NationalWatch

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., warned that the allegations against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell must be legitimate, and not politically influenced, as bipartisan unease over the criminal probe continues to ripple through the Senate. 

“I haven’t seen the case or whatever the allegations or charges are,” Thune said. “But I would say they better be — they better be real and they better be serious.”

Thune’s comments followed a wave of bipartisan anger over the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal probe into Powell, with Senate Republicans threatening to block any of President Donald Trump’s future Fed nominees until the issue was resolved. 

SENATE ADVANCES $174B PACKAGE AS MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING FUELS DHS FUNDING FIGHT

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., vowed to “oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed — including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy,” shortly after the news of the probe into Powell broke.

He was later backed up by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who said after speaking with the central bank chief that “it’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion,” and she threatened a congressional investigation into the DOJ. 

When asked about Tillis’ position, Thune said that people would “react to this differently,” but reiterated that without knowing the full breadth of the investigation, it was hard to jump to conclusions. 

“But as I’ve said earlier, I think it’s really important that it can resolve quickly and that there not be any appearance of political interference with the Fed or its activities,” he said.

POWELL REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO STEP DOWN FROM THE FED AS PRESSURE MOUNTS

Powell contended that the investigation was not related to testimony he gave before the Senate Banking Committee last year regarding the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., but rather a consequence of the Federal Reserve “setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.” 

Thune also acknowledged that Tillis’ hold on Fed nominees would make things difficult moving forward as the investigation plays out, given that Powell’s term atop the central bank expires in May. 

REPUBLICAN SENATOR VOWS TO BLOCK TRUMP FED NOMINEE OVER POWELL INVESTIGATION

He said that it would be good to ensure continuity at the Fed, and “that the central bank maintains its independence.” 

“I mean, they’ve got a couple of key missions when it comes to the economy, particularly dealing with inflation, which obviously is impacted by interest rate policy,” Thune said. “And so I want to see them operate in an independent way, free of politics.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., railed against the investigation and called the allegations fueling it “clearly bogus.” 

“Anyone with two eyes and half a brain knows exactly what this criminal probe represents: a brazen attempt by Donald Trump to cannibalize the Fed’s independence,” he said.

Jillian Balow, a former Wyoming state superintendent of public instruction, is jumping into the congressional race to succeed Rep. Harriet Hageman in the Cowboy State’s at-large U.S. House district.

“Wyoming deserves a representative who understands our way of life and fights for it every day in Washington,” Balow said, according to a press release obtained by Fox News Digital “I am running to defend Wyoming’s energy economy, protect our constitutional freedoms, support parents and students, and make sure the voices of rural communities are never ignored.”

The race is an open contest as Hageman announced a U.S. Senate bid last month after GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced that she would not seek re-election.

SCOOP: TRUMP ALLY WHO OUSTED CHENEY LAUNCHES SENATE BID TO KEEP GOP SEAT IN REPUBLICAN HANDS

“I am proud of the legacy Senator Cynthia Lummis and Congresswoman Harriet Hageman have built by standing up for Wyoming values and refusing to back down in Washington,” Balow noted, according to the press release. “They are trailblazers for our state, and I am running to carry that same strong, independent Wyoming voice forward, to follow in their footsteps, and to fight for our state with the same conviction and resolve.”

Balow will face competition in the GOP primary for the U.S. House seat from Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray and Reid Rasner, who lost a 2024 Republican U.S. Senate primary in the state to incumbent Sen. John Barasso.

‘AMERICA FIRST’: WYOMING SECRETARY OF STATE CHUCK GRAY LAUNCHES HOUSE BID

In 2022, Balow resigned from her role as Wyoming state superintendent of public instruction to become the Virginia superintendent of public instruction.

She resigned from Virginia role in 2023.

WYOMING SUPREME COURT RULES LAWS RESTRICTING ABORTION VIOLATE STATE CONSTITUTION

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I believe Wyoming leads best when we stand firm on conservative principles and deliver real results,” Balow noted, according to the press release. “This campaign is about protecting what makes Wyoming strong and ensuring our state has a confident, independent voice in Congress.”

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in two cases that could determine whether states can ban transgender athletes who identify as women from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, a legal fight that could have far-reaching implications on transgender policies across the country.

The arguments in the two cases, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., will examine state bans on transgender athletes participating in school sports under Title IX and the Constitution’s equal protection clause.

At issue is whether laws in Idaho and West Virginia that prohibit transgender athletes who identify as women from playing on teams that match their gender identity discriminate based on sex.

JUSTICE URGES ‘STAND UP FOR OUR GIRLS’ AS SUPREME COURT WEIGHS FATE OF HIS ‘SAVE WOMEN’S SPORTS ACT’

Lower courts struck down the bans as unconstitutional violations of Title IX and equal protection, and the two Republican-led states appealed to the Supreme Court.

“It’s about Title IX. It‘s about equal protection, and it’s also about common sense, but mostly it’s about protecting women in both academia and on the athletic field,” West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.

The justices will hear each of the cases Tuesday morning beginning at 10 a.m.

The high court has set aside an hour for each case, but arguments are expected to run longer as the states, the plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Trump administration each present their positions and answer the justices’ questions.

THE ATHLETES, COACHES, LAWMAKERS AND OFFICIALS WHO HAVE PICKED A SIDE IN THE SCOTUS WOMEN’S SPORTS BATTLE

In Little v. Hecox, Lindsay Hecox, a biological man who sought to compete on the women’s track and cross-country teams at Boise State University, contended that Idaho’s law, the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, violated the equal protection clause by excluding transgender women.

West Virginia v. B.P.J. centers on a 15-year-old transgender athlete who identifies as a girl, and who argued the state’s ban violated both the Constitution and Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Lawyers for the states defending the bans maintain that separating sports based on biological sex preserves fairness and safety for female athletes and is consistent with Title IX’s definition of sex.

The Trump administration is supporting the states in the cases, asserting that Title IX and equal protection permit sex-based distinctions in athletics and criticizing lower courts for undermining states’ authority. The solicitor general’s office will be able to present the administration’s case on behalf of the U.S. during Tuesday’s arguments.

The debate has garnered enormous attention, as evidenced by the dozens of amicus briefs submitted to the court by athletes, coaches, lawmakers and state attorneys general on both sides of the debate. The Washington Post editorial board came out against the trans athletes in an op-ed this past weekend, saying the Supreme Court has the chance to correct “one of the worst excesses of America’s cultural revolution.”

WASHINGTON POST URGES SUPREME COURT TO ‘SAVE WOMEN’S SPORTS’ AHEAD OF MAJOR TRANS ATHLETE CASE

Observers say a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could limit state power to adopt similar bans and broaden interpretations of federal nondiscrimination protections, while a decision for the states could uphold the bans and influence other transgender policy disputes, such as bathroom policies and sex designation on documents, such as passports and driver’s licenses.

“Ideally, in my mind, what would happen is that all 50 states in the federal government pass a similar law to the Save Women’s Sports Act and women’s playing fields will be exclusive to biological women,” McCuskey said, predicting the court would rule in favor of the states 9-0.

The transgender athletes are represented by the ACLU, which argues that the challenged laws unlawfully discriminate against people who identify as women by excluding them from women’s and girls’ sports.

“Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth,” ACLU attorneys said in a statement.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Transgender rights advocates say the red-leaning states and the Trump administration have singled out transgender students and spent exorbitant resources to target what they say are a negligible number of transgender athletes. McCuskey said that argument did not account for women and girls.

“You make the argument that B.P.J. is being discriminated against, but that belies the argument that all 300 of the other girls that B.P.J. beat in an athletic competition aren’t victims,” he said.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by early summer.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said that President Donald Trump called her on Monday following a speech in which she sharply criticized his record on costs and governance. 

“This morning, I gave a speech noting how Donald Trump is driving up costs for families, sowing terror and chaos in our communities, and abusing his power to prosecute anyone who criticizes him. I also laid out an argument for how Democrats should fight back and win,” Warren said in her statement.

The left-wing lawmaker delivered a speech at a National Press Club event on Monday and then offered further remarks while responding to questions after the speech. 

DEMOCRATS ‘DOOMED TO FAIL’ WITHOUT POPULIST ECONOMIC MESSAGE, WARREN WARNS

“In my remarks, I made it clear that despite promising to lower costs On Day One, Trump has done nothing but raise costs for families,” she said in the statement. 

She said Trump called her after her remarks at the event on Monday.

“I told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it. I also urged him to get House Republicans to pass the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act,” that “would build more housing and lower costs,” she said in the statement.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Tuesday.

“President Trump and Sen. Warren had a productive call about credit card interest rates and housing affordability for the American people,” a White House official noted.

MAMDANI ADVISER, WARREN IN THE HOT SEAT AS COLLAPSE OF ROOMBA MAKER SHIFTS DATA TO CHINA

In a post on Truth Social last week, President Trump called for capping credit card interest rates at 10% for one year.

“Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%. Coincidentally, the January 20th date will coincide with the one year anniversary of the historic and very successful Trump Administration,” he declared in the post.

ELIZABETH WARREN CALLS ON DEMOCRATS TO REJECT BILLIONAIRE DONORS AHEAD OF 2026 AND 2028 ELECTIONS

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

During comments at the National Press Club event, Warren said the president has a “credibility problem,” saying he has not done “one damn thing to actually lower the cost of housing for the American people.”

With the midterm elections fast approaching, progressive champion Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has a warning for Democrats to stop catering to the wealthy elites if they want to recapture majorities in the House and Senate this year.

“A Democratic Party that worries more about offending big donors than delivering for working people is a party doomed to fail in 2026, 2028, and beyond,” Warren, the three-term senator from Massachusetts who ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasized in a speech Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The address by Warren, who to a degree stayed out of the national conversation during President Donald Trump‘s first year back in the White House, seemed to be her attempt to shape the Democratic Party’s approach to the 2026 midterms in her populist image.

The speech was part post-mortem of the 2024 elections, when Trump and Republicans enjoyed sweeping victories as they won back the White House and Senate and held onto their fragile House majority.

PROGRESSIVE POWERHOUSES LAUNCH PRIMARY WAR AGAINST DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT AHEAD OF 2026 ELECTIONS

Pointing to the wealthy elites and major Democratic Party donors, Warren argued that “these movers and shakers want the Democratic Party to respond to the 2024 losses by watering down our economic agenda and sucking up to the rich and powerful, claiming that less progressive Democratic Party will win more elections. They are wrong.”

Democrats scored decisive victories and overperformances in the 2025 elections and in a slew of special elections and other ballot box showdowns last year, which were fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation.

“Americans are stretched to the breaking point financially, and they will vote for candidates who name what is wrong and who credibly demonstrate that they will take on a rigged system to fix it,” Warren emphasized.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS

And she charged that “revising our economic agenda to tiptoe around that conclusion might appeal to the wealthy, but it will not help Democrats build a bigger tent. And it definitely will not help Democrats win elections.”

“Democrats need to read the room. Any room not stuffed with billionaires is a room that will tell you it is critically important to lower those costs,” Warren reiterated, as she took questions from reporters following her speech.

REPUBLICAN SENATORS TOUT BORDER SECURITY, AFFORDABILITY, IN 2026 CAMPAIGN ROAD TRIP

Warren, a vocal critic of the president, also argued that “Donald Trump has not delivered” when it comes to lower costs. “People have made it clear that this is what matters to them and Donald Trump has not delivered. Our job is to both hold him accountable and to put out our own proposals in order to lower those costs. We do that, we will win.”

The senator’s speech comes amid a fierce policy debate among Democrats over whether to embrace an economic populist message promoted by Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, or to support a more moderate, business friendly agenda, in order to court moderate voters souring on Trump and the GOP.

Liam Kerr, co-founder of the Welcome PAC, a group which advocates for moderate Democratic candidates, told Fox News Digital that “Warren’s speech was big on buzzwords and short on specific examples. Warren is a great lawyer playing a bad hand: with no leftwing candidates winning swing voters, she resorts to bluster.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Warren’s address is also her latest move to play an influential role in the 2026 elections.

The senator, who’s a member of the informal Senate “Fight Club,” a small group of left-leaning senators who are challenging Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s approach to the midterm elections, last week announced she had donated $400,000 to a slew of state Democratic parties.

New York might hold its 2028 presidential primary contests on Super Tuesday, a key point during each presidential election cycle when scads of states simultaneously hold primaries on the same day.

The Empire State’s Senate on Monday was poised to pass a bill on the matter, Politico Playbook reported. The measure would place New York’s presidential primary contests on the first Tuesday in March, according to the text of the proposal.

“By holding the presidential primary on Super Tuesday, New York can ensure voters have a meaningful voice while the nomination remains competitive, increasing the state’s influence in the process,” bill sponsor Sen. James Skoufis said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

JD VANCE SAYS ‘DUMBEST’ DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE WILL WIN NOMINATION IN 2028

Many other state senators are pushing the proposal with Skoufis.

“New York is highly representative of the country with its blend of urban, suburban, and rural communities and mirrors the nation’s racial demographics, all of which are important factors as the primary calendar takes shape,” he continued. 

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM ENFORCING MAIL-IN VOTING RULES IN EXECUTIVE ORDER

“This legislation promises New Yorkers a far greater role in choosing our national leaders in lieu of our current, limited participation as a fly-by-night ATM for candidates who visit donors in their Manhattan penthouses. New York is far too influential a state for its presidential primary to be simply ceremonial,” Skoufis added.

In 2024, Super Tuesday was on March 5, but New York’s Republican and Democratic presidential primaries weren’t held until April 2.

WHITE HOUSE RACE UNDERWAY: WITH 2026 LOOMING, BOTH PARTIES ARE ALREADY PLAYING FOR 2028

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The state, while already influential due to the number of delegates it offers candidates in party primaries, could have even more influence in 2028 primaries by participating in Super Tuesday.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is introducing a bill aimed at restricting any unauthorized military action by President Donald Trump, amid growing debate over his comments about acquiring Greenland “one way or the other.”

Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., is leading the legislation along with Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., according to POLITICO.

“This is about our fundamental shared goals and our fundamental security, not just in Europe, but in the United States itself,” Keating said in a statement to the outlet.

The group involved in the effort is soliciting broader support for the legislation and say they hope additional Republicans will back the effort to restrict funding for any unauthorized military action against U.S. allies.

EUROPEAN ALLIES WORKING ON PLAN IF US ACTS ON ACQUIRING GREENLAND: REPORT

In a letter to colleagues, Keating said “this legislation takes a clear stand against such action and further supports NATO allies and partners,” according to POLITICO.

While the measure does not specifically name any specific countries, it is clearly in response to Trump’s repeated threats against Greenland.

Keating said the decision to omit Greenland’s name was meant to broaden the legislation’s focus. He said he met with the Danish Ambassador and the head of Greenland representation.

“This isn’t just about Greenland. This is about our security,” Keating said.

Keating also said he believes slashing funding is the most impactful way to disincentivize Trump administration officials from taking action.

“War powers are important, but we’ve seen with Democratic and Republican presidents that that’s not as effective,” he said. “It’s hard to get around having no funds or not allowing personnel to do it.”

SENATE DEM JOHN FETTERMAN SUPPORTS PROSPECT OF US GREENLAND PURCHASE, CITING ‘MASSIVE STRATEGIC BENEFITS’

This comes after the Senate advanced a bipartisan resolution last week that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela after the U.S. military’s recent move to strike the country and capture its president, Nicolás Maduro. The Upper Chamber could pass the measure later this week, although its future in the House remains uncertain despite some support from Republicans.

On Greenland, administration officials are openly weighing options such as military force to take the Danish territory, a move that would violate NATO’s Article V, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all of them and could end the alliance of more than 75 years.

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said on Friday. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders reaffirmed last week that the self-governing island has no interest in becoming part of the U.S.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” the leaders said, adding that Greenland’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as the leaders of Italy, Spain and Poland, also signed a letter stating: “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

The chance of expanding U.S. control over Greenland has drawn mixed reactions from Congress. While most Democrats have opposed the idea, some Republicans have voiced support for pursuing closer ties with the territory.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., who introduced legislation to make it the 51st U.S. state, although he said the best way to acquire Greenland is voluntarily.

“I think it is in the world’s interest for the United States to exert sovereignty over Greenland,” Fine told Fox News Digital.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is increasingly drifting back into President Donald Trump’s MAGA orbit after their public blowup in June 2025 led to months of icy distance between the pair.

That thaw surfaced publicly again over the weekend. Trump mentioned Musk by name Sunday when asked by the media whether he would lean on Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet constellation, to help deliver internet access to Iran as citizens take to the streets in mass protests against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.

“We may get the internet going if that’s possible,” Trump told the media Sunday while aboard Air Force One. “We may speak to Elon. Because, as you know, he’s very good at that kind of thing. He’s got a very good company. So we may speak to Elon Musk.” 

The president added, “I’m gonna call him as soon as I’m finished with you.” 

TRUMP AND MUSK SHARE ‘LOVELY DINNER’ AT MAR-A-LAGO AFTER PUBLIC FEUDING

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Fox Digital’s request for comment on the president’s remarks. 

Trump’s comment is the latest signal that the Trump–Musk friendship is warming after months of the pair spatting or having cordial interactions — a stark contrast to their cozy relationship while on the 2024 campaign trail and the early days of the administration. 

When asked Monday for updates on the president’s friendship with Musk, and if Trump’s comments were more reflective of the urgency in Iran, the White House directed Fox Digital to Trump praising Musk Jan. 4. 

“Elon’s great. I say about Elon, he’s 80% super genius, and 20% he makes mistakes. But he’s a good guy. He’s a well-meaning person,” Trump said of Musk while aboard Air Force One Jan 4. 

Trump’s comments follow the pair sharing a “lovely dinner” together at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Musk reported on X at the time. 

Just roughly a year ago, Musk was described as Trump’s “first buddy,” as the media took note of the pair’s close working relationship, which included Musk serving as a special employee of the federal government as Trump unleashed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Special government employees are commonly experts that the federal government hires on a temporary basis for no more than 130 days a year. 

TRUMP LAYS OUT WHERE HE STANDS WITH ELON MUSK AFTER BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL BLOWUP

Musk would sleep at the White House on late work nights, attend Cabinet meetings and become a common face on the White House campus when he served as the public leader of DOGE — the government office Trump established in January 2025 to seek out and end potential fraud, waste and mismanagement within the federal government. 

“He’s one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” Trump said in May, when Musk’s tenure as a special government employee ran dry of its 130 days. “He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation, and we appreciate it.”

Days later, Musk began publicly criticizing the “big, beautiful bill” — a massive tax and spending package that advanced Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt — as a “disgusting abomination.” 

Musk warned on X it would be the “BIGGEST DEBT ceiling increase in HISTORY” — then escalated the spat with a personal jab that “@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.”

TRUMP TEASES MUSK AT FORUM AS ONCE-FROSTY DYNAMIC SEEMS TO TAKE A TURN

Trump told the media that he was disappointed in Musk’s comments, while the tech billionaire reeled in some of his commentary, remarking he sometimes “went too far.” The president said in 2025 that his relationship with Musk changed when he began discussing plans to eliminate the electric vehicle mandate, which would affect Musk’s signature electric company, Tesla.

The pair abruptly parted ways in June. Musk has sporadically signaled support for the Trump administration, including just weeks later in July when he praised Trump’s actions in Israel to end the war with Gaza. 

Trump signed the “big, beautiful bill” into law on the Fourth of July. 

Their relationship has been on an apparent mend since at least September 2025, when the pair was seen sitting next to each other and chatting during Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona following his shocking assassination.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Musk attended a White House dinner for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Nov. 18, 2025, and Trump told the media in December 2025, “I like Elon a lot,” but said he was unsure if the tech leader was back in his friend circle following the June fallout. 

President Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican-controlled Congress is not quite what it was.

Republicans in Congress dealt the president two blows in recent days and came within shouting distance of two more.

That’s not to say that the president’s influence among the GOP is completely waning on Capitol Hill. Congressional Republicans are still a pro-MAGA group. But something is different.

2026 is an election year. Some Republicans are trained on their own re-election chances. You don’t even have to squint to see some fractures among Republicans when it comes to supporting the president on individual issues.

SHOWDOWN FOR THE HOUSE: DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS BRACE FOR HIGH-STAKES MIDTERM CLASH

The striking examples came within hours of each other last Thursday.

In the fall, the Senate narrowly rejected a motion to begin a debate about U.S. military action in the Caribbean. All 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats voted in favor of starting the debate. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined the Democrats, bringing the yeas to 49. So two votes were needed to agree to the motion and begin a debate. Remember, a 50-50 tie loses in the Senate. It was a close call.

But last week, three more GOP senators voted with Democrats to initiate debate on another war powers resolution after Trump ordered the strike on Venezuela. Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., aligned this time with Paul and Murkowski.

It was a brushback pitch for the president. Hawley opposed the war powers resolution regarding strikes in the Caribbean last fall. But the move against Venezuela moved Hawley to a yes on the revamped measure.

“We don’t know what might happen in Venezuela. We may want to commit troops,” said Hawley. “I just think that in that eventuality, Congress would need to then be on the hook for it.”

“The previous votes have been more hypothetical. This vote’s about a real incursion. It’s about a real invasion of a foreign country,” said Paul.

Sen. John Husted, R-Ohio, supported the administration’s position that it had constitutional prerogative to hit Venezuela without congressional authorization and voted no. But even Husted understood why some of his colleagues switched their votes.

2026 DEADLINES LOOM AS CONGRESS LEAVES DC WITH SEVERAL UNFINISHED BATTLES

The reason? Saber-rattling.

“The rhetoric around Greenland has probably been the issue that’s driven this the most,” said Husted. “I think everybody’s really excited about how well things have gone in Venezuela, but they don’t like the idea that perhaps things could go differently as it relates to Greenland.”

Trump says the U.S. will do “something” on Greenland, “whether they like it or not.”

And that’s to say nothing about threats of possibly hitting Venezuela again. Moving against Cuba. Even Colombia. And after major protests, Iran could be in the mix, too.

“Bombing may rally people to the regime instead of weakening it. You can’t drop bombs in the middle of protests and protect civilians,” cautioned Paul on ABC.

Others are concerned about overextending the military. Especially without guidance from Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

“The president has said we’re going to take Venezuelan oil. It will take two years to rebuild the Venezuelan oil infrastructure. Is our fleet going to stay there for two years?” asked Warner on Fox.

The Senate is now poised to debate the issue and vote in the coming days. But it’s unclear whether voting to begin debate on such an issue is the same as actually voting to undercut the president.

Trump shot out a message saying Republicans should be “ashamed” of the five who voted alongside the Democrats. He added that the five renegades “should never be elected to office again.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., backed the president, describing the votes by the five as “a gift” to Venezuela.

TRUMP BLASTS GOP WAR POWERS DEFECTORS, SAYS THEY ‘SHOULD NEVER BE ELECTED TO OFFICE AGAIN’

“They’re dead wrong,” said Graham. “They’re going to own screwing up the best chance we’ve ever had to liberate the people of Venezuela.”

Vice President JD Vance downplayed GOPers voting to harness the authority of the president.

“We talked to some of the senators who are going to vote the wrong way, in my view, on this resolution today. Much of their argument was based more on a legal technicality than any disagreement of policy,” said Vance. “Every president, Democrat or Republican, believes the War Powers Act is fundamentally a fake unconstitutional law.”

But Vance might not have seen it that way when he served as a Republican senator from Ohio. In October 2023, Vance was among 11 bipartisan senators who voted in favor of debating presidential war authority in Niger. Vance was among 13 bipartisan colleagues two months later who voted to begin debate on a resolution to block military action by President Joe Biden in Syria.

We’ll know by the end of the week if pressure by the administration prompts Republicans who sided with the Democrats to reverse themselves and stick with the president, or if they vote to hinder him on war powers and potential future intervention in Venezuela.

It was the House’s turn to throw some legislative chin music at the president a few hours later last Thursday. The House voted 230-196 on a Democratic bill to renew now-expired Obamacare subsidies for three years. In December, four House Republicans teamed with Democrats to engineer a parliamentary gambit to go around House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and force a vote on the floor.

While there were only four House Republicans who signed on to the Democratic parliamentary gambit in December, that number grew to 13 GOPers on a procedural vote to bring up the bill last week. It then blossomed to 17 Republicans on final passage. Everyone expected members like Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., to vote yes. But there were lots of surprises from Republicans who never hinted interest in this particular bill before. That includes Reps. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Mike Carey, R-Ohio.

“There’s a lot of people in the 3rd Congressional District that depend on these programs. And as a Navy SEAL, I always acted lawfully. But I did a lot of things that made me very uncomfortable doing. But it had to get done because otherwise the mission would fail. This mission is America, and it’s the people in my district,” said Van Orden.

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

Carey even referenced the “Unaffordable ACA Subsidy Extension Vote” in a news release. But Carey pointed out that “close to 45,000 Ohioans in our district currently have these plans, and I want to make sure that they do not lose access to a plan that they have relied on as Congress continues addressing the high cost of healthcare.”

All of this came just after the president asked Republicans to have “flexibility” on abortion as they work on healthcare — something which is anathema to many pro-life conservatives. And the president threatened to veto that bill if it ever made it through the Senate, which is doubtful.

Speaking of vetoes, Trump unexpectedly vetoed two bills that moved unanimously through Congress last year. One bill would finish a pipeline to bring drinking water to southwestern Colorado. Another bill would give the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida control over 30 acres of land in the Everglades and allow them to protect it against tropical storm flooding events.

Trump said he vetoed the Colorado bill because Democrat Gov. Jared Polis was “bad.” The Miccosukee Tribe sued over the construction of “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades.

The House voted 248-177 with one member voting “present” on the Colorado bill. That’s a majority. But veto overrides require two-thirds. With 425 members casting ballots (the “present” vote doesn’t count against the total), the House needed 284 yeas to override.

The veto override on the Everglades bill was 236-188. Again, a majority. But with 425 members voting, a successful override needed 283 yeas.

Congress has only overridden a presidential veto 112 times in U.S. history, and it’s notable that a chunk of Republicans went against the president on both issues.

Now some Republicans are taking on the president over the administration’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

“It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Banking Committee. “I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed — including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy — until this legal matter is fully resolved.”

The composition of the Banking Committee is 13-11 in favor of Republicans. So a defection by Tillis would, at minimum, produce a tie. That could impede confirmation of Powell’s successor.

Frankly, these rebellions are no different from what many presidents endure from members of their own party from time to time, especially in an election year. Lawmakers sometimes need to put real estate between themselves and the president. Other lawmakers believe that the president’s political amperage is not what it once was.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

We are now moving into the second year of Trump’s term. But in many ways, this is “year six” of the Trump presidency — having served from 2017-2021. Some Republicans started to abandon President George H.W. Bush in the sixth year of his presidency over Iraq. President Ronald Reagan witnessed the same phenomenon during year six over Iran-Contra. And certainly President Richard Nixon experienced this during Watergate in 1974.

There’s no evidence of a mass exodus among congressional Republicans when it comes to Trump, but there are fissures. And that’s why the president may not have the same near-lockstep backing he enjoyed from congressional Republicans in 2026 that he enjoyed in 2025.

Former Rep. Mary Peltola on Monday announced her intent to run for a U.S. Senate seat to represent Alaska, in a race to unseat two-term GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan.

In a two-minute video, Peltola cited “scarcity” and inflation as problems Alaskans currently face. 

“Growing up, Alaska was a place of abundance. Now, we have scarcity,” Peltola said. “The salmon, large game, and migratory birds that used to fill our freezers are harder to find. So we buy more groceries, with crushing prices.”

ALASKA NATIVES DEFY DEMOCRATS, CHAMPION PUSH TO REVIVE ARCTIC DRILLING THAT BIDEN SHUT DOWN

Peltola previously served in the House as Alaska’s lone representative. She won a special 2022 election and full term later that same year in which she defeated four other candidates, including former Gov. Sarah Palin.

She lost her House seat in 2024 to Republican challenger Nick Begich III. 

Peltola pointed to the state’s two late Republicans as examples of what happened to lawmakers with agendas in Washington who put politics over the needs of the state. 

“Our delegation used to stand up to their party and put Alaska first,” Peltola said. “Ted Stevens and Don Young ignored Lower 48 partisanship to fight for things like public media and disaster relief because Alaska depends on them.”

TRUMP ADMIN ANNOUNCES BIG STEP TOWARD ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE’ WITH MASSIVE ALASKA LNG PROJECT ALLIANCE

“Ted Stevens often said, ‘to hell with politics, put Alaska first’,” she added. “It’s about time Alaskans teach the rest of the country what Alaska First and, really, America First looks like.”

Peltola’s announcement comes as Democrats are getting ready to try and take back both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections. 

In a video last month posted online by the Democratic-aligned super PAC Senate Majority PAC, the group chided Sullivan for voting for higher costs for health care and other essentials. 

In response, Sullivan, while standing on skis, boasted about tax cuts and railed about Democrats and the Biden administration for policies he said didn’t benefit Alaska. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“They want what Democrats always want when they’re in charge in D.C.,” Sullivan said, referring to at least 70 executive orders signed by Biden that he said negatively impacted Alaska.

FIRST ON FOX: Former special counsel Jack Smith will testify in a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee next week, giving Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the panel a chance to grill him in a public setting on his prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

Smith will appear before the committee on Jan. 22, one month after he sat for a closed-door deposition with the committee and testified for eight hours about his special counsel work, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.

Smith had long said he wanted to speak to the committee publicly, and although Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, first demanded the deposition, the chairman also said an open hearing was on the table.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM JACK SMITH’S TESTIMONY TO HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Smith investigated Trump and brought two indictments against him over the 2020 election and alleged retention of classified documents. Trump pleaded not guilty and aggressively fought the charges, and Smith dropped both cases when Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Department of Justice policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.

In a public hearing, House lawmakers will be able to question Smith in five-minute increments, whereas in the deposition, each party questioned Smith in one-hour sessions. Politico first reported that Smith would appear for a hearing sometime this month.

Smith gave little new information during his initial meeting with the committee and defended his work.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith said, according to a transcript of the deposition. “We took actions based on what the facts, and the law required, the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICANS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’

Smith said he followed DOJ policy when his team made the controversial decision to subpoena numerous Republican senators’ and House members’ phone records as part of his 2020 election probe. Smith noted the subpoenas sought a narrow set of data.

“If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators [to delay the election certification proceedings], we would have gotten toll records for Democratic senators. So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that’s — that lies with Donald Trump,” Smith said.

The Republicans have said the subpoenas were unconstitutional violations of the speech or debate clause, and they have broadly said the Biden DOJ abused its authority by bringing, in their view, politicized criminal charges against a former president and presidential candidate.

Trump, who has long decried Smith as a “thug” and said he belongs in jail, has said he welcomes Smith at a public hearing.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Asked about Smith’s appearance next week, a representative for Smith provided a statement from one of his lawyers, Lanny Breuer.

“Jack has been clear for months he is ready and willing to answer questions in a public hearing about his investigations into President Trump’s alleged unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents,” Breuer said.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called for the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good in a residential neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Jan. 7.

Khanna also urged Congress to back his legislation with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to require ICE agents to wear body cameras, display visible identification, stop wearing masks during operations and be subject to independent oversight.

In a post shared on X, the former Obama administration official said: “I am calling for the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent that shot and killed Renee Good.”

“I am also calling on Congress to support my bill with @JasmineForUS to force ICE agents to wear body cameras, not wear masks, have visible identification, and ensure ICE has independent oversight,” Khanna added.

MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION DROPS OUT OF ICE-INVOLVED SHOOTING INVESTIGATION

An ICE agent shot and killed the 37-year-old Minneapolis woman during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense.

Good’s death sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis and across the U.S. as demonstrators called for changes to federal immigration enforcement.

Local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the claim that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge in the state is “unlawful” and “unprecedented.”

“What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement,” Frey said. “The scale is wildly disproportionate, and it has nothing to do with keeping people safe.”

The Trump administration pushed back sharply against the lawsuit, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accusing Minnesota leaders of undermining public safety and obstructing federal law enforcement.

MINNESOTA SUES TRUMP ADMIN OVER SWEEPING IMMIGRATION RAIDS IN TWIN CITIES

Federal officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, maintained that the agent fired in self-defense.

Noem critisized Democrats on Sunday amid an Illinois lawmaker’s push to impeach her following the deadly shooting.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“These law enforcement officers are trained to be in situations that are dangerous, and they rely on that training each and every day to make the right decisions,” Noem said during “Sunday Morning Futures.” 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., directed some heated remarks at a Trump administration Cabinet official whose department has been dominating headlines in recent weeks.

“What is clear is that Kristi Noem is completely and totally unqualified. She should have never been confirmed by Senate Republicans,” Jeffries said of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary during a Monday press conference. “It’s disgraceful that she’s there. She should be run out of town as soon as possible.”

Criticism against Noem, DHS, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has intensified on the left in the wake of a deadly ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis last week.

An ICE agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who allegedly presented a threat to ICE agents as they attempted to conduct enforcement operations. Partisan fissures have since erupted over which side was acting improperly when the deadly incident occurred.

ANTI-ICE AGITATORS THREATEN AGENTS IN CHAOTIC MINNESOTA PROTESTS: ‘YOU’RE GOING TO F—ING DIE’

“Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, they’re totally out of control. And the American people want these extremists to be reined in,” Jeffries said on Monday.

He said Good “should be alive today” and accused both Noem and the ICE agent who shot Good of a “depraved indifference toward human life.”

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital in response, “How silly during a serious time. As ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, Rep. Jeffries is more focused on showmanship and sewing division than cleaning up his crime-ridden New York district.”

“Rep Jeffries has the power to make change as the Minority leader and we hope he would get serious about doing his job to protect American people, which is what this Department is doing under Secretary Noem. We won’t hold our breath,” they said.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR HEARING AFTER DEADLY ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

Video of last week’s incident appears to show Good’s car making contact with the ICE agent who shot her before he opened fire. Arguments have since raged over whether she was deliberately getting in the way or even weaponizing her car, or whether she was trying to drive away.

Federal officials like Noem have defended the agent as acting in self-defense while accusing Good of trying to actively impede ICE activity in the Democrat-controlled city.

Democrats, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have accused ICE and Republican officials of stoking fear and tension in the city while demanding the federal government cease current operations there immediately.

Now Democrats in Congress have been threatening to withhold support from funding DHS unless significant reforms are made — a threat Jeffries alluded to during his press conference.

“What’s in front of us right now is a spending bill that will go either one of two ways. Either Republicans will continue their my-way-or-the-highway approach as it relates to the Homeland Security bill — and if that happens, then it’s going to be on them to figure out a path forward,” Jeffries began.

“Alternatively, particularly in the face of the tragedy…there’s some commonsense measures that need to be put in place so that ICE can conduct itself in a manner that is at least consistent with every other law enforcement agency in the United States of America, at the state, local and federal level.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The deadline to finish federal funding and avert a partial government shutdown is at the end of day on Jan. 30.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for a response.

President Donald Trump called for New York City to end its congestion pricing model, calling it a disaster. 

“Congestion Pricing in Manhattan is a DISASTER for New York,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It’s got to be ended, IMMEDIATELY! It’s never worked before, and it will never work now. I love New York, and hate to see it being destroyed so rapidly with such obviously foolish “policy.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

New York began congestion pricing in January 2025. 

TRUMP’S WILD MAMDANI FLIP — THE INSULTS THAT CAME BEFORE THE LOVE FEST

The program uses electronic license plate readers and charges most drivers a $9 toll during peak periods to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street in an attempt to reduce congestion and raise funds to improve mass transit.

Months after it began, the city said it reduced traffic in the impacted areas by 8% to 13%. 

Trump has long voiced criticism of the congestion pricing program. 

NEW YORK CITY URGES JUDGE TO BLOCK TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM ELIMINATING ITS CONGESTION PRICING PROGRAM

He tried and failed to end it, and threatened to withhold federal funds from the city if officials didn’t kill it. 

On Jan. 5, the one-year anniversary of the program. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul touted it as successful. 

“The opposition’s kind of calmed down, right?” Hochul said at a press conference. “Anybody noticed that it’s calmed down because people like getting across the bridges faster. They like coming to the city with more time on their hands. They’re happy not to sit in traffic.”

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to the office of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.  

The Senate took its first step toward averting a government shutdown, but there’s still a long way to go on an increasingly shorter path to keep the lights on in Washington, D.C.

Lawmakers advanced a $174 billion, three-bill package through its first procedural hurdle on Monday evening with an 81-14 vote, teeing up a vote to send the tranche of funding bills, known as a minibus, to President Donald Trump’s desk later this week.

The package, which easily sailed through the House last week, similarly cruised through the key test vote on a wave of bipartisan support — a sign that neither party wants to thrust the government into another shutdown just months after the longest closure in history.

HOUSE PASSES NEARLY $180B FUNDING PACKAGE AFTER CONSERVATIVE REBELLION OVER MINNESOTA FRAUD FEARS

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., noted that Senate Democrats weren’t looking for another shutdown last week and said that “Democrats want to fund the appropriations, the spending bills, all the way through 2026.”

“We want to work in a bicameral, bipartisan way to do it and the good news is our Republican appropriators are working with us,” Schumer told ABC Sunday morning.

While the successful procedural vote acted as a good sign for final passage of the package, it doesn’t mean that lawmakers are completely out of the woods when it comes to preventing another shutdown.

They have until Jan. 30 to fund the rest of the government, and some in the Senate believe that they won’t have time to finish their work before the deadline. That means another continuing resolution (CR) will likely be in the cards.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said a short-term funding bill is inevitable.

DEMOCRATS’ LAST-MINUTE MOVE TO BLOCK GOP FUNDING PLAN SENDS LAWMAKERS HOME EARLY

He noted that, so far, the Senate has only passed three funding bills. If the latest package is successful, that would put lawmakers at the halfway mark of the dozen bills needed to avert a shutdown.

“Of course there’s gonna be a short-term CR,” Kennedy said. “There’s gonna be a CR, it’s just a question of how big is the CR going to be?”

There is another, smaller funding package that could soon make its way through the House. But the $77 billion two-bill bundle that includes funding legislation for Financial Services and National Security still won’t be enough to prevent a shutdown.

Notably, the package lacks the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which was supposed to be included. That bill is a perennial headache for lawmakers and often acts as a lightning rod for political enmity.

CONGRESS ROLLS OUT $174B SPENDING BILL AS JAN 30 SHUTDOWN FEARS GROW

“The DHS bill is always one of the most difficult ones,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And creates more, seems like more of a kind of a political conflict of all the appropriations bills.”

Following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minnesota last week, that political division reached another level.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, argued that what happened to Good “has crystallized for the American people the real danger that exists out there in the way that ICE and [Customs and Border Protection] are operating.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Murphy suggested that he would want to see constraints built into the DHS bill that deal with CBP, such as beefed up training for officers.

“I understand we have to get Republican votes,” Murphy said. “So I’m not proposing we fix this overnight, but I think it should be clear to Republicans that if they want Democratic votes for a DHS appropriations bill, they’re going to have to work with us on our concerns. That’s how the Senate works.”

President Donald Trump announced what he described as an immediate and “final” trade order targeting Iran and its global partners.

In a post shared on Truth Social, Trump said any country that continues doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran would be hit with a 25% tariff on all trade with the U.S.

The president wrote: “Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America. This Order is final and conclusive. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” 

The post came amid heightened tension with Iran as the country entered its fifteenth day of spiraling protests in which hundreds of people have been reported to have been killed since Dec. 28.

IRAN PROTESTS PROMPT NEW TRUMP WARNING OVER DEADLY GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWNS

According to the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), the deaths of 544 people have been confirmed so far and “dozens of additional cases remain under review.”

Trump’s trade tariff announcement, which could impact China, Brazil, Turkey and Russia, also came as U.S. officials urged citizens to consider leaving Iran, according to a Department of State statement.

“U.S. citizens should expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye,” the statement said.

Officials also urged citizens to avoid demonstrations, keep a low profile, and remain aware of their surroundings.

The statement confirmed that protests across Iran were intensifying and may turn violent, resulting in arrests and injuries.

KEANE WARNS IRANIAN REGIME TO TAKE TRUMP ‘DEAD SERIOUS’ ON PROTEST KILLING THREAT AMID ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS

“Protests across Iran are escalating and may turn violent, resulting in arrests and injuries,” the statement said.

“Increased security measures, road closures, public transportation disruptions, and internet blockages are ongoing. The Government of Iran has restricted access to mobile, landline, and national internet networks. Airlines continue to limit or cancel flights to and from Iran, with several suspending service until Friday, January 16,” the statement read.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Iran may also already have over eight American citizens and residents in its captivity based on information from sources outside the Trump administration who are well-versed with Tehran’s hostage-taking policy system.

Monday also saw Tehran say it was keeping communication channels with Washington open as Trump weighed how to respond to its deadly crackdown. Trump had said Sunday that Iran “wants to negotiate.”

TRUMP’S IRAN BRIEFING MAY BE ‘DECEPTION CAMPAIGN’ TO MASK MOVES ALREADY UNDERWAY, EXPERT SAYS

“We might meet with them. A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what is happening before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday.

While airstrikes were one of many alternatives open to Trump, “diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” Leavitt said.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

-Conservative group targets CFPB rule forcing race, sex disclosure in mortgages

-In 2026, energy ‘wars’ new frontier is AI, and US must win that battle, API chief says

-Dems who praised cop for killing J6 protester now condemn ICE for shooting MN agitator

Trump declares himself Venezuela’s ‘acting president’ in online post after Maduro ouster

President Donald Trump branded himself as the “president” of Venezuela in a social media post Sunday night, after signaling that the U.S. would oversee Caracas, Venezuela, for years. 

Trump shared a doctored image that looked like a Wikipedia page that identified him as “Acting President of Venezuela” since January 2026, after the U.S. conducted strikes in Venezuela and seized its dictator, Nicolás Maduro. 

Trump said Jan. 3 that the U.S. would run Venezuela until a safe transition could occur, and he told The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday that he anticipated that the U.S. would oversee Venezuela “much longer” than six months or a year. Even so, he did not share a more detailed estimated timeline…READ MORE.
 

White House

‘NO BASIS IN STATUTE’: Arizona Sen. Kelly sues War Secretary Hegseth over military pension cuts following video message

CHARGED: DOJ charges illegal immigrant with Tren de Aragua ties after Border Patrol shooting in Portland

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Trump pledges to uncover leftist groups countering ICE

FED UP: Powell reveals what it would take to step down from the Fed as pressure mounts

World Stage

GROWING THE UNION: Trump’s Greenland push escalates as GOP lawmaker moves to make it America’s 51st state

Capitol Hill

FACTS FIRST: WATCH: House Republican calls for hearing after deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis

MIDTERM MESSAGE: Democrats ‘doomed to fail’ without populist economic message, Warren warns

Across America 

YOUTH SHAKEUP: Record number of Americans identify at political independents, rejecting 2 major parties, poll finds

‘ASTOUNDING’: Oregon election system faces scrutiny as state moves to address 800,000 inactive voters: ‘Astounding’

CHASING ‘INFLUENCE’: Delegate-heavy New York moves to shake up voting primary schedule, chasing ‘influence’

‘ONLY US CITIZENS’: Texas sends voter rolls to DOJ to look for ineligible registrations

LOOKING TO STEP UP: Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins jumps into Sunshine State gubernatorial race to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis

RED FLAGS: Minnesota fraud scandal sparks push to scrutinize billions in Biden-era energy grants

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

FIRST ON FOX: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., will submit a resolution on Monday praising the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — relying entirely on past comments made by Democrats to do so.

Crawford observed that calls to end Maduro’s tenure in Venezuela used to carry ample bipartisan support and had been the focus of at least eight bills sponsored by Democrats in recent years.

“All this resolution does is reiterate the overall consensus of Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives, evidenced by the legislation introduced over the last [four] years, that Nicolás Maduro was a threat to the national security of the United States and the well-being of the people of Venezuela, and therefore President Trump’s decisive action should be applauded,” Crawford said in a statement. 

TRUMP DECLARES HIMSELF VENEZUELA’S ‘ACTING PRESIDENT’ IN ONLINE POST AFTER MADURO OUSTER

The text obtained by Fox News Digital listed out the many reasons Democrats had included in their bills.

One such piece of legislation, introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., called for ‘‘ending Nicolás Maduro’s usurpation of presidential authorities,” citing Maduro’s undermining of his own country’s electoral process.

Another, authored by Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., slammed the Venezuelan government’s kidnapping practices, demanding Maduro’s regime be designated a “state sponsor of wrongful detention.”

Crawford’s resolution comes as Democrats in Congress have blasted the Trump administration’s operation in Venezuela, characterizing the capture of Maduro earlier this month as an act of war that should have required congressional approval. Republicans have pushed back, arguing Trump used narrowly tailored force to bring a well-known criminal to justice.

Crawford’s resolution highlights comments that illustrate how Democrats used to share a similar understanding.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., framed Maduro as a threat to the United States in a bill from 2024.

“Elissa Slotkin introduced legislation in the 118th Congress that defined ‘Venezuelan politician Nicolás Maduro’ as a person of concern who has engaged in a ‘long-term pattern or serious instances of activity adverse to the national security of the United States,’” the bill reads.

GOP EYES VENEZUELA’S UNTAPPED OIL WEALTH AS DEMOCRATS SOUND ALARM OVER TAXPAYER RISK

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., included almost identical language in a bill of her own.

“[DeLauro] introduced legislation that similarly redefined Maduro’s regime as one that had ‘a long-term pattern of serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons,’” Crawford’s bill pointed out.

Crawford believes those comments fly in the face of the way Democrats are framing the attack now. He pointed to a post on X made by the top Democrat in the House.

“In the aftermath of Nicolás Maduro’s arrest, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, ‘This wasn’t a law enforcement action. They’re lying to the American people when they say that,’” the bill states. 

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

Crawford included more comments in Monday’s resolution.

“Representative Delia Ramirez posted to X, ‘under the guise of liberty, an administration of warmongers has lied to justify an invasion and is dragging us into an illegal, endless war,’” the text reads.

Crawford believes Trump has done exactly what Democrats had demanded.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Democrats have introduced numerous pieces of legislation condemning the Maduro regime, declaring Maduro an illegitimate president, and urging the U.S. to take decisive action,” Crawford said.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. took control of the situation to secure our Western Hemisphere neighborhood, sending a powerful message to adversaries around the world, even contemplating nefarious moves in our neighborhood,” Crawford said.

Oregon election officials are set to begin removing hundreds of thousands of inactive voters from the state’s registration rolls, a move that comes after years of inaction, mounting public pressure, and lawsuits filed against the state in recent months.

Oregon’s Democratic Secretary of State Tobias Read, in a press release Friday, outlined two new directives he said will “restart” the “routine cleanup of outdated, inactive voter registration records” in accordance with state law to address the roughly 800,000 inactive voter records that are being maintained by election officials.

The first directive orders counties to immediately cancel long-inactive voter registrations that already met the legal requirements for removal before 2017. These are registrations where election mail was returned as undeliverable, voters failed to respond to official notices, and they did not participate in multiple federal elections. State officials estimate roughly 160,000 registrations fall into this category and should have been removed years ago.

The second directive changes how the state handles inactive voters going forward. It updates the language on voter confirmation cards to clearly warn voters that their registrations will be canceled if they do not respond or vote within the required time frame. State officials say this step restores a process that allows routine cleanup of inactive registrations under federal law.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM ENFORCING MAIL-IN VOTING RULES IN EXECUTIVE ORDER

Together, the directives are designed to address a backlog of inactive records and restart regular voter-roll maintenance after Oregon paused removals in 2017. 

“These directives are about cleaning up old data that’s no longer in use so Oregonians can be confident that our voter records are up-to-date,” Read said. “From day one, our goal was clear: run elections that are secure, fair, and accurate. This move will strengthen our voter rolls and reinforce public trust in our elections.”

State officials acknowledge there are about 800,000 inactive registrations total, roughly 20% of Oregon’s voter rolls, though they stress multiple times in the press release that inactive voters do not currently receive ballots, saying at one point, “again, none of the individuals associated with these records will receive ballots, and these inactive records have no impact on Oregon elections.”

Being marked “inactive” in Oregon means you’re still listed as a registered voter, but you aren’t receiving ballot mail from the state until you reactivate your registration.

MARYLAND DODGES SPECIFICS IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT VOTER-ROLL CASE AS CONGRESS VOWS TO KEEP DIGGING

However, inactive voters are still counted in the official voter roll totals, included in public records, and many experts have made the case that accurate rolls should reflect real, current voters, not people who moved years ago or can’t be located. Leaving outdated records in place increases the risk of mistakes, an expert on the subject told Fox News Digital. 

“First of all, it’s astounding that they haven’t been removing anybody from the voter force in almost a decade because this is very basic 101 level election administration,” said Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project. 

Snead explained that voter rolls naturally change every year as people move, die, lose eligibility due to felony convictions, or leave the state, creating constant churn that must be managed. When states fail to keep up, Snead says, voter rolls become bloated and outdated, making elections harder to administer and increasing the risk of errors and abuse.

Snead emphasized that the problem is especially serious in mail-in voting states like Oregon. He argues that automatically mailing ballots while failing to routinely clean voter rolls makes it more likely that ballots will be sent to people who are no longer eligible, including those who have moved or died. Even if state officials say inactive voters don’t receive ballots, Snead says Oregon’s recent administrative failures, including the suspension of its automatic voter registration program in 2024 after non-citizens were mistakenly registered, justify skepticism about whether safeguards are consistently working as claimed.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I think there’s clearly a degree of skepticism that’s warranted, and I think that it really speaks to the need to always be focused on the basics of election administration,” Snead said. “Cleaning of the vote rolls is really one of the most foundational, important things that a secretary of state should be doing.”

Oregon has been slapped with two lawsuits in recent months related to its handling of voter rolls, from Judicial Watch as well as Trump’s Department of Justice, and Snead suspects the timing of the secretary of state’s announcement is “probably to some degree” related to that. 

“There’s an almost pathological resistance on the left to cleaning up the voter rolls, they call it voter purge, and they say that this is going to disenfranchise voters,” Snead said. “We’ve heard of all of the various statements. You know, lots of different ways and lots of different examples. But then when you actually bring litigation over this, sometimes that forces their hand.”

Cleaning up voter rolls has become an increasingly politicized issue in recent years, with Republicans pushing for more oversight in the name of election integrity and Democrats accusing Republicans of attempting to “disenfranchise” voters. 

“Democrats support normal list maintenance and reasonable efforts to keep voter rolls up to date and in compliance with federal law,” DNC Spokesperson Albert Fujii told Fox News Digital. “The contrast could not be clearer: Donald Trump and the Republican Party are pushing aggressive voter purges to systematically disenfranchise eligible voters across the country, especially voters of color.” 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, RNC National Press Secretary Kiersten Pels said, “Oregon’s Democrat Secretary of State has presided over one of the most bloated voter rolls in the country, with more than 800,000 inactive registrations.”

“Democratic states have allowed their voter rolls to spiral out of control, especially in mail-in voting systems like Oregon’s. The RNC is taking action nationwide to ensure states are cleaning their voter rolls as required by law.”

FIRST ON FOX: A Trump-aligned legal group is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to scrap its demographic reporting mandate, arguing that the rule allows lenders to consider the race and sex of mortgage applicants as part of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

America First Legal said in a petition, first reviewed by Fox News Digital, that the CFPB should encourage mortgage lenders to focus strictly on the creditworthiness of home buyers. The CFPB’s Regulation C, which requires the lenders to track and report race and sex, is unconstitutional, the group argued.

“The disclosure of this information leaves applicants vulnerable to race- and sex-based discrimination by government and private actors in violation of federal civil rights law and the Constitution,” an America First Legal representative wrote.

The petition comes as part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to quash diversity, equity and inclusion, also known as DEI, in the public and private sectors. The petition aligns with an executive order Trump signed in April urging a “meritocracy and colorblind society.” The order was aimed at agencies responsible for evaluating people’s credit.

DEI is a framework that companies, schools, government agencies and other entities have adopted to promote equal treatment for minorities, but conservatives have long argued its practices can be discriminatory by improperly extending preferential treatment to them.

America First Legal said Regulation C flies in the face of the administration’s sweeping efforts to root out DEI across industries. The group’s petition functions as a request to the CFPB to formally begin the process of eliminating the regulation.

“The federal government has no business forcing Americans to disclose their race or sex as a condition of applying for a mortgage,” America First Legal President Gene Hamilton said in a statement. “Regulation C pressures lenders to sort borrowers by immutable characteristics and invites discrimination under the guise of ‘equity.’”

The CFPB was created by Congress in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to investigate complaints about mortgages, various other loans and other banking activity that involves consumers.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But since its inception, Republicans have targeted the agency as a rogue entity that imposes unnecessary and burdensome regulations on financial institutions.

The acting director of the agency, Russell Vought, has sought to shutter the CFPB entirely, but those efforts have thus far been stalled by the courts, which have found that only Congress can get rid of it. The CFPB has remained somewhat operational, as it has been filing reports through late last year, and Vought recently requested an additional $145 million to fund it to remain compliant with a recent court order.