposal that Trump has suggested previously. 

“The government is going to pay the money directly to you. It goes to you, and then you take the money and buy your own health care,” Trump said in a video the White House released Thursday. “Nobody has ever heard of that before, and that’s the way it is.”

It’s unclear how the federal government plans to directly distribute funds to Americans, and an administration official told reporters Thursday that the administration is open to working with Congress on that front.

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“These are commonsense actions that make up President Trump’s Great Healthcare Plan, and they represent the most comprehensive and bold agenda to lower health care costs to have ever been considered by the federal government,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday. “Congress should immediately take up President Trump’s plan and pass it into law.” 

Meanwhile, the Senate is prepared to vote on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which were a sticking point during the government shutdown in October and expired at the end of 2025. The House passed extending the subsidies for three years Jan. 8. 

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security says it arrested a man in Minneapolis Wednesday night who assaulted a federal immigration agent while carrying a gun and box of ammunition.

The incident occurred several hours after DHS says a separate agent was attacked by an illegal migrant from Venezuela with a shovel. The illegal migrant was shot in the leg, prompting riots to escalate in the city shortly after. 

“Last night during a riot in Minneapolis, a U.S. citizen was arrested for assaulting officers while carrying a firearm,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. 

“The individual showed up to the protest with a gun and a box of ammunition in a bag. The individual threatened violence against law enforcement officers while pointing at his bag.

TRUMP DRUG CZAR RIPS DEMOCRATS OVER ANTI-ICE RHETORIC PUTTING ‘EVERYBODY’S LIFE IN DANGER’

“After law enforcement deployed crowd control measures to calm an increasingly volatile crowd, the individual kicked a metal smoke canister at officers. He then pushed an officer, and he was arrested for assault,” McLaughlin explained. 

“While being arrested, he stated he had a firearm, which was located along with a box of ammunition. He was not carrying his concealed carry permit. This is not the peaceful protesting that the First Amendment protects.” 

Tensions in Minneapolis have been high as days of riots ravage the city and federal law enforcement officers face off with agitators. 

Riots began shortly after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was killed by an ICE agent during an altercation in Minneapolis last week.

ICE HEAD SAYS AGENTS FACING ‘CONSTANT IMPEDIMENTS’ AFTER MIGRANT SEEN RAMMING CARS WHILE TRYING TO FLEE

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem referred to the Good as a “domestic terrorist,” alleging she used her vehicle as a weapon after obstructing ICE agents on the roadway.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the f— out of Minneapolis” during a news conference after Good’s death, and Gov. Tim Walz criticized DHS, posting to X that he saw the video, and referred to Noem’s explanation of the incident as a part of a “propaganda machine.”

On Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if people in Minnesota continue to disobey the law and endanger federal officers.

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“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump posted to TRUTH Social. 

Should President Trump invoke the legislation signed into law in 1807, he would be allowed to send National Guardsmen into the area to stabilize control and reduce violence.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented President Donald Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal, describing it as a historic gesture recognizing his commitment to freedom and the fight against tyranny.

Machado spoke with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Thursday, when she was asked whether she offered her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump.

“I presented the president of the United States the medal … the Nobel Peace Prize, and I told him, ‘Listen to this, 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simón Bolívar a medal with George Washington’s face on it,” Machado said. “He kept that medal for the rest of his life. Actually, when you see his portraits, you can see the medal.”

She said Lafayette gave the medal to Bolívar as a symbol of the partnership between the people of the U.S. and the people of Venezuela and their shared fight for freedom against tyranny.

TRUMP PLANS TO MEET WITH VENEZUELA OPPOSITION LEADER MARIA CORINA MACHADO NEXT WEEK

“Two hundred years in history, the people of Bolívar are giving back the heir of Washington, a medal, in this case the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” Machado said.

Trump thanked Machado for the medal in a post on Truth Social on Thursday evening.

“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today,” Trump wrote. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT MACHADO PLEDGES TO RETURN TO VENEZUELA, SEES ‘ALARMING’ INTERNAL CRACKDOWN

Machado’s meeting with Trump came nearly two weeks after the U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and amid lingering questions about her political future. The meeting also followed comments from Trump casting doubt on Machado leading the country rather than endorsing the Venezuelan opposition leader.

“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader,” Trump told reporters Jan. 3. “She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

The Washington Post previously reported Trump was annoyed Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, an award he had hoped to receive and that Machado dedicated to him, though the White House said the president’s decisions were based on “realistic decisions.”

KRISTI NOEM DELIVERS TRUMP’S ULTIMATUM TO VENEZUELA’S VICE PRESIDENT FOLLOWING MADURO CAPTURE OPERATION

Still, Machado floated the idea of transferring the prestigious award to Trump last week during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

“Did you at any point offer to give him the Nobel Peace Prize?” Sean Hannity asked. “Did that actually happen?”

Machado responded, “Well, it hasn’t happened yet.”

“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado continued. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step toward a democratic transition.”

Despite her intent, the Norwegian Nobel Institute shut down the idea last Friday.

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“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others,” the institute said in a statement. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for a reaction.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday via X that longtime U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorney Charles Wall will serve as the agency’s new deputy director as enforcement operations intensify nationwide.

“Effective immediately, Charles Wall will serve as the Deputy Director of @ICEGov,” wrote Noem. “For the last year, Mr. Wall served as ICE’s Principal Legal Advisor, playing a key role in helping us deliver historic results in arresting and removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods.”

Wall replaces Madison Sheahan, who stepped down earlier Thursday to pursue a congressional run in Ohio. Her departure left ICE leadership in transition at a moment when the agency has faced increasing resistance to enforcement efforts and heightened threats against officers in the field.

The move comes as the Trump administration intensifies immigration enforcement against murderers, rapists, gang members and suspected terrorists living illegally in the U.S., even as sanctuary jurisdictions and activist groups seek to block or disrupt ICE actions.

DHS DEMANDS MN LEADERS HONOR ICE DETAINERS, ALLEGES HUNDREDS OF CRIMINAL ALIENS HAVE BEEN RELEASED UNDER WALZ

ICE officials said Wall brings more than a decade of experience inside the agency.

“Mr. Wall has served as an ICE attorney for 14 years and is a forward-leaning, strategic thinker who understands the importance of prioritizing the removal of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from our country,” Noem added.

Wall most recently served as ICE’s principal legal advisor, overseeing more than 3,500 attorneys and support staff who represent the DHS in removal proceedings and provide legal counsel to senior agency leadership. 

He has served at ICE since 2012, previously holding senior counsel roles in New Orleans, according to DHS.

‘WORST OF THE WORST’: ICE ARRESTS CHILD PREDATOR, VIOLENT CRIMINALS AMID SURGE IN ANTI-AGENT ATTACKS

DHS has described the appointment as part of a broader effort to ensure ICE leadership is aligned with the Trump administration’s public safety priorities.

The leadership change comes as ICE operations have drawn national attention following protests in Minneapolis after the ICE-involved fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good on Jan. 7.

Administration officials have repeatedly emphasized that ICE’s focus remains on what they describe as the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens, warning that local resistance and political opposition increase risks for officers carrying out enforcement duties.

ICE has recently created a specific landing page where these ‘worst of the worst’ offenders can be viewed with names and nationalities attached.

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“I look forward to working with him in his new role to make America safe again,” Noem concluded.

ICE did not immediately provide additional comment to Fox News Digital.

The Supreme Court is poised to rule soon on President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency wartime law to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on most U.S. countries — and which brought to the fore key questions over the “major questions doctrine,” or the limiting principle by which courts can, in certain circumstances, move to curb the power of executive agencies.

During oral arguments over Trump’s tariffs in November, justices honed in on the so-called major questions doctrine — which allows courts to limit the power of executive agencies on actions with “vast economic and political significance” — and how it squares with Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enact his sweeping global and reciprocal tariffs.

Plaintiffs told the court that Trump’s use of IEEPA to unilaterally impose his steep import duties violates the major questions doctrine, since IEEPA does not explicitly mention the word “tariffs.” Rather, it authorizes the president to “regulate … importation” during a declared national emergency — plaintiffs noted, arguing that it falls short of the standard needed to pass muster for MQD.

“Congress does not (and could not) use such vague terminology to grant the executive virtually unconstrained taxing power of such staggering economic effect — literally trillions of dollars — shouldered by American businesses and consumers,” they told the court in an earlier briefing.

TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY

Lawyers for the Trump administration countered that text of the IEEPA emergency law is the “practical equivalent” of a tariff.

“Tomorrow’s United States Supreme Court case is, literally, LIFE OR DEATH for our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social back in November.

“With a Victory, we have tremendous, but fair, Financial and National Security. Without it, we are virtually defenseless against other Countries who have, for years, taken advantage of us,” Trump continued.

“Our Stock Market is consistently hitting Record Highs, and our Country has never been more respected than it is right now,” he added. “A big part of this is the Economic Security created by Tariffs, and the Deals that we have negotiated because of them.”

While U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer acknowledged to the justices that IEEPA does not explicitly give an executive the power to regulate tariffs, he stressed in November that the power to tariff is “the natural common sense inference” of IEEPA.

But whether the high court will back his argument remains to be seen.

That was the conclusion reached by the U.S. Court of International Trade last year. Judges on the  three-judge panel voted unanimously to block Trump’s tariffs from taking force, ruling that, as commander in chief, Trump does not have “unbounded authority” to impose tariffs under the emergency law. 

“The parties cite two doctrines—the nondelegation doctrine and the major questions doctrine—that the judiciary has developed to ensure that the branches do not impermissibly abdicate their respective constitutionally vested powers,” the court said in its ruling.

The doctrine was also a focus in November, as justices pressed lawyers for the administration over IEEPA’s applicability to tariffs, or taxation powers, and asked the administration what guardrails, if any, exist to limit the whims of the executive branch, should they ultimately rule in Trump’s favor.

Though it’s not clear how much the court will rely on the MQD in its ruling, legal experts told Fox News Digital that they would expect it to potentially be cited by the Supreme Court if it blocks Trump’s tariff regime.

US COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE SIDES WITH TRUMP IN TARIFF CASE

The high court agreed to take up the case on an expedited basis last fall, and a ruling is expected to be handed down within the coming days or weeks.

There’s very little precedent for major questions as a formal precedent cited by the courts, as noted by the University of Chicago College of Law in 2024.

The doctrine was cited formally by the Supreme Court for the first time ever in its 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, when the court’s majority cited the doctrine as its basis for invalidating the EPA’s emissions standards under the Clean Power Plan. 

Prior to that, the doctrine existed as a more amorphous strand of statutory interpretation — a phenomenon that Justice Elena Kagan noted in her dissent in the same case.

“The current Court is textualist only when being so suits it,” Kagan said then. “When that method would frustrate broader goals, special canons like the ‘major questions doctrine’ magically appear as get-out-of-text-free cards.”

SUPREME COURT FREEZES ORDER TO RETURN MAN FROM EL SALVADOR PRISON

One factor that could play in Trump’s favor is the fact that the tariffs case is to some degree a foreign policy issue, which is an area where executives enjoy a higher level of deference from the court. 

Still, if oral arguments were any indication, the justices seemed poised to block Trump’s use of IEEPA to continue his steep tariff plan. 

Justices pressed Sauer as to why Trump invoked IEEPA to impose his sweeping tariffs, noting that doing so would be the first time a president used the law to set import taxes on trading partners.

They also seemed skeptical of the administration’s assertion that they did not need additional permission from Congress to use the law in such a sweeping manner, and pressed the administration’s lawyers on their contention that EEPA is only narrowly reviewable by the courts.

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“We agree that it’s a major power, but it’s in the context of a statute that is explicitly conferring major powers,” Sauer said. “That the point of the statute is to confer major powers to address major questions — which are emergencies.”