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The Department of Justice on Tuesday released nearly 30,000 pages of documents related to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein. This is the latest batch of documents to be released since the DOJ began publishing files on Dec. 19.

The files include a number of revelations, including a psychological assessments from Epstein’s time in prison, a fake passport and his cellmate’s testimony about witnessing the financier’s first apparent suicide attempt. The newly released pages also include a claim made by an unidentified Epstein accuser who said that former President Bill Clinton’s name was used as a way to deter her from coming forward.

Here are some of the top takeaways.

Prison psychology report shows Epstein was deemed ‘low risk’ for suicide days before his death

A Bureau of Prisons psychological assessment released Tuesday by the DOJ showed Epstein was considered to be at “low” acute suicide risk and showed no signs of suicidal ideation just days before his death, according to internal prison records.

The suicide risk assessment, conducted on July 9, 2019, states Epstein was placed on precautionary psychological observation due to the high-profile nature of his case and not because he expressed intent to self-harm.

“Inmate Epstein adamantly denied any suicidal ideation, intention or plan,” the chief psychologist wrote in the assessment.

The psychologist noted Epstein appeared “polite, calm, and cooperative” during the evaluation, with “organized and coherent” thoughts and no signs of acute psychological distress. Additionally, the psychologist documented Epstein saying that “being alive is fun,” describing himself as a banker with a “big business,” and expressing confidence in his legal defense.

The report concluded that “the Overall Acute Suicide Risk for this Inmate is: Low,” and, “A suicide watch is not warranted at this time.”

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Epstein’s cellmate details what he saw during financier’s first apparent suicide attempt

Newly shared Bureau of Prisons records shed fresh light on what Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, says he witnessed during the disgraced financier’s first apparent suicide attempt while in federal custody.

“I was asleep with headphones on when I felt something hit my legs,” Tartaglione said, according to the memo.

“I turned on the light and saw Epstein on the floor with something around his neck,” he told investigators, adding that Epstein appeared unresponsive.

The records state Tartaglione immediately called for help after discovering Epstein on the ground. Correctional officers responded, and Epstein was taken for medical evaluation. Officials later described the incident as an apparent suicide attempt.

The documents also note that Epstein later accused Tartaglione of trying to kill him, a claim Tartaglione flatly denied.

“That allegation is completely false,” Tartaglione told investigators. Additionally, Bureau of Prisons officials said there was no evidence to support Epstein’s claim.

Epstein was later removed from the cell and placed under closer observation before his death weeks later in what was ruled a suicide.

Tartaglione was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in 2024 for killing four people, according to prior reporting from Fox News Digital.

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Epstein accuser said Clinton’s name was used to deter her from coming forward

A woman who accused Epstein of sexual misconduct said she was warned that his ties to former President Bill Clinton could prevent her from working if she spoke out, according to a sworn attorney-released statement in Tuesday’s DOJ document dump.

In the statement, dated August 27, 2019, the woman identified as Jane Doe alleged that after fleeing an encounter with Epstein at his Manhattan mansion, another woman cautioned her that Epstein “knew a lot of powerful people, including Bill Clinton,” and that refusing him could end her career in the modeling industry.

The accuser said she believed the reference to influential figures was meant to intimidate her and discourage her from coming forward.

The statement does not allege that Clinton participated in or had knowledge of the alleged encounter. Clinton has previously denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s fake passport revealed

The latest documents also include a fake passport that Epstein apparently used in the 1980s. The passport appeared to be issued from Austria, with Epstein going by the name “Marius Robert Fortelni.” It listed Saudi Arabia as his place of residence. 

In a 2019 letter to a federal judge over his detention on sex trafficking charges, Epstein’s lawyers justified his use of a false identity. 

“Eighth, as for the Austrian passport the government trumpets, it expired 32 years ago,” his attorneys said in the letter. “And the government offers nothing to suggest — and certainly no evidence — that Epstein ever used it.” 

“In any case, Epstein – an affluent member of the Jewish faith – acquired the passport in the 1980s, when hijackings were prevalent, in connection to Middle East travel,” the letter continued. “The passport was for personal protection in the event of travel to dangerous areas, only to be presented to potential kidnappers, hijackers or terrorists should violent episodes occur.”

Epstein requested ‘razor to shave,’ complained of lack of water weeks before death, document shows

Documents indicate that Epstein requested a razor to shave while in federal custody just weeks before his death, while also raising a series of complaints about his detention conditions.

In a July 30, 2019 internal communication labeled “Inmate Epstein,” Epstein asked for a razor and requested access to water during attorney conferences, saying the available machine “does not have water” and that he was becoming dehydrated, according to the document.

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The same email notes Epstein claimed he did not receive all of his prescribed medications after being placed on psychological observation, and said he had not slept well in 21 days due to the absence of his CPAP machine. Epstein also complained about noise in the Special Housing Unit, warning he could suffer “psychological trauma” from the conditions.

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.

As Clement Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” tells it, families sleep soundly as Santa approaches.

As the new year nears, several election contests may prove just as quiet – until close results suddenly come into focus. Here are five potential sleeper races to watch in 2026: 

1. MISSISSIPPI’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, has not often had to worry about a general election challenge since he won a special election on April 13, 1993.

Predecessor Mike Espy, who recently unsuccessfully ran for Senate in a narrow runoff with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., had resigned to accept President Bill Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of Agriculture.

Thompson’s closest race was that one – against Republican Hayes Dent – at 55% to 45%.

Since then, Thompson has never looked back, and instead made himself a nationally-recognized figure later in his tenure.

He chaired the House Select Committee on January 6 and recently went viral for calling the shooting of West Virginia National Guardsmen allegedly by an Afghan refugee an “unfortunate accident.”

Thompson’s district, spanning from Jackson west to Yazoo City and Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, is one of the poorest in the country – landing at 3rd out of 435 with a median income of $37,372, according to data published by the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio.

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Only Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. preside over a poorer population.

Last week, an attorney and former counsel to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., mounted a surprise primary bid against Thompson.

Evan Turnage, 33, who has been alive just about the same time Thompson has been in Congress, made the idea of fighting the region’s persistent poverty paramount to his new campaign, according to Black Press USA.

“I’ve dedicated my life to leveling the playing field so people can not only get by, but get ahead, and raise a family right here,” Turnage said, according to the outlet.

On the Republican side, retired Army captain and Vicksburg cardiothoracic surgeon Ron Eller will fight an uphill battle to unseat the winner of the Thompson-Turnage bout.

2. CONNECTICUT’S 5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Connecticut is another state that is typically not in political conversation as hosting nail-biter partisan elections.

During the Bush-Clinton years, however, the state was competitive if not outright Republican-favored.

Former Gov. John Rowland was the first in decades to be elected to more than two terms. He ended up resigning in 2004 amid the threat of impeachment over accusations contractors with the state were doing work on his vacation home.

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After he resigned, his wife famously wrote a poem critical of the media’s coverage of Rowland’s case, based on Moore’s holiday favorite and called “A Lump of Coal for All the Reporters.” Rowland’s lieutenant, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, took over and was re-elected once before retiring in 2010.

Since then, the state has been reliably Democratic – save for former Sen. Joe Lieberman changing his affiliation to independent.

In 2022, then-State Sen. George Logan – the first Black man elected to Hartford’s upper chamber – mounted a bid against Rep. Jahana Hayes and lost by less than one percentage point.

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Logan tried again in 2024, but lost by a slightly wider margin.

While Logan is not on the ballot at least yet for 2026, recent history shows Republicans could have an outside chance of ending Democrats’ full control of New England’s congressional delegation.

3. MARYLAND’S 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Republicans have wanted to win back Maryland’s sixth congressional district ever since partisan gerrymandering was blamed for booting 20-year incumbent Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., from office in 2012.

Bartlett, an eccentric conservative who later relocated to the West Virginia wilderness to live off-the-grid, is now 99, and was known for addressing various topics that were sometimes ignored but have received newfound attention at present, including warnings about the strength, reliability and hardening of the U.S. power grid.

Bartlett won his last campaign by 28 points but then lost by about 20 after the rural district encompassing the entire Maryland Panhandle was adjusted to incorporate the edges of densely-populated Washington, D.C., suburbs.

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He was defeated in 2013 by then-Rep. John Delaney, a finance executive – before Delaney was replaced by Total Wine mogul David Trone, who has largely self-funded his campaigns to the tune of millions of dollars.

Trone won re-election before opting in 2024 to pursue retiring Sen. Benjamin Cardin’s, D-Md., seat – which was ultimately won by Democrat Angela Alsobrooks.

He announced this year that he would challenge Rep. April McClain-Delaney, D-Md., the wife of former Rep. John Delaney.

Meanwhile, former longtime state Del. Neil Parrott, R-Antietam, is mounting his fourth consecutive bid for the seat. McClain-Delaney beat Parrott 53-47 in 2024.

The closest that Republicans have gotten to taking back the seat since Bartlett was defeated came in 2014, when now-FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino narrowly lost to Trone by about a point.

Bongino notably sought to nationalize the race, pulling in endorsements like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and rebuking Delaney as someone who could “write himself a check for a million dollars” if he needed to in order to win.

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The future G-man suggested at the time he would rather knock on doors in far-flung communities like Oakland and Grantsville, where he said, “nobody seems to know who [John Delaney] is,” according to the Maryland Reporter.

Given newly-drawn, friendlier maps following litigation over O’Malley-era gerrymandering, Republicans may have a chance to surprise in a district in one of the most Democratic-majority states in the country.

4. NEBRASKA’S 2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

While not typically considered a swing state, or one that gets much attention in federal elections, Nebraska’s only urban-leaning district may decide the future of the House of Representatives if the overall contest is as close as it has been in recent years.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of few in his party who have publicly lambasted President Donald Trump, is retiring. The district – centered in Douglas and Saunders counties, including Omaha and Ashland – already has a slew of candidates on both sides hoping to take the moderate’s seat.

Omaha City Councilman Brinker Harding leads state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, R-Omaha, in fundraising, while on the Democratic side, at least five people, including congressional staffer James Leuschen and state Sen. John Cavanaugh, D-Omaha, have tossed their hats in the ring, according to the Nebraska Examiner.

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Bacon, who hails from suburban Sarpy County, won his last race against former state Sen. Anthony Vargas, D-Omaha, by less than one percentage point.

After a recent wave of GOP losses in Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey, the district shapes up as a tough hold for Republicans in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since Ben Nelson retired in 2012.

5. NEW MEXICO GUBERNATORIAL RACE

While Nebraska is a red state that doesn’t often garner national attention, on the blue ledger lies New Mexico.

Topographically and culturally similar to red neighbor Texas and formerly red neighbor Arizona on the other side, the Land of Enchantment is often one that enchants the observer that looks closer at its politics.

Notably, its mountainous border with Mexico has largely kept it out of politically-contentious Trump-wall debates focused on the flatter, desert and river boundaries of its neighbors.

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While it lacks the urban population that is typical of most blue states like New York, California, New Jersey and Maryland, Republicans have been increasingly out of power there for years.

Former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was the last such lawmaker to represent the state in the upper chamber.

He retired in 2008 and was replaced by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., whose surname is the Mountain West’s equivalent of Cuomo or Casey. The Interior Department headquarters is named after Udall’s father.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is term limited. While she was preceded by a Republican, Susana Martinez, her state has been trending more toward Democratic reliability otherwise.

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Deb Haaland, a former New Mexico congresswoman who was also former President Joe Biden’s Interior secretary, is the biggest name in the Democratic field, while Greggory Hull, the longtime mayor of Rio Rancho, is such for the GOP.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez held off a challenge from predecessor Yvette Herrell in the 2nd congressional district, which spans the southwestern part of the state including Alamogordo and Las Cruces, in what was seen as the GOP’s best chance to make inroads again in the border state.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn says that Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s campaign launch in Texas’ high-stakes 2026 Senate race is proof that “the Democratic Party has become the captive of the left wing.”

Cornyn, the longtime senator from Texas who’s facing arguably the toughest re-election of his political career, charged in a Fox News Digital interview that the bid by Crockett, a progressive champion and vocal critic and foil of President Donald Trump, shows that “even people like Chuck Schumer,” the top Democrat in the Senate, “have been hijacked by the Bernie Sanders and AOC wing of the Democratic Party.”

Crockett, a two-term lawmaker who represents a Dallas-area district, launched her bid earlier this month hours after former Rep. Colin Allred, a more moderate Democrat running a second straight time for the Senate in right-leaning Texas, ended his campaign.

Crockett will now face off in her party’s March 3 primary with state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who is also seen as a rising Democrat. The general election showdown in Texas is one of a handful of midterm races that may determine if the GOP holds its Senate majority.

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Cornyn embraces Crockett’s entry into the race.

“I think she is unelectable in a general election in Texas. Texas is still a conservative red state,” Cornyn claimed. “She can’t win, so I’m really happy she’s decided to run.”

While Crockett and Talarico face off for the Democratic nomination, Cornyn is battling Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a competitive and combustible Republican primary.

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And unlike the Democratic primary, where Crockett and Talarico are the only major candidates, the three-way Republican race may be headed towards a May runoff, which would be triggered if no candidate tops 50% in the March primary.

But Cornyn said that a GOP runoff won’t “really change our chances of winning in November.”

Cornyn is backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in the GOP primary.

NRSC chair Sen. Tim Scott predicts Cornyn will be the GOP’s nominee, emphasizing in a Fox News Digital interview last week that “we are confident that Texas will be red, ruby red, with John Cornyn as our candidate.”

Paxton, who has been battered over the past decade by a slew of scandals and legal problems and who is now dealing with a messy divorce, is a longtime MAGA champion and ally of Trump, who remains neutral in the Senate GOP primary race.

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Cornyn, highlighting his Trump credentials, noted that “I get along well with the President. I’ve supported him during his first term, and now in his second term, I think the figure we came up with was 99.3% of the time. So I want the president to be successful and look forward to continuing to support him and his policies.”

But he acknowledged that “I don’t think he’s [Trump] in a big hurry to endorse. He says that both the attorney general and I are friends of his, and I don’t think he wants to disappoint some of his friends who support one or the other of us, if he…goes to support one and not the other.”

The Republican primary in Texas has become explosive, with charges flying from all sides.

But Cornyn, remaining more diplomatic than incendiary, merely touted that he would be the most effective general election candidate. And he pointed to Paxton and Hunt and argued, “They’re probably not going to be able to win, certainly by the same margin, and they might not be able to win at all because they’re flawed candidates.”

4 KEY SENATE SEATS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP IN 2026 MIDTERMS TO EXPAND THEIR MAJORITY

“I’ve been through a lot of races before. This is nothing new for me, and we look forward to a good primary on March the third and probably a runoff that will finish the race off in May, and then we’ll get ready for whoever the Democrats decide to nominate for November,” he added.

Paxton campaign spokesman Nick Maddux, pushing back against Cornyn, told Fox News Digital, “Everyone knows that Jasmine Crockett, who said Hispanic Trump voters have a ‘slave mentality,’ is going to lose the general election miserably after winning the Democratic nomination. Cornyn’s reciting this tired talking point about the general election because his sad campaign has nothing else to talk about it.”

“Ken Paxton won his last statewide general election by nearly double digits, despite tens of millions in negative spending against him, and he’ll do exactly that again in 2026,” Maddux predicted.

Cornyn, who is running for a fifth six-year term representing Texas in the Senate, announced his re-election campaign in early March, with Paxton launching his primary challenge a month later.

Hunt, a West Point graduate who flew Apache helicopters during his Army service and a rising MAGA star who is in his second term representing a solidly Republican district in the Houston-area, jumped into the race in October.

As he declared his candidacy, Hunt showcased his own Trump credentials, saying, “I was the first person in the nation to endorse President Trump, and I have remained steadfast in my commitment to the people of Texas.”

Hunt had been mulling a Senate run for months and sources confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that the congressman made his case to Trump’s political team that he’s the only person who could win both a GOP primary and a general election.

Asked about Hunt, Cornyn claimed that “he can’t win the primary. He can force a runoff.”

And Cornyn said Hunt was “pretty headstrong and is determined to run, which is his right… but he also has a right to lose, which is what’s going to happen.”

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The 44-year-old Hunt, responding to the 73-year-old senator’s comments, told Fox News Digital that “Cornyn continues to lose support and now stands as the most vulnerable and ineffective incumbent in the country.”

“He refuses to step aside and pass the torch to a new generation of leadership, one aligned with the America First movement and committed to codifying President Trump’s agenda, something Cornyn has spent years opposing in the United States Senate,” Hunt charged.

Congress’ top fiscal hawk is back with his yearly government waste report card, this time uncovering over $1.6 trillion in spending on cocaine experiments on dogs, COVID-19 vaccine influencer campaigns and staggering yearly debt payments.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., unveiled his 11th annual “Festivus Report” on Tuesday, detailing the wonky ways that the federal government dumps taxpayer dollars into pet projects.

Paul has long been against Congress’ spending habits, routinely voting against appropriations bills and spending packages for not trying to tackle the nation’s growing debt problem. His report highlights that even with several lawmakers pounding their chests on Washington’s spending problem, Congress can’t help but spend more.

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“No matter how much taxpayer money Washington burns through, politicians can’t help but demand more,” Paul said. “Fiscal responsibility may not be the most crowded road, but it’s one I’ve walked year after year — and this holiday season will be no different. So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (Spending) Grievances.”

He lauded moves taken by the Trump administration to slash government spending, like the nearly $9 billion rescissions package that slashed funding for public broadcasting and some foreign aid, Paul said that while the action was “a good start, it’s just a drop in the bucket.”

Paul noted that in the last year, the federal debt has skyrocketed to nearly $40 trillion, up from roughly $36 trillion.

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“The Congressional Budget Office predicts we will add an average of $23.9 trillion in debt annually for the next decade. The U.S. government will add over $6.53 billion of debt every single day for the next ten years,” Paul said. “We borrow over $272 million every hour, we borrow $4.54 million every minute, and we borrow over $75,000 every second.”

“This year, I’m spotlighting a jaw-dropping amount of government waste — the kind that makes you wonder if anyone in Washington has ever heard the word ‘priorities,’” he continued. “A grand total of $1,639,135,969,608, which includes $1.22 trillion in interest payments on the debt.”

And several programs highlighted in the report that funneled taxpayer dollars to celebrities, drug experiments, diversity, equity and inclusion programs and several other obscure projects contributed to that staggering figure.

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Among the highlights are over $40 million to social media influencers to promote getting the COVID-19 vaccine to racial and ethnic minority groups, over $5 million to dose dogs with cocaine, over $1 million to teach “teenage ferrets to binge-drink alcohol,” over $14 million to teach monkeys to play a “Price is Right”-inspired game and roughly $13 million to continue experiments on beagles.

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There’s also the over $7 billion previously allocated by Congress to build electric vehicle charging stations nationwide — only 68 have been built so far, he noted — and schools receiving nearly $200 billion in COVID-19 relief funds that has been spent on “rooms at Caesars Palace, renting out MLB stadiums, and ice cream trucks.”

The report highlighted several other programs, including over $1 million to hire celebrity influencers for anti-drug campaigns targeting “Latinx” communities, nearly $5 million total for studies looking at the effect of screen time on toddlers and mobile-phone obesity intervention for toddlers, and over $2 million for researchers to take saliva swabs at electronic dance music festivals in New York City.

A federal judge on Tuesday cleared the way for New York’s so-called Green Light Law, ruling against the Trump administration’s effort to block the state from giving people driver’s licenses without requiring proof that they are in the U.S. legally.

U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci found that the Justice Department — which sued New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James in February — had failed to prove its claims that the state law sought to invalidate federal law or that the measure unlawfully regulates or unlawfully discriminates against the federal government.

“As I said from the start, our laws protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe,” James said in a statement. “I will always stand up for New Yorkers and the rule of law.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged when announcing the lawsuit that Hochul and James were prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens,” as the controversial state law blocks federal agents trying to enforce immigration laws from seeing illegal immigrants’ criminal driving records during traffic stops.

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Nardacci wrote in her ruling that her job was not to evaluate the desirability of the law as a policy matter, but to determine whether the Trump administration’s arguments prove its claims that the statute violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal laws overrule state laws.

The administration has “failed to state such a claim,” Nardacci wrote.

The Green Light Law, also known as the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act, was adopted, in part, to improve road safety, as people sometimes drove without a license or without having passed a driving test. Under the measure, it is easier for these license holders to receive auto insurance.

The law states that people who do not have a valid Social Security number can submit alternative forms of ID, including valid passports and driver’s licenses issued in other countries. Applicants must still receive a driver’s permit and pass a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license.”

The legislation does not apply to commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).

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The DOJ’s lawsuit argued that the law was “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them,” citing a provision that requires the state’s DMV commissioner to notify people who are in the country illegally when a federal immigration agency has requested their information.

The lawsuit further claimed that it could be easier to enforce the Trump administration’s immigration agenda if federal authorities had unrestricted access to New York’s driver information.

The Green Light Law took effect in 2019, but came under renewed scrutiny following a fatal shootout in Vermont in January that left a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent dead near the northern border with Canada after a traffic stop involving a German national.

“Any information that can help law enforcement stay safe as they conduct their duties has pretty much been taken away with this Green Light Law,” Hector Garza, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News Digital at the time. 

“What [the Green Light Law] does, is that it prevents law enforcement agents from getting any type of information in regards to any registrations that the state has,” Garza added. “For example, before we engage in traffic stops, typically law enforcement will always conduct a vehicle registration check to see if there’s any warrants to see if that person is considered armed and dangerous.”

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But Nardacci, echoing an appeals court ruling in a county clerk’s earlier challenge to the law, wrote that the information “remains available to federal immigration authorities” through a lawful court order or judicial warrant.

New York is one of a dozen states that allows illegals to drive.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The House Small Business Committee sent a letter this week to the Small Business Administration demanding answers on federal pandemic relief funds that flowed from the Biden administration to entities in Minnesota possibly connected to the massive unfolding fraud scandal.

In a letter sent Monday to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, the committee said it is conducting oversight into reports of fraud and concealment involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, both of which were created to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter cited public reporting and federal prosecutions tying Minnesota-based nonprofits and individuals to massive fraud schemes that drained hundreds of millions of dollars from federal programs under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.

The letter also points out that the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future was at the center of what the Justice Department has called the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme charged in U.S. history, with 78 individuals charged as of late November in a case involving roughly $250 million in fraudulent claims as part of an overall system of fraud that prosecutors said last week could total up to $9 billion or more.

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“The SBA’s COVID lending programs were created to keep small businesses afloat during an unprecedented crisis, not to subsidize fraud,” Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“Under the Biden-Harris administration, weak oversight and reckless decision-making allowed bad actors to exploit these programs and steal hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars. The Feeding Our Future case highlights the severity of these failures, and the Committee on Small Business is determined to hold those responsible accountable.”

The committee’s letter requests detailed records on PPP and EIDL loans issued to dozens of individuals and businesses tied to Minnesota-based fraud investigations, including loan amounts, disbursement dates, forgiveness decisions and internal SBA communications.

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Lawmakers are also seeking all documents and communications between the SBA and Walz’s office or Minnesota state agencies during the Biden-Harris administration, arguing such records are necessary to determine whether warning signs were ignored or oversight failed.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Loeffler says she is looking forward to working with Congress to get to the bottom of the situation. 

“Earlier this month, SBA determined that numerous Somali nonprofits indicted as part of the $1 billion pandemic fraud scandal in Minnesota received PPP and EIDL Loans totaling at least $2.5 million, including Feeding Our Future,” Loeffler said. 

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“SBA has since broadened its investigation to uncover pandemic-era fraud across the entire state of Minnesota and looks forward to working in partnership with Congressional leaders to uncover the full depth of the abuse and deliver accountability on behalf of American taxpayers.”

The letter asks for the documents to be provided by Jan. 12, 2026.

On Tuesday, Fox News Digital first reported that Loeffler sent a letter to Walz alerting him that her agency will “halt” more than $5.5 million in annual support to resource partners in the state “until further notice.”

The Department of Justice warned Tuesday that some documents in the latest batch of files it published related to Jeffrey Epstein included false and unverified information about President Donald Trump.

The DOJ wrote in a statement that the material included “untrue and sensationalist claims” about the president that the FBI received ahead of the 2020 election.

“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” the DOJ wrote on social media, adding that it published the documents because of its “commitment to the law and transparency.”

The documents included an email sent by an unnamed federal prosecutor with the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York on Jan. 7, 2020, saying Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet at least eight times in the 1990s. Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell accompanied Trump on some of the flights, and two of the flights included passengers who were “possible witnesses in a Maxwell case,” the prosecutor wrote.

The U.S. attorney’s office “didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road,” the prosecutor wrote. 

The documents also indicated a number of tips that were provided to the FBI about Trump’s alleged involvement with Epstein in the early 2000s. Trump has said he ended his friendship with Epstein before Epstein faced charges. It is unclear what was done with the information provided in the documents, or whether any of it was corroborated or used in the prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell.

The DOJ has been sharing on a public website since Friday tens of thousands of pages of files related to Epstein’s and Maxwell’s sex-trafficking cases. Maxwell was found guilty in 2021 of trafficking minors, while Epstein died in 2019 in prison by suicide, authorities say.

SCHUMER ACCUSES DOJ OF BREAKING THE LAW OVER REDACTED EPSTEIN FILES

Among the files was also a letter that appeared to show Epstein had written to former physician Larry Nassar, a convicted child molester, and had referenced Trump liking young women. The DOJ said later Tuesday, after the letter had made the rounds on social media, that the FBI confirmed the letter was “fake.”

“The fake letter was received by the jail, and flagged for the FBI at the time,” the DOJ wrote in a statement on social media. The department said suspicious features of the letter included that it was postmarked three days after Epstein died and was sent from Virginia, rather than New York where Epstein was imprisoned.

The latest trove of documents came as part of the DOJ’s response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law passed last month that imposed a 30-day deadline on the department to release all unclassified material related to the cases.

The last batch of documents included several photos of former President Bill Clinton, who was pictured in a pool and hot tub. A woman whose face was redacted was featured in the latter. A Clinton spokesperson responded by demanding the DOJ release all the files and that refusal to do so would confirm the DOJ was “not about transparency, but about insinuation.” The spokesperson noted that Clinton’s name has “repeatedly” been cleared by prosecutors.

CLINTON TEAM DEMANDS TRUMP DOJ RELEASE ‘ANY REMAINING’ DOCS RELATED TO FORMER PRESIDENT, EPSTEIN

The transparency bill allowed the DOJ to withhold information about potential victims and material that could jeopardize open investigations or litigation. Officials could also leave out information “in the interest of national defense or foreign policy,” the bill said. But the bill explicitly directed the DOJ not to redact any details that could be damaging to high-profile and politically connected people.

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The file rollout has stirred controversy as critics have aired grievances about over-redactions and the law’s lapsed deadline. Trump signed the bill into law on Nov. 19, meaning the statutory deadline for all the files to be released was Dec. 19. The DOJ has said more files are forthcoming by the new year.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday there was “well-settled law” that supported the DOJ missing the bill’s deadline because of a need to meet other legal requirements, like redacting victim-identifying information.

Bill Mears contributed to this report.

Boca Raton, Florida’s Republican Mayor Scott Singer announced a run for Congress last week and spoke to Fox News Digital about his case to voters that Washington needs more local, common-sense leadership and fewer policies that he says have fueled inflation, weakened border security and slowed economic growth.

Singer announced his run against Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District with a launch video referencing New York City’s onerous taxes and referencing Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s “radical left policies” while contrasting the economic and tax landscape with Florida, where many New Yorkers have fled to in recent years.

“I love public service,” Singer told Fox News Digital. “It’s been the honor of my life to serve as mayor. We have an opportunity to keep America going in the right direction and reverse some of the policies from the past four years that led to porous borders, high taxes, higher inflation and have hurt our economy.”

Singer, who joins a race where several other Republicans have also declared, praised recent Republican-led efforts in Washington, including what he described as historic tax relief and policies aimed at boosting wages and lowering costs for working families.

DESANTIS BLASTS NYC’S ‘BALLISTIC PODIATRY’ AFTER ZOHRAN MAMDANI WINS MAYOR’S RACE AND FLORIDA EXPECTS EXODUS

“The Republican Party has become the party of the middle class,” he said, pointing to proposals to eliminate taxes on overtime and tips, strengthen domestic manufacturing and bring jobs back to the U.S. “These are the things that are helping the middle class, higher wages, lower inflation and lower costs.”

The mayor drew a sharp contrast with today’s Democratic Party, arguing it has moved too far to the left to deliver practical solutions.

“Unfortunately, the Democratic Party of today is not our parents’ Democratic Party,” Singer said. “With an increasingly out-of-touch, far-left progressive party, it’s hard for common-sense solutions to come out of that.”

Singer said his experience in local government has shown him what effective governance looks like — and what Washington is missing.

“At the local level, we’ve excelled because we have to,” Singer said. “We have balanced budgets. We can’t shut down the government. We have to pick up the trash every day and deliver essential services. And we do that by finding common ground.”

20% OF NYC MAYOR-ELECT MAMDANI TRANSITION APPOINTEES HAVE ANTI-ZIONIST TIES: ADL

That approach, Singer argued, is increasingly absent in Congress, where partisan gridlock often stalls progress.

He also voiced strong support for President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, particularly efforts to combat antisemitism on college campuses, reduce the size of government and roll back federal regulations.

“Our campuses have been unsafe for years,” Singer said. “President Trump has stood up to antisemitism by holding universities accountable. We need to codify those gains, not just rely on executive orders.”

Singer pledged he would also push to restore more authority to states and local governments, particularly on education and environmental policy, and continue efforts to rein in federal spending.

“Harmful regulation has killed jobs and increased costs,” he said. “We need long-term solutions that put power back in the hands of states and communities, not Washington bureaucrats.”

Singer told Fox News Digital one of his day one priorities if elected to Congress will be legislation to “ban individual stock trading by members,” which he called an “important” issue.

The Cook Political Report currently ranks the race as “Lean Democrat” as House Republicans will try to buck historical trends and hold their razor-thin majority in the House next November.

“What Americans want is a strong economy, a strong national defense and common-sense solutions,” Singer said. “That’s what I’ve delivered as mayor, and that’s what I want to bring to Congress.”

Earlier this year, shortly before Mamdani’s victory, Singer told Fox News Digital that the socialist candidate’s rise in New York City is likely to spark an exodus of businesses to Florida, a move he said he has already started to see in his conversations with business owners.

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“It’s hard to predict how bad the economic situation is going to be, but Mamdani doubled down at last week’s debate and said it’s about time we raised taxes, and he was grateful for it,” Singer said. “When he’s proposing a 17% marginal tax rate for New York City residents between state and local taxes, that’s 17% that they can simply give up by moving here and with jobs more mobile because of technology and with companies finding great office space here, there’s less and less reason for people to stay there.”

Singer continued, “I think one year out, you’re going to see a substantial exodus of companies that are able to move. Two years out, we’re going to see depressed values, more unemployment, higher crime. And four years out? We don’t know. I think at that point, they’ll be ready for a new mayor if what we expect to happen in November happens.”

President Donald Trump’s newly appointed envoy to Greenland said Tuesday the administration wants to open a dialogue with residents of the territory, stressing the U.S. is not seeking to “conquer” the island.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who was tapped as special envoy to Greenland by Trump on Sunday, said discussions must be had with Greenlanders to understand what they want moving forward.

“What are they looking for? What opportunities have they not gotten? Why haven’t they gotten the protection that they actually deserve?” Landry said.

Landry added that the U.S. “has always been a welcoming party,” and that the Trump administration is not going to “go in there trying to conquer anybody” or “take over anybody’s country.”

TRUMP MOVES GREENLAND MILITARY INSTALLATION UNDER US NORTHERN COMMAND IN ARCTIC POWER SHIFT

Landry’s comments came after Danish leaders sharply criticized Trump after he announced the appointment of the new special envoy to Greenland, a territory controlled by Denmark.

“We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a joint statement Monday. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday that Landry “understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

DENMARK PM SAYS ‘YOU CANNOT SPY AGAINST AN ALLY’ FOLLOWING REPORTS OF US SPYING ON GREENLAND

On Tuesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called Trump’s comments “completely unacceptable,” adding that he would summon the U.S. ambassador.

The Danish kingdom, he wrote on Facebook, is “sovereign and cannot accept that others question it.”

Trump has previously expressed ambitions for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, posting on Truth Social in December 2024 that “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for national security purposes.

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In another post from January 2025, Trump said Greenland is an “incredible place,” and its people will “benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” before declaring, “MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

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

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump went all black for their official Christmas portrait photo.

The White House on Tuesday released the image, showing the president dressed in a tuxedo with a white shirt and Melania Trump in a sleek black dress.

The photo was taken on Dec. 7 in the Cross Hall of the White House. The first lady selected the “Home is Where the Heart Is” theme for the White House Christmas decor.

MELANIA TRUMP GIVES TOUR OF 2018 WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS DECOR

The halls of the White House are decked with more than 25,000 feet of ribbon; more than 2,000 strands of light; more than 120 pounds of gingerbread; more than 2,800 gold stars; more than 10,000 blue butterflies; and more than 700 feet of garland.

The White House has 51 Christmas trees and 75 of Trump’s signature Christmas wreaths. The wreaths have classic red bows and hang outside the windows of the White House.

WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS CHRISTMAS DECOR WITH ‘SPIRIT OF AMERICA’ THEME

“This season also invites us to reflect on the blessings we share,” the White House Christmas message states. “For nearly 250 years, our Nation has grown through the hopes and hard work of families who believed in something greater than themselves. Their example inspires us today, especially at Christmas, when we gather with loved ones to celebrate the faith, family, and freedom that define our national story.”

The White House reopened its doors for public Christmas tours on Dec. 2, Fox News Digital reported.

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The tours feature the White House Christmas decorations on the state floor and give visitors the opportunity to “enjoy the beloved annual tradition that transforms the White House into a festive reflection of the spirit, warmth, faith, and hope of the holiday season.”

A potential veto of Chicago’s 2026 budget by Mayor Brandon Johnson could trigger the Windy City’s first-ever municipal shutdown.

Johnson reportedly rebuked the budget passed by council over the weekend, which lacks the mayor’s favored per-employee “head tax” on corporations, as “morally bankrupt.”

If Johnson were to veto the budget, it would place the onus back on city council to rehash a plan that could get signed before Dec. 30 – or plunge the city into shutdown.

RECORDS REVEAL CHICAGO MAYOR’S ‘GIFT ROOM’ WAS CONSTRUCTED AFTER INVESTIGATORS TURNED AWAY

City Council lacks any Republican representation – with a Democratic majority of 48 plus two independents, so the situation represents a clash within factions of the left.

One such Democratic critic was Alderman Gilbert Villegas of Belmont-Cragin on the city’s northwest side. Villegas, a noted ally of ex-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, tweeted that he will “work hard to see if we can get 38-40 votes to override the veto” – noting that it originally passed 30-18.

Chicago faces a projected $1.2 billion shortfall for 2026. Johnson has argued that policies under the Trump administration favor corporations over working-class families and that businesses should “put more skin in the game.”

HOW TRUMP CAN TURN THE TABLES ON THE LEFT WITH A RADICAL TAX PLAN

But not all Democrats in Illinois agree. Gov. JB Pritzker has criticized the proposed $33-per-worker, per-month head tax, warning it would “penalize the very thing that we want, which is more employment.”

Johnson also rebuked the Washington Post for its scathing editorial entitled, “Chicago Has Lost Its Mind,” which argued the head tax and other pressures on businesses will stifle economic growth.

Johnson quipped that the paper “wouldn’t be the first time a publication got something I’ve done wrong.”

CHICAGO MAYOR CREATES ‘ICE-FREE ZONES’ TO BLOCK FEDERAL AGENTS FROM CITY PROPERTY

Items in the council’s budget include legalized video-gambling machines at eateries and Chicago-Midway Airport, raising the shopping-bag tax and a nationally unique proposal to tax social media companies – levying $0.50-per active Chicago user beyond 100,000 users that a platform has – with an expected windfall of $31 million, if approved.

While a shutdown would be a novel development, late-year budget vetoes in Chicago are not.

Popular 1980s Democratic Mayor Harold Washington vetoed several budgets in that decade, which often led to successful last-minute negotiations.

Washington, the city’s first Black mayor, vetoed four budgets during his four-and-a-half-year tenure, which ended abruptly when he unexpectedly died in office after his 1987 re-election at age 65.

A top Johnson ally, Alderman Pat Dowell of the South Side, is leading the pro-budget coalition, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. She said the council’s proposal is “not perfect but is a good budget and one we can work with.”

Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, a progressive from the West Side, meanwhile voiced support for Johnson’s head-tax proposal and slammed council’s oppositional plan as an “immoral, bankrupt, ‘Michael Sacks’ budget.”

Sacks, a billionaire financier who runs asset manager GCM Grosvenor, is an ally of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and donated directly to several aldermen’s campaigns before the budget fight, according to WGN.

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Alderman Bill Conway III, a former military intel officer who represents “The Loop” in the heart of downtown, defended Sacks, telling WGN, “Michael is someone who cares about the future of the city, and he tries to work with those who are like-minded.”

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

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker over new laws that aim to protect migrants from arrest at key locations, including courthouses, hospitals and day cares.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday, arguing that the new protective measures prohibiting immigration agents from detaining migrants going about daily business at specific locations are unconstitutional and “threaten the safety of federal officers,” the DOJ said in a statement.

The governor signed laws earlier this month that ban civil arrests at and around courthouses across the state. The measures also require hospitals, day care centers and public universities to have procedures in place for addressing civil immigration operations and protecting personal information.

The laws, which took effect immediately, also provide legal steps for people whose constitutional rights were violated during the federal immigration raids in the Chicago area, including $10,000 in damages for a person unlawfully arrested while attempting to attend a court proceeding.

PRITZKER SIGNS BILL TO FURTHER SHIELD ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN ILLINOIS FROM DEPORTATIONS

Pritzker, a Democrat, has led the fight against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Illinois, particularly over the indiscriminate and sometimes violent nature in which they are detained.

But the governor’s office reaffirmed that he is not against arresting illegal migrants who commit violent crimes.

“However, the Trump administration’s masked agents are not targeting the ‘worst of the worst’ — they are harassing and detaining law-abiding U.S. citizens and Black and brown people at daycares, hospitals and courthouses,” spokesperson Jillian Kaehler said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the federal government reversed a Biden administration policy prohibiting immigration arrests in sensitive locations such as hospitals, schools and churches.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which began in September in the Chicago area but appears to have since largely wound down for now, led to more than 4,000 arrests. But data on people arrested from early September through mid-October showed only 15% had criminal records, with the vast majority of offenses being traffic violations, misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies.

Immigration and legal advocates have praised the new laws protecting migrants in Illinois, saying many immigrants were avoiding courthouses, hospitals and schools out of fear of arrest amid the president’s mass deportation agenda.

The laws are “a brave choice” in opposing ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

“Our collective resistance to ICE and CBP’s violent attacks on our communities goes beyond community-led rapid response — it includes legislative solutions as well,” he said.

The DOJ claims Pritzker and state Attorney General Kwame Raoul, also a Democrat, violated the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal law is the “supreme Law of the Land.”

ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS PASS BILL BANNING ICE IMMIGRATION ARRESTS NEAR COURTHOUSES

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Raoul and his staff are reviewing the DOJ’s complaint.

“This new law reflects our belief that no one is above the law, regardless of their position or authority,” Pritzker’s office said. “Unlike the Trump administration, Illinois is protecting constitutional rights in our state.”

The lawsuit is part of an initiative by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to block state and local laws the DOJ argues impede federal immigration operations, as other states have also made efforts to protect migrants against federal raids at sensitive locations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to allow the president to proceed with immediately deploying National Guard troops to Chicago — delivering a blow, if temporary, to President Donald Trump as he seeks to expand his federalization push across the U.S.

The justices declined the Trump administration’s emergency request to overturn a ruling by U.S. District Judge April Perry that had blocked the deployment of troops. An appeals court also had refused to step in. The Supreme Court took more than two months to act.

“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the high court majority wrote.

Three justices, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, publicly dissented. The outcome is a rare Supreme Court setback for Trump, who had won repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office again in January. 

‘UNTETHERED FROM REALITY’: LAWYERS FOR TRUMP, OREGON, SPAR OVER NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT IN COURT CLASH

The White House told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration plans to keep working “day in and day out to safeguard the American public.”

“The President promised the American people he would work tirelessly to enforce our immigration laws and protect federal personnel from violent rioters. He activated the National Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers, and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda.”

In a statement, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul praised the court’s decision. 

“Nearly 250 years ago, the framers of our nation’s Constitution carefully divided responsibility over the country’s militia, today’s U.S. National Guard, between the federal government and the states – believing it impossible that a president would use one state’s militia against another state,” he said. “The extremely limited circumstances under which the federal government can call up the militia over a state’s objection do not exist in Illinois, and I am pleased that the streets of Illinois will remain free of armed National Guard members as our litigation continues in the courts.”

The update comes after the Trump administration asked the high court last week to stay a lower court order blocking Trump from immediately deploying federalized National Guard troops to Chicago.

“This decision reinforces that domestic deployment of troops is rare and exceptional, and it was absolutely unjustified in Illinois,” said Hina Shamsi, director of ACLU’s National Security Project. “With each court decision against the President’s domestic troop deployments, it becomes clearer that his version of American cities as hellscapes, and protest against his policies as requiring troops, is plain false. We’re glad that the Supreme Court has upheld the order blocking this blatant abuse of presidential power because there’s no reason for any troops policing civilians in our streets.”

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued in the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court that a federal judge’s earlier order, as well as the partial stay granted by a unanimous 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, “improperly impinges on the president’s authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property.”

Blocking the deployment of National Guard troops, Sauer argued, risks “jeopardizing the lives and safety of DHS officers,” and prevents officials from taking what he argued are “reasonable and lawful measures” to protect federal agents from the “violent resistance” that they argue has persisted in Chicago. 

Lawyers for Illinois and Chicago disputed that contention, however.

‘UNTETHERED FROM REALITY’: LAWYERS FOR TRUMP, OREGON, SPAR OVER NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT IN COURT CLASH

They argued in their Supreme Court filing that the Trump administration’s arguments “rest on mischaracterizations of the factual record or the lower courts’ views of the legal principles.” 

They also cited the lower court judge’s order, which found the administration’s declarations about the nature of the protests in Chicago and nearby Broadview were “unreliable” and overstated the violence and difficulties officers faced enforcing the law.

“As the district court found, state and local law enforcement officers have handled isolated protest activities in Illinois, and there is no credible evidence to the contrary,” lawyers for the state of Illinois said Monday.

The update comes as Trump has sought to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to a growing list of Democratic-led cities, despite stated opposition from local and state leaders.

He has faced opposition from a handful of federal courts, including U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, who described Trump’s actions in a restraining order this month as “untethered to reality,” and failing to reflect the situation on the ground.

A three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit later stayed her order, allowing Trump to proceed with his deployment to Portland.

TRUMP IS THREATENING TO ‘FEDERALIZE’ DC WITH NATIONAL GUARD AND MORE. HERE’S HOW THAT COULD PLAY OUT

In D.C., a federal judge on Friday will hear updates on the status of Trump’s National Guard deployments in the nation’s capital, after the city’s attorney general said in a new court filing that it appears the National Guard troops will remain deployed through at least summer 2026.

It is unclear whether that is the Trump administration’s plan — and if so, how many of the 2,500 National Guard troops originally sent to D.C. in August would remain through that date.

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The fight comes as Trump officials argue that the deployments are a necessary step to crack down on what they have said is an uptick in violent crime and protect against threats from protesters, including anti-ICE demonstrations.

Democrats, meanwhile, argue that Trump has failed to satisfy the criteria needed to federalize National Guard troops under USC § 12406, which allows a president to do so in cases of a foreign invasion, if there is “danger of a rebellion” or in cases when regular officers are unable to enforce the law.

They have also argued that Trump’s characterizations are hyperbolic and merely a pretext to “federalize” Democratic-led cities and states. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A Department of Justice opinion published Monday reversed a Biden administration directive that allowed Veterans Affairs to provide taxpayer-funded abortions, concluding that federal law bans the VA from offering abortion services in most circumstances.

The DOJ Office of Legal Counsel said in the opinion that a rule the Biden administration issued in 2022, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision, flouted the law. 

OLC Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock wrote that while the secretary of Veterans Affairs has wide latitude over what types of medical services it offers to the millions of veterans under its purview, “that discretion is not limitless.” The Veterans Health Care Act “makes clear” that the VA is restricted to providing abortion services only when a pregnancy carries certain types of risks, Craddock wrote.

WHITE HOUSE WARNS VETERANS’ SERVICES AT RISK IF DEMS BLOCK GOP FUNDING BILL

“That language is unambiguous,” Craddock said. A footnote noted that the only exceptions consistent with the law were abortions for “life-threatening circumstances, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.”

Asked about whether the VA was providing abortions, press secretary Peter Kasperowicz told Fox News Digital it was not, attributing the halt to the DOJ’s new interpretation of the law.

“The DOJ’s opinion states that VA is not legally authorized to provide abortions, and VA is complying with it immediately,” Kasperowicz said, noting that the DOJ’s opinion was consistent with a new Trump administration rule proposal that was still going through the regulatory process.

That Trump administration’s rule also suggested that the Biden administration had oversold the need for an abortion policy change. The prior administration had predicted the agency would need to provide some 1,000 abortions per year in the wake of post-Dobbs restrictions on abortions in various states. However, the VA has since 2022 been providing roughly 140 per year, the administration said.

The VA, led by Secretary Doug Collins, operates dozens of medical centers throughout the country and offers lifelong health services to about 9 million veterans and other eligible beneficiaries.

The DOJ OLC advises the executive branch on the legality of its policies, and the administration views the OLC’s opinions as binding interpretations of the law.

NEARLY 37,000 VA EMPLOYEES FURLOUGHED OR WORKING WITHOUT PAY AMID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

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The progressive group Democracy Forward blasted the VA for shifting its policy, noting it was “fueled by” OLC’s opinion and did not include an exception for rape.

“Denying veterans essential health care and abortion access – even in cases of rape or serious health risk – after they have sacrificed so much for our country is callous and inhumane,” Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said, adding that veterans should have the “freedom to make their own health care decisions.”

A Christmastime U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation named Operation “Angel’s Honor” in tribute to murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley netted over 1,000 criminal illegal aliens, according to the agency.

In a Monday statement, ICE announced the “successful conclusion” of a 14-day enforcement operation that it said resulted in over 1,030 criminal illegal aliens arrested under the Laken Riley Act.

The agency said the operation was codenamed “Angel’s Honor” in memory of Riley, who was murdered by Venezuelan illegal alien Jose Ibarra in 2024. Congress passed the Laken Riley Act with bipartisan support in January, and the measure was signed into law by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office.

The law stipulates mandatory detention of non-citizens charged with specific crimes, including burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault on a law enforcement officer, or any crime causing serious bodily injury or death.

DHS ARRESTS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ILLEGAL MIGRANTS, INCLUDING MURDERERS AND PEDOPHILES, IN WEEKEND OPERATION

In the Monday statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that Trump “empowered us to arrest and remove the millions of violent criminal illegal aliens unleashed on the United States by the previous administration.”

“Now, these criminals will face justice and be removed from our country,” said Noem.

“We can never bring Laken back, but we can do everything in our power to bring these heinous criminals to justice,” she went on, adding, “I am so proud of what our brave men and women of ICE have done to remove these criminals from America’s streets.”

ICE highlighted some of the criminal illegals arrested during the operation, which included individuals who raped and tortured children.

DHS PACKAGES LATEST ICE ARRESTS AS ‘CHRISTMAS GIFT TO AMERICANS’ 

Among those arrested was Jamie Escobar-Mirales, a 37-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, who ICE said was arrested on Dec. 18. According to the agency, his criminal history includes an arrest for two counts of rape of a child. He is now facing removal proceedings. 

A different illegal immigrant from Mexico named Javier Diaz-Cabrera, 40, was arrested on Dec. 18. He has a criminal history that includes an arrest for illegal sexual contact with a victim under the age of 13 and sexual assault with a victim under 18 by a guardian.

Evelyn Martinez-Rodriguez, a 36-year-old from Honduras, was arrested on Dec. 9. ICE said her criminal history includes arrests for assault-torture/willful abuse of a child, domestic violence assault, assault and public order crimes.

Another illegal, Fredy Garcia-Canan, a 34-year-old from Guatemala, was arrested on Dec. 19. He has an outstanding removal order from 2024 and has a criminal history including an arrest for intentional bodily harm with a deadly weapon, criminal discharge of a firearm and aggravated endangering to a child. Guatemalan illegal Brandon Barrientos-Garcia, 28, was also arrested on Dec. 19. His criminal history includes an arrest for assault by strangulation, breaking/entering to terrorize/injure and domestic violence assault, per ICE.

DHS TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER ARRESTING OVER 10K ILLEGAL ALIENS IN DEEP BLUE CITY DESPITE VIOLENT RIOTS

Fernando Manzanares-Cruz, a 40-year-old from El Salvador, was arrested on Dec. 16 and had a removal order from 2016. His criminal history includes arrests for assault and battery of a pregnant victim, assault and battery of a family/household member and witness intimidation.

Even further back, ICE arrested Mexican illegal Braulio Rosas-Ayala, 44, who was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 1999. Rosas-Ayala’s criminal history includes an arrest for rape and sodomy.

Commenting on the roundup, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said, “We named this operation ‘Angel’s Honor’ in honor of the memory of Laken Riley, whose life was tragically cut short by illegal alien crime.”

GOP GOVERNOR LAYS OUT PLAN TO ‘PURGE’ TERRORISTS AND TERROR SUPPORTERS FROM STATE

“This operation, while a massive success, also serves as a solemn reminder of the profound impact that immigrant violence and crime can have on victims and their loved ones,” said Lyons.

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“ICE’s mission,” said Lyons, “is to ensure that no more Americans will fall victim to illegal alien crime.” 

The recently launched “GenAI” tool for U.S. service members and Department of War workers is a “critical first step” in the future of warfare, according to a military expert.

This month, the Pentagon announced the launch of GenAI.mil, a military-focused AI platform powered by Google Gemini. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the platform is designed to give U.S. military personnel direct access to AI tools to help “revolutioniz[e] the way we win.”

On Monday, the Department of War also announced that the Pentagon is further integrating Elon Musk’s xAI Grok family of models into the GenAI platform, allowing employees to use xAI safely on secure government systems for routine work, including tasks involving sensitive but unclassified information.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Emelia Probasco, a Navy veteran, former Pentagon official and senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, explained that the tool will help train Department of War service members and civilians on the use of artificial intelligence in their everyday workflow, preparing them for further integration of AI in military matters.

WAR DEPARTMENT REFOCUSES ON AI, HYPERSONICS AND DIRECTED ENERGY IN MAJOR STRATEGY OVERHAUL

Probasco said the tool will have a “big impact” on the everyday functioning of the Department of War.

“Prior to the rollout of this new website and having Gemini 3 available to the force, folks were either using sort of a tool that wasn’t as capable … or even worse, they were sort of going to their home computers and trying to do various things on their home computers, which they’re not supposed to do, but it was probably happening,” Probasco explained. “Now they’ve got a more secure environment where they can experiment with these tools and really start to learn what they’re good for and what they’re not good for.”

While Probasco said she does not believe the tools, such as the GenAI platform, “fully changes war,” she thinks “it’s the critical first step in training so that we know how to use it well.”

She said that the Department of War has “made it very clear in the past year that they want to forge ahead and be innovative and try new things and adopt AI.”

The GenAI tool, Probasco said, gives the department a type of sandbox to experiment with for still bigger innovations to come.

FOX NEWS AI NEWSLETTER: HEGSETH MOVES TO REVOLUTIONIZE AMERICAN WARFIGHTING

“There are responsible people in the department who are trying to figure out what is the best use of this tool. Let’s try lots of experiments in sort of sandboxes or in safe places so that when a conflict comes, we are ready and ahead, frankly, of any adversary who has started to play with the tools,” she explained.

Probasco said the Department of War understands that adversaries such as China are also developing and experimenting with artificial intelligence. Indeed, this month, President Donald Trump announced he would be partially reversing a Biden-era restriction on high-end chip exports, permitting Nvidia to export its artificial-intelligence chips to China and other countries.

The H200 chips are high-performance processors made by Nvidia that help run artificial intelligence programs, like chatbots, machine learning and data-center tasks. 

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill voiced that they are split over the decision, with some seeing the move as a dangerous concession and others as strategic.

HEGSETH TO HIGHLIGHT REBUILDING THE ‘ARSENAL OF FREEDOM’ IN SPEECH AT REAGAN NATIONAL DEFENSE FORUM

Either way, Probasco said “we have lots of evidence” that China “is doing rapid experimentation [with AI] across all domains of warfare.”

“And it’s not, can I use a chatbot, but rather, ‘Can I gather up lots of information to start to target individuals for espionage?’ For example, [and], ‘Can I use data to create more sophisticated cyber-attacks?’” she explained.

“There is this sort of dynamic of a race between the two sides trying to figure out how to adopt it,” she explained.

Though important, Probasco said the GenAI tool is “not going to necessarily be the weapon system that gains [the U.S.] an advantage.”

KYRSTEN SINEMA WARNS US ADVERSARY WILL PROGRAM AI WITH ‘CHINESE VALUES’ IF AMERICA FALLS BEHIND IN TECH RACE

She assured the AI tool that will truly give the U.S. a military advantage “is underway,” but said “that’s not the sort of thing you just roll out for every service member to use.”

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“It’s important to remember that using a chatbot to help you think through certain problems or do talking points is not what’s going to win the war. There are much more sophisticated military systems that use generative AI; they use other kinds of what’s called ‘good old-fashioned AI.’ There are lots of other techniques that militaries need to use,” she said.

“Those are already in the works, and they’ve been in the works for years,” Probasco explained, adding, “That’s not going to be rolled out in a big public announcement where everybody can play with it.”

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…

–Trump official freezes millions in SBA aid to Minnesota, slams Walz’s policies as breeding ‘endemic’ fraud

–Epstein file drop includes ‘untrue and sensationalist claims’ about Trump, DOJ says

-House GOP tensions erupt after moderate Republicans’ Obamacare ‘betrayal’

Boasberg says Trump must provide due process to CECOT migrants in US or elsewhere

A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to provide due process to a class of Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador in March, and gave it two weeks to detail how it will do so – setting up another high-stakes clash between the White House and the federal courts.

In March, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to halt its plans to immediately use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act wartime immigration law to quickly deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a Salvadoran maximum-security prison. That did not happen, and the planes landed in El Salvador hours later. 

Boasberg concluded that the Trump administration’s actions were illegal, conducted in defiance of the court, and deprived the migrants in the CECOT class of their due process protections – including prior notice of removal, a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal from the U.S., and the ability to dispute their designation as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang…READ MORE.
 

White House

THE FINE PRINT: Trump promises cheaper drugs under TrumpRx, but economists say the long-term costs may be hidden

PAY UP: Trump admin to revive student loan wage garnishments in January 2026 following COVID pause

HOLIDAY ELEGANCE: Trump and first lady go all black for official White House Christmas portrait photo

LEGAL LIMITS: WATCH: Ex-federal prosecutor says DOJ had power to release all Epstein files

World Stage

FAIR COMPETITION: Trump trade crackdown hits cheap food containers from China, Vietnam with massive new duties

Capitol Hill

WASTE WATCH: Rand Paul’s ‘Festivus’ report calls out cocaine dogs, COVID influencers and a mountain of debt

CAPITOL PRESSURE: Senate quietly works on bipartisan Obamacare fix as healthcare cliff nears

FISH VS FLIPPER: Apex predator threatening Northwest salmon sparks rare bipartisan push to ‘kill more’

DOMINOS FALLING: Lawmakers probe SBA loans linked to Minnesota’s $9B fraud scandal: ‘Reckless decision making’

Across America 

SUNSHINE STATE RACE: Boca Raton mayor launches run for Congress touting GOP as ‘party of the middle class’

TERMINAL PROGNOSIS: Former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse reveals stage-4 cancer diagnosis: ‘It’s a death sentence’

BALLOT BATTLE: Republicans have chance to secure governorships in key battleground states next year

PARTY FRACTURE: Cornyn torches Democratic field, says party now ‘ruled by socialists’

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

As the year closes, Republicans are looking to the past for another dance with a partisan exercise that tested the party’s unity and delivered President Donald Trump his crowning legislative achievement of the year.

Budget reconciliation is how congressional Republicans rammed through Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” earlier this year. But it’s a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that laid bare intra-party divisions and nearly exploded before liftoff.

Still, some Republicans want to take another stab at reconciliation, which allows a party in power to advance legislation with just a simple majority in the Senate as long as it adheres to strict, budgetary parameters.

SENATE QUIETLY WORKS ON BIPARTISAN OBAMACARE FIX AS HEALTHCARE CLIFF NEARS

“We can do two more reconciliation bills without a single Democratic vote,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. “Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t welcome Democratic votes, but we can do them without a single Democratic vote.”

Turning once again to reconciliation would help Senate Republicans, in particular, address one of Trump’s desires to kill the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the upper chamber without changing the precedent that Democrats, for years, have threatened to do.

But they need a plan, first.

That would come from Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the de facto maestro of the reconciliation process. His committee was responsible for drafting the budget resolution that unlocked the process in the upper chamber earlier this year, and he is reportedly eying drafting another resolution in the new year.

SEN MURPHY WARNS ‘PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE’ AS CONGRESS PUNTS ON EXPIRING OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES

“It would be political malpractice not to do another reconciliation,” Graham told Semafor.

But many Republicans acknowledged just how difficult reconciliation is, especially after the latest exercise that dominated much of Congress’ attention for the first half of the year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital that “it’s always hard, but it’s an option, and one that we’re not ruling in or ruling out.”

“I would say you have to have a reason to do it, you know,” Thune said. “I mean, you don’t just do reconciliation for the heck of it. You got to have a, you know, a specific purpose. And so we’ll see. I mean, that purpose may, you know, may start getting some traction.”

TRUMP’S PUSH TO ‘KNOCK OUT’ FILIBUSTER GAINS NEW GOP TRACTION AS FUNDING DEADLINE NEARS

Kennedy floated using reconciliation to tackle affordability issues, but some see the painstaking process as an avenue to grapple with another issue that has dominated Congress for several months: healthcare.

Lawmakers left Washington, D.C., without a fix to expiring Obamacare subsidies, effectively setting up a drastic hike in out-of-pocket healthcare costs for millions of Americans. There are bipartisan negotiations in the works to deal with the issue when lawmakers return, but Republicans have a gnawing appetite to drastically change the program.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital that Republicans “have to do something” on healthcare.

“Reconciliation is one pathway to do something, but it also limits what we can do,” Banks said. “So we need bipartisan support to pass something that will help everybody.”

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And Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., who has been critical of Republicans’ inability to get a healthcare solution across the line, told Fox News Digital that reconciliation “may be an answer.”

“The healthcare situation is really, it’s a big deal,” Justice said. “It’s more than difficult, you know? And so we need to, we need to try to fix it. That’s for sure.”

The Department of Education will begin garnishing wages of those with defaulted federal student loans starting in January. 

The Trump administration announced in May that it would resume collections on defaulted federal student loans — including wage garnishments and seizure of Social Security benefits — for the first time since 2020. In March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government paused referring federal student loans to collections. 

Now, the Trump administration has said that it will introduce garnishing wages in early January after providing student and parent borrowers ample heads up to repay their debts. Garnishing wages means that the U.S. government is authorized to order employers to withhold up to 15% of their employees’ wages after taxes, which would contribute toward paying off their student loans. 

“We expect the first notices to be sent to approximately 1,000 defaulted borrowers the week of January 7, and the notices will increase in scale on a month-to-month basis,” a Department of Education spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “All (Federal Student Aid) collections activities are required under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 and conducted only after student and parent borrowers have been provided sufficient notice and opportunity to repay their loans.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RELEASES OVER $6B IN FROZEN EDUCATION FUNDS TO THE STATES

Meanwhile, Democrats have sought to stop the Trump administration from garnishing wages for student loan borrowers. After the Trump administration announced in May it would resume collections, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced legislation that would suspend the Department of Education’s ability to garnish wages, tax refunds, Social Security checks and other benefits. 

TRUMP STILL NEEDS CONGRESS’ HELP WITH PLAN TO ABOLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

“No one should have their hard-earned wages, tax refunds, and Social Security checks seized by Donald Trump—and our bill would ensure they do not,” Pressley said in a statement in May. “The Trump Administration should not be in the business of picking the pockets of our most vulnerable borrowers, gutting the Department of Education or exacerbating the student debt crisis.”

In May, the Trump administration said that approximately 43 million student borrowers had federal student loan debt, which translated to an outstanding federal student loan balance of $1.6 trillion.

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Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has sought to overhaul and eliminate the Department of Education and shift its functions to other agencies. Should Trump successfully dissolve the Department of Education, he’s indicated that an agency such as the Department of the Treasury could oversee student loans instead. 

Fox News’ Patrick Ward contributed to this report. 

As President Donald Trump rolls out his TrumpRx proposal to cut prescription drug prices, economists are raising questions about what happens when prices are capped and whether short-term savings for consumers come at the expense of future medical breakthroughs.

On Friday, Trump announced deals with nine pharmaceutical companies to lower prices on certain medications for Americans, along with $150 billion in promised new investments in domestic manufacturing and pharmaceutical research.

The announcement builds on the administration’s Trump Rx initiative, a government-run portal designed to steer consumers toward lower-cost prescription drugs offered directly by manufacturers. The program is central to Trump’s effort to tie U.S. drug prices to those paid in other wealthy countries, a policy known as “most favored nation” pricing.

But economists caution that price-lowering agreements don’t eliminate costs and often shift them elsewhere, particularly into reduced drug development, delayed innovation, or higher prices in other parts of the market.

TRUMP SECURES AGREEMENTS WITH MAJOR DRUGMAKERS TO LOWER MEDICAID PRESCRIPTION COSTS FOR AMERICANS

Michael Baker, director of healthcare policy at the American Action Forum, said government price setting shifts costs rather than eliminating them.

“At the most basic level, government price setting only limits what patients pay for a drug — usually reflected in an out-of-pocket or co-insurance payment,” Baker said. “This does nothing to address the overall cost of the drug, which someone still has to pay, nor does it lower the cost associated with development.”

As a result, Baker said, patients ultimately bear those costs through tighter coverage rules, fewer treatment options or reduced future innovation.

“Patients will experience far less of the crown jewel of the U.S. healthcare system that they are currently accustomed to receiving,” he added.

Economists say the effects of permanent price caps would also be felt upstream, in research and development.

“We know for sure that if drug prices are capped permanently below the levels the firm would have set, that will lead to lower incentives for R&D to discover new drugs and bring them to market,” explained Mark V. Pauly, professor of healthcare management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

EXPERTS SAY MEDICAID CHANGES IN ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ ARE ‘COMMON SENSE’ FOR HEALTHCARE POLICY

Pauly added that the impact is expected to be negative, but its scale — including how many drugs might never be developed and their potential value — remains highly uncertain.

“I do not know the answer, but I know for sure no one else does either,” he added.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SOUND ALARM ON HEALTHCARE COSTS

Others argue the administration’s approach avoids the most damaging forms of price control.

Ed Haislmaier, an expert in healthcare policy and markets at The Heritage Foundation, said recent agreements appear to involve companies trading lower prices for benefits such as expanded market access or relief from other costs, including tariffs.

“In such cases, companies are likely calculating that revenue losses from lower prices will be offset by revenue gains from more sales,” Haislmaier told Fox News Digital.

“The kind of government price controls that are most damaging to innovation are ones that limit the initial price a company can charge for a new product. That is the situation in some countries, but fortunately not yet the in the United States,” he added.

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Ryan Long, Paragon’s director of congressional relations and a senior research fellow, suggested that pricing pressure abroad could force foreign governments to shoulder a greater share of drug development costs.

Long said this strategy would lead “to lower prices for American consumers without sacrificing U.S. leadership in biopharmaceutical innovation that leads to new treatments and cures.”