NationalWatch

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced Tuesday that “we are prosecuting crime in the District like never before” as she hailed the impact of President Donald Trump’s “surge in federal law enforcement resources.” 

Pirro spoke after the U.S. Marshals Service said last week that “as of December 31, the Operation Make D.C. Safe & Beautiful Task Force has arrested more than 8,152 violent fugitives, including 20 for homicide, 1,343 for narcotics, 633 for weapons offenses, 29 for sex offenses, and 48 known gang members.” 

“As a result of the surge to date, there have been 8,406 arrests and 856 guns that have been taken off the street, which prevents them from being used in a homicide or an assault with a deadly weapon, or any other kind of crime,” Pirro said. 

“We are prosecuting crime in the District like never before with real consequences, real cases, real accountability,” she added. “And for the first time in years, violent offenders are being prosecuted aggressively instead of being released back onto the streets.”

JUDGE ORDERS ACCUSED JAN 6 PIPE BOMBER TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY PENDING TRIAL

“Prosecution rates are at historic highs in the district. We are prosecuting crime like never before in the District of Columbia. Fewer than 10% of the cases go unprosecuted, compared to almost 70% of the cases that went unprosecuted in the last administration. So as a direct result of the increase in prosecution, tougher enforcement, crime is coming down in D.C.,” Pirro continued. 

“And since the enhanced federal partnership and the surge as well, as you can see, homicide is down 60% and robbery is down 49%. Carjackings are down 68%,” Pirro said. “Overall crime [is] down 32%.” 

“As we step into 2026, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on what I think is a remarkable progress that we made in 2025 here in the District, a year that I believe truly marked a turning point in the fight against crime here in the nation’s capital,” Pirro also said, noting, “I want to extend my deepest gratitude to President Trump for his unwavering commitment to law and order, his surge in federal law enforcement resources, bolstering our teams with additional agents, advanced tools, and a no-nonsense mandate has been nothing short of transformative for the people in the District.” 

NEW CHARGES AGAINST DC NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING SUSPECT OPEN DEATH PENALTY DOOR

“And under his leadership, we have seen a renewed focus on cracking down on violent offenders, dismantling criminal networks and restoring safety to our streets. This isn’t just rhetoric, it is reality, and it is real action that is delivered tangible results for the people of the District,” Pirro added. 

The U.S. Marshals Service said the task force operation began in early August at the direction of President Donald Trump, with its Director Gadyaces Serralta “leading a task force of more than 3,100 people from 28 agencies.”

In his March 28 executive order establishing the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, Trump said, “It is the policy of the United States to make the District of Columbia safe, beautiful, and prosperous by preventing crime, punishing criminals, preserving order, protecting our revered American monuments, and promoting beautification and the preservation of our history and heritage.” 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“America’s capital must be a place in which residents, commuters, and tourists feel safe at all hours, including on public transit. Its highways, boulevards, and parks should be clean, well-kept, and pleasant. Its monuments, museums, and buildings should reflect and inspire awe and appreciation for our Nation’s strength, greatness, and heritage,” Trump wrote. “Our citizens deserve nothing less.” 

More than two weeks have passed since the Dec. 19 deadline to release the trove of files related to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and the Justice Department says it still has millions of documents to review.

The department said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York that “there are more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act that are in various phases of review.” 

In its letter, the DOJ laid out the key steps in its review process, including identifying the documents, uploading them to a data review platform, manually reviewing the documents for victim information, making redactions, engaging global and “SDNY-specific” quality control checks, posting responsive materials and responding to requests from victims and members of the public.

NEW BATCH OF EPSTEIN FILES RELEASED BY DOJ

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed in November, the DOJ was required “to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.”

So far, the DOJ has released approximately 12,285 documents comprising around 125,575 pages, which is less than 1% of all records potentially related to the case, according to Axios. While there are stacks of unreleased files remaining, the DOJ said in the letter that it believes “a meaningful portion” of the documents are duplicates.

HERE IS WHAT‘S IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE’S LATEST EPSTEIN FILES DROP

“The Department’s identification and collection efforts span documents that remain to be reviewed vary widely. As a result, and in light of its experience to date in order to facilitate the prompt release of materials under the Act while continuing to protect victim privacy to the maximum extent practicable, it is appropriate for the Department to modify its procedures for their review based on various factors including, without limitation, document type and likelihood that the document contains victim identifying information or privileged information,” the letter read.

As the department looks to release more documents while complying with privacy standards and court orders, it is overhauling its review process by eliminating duplicate materials, prioritizing responsive records, categorizing documents based on sensitivity, and assigning experienced SDNY attorneys to oversee reviews and redactions involving victim-identifying information.

“Currently, and anticipated for the next few weeks ahead, in the range of over 400 lawyers across the Department will dedicate all or a substantial portion of their workday to the Department’s efforts to comply with the Act,” the letter read. “These efforts include over 125 lawyers in the Southern District of New York as well as dozens of lawyers from each of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, the Criminal Division of the Department, and the National Security Division of the Department.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The DOJ did not propose a new timeline for releasing the documents nor did it estimate when it would complete its review.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.

A San Francisco Democrat demanded the impeachment of President Donald Trump, accusing him of carrying out a “coup” against Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.

California state Sen. Scott Wiener, seen as the likely congressional successor to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, also took a swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Wiener has frequently drawn national attention for his progressive positions, including his legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom designating California as a “refuge” for transgender children and remarks at a San Francisco Pride Month event referring to California children as “our kids.”

In a lengthy public statement following the Trump administration’s arrest and extradition of Maduro to New York, Wiener said the move shows the president only cares about “enriching his public donors” and “cares nothing for the human or economic cost of conquering another country.”

KAMALA HARRIS BLASTS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO AS ‘UNLAWFUL AND UNWISE’

“This lawless coup is an invitation for China to invade Taiwan, for Russia to escalate its conquest in Ukraine, and for Netanyahu to expand the destruction of Gaza and annex the West Bank,” said Wiener, who originally hails from South Jersey.

He suggested that the Maduro operation was meant to distract from purportedly slumping poll numbers, the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, and to essentially seize another country’s oil reserves.

“Trump is a total failure,” Wiener said. “By engaging in this reckless act, Trump is also making the entire world less safe … Trump is making clear yet again that, under this regime, there are no rules, there are no laws, there are no norms – there is only whatever Trump thinks is best for himself and his cronies at a given moment in time.”

GREENE HITS TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA STRIKES, ARGUES ACTION ‘DOESN’T SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’

In response, the White House said the administration’s actions against Maduro were “lawfully executed” and included a federal arrest warrant.”

“While Democrats take twisted stands in support of indicted drug smugglers, President Trump will always stand with victims and families who can finally receive closure thanks to this historic action,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.

Supporters of the operation have pushed back on claims of “regime change” – an accusation Wiener also made – pointing to actions by Maduro-aligned courts that barred top opposition leader María Corina Machado from running, even as publicly reported results indicated her proxy, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the vote.

“Trump’s illegal invasion of Venezuela isn’t about drugs, and it isn’t about helping the people of Venezuela or restoring Venezuelan democracy,” Wiener added. “Yes, Maduro is awful, but that’s not what the invasion is about. It’s all about oil and Trump’s collapsing support at home.”

EX-ESPN STAR KEITH OLBERMANN CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA STRIKES THAT CAPTURED MADURO

Around the country, a handful of other Democrats referenced impeachment or impeachable offenses, but did not go as far as Wiener in demanding such proceedings.

Rep. April McClain-Delaney, D-Md., who represents otherwise conservative “Mountain Maryland” in the state’s panhandle, said Monday that Democrats should “imminently consider impeachment proceedings,” according to TIME.

McClain-Delaney said Trump acted without constitutionally-prescribed congressional authorization and wrongly voiced “intention to ‘run’ the country.”

SCHUMER BLASTED TRUMP FOR FAILING TO OUST MADURO — NOW WARNS ARREST COULD LEAD TO ‘ENDLESS WAR’

One frequent Trump foil, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., cited in a statement that she has called for Trump’s impeachment in the past; blaming Republicans for letting the president “escape accountability.”

“Today, many Democrats have understandably questioned whether impeachment is possible again under the current political reality. I am reconsidering that view,” Waters said. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“What we are witnessing is an unprecedented escalation of an unlawful invasion, the detention of foreign leaders, and a president openly asserting power far beyond what the Constitution allows,” she said, while appearing to agree with Trump that Maduro was involved in drug trafficking and “collaborat[ion] with… terrorists.”

Wiener’s upcoming primary is considered the deciding election in the D+36 district, while a handful of other lesser-known candidates have reportedly either filed FEC paperwork or declared their candidacy, including San Francisco Councilwoman Connie Chan.

FIRST ON FOX: A House Republican is seeking to tighten the screws on the U.S. immigration system in the wake of multiple investigations into alleged fraud within Minnesota’s social services system.

Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Somalia.

Immigrants from those countries currently in the U.S. on refugee status would be forced to self-deport within 180 days of the bill’s enactment.

“It’s important that we ensure that those entering our country are properly vetted, and they clearly have not been properly vetted. So what we are trying to do is ensure that we address this, we stop this,” Hunt told Fox News Digital.

MAGNITUDE ‘CANNOT BE OVERSTATED’: FEDS SAY MINNESOTA FRAUD MAY BE MORE THAN $9B

Part of his impetus for introducing the bill now, Hunt said, was the increased scrutiny on Minnesota’s Somali community as federal prosecutors investigate what they believe could be billions of dollars of fraud targeting social programs in the Midwestern state.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged multiple people with stealing more than $240 million from the Federal Child Nutrition Program through the Minnesota-based nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

The probe has since widened to multiple state-run programs being investigated for potential fraud, however.

MINNESOTA FRAUD COMMITTEE CHAIR CLAIMS WALZ ‘TURNED A BLIND EYE’ TO FRAUD WARNINGS FOR YEARS

Childcare providers receiving state funding, mainly within the Somali community, are also under scrutiny.

Pressure from the growing scandal pushed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to drop his bid for a third term. He said Monday that he did not want to distract from efforts to shield his residents from both fraudsters and people seeking to politicize the situation.

“Every minute that I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity, and the cynics who want to prey on our differences,” Walz said.

Walz previously said his administration has taken steps to crack down on the fraud, but argued federal officials are over-inflating the scope of the damage.

“I mean, looking at Tim Walz’s decision not to seek reelection — where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There certainly is more to come out of this situation,” Hunt said. “He was clearly complicit in what was going on. That’s why he’s not seeking reelection, and so there’s a lot of ‘there’ that’s there, and it needs to be exposed, needs to be investigated.”

He added, “Making sure that we revoke these TPS designations is the beginning of cleaning up this mess.”

HOUSE GOP WHIP URGES CITIZENSHIP REVOCATIONS TIED TO MINNESOTA FRAUD SCHEMES

Hunt argued that his bill would help hasten the timeline for President Donald Trump’s move to end TPS for foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota.

He added that the wider purpose of the bill was also to block Sharia law from spreading in the U.S., noting it was something he experienced firsthand as a member of the military.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“As somebody that has lived under Sharia law, somebody that has deployed to the Middle East, this is also a broader conversation about keeping people that hate our country out of here,” Hunt said. “And so what we’re going to do is try to pass legislation that codifies what President Trump is trying to do.”

Hunt is currently running for U.S. Senate in Texas.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted he has no federal security clearance on Monday, just a day after claiming he had been “briefed” about the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Mamdani was asked directly about his security clearance during a Monday press briefing, ultimately saying that he had not yet received it. The freshly-inaugurated mayor had been the butt of viral jokes on social media from users suggesting he had inflated his access to information about the strike in his initial statement.

“You don’t have federal security clearance yet, and has anyone from a federal agency reached out to you or members of your team to begin the vetting to get federal security clearance?” a reporter asked.

“That briefing, yes, was conducted by my team,” Mamdani responded. “And the question of federal security clearance is one that’s on and on.”

US MILITARY DETAILS TIMELINE OF OPERATION TO CAPTURE MADURO, REVEALING MORE THAN 150 AIRCRAFT INVOLVED

“So you do have it?” the reporter pressed.

“No, not as yet,” the mayor admitted.

The exchange came after Mamdani’s initial statement on the Venezuela raid appeared to suggest he had received inside information on the operation.

JONATHAN TURLEY: MADURO OPERATION WAS LEGAL, BUT TRUMP MAKES IT COMPLICATED

“I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City,” Mamdani wrote on X after news of Maduro’s capture broke.

He went on to condemn the move by President Donald Trump, but some users on social media called him out for inflating his access.

“Called it,” wrote one user whose post on the topic received over 140,000 “likes.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Republicans and Democrats sharply disagree over support for the military operation President Donald Trump ordered to arrest Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro, according to a new national poll.

Sixty-five percent of Republicans questioned in the survey by Reuters/Ipsos said they backed the strike, carried out by the U.S. military before dawn on Saturday, in which Maduro was captured and handed over to federal authorities for prosecution on drug trafficking charges.

But only 23% of Independents and just 11% of Democrats questioned in the survey, which was conducted Sunday and Monday, approved of the military operation in Venezuela.

WHO’S WHO IN THE MADURO CASE, AS JUDGE, PROSECUTORS, AND DEFENSE FACE OFF

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats and 35% of Independents, but just 5% of Republicans said they didn’t approve of the strike.

Overall, a third of those questioned approved of the mission, a third had no opinion or didn’t answer the question, and 34% disapproved.

AG BONDI TELLS FOX NEWS ‘NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE’ AFTER MADURO ARREST

Trump, who has long criticized foreign interventions by his predecessors in the White House, has said that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela. “We’re in charge,” the president reiterated to reporters.

But 72% of all adults questioned in the survey, including 90% of Democrats, 74% of Independents, and 54% of Republicans said they worry the U.S. will get too involved in Venezuela.

RUBIO DEFENDS VENEZUELA OPERATION OVER LACK OF CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL FOR MADURO CAPTURE

The president on Monday said that he’s prepared to send U.S. ground troops to Venezuela if leaders in the South American nation don’t cooperate. And vowing to overhaul and rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry, Trump said the U.S. needs “total access” to the country’s expansive oil fields.

Sixty percent of Republicans surveyed said they supported sending U.S. troops to Venezuela, compared to just 30% of all adults.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

But reflecting concerns among those in the GOP who advocate an America First agenda, only 43% of Republican respondents agreed with the statement, “The United States should have a policy of dominating affairs in the Western Hemisphere,” with 19% disagreeing and the remainder unsure or not answering the question.

The president’s approval rating in the survey stood at 42%, up three points from the previous Reuters/Ipsos survey, which was conducted in December.

George Conway, longtime critic of President Donald Trump, launched a bid for New York’s 12th Congressional District running as a Democrat focused on taking the heat to Trump on Tuesday.

Conway, a former conservative lawyer, was married to top Trump ally Kellyanne Conway until their divorce in 2023. He joins a crowded field in the Democratic primary race for the Manhattan congressional seat. Conway is relying on his familiarity with Trump to set him apart.

“We have a corrupt president, a mendacious president, a criminal president whose masked agents are disappearing people from our streets, who’s breaking international law, and he’s running our federal government like a mob protection racket,” Conway said in his announcement ad.

“I know how to fight these people. They are corrupt, amoral people,” he said. “They will stop at nothing to rig the system for themselves. I’ve been fighting Trump for years, and nothing will stop me.”

PARKLAND SURVIVOR JUMPS INTO CROWDED NYC HOUSE RACE AS GEN Z PROGRESSIVES CHALLENGE PARTY ELDERS

New York’s 12th district is open season for Democrats following the announcement from Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., that he will not seek re-election in 2026.

Conway’s split from conservative politics has been dramatic since the rise of Trump in 2016. He helped found the anti-Trump Lincoln Project in 2019 alongside other erstwhile Republicans.

WHITE HOUSE HITS BACK AFTER JFK’S GRANDSON CALLS RFK JR A ‘RABID DOG’

“I get how people can be upset how I once supported Trump,” Conway told The New York Times in an interview. “But I think if people really listen, my views, my philosophy, my values, have always been the same.”

Conway told the Times that he “cried tears of joy” when Trump won the White House in 2016. He and Kellyanne moved to Washington, D.C., after the victory, both with prospective spots in the administration.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

That story ended with Conway blasting Trump as a narcissist and Trump likewise calling him a “stone-cold loser and husband from hell.”

A Miami-area congressman whose district is home to a significant number of Venezuelan refugees says the failed communist state should hold new elections sooner rather than later.

“It can’t be years, I’ll tell you that right now,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. “This is what these regimes do, they just negotiate for time, try to wait you out, so you weaken your will. So it can’t be — I’m talking months, I am not talking years.”

Gimenez is the sole Cuban-born member of Congress, having fled the communist dictatorship as a child and settled in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.

He was also among the first members of Congress to speak with Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. government executed strikes on Caracas before capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Celia Flores.

RUBIO DEFENDS VENEZUELA OPERATION AFTER NBC QUESTIONS LACK OF CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL FOR MADURO CAPTURE

Maduro was flown to the U.S. by the military to face trial on terrorism charges at the hands of federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until the country could hold fair democratic elections — which Gimenez warned its people needed to see in the relatively near future.

“Now the number of months, you know, I don’t know what the number would be, but certainly not years,” the Florida Republican said. “And the people inside Venezuela need to see changes happening pretty quickly. People out here that live in the diaspora need to see that also.”

MADURO’S CAPTURE IS ‘BEGINNING OF THE END’ FOR CUBA’S REGIME, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIR SAYS

Gimenez said there were “millions of Venezuelans” outside the country “that are waiting to go back home.”

“The faster that we can transition to democracy and freedom, the faster they can go back,” he said.

The former Miami-Dade County mayor is a supporter of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who Trump recently said, “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Meanwhile, Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was recently sworn in as acting leader in his place.

But Gimenez said that he believed Machado could win a free and fair election in Venezuela while downplaying the distance between himself and Trump on the issue.

“I think the president is saying, and kind of rightly so, that at this point nobody in the opposition has the security apparatus needed to maintain order on the country. So you’ve got to deal with what you got right now,” he said. “I’m not happy about it, but it’s just reality. But I do think that in the end, if I were to bet right now, yeah, I think she’d win.”

FLORIDA GOP LAWMAKER BLASTS DEMOCRATS’ VENEZUELA RESPONSE AS ‘TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME’

He did concede, however, that a democratic Venezuela would likely have Maduro’s communist supporters — nicknamed “Chavistas” still within the government.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Look, there’s going to be, what, 30% are Chavistas, right? So yeah, I’m sure there’s gonna be 30%, but you can’t ever let it get to the point where they control everything, control elections, control the counting of elections, etc.,” Gimenez said.

“These Chavistas have already demonstrated that they will use democracy against democracy, so there has to be safeguards in place so that what happened 25 years ago never happens again.”

President Donald Trump on Monday continued trashing GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, targeting the incumbent lawmaker for ouster in a Truth Social post while seeking to boost challenger Ed Gallrein, the former Navy SEAL he backed for the congressional seat last year.

The president, who referred to Massie as “the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman we have had in many years,” said that Gallrein “officially filed to run for Congress” on Monday.

“I have heard that there are other Candidates exploring a run for this seat, but I am asking all MAGA Warriors to rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein, the Candidate who is, far and away, best positioned to DEFEAT Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky, a place I love, and won BIG, ALL THREE TIMES,” the president asserted.

HOUSE GOP CRITICS BREAK WITH TRUMP OVER VENEZUELA OPERATION THAT CAPTURED MADURO

Massie has been a critic of Trump’s move to depose Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. 

“Wake up MAGA. VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for,” Massie asserted in a post on X.

But Trump noted in his Truth Social post that Gallrein “is a big fan of our recent attack on Nicolas Maduro, the Dictator of Venezuela.”

THESE HOUSE MAVERICKS DEFIED THEIR OWN PARTIES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN 2025

The president claimed that Massie “only votes AGAINST the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left,” asserting, “Unlike ‘lightweight’ Congressman Massie, a true hater of Israel, and a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET KENTUCKY DOWN!”

Massie solicited campaign donations while highlighting Trump’s attack against him.

PATRIOT OR ‘PATHETIC RINO’? MAVERICK REPUBLICAN THOMAS MASSIE TRADES ‘AMERICA FIRST’ LABEL FOR ‘AMERICA ONLY’

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“It happened again today! Why do I get attacked weekly? Because I’m the only Republican who refuses to rubber stamp foreign aid, endless deficits, and unnecessary wars. I’m also exposing sex traffickers. My primary is in May. Please help if you can,” he wrote in a post on X, adding a link where people can donate.

A Florida Republican is arguing that Democrats’ largely negative response to the U.S. government’s operation in Venezuela is the “definition of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., represents a part of Florida that includes a significant chunk of the state’s central coastline.

“It doesn’t take much research to find speech after speech of Democrat House members and Senate members who said that this guy is a bad guy, he should be taken out of power,” Haridopolos told Fox News Digital.

“Sometimes in politics, you’ve just got to say to the other side, politically, ‘Hey, we’re all Americans. This is in the best interest, clearly, of the United States.’ But they’re in a position where they’re so afraid of a Democrat primary that they will say anything to avoid having the extreme left attack them.”

GOP LAWMAKER SAYS DEMOCRATS HAVE ‘EGG ON THEIR FACE’ AFTER TRUMP’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO

He pointed out that it was the previous Democratic commander-in-chief, President Joe Biden, who raised the federal government’s bounty for Maduro’s capture to $25 million.

“What did they expect was then going to happen? You think this guy was just going to voluntarily give up? He clearly was not. He was getting into bed with the Cubans, the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, even Hezbollah, as I understand. I mean, this guy was trying to create a group of enemies in an oil-rich state at our footstep,” Haridopolos said.

Democrats and Republicans have been largely divided in their responses to the strikes in Venezuela.

KAMALA HARRIS BLASTS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO AS ‘UNLAWFUL AND UNWISE’

Lawmakers on the left have mostly criticized the president and his officials, accusing them of illegal actions that ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution. Some progressives have even said Trump could be guilty of impeachable offenses.

The majority of GOP lawmakers praised Trump’s move as a necessary law enforcement action to get rid of a hostile actor threatening both the U.S. and the region writ large.

Haridopolos is no different, pointing out that the operation was carried out with no U.S. fatalities and relatively few among Maduro supporters in Venezuela.

He said his district is home to a number of Venezuelan refugees who were elated by President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Caracas and capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I have a large population of Venezuelans within my community, and they are absolutely overjoyed,” the congressman said. “They were in essence kicked out of their own country or fled through fear … because they lost their ability to make a living, or they were being terrorized by the government because they were anti-Maduro.”

Following the U.S. strikes, Maduro and his wife were both taken to New York City, where they will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

Maduro pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance on Monday.

Democrats in Minnesota are urging longtime Sen. Amy Klobuchar to jump into the blue-leaning state’s race for governor in the wake of Monday’s blockbuster move by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to end his 2026 re-election bid amid political fallout from a massive fraud scandal.

Klobuchar, who was re-elected in 2024 to a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate, is receiving calls urging her to run for governor, sources in Minnesota confirmed to Fox News Digital.

And sources are telling FOX 9 in Minnesota that Klobuchar is considering making a gubernatorial bid but has yet to make any final decision.

Walz met Sunday with Klobuchar to discuss his decision to drop his re-election bid, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News.

FRAUD FALLOUT FORCES WALZ TO ABANDON GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION BID

Klobuchar didn’t comment on her future political plans in a statement Monday. But the senator, commenting on the governor’s move to combat the fraud scandal full time rather than to seek another term in office, said, “Walz made the difficult decision to focus on his job and the challenges facing our state rather than campaigning and running for re-election.”

The senator has won all four of her Senate elections by wide margins, including a nearly 16-point re-election in 2024.

But Klobuchar, who is currently number three in Senate Democratic leadership, faces hurdles to rise higher in party leadership in the chamber.

WILL MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL FORCE RESIGNATIONS?

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is the top Democrat in the upper chamber and isn’t expected to leave his post. But Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is retiring from Congress, leaving an opening to fill in the leadership pecking order. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is the expected heir apparent for that position, however.

Before serving in the Senate, Klobuchar was elected twice as county attorney in Hennepin County, Minnesota’s most populous. She also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination.

The announcement by Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, came amid stinging criticism over his handling of his state’s massive welfare assistance fraud scandal.

“As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” Walz wrote in a statement. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”

“So I’ve decided to step out of this race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work in front of me for the next year,” the governor added in his statement and in front of cameras a couple of hours later. The governor didn’t take any questions but said on Tuesday he would return to “take all your questions.”

GOP LAWMAKER UNVEILS WALZ ACT AFTER BILLIONS LOST IN MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.

More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme. How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

Prosecutors said some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

“This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,” Walz told reporters last month, as he took responsibility for the scandal.

The governor took actions to stop some of the suspected fraudulent payments, and ordered an outside audit of Medicaid billing in the state.

But Trump repeatedly blasted Walz as “incompetent” and, during Thanksgiving, used a slur for developmentally disabled people to describe the governor.

The scandal, which grabbed plenty of national attention over the past two months, went viral the past two weeks following the release of a video by 23-year-old YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run daycare centers. Days later, the Trump administration froze federal childcare funding to Minnesota.

Republican Governors Association communications director Courtney Alexander charged in a statement that “Walz’s failed leadership is emblematic of Minnesota Democrats’ agenda and whoever Democrats choose to replace Walz with at the top of the ticket will need to defend years of mismanagement and misplaced priorities.”

But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) chair, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said in a statement, “No matter who decides to run or how much national Republicans want to spend, the DGA remains very confident Minnesotans will elect another strong Democratic governor this November.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

And Beshear praised Walz, a former DGA chair, as “a true leader who has delivered results that will make life better for Minnesota workers and families for years to come.”

Roughly a dozen Republicans are vying to be the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, including Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, former state Sen. Scott Jensen, and healthcare technology executive Kendall Qualls, a past congressional and gubernatorial candidate.

Robbins, in a social media post, argued: “If Tim Walz is going to handpick Klobuchar, Minnesotans deserve to know what she promised him. Senator? Something else? Despite any shady backroom deals cut by Walz, voters will decide who is our state’s next Governor and Senator.”

President Donald Trump flipped the script on Democrats’ “no one is above the law” mantra after years of hearing it aimed at him, invoking the phrase after news broke Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz would not seek re-election as a sweeping fraud scandal rocks his state.

“Governor Walz has destroyed the State of Minnesota, but others, like Governor Gavin Newscum, JB Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul, have done, in my opinion, an even more dishonest and incompetent job. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!” Trump posted to Truth Social Monday afternoon. 

The message followed Walz announcing Monday that he was withdrawing his re-election effort to continue serving as governor. Walz was first elected the state’s top leader in 2018 in a political career that also included him campaigning coast-to-coast in 2024 as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. 

“As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” Walz wrote in a statement. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”

KEVIN MCCARTHY SAYS MINNESOTA’S ‘ENTIRE DEMOCRAT ADMINISTRATION’ WILL HAVE TO RESIGN OVER FRAUD SCANDAL

Minnesota has come under fierce scrutiny in recent weeks as a sprawling fraud scandal that has led to dozens of arrests, mostly from the state’s large Somali community, since 2022 comes to light. Minnesota was allegedly home to a massive COVID-era scheme that allegedly involved money laundering operations related to fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services, according to investigators. 

The Minnesota fraud is still being tabulated, with local officials speculating it could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

NICK SHIRLEY GLOATS HE ‘ENDED TIM WALZ’ AFTER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR SCRAPS RE-ELECTION BID AMID FRAUD SCANDAL

Trump’s use of the phrase “no one is above the law” follows years of Democrats employing the same rhetoric against him as he faced a barrage of charges and court cases in between his first and second administrations. 

“No one is above the law,” President Joe Biden said after Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsified business records in a Manhattan court in May 2024. 

Trump faced four criminal indictments, which resulted in accusations of “lawfare” on the national stage as Trump maintained his innocence and slammed the cases as efforts by the Democratic Party to hurt his political chances for re-election in 2024. 

DAVID MARCUS: TIM WALZ’S WHITE GUILT FINALLY ENDS HIS CAREER AS MINNESOTA’S FRAUD EXPLODES

“As I’ve said before, no one is above the law, including Donald Trump,” then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in 2023 after the Biden administration’s Department of Justice announced Trump had been indicted on 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Even during Trump’s first administration, Democrats championed the phrase as they combated MAGA Republicans and Trump policies. 

“Everybody wants the president to be held accountable in the most serious way,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Trump in 2019 amid a discussion at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, underscoring that Democrats believe “no one is above the law.” “And everybody believes, now I’m talking on the Democratic side, that no one is above the law, especially the president of the United States.”

“We must be clear: no one, not even the president, is above the law,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement in 2019 when introducing articles of impeachment against Trump. 

COMER WARNS WALZ ABSENCE AT MINNESOTA FRAUD HEARING WOULD BE ‘ADMISSION TO GUILT’ BY GOVERNOR

Upon his victory over the Harris–Walz presidential ticket in 2024, Trump has taken a victory lap for allegedly snuffing out the weaponization of government. 

“We have ended weaponized government, where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me. How did that work out?” he said during his joint address to Congress in 2025. “Not too good. Not too good.” 

Trump added in his Monday Truth Social post that “Minnesota’s Corrupt Governor will possibly leave office before his Term is up,” and that he’s confident the fraud investigations “will reveal a seriously unscrupulous, and rich, group of ‘SLIMEBALLS.'”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson added in comment to Fox Digital on Monday afternoon when asked about the Truth Social post: “It shouldn’t take an education from the Quality Learing Center for Democrats to understand this: Tim Walz and his Somali friends have been caught ripping off hardworking Minnesota taxpayers and now they will face the consequences. President Trump is right, no one is above the law.”

Walz has taken ownership of correcting the fraud. He said his administration had been taking action to stop some suspected fraudulent payments over the summer and that his office referred some for prosecution. The governor, however, has said that multibillion figures were “sensationalized” by Republicans.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,” Walz told reporters in December. 

Fox Digital reached out to Walz’s office for a response to Trump’s Truth Social but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report. 

The U.S. has reached an agreement with the Commonwealth of Dominica that could allow some asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. border to be transferred to the Caribbean nation, per reporting by The Associated Press.

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit described the agreement as “one of the primary areas of collaboration” between the two governments following recent U.S. entry restrictions imposed on Dominican nationals.

Skerrit said he has been in ongoing discussions with U.S. officials after the White House announced partial visa limitations announced on Dec. 16 but declined to provide details on how many asylum seekers could be sent to Dominica or when the transfers might begin. 

Skerrit’s engagement with U.S. authorities has led to what he called “careful deliberations of the need to avoid receiving violent individuals or individuals who will compromise the security of Dominica,” underscoring concerns about public safety. 

TINY PACIFIC NATION TO TAKE UP TO 75 DEPORTEES AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACCELERATES MASS REMOVALS

Dominica’s government continues to publicly address the larger framework of U.S. travel restrictions, even going as far as to say it “continues its engagement with the United States Embassy in Bridgetown and the State Department in Washington … in an effort to reverse a decision announced by the White House to impose partial travel restrictions on Dominican nationals, effective January 1, 2026.”

The government then went on to clarify that U.S. authorities have said Dominican nationals who hold valid U.S. visas, including tourist, business, student and other categories, “can travel to the U.S. and its territories as is customary.” The announcement reaffirms that lawful travel will continue under standard immigration laws.

According to the AP, the agreement reportedly conveyed that, much like similar pacts with countries such as Belize and Paraguay, the agreement follows broader U.S. efforts under President Donald Trump’s administration to encourage other nations to share responsibility for asylum-seekers.

TRUMP SAYS CUBA IS ‘READY TO FALL’ AFTER CAPTURE OF VENEZUELA’S MADURO

Some in Dominica’s political opposition say they are still waiting for answers. Thomson Fontaine, leader of the main opposition party, told AP that “the prime minister still has not told the Dominican public what exactly he has agreed to, in terms of the numbers of persons that are going to come to Dominica, where will they be housed, how will they be taken care of.”

Dominica has a population of roughly 72,000, and the announcement leaves many concerned about adequate resources for the island to absorb asylum-seekers, according to Fontaine.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Talks are still ongoing, but officials have so far said little about when the plan would start or how it would be carried out.

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…

–Mamdani-linked DSA demands Trump free Maduro from Brooklyn lockup — and send him back to power

-Hegseth moves to censure Sen Mark Kelly, review his retirement rank and pay over ‘seditious video’

-Fraud fallout forces Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to abandon Minnesota re-election bid

3 key takeaways from Trump’s push to put US oil firms back in Venezuela

Following the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the United States is now positioned to exert significant influence over the future of the world’s largest oil reserves.

What President Donald Trump does next could reshape Venezuela’s energy industry, alter global oil flows and redefine the balance of influence among major powers long invested in the country’s crude.

Here are three key takeaways…READ MORE.

White House

FREEDOM RISING: Trump signs ‘make Iran great again’ hat alongside Lindsey Graham

DIAL BACK: White House ‘laser focused’ on affordability as Trump softens tariff strategy

OUT WITH THE OLD: NASA begins infrastructure overhaul under Isaacman as Trump pushes ambitious space exploration goals

World Stage

DOMINO EFFECT: Maduro’s capture is ‘beginning of the end’ for Cuba’s regime, House Intelligence chair says

‘WE’RE IN CHARGE’: Trump vows US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela as he reveals if he’s spoken to Delcy Rodríguez

EXPANSION PLANS: Trump warns ‘sick’ South American leader, reiterates ‘we need Greenland’ for national security

Capitol Hill

‘AGED LIKE MILK’: Lawmakers rip Biden after Trump-Maduro taunt resurfaces – call it baseless and politically charged

BILLION-DOLLAR GAMBLE: Congress rolls out $174B spending bill as Jan 30 shutdown fears grow

LEFT-WING FURY: Democrats label Trump’s Venezuela operation an ‘impeachable offense’

Across America 

ATTACK ON VP HOME: VP Vance’s Ohio home damaged, man in custody, Secret Service says

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Minnesota fraud cases, explained: How hundreds of millions allegedly slipped through state programs

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

Former President Joe Biden and former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry were among a plethora of high-profile politicians and celebrities who attended the private funeral for Tatiana Schlossberg held at The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola in New York City on Monday.

Schlossberg, an environmental journalist and author who was the granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy and daughter of Caroline Kennedy, died at the age of 35, following a year-and-a-half-long battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

Her funeral was held at the Jesuit Catholic Church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was a private, invitation-only service not open to the general public.

Biden, along with his wife, former first lady Jill Biden, were photographed by Fox News Digital departing the church following the service.

JFK’S GRANDDAUGHTER, TATIANA SCHLOSSBERG, REVEALS TERMINAL CANCER DIAGNOSIS IN HEARTBREAKING ESSAY

Kerry was also photographed outside the church. Kerry, a longtime Democratic senator from Massachusetts, served as Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama and as a special climate envoy under Biden.

Several other influential Democrats, including Obama political strategist David Axelrod, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and former New York City Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, were seen outside the church.

Attendees of Schlossberg’s funeral also included several high-profile media personalities and figures, including late-night host David Letterman, The New Yorker editor David Remnick, renowned fashion designer Carolina Herrera and jazz-pop artist Jon Batiste. “Saturday Night Live” veteran and late-night host Seth Meyers was also photographed exiting the church.

THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF NEW JFK ASSASSINATION FILES RELEASED, FULFILLING TRUMP PROMISE: ‘NEW ERA’

Born and raised in New York City, Schlossberg built a career as a voice on climate and environmental issues after earning a bachelor’s in history from Yale University and a master’s degree in American history from the University of Oxford.

In 2024, Schlossberg was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and shared her experience publicly in a personal essay for The New Yorker in November 2025.

“My parents and my brother and sister, too, have been raising my children and sitting in my various hospital rooms almost every day for the last year and a half,” she wrote at the time.

Schlossberg also explained how doctors discovered her disease while she was hospitalized after giving birth to her second child, a daughter.

She explained in her essay how doctors spotted that her white-blood-cell count “looked strange.”

THE EVIDENCE ‘DOESN’T SUPPORT’ THAT OSWALD ASSASSINATED JFK, EXPERT ARGUES

She and her husband, George Moran, whom she married in 2017, also had a son.

After hearing from a doctor that she had “a year, maybe” to live, Schlossberg told how her first thought was that “my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me.”

In her essay, she also predicted that her son “might have a few memories, but he’ll probably start confusing them with pictures he sees or stories he hears.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Also seen leaving the church were Schlossberg’s husband, mother, father, Edwin Schlossberg, sister Rose Schlossberg and first cousin Joe Kennedy III.

Notably not seen outside the church was Schlossberg’s uncle, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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

Minnesota Lt. Gov. and progressive Democratic Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan is taking criticism, including from inside her own party, for her leadership during what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era fraud scheme.

Along with Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, Flanagan, who has helped lead the state as lieutenant governor since 2019, has come under fire for allowing the fraud scheme to grow during her watch.

A Minnesota Democratic operative told Fox News Digital that Flanagan “could absolutely lose to a Republican given all the fraud that took place during her time as Lt. Governor.”

“Today is the day Peggy’s Senate race effectively ended,” said the Democratic operative.

FRAUD FALLOUT FORCES DEMOCRATIC GOV. TIM WALZ TO ABANDON MINNESOTA RE-ELECTION BID

“Here are the facts: Peggy Flanagan was already a bad general election candidate, and this has made it even worse,” the operative went on, adding, “she owes the voters answers about what she knew and when.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., whose district includes the Twin Cities suburbs, told Fox News Digital that “Peggy Flanagan is just as much of a failure as Tim Walz.”

He noted that Flanagan’s primary opponent, Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, “isn’t much better.”

“Both of these candidates sat idly by while billions were stolen from hardworking taxpayers in Minnesota. And just like Tim, they ought to reconsider their candidacy,” said Emmer.

Walz, who served as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, announced on Monday that he was withdrawing from seeking a third term as governor in light of the fraud scandal.

“As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” Walz wrote in a statement. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”

OVER 1,000 ARRESTED IN ‘MASSIVE’ MINNESOTA OPERATION, INCLUDING MURDERERS, RAPISTS, PEDOPHILES

“So, I’ve decided to step out of this race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work in front of me for the next year,” the governor added.

Flanagan is running to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, who is retiring from the Senate. She has been endorsed by the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Though she is considered a frontrunner, Flanagan’s response to the scandal has garnered criticism. She was recently seen on a Somali TV station wearing a hijab at a mall to signal her support for Minnesota’s Somali community as the federal government cracks down on the fraud scheme.

This comes as more than 90 people, most from Minnesota’s large Somali community, have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme. How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

In response to the criticisms, Lexi Byler, a spokesperson for Flanagan’s campaign, told Fox News Digital that “the Lt. Governor has made clear that the amount of fraud that is acceptable is zero and anyone who steals from taxpayer dollars should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law — which is exactly what’s happening in Minnesota, where 98 people have been charged and 62 convicted so far.”

TRUMP FLIPS DEMOCRATS’ ‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’ MANTRA AFTER WALZ DROPS RE-ELECTION BID

Byler added that “what’s hard to take seriously is Republicans talking about accountability while Donald Trump has pardoned 27 corporate fraudsters and fired the Inspectors General whose job it is to police fraud,” adding that “Republicans are going to have to answer for that.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

On her campaign website, Flanagan touts her record as lieutenant governor, including expanding Minnesota’s paid family and medical leave program and investments in education, healthcare and housing.

The Minnesota primary will be on August 11. 

Fox News Digital also reached out to Walz and Craig for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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

A select group of lawmakers received their first closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on Monday following the Trump administration’s weekend military strikes in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro — a meeting that quickly divided along political lines.

The roughly two-hour meeting deep in the bowels of Congress featured top administration officials providing a classified briefing to congressional leaders and the chairs and ranking members of the armed services, intelligence and foreign relations committees. 

None of the Trump officials, who included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Raizin” Caine and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, spoke after the meeting. 

FETTERMAN DEFENDS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST CRITICISM FROM FELLOW DEMOCRATS 

But a handful of lawmakers did, and questions still lingered about what exactly would come next for U.S. involvement in the country, if other similar operations would be carried out across the globe, and who exactly was running Venezuela.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that there was no expectation that the U.S. would be on the ground, nor would there be any “direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the interim government to to get that going.”

“We are not at war,” Johnson said. “We do not have U.S. armed forces in Venezuela, and we are not occupying that country.”

“This is not a regime change,” he continued. “This is a demand for change of behavior by a regime. The interim government is stood up now, and we are hopeful that they will be able to correct their action.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast, R-Fl., echoed Johnson, and reiterated that the operation was a “specific law enforcement function that took place that took a significant obstacle out of the way for the Venezuelan people to go chart a new future.” 

NAVY SECRETARY PRAISES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S MADURO CAPTURE AS ‘MASTERCLASS IN PRECISION’

He didn’t expect further military action from the Trump administration in the country, either. 

“These things are done before breakfast,” Mast said. “They don’t do protracted war operations.”

However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., countered that the lengthy meeting “posed far more questions than it ever answered.” 

One growing point of contention among lawmakers is just how directly involved the U.S. will be, given that Trump said that the U.S. would govern the country until a proper transition of power happened. 

Schumer said that the plan presented behind closed doors or the U.S. running Venezuela “is vague, based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying.”

“I did not receive any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries,” he said. “And in conclusion, when the United States engages in this kind of regime change and so called nation building, it always ends up hurting the United States. I left the briefing feeling that it would again.”

FOX NEWS POLITICS NEWSLETTER: 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM TRUMP’S PUSH TO PUT US OIL FIRMS BACK IN VENEZUELA 

Schumer, along with Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., plan to force a vote later in the week on a war powers resolution that, if passed, would require the administration to get congressional approval before taking further military action in Venezuela. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he was satisfied with the briefing and that “it was a very comprehensive discussion.”

Lawmakers will get another bite at the apple later in the week when Trump officials again return to Congress to provide a full briefing to lawmakers on Operation Absolute Resolve. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, lauded the military for a “brilliant execution” of the mission, and noted that the region was better off without Maduro.

But, like Schumer, he was still searching for the next step. 

“The question becomes, as policymakers, what happens the day after,” Warner said. 

The Trump administration is moving to freeze more than $10 billion in federal child care and social services funding to five Democrat-led states amid concerns taxpayer dollars were improperly diverted to non-citizens, according to a report.

Officials reportedly told The New York Post that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will freeze funding from the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and the Social Services Block Grant, affecting California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York over concerns the benefits were fraudulently funneled to non-citizens.

More than $7.3 billion in TANF funding would be withheld from the five states, along with nearly $2.4 billion from the CCDF and another $869 million from the Social Services Block Grant.

The funding pauses were expected to be announced in letters sent to state officials Monday, citing concerns that benefits were improperly directed to non-U.S. citizens.

ABBOTT ORDERS COMPREHENSIVE FRAUD PROBE INTO TEXAS CHILD CARE FUNDING AFTER MINNESOTA SCANDAL

A 2019 audit by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that New York State improperly claimed $24.7 million in federal reimbursement for child care subsidies paid to New York City that did not comply with program rules.

The audit attributed the overbilling to system errors and oversight failures – not criminal fraud – and state officials agreed to refund the funds and implement corrective controls, according to the report.

Following the release of details surrounding the potential funding freeze, New York Democrats sharply criticized the Trump administration’s move, arguing it would harm families who rely on child care assistance.

MINN. LAWMAKER ‘NOT SURPRISED’ BY WALZ ENDING CAMPAIGN, SAYS THERE WILL BE NO ‘STONE UNTURNED’ IN HEARINGS

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., accused the administration of using the issue for political retaliation and warned it would hurt children and low-income families across the state.

“Trump is threatening to freeze child care funding in New York and targeting our children for political retribution. It’s immoral and indefensible,” she wrote in a post on X. “I’m demanding the administration abandon any plans to freeze this funding and stop hurting New York families.”

Along with her post, Gillibrand also shared a public statement regarding the freezing of funds.

HHS CUTS OFF MINNESOTA CHILD CARE PAYMENTS OVER ALLEGED DAYCARE FRAUD SCHEME

“My faith guides my life and public service. It’s our job to serve the people most in need and most at risk – no matter what state they live in or what political party their family or elected representatives belong to,” she said. “To use the power of the government to harm the neediest Americans is immoral and indefensible.

“This has nothing to do with fraud and everything to do with political retribution that punishes poor children in need of assistance,” Gillibrand added. “I demand that President Trump unfreeze this funding and stop this brazen attack on our children.”

The NY Post first reported that in December, HHS sent letters to Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey seeking information on whether billions in taxpayer funds may have unlawfully helped “fuel illegal and mass migration.”

Those requests were followed by investigations launched by the Treasury Department and the House Oversight Committee into a growing fraud scandal involving several nonprofits tied to the Somali community in the Twin Cities.

An estimated 130,000 illegal migrants were living in Minnesota as of 2023 — about 40,000 more than in 2019 and roughly 2% of the state’s population — according to the Pew Research Center. The state’s Somali diaspora exceeds 100,000 people, with most concentrated in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area.

The news on Monday came the same day Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced he was dropping his bid for a third term as governor amid stinging criticism of his handling of the state’s massive welfare assistance fraud scandal.

KAROLINE LEAVITT WARNS ‘PEOPLE WILL BE IN HANDCUFFS’ AS FEDS ZERO IN ON MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.

More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme.

How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL INTENSIFIES DEBATE OVER STRIPPING CITIZENSHIP

Prosecutors said that some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

Trump addressed Walz’s announcement of leaving the race on Monday, in a post on Truth Social. “Minnesota’s Corrupt Governor will possibly leave office before his Term is up but, in any event, will not be running again because he was caught, REDHANDED, along with Ilhan Omar, and others of his Somali friends, stealing Tens of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,” the president wrote. “I feel certain the facts will come out, and they will reveal a seriously unscrupulous, and rich, group of ‘SLIMEBALLS.’

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Governor Walz has destroyed the State of Minnesota, but others, like Governor Gavin Newscum, JB Pritzker, and Kathy Hochul, have done, in my opinion, an even more dishonest and incompetent job,” Trump added. “NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!”

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

Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter Monday directing Texas state agencies to investigate potential child care funding fraud, following a major Minnesota social services scandal that cost taxpayers millions.

“Recently, the Trump Administration and independent journalists have uncovered potential systematic fraud in subsidized child care systems in states like Minnesota,” Abbott said in a statement. “Such fraud will never be tolerated in Texas. Today, I directed Texas state agencies to take proactive steps to prevent, detect, and eliminate misuse of taxpayer funds to protect the integrity of Texas’ Child Care Services Program.” 

Abbott’s letter was addressed to Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Jose Esparza and Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Executive Commissioner Stephanie Muth to lead the investigation. Both agencies have broad authority to strengthen fraud prevention efforts in the state’s child care program and regulate facilities.

The agencies will have until Feb. 27 to submit a final report outlining how they implemented anti-fraud measures and investigated any potential misuse of Texas taxpayer dollars.

HOW FEARS OF BEING LABELED ‘RACIST’ HELPED ‘PROVIDE COVER’ FOR THE EXPLODING MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL

Abbott noted that Texas already has a relatively low “improper payment rate” of 0.43 percent, compared with Minnesota’s roughly 11 percent, thanks to the agencies’ strong anti-fraud processes already in place.

While the agencies already conduct routine audits of providers and in-person visits to facilities, “more can be done to protect Texas children and taxpayers,” Abbott said in the letter.

CRITICS WARN MINNESOTA LEGISLATION NOW TAKING EFFECT IS SETTING UP THE ‘NEXT BILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD’

HHSC and TWC will provide a progress report to the governor’s office on Jan. 30, followed by a final report in late February.

“I will continue to work with executive branch agencies to fight fraud, protect taxpayer dollars, and promote accessible, affordable, high-quality childcare for Texans,” Abbott added.

The move comes just hours after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced that he is suspending his reelection campaign amid allegations that the state attempted to cover up widespread fraud in his state’s social programs. 

The scandal, which emerged in early December, involved individuals from the Somali-American community accused of defrauding public aid programs.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

While the schemes began with the Feeding Our Future case, which reportedly exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the pandemic, investigators have since uncovered what they describe as a web of interconnected fraud spanning multiple sectors, including child care, Medicaid, housing and autism services.

FIRST ON FOX: House Freedom Caucus leaders are drawing battle lines as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill for the second half of the 119th Congress.

The conservative group’s board of directors is sending a seven-page letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., outlining proposed policy goals on a vast array of topics from American elections, to immigration, to federal spending, taking on “rogue” judges, and housing affordability.

It comes ahead of a policy forum that Johnson is hosting on Tuesday to lay out the House GOP’s agenda for 2026. Republicans are expected to huddle from 9:30am to 6pm at the Trump Kennedy Center where they’ll hear from committee leaders and President Donald Trump.

Trump’s remarks are expected to rally Republicans around passing their legislative goals for the year, but several people told Fox News Digital they also anticipate him focusing heavily on the U.S. government’s recent operation in Venezuela.

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

The first policy goal listed by the Freedom Caucus is forcing the Senate to take up the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House early last year.

They’re also calling on Congress to pass legislation limiting early voting and reforming the census to only count American citizens.

On fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations, conservatives are calling on the House to “reduce or – at bare minimum – keep flat total federal discretionary spending levels” according to the document first obtained by Fox News Digital.

The recently-released $174 billion spending bill that the House is expected to vote on this week would reduce current funding levels for the agencies it covers if passed.

Congress has yet to release information on six of its 12 remaining spending bills, however, while lawmakers face a Jan. 30 deadline to avert a government shutdown.

The Freedom Caucus is also urging Congress to crack down on the recent fraud scandal taking over Minnesota’s social programs by eliminating “all programs exposed as rampant with fraud and place punitive measures on states such as Minnesota that have allowed rampant fraud.”

“Federal prosecutors have estimated that widespread fraud in Minnesota tied to Somali day care centers, COVID-era meal programs, housing, and special needs assistance programs alone could exceed $9 billion,” the document said. “These revelations are startling, but just a drop in the bucket for a federal government that’s estimated to lose between $233 and $521 billion annually to fraud, according to government watchdog agencies.”

The document called for the denaturalization and deportation of “anyone who has committed fraud against the American taxpayer,” specifically naming Minnesota’s Somali community, though doing so would likely require court intervention.

Conservatives’ policy roadmap also called on Congress to “freeze all immigration to the U.S., except for (very) temporary tourist visas” for a temporary amount of time in order to revamp the U.S. immigration system as a whole.

In a section called “Stop Rogue, Activist Judges,” the House Freedom Caucus urged the House to move forward on impeaching U.S. Federal Judge James Boasberg “such as Judge Deborah Boardman, for reducing the sentence of a man who plotted and took steps to kill a Supreme Court Justice due to her indefensible views about transgenderism.”

An earlier push by conservatives to impeach Boasberg failed to gain traction among the wider House GOP conference, though the chamber passed “The No Rogue Rulings Act” to limit the ability of district judges like Boasberg to issue nationwide injunctions.

The policy roadmap also called to radically shift America’s global priorities by completely removing the U.S. from the United Nations and halting all funding to the international body.

HOUSE GOP TENSIONS ERUPT AFTER MODERATE REPUBLICANS’ OBAMACARE ‘BETRAYAL’

“The UN is openly hostile to the United States, yet we remain its biggest source of funding. President Trump has significantly reduced wasteful spending on dangerous UN entities like UNRWA, and now Congress should go even further by enacting legislation such as H.R. 1498, the DEFUND Act, to completely withdraw the United States from the United Nations (UN) and end all funding and participation,” the passage read.

Another section calls for banning stock trading for members of Congress, which Johnson said he would be in favor of last year.

The push to ban stock trading has gained rare bipartisan support among both Republicans and Democrats, but no such bill has yet seen a House floor vote.

Banning Sharia Law in the U.S. is also listed as one of the group’s policy goals, an effort that’s been led by Texas-based Freedom Caucus members like Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Keith Self, R-Texas, so far this Congress.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

While it was founded as a group that was frequently adversarial to Republican leaders for not being conservative enough, the House Freedom Caucus has gradually gained influence within the House GOP during the 119th Congress.

Its chairman, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., has frequently stood alongside Johnson in his push for conservative legislative goals.

Johnson notably spoke at the group’s 10th anniversary celebration late last year. Harris and Roy also made a public show of unity alongside House GOP leaders during the recent government shutdown.

Republicans are going into this year, however, grappling with a razor-thin House majority and what’s expected to be a tough November election cycle.