NationalWatch

The Trump administration on Thursday directed federal agencies to give greater consideration to religious liberty when writing regulations, enforcing federal law and accommodating employees’ religious beliefs, marking the first major update to Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance on the issue since 2017.

The updated guidance instructs executive agencies to ensure their policies comply with the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and recent Supreme Court decisions that have expanded protections for religious exercise.

The DOJ, led by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, said the guidance reflects nearly a decade of new Supreme Court precedent and is intended to ensure federal agencies protect religious Americans in areas including employment, federal contracting, grants, rulemaking and enforcement actions.

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Among the changes, the department said agencies should consider religious-liberty concerns earlier when developing regulations, accommodate religious expression in the federal workplace when required by law, and ensure religious organizations can compete for federal grants and contracts on equal footing with secular organizations.

The guidance also reaffirms constitutional protections for churches to govern their own internal affairs and highlights recent Supreme Court rulings recognizing parents’ rights to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

“The updated guidance will ensure that the federal government will respect the religious liberty rights of all Americans when implementing the President’s policies,” Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel of First Liberty Institute, said in a statement.

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Shackelford thanked President Donald Trump “for his strong efforts to protect America’s first freedom—religious freedom.”

First Liberty said the guidance references two Supreme Court victories involving the organization. One was Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a public high school football coach’s postgame prayer was protected by the First Amendment.

The other was Groff v. DeJoy, which held that employers generally must provide religious accommodations unless doing so would impose substantial hardship.

According to the DOJ, the Office of Legal Policy will continue working with federal agencies to review proposed regulations and other government actions for compliance with federal religious-liberty protections.

The updated memorandum replaces guidance issued during Trump’s first administration in 2017 and incorporates Supreme Court decisions issued since then that the department says have clarified and strengthened constitutional and statutory protections for religious exercise.

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A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment on the practical impact of the updated guidance.

Disapproval of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran hit a record high in July, as a majority of voters oppose U.S. military action, and nearly two thirds think the conflict will last at least a year.

The latest Fox News survey finds 56% oppose U.S. military action against Iran, including 40% who “strongly” oppose. More Democrats oppose the war (84%) than Republicans support it (76%).

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Voters increasingly expect a long-term commitment. Today, 64% think the war will last a year or more, up 13 percentage points since May. Expectations vary sharply depending on attitudes toward the Iran war. Among supporters, 56% think it will be over in weeks or months, while 80% of opponents expect it to last at least a year.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS WANT MAJOR CHANGE AMID ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DISCONTENT

There is also doubt the conflict will produce an agreement. About half think the U.S. will not reach a deal with Iran, while the rest split between expecting a good deal (27%) and a bad one (25%).

Roughly half of Democrats, Republicans, and independents predict there will be no agreement with the Islamic Republic. Among those anticipating a deal, Democrats are 20 points more likely to expect a bad one, while Republicans are 27 points more likely to expect a good one.

Just 34% of voters approve of Trump’s handling of Iran, while 66% disapprove, his worst marks to date.

Trump’s overall standing remains steady, but underwater. Thirty-nine percent approve of his job performance, unchanged for the past three months. Sixty-one percent disapprove, tying a previous high. That includes 49% who “strongly” disapprove, matching a record high.

For historical context, Trump’s best rating, 49% approve and 49% disapprove, came in April 2020. His current 39% approval is close to former President Joe Biden’s 40% (July 2022) and former President Barack Obama’s 42% (July 2014), during the summer of a midterm election year.

Trump continues to receive some of his strongest support from MAGA Republicans (97% approve) and conservatives (72%). But compared to June, his approval has declined to a near record low among rural voters (down 7 points to 44%) and an all-time low among White voters (down 3 points to 41%).

Yet the largest change comes among non-MAGA Republicans. Their support has fallen 13 points since last month to 51% approval, after hitting 70% at the beginning of Trump’s second term.

Trump’s ratings are also underwater on the economy (33% approve, 67% disapprove) and inflation (27-73%).

Republicans lose advantage on immigration

Voters are now divided over which party can better handle immigration: 50% say the Democrats and 49% the Republicans, a meaningful shift since April, when the GOP held an 8-point advantage. Women and voters under age 45 prefer the Democrats on immigration, while men and those ages 45 and older favor the Republicans.

“During the Biden administration years, immigration attitudes were often defined by border security considerations,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who works on the Fox News Poll with Democratic counterpart Chris Anderson. “Today, immigration enforcement and ICE often dominate, eroding the GOP’s edge on the issue.”

Immigration remains Trump’s best performing issue in the survey, but his rating is still negative: 42% approve, while 57% disapprove.

Views of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) follow a similar pattern. ICE approval stands at 41%, unchanged since early this year but down from 49% last September.

Majorities of Democrats (90%) and independents (68%) disapprove of ICE, while most Republicans approve (79%). Fully 78% of Democrats, and 50% of independents “strongly” disapprove, compared with 53% of Republicans who “strongly” approve.

Few voters support allowing all illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. Just 7% take that position, including 11% of Democrats, 5% of independents, and 2% of Republicans.

Instead, 62% favor deporting those who have been charged with crimes while allowing others to stay and eventually qualify for citizenship. That position draws majority support from every demographic group except Republicans (39%), conservatives (41%), and White evangelical Christians (48%).

Thirty-one percent favor deporting all illegal immigrants, with support highest among MAGA Republicans at 68%.

When asked about their concerns about illegal immigration, voters are most worried about the strain on government services (39%). Smaller shares cite crime (19%), job losses for U.S. citizens (14%), changes to the country’s culture (13%), and terrorism (10%).

Overburdened government programs rank as the top concern across demographic groups. College graduates, those living in high income households, suburban voters and independents are among those most likely to cite it.

The immigration findings also reveal a consistent divide within the Republican Party. ICE approval is 91% among MAGA Republicans compared with 59% among other Republicans, one of the widest gaps in the survey.

A similar split appears in ratings of Trump’s handling of immigration, with 91% of MAGA Republicans approving compared with 63% of other Republicans. MAGA Republicans are also nearly 30 points more likely to favor deporting all illegal immigrants (68% vs. 41%).

Conducted July 17–20, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,003 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (70) and cellphones (681) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (252). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. The survey includes an oversample of 200 voters aged 18–29, bringing the sample size for that subgroup to 350 (±5). Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling errors, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

Former special counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained and reviewed the contents of text messages exchanged between Trump White House officials and 44 current and former members of Congress, according to Justice Department records released by two Republican-led Senate committees.

The messages were contained in White House records subpoenaed from the National Archives covering Oct. 1, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021. The Justice Department said Smith’s investigative team “apparently bypassed” a filter team established to screen potentially privileged material before investigators accessed it.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday issued a criminal referral for Smith, arguing that he misled Congress when he stated that he did not obtain or review lawmakers’ text messages while carrying out his probes into President Donald Trump. The referral functions as an invitation for the Justice Department to launch an investigation into Smith’s conduct.

JACK SMITH THRUST BACK INTO SPOTLIGHT AT BLANCHE HEARING OVER EXPOSED SENATORS’ MESSAGES

Read the list of 44 lawmakers:

Among the senators targeted in the probe were: Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; David Perdue, R-Ga.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Martha McSally, R-Ariz.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

On the House side, the investigation targeted: Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Steve Scalise, R-La.; Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Devin Nunes, R-Calif.; Adam Smith, D-Wash.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Mark Walker, R-N.C.; Bryan Steil, R-Wis.; Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.; Doug Collins, R-Ga.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.; John Katko, R-N.Y.; Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J.; Karen Bass, D-Calif.; Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.; Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; Mo Brooks, R-Ala.; Morgan Griffith, R-Va.; Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho; Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Fox News Digital reached out to every current lawmaker named on the list.

Grassley and Johnson, through their senior committee positions, were responsible for the release of the new documents.

Several lawmakers on the list had publicly documented roles in efforts surrounding the 2020 election, including those who have since condemned Smith’s review of their communications.

Sen. Chuck Grassley

As president pro tempore of the Senate, Grassley played a procedural role on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress moved to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. The senator, for instance, called the Senate into session before senators moved to the House’s chamber to participate in a joint session where the results of each state would be certified.

Prior to Jan. 6, Grassley suggested that he may preside over the Senate’s debate surrounding disputes over the 2020 election if Vice President Mike Pence didn’t show up.

“Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes,” Grassley said of his messages being collected. “Based on the information that’s been produced to me and Senator Johnson, Biden DOJ and FBI investigators apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols to obtain and review work-related messages from me and dozens of my Republican and Democrat colleagues who were outside the scope of the government’s investigation.”

Sen. Ron Johnson

In the lead-up to Jan. 6, Johnson joined a group of Republican senators calling for an emergency 10-day audit of disputed election results and saying they would vote against certifying electors from contested states unless such a review occurred.

Documents released by the House Jan. 6 committee in early 2023 reported that Johnson was communicating with former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party about a plan to have the state’s GOP-controlled legislature choose its presidential electors. The senator responded that he had no recollection of the conversation and accused the committee of trying to smear him.

Republicans were intensely critical of the House Jan. 6 committee, arguing that it lacked a meaningful voice for the opposition seeing as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., selected every member while rejecting the nominations put forward by McCarthy. They also argued that the committee focused too little on security and intelligence failures ahead of the breach of the Capitol.

“This is yet another grotesque example of the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department,” Johnson said of the seized text messages. “Jack Smith’s team acted with impunity as they disregarded their own protocols to obtain and access White House text messages, including messages to and from 44 Members of Congress. This is precisely why Chairman Grassley and I have worked to uncover the truth, bring transparency to the American people, and hold accountable those who weaponized federal law enforcement.”

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Sen. Lindsey Graham

In the days after the 2020 election, Graham urged Trump not to concede. He later donated to Trump’s legal defense fund and, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opened inquiries into election procedures in several battleground states and contacted state election officials.

The late South Carolina senator grew frustrated with Trump and his followers as their objections continued to fail in court and fully broke with the movement following the riot on Jan. 6.

“Count me out,” he said at the time. “Enough is enough.”

Sen. Josh Hawley

Hawley is notable in that he, on Dec. 30, 2020, became the first senator to announce his intention to formally object to Electoral College votes during the certification process. His decision was consequential as federal law required objections from both a representative and a senator to force a debate on the election.

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Trump attempted to call Hawley six times ahead of the Jan. 6 breach, according to White House call logs obtained by the House Jan. 6 select committee, showing that there was a line of communication between the two.

Though some senators abandoned their objections to the 2020 election after the Capitol was breached, Hawley maintained his objections and voted against certifying the results from Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Hawley called the documents released by Grassley and Johnson “more evidence of Biden corruption” adding that, “Jack Smith illegally scooped up the text messages of Senators — including mine.”

Sen. Mike Lee

Text messages turned over by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to the House Jan. 6 committee show that Lee discussed possible legal and constitutional avenues for challenging the 2020 election results.

Lee initially told Meadows that he supported exhausting every available legal and constitutional remedy to address concerns about the election. By Jan. 3, 2021, however, he warned that the effort “could all backfire badly,” according to text messages Meadows turned over to the House Jan. 6 committee.

The senator ultimately voted against sustaining objections to Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s election results.

Mike Lee slammed Smith’s collection of text messages this month as “un-American” and argued that it came “uncomfortably close to spying on a coequal, coordinate branch.”

Rep. Steve Scalise

Scalise, as House Republican whip, was responsible for convincing representatives to vote in line with the party’s interests, providing a straightforward reason as to why White House staff may have been in contact with him.

Further, a publicly released deposition shows that a Scalise aide communicated with Pence’s legislative-affairs director regarding a Jan. 3 call organized by Jordan involving Trump, Meadows and members pressing certification objections.

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The Louisiana congressman called congressional action the “only remaining recourse” for addressing what he described as improper changes to election laws in several states.

While he condemned rioting, Scalise, like Hawley, ultimately voted to reject Biden’s electoral votes from both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Rep. Jim Jordan

Jordan participated in efforts to challenge the 2020 election results, including discussions about delaying congressional certification and objecting to electoral votes.

On Jan. 2, the Ohio congressman led a conference call with Trump and other members of Congress to discuss strategies for delaying the Jan. 6 joint session, according to the House Jan. 6 committee’s final report.

Jordan also reportedly had a 10-minute-long call with Trump on the morning of Jan. 6, according to publicly released phone records. After the breach of the Capitol, Jordan condemned the violence but voted to sustain objections to the electoral results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

“You can’t do that. As Senator Hawley just said, this is a separation of powers issue,” Jordan told Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this month. “There’s a speech or debate clause. It was supposed to be filtered and screened. It wasn’t. It was just given from the National Archives to Jack Smith’s team.”

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Smith’s attorneys called the criminal referral “meritless” Thursday in a letter previously obtained by Fox News Digital.

“The House Judiciary Committee’s referral to the Department of Justice of our client Jack Smith is based on a spurious claim that Mr. Smith provided false testimony during his eight-hour deposition on December 17, 2025. The referral is made not because Mr. Smith made a false statement—the letter concedes he did not—but because he did not proactively disclose information that was not responsive to a question asked,” the lawyer wrote.

“During his testimony, Mr. Smith provided truthful, responsive answers and candidly discussed his work as Special Counsel. This referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Colorado over the offering of in-state tuition and financial aid for illegal immigrants attending public colleges and universities, the latest legal challenge over what critics say amounts to discrimination against U.S. citizens.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Colorado federal court, names the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the state Department of Higher Education, and its director, JB Holston, as defendants.

“For three decades, Congress has made clear that Colorado cannot give education benefits to illegal aliens that it does not give to all American citizens,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. “By granting illegal aliens in-state tuition, Colorado is not only violating federal law but subsidizing education for illegal aliens at taxpayers’ expense.”

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“Our litigation efforts will not cease until we have fulfilled President [Donald] Trump’s promise that illegal aliens will not obtain preferential treatment over our Nation’s own citizens,” Woodward added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to both agencies named in the lawsuit for comment, along with the office of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

The complaint argues that the Advancing Students for a Stronger Economy Tomorrow (ASSET) Act and related state policies violate a federal statute that prohibits states from offering higher education benefits to illegal immigrants based on their residency, unless the same benefits are available to all U.S. citizens.

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In an effort to expand access to those benefits, Colorado reduced the high school attendance requirement from three years to one year, and removed a requirement that students must be admitted to college within 12 months of graduating from high school, according to the federal complaint.

The state also repealed a requirement that mandated illegal immigrant students submit an affidavit stating they had applied for lawful presence or would apply as soon as they were eligible, the complaint states.

By providing lower tuition rates and state-funded scholarships to local illegal immigrants while denying them to out-of-state citizens, Colorado is accused of creating an unconstitutional preference that is preempted by federal authorities.

The Justice Department also argues that lower tuition incentivizes illegal immigration and rewards them for breaking the nation’s laws.

Thursday’s lawsuit marks the fourteenth launched by the Trump administration challenging in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

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“This Department of Justice is committed to fulfilling President Trump’s promise that illegal aliens will not obtain taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment over our own citizens,” the Justice Department said.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare several Colorado state laws associated with the matter unconstitutional, as well as award court fees.

A new poll from New Hampshire, the state that for a century has held the first Republican presidential primary, is the latest to indicate that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is gaining ground in a hypothetical 2028 GOP nomination matchup with Vice President JD Vance.

Vance stands at 36% support among likely GOP primary voters in New Hampshire, with Rubio at 26%, according to a University of New Hampshire (UNH) Granite State Poll released this week.

That’s a massive shift from the previous UNH 2028 presidential nomination survey, conducted in February, which indicated Vance topping Rubio 53% to 7%.

Vance has long been viewed as the heir apparent to term-limited President Donald Trump and his MAGA and America First base. While Vance remains the clear hypothetical frontrunner, Rubio has narrowed the gap in national polls and surveys conducted in key early-voting presidential primary states ahead of a race that is not expected to begin in earnest until after this autumn’s midterm elections.

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Rubio’s rise in the 2028 polls this year comes amid an increase in his responsibilities and public profile, including his role in the U.S. operation in Venezuela and the ongoing war against Iran.

Rubio, who as a senator from Florida was one of more than a dozen Republican contenders who ran and lost to Trump in the tumultuous 2016 presidential primary, came in a close second to Vance earlier this year in the closely watched 2028 Republican presidential nomination straw poll at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which is better known by its acronym CPAC.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who ran for the nomination in 2016 and is mulling another bid, stood a distant third at 8% in the new UNH survey, along with former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the runner-up to Trump in 2024.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who also bid for the nomination in 2024, grabbed 6% support, with everyone else tested at 4% or less.

“There’s nobody else in the conversation besides those two, so this poll makes sense,” New Hampshire-based Republican consultant David Carney, a veteran of numerous presidential campaigns, told Fox News Digital as he referred to Vance and Rubio.

The latest surveys and straw poll results are fuel for intrigue over what some in the Republican Party see as a budding rivalry between Rubio and Vance, who describe each other as friends.

Partially fueling Rubio’s rise is Trump, who has lavishly praised his secretary of state.

The president earlier this year declared that Rubio would go down as “the greatest secretary of state in history.”

Trump has also promoted a Vance-Rubio ticket — calling it “unstoppable” — but has not said who should be at the top of the ticket.

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But the president did say last year that Vance is “most likely” his heir apparent. “In all fairness, he’s the vice president,” Trump added.

While Vance has demurred when questioned about 2028, he has built a political team of advisers who, if he runs as expected, would quickly build out a presidential campaign.

Rubio, who is crisscrossing the globe as part of his job requirements, doesn’t have a similar group of political aides. And Rubio has said he’ll back Vance if the vice president launches a 2028 campaign.

Regardless, Republican sources confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that a group of GOP donors supporting the secretary of state are quietly exploring ways to boost Rubio’s political profile.

That’s not sitting well with some in the president’s political orbit.

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“Vice President Vance is the future of the Republican Party and Marco Rubio is one of his closest friends in the administration,” an operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News Digital earlier this year.

“The divisive stories from some donors trying to cause chaos are not helpful,” the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, emphasized.

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Vance has also weighed in, telling Fox News’ Martha MacCallum earlier this year that “Marco is my closest friend in the administration.”

And the vice president, in his interview on Fox News’ “The Story,” added, “I think it’s so interesting the media wants to create this conflict where there just isn’t any conflict.”

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Trump will have a massive influence on the 2028 GOP nomination race to succeed him. An endorsement from the president would give a major boost to whomever he backs.

But a longtime Republican strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, offered a warning for the vice president: “Vance is in the catbird seat until some really goes bad and Trump is going to blame him… I can’t image Vance walking this tightrope for two more years without pissing off Trump.”

A Rhode Island lawmaker who previously referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as “Nazi Gestapo thugs” said “your day of reckoning will come mother——” in a charged social media post aimed at the agency tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

State Rep. Enrique Sanchez, a Democrat, directed his anger at ICE in a Wednesday post on X decrying its enforcement tactics:

“Fighting and dealing with ICE since last year has f—– me up in the head after trying to protect and defend hundreds and hundreds of our community members in Providence and across Rhode Island. Your day of reckoning will come mother——,” he wrote. “I swear to god.”

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Fox News Digital has reached out for comment to Sanchez, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security, along with the Rhode Island Republican and Democratic parties.

Sanchez, who was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2022, works as a case manager helping illegal immigrants, according to his biography on the state House website.

The Democratic lawmaker has issued harsh criticism of ICE before. In August 2025, he called ICE officers “Nazi Gestapo thugs” who he said “kidnapped another of our neighbors” in Providence.

“The ICE thugs damaged a couple cars that belonged to residents as well. They think they are above the law,” he wrote on X at the time.

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Two weeks later, he said ICE was “terrorizing” communities before calling for “a day of reckoning and no going back.”

More recently, Sanchez lambasted the “Nazi ICE trash thugs” after an ICE agent killed a Colombian man in Maine.

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Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, was shot and killed July 13 during an attempted traffic stop after he allegedly tried to flee, authorities said.

An eyewitness told Maine’s Portland Press Herald that Guerrero appeared to drive toward federal agents before shots were fired.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., enjoyed a series of wins this week – but there’s little time to celebrate, as Republicans grow increasingly frustrated with how he is managing the razor-thin House majority.

“He’s capitulating to the wants of the Freedom Caucus,” one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital. “The Freedom Caucus are in control. The rest of us are just following.”

The Louisiana Republican is fresh off a slew of legislative victories this week, notching success with bills curbing congressional stock trading, averting a government shutdown, and setting the stage for a $95 billion budget that includes a top election priority of President Donald Trump.

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Johnson has managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat dozens of times since winning the speaker’s gavel in October 2023. But the pressure of running a razor-thin House majority is still enough to send tensions boiling, particularly within an ideologically diverse Republican conference before what’s expected to be a politically bruising battle to keep control of Congress.

Several House Republicans have told Fox News Digital this week that Johnson is not doing enough to bolster his rank-and-file members and their own individual legislative priorities.

A second House GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak candidly, said, “there’s frustration within the conference around the speaker not pushing back, and not saying no to the White House.”

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“Members have said ‘We don’t report to the White House. We don’t report to the executive branch. We should be able to make these decisions on our own,’” the second House GOP lawmaker said.

Johnson’s allies have consistently argued that his close relationship with Trump has been key to his staying power and success.

But not everyone believes Johnson is prioritizing the needs of his conservative right flank or the president over others.

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Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital, “There does seem to be a focus on a few in the conference, and the reasoning is, the most vulnerable. But that by definition excludes some other members.”

“All I will say is, we need to continue to focus on what our base wants, because we have a very important election coming up here pretty quick,” Self said.

Others, still, simply believe House GOP leadership could be doing more to help lawmakers across the conference.

“I know it’s hard. I mean, being the speaker is the hardest job in the country,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

And while she maintained that Johnson was still very much in control of the House floor and his fellow Republicans, she said, “I think there’s more that can be done to help members score wins that may be small in general, but are big and important for their districts.”

“I think they haven’t been proactive in going to the membership and saying, ‘Give me your top three priorities, not controversial, don’t cost money,’ and help us navigate the committee process to get those to the floor,” Malliotakis said. “I’ve got a bill for example, like, [high-occupancy vehicle] lanes for veterans — allowing veterans who are going to the VA, or going for treatment, to be able to use the HOV lanes…I’ve got one that would…go after heroin injection centers in New York.”

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., was even more blunt: “You’ve got to kiss a– to move legislation up here, and it’s just, it’s really getting to be a ridiculous situation.”

The frustrations hitting Johnson from different sides of the conference are a consequence of Republicans’ razor-thin House majority — only being able to lose two seats on any party-line vote with full attendance — and the vastly different approaches to legislating.

Still, other House Republicans maintain that Johnson is doing a good job of sticking by his allies.

“The ones who are complaining today will be the same ones who are complaining even when times are good. It’s just who they are,” a third House Republican, speaking anonymously, told Fox News Digital.

And Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said House Republicans have managed to accomplish a significant number of their policy goals this term.

“It’s actually a pretty remarkable testament both to the patience of Mike Johnson and to the willingness of the White House to engage,” the South Dakota Republican said.

Another Johnson ally who was granted anonymity pointed out that he spends his non-legislative time raising money for campaigns across the conference, whether people agree with him or not. “Outside the Capitol, Johnson has a second full-time job as lead fundraiser — he’s on track to raise $500 million to ensure everyone, no matter their caucus, returns next year in the majority.”

Johnson’s allies would also argue that the broad range of complaints highlighted in this story is an example of his focus on trying to listen to every member of the House GOP, and that there has not been any push for his ouster despite the rumblings.

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But with such a slim House majority, it’s a fact that every vote counts.

As the second House Republican put it, “Everyone has a bullet in the chamber, and they’re not afraid to use it.”

FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., sent a letter to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., one of the world’s leading automotive glass manufacturers with U.S. headquarters in Ohio, demanding information on the company’s operations and finances amid allegations of labor violations.

The letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, asks for extensive documentation of Fuyao’s business operations in the U.S., its labor practices, its ties to the CCP and more.

Khanna, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party, cited allegations that Fuyao has been violating U.S. labor laws by, among other things, importing foreign workers to undercut American labor.

“They have serious allegations against them of suppressing prices because they’re being subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party, allegedly, of bringing people into this country who are undocumented and violating our immigration laws, and then exploiting those workers and having them work long hours with little pay,” Khanna told Fox News Digital.

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A 2024 federal raid on Fuyao’s Ohio properties resulted in a civil asset forfeiture of $126 million that included the seizure of luxury goods, vehicles, and 12 commercial and residential properties, including what the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) described as “boarding houses” to accommodate migrant workers.

“It is alleged that many of the workers were illegally smuggled into the United States, primarily through Mexico, and encouraged to travel to the Dayton area to be employed by one of the target entities and serve as a workforce at the various factories. Most of the workers are of Chinese or Hispanic nationality. Workers allegedly lived at ‘family style hotels’ (boarding houses) owned by the target entities and were driven to and from work in transportation provided by the target entities,” the DOJ said in a press release.

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Among the many pieces of information Khanna requested from Fuyao was data on whether the company was being subsidized by the CCP, allowing them to undercut U.S. competitors, who he argued were being negatively affected by Fuyao’s practices.

“They are hurting. American glass manufacturers, one of them that we met on our Heartland tour in Western Pennsylvania. And they are putting American workers out of business,” Khanna told Fox News Digital. “And at the same time, they are exploiting our laws. Now we have requested the findings from the Justice Department that undertook an investigation. And they still have not released the findings. And so I am going to take on myself, with the China Committee, to investigate Fuyao.”

In the 2025 press release, the DOJ said a criminal investigation into Fuyao is ongoing.

Khanna also asked the company to reveal the degree to which the CCP is involved in the company’s operation.

“We need to understand a lot more. I want to understand whether they’re getting subsidies from the CCP. I want to understand whether any CCP government official is on their board or on their executive team,” he said. “I want to understand if they’re providing reports to the CCP, I want to understanding if the CCP is helping them to lower prices where they can undercut American competition. And I certainly want to know if the CCP is helping them smuggle in people who are undocumented. So these are unanswered questions that we need to answer.”

Like all Chinese companies, Fuyao is required to have a CCP representative in their company ranks. The company’s vice president He Shimeng is also a CCP secretary, according to the Made In China Journal.

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When asked if the U.S.’s southern border’s porousness under former President Joe Biden relative to the border under President Donald Trump’s administration contributed to Fuyao’s ability to import foreign workers, Khanna said that a strong border is necessary. Notably, migrant encounters at the southern border are at a 50-year low under the second Trump administration, according to the Pew Research Center.

“I’ve said that we need border security, and I’ve also been candid that we allow too many people to come in without the proper vetting in 2024,” Khanna told Fox News Digital.

“I disagree with the ICE raids that are taking place very strongly, but I believe we need a secure border,” he said, adding, “as an American, we should be outraged that you have a Chinese-funded company that is undercutting American jobs, potentially exploiting workers, and potentially breaking our immigration laws. So with that. That is wrong. And so I am going to make sure that we stand up for American workers and for our laws.”

Fuyao was the subject of the 2019 Netflix documentary “American Factory,” which captured the company’s takeover of a former General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. One of the film’s major themes was Fuyao’s million-dollar effort to crush the area’s local unions.

“Once the focus begins to shift… to the fight over an upcoming vote on unionization — with [Fuyao founder] Cao [Dewang] paying ‘consultants’ over a million dollars to lecture workers at length on the horrors of unions and then telling them that ‘you have a voice’ — the film begins to toughen considerably as it shows how corporate manipulation works,” Roger Ebert critic Peter Sobczynski wrote in 2019.

The alleged union-busting is a major focus of Khanna’s inquiry.

“What is Fuyao’s reasoning for its opposition to unionization efforts at facilities in the United States?” Khanna’s letter asked.

“Has Fuyao retaliated against any whistleblower (without regard to whether the subject matter of the whistleblower allegation related to collective bargaining), including but not limited to through actions impacting employment, hours, pay, employment records, or other workplace decisions?” Khanna also queried.

In addition to requesting the comprehensive information packet from Fuyao, Khanna is also requesting an on-site visit to the company’s flagship Ohio plant before Nov. 1, “so I can go in and see for myself who the workers are,” he told Fox News Digital.

“Are they undocumented? Are they being exploited, what the pricing is?” he asked.

“What we have heard is they’ve engaged in anti-union activity,” Khanna told Fox News Digital. “What we’ve heard is that they are working their employees long hours well beyond the 40-hour work week. What we heard is, that they’re not paying overtime. What we’re heard is wage theft, that they’re not paying their workers an appropriate wage. So all of this is exploitive. And of course, if these are undocumented workers in certain cases, they’re most vulnerable. They’re totally dependent on Fuyao for their staying in America and they’re living.”

Fuyao is one of the largest automotive glass manufacturers and suppliers in the world. The company claims to have 35% of global market share in the automotive glass trade, a number corroborated by trade publications like Bamboo Works, which pegs the number even higher at 40%. Fuyao supplies glass to global and U.S. automakers such as BMW, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford.

Khanna said that if Fuyao did not comply with his request for information, he would be willing to subpoena the information from them as ranking member of his committee.

“We can subpoena them, if not, and I fully expect to have this as a priority when I become chair, if we win the election, but we wanna do this in a bipartisan way. he said. “They need to allow us onto the site and they need to provide this information.”

He explained that he has a good relationship with committee Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and said other of his cross-aisle colleagues have supported his efforts.

“I fully anticipate it will be bipartisan. I have a very good relationship with John Moolenaar, our chair. We share a commitment to an American industrial policy. We understand that there needs to be more investment in our communities, and we share a concern about Chinese companies coming into the auto industry or Chinese companies coming in. If they’re not playing fair, I don’t want Ohio to be taken over by Chinese companies that are violating our trade laws and our labor laws and our immigration laws,” he said.

Khanna conceded that President Donald Trump was one of the first to raise the issue of China’s unbalanced relationship with the U.S., but still criticized the Trump’s overall policy on China, giving it a “C” when asked to grade it.

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“I’d give it a ‘C’ because I think he was the first to sound the alarm on China, eating our lunch and taking our jobs. And he was right to sound the alarm. And so I give him credit for sounding the alarm, but he hasn’t followed through. Why are we begging them for foreign investment? Why aren’t we having an industrial investment bank for our people here? Why are investing in our industry and ships and steel and robotics here? And in building up our manufacturing base? And then why aren’t we going after companies like Fuyao, where they’re clearly violating the law?” Khanna said.

Fox News Digital contacted Moolenaar, Fuyao and the DOJ for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump will return to the stage Friday to deliver remarks at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner, nearly three months after an armed suspect stormed the event in an alleged assassination attempt against him.

The White House exclusively confirmed to Fox News Digital the lineup of administration officials expected to attend the dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C.

While much of Trump’s Cabinet will attend, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not be there. A White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital their absences are due to prior commitments.

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Here’s the lineup:

• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
• Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
• FBI Director Kash Patel
• Education Secretary Linda McMahon
• Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler
• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
• Energy Secretary Chris Wright
• Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
• Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
• U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer
• Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll
• Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz

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The banquet will be held at the Waldorf Astoria while the annual dinner has historically been held at the Washington Hilton. Chaos, however, broke out at this year’s banquet when an armed suspect stormed the event in what authorities say was an attempt to assassinate the president.

Weijia Jiang, President of The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), said the event will be a “more intimate gathering” when the new date was announced in June.

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Jiang announced the rescheduled date was decided by the White House Correspondents’ Association board in an email to association members, sharing the rescheduled event will be a more “intimate gathering.”

“This dinner will not only be an opportunity to carry out our program. It will be a statement that violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence. As you have all demonstrated, courage and community can and should rise above,” Jiang added.

A leftist Democrat sparked fierce backlash after he appeared to insist that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s views on Cuba carried less weight because he has not visited the island.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., made the striking claim during a heated exchange with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Wednesday at a committee hearing.

Pocan, who has compared Cuba to a “silent Gaza,” visited the communist island earlier in July, where he called for the U.S. to relent on its pressure campaign against the Cuban government, blaming U.S. sanctions for the island’s economic devastation and fuel shortages.

During his questioning of Waltz, he did not address the Cuban government’s likely hoarding of resources as it maintains a firm grip over the economy or its continued access to luxuries amid economic turmoil.

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“During your visit, did you visit the private island from the Castro regime?” Waltz asked Pocan. “Did you visit their private jet which seems to have fuel to get back and forth?”

Pocan dodged the question and fired back, “Considering you’ve never been to Cuba, I’m not going to take your advice on where to go.”

“Marco Rubio has never been to Cuba, so many others who have strong opinions,” the Wisconsin lawmaker added later.

“His entire family is from Cuba and fled the regime,” Waltz replied.

“They left before the revolution,” Pocan responded. “That is decades ago. That’s a ridiculous answer. It’s worth going there if you’re going to have such strong opinions and I think you’d maybe look at it a little differently,” Pocan continued.

“The exchange drew swift criticism on social media, with several conservative commentators accusing Pocan of parroting the Cuban government’s talking points.

“It is completely insane that @RepMarkPocan is using a Congressional hearing to shill for the communist regime in Cuba,” Cody Sargent, communications director for Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, wrote on social media. “Americans need to see how absolutely crazy @TheDemocrats have become.

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“Mark Pocan (who consistently makes a strong case for dumbest member of Congress) proves once again how he fails to have a functioning brain,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella wrote Wednesday. “This exchange is exactly the kind of thinking communist regimes love to cultivate.”

“A perfect example of what Rubio’s report on Cuba warned about re: Communist Cuba’s influence and espionage in America ,” NewsNation anchor Katie Pavlich observed.

Pavlich referenced findings the State Department released earlier this week detailing a decades-long influence campaign the Cuban government allegedly pushed within the United States to sow division and push Communist ideas.

“From its earliest years in power, the Cuban regime has believed that its own survival and strategic interests were inextricably linked to the advance of the revolutionary left inside the United States,” the report states in part.

Pocan notably dismissed the report as “ridiculous,” arguing Rubio issued the document as a pretext for regime change on the island.

“It may be the stupidest, most fantastical, most biased thing I’ve ever read from a governmental agency,” Pocan said in a statement released Tuesday.

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Pocan also pressed Waltz on whether the administration plans to pursue military action against Cuba. The top diplomat declined to take any option off the table for the president.

Fox News Digital reached out to Pocan for comment.

Former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey Jr. died Tuesday at the age of 84.

The Washington Post and the New York Times both reported that his wife, Conchita Sarnoff Woolsey, noted that a stroke was the cause.

She indicated that her husband had been facing deteriorating health in recent years due to “Havana syndrome,” the Post reported.

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“We have traveled the world trying to find a cure and a treatment,” she noted, according to the report, “which sadly we never found.”

As director of central intelligence from 1993 to 1995, Woolsey oversaw the U.S. intelligence community and served as head of the CIA during the first two years of President Bill Clinton’s first term.

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“CIA extends our condolences to the family and loved ones of former Director James Woolsey. He was a great patriot who served his country as Director of Central Intelligence, Undersecretary of the Navy, Ambassador, and attorney,” the CIA noted in social media posts.

Woolsey served as undersecretary of the Navy during a portion of President Jimmy Carter’s White House tenure. He later served as ambassador to the Negotiation on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe during part of President George H.W. Bush’s term.

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In a Facebook post, the CIA added, “Director Woolsey advocated for the Agency during a time of budget uncertainty and tumult at the end of the Cold War, preserving officer morale and building a relationship between the Intelligence Community and law enforcement. That partnership continues to this day and has enabled some of our greatest successes.”

Progressive Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is garnering widespread mockery for her “delusional” claim that FIFA World Cup fans rooted against Argentina due to the country’s “racist history.”

During a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, Crockett remarked that the World Cup “captured the imaginations of the entire world when they saw all of these people of color that was playing for all these teams.”

Addressing one of the witnesses testifying at the hearing, she said, “Ultimately, if you recall, the last two teams, it was Argentina and Spain, and it seemed like the vast majority of the world was rooting for Argentina or actually against Argentina. Right? And why was that? Just give me an explanation. If you could guess.”

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The witness replied, “Spain had the best team, maybe that’s why they were rooting for them.” 

Crockett laughed and said, “There’s also a racist history that exists as it relates to Argentina.”

Though subcommittee Chair Rep. Timothy Burchett, D-Tenn., quickly moved the hearing along, social media was not so quick to overlook Crockett’s claim.

Columnist Kelly Rae Robertson said, “Jasmine Crockett is insufferable. Another delusional take claiming a World Cup match was racist? Why is she still here — I thought she was leaving?”

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The congresswoman recently lost her U.S. Senate primary to challenger James Talarico. Because she opted not to seek re-election to her House seat while running for the Senate, she is set to retire from Congress next January.

“I’m so confused as to why this is being discussed in a Congressional hearing lol,” political commentator and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines posted.

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In another post, Gaines wrote, “Spain: Wins the World Cup That’s it. That’s literally it. Jasmine Crockett: ‘RACISM!!!!’”

“Rep. Jasmine Crockett is getting clowned nationwide,” conservative commentator Eric Daugherty observed.

“WITNESS: Spain had the best team… CROCKETT: There’s also a RACIST HISTORY! You can’t make this up. She’s too low IQ to be in the halls of Congress!” Daugherty wrote.

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Agustín Almada, an Argentine economist, appeared to take offense at the comment, posting on X, “This is a blatant lie. Argentina started to get rid of slavery in our war of independence from Spain!”

Spain defeated Argentina in the World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday. President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented Spain its trophy.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., came under fire after claiming the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would “merge parts of our military with the Israel Defense Forces,” drawing accusations that she distorted what the legislation actually does.

The fight centers on Section 219 of the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act, a provision that calls for deeper U.S.-Israel defense integration through expanded cooperation on military technology, supply chains, research, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and joint exercises.

On Wednesday, the House passed its version of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act in a 219-206 vote, leaving Section 219 intact.

But ahead of the vote, Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X that the NDAA “includes a provision to merge parts of our military with the IDF.”

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“This amendment is an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy,” she wrote. “Every member of Congress must vote NO.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s post quickly drew criticism from Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials, who argued the measure strengthens defense cooperation with Israel but does not merge the two militaries.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin called the claim “FALSE,” accusing the congresswoman of misrepresenting the bill.

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“Instead of merging the part of your brain that hates Jews with the part of your brain concocting your daily lies, you should try merging the part of your brain responsible for reading bill text with the part of your brain responsible for critical thinking,” Zeldin wrote on X.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., similarly blasted Ocasio-Cortez, calling her to “stop stoking Jew hatred.”

“Good grief, you are either obtuse or intentionally lying. We are not merging our military with the IDF,” Lawler wrote.

Lawler argued the provision simply expands the type of defense cooperation the United States already maintains with close allies, including intelligence sharing, joint military exercises, and collaborative weapons development.

While Republicans disputed Ocasio-Cortez’s description, some lawmakers who opposed the provision also expressed concern about its scope but framed it differently.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced an amendment to strip Section 219 from the legislation, but House leadership did not allow it to receive a vote. After the procedural rule passed, Massie announced he would oppose the entire defense bill.

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“Unfortunately the Rule passed just now and no debate or vote was allowed on section 219, integration of US military technology and supply chains with Israel’s,” Massie wrote on X. “The NDAA will receive a recorded vote tomorrow with section 219 in it. I’ll vote no.”

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Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who partnered with Massie on the amendment, also criticized House leadership for blocking a vote, writing that Congress had prevented consideration of a proposal to stop “the integration of our military with Israel’s.”

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“It is unconscionable to not even have a vote,” Khanna wrote on X. “We will be continuing on and will not be intimidated by the pro-Israel lobby.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for comment.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal is facing scrutiny after new records showed an illegal immigrant whose release from ICE custody he championed was registered to vote in Connecticut.

“Cecunjanin has made a mockery of our immigration laws on several occasions for more than two decades,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital of the illegal immigrant on Wednesday.

Records obtained through a public-records request by the West Hartford Republican Town Committee show Seyo Cecunjanin was registered to vote through the Connecticut DMV in 2018. The committee posted the records on X.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital the Biden administration released the Montenegrin national back into the United States after he returned from Serbia in 2024—even though he had been under a final deportation order since 1997.

EXCLUSIVE: DHS SEEKS CUSTODY OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHARGED WITH MURDER AFTER TRUMP DEPORTATION, BIDEN RELEASE

Cecunjanin first entered the U.S. illegally in 1997 using a fraudulent Dutch passport and was issued a final order of removal later that year. Despite that order remaining in effect for more than 25 years, he departed for Serbia in July 2024, returned about two weeks later, and was released back into the U.S. under the Biden administration before his June 20 arrest. 

Blumenthal and other Connecticut Democratic officials pushed for Cecunjanin’s release last month, holding a press conference and later touting his release, crediting their letters and public advocacy.

“His courage and faith are a lesson to all of us on this 250th national birthday. I look forward to welcoming him home. ICE seizing and detaining him was cruel and unconscionable. He was never a flight risk, or a danger to anyone,” Blumenthal said in a July 3 statement celebrating the restaurant owner’s release. 

“I’ll support his efforts to gain permanent legal status and more. Welcome home, Seyo,” he added.

Cindy Wolfe Boynton, communications director for the Connecticut secretary of the state’s office, told Fox News Digital that Cecunjanin never voted.

“Our records show that he registered to vote through the DMV in 2018. He was marked as an inactive voter in January 2023 after failing to respond to a routine National Change-of-Address canvass asking him to confirm his name and address,” said Boynton. “An inactive voter remains on the voter rolls but cannot vote until they confirm or update their registration information, as required by state and federal law.”

NEW JERSEY REMOVES 6,600 PEOPLE FROM VOTER ROLLS WHO WERE ELIGIBLE TO CAST A BALLOT FOR 2024 ELECTION

Critics quickly took to X to highlight the revelation, renewing scrutiny over Democrats’ handling of election security.

“It happened again,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. wrote on X. 

“HOLY CRAP The illegal alien who Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and other Democrat officials rallied to support after he was detained by ICE… IS REGISTERED TO VOTE IN CT despite not being a citizen!” popular conservative X account Libs of TikTok posted.

“WHOA: Illegal Alien That Democrats Defended from Deportation Is Registered Voter. Senator Blumenthal and Connecticut Democrats tried to protect him,” posted conservative commentator Benny Johnson.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the West Hartford Republican Town Committee and Blumenthal’s office for comment.

Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. slammed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) after the agency suspended procurements involving the territory’s housing finance authority over concerns about fraud and abuse tied to nearly $2 billion in disaster-recovery aid.

Bryan, a Democrat, said HUD’s suspension came as a “shock” and called HUD’s letter “unprofessional.” He claimed the U.S. Virgin Islands’ disaster-recovery issues have been “sensationalized” and that the suspension is an “overreach.”

“When I go to Washington, I don’t go and visit [HUD or FEMA] anymore because we don’t have any problems,” Bryan claimed when pressed by local media at a public briefing in Charlotte Amalie.

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At one point, Bryan suggested HUD’s announcement could be a “political stunt” timed with Tuesday’s start of early voting in the territory’s contested gubernatorial election. Bryan is term-limited.

“[W]hy does the press have it and why does Fox News in particular have it and why are we only hearing about this now?” Bryan fumed – as Fox News Digital exclusively broke the news Tuesday.

“We’ll be appealing [HUD’s suspension] and then get into the bottom of what exactly is generating this kind of harsh motives in the Virgin Islands.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to HUD for comment.

When Bryan said an audit cited in HUD’s suspension notice had ended some time ago, a reporter noted a separate HUD report found the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority’s risk management practices remained “below the lowest desired level” as recently as March 2025.

The reporter asked Bryan whether it was fair to say the territorial government had been “blindsided” by HUD’s letter and subsequent news reports.

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“Absolutely,” Bryan replied. “[E]ven if it was up to 2025 it covers a period where they have already addressed it in fact the $6.2 million in-question cost was addressed years ago.”

Bryan said he “perused” the letter from Andrew Hughes, a deputy to HUD Secretary Scott Turner, and argued the territory has made significant progress on several recovery projects, including one at Magen’s Bay, a world-famous calm-water beach on St. Thomas.

He suggested some of the issues with recovery projects in the U.S. Virgin Islands have to do with costs, saying one public housing unit can expend $1 million – “which is crazy.”

“We’ve had to send out bids multiple times because the costs are not aligning with what the national standards are,” he said.

In a separate statement, Bryan said many of the matters described in HUD’s letter “reflect issues that have been known for some time.”

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“According to the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority, significant corrective actions have already been undertaken in the years since many of those findings were first identified.”

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“It is important that this process be handled in a manner that protects the people of the Virgin Islands and does not unnecessarily disrupt critical housing and disaster-recovery programs,” he said.

Bryan said at his press conference that his administration previously addressed “weaknesses” at VIHFA earlier in his administration.

“We have done a lot of work in order to make sure that the HFA had the capacity – if you can remember the first three years of the administration, we talked about capacity planning… which has slowed the recovery considerably from their view.”

HUD’s suspension comes as Turner plays a leading role on the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, as the Trump administration continues its wide-scale effort across agencies to curb abuse of taxpayer funds.

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

The fuel most Americans never think about could become the Iran conflict’s biggest economic consequence, driving up the cost of transporting nearly everything Americans buy. Diesel powers the nation’s trucks, farms and freight network, making it one of the economy’s most important, yet overlooked, drivers of inflation.

Unlike gasoline, which primarily affects motorists filling up their tanks, diesel is the workhorse fuel behind the nation’s supply chain. From the tractors harvesting crops and the trucks hauling groceries to supermarket shelves to the heavy equipment building new homes and the Amazon package landing on your doorstep, chances are diesel helped move it there.

As diesel prices climb, businesses face higher transportation costs that economists say often ripple through the economy, raising the price of everyday essentials from groceries and consumer goods to construction materials and adding new pressure to already strained household budgets.

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Those economic ripple effects could extend into the political arena.

With both parties expected to make affordability a centerpiece of their 2026 midterm campaigns, a prolonged rise in diesel prices could make it harder to persuade voters that the cost of living is moving in the right direction.

The latest surge in diesel prices underscores how geopolitical conflicts can reach American households in unexpected ways.

While drivers may notice higher gasoline prices first as driving budgets are affected, economists say diesel often has a broader and longer-lasting impact because it influences the cost of moving goods and affects nearly every product that arrives at a store. Economists say the fuel deserves closer attention during oil shocks because it serves as the backbone of the nation’s freight network, making diesel a key barometer of whether geopolitical turmoil will remain confined to energy markets or spread throughout the broader economy.

Diesel prices, which averaged $3.56 a gallon in January 2025, have climbed to $5.13 after a sharp run-up following the Iran conflict, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A fully loaded semitruck typically gets just 6 to 7 miles per gallon of diesel, according Department of Energy data. Filling its roughly 250-gallon tanks can cost more than $1,280 at today’s prices. For fleets logging more than 100,000 miles a year, even modest increases in diesel prices can add thousands of dollars in annual operating costs.

“We all focus on gasoline because, ultimately, we’re consumers and pump prices are very visible. But what we don’t think about is the price of diesel, which is the workhorse fuel for the U.S. economy and especially for key sectors,” Bernard Yaros, lead U.S. economist for Oxford Economics, told Fox News Digital.

Yaros said the recent rise in diesel prices is especially concerning because of its potential impact on food inflation. Diesel fuels nearly every stage of the agricultural supply chain, from farm equipment to the trucks that deliver groceries, meaning higher fuel costs can eventually work their way onto supermarket shelves.

“From an inflationary perspective, I’m very concerned about the recent rise in diesel prices as it pertains to the cost of food or grocery store prices,” Yaros said. 

“Take the food industry, for instance. Diesel powers the irrigation pumps, the tractors in the field and the trucks that bring food from the farm to your local grocery store. It’s part of every layer of food production in the U.S.”

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An energy industry source, who requested anonymity due to not being authorized to speak publicly, said diesel has become one of the clearest examples of how geopolitical shocks can ripple through global energy markets.

“The great majority of the price movement that you’ve seen in diesel markets over the last five months has been the direct result of the conflict in Iran and specifically the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” the source told Fox News Digital.

Few places matter more to global energy markets than the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Roughly 20 million barrels of oil pass through the strait each day, along with about one-fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas. The waterway is also a critical export route for refined fuels such as diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, meaning even limited disruptions can tighten global supplies, jolt energy markets and push fuel costs higher around the world.

WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN

Even if tensions in the Middle East ease, analysts say diesel prices may not quickly return to pre-conflict levels.

“Refineries don’t process crude instantaneously,” the industry source said. “A lot of times what you’re filling up your car with today was refined a week and a half ago and was produced two months before that.”

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Because crude must be transported, refined and distributed before it reaches consumers, higher diesel costs can continue rippling through the economy even after oil markets begin to stabilize. The result is that today’s diesel spike could linger long after the headlines about the Middle East fade, quietly making its way through supply chains and, eventually, onto grocery store shelves.

Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has surged to the front of the prospective 2028 Democratic presidential field in New Hampshire, edging former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and leaving former Vice President Kamala Harris far behind in a new poll.

Ocasio-Cortez drew 22% support among likely Democratic primary voters in the University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll released Wednesday, one point ahead of Buttigieg and 17 points ahead of Harris.

Ocasio-Cortez gained seven points since the February survey, while Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom lost ground — another sign of the four-term New York lawmaker’s growing strength among Democratic voters in the early presidential battleground and of her overall burgeoning popularity and standing in the party.

MIDTERM BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE: CHECK OUT THE FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS

Ocasio-Cortez has been coy about her 2028 plans and careful not to rule out either a White House run in the race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump, or a bid for the Senate against longtime Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is up for re-election in two years. When asked about a run for higher office, Ocasio-Cortez recently said her goal is to “change the country.”

Buttigieg, a moderate who as the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, came in second in the 2020 New Hampshire presidential primary, has crisscrossed the country in support of fellow Democrats the past year as speculation builds around a possible 2028 run.

“Nearly half of socialists and one-third of progressives support Ocasio-Cortez, while pluralities of liberals and moderates support Buttigieg,” Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said.

KAMALA HARRIS’ TRAVELS AND COMMENTS CLEARLY POINT TO A 2028 RUN

Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired astronaut, stood in third place in the poll, at 9%, with the term-limited Newsom a point back. The California governor’s support dropped seven points since the February survey.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the 2016 and 2020 runner-up in the Democratic presidential primaries, stood at 6%. The 84-year-old Sanders, asked about another White House run, said last month, “I suspect that’s not going to happen.” He jokingly added, “I know I look like I’m 30. I am not.”

Meanwhile, Harris, the party’s 2024 nominee after she replaced then-President Joe Biden, who dropped out less than four months before the election following a disastrous debate against Trump, grabbed only 5% support in the new poll, down from 10% in February.

While the former vice president’s numbers in the latest New Hampshire survey are nothing to brag about, she tops an average of the most recent national polls in the hypothetical race for the 2028 Democratic nomination. Surveys in the early stages of a presidential cycle are often heavily influenced by the name recognition of the potential candidates.

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Everyone else in the large field of potential contenders tested in the New Hampshire poll registered at 2% or less.

New Hampshire held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary for a century, before Democrats upended their nominating calendar in the 2024 cycle, moving South Carolina to the lead-off position. The Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Rules and Bylaws panel is likely on Friday to unveil a new calendar for the 2028 cycle, which would be voted on at the DNC’s summer meeting in Austin, Texas, next month.

Republicans have not altered their calendar, keeping the Iowa caucuses as their lead-off state, followed by New Hampshire.

In the race for the GOP presidential nomination, 36% of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire said they would support Vice President JD Vance, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at 26%.

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Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who ran for the nomination in 2016 and is mulling another bid, stood at 8% in the survey, along with former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the runner-up to Trump in 2024.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who also bid for the nomination in 2024, grabbed 6% support, with everyone else tested at 4% or less.

The House passed its $1.15 trillion annual defense policy bill Wednesday after a bipartisan revolt over a provision expanding U.S.-Israel defense technology cooperation.

The fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act passed 216-212, with Republicans largely supporting and Democrats mostly opposing the measure.

The annual bill, which sets Pentagon policy and typically draws broad bipartisan support, received only six Democratic votes as much of the caucus objected to Section 219 and Republican-backed amendments restricting transgender care and easing access to personal guns on military bases.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS FRACTURE BADLY OVER MASSIE AMENDMENT TO CUT $3.3B IN U.S. AID TO ISRAEL

Opposition came from a coalition of progressive Democrats and Republican skeptics of U.S. support for Israel, who accused congressional leaders of shielding the provision from scrutiny after lawmakers were denied a separate vote to remove it.

The fight erupted as support for Israel has weakened among House Democrats and some “America First” Republicans during the war in Gaza and the widening conflict with Iran. Just one week earlier, 103 Democrats joined Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in voting to block $3.3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel.

For opponents, Section 219 would move the relationship in the opposite direction by embedding U.S.-Israel cooperation more deeply inside the Pentagon’s weapons-development and acquisition system. The provision would direct the war secretary to designate a Pentagon “executive agent” to coordinate and accelerate bilateral defense research, testing and industrial cooperation.

Critics argued that structure would make the relationship harder for future administrations or Congresses to unwind and could shift parts of the partnership away from highly visible aid votes into less visible technology, procurement and production arrangements. Supporters said it would coordinate longstanding programs and give the United States faster access to Israeli defense technology.

THE US-ISRAEL STRATEGIC ALLIANCE – PARTNERSHIP, NOT CHARITY

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., urged lawmakers to reject the entire defense bill, arguing that the provision would “merge parts of our military with the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

“This amendment is an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X prior to the vote, referring to Section 219. “Every member of Congress must vote NO.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., shot back on X, “Good grief, you are either obtuse or intentionally lying. We are not merging our military with the IDF. As we do with many of our allies, we enter into cooperative agreements, share intelligence, develop technology and ammunitions, and conduct military exercises together. Stop stoking Jew hatred and do better.”

Massie similarly opposed both the rule governing debate and the final bill after Republican leaders denied a floor vote on his bipartisan amendment to strike the provision.

“We should not merge our military tech and supply chain with Israel’s,” Massie said on X.

Beyond creating the executive agent, Section 219 would direct the Pentagon to identify jointly developed or Israeli-origin technologies that could be used in U.S. weapons programs and promote joint ventures, licensing agreements and U.S.-based production partnerships with Israeli companies.

Before final passage, the House adopted two amendments from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. One removed four uses of the word “integration,” while the other extended annual reports to Congress for as long as the executive agent remains in place. The original reporting requirement would have ended in 2030.

The amendments left the initiative’s central structure and cooperative programs intact, falling short of opponents’ demand that Section 219 be removed entirely.

SEN JOHN FETTERMAN PLEDGES TO BE ‘LAST MAN STANDING’ IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL

Massie’s amendment was backed by Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna of California, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

Section 219 would not combine the countries’ command structures, place U.S. troops under Israeli authority or give Israel control over U.S. military operations. The United States and Israel also already cooperate extensively on defense technology, including the Iron Dome, Arrow and David’s Sling missile-defense systems, counter-drone technology and anti-tunnel capabilities.

The provision’s principal change would be to place a designated Pentagon executive agent in charge of coordinating and expanding those efforts across the War Department.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said the provision would improve oversight and efficiency by assigning responsibility for existing initiatives to a single official.

“In no way does it give away command and control of our military operations, personnel or equipment,” Rogers said last month.

Critics argued that the executive agent structure would give U.S.-Israel projects a privileged path through the Pentagon and further entrench Israeli technology and companies in the American defense supply chain.

The fight threatened the broad coalition traditionally needed to pass the NDAA, one of the few major bills Congress has routinely approved with bipartisan support. Democratic opposition was also fueled by Republican amendments restricting gender-affirming medical care for troops and military dependents and transgender participation in sports at Defense Department schools.

The House voted 219-208 Tuesday to prohibit Tricare from covering certain gender-transition procedures and treatments, with five Democrats supporting the amendment and one Republican opposing it.

Lawmakers separately voted 221-203 to prohibit transgender girls from participating in girls sports at War Department schools.

The House rejected a separate attempt by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to codify President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender troops from serving in the military. That amendment failed 217-212 after four Republicans joined every Democrat in opposition.

Lawmakers also narrowly approved an amendment making it easier for qualified service members and civilian War Department employees to receive permission to carry personal guns on military installations. The measure passed 215-214.

An amendment that would have largely prohibited Ukraine security assistance failed, though 76 Republicans supported it. The proposal would have preserved funding only for security at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

The underlying NDAA would authorize roughly $1.15 trillion for national defense, including pay raises ranging from 5% to 7% for service members, expanded weapons and munitions production and new investments in missile defense, autonomous systems, hypersonics and other emerging technologies.

The bill would also formally change the Department of Defense’s name to the Department of War, deeming references to the defense secretary and department in federal law to mean the secretary and Department of War.

The NDAA sets defense policy and authorizes spending levels but does not provide the money itself. Congress must separately pass defense appropriations legislation to fund the programs and priorities included in the measure.

Consideration of the legislation had been delayed for three weeks by a separate Republican fight over the SAVE America Act, Trump-backed election legislation requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and identification to cast a ballot in federal elections.

The House approved the election measure in February, but it stalled in the Senate, where Republicans lacked the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

Republican leaders revived the legislation through a procedure directing the House clerk to combine it with the NDAA after passage but before sending the package to the Senate. That approach allowed the House to vote on the defense and election measures separately before transmitting them as one bill.

The plan initially collapsed June 30 when 13 Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the procedural rule. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and other holdouts later relented after Speaker Mike Johnson promised to attach the election legislation to appropriations bills and other must-pass measures.

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The combined defense and election package faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Democrats blocked consideration of their chamber’s NDAA last week in protest of the Trump administration’s war with Iran.

The debate also comes as the Pentagon seeks additional money to cover the conflict and replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles. The White House has requested an $87.6 billion supplemental package, including $67.1 billion for defense needs, while House Republicans are considering additional military and intelligence funding through a party-line reconciliation package.

A vote on legislation to curb lawmakers’ ability to profit from the stock market as well as implementing federal voter ID measures divided House Democrats on Wednesday afternoon.

The two measures were combined in a single legislative package after months of debate in the House of Representatives on both issues. While unrelated, both voter ID and banning congressional stock trading have received overwhelming support in multiple public polls.

A whopping 198 House Democrats, including their top leaders, voted against the bills. Just 13 members of their caucus voted with Republicans to pass the measure 231 to 198.

Despite bipartisan negotiations, particularly on banning members of Congress from trading stocks, a significant number of Democrats still opposed the final package — though it passed.

EX-HOUSE DEM WHO RIPPED CONGRESSIONAL STOCK TRADING BAN AS ‘BULLS—‘ CHANGES HER TUNE IN COMEBACK BID

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, one of the key supporters of banning lawmakers from the stock market, argued the two issues “go hand in hand.”

“One, the overwhelming majority of Americans want this. Two, it’s something that we can get passed this week that gets it into the president’s hands before the August return-to-district [period],” Nunn told Fox News Digital.

He said of Democrats’ criticism, “Only in Washington can you have two wins for 90% of Americans, and Democrats will say that’s one win too many.”

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Meanwhile, Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital of the stock trading ban specifically, “The American people deserve to know their elected officials are serving the public, not their own financial interests. Members of Congress should be held to the highest standards of transparency and accountability, and this legislation is an important step toward restoring trust in Congress.”

Not all Republicans are on board, however. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., accused his fellow GOP lawmakers of trying to dissuade Democrats from supporting the bill by attaching the voter ID requirement.

“We are voting on a stock trading ban for members of Congress… BUT Republicans added voter-ID in the legislation. Not to get Dems to vote for voter-ID, but to get them to vote against the stock trading ban, so they can use it in the Nov. election,” Massie wrote on X. “If we really wanted to ban stock trading for members of Congress, we would offer stand alone legislation and could get a large bipartisan majority, and the bill would have a chance of passing on the Senate.”

SEN MARK WARNER CALLED OUT IN ABC INTERVIEW FOR INACCURATE VOTER ID CLAIMS

An August 2025 poll from the Pew Research Center showed that 83% of U.S. respondents favored “requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote.” 

But Democrats have argued this week that the voter ID portion goes too far, and the stock trading ban portion does not go far enough.

“I’ve said repeatedly, House Democrats strongly support a stock trading ban for members of Congress. We also support a ban on the president, the vice president and federal judicial officers from trading individual stock as well. But none of that is before us today,” Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the committee charged with elections oversight, said during debate on the bill Monday.

“Rather, this bill is a crude combination of two completely unrelated bills, the so-called Stop Insider Trading Act and the Voter ID Act, the latter of which is already a crude reformulation of at least three other failed Republican voter  suppression proposals.”

Democrats are criticizing the voter ID portion for its requirement of identification extending to mail-in voting, which they have argued is a route to suppress Americans’ ability to cast ballots that way.

Left-wing lawmakers have attacked the stock trading bill because it does not require members of Congress to sell their existing stocks but rather bans them from buying more stock in the future.

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Lawmakers must also go through a public disclosure process before selling that existing stock.

While it extends the ban on buying new stocks to lawmakers and their families, it effectively allows them to retain a blind trust. Democrats have also complained that it does not extend to the executive branch, namely, President Donald Trump and his family.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to bypass Democratic opposition on a key election integrity bill took a major step forward in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

It’s a major victory for Johnson, R-La., who had to overcome a wall of left-wing opposition and threats of a rebellion within his own GOP ranks.

House Republicans are working to move the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act as part of a larger $95 billion budget bill that, if successful, would completely sideline Democrats to implement election reforms sought by President Donald Trump.

They’re using a mechanism called budget reconciliation, which allows the party in power to pass sweeping fiscal policy by lowering the Senate’s threshold for advancement from 60 votes to a simple majority. In exchange, however, the legislation is subject to intense scrutiny under a strict set of guidelines about what actually counts as true fiscal policy.

The bill up for consideration on Wednesday was just the first House-wide step in passing a reconciliation package, which is adopting a framework with spending instructions for relevant committees who will then cobble individual portions together into a massive piece of legislation. Both the House and Senate must pass identical versions before it goes to the president’s desk.

All but three members of the House Republican Conference supported the measure: Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., voted against it. 

The framework was adopted in a narrow 216 to 214 vote, with all Democrats opposed.

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It comes after fiscal hawks warned for days that they are uneasy with the lack of budget cuts in the framework to offset the $95 billion in new spending.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he was leaning in support but still undecided.

“People wonder why the so-called 3AM caucus exists and why we hold our votes to the last minute to put pressure on Republicans in Congress to deliver? It’s because they revert to the mean — which is spending, amnesty, unlimited immigration and political show votes. I want FULL SAVE. I want this unpaid-for spending to be paid for in the 4th reconciliation bill. I want clarity on our war mission while we are backfilling munitions,” he told Fox News Digital.

TOP TRUMP OFFICIAL MAKES NEW SAVE ACT CASE TO REPUBLICANS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., had told reporters, “I just wanted to let them know if you’re doing a whip count right now, I wouldn’t put me in the yes column…I’m not 100% convinced that the SAVE language is going to be held solid through the Senate. In fact, I would bet against it. I just, I don’t have any confidence that the Senate will keep that language tight.”

Both voted in favor of adopting the framework, however.

With just a razor-thin majority, Johnson could lose no more than than two Republicans to still pass anything on partisan lines.

The budget plans for for $73 billion aimed at the U.S. war with Iran, $12 billion for aid to American farmers, and $10 billion for states to implement election integrity measures in the SAVE America Act — namely federal voter ID rules and a proof of citizenship mandate to register to vote.

Democrats and some Republicans have been wary about funding the Iran war without additional oversight from Congress. And Democrats in both the House and Senate have been vehemently opposed to the SAVE America Act, calling it tantamount to voter suppression.

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But Republicans have near-uniformly argued that it is aimed at enhancing confidence in American elections.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday, “Thank you to all of the House Republicans who are supporting the first step towards getting as much of THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, as possible, in the Budget Bill, and to our Great Speaker, Mike Johnson. I am asking all House Republicans to VOTE YES on this very important Budget Resolution. I am watching the vote very closely, and hope Republicans can UNIFY to secure Elections against all forms of Foreign Country Interference, and Illegal Alien voting.”